ColHinWa ®nttirr^ttp 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
A CAREFUL AND FREE INQIJ 
 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 n . . . . 
 
 TRUE NATURE AND TENDENCY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 consnaoiTLir called Quakers. 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 1. The history of their opinions : the rise I II. Dissertations on their doctrinal 
 
 and iirogress of the society, | tenets, their worship, ministry, &c. / \ 
 
 By WILLIAM CRAIG BROWNLEE, A. M, 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Suis-je seul ? Je me plais encore au coin du feu." 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN MORTIMER. 
 .T. hahding, printer. 
 
 1824. 
 
Eastern District of Fennsijlvavia, to wit . 
 
 HE IT RKMKN^BERKD, that on the twelfth day of January, in the forty- 
 eighth year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1824, 
 John Mortimer, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the Title of a 
 Book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to 
 wit : — 
 
 A careful and free inquiry into the tnie Nature and Tendency of the Religious 
 Principles of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. In two 
 Parts. 
 I. The Histoiy of their Opinions. The Rise and Progress of the Society. 
 n. Dissertations on their Doctrinal Tenets, their Worship, Ministry, &;c. 
 B} William Craig Brownlee, A. M. Minister of the Gospel. 
 " S lis-je seul ? Je me plais encore au coire du feu." 
 
 In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, " An 
 Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, 
 Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the 
 times therein mentioned;" — And also to the Act, entitled, "An Act supple- 
 mentary to an Act, entitled, " An \ct for the Encouragement of Learning, by 
 securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors 
 of such Copies during the times therein mentioned," and extending the bene- 
 fits thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and 
 other prints. 
 
 D. CALDWELL, 
 Clerk of the Eastern District ofFemisi/kania. 
 
TO JAMES JEFFRAY, ESQ. M. B. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 The affection of a brother had dedicated this volume 
 (in manuscript,) to the late lamented Reverend James Brownlee 
 of Falkirk. 
 
 But he was cut off in his ministerial career, hterally in the very 
 pulpit, and left us in deep distress. He, who held the first place 
 in my heart, is no more in the land of the living. I was denied 
 the favour of inscribing his much loved name on this page. 
 
 Next to him, an uncle's name claims my reverence. And the 
 gratitude and affection, which your unwearied attentions to our 
 beloved mother, your sister, have created in our hearts, constrain 
 me to offer you this public expression of my sentiments. 
 
 Accept, very dear sir, the assurances of our affection and 
 reverence. 
 
 I am your obedient servant 
 
 and nephew, 
 
 WILLIAM CRAIG BROWNLEE, 
 
 61555 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 With diffidence I venture to lay this volume before the public. 
 Whatever may be its defects or merits, it certainly owes nothing 
 to the influence of learned ease, or the support of a patron. An 
 American author is not favoured with either the one or the other. 
 It was written under the unceasing pressure of my pastoral and 
 academic labours ; and the pleasure and amusement, which every 
 author feels in arranging his materials, were resumed, from time 
 to time, to beguile a sombre hour. I have been anxious to ren- 
 der it, in every respect, worthy of the notice of the public. But, 
 it is, perhaps, prudent to conceal how much pains have been 
 taken, and how many years have been spent, in collecting ma- 
 terials " in the toon of that singulaire an'' graite mann Maister 
 William Penn,'''' to render them worthy of patronage, until it be 
 known whether that shall ever be bestowed on it. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Proem. — Hints on the times in which the first mate- 
 rials of these volumes were gleaned. Of laird Thomas B. of 
 Torfoot, to whose piety and industry I owe so much. Sketch 
 of the characters of the ministers and laymen who lived in 
 concealment, in or near his house, during the " killing times^^ 
 of the twenty -eight years persecution. Kid — King — M'Kail — 
 Guthrie — Dickson — Fleming — Welsh — Richard Cameron — 
 Alexander Peden — Donald Cargil — Renwick. Of the laymen 
 there were Sir Robert Hamilton — Hackston of Rathillet — 
 Balfour of Burly — Capt. Nesbit — Hall — Paton, &c. Descrip- 
 tion of laird Thomas's person — his personal adventures — taken 
 prisoner with his brother John — escape. The battle of.Drum- 
 clog — the battle of Bothwell bridge — taken prisoner in this 
 battle — by an unaccountable interposition of mercy only ban- 
 ished to Virginia — is shipwrecked — his marvellous escape — 
 he returns into the bosom of his family at the Revolution — 
 his studies — his death. Extract from his writings in his ori- 
 ginal Scottish dialect. ------- £ 
 
 Epistle to the Reader. 33 
 
 Maxims or first principles submitted to the candour of the 
 Friends, and to be kept in view by the reader of these disser- 
 tations. _--,-. .--34 
 
 PART I. 
 
 j?n historical dissertation on the origin, rise, progress, ^c. of the 
 society of Friends. 
 
 Section 1. A general outline of the religious opinions of the 
 Friends — two general classes of them — -Jirst, respecting the 
 Deity — second, respecting the human soul. The whole doc- 
 trine of their system seems to have been built upon their 
 opinions on these two. ------ 42 
 
 Sect. 2. An historical inquiry how far these sentiments are 
 Platonic or Mystic — the outlines of the theology of Plato and 
 his disciples. - -- - - - - - 43 
 
 Sect. 3. The history of these opinions — Moschus — Pytha- 
 goras — Plato- diffusion of Platonisin — the Eclectics — Ammo- 
 nius Saccas — the revolution produced by him in the religious 
 or christian world. 47 
 
viii Contents, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sect. 4. Two sects spring up out of this revolution. 1. The 
 masters of the schohistic theology — Origen — 2. Tlie Mystics — 
 their process in christianizing Plato — they adopt his doctrines 
 and form of discipline — progress of the Mystics in the fourth 
 century — Dionysius the Areopagite — the Oriental Mystics — 
 •the Mystics of the West — great diflfercnce in their characters 
 — causes of this — three classes of these Mystics — Cenobites — 
 Hermits — Anchorites — a fresh impulse gnen to them in the 
 fifth century — two causes operatln<»; in the sixth century, by 
 which these opinions were more widely spread — the writings 
 of John of Scythopolis — the fall of the Platonic schools under 
 the edict of the emperor Justinian — multitudes of the Plato- 
 nics thence driven into the bosom of the church — the ninth 
 century opens a new era to the Mystics — translation of Dio- 
 nysius the pretended Areopagite, by John Scot Erigena — 
 state of things in the dark ages. ----- 51 
 
 Sect. 5. A fresh torrent of the Greek philosophy poured in, 
 through Italy, in the beginning of the fifteenth century — causes 
 — revival of Greek letters — Pletho — Platonic academy at Flo- 
 rence — triumph of Plato over Aristotle — Ficino — Leo X. — 
 Nefo — scholars from all quarters — from England, in this aca- 
 demy. ---------55 
 
 Sect. 6. The individuals who were most active in christian- 
 izing Plato — mere men of letters not so dangerous — the theo- 
 logians became the daring innovators — in the Syrian and Greek 
 churches, the Novatians and Cathari — the followers of Mon- 
 lanus — Pepuzians — female bishops — Paulicians in the ninth 
 century — the progress of these from the East into Europe — 
 pilgrims of Hungary — Gerard and Dnlcimus in England — 
 their opinions — Lucopetros in the twelfth century — Tanquel- 
 nius, a. first James N(njlor—-t\\e Amauri in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury — their opinions — the bretlirea and sisters of the Free 
 Spirit — their opinions — the Whippers — their opinions — their 
 practices — they attract men of all ranks to their standard — 
 tlie cardinal of Lorraine and the kivg of France in their train 
 ■ — Taulerus, the Mystic, was himself a host — his opinions — 
 his the fullest system of mysticism — he preached at Cologne 
 • — his sermons published in Dutch — translated into English in 
 A. D.165r — Paracelsus — Postello — Wigellius — David George 
 — Behmen — his opinions and career — curious cause of his first 
 trance — the Englisli associates of this mystic — Cressy — Sir 
 Harry Vane — William Law — on tlie continent of Europe there 
 were Kotter — Kiel — Labadie the companion of Penn and Bar- 
 clay — Molinos, the Spanish priest. - - - - 57 
 
 Sect. 7. Spread of these in Eiiijland at an early date — the 
 invidious question answered, '" If hence came it that the Pro- 
 testant church has originated so much fanaticism?'^'' — causes of 
 the appearance of so many sectaries — all these causes in full 
 'iperation in England in the middle of the seventeenth century 
 
Contents, ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — historical view of these causes under James VI. Charles 
 I. — Cromwell — deplorable state of the clergy from the time of 
 Queen Elizabeth — their treatment — the depression of their 
 ciiaracter by many untoward causes — their usefulness destroy- 
 ed — thousands of parishes left without a pastor — Brownism — 
 the manner in which the tenets of this sect operated on the 
 church, &c. — gifted brethren — extemporaneous harangues — 
 summit of extravagance in the days of Cromwell — officers — 
 soldiers — mechanics — females — give vent to their impulses — 
 the Seekers — the Familists — the Behmenists. - - 61 
 
 Sect. 8. In this state of general confusion, and wide spread- 
 ing fanaticism, George Fox appeared — character of this won- 
 derful man — difficulty in drawing it — his character drawn by 
 his friends, Eccles, Ellwood, Audland, Coale — by his foes, 
 Dr. Henry More, &c. — the latest by Clarkson — superficial and 
 defective— his character drawn from his journal and Sewel — 
 with other approved authors of the society — criticism of a very 
 unguarded apology for George Fox, by Clarkson, note — George 
 Fnx's labours from the year 1644 to the close of his life — he 
 is indefatigable in health-~and in sickness — in bonds, and in 
 imprisonments — his early associates — with the exception of ' 
 William Perm and Robert Barclay, they are illiterate — that, i 
 however, no barrier in the way of a specific eloquence, or, in 
 the way of writingyb/tos. - - - - ~ - 65 
 
 Sect. 9. The manner of declaiming practised by the first ^z 
 Friends — their effects on the multitude — not marvellous in the 
 state of things formerly noticed. - - - - 71 
 
 Sect. 10. Their success in England and in Ireland — causes v 
 — their zeal in forming a fund for the gratuitous distribution 
 of their books and tracts — the quantity of these thrown into 
 the public, almost incredible — they have kept Barclay afloat 
 by gratuitous distributions — their booksellers labour in the city 
 (London) — their distributions in the country, from county to 
 county, by agents, who transported their books on pack-horses. 73 
 
 Sect.ll. Other causes of their success — persecution — exem- / 
 plified in their progress in Wales and Cornwall — the Saxons 
 managed things in a better style — instance in the sentence on 
 Behmen by the electoral prince and the divines of Dresden — 
 England slow in opening her eyes on her best interest, in giv- 
 ing full liberty of conscience — probable effects of mild mea- 
 sures on George Fox, and his system, and followers. - 74 
 
 Sect. 12. Different reception of the Friends in the kingdom 
 of Scotland — causes — view of the genius and habits of the 
 Scottish people — not gloomy nor fanatical — they are stern and 
 severe in their manners — probable causes — the remains of the 
 moral inflxience of feudalism — the presbytery — pastoral visits 
 and instructions — a reading and reflecting people — unlike the 
 uneducated population of England— bishop Burnet's views on 
 this subject — his^ character of the priests who succeeded the 
 
X Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 exiled ntinisters after the restoration of Charles II. — the cha- 
 racter anil manners of the good old Whigs of the Covenant — 
 distinguished from the canting hypocrites who unhappily crept 
 in among them, and injured tlie holy cause — the profligate 
 court of diaries II. — its influence sent out from it, as from a 
 common centre, over all ranks — tyrannical measures against 
 the christian patriots, the Whigs — broken and dispersed, they 
 retire into lurking places among the peasantry — they foster 
 civil and religious liberty in their retreats among the people — 
 the issue of the twenty -eight years sufferings — justice has not 
 been done to the memory of these patriots and martyrs — the 
 infidel historian — the poet — 'the novelist — tlirow out their un- 
 holy gibes — and give most erroneous delineations of charac- 
 ter— even modern Presbyterian writers not Justin this matter 
 — Dr. Cook's late work noticed. ----- 7a 
 
 Sect. 13. It was during this excitement, and among such 
 people, that the Quaker missionaries in Scotland made their 
 first appearance — hence their failure — George Fox, in Glasgow, 
 could not prevail "on even one to come to hear him.''' - 82 
 
 Sect. 14. Scotland assailed from anotiier quarter, and by a 
 character very different from that of the first Quaker mission- 
 aries — the best writer of the society was given to them by 
 Scotland — Robert Barclay — his character as a writer — his 
 Latin Apology — note — Mosheim's remarkable accuracy in his 
 view of this writer, and of this sect — the antagonist of Barclay 
 — John Brown of Waiuphry — Scotland has not yet done him 
 justice — his character as a polemic — the victory gained by him 
 — and other writers over this sect in Scotland, complete — 
 proof from facts. ---- ...gS 
 
 Sect. 15. The progress of the sect of Friends on the conti- 
 nent of Europe — causes of this. ----- 86 
 Sect. 16. Their introduction into America by the celebrated 
 \ William Penn — the two points in which the American Friends 
 differ widely from those of Europe. - - - - 86 
 
 Sect. 17. Three periods in the history of the society — -Jirstj 
 the Foxonian — the natural and necessary result of the doc- 
 trines which they held in that period — a specimen gleaned 
 ^ from history in the extravagance of Naylor — of Toldervy — 
 
 this period lasted from about the year 1644 to 1660 — second 
 
 period more orderly — maturing under Penn — Keith — Dr. 
 Owen's opinion of this stage of their history — Penn a Sabel- 
 lian — his doctrinal tenets — he applauds Crellius the Socinian 
 writer — Penn's early labours watched and applauded by the 
 Socinians of London — his book, " The Sandy Foundation 
 Shaken,^' gives the christian public a decided view of his un- 
 veiled Socinianism — Penn confined in the Tower of London 
 on a charge of blasphemy — he gradually matures his system — 
 his explanations are accepted — and he is liberated — he declares 
 that " he had not budged one joV^ in doctrine — a medley of 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 PACK 
 
 impiety and of martyrdom in this singular character — the 
 third period is the Barclayian — he has moulded the system of 
 mysticism into a new form — has concealed the offensive dog- 
 mata of Penn — and the wild mysticism of Fox in some man- 
 ner — has impressed on the whole system the prominent fea- 
 tures of the more popular Arininian and Pelagian errors. 87 
 
 Sect. 18. A gradual combination and mixture of the different 
 sentiments of these three periods — view of the gradual change 
 of Penn's sentiments — the difference in his sentiments and 
 manner, from the year 1668 to 1692 and 1698 — Barclay per- 
 fects the new model, and makes Saccas a respectable Armi- 
 nian or Pelagian — in Ireland the authors of the " Brief Apol- 
 ogy,''^ and Fuller have gone, perhaps, still farther than Barclay 
 in new modelling the system according to the reigning taste. 90 
 
 Sect. 19. Each of these periods produced its respective writ- 
 ers — each has had its partizans — hence the diversity of doc- 
 trinal opinions among the Quakers — sketch of a comparison of 
 Fox — of Penn with others — Job Scott — Clarkson — Bristed. ^ 91 
 
 Sect. 20. The qKctMng that characterized i\\Q first period- 
 and gradually died away in the second, and the third — account i 
 of these bodily phenomena — Penn's defence of them — Bar-! 
 clay's mysticism on this affair — these phenomena purely Pla- 
 tonic — contrast of the ancient and modern Platonics on this 
 matter — Synesius — Hilton, whose writings edified the mother 
 of king Henry VII. of England — these Platonic sentiments, 
 two sects agreeing in main, in doctrinal opinions, have suc- 
 cessfully reduced to practice, and have produced results 
 strangely different — 1. the dancing Quakers, 2. the trembling 
 Quakers — ancient precedents of these among the pagans and 
 the modern Jews — anecdotes-— gradual departure of the spirit 
 of trembling. - - - - - -- - 91 
 
 Sect. 21. Another peculiarity of the first period — they 
 taught by signs — they walked mournfully in the streets in 
 sackcloth — Barclay leads a procession — modern Lupercalians 
 countenanced in the society — these made naked processions — 
 some remarkable specimens recorded by their own writers — 
 of Eccles — Simpson — the point touching some of their females 
 doing this, investigated — these naked processions traced to 
 the ancient Lupercalians, through a line of modern fanatics 
 on the continent of Europe — notice of the defence of the Qua- 
 kers from this charge, in tlieir appendix to a late edition of 
 Mosheim — the writers of this defence shown to betray a cul- 
 pable ignorance of those writings of the Friends, which are in 
 every Quaker's hands — Fox, Penn, Sewel, not only admit 
 the facts, but applaud the naked processions, and offer godly 
 commentaries thereon ! ..---- 94 
 
 Sect. 22. On thedressof the Friends — plainness — taste — no 
 disputing about such matters of taste — broad brim — anecdote, 
 note — the sufferings of the ancient elders in the establishment 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of their peculiar dress, manners, and the 7iew tongue which 
 they spake as the spirit ^ave them utterance — tlie positive influ- 
 ence of their dress in helping to fix their public character — 
 those founders of new sects who made a distinctive dress enter 
 into a part of their creed were shrewd observers of human na- 
 ture — illustration of this. ------ 96 
 
 Sect. 23. On oaths — review of the argument for civil oaths 
 —and against them — Penn's opposition to civil oaths not found- 
 ed, in reality, on any passage of holy writ supposed to bear 
 against them, as on a peculiar sentiment of Plato — the Plato- 
 nic life beyond an oath — the German divine's opinion of those 
 who will not take an oath. ---... loi 
 
 Sect. 24. On war — the society has never stated this question 
 fairly nor correctly — they confound oftensive and defensive 
 war — what has been advanced by their most rational defend- 
 ers participates more of the nature of declamation than argu- 
 ment — specimen of it — arguments for defensive war — precept 
 "—examples sanctioned by God — defensive war began in hea- 
 ven — the principle of non-resistance shown to be of a danger- 
 ous tendency in a political view — not reducible to practice by 
 the society, nor by any sect — the principle shown to be of a 
 dangerous moral tendency, if carried into effect by any portion 
 of men it would hold out encouragement and facilities to the 
 robber and the murderer — it would encrease crime and moral 
 pollution to an incalculable extent — the practice of the society 
 seems to do violence to their theory, note — the leaders of the 
 society before the year 1660 do not appear to have held this 
 principle as now professed to be held by the Quakers — colli- 
 sion between the principle and the practice of their ancient el- 
 ders — their re-capture, vi et arrnis, of a sloop taken away by 
 pirates from the port of Philadelphia — re-capture of Friend 
 captain Pattison's ship, note — Penn's views and practice — 
 Paxton boys — only one thing has saved the existence of the 
 society, and this principle in their system — that is, their fel- 
 low citizens have neither believed nor practised upon it. 104 
 
 Sect. 25. The society has been a divided people — their in- 
 ternal state — natural tendency of their grand doctrinal tenet 
 ■^their Liberales — their discipline — dissention on that head — 
 the opposition charged the society with having abandoned the 
 original principle of the sect — instead of the light within each 
 individual, they made the light of the body, collectively taken, the 
 guide of the conscience — hence the schism in the society — their 
 dissentions about the orthodox use of the hat — hence a schism 
 — a new sect springs up out of these two contending parties 
 — Shackleton revived this sect lately — the Keithian controver- 
 sy on a fundamental doctrine — anecdote of Penn and Keith — 
 mutual denunciation — dissention about the revision and cor- 
 recti(m of Friends' books — the majority in the society advo- 
 cate every expression and item uttered and written by the an- 
 
Contents. xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 tient elders — they reasoned a priori on the matter — the free 
 Quakers — the jumping Quakers or Shakers — uncle John's 
 opinion of this sect, established under Case their first leader. 113 
 
 Sect. 26. The pages of the Friends contain violent and illib- 
 eral charges against other sects for their persecuting spirit 
 — the society shown to have manifested in the course of their 
 short career, instances of the same disposition — illustrated by 
 historical facts — by cases of discipline — consequences of ex- 
 pulsion from the society in our large cities — Evan's case — 
 note. ---. ...-- 118 
 
 Sect. 27. The society has always stood aloof from every 
 communion — it has been against every sect — every sect has 
 been against it — the tide of the public opinion set in strongly , 
 apjain^t them in the close of the seventeenth century — proofs -^ 
 —-their antagonists — sketch of their writings against the Qua- 
 kers — Hicks — Dr. Owen — Sir Matthew Hale — Faldo — Stalhani 
 — Scandrett — twenty-one divines — three rectors — Leslie — the 
 bishop of Cork — Keith — Bennet — act of toleration — Francis 
 Bugg — Dr. Stillingfleet — cause of the public suspicions that 
 Jesuits were among the earliest Friends — George Fox's Latin 
 works — \\'\s /lolyglotJ - - - - - - -119 
 
 Sect. 28. The result of these able exposures — 'the feeble ef- 
 forts of the society to reply — their explanations covered with 
 ambiguities, and full of contradictions against their primitive 
 writers. _-_.---- 122 
 
 Sect. 29. After some repose under Queen Anne and the first 
 Georges, the society is alarmed by the able and very tempe- 
 rate expositions of the bishop of Litchfield and Coventry — 
 they throw themselves before the king and implore his protec- 
 tion, as if the good bishop had been going to devour them — 
 they pledge to the public a full reply — it contained nothing 
 new — it produced no favourable eftect on the public mind. 123 
 
 Sect. 30. Incidents in the history of the later years of the 
 society uninteresting — their publications are confined to the 
 insipid journals of a few travelling prophets or prophetesses— 
 and attacks and defences from disowned members — these prin- 
 ciples have been about 180 years in operation — their numbers 
 decrease in Great Britain — their present numbers contrasted 
 with their number stated in tiie close of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, note — they are supposed, on the whole, to be encreasing 
 in the U. States — they continue to stand aloof from all chris- 
 tian intercourse — as a body they decline aiding the Bible so- 
 cieties, and missionary efforts — the extent of their influence in 
 aiding to put down the most execrable trade in human flesh — 
 and in meliorating the condition of some Indian tribes, and of 
 the African population, note. . . - . . 124 
 
 Sect. 31. Conclusion : their prophets, though professionally 
 inspired, found to be ineftective polemics — the society seems 
 to have looked out for advocates from other quarters — the mo- 
 
xiv Contents. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 dern mode apparently resorted to for the procuring defenders 
 — their funds have kept Barclay and a few other works afloat 
 — tiiey have, from their rise, been in the habit of distributing 
 these standard works gratis — the latest writers not of the so- 
 ciety — causes which probably led their two latest defenders 
 into the controversy — Bristed — Clarkson — review of them — 
 their doctrinal system brought forward by Clarkson — meagre 
 and unsatisfactory — yet sufficient to show that the society ad- 
 heres to the system of "William Penn and of Job Scott. 126 
 
 Sect. 32. On the whole, tlie society exhibits a singular phe- 
 nomenon in the religious world — proof — an abstract of the 
 weak parts of the system, and inconsistencies interwoven 
 throughout the whole — if George Fox's principles be the stan- 
 dard of Quakerism, the society, it must be admitted, is fast de- 
 generating — and calls for tlie reforming of George Fox,, could 
 he rise from the dead. ...... 1-2S 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Conluiniug dissertaiions on their doctrines, worship, ministvy, ^-c. 
 
 Chap. 1. Of their grand religious tenet, Immediate revela- 
 tions which they exalt above the holy scriptures — a free and 
 full inquiry into this. ------ 13,i 
 
 Chap. -2. On the character of their silent worship. Section 1. 
 Their silent meetings — movements bv the spirit — phenomena 
 — discourses — their leading topics — their freedom of speech — 
 effects — counter motions. Section 3. On public prayers. Sec- 
 tion 3. On singing of psalms. - . - - - 170 
 
 Chap. 3. Of the miiiistry — apologv for the ministry of the 
 Lord Je«us Christ — the society of Friends has always distin- 
 guished itself for its deep rooted hostility against the ministry 
 — not from personal feelings, so mucli as from principle — Bar- 
 clay's disclosure of this singular priiicijjle — a review of the 
 anomalous office which the Friends have instituted instead of 
 the ministry. ..--..-. 180 
 
 Chap. 4. On the maintenance of the ministry— -review of 
 tlie excessive severity of tlie society's invectives — it is shown 
 that they have not condemned this, either in theory or in prac- 
 tice — the effects which the avaricious principle of the society 
 is slowly and surely producing on itself. - - - 190 
 
 Chap. 5. On female preachers — historical view of spiritual 
 heroines — an examination of the claims of the female clergy — 
 an appeal to the fair sex in the society, and out of it — an ap- 
 peal to men on this subject. - - - - - - 195 
 
Contents. xv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chap. 6. On the defects of their system in regard to a mo- 
 ral standard — the Spirit or light within, the rule — specimen of 
 the contradictions of their best writers — they have not agreed 
 yet on what their moral standard is — scarcely do two of their 
 writers ag;ree, touchir.s; that thing;, " the Li^ht within^ 209 
 
 Chap. 7. On the defects of their religious system in point of 
 doctrines. Section 1. Of the most holy Trinity. Section 2. 
 Of the sacred persons of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 Section 3. Of tlie atonement. Section 4. Of the resurrection 
 of the body from the grave. Section 5. Of the second coming 
 of Christ to judgment. Section 6. Of a future state — fragment 
 of a peroration to this chapter, by laird Thomas. - - 218 
 
 Chap. 8. Of the defects of the Quaker system in point of 
 religious institutions. Section 1. Of the Lord's day. Section 
 2. Of the holy sacraments— ^rs/, baptism — second, the Lord's 
 supper. 238 
 
 Chap. 9. An historical view of the moral tendency of the 
 religious tenets of the society^-considered in its effects on the 
 mind— on their manners — on practical religion— and on learn- 
 ing. ..... 288 
 
 The conclusion. 301 
 
 The appendix — notes — brief review of the most distinguished 
 preachers and writers in the society. . . . , •] 
 
C-OLUf/, 
 
 Nos enim qui ipsi sermoni non interfuissemus, ct quibus C. Cotta locos ct 
 sententias liujus disputationis tradidisset — id ipsum suimis in eonim sermonc 
 »dumbrareconati. — Cic. De Uratore. 
 
 The materials of this volume were gleaiieil from various 
 sources ; and during that period in which the society of 
 Friends struggled into existence. 
 
 * * * * ju that extraordinary period, when death 
 had removed the head of that party which had been flung 
 into power by the whirlwind of faction, the British nation 
 
 replaced its native prince on the throne of his fathers. 
 
 * * * * «- 
 
 ****** But Charles II. was an unprincipled man. 
 He neither feared God, nor regarded man. He was a 
 Jesuit in politics, a Judas in religion, a Nero on the 
 throne. Irreclaimable even by the lessons which the na- 
 tion had given liis family, in the reigns of his father and 
 grandfather; and deplorably and culpably ignorant of the 
 duty and the art of ruling ; and in a great degree a stran- 
 ger to tlie character and disposition of that high-minded 
 people, over whom he was placed as chief magistrate, he 
 came to the throne with all tlie errors of a Stuart, if pos- 
 sible, tenfold increased. His reign, under the tutorship 
 of Lauderdale, exhibited little else than misrule^ and ty- 
 ranny and cruelty. 
 
 The kingdom he claimed as his inheritance by birth- 
 right. The treasure, and the bodies, and the consciences 
 of the people he considered as his property ; and as much 
 at his disposal as his moveables, or the tenants of his 
 stables. By the act of supremacy of A. D. 1669, pro- 
 cured by the most corrupt influence, he received power 
 over all matters and persons, ecclesiastical and civil. He 
 modelled the form of worship and government in the 
 church according to his will. He denied to the people the 
 right of electing their ministers, or of thinking for them- 
 selves f or of taking care of their own souls. 
 
 3 
 
2 The Proem. 
 
 The \vhi2;s of Scotland, whom lord Belhaven styled 
 (' the true hlue preshyterians,"* did not understand this. 
 They had once recalled the kins;, and had set the crowa 
 on his head. They expected a difl'erent return. They re- 
 monstrated. They called this an impious stretch of power. 
 The conscience, they told him, is left as free as tiie wind 
 on their mountains. This was, moreover, trenching on 
 their chartered rights as Scotchmen; and it was a laying 
 on the slioulders of an erring mortal what could be borne 
 by no man. It was the prerogative of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ that lie was usurping. 
 
 To this bold declaration of a very brave and loyal peo- 
 ple, Charles II. replied by an edict, which drove four 
 hundred of Scotland's best and most faithful ministers 
 into prison, or into exile ; and he placed their flocks un- 
 der bi'ihops and curates, most unhappily selected — for, 
 according to bishop l?urnet, they were without religion, 
 and many of them without morals. 
 
 A Scotchman's conscience is not to be dictated to in 
 matters of religion. The mass of the people instantly 
 turned away from those temples in which they had for- 
 merly worshipped with delight; but which were now pol- 
 luted by the slaves of tyranny. They invited their pas- 
 tors to meet tiiem in their private houses — for tiieir church- 
 es were taken from them. These houses were soon found 
 to be too small for the mass of population which crowded 
 forward around their much loved pastors. They betook 
 themselves to the fields. Hence the origin of conventicles 
 and field meetings. 
 
 To put down these, and to regain the consciences of 
 his subjects, Charles II. had recourse to cruel means. 
 His sanguinary laws made it penal in any person even to 
 be present at a conventicle : and high treason in a clergy- 
 man to officiate in any way at it. A price was set on the 
 heads of the ministers who refused to abandon their flocks, 
 and become traitors to religion. The soldiery were turn- 
 ed loose on the country : and they butchered pastor and 
 people ! 
 
 The people, after long submission and suffering, goad- 
 
 * In his speech in the Scottish parliament, 1706.-1 mean here 
 the whigs of the covenant, of course. 
 
The Proem. 3 
 
 ed on to despair, began, at length, to assert the lawfulness 
 of self-defence against these lawless and brutal soldiers, 
 let loose against them by those who had sworn to protect 
 them. Hence the origin of the practice of coming armed 
 to the conventicles. 
 
 It was no sooner know^n that they had assumed this at- 
 titude than tijey were denounced as rebels — and without 
 an examination of their grievances, they were put out of 
 the protection of tiie law. And what was the character 
 of these men? They were no rebels. Oppression had 
 driven them to desperate measures of defence. There was 
 not a moral stain on tljeir character — some few indivi- 
 duals, of fierce spirit, only excepted. They were devout 
 and pious men; they possessed an ardent love of civil 
 and religious liberty, which no force nor inquisitorial cru- 
 elty could subdue. In fine, tiie only crime that the tyrant 
 could allege against them, was that of self-defence against 
 his tyranny. Their sole crime was their determination 
 to be free ; and to secure their religion against those pre- 
 lates who were, in a manner so unbefitting their office, 
 dragooning a nation to their religion and ceremonies. 
 
 In the dreadful hour of oppression tliis band of Chris- 
 tian patriots raised the standard of self-defence. In the 
 oath of their covenant they pledged support to each other, 
 and fidelity to their God. They appealed to the Almighty 
 for the justness of their cause : and proclaimed war against 
 the tyrant and his bloody council. 
 
 All their eflForts failed to rouse the sleeping energies of 
 the nation. The patriot's voice was drowned in the cla- 
 mours of the spies and court parasites. The body of the 
 nation left this band to their fate for twenty and eight 
 years ! Pentland witnessed their melancholy overthrow ; 
 and Scottish liberty wailed on her mountains while the 
 brave covenanters fell. Drumclog saw them rally and 
 gain a battle. But BothwelFs bloody field saw them bro- 
 ken irrecoverably. The Christian patriots were driven 
 to their mountains and fastnesses. They wandered in the 
 deep morasses ; and hid themselves in the caves. The 
 bloody tyrant, as if infuriate with success, had recourse 
 to means so shocking to every feeling heart, that they 
 seem almost the fables of romance to our ears. In addi- 
 tion to outlawry, and the confiscation of property, his zeal 
 
4 The Proem. 
 
 revived the spirit of the old Norman law which ^' hauged 
 the husband if his wife committed theft.*' His law made 
 the head of each family answer for all his inmates, if they 
 had ventured to a conventicle : and the land proprietors 
 were made accountable for their tenants.* And to crown 
 the whole, be employed such ferocious assassins as Gra- 
 ham of Clavers, and Dalziel ; with a complement of the 
 body guards, each of whom threw into the shade the fierc- 
 est Indians that ever yelled in tlie wilds of America. 
 These English soldiers occasionally employed the saga- 
 city of blood hounds to hunt up the retreats of the suf- 
 ferers !t 
 
 In this period of civil war, when tyranny struck a blow 
 at every dissenter, armed bands of peasantry, with their 
 chiefs, associated with the fugitive pastor : tlie pious and 
 orthodox were brought into collision with the sectary and 
 fanatic. In their secret haunts, in caves and morasses, 
 the resolutioner met the protester ; and the presbyterian 
 the quaker. Yet their common danger never could pre- 
 vail on them to sacrifice their peculiar opinions, or even to 
 soften down their asperities. It rather, indeed, seemed 
 to endear them to each sect. The sombre hours of the 
 wanderer on the lonely mountains, were often enlivened 
 by the free exchange of sentiment, or the tierce sallies of 
 passion, which characterized the polemicks of that day< 
 And often the midnignt lamp was seen to illumine the 
 dreary and damp cave of the exiles, v/hile they pursued 
 the argument, or collected the materials of a well digested 
 refutation. 
 
 Among these polemicks who wielded the pen against 
 the sectary, and his sword against the enemies of his 
 country, was the laird of Torfoot. He was of an ancient 
 rather than a rich family. His small estate (now in pos- 
 session of two individuals of the fifth generation from 
 him,) lies in the shire of Lanerk, and in Avendale, at the 
 conflux of the beautiful streams of the Aven and the Geel. 
 
 * Crookshank's Hist. vol. i. ch. 12 & 14, 
 
 t See Laing's Hist, of Scotland during this period, in vol. ii. It is to 
 this bloody king that Barclay has dedicated liis Apology, in a bold and 
 flattering style : " God had restored him to his throne by a singular step, 
 ■which generations will admire." " God had done great things for him." 
 " God had signally visited him with his love," &c. How could the ami- 
 able Barclay say so of such a person as Charles IL :" 
 
The Froein. 5 
 
 On the east are stretched the mountains of Dungavcl ; on 
 the soutli, and bordering the Great Valley, are Cairnsaigh 
 and Distinkhorn; the romantic Loudon hill raises its 
 conical summit on the west; and looks over a wide plaiu^ 
 terminated on the west by a heathy wild, which spreads 
 over the mountains of Druuiclog. On the north opens the 
 delightful vale throur^li which the Aven pours its broad 
 stream, and hastens to mingle with the Clyde at Ha- 
 milton. 
 
 From this situation of his estate, and the facilities it af- 
 forded of concealing the wanderers, laird Thomas's 
 house was the haunt of many distinguished personages of 
 that day. 
 
 Mr. John Kid, and Mr. John King, two eminent 
 preachers, and who were martyred in Edinburg, A. D. 
 1679, were frequent inmates. The last was a polished 
 man and an accomplished scholar. Mr. Hush M^Kail, 
 another minister, who fell a martyr in A. D. 1662, in tha 
 full expansion of genius and learning, also honoured the 
 halls of my fathers. He had spent several years in tra- 
 velling on the continent, and in foreign universities. His 
 name was never mentioned by my ancestor without a tear 
 stealing down his manly cheek. The immortal William 
 Gutiirie, minister of Fen wick, was a favourite at Torfoot. 
 He was eminent as a theologian; he was a powerful 
 preacher; and excelled in gaining men from the delusions 
 of error. The early quakers had drawn away great mul- 
 titudes of his parishoners, and it is well known that he 
 regained them all.* He died in A. D. 1655, and left the 
 laird to lament an invaluable friend of his youth. 
 
 The venerable Dickson, of Rutherglen, was occasion- 
 ally seen in the group; and Mr. Shields enlivened the 
 company by his sallies of wit, or roused their languor by 
 his impetuous manner. 
 
 The celebrated Fleming, and John Welsh the young- 
 er, were sometimes of the party. But not even the high 
 character of Fleming's piety and learning, nor the fire of 
 young Welsh, could prevent the invectives of uncle John, 
 who missed no opportunity of running down as fair game 
 ^* the fushionless doctrines and awfiC ajjostacie'' of those 
 
 * Scot's Worth, p. 255. Edit, of 1812, 
 
6 TJie Proem. 
 
 who favoured the indulged. He insisted that they were 
 nothing short of tories and erastians. 
 
 Richard Cameron, the minister and the liero, stood 
 high in the affections of this interesting group. His learn- 
 ing was considerable. He had gleaned his knowledge in 
 the seminaries of Scotland and of Holland. He was a 
 fluent orator; and what was nnii«»ial then, he used the 
 English more generally than the Dorick dialect of the 
 north. No good man can slander this character. As a 
 minister he was faithful and truly laborious ; as a man of 
 talents and acquirementsj he might, if he had pleased, 
 risen high among the licensed opposers of his country. 
 But as a patriot belaboured during his life; and died 
 fighting for that liberty whicli the patriots of the revolu- 
 tion, in some measure, secured. In that day which tried 
 the christian patriot's soul, he had made iiimself master 
 cf the military exercise; and he could match laird Tho- 
 mas as readily in handling a carbine, or playing with the 
 small sword, as he could loose the knots of a syllogism, 
 or twist the horns of a dilemma ! Tliis patriot fell in the 
 skirmish at Ayrsmoss; and his eulogium was pronounced 
 by the bloody enemy, as he rolled out tlie head and the 
 limbs of Cameron from the sack, before the council at 
 Edinburg : " There are the head and the limbs of a man 
 '^ who lived praying and preaching, and who died pray- 
 " ing and fighting." 
 
 In this circle was seen that singular man of God, Mr. 
 Alexander Peden. He had a strong, but uncultivated 
 mind ; his features were of the bold Roman cast ; his 
 brow was high, his nose aquiline, his eyebrows shaggy, 
 his hair long and bushy. He was distinguished among 
 the ministers by his natural " head jiiece.^^ He despised 
 a hat. He wore the large blue bonnet. His manners 
 were plain, and his appearance rustic ; but his manly 
 sense, and most ardent piety, made ample amends for the 
 exterior. In the sombre hours which rolled heavy over 
 the wanderers, he was equally prepared to pray like an 
 apostle, or to argue on any point, or to detail anecdote, 
 gleaned in his travels. In his tour homeward, through 
 England,* he had met with George Fox ; and the laird 
 
 * Scot's Worth, p. 412. 
 
The Proem. 7 
 
 used to say, that nothing could equal the character which 
 this shrewd person drew of this far-famed man, and of 
 his doctrines, and disciples. It was edifying and interest- 
 ing, and occasionally his anecdote, detailed in his broad- 
 est Scotch, with Ids strong Galloway tone, would set the 
 gravest of them in a roar. 
 
 The venerable Daniel Cargil made the Torfoot one of 
 his retreats. iJis theological learning was profound ; his 
 manners dignified ; though latterly stern and severe. 
 There was something unusually interesting in his coun- 
 tenance ; there was that in it whicii struck awe into the 
 beholder, and at the same time something so lovely and 
 sweet, that he gained the affection of all. Nothing could 
 equal his fine face, when lighted up by the excitement of 
 the pulpit exercise. His deep toned and musical voice 
 was in perfect unison with this set of features ; and then 
 his singular pathos, which revealed the sensibilities of his 
 soul, as it put forth its powerful energies over the hearts 
 of his audience, produced extraordinary effects. He did 
 not terrify; he did not strike the mind dumb with amaze- 
 ment ; the audience became oppressed with sorrow as he 
 spoke, and their labouring hearts vented their feelings in 
 floods of tears. He was connected with the first families 
 near Glasgow, and had moved in the first circles ; being 
 minister of the high church of that city, he had been the 
 leading man in that section of the church. He sacrificed 
 all worldly honours and emoluments for the love of reli- 
 gion and liberty ; and placed himself by the side of the 
 patriots, and persecuted ministry of Christ. The liberties 
 of his country, and the honour of his master's crown, 
 were dearer to him than riches, than friends, than rela- 
 tions, than life itself. 
 
 It was he who performed the most heroic ministerial 
 action that is recorded in church history. At tiie great 
 meeting in Torwood he pronounced the formal sentence 
 of ecclesiastical excommunication on the proudest and 
 highest heads in the land. He excommunicated king 
 Charles II. and his royal brother, James, duke of York, 
 and the counsellors and officers of the tyrant. If we ad- 
 mit that there is a discipline appointed in the church to 
 reclaim offenders ; if this discipline is to be impartially 
 executed ; if the rich members as well as the poor, if ma- 
 
8 The Froem. 
 
 gistrates as ucll as suhjects are, as cliurch members, 
 amenable to the rulers of the church, who o-uard the laws 
 of God from brutal insults; if the courts of Christ's house 
 know neither fatiicr nor mother, king nor bei;2;ar, then 
 this action can be defended. The king and these coun- 
 sellors had voluntarily put themselves under the ecclesi- 
 astical laAV. They had been received into the commu- 
 i)ion of the church ; neither wealth nor civil offices ought 
 to screen notorious delinquents. Cargil did what every 
 lionest minister was bound by the solemn vows of ordi- 
 nation to do.* 
 
 And let the lory writers, who slander such men as 
 Cargil, accept of the challenge which he threw down to 
 his enemies. There was too much learning, and devo- 
 tion, and solid intellect in CargiPs soul to allow him to 
 be a fanatic. It is true he was actuated by a glorious en- 
 thusiasm in the greatest of causes. This enthusiastic 
 lover of liberty appealed to the Almighty — he laid down 
 this challenge : " If these persons whom I have excom- 
 municated, do not themselves feel and acknowledge this 
 sentence in their last moments, then God shall not have 
 countenanced this common exercise of the discipline of 
 his house. But if — " This was perfectly accordant with 
 our Lord's Avords, ^' Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth 
 shall be bound in heaven/' The fact is on record, that 
 some of them did acknowledge, with anguish, the just- 
 ness of that sentence ; and, perhaps, no annals have re- 
 corded seven similar instances of such unmingled wretch- 
 edness and terror in the last moments of life, as these all 
 did.f 
 
 It is impossible not to contrast with this the last mo- 
 ments of father Cargil. He was ordered for execution by 
 the council. He met death with unaltered countenance, 
 and with a smile at the violence of the council ; who or- 
 dered the drums to beat one continued roll, that his last 
 speech and prayer might not reach the ears of the spec- 
 
 * In these days of loose and degenerate discipline, nobody is surprised 
 at the unhandsome manner in which Cook has expressed the sentiments 
 of modern divines on this subject. Cook's Hist. Church of Scotland, vol, 
 iii. ch. 26. Compare the ancient discipline, M'Crie's Knox, note NN, p. 
 491. 
 
 t Scottish Worthies, Life of Cargil, p. 353. Edin. edit, of 181" 
 Cruikshank's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii. ch. 4. 
 
The Proenu 9 
 
 viators. The last words of this venerable minister and 
 ^)atriot were : ^' Fareivell all relatives and friends ; fare- 
 "-well reading and j^reaching ; j^rmjing and believing ; 
 '■^ wanderings, reproaches, and sujferings — I forgive all 
 *^ men their icrongs — JVow welcome Father, Son, and 
 ^' Holy Ghost — into thy hands I. commend my spirit.'^ 
 
 And llenvvick, too, was one of the group. His small 
 stature and blooming countenance, seemed ill to com|tort 
 with that masculine, unsubdued soul, with which lie brav- 
 ed (he thunders of tyranny ; and fearlessly supported the 
 falling standard of liberty and truth. Laird Thomas was 
 tenderly attached to him, and lost no opportunity of pro- 
 filing by his instructive coiiversation. He lived also to 
 see him ascend, on a ^^ fiery wheel,'' to the martyr's 
 crown, amidst an universal burst of anguish from the 
 public. 
 
 Among the distinguished laymen wlio look an active 
 part in the conversations of this group, my manuscript 
 mentions sir Robert Hamilton ; a man of noble descent, 
 and of liberal education. B>it the sufferings of his bleed- 
 ing country had preyed on his fine mind, and had render- 
 ed his manners too severe for the ideas of those who ne- 
 ver knew the feelings of the patriot, or the pangs of the 
 martyr. 
 
 There was also general Hackstone, of Ilathillet, a man 
 of tall frame, and reserved manners. He had been ac- 
 cused of the murder of archbishop Sharpe ; but it is a fact 
 well known among those fiery spirits, who never thought 
 that action culpable, that he was entirely innocent. He 
 opposed it from the first with warmth. He had not phy- 
 sical power to prevent it: but he kept aloof from the com- 
 pany, and implored the party to spare ^' those gray 
 hairs." 
 
 There was also, sometimes, seen laird Balfour, of 
 Burly, a military character of great skill and enterprise. 
 He had made great sacrifices to the idol of his country's 
 independence and the liberties of the church. He was the 
 leader of the party who slew the archbishop. Laird 
 Thomas never admitted him into his protection or hospi- 
 tality after this '« accursed deed,^' as he always termed it. 
 But uncle John insisted on comforting him : he called it a 
 military execution ; and sternly defended liim on the law 
 
 4 
 
10 The Proem. 
 
 of votfilialion, find inilitary reprisals iu open war. ^^ It is 
 to he decjihj re^^veite.d that such things become necessary,^' 
 said the covenanter, '^ but it is icell knoini that icar has 
 '^ been jjnhlicly carried on by us, according to our declara- 
 ^' tion. That priest had been merged in the civil officer. 
 <• We called him one of Charles's executioners. It is cer- 
 " tain that his hands have been dipped in human gore up 
 *• to the ivrists. A'*uw they shoot down our men in the 
 '•^jield^i icithout form of trial. Tlie most likely way to 
 *' stay those sanguinary executions, i^ to let them see that 
 ^^ our troops shall do the same, if they stop vot.'^ 
 
 Burly went to Holland, and became a favourite at the 
 court of the prince, afterwards king William. He was 
 rcturnins:, charged with a commission, but he died on 
 board of the vessel, before he reached the shores of his 
 country.* 
 
 Be.-ides, I see the names of captain Nesbit of the horse, 
 the gallant colonel Hall, and captain Paton, who served 
 in the wars against Cromwell, in England and in Scot- 
 land : who were intimately acquainted with the state of 
 the religious parties of the day. 
 
 In fine, from principal Bailey, and from John, earl of 
 Loudon, with whose conversations he had been honoured, 
 lie received many valuable communications. 
 
 We naturally wish to know something of an author 
 Avhose works we are reading; we want to know not only 
 liis character, but his features and appearance. 
 
 The laird's studies had been interrupted by the horrid 
 din of civil war. He had been a bookworm ; but he had 
 thrown by his pen for his sword. He was enrolled among 
 the horse of the covenanters. His figure w^as tall and 
 martial ; his face was long and full; his nose was formed 
 on the Roman model ; his full lips disclosed through a 
 smile a row of double teeth in front, as white as ivory ; 
 liis brow rose high over a pair of nobly arched eyebrows, 
 as black as jet ; his eyes were of a bright chesnut colour, 
 
 * In the inimitable " Old Mortality," that enchanting writer has prac- 
 tised the ingenious barbarity of the ancient persecutors. He has dressed 
 Burl\ in the skin of a wild beast, and has let slip the furious dogs on him. 
 The fact is, he mistook. Buriey 's character. He was no fanatic ; he never 
 was reckoned religious ; he had no cant of it He was ambitious only of 
 the character of a romantic and daring military chieftain, on the weakj 
 •side. See Burley's Life, in the Scots' Worthies. 
 
U^ie Proem. 11 
 
 and sparkled with uncommon lustre; he wore his dark 
 beard long, with a liberal correspondence of whiskers. 
 He wore a liigh steel bead piece, surmounted by a black 
 feather. His large chest and square shoulders were en- 
 veloped in a buff* coat. His armour was a short carbine, 
 and a massy andro-ferrara ; his jackboots, made in the 
 terrible fashion of the day, came over his knees ; a gray 
 cloak was tlirown carelessly around him — and borne along 
 on his gray steed, he felt as much at home on a field of 
 battle, as at an argument in the parlour, or a dissertation 
 in the cave of the wanderers. 
 
 His temper was impetuous in argument, and more so in 
 the field ; and sometimes when reason and remonstrance 
 could not prevail in putting a stop to cruelty, his strong 
 arm would interpose with his ferrara. There was an in- 
 stance of this after the battle of Hrumclog. Vv hen Burley 
 and two other officers moved the host to put the prisoners 
 (soldiers of Clavers) to death, by way of reprisals for 
 the murder of some of their men; and when the ministers 
 (Douglas and King) and laird Thomas could not suc- 
 ceed in putting down the clamour of Surley, by any ar- 
 gument from usage antl from holy writ, the laird drew his 
 sword, and declared that if Burley should dare to touch a 
 hair of their heads, his sword should sever his head from 
 his shoulders.* 
 
 The MS. proceeds to detail the personal adventures 
 and escapes of the laird and his brother. The following 
 are specimens : 
 
 The laird and his benevolent spouse were one day en- 
 tertaining their guests, in the best manner that their house, 
 so often pillaged by the licensed freebooters of Cdavers, 
 could afford, when the herd callan came running in. 
 *' Speak quickly," said the laird, " what you have to 
 say with that gaping mouth. " The J'oemen are drivin' 
 heevy sceevy doon the Snabe Craff/' said the stammering 
 lad, ^' and theyHl be here in a giffy — rin, sirs.^^ 
 
 The throwing on of their cloaks and hats was the work 
 
 * The poor fellows who were witnesses of this debate, were dismissed. 
 " We met here to worship God," said the laird, " You come to murder 
 ** us. See, we return you good for evil ! Your hands are stained with 
 "blood — Go wash them, live and repent." They gave three cheers to 
 their deliverers, and fled like Indians. 
 
f2' The Froein. 
 
 of a moment; they made tcMards the willow tliiclvct irr 
 the adjacent marsh, and tlie cautious dame hastened tore- 
 move all traces of u;uests having been at her board. Jolui 
 led the way ; the laird, in his easjerness to help on the 
 venerable Cargil and Peden, was tlie last who ajiproach- 
 ed the covert. They were all safely in shelter, when the 
 laird discovered, by a shout fi'om the neighbouring height, 
 that he was seen. A trooper, w ho acted as sentin'il, had 
 takiMi his station on a knoll above the old mansion house, 
 and his keen eyes fell on the laird struggling through the, 
 swamp. To have gone forward would have detected all, 
 ^' Better lost one Ufe,'^ said he, " than sacrijice all — 
 ^•' Ji-epp close in your retreat: your host is the scajje-goat ; 
 »' leave me to my fate.'^ He had instantly formed his 
 plan. He stretched his course, at a slow pace, toward the 
 southern extremity of the swamp. The trooper coursed 
 aronnd on the highlands to receive him. He had rode a 
 semicircle of about a mile. The laird gained his object. 
 Before became v/ithin reach of the life-guard^s carbine, he 
 faced about, and made a s'ift retreat to the plains on the 
 lower part of his dairy lands, at the junction of the Aven 
 and the Geel. The intrepid soldier saw, and took a 
 course which would have carried him directly through the 
 bushes where the sufferers were uttering a prayer foi* 
 their host. He plunged forward : but after a few vain 
 struggles, the horse and his rider sunk beneath the green 
 sward, and rose no more. The laird, n<»t supposing that 
 the soldier v. ould attempt the marsh, had calculated that 
 he would return by the same course ; and he was sure 
 that he could gain a covert before his pursuer could over- 
 take him On seeing his fate, he was returning, with tb 
 speedy step, to the retreat of his friends ; but before he 
 Gould gain it, the other troopers, having by this time finish- 
 ed their search in the house, perceived him, and set out 
 in full chase after him. " That wild bugle note, that roused 
 '^ to the fierce chase, rung on my ear," the laird often re- 
 peated, " as my death note." He instantly turned about 
 again ; he had gained the plain; he had waded the dark 
 stream o£^the Aven ; he was struggling up a steep defile, 
 when a trooper came up with him. Unfortunately the 
 laird wa^ unarmed. He faced about to meet his fate. 
 *' i have at least sg,ved my friends/' said he, ^^ and lam 
 
Tlie Proem. 13 
 
 " at peace ivitJi my God/^ The dtagoou, in turning an 
 angle, v.as suddenly on him; he was too near him to 
 slioot ; lie felled him with his carbine to the ground. At 
 tiiat moment he heard the loud shouts of his coniiades, 
 who had discovered a ccmventicle, at that moment, dis- 
 missing; or some of the wanderers fleeing to the rjoiin- 
 tains on tiie opposite side of the Aven, in consequence of 
 the approach of the dragoons. His speedy retreat to join 
 his companions saved the laird's life, for the blow was not 
 repeated. 
 
 The next adventure represents the laird and his brother 
 John taken prisoners, but not by the life-guards ; it was 
 by some of Inglis' troops. Tiiey were marched on Kil- 
 marnock. As they passe{l the defiles near Lochgate, and 
 were approaching Loudon hill, in a dark evening, they 
 effected their escape from the dragoons who had the 
 charge of them. It was in consequence of the laird's ex- 
 eiting an interest in the bosoms of these more humane fel- 
 lows in behalf of their prisoners. " Jlly jjoor lady and 
 ** my babes aill bless you for the favom%^' said the laird^ 
 grasping his hand, and enforcing his petition. *^ Can a 
 *' man — a soldier, refuse me my Ife^ Ton have no more 
 *^ to do than slip us ojffrom this bandage, and fire ajjistol 
 *^ over our heads : we shall give you no further trouble.^' 
 A tear fell from tlje eyes of the dragoon, as he made the 
 appeal in behalf of his wife and babes ; and a smile light- 
 ed up his face at the conclusion of the laird's speech. 
 " You are too clever a fellow to go before the council/^ 
 said he, while he and his companion (who had fallen into 
 the rear) secretly unbuckled the belt by which they had 
 lashed their prisoners to their bodies. They slipped oiT,. 
 and rushed down from the narrow path into a steej) defile.^ 
 The dragoons gave tlie instant alarm, and fired over their 
 heads; the place, and darkness of the night, rendered all 
 search vain. <' JVever doubt my powers of argument after 
 this,'^ said the laird ; ^' if i can reach the heaH of one of 
 ^'^ Charlie'' s dragoons, I surely can touch Fux^s con- 
 " science^ The laird often told this anecdote while he 
 sat beside his dame, with a babe on each of his knees, 
 and he delighted to add how his andro-ferrara saved the 
 life of this same dragoon, at the battle of Bothwell, from 
 tlie sword of Burley, which was descending on his head; 
 
14 The Proem. 
 
 and which would have cloven him to the teeth. " It im^ 
 '^ a delicious moment amid the carnage of a battle/' he 
 used to say. '• A look from the brave fellow, at the moment 
 ^•' it'hen he felt himself brought back from the verge of eter- 
 '* nitij, told me that he teas more than repaid for all that he 
 " had done for me.'' 
 
 After many adventures, laird Thomas was taken pri- 
 soner at the battle of Bothwell. By some unaccountable 
 act of clemency, he was doomed only to banishment. 
 The vessel sailed for Virginia, with two hundred and 
 fifty victims of religious tyranny ; but the ship was not 
 destined to cross the Atlantic. It struck on the Mule 
 head of Darness, near the Orkneys, and two hundred of 
 the wanderers were drowned. Fifty escaped — the laird 
 was one of them. He was thrown on the waves; a surge 
 carried him over a high peak, and laid him on the top of 
 a cliff; he was washed back ; another, and a greater bil- 
 low, threw him battered and bruised on a rock, whence 
 he was taken by some humane people; and in spite of 
 Clavers and council, and winds and waves, he returned 
 once more, by the grace of God, to bless his desolate and 
 afflicted family.* 
 
 The laird had fought in different battles against the 
 enemies of his country and of the kirk. Of Bothwell he 
 never was heard to say much ; of Ayrsmoor he never made 
 mention without shedding tears over the memories of 
 Kichard Cameron, and the gallant general Hackstone ; 
 the first fell by his side, the latter was taken captive, and 
 literally butchered, and his limbs suspended on the 
 shambles of the council ; of Drumclog he spoke with mi- 
 litary enthusiasm. 
 
 The following is the laird's account of the battle : the 
 spelling and style have, of course, undergone some cor- 
 rection. I have profited also by family tradition, parti- 
 cularly fiom two aunts, the last of whom died lately in 
 Pennsylvania, aged nearly ninety. She was the grand- 
 daughter of the laird's second son, and being of the ge- 
 nuine " covenanting branch of the family," her mind was 
 rich in the traditions, or I should say history of the whigs. 
 
 * See his name, Thomas Brownlee of Avendale, " Cloud of Wit- 
 nesses," p. 334, Lond. edit. By mistake he is numbered among the lost. 
 
The Proem. 15 
 
 THE BATTLE OF DRUxMCLOG. 
 
 " EaSowro, £««;:^ovto, uvtitrttyty, ATcSvocdcoy." Xenopll. 
 
 On a fair Sabbath morning in June, of A. D. 1679, an 
 assembly of covenanters sat down on the heathy moun- 
 tains of Drumclog. VV^e liad assembled not to fight, but 
 to worship tlie God of our fathers. We w ere far from the 
 tumult of cities. The long dark heath waved around us, 
 and we disturbed no living creatures saving tiie pees- 
 "weep,* and the heather-cock. As usual we had come 
 armed. It was for self-defence. For desperate and fe- 
 rocious bands made bloody raids through the country. 
 And pretending to put down treason, they waged war 
 against religion and morals. They spread ruin and ha- 
 voc over the face of bleeding Scotland. 
 
 The venerable Douglas had commenced the solem- 
 nities of the day. He was expatiating on the execrable 
 evils of tyranny. Our souls were on lire at the remem- 
 brance of our country's suiferings, and the wrongs of the 
 church. In this moment of intense feeling, our watch- 
 man posted on the neighbouriug height, tired his carbine, 
 and ran toward the congregation. He announced the ap- 
 proach of tlie enemy. We raised our eyes to the minister. 
 *^ I have done," said Douglas, with his usual firmness. 
 ^^ You have got the theory, now for the practice ; you 
 know you duty ; self-defence is always lawful. But the 
 enemy approaches." He raised his eyes to heaven, and 
 uttered a prayer, brief and emphatic, like the prayer of 
 Kichard Cameron. " Lord spare the green, and take 
 the ripe." 
 
 The officers collected their men, and placed themselves 
 each at the head of those of his own district. Sir Robert 
 Hamilton placed the foot in the centre, in three ranks. A 
 company of horse, well armed and mounted, was placed 
 on the left; and a small squadron also on the left. These 
 were drawn back, and they occupied the more solid 
 ground ; as well with a view to have a more firm footing, 
 as to arrest any flanking party that might take them on 
 the wings. A deep morass lay between us and the ground 
 of the enemy. Our aged men, our females and children 
 
 * AnglicCi Teewit, or lapwing. 
 
16 The Proem. 
 
 retired. But they retired slowly. They had the hearts 
 and the courage of the females and children in i!i(t-;e days 
 of intense religious feelini;\ and of j^nfiering. They mani- 
 fested more concern for tlie fate of relativ es — for the fate 
 of the church, than for their own personal safety. As 
 Claverhousc descended t!ie opposite raouiitains, they re- 
 tired to the rising ground in the rear of our host. Tiie 
 aged men walked with their bonnets in liand. Their lotig 
 gray locks waved in the breeze. They sang a cheering 
 pscilm. The music was tliat of the well known tune of 
 the ^'•' ^lartyrs;" and the sentiment breathed detiance. 
 The music floated down on the wind. Our men gave 
 them three cheers as they fell into their ranks. Never 
 did I witness such aniuiafion in the looks of men. For 
 me, my spouse, and my little children were in the rear. 
 My native [)lains, and the halls of my father, far below, 
 in the dale of Aven, were full in view, from the heights 
 "which we occupied. My country seemed to raise her 
 voice — tlie Ijleeding church seemed to wail aloud, *• And 
 these/'' 1 said, as (31avers and his troops winded slovvly 
 down the dark mountain's side, "these are the unworthy 
 slaves, and bloody executioners, by which the tyrant 
 completes our raiserie>." 
 
 Hamilton here displayed th€ hero. His portly figure 
 was seen hastening from rank to rank. He inspired 
 courage into our raw and undisciplined troops. The 
 brave Hackstone, and Hall, of Haughhead, stood at the 
 liead of the foot, and re-echoed the sentiments of their 
 chief. Burley and Cleland had iniiamed the minds of the 
 horsemen on the left, to a noble enthusiasm. My small 
 troop on the right, needed no exhortation. We were a 
 band of brothers, resolved to conquer or fall. 
 
 The trumpet of Clavers sounded a loud note of defi- 
 ance. The kettle-drum mixed its tumultuous roll They 
 halted. They made a long pause. We could see an offi- 
 cer with four file, conducting fifteen persons from the 
 ranks, to a knoll on their left. 1 could perceive one in 
 black. It was my friend King, the chaplain of lord Car- 
 dross, who had been taken prisoner by Clavers, at Ha- 
 milton. " Let them be shot through the head," said 
 Clavers, with his usual dry way, " if they should ofler 
 to run away.'' We could isee him view our position with 
 
TJie Proem. 17 
 
 great care. His officers came arouiul him. We soon 
 learned tliat he wished to treat with us. He never he- 
 trayed symptoms of mercy or of justice, nor offered terms 
 of reconciliation, unless when he dreaded that he had met 
 his match. And even then it was only a manoeuvre to 
 gain time, or to deceive. Mis flag approaclied the edge 
 of the hog. Sir Robert held a flag sacred ; had it been 
 borne by Clavers himself, he had honoured it. He de- 
 manded the purpose for which he came. " I came," 
 vsaid he, " in the name of his sacred majesty, and of col. 
 Grahame, to offer you a pardon, on condition that you lay 
 down your arms, and deliver up your ringleaders." 
 *^Tell your officer," said sir Robert, ^' that we are fully 
 aware of the deception he practises. He is not clothed 
 with any powers to treat, nor was he sent out to treat with 
 us, and attempt a reconciliation. The government against 
 whom we have risen, refuses to redress our grievances, or 
 to restore ws our liberties. Had the tyrant wished to ren- 
 der us justice, he had not sent by the hands of such a fe- 
 rocious assassin as Claverhouse. Let him, however, show 
 his powers, and we refuse not to treat. And we shall lay 
 down our arms to treat, provided that he also lay down 
 his. Thou hast my answer." ^* It is a hopeless cause," 
 said Burley, while lie called after the flag. '^ Let me add 
 one word, by your leave, general — Get thee up to that 
 bloody dragoon, Clavers, and tell him that we will spare 
 his life, and the lives of his troops, on condition that he, 
 your Clavers, lay down his arms, and the arms of these 
 troops. We will do more ; as we have no prisons on 
 these wild mountains, we will even let him go on his pa- 
 role, on condition that he swear never to lift arms against 
 the religion and the liberties of his country." A loudburst 
 of applause re-echoed from the ranks; and after a long 
 pause in deep silence, the army sang the psalm yet sung 
 in the Scottish churches. 
 
 " These arrows of the bow he break, 
 
 The shield, the sword, the war ; 
 More glorious thou than hills of prey, 
 
 More excellent art far. 
 
 Those that are stout of heart are spoil'd, 
 
 They slept their sleep outright, 
 And none of them their hands did find, 
 
 That were the men of might." &c. 
 5 
 
18 The Vroem. 
 
 When the report was made to Claverhouse, he gave the 
 word \A ilh a savage ferocity. " Their hlood he on their 
 own heads. Be no quarters the word this day."* His 
 fierce dragoons raised a yell, and no quarters re-echoed 
 from rank to rank, while they galloped down the moun- 
 tain's side. It is stated that Burley was heard to say, 
 *' Ti)en he it so — even let there he no quarters — at least 
 in my wing of the host. So God send me a meeting/' 
 cried he aloud, " with that chief under the white plume. 
 My country would bless my memory, could my sword 
 give his villanous carcase to the crows." 
 
 Our raw troops beheld, with firmness, the approach of 
 the foemen ; and at the moment when the enemy halted to 
 fire, the whole of our foot dropton the heath. Not a man 
 was seen to remain down, when the order was given to 
 rise, and return the fire. The first rank fired, then kneeled 
 down, while the second fired. They made each bullet 
 tell. As often as the lazy rolling smoke Avas carried over 
 the enemy's heads, a shower of bullets fell on his ranks. 
 Many a gallant man tumbled on the heath. The fire was 
 incessant. It resembled one blazing sheet of flame, for 
 several minutes along the line of the covenanters, t'lavers 
 attempted to cross the morass, and break our centre. 
 *• Spearmen! to the front," I could hear the deep-toned 
 voice of Hamilton say, " Kneel, and place your spears to 
 receive the enemy's cavalry ; and you, my gallant fellows, 
 fire — God and our Country, is our word." Our officers 
 flew from rank to rank. Not a peasant gave way that day. 
 As the smoke rolled oif, we could see Clavers urging on 
 Lis men with the violence of despair. His troops fell in 
 hea{)s around him, and still the gaps were filled up. A 
 galled trooper Avouid occasioimlly flinch ; but ere he could 
 turn or flee, the sword of Clavers was waving over his 
 head. I could see him in his fury strike both man and 
 horse. In the fearful carnage he himself sometimes reel- 
 ed. He would siop short in the midst of a movement: 
 then contradict his own orders, and strike the man be- 
 cause he could not comprehend his meaning. 
 
 He ordered flanking parties to take us on our right and 
 left. " In the name of God," cried he, " cross the bog, 
 
 * This fact I find stated also in the " Scots Worthies," p. 408. Edinb. 
 Edit, of IS 12. 
 
The Proem. 19 
 
 ami charge them on the flaaks, till we get over this morass. 
 If this fail, we are lost." 
 
 It now fell to my lot to come into action. Hitherto we 
 had fired only some distant shot. A gallant officer led his 
 band down on the borders of tlie swamp, in search of a 
 proper place to cross. We threw ourselves before him. 
 A severe firing commenced. My gallant men fired with 
 great steadiness. Yv e coiild see many tumbling from their 
 saddles. Not content with rej)elling the foen)en, we found 
 our opportunity to cross, and attacked them sword in 
 hand. The captain, whose name I afterwards ascertained 
 to be Arrol, threw himself in my path. In the first shock 
 I discharged my pistols. IJis sudden start in his saddle 
 told me that one of them had taken effect. With one of 
 the tremendous oaths of Charles II. he closed with me. 
 He fired his steel pistol — I was in front of him. My 
 sword glanced on the weapon, and gave a direction to the 
 bullet which saved my life. J5y this time my men had 
 driven the enemy before them, and had left the ground 
 clear for the single combat. As he made a lounge at my 
 breast, I turned his sword aside^ by one of those sweep- 
 ing blows, which are rather the dictate of a kind of iu- 
 stict of self-defence, than a movement of art. As our 
 strokes redoubled, my antagonist's dark features put on a 
 look of deep and settled ferocity. No man, who has not 
 encountered the steel of his enemy in the field of battle, 
 can conceive the looks, and the manner of the warrior in 
 the moments of his intense feelings. May I never witness 
 them again. We fought in silence. My stroke fell on 
 his left shoulder — it cut the belt of his carbine, which fe'l 
 to the ground. His blow cut me to the rib, glanced along 
 the bone, and rid me also of the weight of my carbine. He 
 had now advanced too near me to l)e struck with the 
 sword — I grasped him by the collar; I pushed him back- 
 ward, and with an entangled blow of my ferrara I struck 
 him across his throat. It cut only the strap of his head- 
 piece, and it fell off. AVith a sudden spring he seized me 
 by the sword belt — our horses reared, and we both came 
 to the ground. We rolled on the heath in deadly con- 
 flict. It was in this situation of matters that my brave fel- 
 lows had returned from the rout of the flanking party, to 
 look after their commander. One of them was actually 
 
20 The Proem. 
 
 I'lisliing on my antagonist, when I called to him to re- 
 tiv'/.* We started to our feet, Each grasped his sword. 
 We closed in conflict again. After parrying strokes of 
 mine enemy, which indicated a hellish ferocity, I told him 
 my object was to take him prisoner ; that sooner than kill 
 liini, I should order my men to seize him. '^ Sooner let 
 my soul be brandered on my ribs in hell," said he, '• than 
 be captured by a whigamore. .Ao quarter is the word of 
 my colonel, and my word. Have at thee whig — 1 dare 
 the whole of you to the combat." " Leave tlie madman 
 to me — leave the field instantly," said I to my party, 
 whom 1 could hardly restrain. My sword fell on his 
 right shoulder. His sword dropt from his hand. I low- 
 ered my sword, and offered him his life. '^ JS'*u quarter,^ 
 said he witli a shriek of despair. He snatched his sword, 
 Aviiich 1 held in my hand, and made a plunge at my breast. 
 I parried his blows, till he was nearly exhausted. But 
 gathering up his huge limbs, he put forth all his energy 
 in a thrust at my heart. My audro-ferrara received it so 
 as to weaken its deadly force; but it made a deep cut. 
 Though I was faint with loss of blood, I left him no 
 time for another blow. My sword glanced on his shoul- 
 der, cut thn^ugii his buiT coat, and skin, and flesh ; swept 
 through his javt , and laid open his throat from ear to ear. 
 The lire of his ferocious eye was quenched in a moment. 
 He reeled — and failing with a terrible clash, he poured 
 out his soul v.'ith .a torrent of blood on the heath. I sunk 
 down insensible for a moment. My faithful men, who 
 never lost sight of me, raised me up. In the fierce combat 
 the soldier suffers most from thirst. 1 stooped down to fill 
 my helmet with the water which oozed through the mo- 
 rass. It was deeply tinged with human blood, which 
 flowed in the cor-flict above me. I started back with hor- 
 ror ; and Gawn Witherspoon briiiging up my steed, we 
 set forv^ard into the tumult of the battle. 
 
 All this while the storm of war had raged on our left. 
 Cleland, and the fierce Burley, had charged the strong 
 company sent to flank them. These officers permitted 
 them to cross the swamp ; then charged them with a ter- 
 
 * It was on this occasion that the laird used these words: " Bauldy 
 Allison! let your officer settle this trifle — I nevei take odds to combat a 
 tye, be he even a life-guard.'' 
 
The Proem. 21 
 
 rible shout. ^^ No quarter/' cried the dragoons. ^^ Be no 
 quarter to you, then, ye murderous loons," cried Burley, 
 and at one blow he cut their leader through the steel cap; 
 and scattered his brains on his followers. His every blow 
 overthrew a foeman. Their whole forces were now 
 broight up, and they drove the dragoons of Clavers into 
 the swamp. They rolled over each other. All stuck fast. 
 The covenanters dismounted, and fought on foot. They 
 left not one man to bear the tidiijgs to their colonel. 
 
 The firing of the platoons had long ago ceased ; and 
 the (headful work of death was carriei! on by the sword. 
 At this moment a trumpet was heard in the rear of our 
 array. There was an awful pause. All looked up. It 
 was only the gallant capt. Nesbit, and his guide Wood- 
 burn of Mains. He had no reinforcement for us — but 
 himself was a host. With a loud huzza and flourish of 
 his sword_, he placed himself by the side of Burley, and 
 cried, "jump the ditch, and cliarge the enemy." He 
 and Burley struggled through the marsh — the men fol- 
 lowed as they could. They formed and marched on the 
 enemy's right flank. 
 
 At this instant Hamilton and Hackslone brought for- 
 ward the whole line of infantry in front. " God and our 
 country," re-echoed from all the ranks. " No quarters," 
 said the fierce squadrons of Clavers. Here commenced a 
 bloody scene. 
 
 I seized the opportunity this moment offered to me, of 
 making a movement on the left of the enemy, to save my 
 friend King, and the other prisoners. We came in time 
 to save them. Our swords speedily severed the ropes 
 which tyranny had bound on the arras of the men. The 
 weapons of the fallen foe supplied what was lacking of 
 arms ; and with great vigour we moved forward to charge 
 the enemy on the left flank. Claverhouse formed a hol- 
 low square — himself in the centre. His men fought gal- 
 lantly. They did all that soldiers could do in their situ- 
 ation. W herever a gap was made, Clavers thrust the 
 men forward, and speedily filled it up. Three times he 
 rolled headlong on the heath, as he hastened from rank to 
 rank, and as often he remounted. My little band thinned 
 his ranks. He paid us a visit. Here I distinctly saw the 
 features and shape of this far-famed man. He was small 
 
23 The Proem, 
 
 of stature, and not well formed ; his arras were long in 
 proportion to his legs. He had a complexion unusually 
 dark. His features were not lighted up with sprightli- 
 ness, as some fabulously reported. They seemed gloomy 
 as hell. His cheeks were lank and deeply furrowed. 
 His eye-brows were drawn down, and gathered into a 
 kind of knot at their junctions, and thrown up at their 
 extremities. They had, in short, the strong expressi(ui 
 given by our painters to the face of Judas Iscariot. His 
 eyes w^ere hollow; tliey had not the lustre of genius, nor 
 the fire of vivacity. They were lighted up by that dark 
 fire of wrath, whicli is kindled and fanned by an 
 eternal anxiety, and consciousness of criminal deeds. 
 His irregular and large teeth were presented through a 
 smile which was very unnatural on his set of features. 
 His mouth seemed to be unusually large, from the ex- 
 tremities being drawn backward and downward — as if 
 in the intense application to something cruel and digust- 
 iug. In short, his upper teeth projected over liis under 
 lip : and on the whole, presented to my view the mouth 
 on the image of the emperor Julian Apostate. In one of 
 his rapid courses past us, my sword could only shear 
 off his white plume and a fragment of his l)uff coat. In 
 a moment he was at the other side of his square. Our 
 officers eagerly sought a meeting with him. " He has 
 the proof of lead,*' cried some of our men. " Take the 
 cold steel or a piece of silver.** " No,'* cried Burley, " it 
 is his rapid movement on that fine charger, that bids de- 
 fiance to any thing like an aim, in the tumult of the 
 bloody fray. I could sooner shoot ten heather-cocks on 
 the wing, than one flying Clavcrs.'' At that moment, 
 Burley, whose eye watched his antagonist, rushed into 
 the hollow square. But Burley was too impatient. His 
 blow was levelled at him before he came within its 
 reach. His heavy sword descended on the head of Cla- 
 vers* horse and felled him to the ground. Burley *s men 
 rushed pell mell on the fallen Clavers. But his faithful 
 diagoons threw themselves upon them, aud by their 
 overpowering force drove Burley back. Clavers was in 
 an instant on a fresh steed. His bugleman recalled the 
 party who were driving back the flanking party of Burley. 
 He collected his whole troops to make his last and des- 
 
The Proem. 23 
 
 peratc attack. He cliargcd onr infantry with such force 
 that they bei^an to reel. It was only for a moment. The 
 gallant Hamilton snatched the white flag of the covenant 
 and placed himself in the fore front of the battle. Oar 
 men shouted, '' God and our country/' and rallied un- 
 der their flag. Tiiey fought like heroes. Clavers fought 
 no less bravely. His blows were aimed at our officers. 
 His steel fell on the helmet of Hackstone, whose sword 
 was entangled in the body of a fierce dragoon, who had 
 just wounded him. He was borne by his men into the 
 rear. I directed my men on Clavers. "Victory or 
 death,'' was their reply to me. Clavers received us. 
 He struck a desperate blow, as he raised himself with all 
 his force in the saddle. My steel cap resisted it. The 
 second stroke I received on my ferrara, and his steel was 
 shivered to pieces. We rushed headlong on each other. 
 His pistol missed fire. It had been soaked in blood. 
 Mine took effect. But the wound was not deadly. Our 
 horses reared. We rolled on the ground. In vain we 
 sought to grasp each other. In the melee men and horse 
 tumbled on us. We were for a few moments buried un- 
 der our men, whose eagerness to save their respective 
 officers, brought them in multitudes upon us. By the 
 aid of my faithful man Gaun, I had extricated myself 
 from my fallen horse : and we were rushing on the bloody 
 Clavers, when we were again literally buried under a 
 mass of men. For Hamilton had by this time, brought 
 up his whole line, and he had planted his standard 
 where we and Clavers were rolling on the heath. Our 
 men gave three cheers, and drove in the troops of Cla- 
 vers. Here I was borne along by the moving mass of 
 men. And almost suffocated, and faint with tiie loss of 
 blood — I knew nothing more till I opened m^'^ eyes on 
 my faithful attendant. He had dragged me from the very 
 grasp of the enemy, and had borne me into the rear — 
 and was batliing my temples with water. We speedily 
 regained our friends. And what a spectacle presented 
 itself. It seemed that I beheld an immense moving mass 
 heaped up together in the greatest confusion. Some 
 shrieked : some groaned ; some shouted ; horses neighed 
 and pranced ; swords rung on the steel helmets. I placed 
 around me a few of my hardy men, and we rushed into 
 
24 The Vroem. 
 
 the thickest of the enemy in search of Clavers. But it 
 was in vain. At that instant iiis trumpet sounded the 
 loud note of retreat ; and we saw on a knoll ('lavers 
 borne away by his men. He threw himself on a horse, 
 and without sword, without helmet, lie ted in the first 
 ranks of the retreating host. — His troops galloped up 
 the hill in the utmost confusion. My little line closed 
 with that of Burley's and took a numl)er of prisoners. 
 Our main body pursued the enemy two miles^ and strew- 
 ed the ground with men and horses. I could see the 
 bare-headed Clavers in front of his men, kicking and 
 struggling up the steep sides of Calder hill. He halted 
 only a moment on the top to look behind him ; tiien 
 plunged his rowels into his horse and darted forward. 
 Nor did he recover from his panic till he found himself 
 in the city of Glasgow." 
 
 "And, my children,"' the laird would say, after he 
 had told the adventures of this bloody day, " 1 visited 
 the field of battle next day. 1 shall never forget the 
 sight. Men and horses lay on their gory beds. I turned 
 away from the horrible spectacle. 1 passed by the spot, 
 where God saved my life in the single combat ; and 
 where the unhapj)y captain Arrol fell. 1 observed that 
 in the subsequent fray, tiie hody had been trampled upon 
 by a horse ; and his bowels were poured out.* — Thus, 
 my children, the defence of our lives and the regaining 
 of liberty and religion, has subjected us to severe trials. 
 And how great must be the love of liberty, when it 
 carries men forward, under the impulse of self-defence, 
 to witness the most disgusting spectacles and to encounter 
 the most cruel hardships of vrar.'^ 
 
 ***** <i After the ranks of the patriotic wiiigs 
 were broken by overwhelming forces ; and while Dal- 
 zell and Clavers swept the soutli and west of Scotland 
 like the blast of the desert, breathing pestilence and 
 death — the individual wanderers betook themselves (o 
 the caves and fastnesses of their rugged country. This 
 was their situation, chiefly from A.. D. 1680, to the 
 revolution. Tiie laird spent his days in seclusion : 
 but still he fearlessly attended the weekly assemblies, in 
 
 * I find this fact recorded in Crookshp.nk's Hist. vol. I. chap. 13 But 
 the author docs not mcauon theniimt; of the laird by whom Arrol fell. 
 
TJieProetii. S5 
 
 the fields, for the worship of Aimiii;hty Goil. What 
 had he to fear? AVhat more could he loose? His estate 
 had heen confiscated : his wife and babes stript, by the 
 life £;iiards, of the last vemnant of earthly comfort, which 
 they could take away : and himself doomed, as an out- 
 law, to be executed by these military assassins, when 
 taken. He became reckless of the world, " 1 have lived,'' 
 said he in anguish, '^ to see a prince twice, of his own 
 choice, take the oath of the covenants to support religion, 
 and the fundamental laws of tise land. I have lived to 
 see that prince turn traitor to his country : and with un- 
 hlushing impiety, order these covenants to be burnt by 
 the hands of the executioner. I have seen hisn subvert 
 the liberty of my country, both civil andrelii^ious ; 1 have 
 seen him erect a bloody inquisition. The priests, im- 
 posed on us by tyranny, instead of wooing us over by the 
 loveliness of religion, have tlirown off the bowels of mer- 
 cy. They occupy seats in tlie bloody council. They 
 stimulate the cruelties of Lauderdale, M^Kenzie and 
 York. Their hands are dipt in blood to the wrists. This^ 
 council will not permit us to live in peace. Our property 
 they confiscate. Our houses they convert into barracks. 
 They drag free men into chains. They bring no wit- 
 nesses of our guilt. They invent new tortures to convert 
 us. They employ the thumbscrews and bootkins. If 
 we are silent, they condemn us. If we confess eur chris« 
 tian creed, they doom us to the gibbet. If we oiier a de- 
 fence, a judge rises from the bench, and with his naked 
 sword wounds us.* Not ooly our sentence, but the man- 
 ner of our execution are fixed before our trial. In our 
 last moments they command the kettle drum to beat one 
 continued roll. And when a strong sense of injustice 
 extorts a complaint against our barbarous treatment, a 
 military servant of the council, strikes the dying man iu 
 his last moments. t And as if this sanguinary process 
 were too slow in extirpating us — I have seen Charles 
 Stewart let loose a brutal soldiery on us ... . on us who 
 recalled him from exile ; and who placed the crown on 
 his head. He has murdered our men, our wives, and 
 
 * See an instance recorded in Scots' Worthies, p. 378, Edin. 1813. 
 t See an instance in Crookshank's Hist. vol. II. chap. 7. p. 127. Edii 
 of 181? 
 
 6. 
 
26 The Proem. 
 
 our children. We have indeed formally renounced thk 
 tyrant by declaring war against him. But we have 
 hitherto failed in the attempt to rouse the energies of our 
 sleeping country. It is sunk into a deadly slumber. It 
 has hitherto permitted the tyrant to keep us under mar- 
 tial law. Clavers is our judge. His dragoons are the 
 executioners. And these savages do still continue to 
 employ even the sagacity of blaodhoimds to hunt us down. 
 My soul turns away from these loathsome spectacles. 
 They have cut in pieces the friends and companions of 
 my youth. M'Kail, and Kid, and King, are no more. 
 Cameron fell bleeding at my side. Hackstonc tbey have 
 cruelly butchered. My father Cargil — they could not 
 spare even thee ! Nor thee, dear young iienwick ! Brown 
 fell by the bloody Chivers, at the feet of his wife and 
 crying babes. I have seen my friends and those in 
 "whose veins my blood runs, fall in the ranks on bloody 
 Bothwell, as the golden Howers of the meadow beneath 
 the mower's hand. I have seen the greedy axe of the in- 
 human executioner mangle the limbs of my dearest 
 friends. I have seen the minions of tyranny perform their 
 disgusting service of transporting and suspending, as on 
 shambli^sy the bleeding limbs of the martyrs. I have 
 seen the hammer of the barbarians fix the head of my 
 companions on thy walls, O bloody Edinburgh. And Oh! 
 disgusting spectacle ! I have seen these forms, once dear to 
 my soul as the light of heaven, become naked and bleach- 
 ed bones, under the rain and sun. I have lived to see the 
 dreadful effects of civil war. The frequent butchery in 
 fields, and on the scaffolds, has rendered men callous. 
 The ghastly heads, and mangled quarters are set up be- 
 fore the mob. Mothers and children daily feast their 
 eyes with the spectacle. Even delicate females roll their 
 eyes'over them without a shudder. Our sufferings are not 
 felt ; for the human bosom has lost its feelings. God 
 of my fathers ! bend in mercy thine eyes on my bleeding 
 country. ... and on thy weeping kirk! Shall these men 
 spread havoc without bounds ! shall our blood stream in 
 torrents ! shall the Stewarts and their slaves bind these 
 chains on the neck of our country and of thy kirk for- 
 ever ?" 
 The laird; while he was uttering these words^ had 
 
The Proem. in^'' 
 
 tiirown himself on liis knees. His arms were stretched 
 forward and upward. His long; liair, S^^^ay, — not by ajije, 
 but by labours and sorrow, descended on his shoulders. 
 His eyes, lighted up by hope, in the midst of desponden- 
 cy, were fixed on lieaven. And the tears streaming over 
 his sunburned cheeks, fell, in large drops from his beard 
 on his girdle. 
 
 At this moment his brother John entered with looks 
 whicii betrayed unusual anxiety. '^ My brother," said 
 he, •' you niust resume these weapons, which your stu- 
 dious habits have thrown into the corner. Praying 
 must give way to fighting now. A trooper advances at 
 full speed. And he is followed by a dark column. We 
 have not even time to fly." The mind of the laird, like 
 those of the rest of the wanderers, always brightened up 
 at the approach of danger, ^^I guessed some such tidings 
 from that tragedy face of yours," said he : " Our perils 
 are so great that they do not allow us time to vent our 
 complaints," added he, as he girded on his sword, and 
 put on his helmet. " Let us reconnoitre." What do I 
 see? But one trooper? And that mo ley cloud is a rab- 
 ble — not a troop. That trooj)er is not of Clavers' band* 
 Nor does he belong to Douglas : nor to Inglis — nor to 
 Strachan's dragoons. He waves a small flag — I can dis- 
 cover the scarlet and blue colour of the covenanter's flag. 
 Ha ! welcome you, John Howie of Lochgoin .... But 
 what news ? . . . . Lives our country? Lives " the good 
 old cause ?" " Glorious news !" exclaimed Howie, 
 " Scotland forever ! Siie is free. The tyrant James has 
 abdicated. The Stewarts are banished by an indignant 
 nation. Orange triumphs. Our wounds are binding up. 
 Hnzza ! Scotland and king William and the covenant 
 forever." 
 
 The laird made no reply. He laid his steel cap on the 
 ground; and threw himself on his knees. He uttered a 
 brief prayer- — of which this was the close. " My bleed- 
 ing country, and thy wailing kirk, and my brethren in the 
 
 furnace have come in remembrance before thee For 
 
 ever lauded be thy name." " Hasten to the meeting at 
 Lesmehago. Our friends, behind me you see, have al- 
 ready set out," said Howie. Atid he set off with enthu- 
 siastic ardour to spread the news. 
 
28 The Vroenu 
 
 "These news," said the laiid, after a long pause, while 
 his eyes followed the courser over the pi (ins of Aven : 
 ^* these news are to me as life from the dead : Our martial 
 toils have not heen unprofitable. Nor has our blood been 
 shed in vain. »V e have at last roused our sleeping coun- 
 try. We liave saved lier. We have gained our civil and 
 religious liberties. I feel a fresh vigour poured into my 
 nerves. I feel already the full glow of liberty. I feel 
 
 that 1 am a free man and no tyrant's slave. — The 
 
 parliament and the assembly will, 1 trust, set all things 
 right again. My forfeiture sliall be restored. And my 
 wife and babes shall surround me in i\\v domestic circle. 
 And brother John, what is no small allair, ... I shall now 
 have a respite far from the horrid «!in of war — quiet- 
 ly to finish that v/ork, over which 1 iiave literall,> trim- 
 med the midnight lamp ; with my sword and musketooii 
 lying before me. Gaun Witherspoon,'' said the laird in a 
 higher tone, ^* call my moss Iieaded ostler, and let us 
 have our horses. 1 have a mind to meet my old friends 
 at Lesmeliago. And, then, when serious business is dis- 
 patched, we can take Bothvvell field on our return. It 
 will yield me at least a melancholy pleasure to visit the 
 spot where we fought, I trust, our last battle against the 
 enemies of our country — and of (he good old cause." 
 
 Serious matters of church and state having been dis- 
 cussed at the public meeting, the brothers found them- 
 selves, on tlie fourth day, on tlio battle ground of Both- 
 well. 
 
 " On that moor," said the laird, after a long silence — 
 and without being conscious of it, he had, by a kind of 
 instinct natural enough to a soldier, drawn his sword, and 
 was pointing with it — " On that moor the enemy first form- 
 ed under Monmouth. There on the right, Clavers led on 
 the life guards, breathing fury, and resolute to wipe off 
 the disgrace of the afl[*air of Drumclog. Dalzell formed 
 his men on that knoll. Lord Livingstone led his van of 
 the foemen. We had taken care to have Both well Bridge 
 strongly secured by a barricade. And our little battery 
 of cannon was planted on that spot below us, in order to 
 sweep the bridge. And we did rake it. The foemen's 
 blood streamed there. Again and again, the troops of 
 the tyrant marched on : and our cannou aunibilated their 
 
T1ie Proem. 29 
 
 columns. Sir Kohert Hamilton was oiu' commander in 
 chief. Tiie gallant general Hackstone stood on that spot 
 with his brave men. Along the river, and above the 
 bridge, Burley's foot, and capt. Nesbit's dragoons were 
 stationed. For one hour we kept tiie enemy in check. 
 They were defeated in every attempt to cross the Clyde. 
 Livingstone sent another strong column to storm the 
 bridge. 1 shall never forget the effect of one fire from our 
 battery, where my men stood. We saw the line of the foe 
 advance in all the military glory of brave and beautiful 
 men. The horses pranced — the armour gleamed. In one 
 moment nothing was seen but a shocking mass of mortal- 
 ity. Human limbs, and the bodies and limbs of horses, 
 were mingled in one huge heap ; or blown to a great dis- 
 tance. Another column attempted to cross above the 
 bridge. Some threw themselves into the current. One 
 well directed fire from Burley's troops threw them into 
 disorder, and drove them back. Meantime, while we 
 were thus warmly engaged, Hamilton was labouring to 
 bring down the different divisions of our main body into 
 action. But in vain he called on col. Cleland's troop — 
 in vain he ordei-ed Henderson's to fall in — in vain he 
 called ojj col. Fleming's. Hackstone fiew from troop to 
 troop. All was confusion. In vain he besought, he en- 
 treated, he threatened. Your disputes, and fiery mis- 
 guided zeal, my brother, contracted a deep and deadly 
 guilt that day. The whig turned his .arms, in fierce hate, 
 that day against his own vitals. Our chaplains Cargil, 
 and King, and Kid, and Douglas, interposed again and 
 again. Cargil mounted the pulpit; he preached peace; 
 he called aloud for mutual forbearance. " Behold the ban- 
 ners of the enemy,'' cried he ; " hear ye not the fire of the 
 foe, and of our own brethren ? Our brothers and fathers 
 are falling beneath their sword. Hasten to their aid. See 
 the flag of the covenant. See the motto in letters of gold. 
 " Christ's crown and covenant." Hear the voice of your 
 weeping country. Hear the wailings of the bleeding kirk. 
 Banish discord ; and let us, as a band of brothers, pre- 
 sent a bold front to the foemen. Follow me, all y^ who 
 love their country and the covenant. I go to die in the 
 fore front of the battle." All the ministers and officers 
 followed him, amidst a flourish of trumpets: but the great 
 
so The Proem. 
 
 body remained to listen to the !iaran;;ues of the fac- 
 tious. We sent again and again for amrauniiion. My 
 men were at the last round. Treachery, or a fatal er- 
 ror, had sent a barrel of raisins instead of powder. My 
 lieart sunk within me, while 1 beheld the despair on the 
 faces of ray brave fellows, as 1 struck out the head of the 
 vessel. Hackstone called his officers to him. We threw 
 ourselves around him. *» What must be done .?'^ said he 
 in an agony of despair. " Conquer, or die !" we said as 
 if with one voice : '^ we have our swords yet. Lead back 
 the men, then, to their places, and let the ensigns bear 
 dov/n tiie white and scarlet colours. Our God and our 
 country be the word.*' Hackstone rushed forward. VVe 
 ran to our respective corps — we cheered our men, but they 
 were languid and dispirited. Their ammunition was 
 nearly expended, and they seemed anxious to husband 
 what remained. They fought only with their carbines. 
 The cannons could no more be loaded. The enemy soon 
 perceived this. We saw a troop of horse approach the 
 bridge. It was that of the life-guards. I recognised the 
 plume of Clavers. They approach^Ml in rapid march. A 
 solid column of infantry followed. I sent a request to 
 capt. Nesbit to join his troop to mine. He was in an in- 
 stant with us. We charged the lifeguards. Our swords 
 rung on their steel caps. Many of ray brave lads fell on 
 all sides of me. But we hewed down the foe. They 
 began to reel. The whole column was kept stationary on 
 the bridge. Clavers' dreadfjil voice was heard, more like 
 the yell of a savage, than the commanding voice of a sol- 
 dier. He pushed forward his men ; and again we hewed 
 tliera down. A third mass was pushed up. Our exhaust- 
 ed dragoons fled. Unsupported, I found myself by the 
 brave Nesbit and Paton, and Hackstone. We looked for 
 a moment's space in silence on each other. We galloped 
 in front of our retreating men. We rallied them. We 
 pointed to the general almost alone. We pointed to the 
 white and to the scarlot colours floating near him. We 
 cried " God and our country y They faced about. We 
 charged Cdavers once more. " Torfoot," cried Nesbit, 
 f^ I dare you to the fore front of the battle." We rushed 
 up at full gallop. Our men seeing this, followed also at 
 full speed. We broke the enemy's line, bearing down 
 
The Proem. 31 
 
 those files which ^ye encountered. We cut our way 
 through their ranks. But they had now leni:;thened their 
 front. Superior numbers drove us in. They had gained 
 the entire possession of the bridge. Livingstone and Dai- 
 zell were actually taking us on the flank. A band had got 
 between us and Burley's infantry. " My friends/' said 
 Hackstone to his officers, <' we are the last on the field. 
 We can do no more. We must retreat. Let us attempt, at 
 least, to bring aid to the deluded men behind us. They 
 have brought ruin on themselves and on us. Not Mon- 
 mouth, but our divisions have scattered us." 
 
 At this moment one of the life-guards aimed a blow at 
 Hackstone. My sword received it ; and a stroke from 
 Nesbit laid the foeman's hand and sword in the dust. He 
 fainted, and tumbled from his saddle. We reined our 
 horses, and galloped to our main body. But what a 
 scene presented itself here ! These misguided men had 
 their eyes now fully opened on their fatal errors. The 
 enemy were bringing up their whole force against 
 them. I was not long a near spectator of it : for a ball 
 grazed my courser. He plunged and reared ; then shot 
 off like an arrow. Several of our officers drew to the same 
 place. On a knoll we faced about. The battle raged 
 below us. We beheld our commander doing every 
 thing that a brave soldier could do with factious men, 
 against an overpowering foe. Burley and his troops were 
 in close conflict with Clavers' dragoons. We saw him 
 dismount three troopers with his own hand. He could 
 not turn the tide of battle ; but he was covering the re- 
 treat of these misguided men. Before we could rejoin 
 him, a party threw themselves in our way. We formed, 
 and received them. Kennoway, one of Clavers' officers, 
 led them on. " Would to God that this were Grahamo 
 himself," some of my comrades ejaculated aloud. ^' He 
 falls to my share," said I, " whoever the officer be." I 
 advanced ; he met me. I parried several thrusts. He 
 received a cut on the left arm ; and the sword by the same 
 stroke, shore off one of his horse's ears ; it plunged and 
 reared. We closed again. I received a severe stroke on 
 the left shoulder. My blow fell on his sword arm. He 
 reined his horse around, retreated a few paces, then re- 
 turaed at full gallop. My courser reared instinctively as 
 
S2 The Proem. 
 
 his appioaclsed. 1 received liis stroke on tlie back of my 
 ferrani, and by a back stroke I gave him a deep cut on 
 the cheek ; and before he could recover a position of de- 
 fence^i my sword fell, with a terrible blow, on his steel 
 cap. Stunned by the blow, he bent himself forward, and 
 grasping the mane, be tumbled from bis saddle; and his 
 steed galloped over the field. 1 did not repeat the blow. 
 His left band presented his sword; his right arm was dis- 
 abled : his life was given to him. My companions having 
 disposed of their antagonists (and some of them had two 
 a-piece) we paused to see the fate of Mie battle. Dalzell 
 and Livingstone were riding over the field like furies, 
 cutting down all in their way. Monmouth was galloping 
 from rank to rank, and calling on his men to give quar- 
 ters. Clavers, to wipe oli'tbc disgrace of Drumclog, was 
 committing fearful havoc. '^ Can we not find Clavers,'' 
 said Halhead. "No/' said capt. Paton, "tbe gallant 
 colonel takes care to bave a solid guard of his rogues 
 about him. I have sought him over the field, but I found 
 him, as 1 now perceive him, with a mass of his guards 
 about him." At this instant we saw our general, at some 
 distance, disentangling himself from the men who had 
 tumbled over him in the mele. His face, and hands, and 
 clothes were covered with gore. He bad been dismounted, 
 and was fighting on foot ; we rushed to the spot, and 
 cheered him : our party drove back the scattered bands of 
 Dalzell. " My friends," said sir Robert, as we mounted 
 him on a stray liorse, '* the day is lost ! but you, Paton^ 
 you, Brownlee of Torfoot, and you, Halhead, let not that 
 flag fall into the hands of these incarnate devils. We 
 have lost the battle ; but, by the grace of God, neither 
 Dalzell nor Clavers shall say that he took our colours. 
 My ensign has done his duty. He is down. This sword 
 has saved it twice — I leave it to your care ; you see its 
 perilous situation." He pointed with his sword to the 
 spot, we collected some of our scattered troops, and flew 
 to the place. The standard bearer was down, but he was 
 still fearlessly grasping the flag-staff; while it was borne 
 upright by the mass of men who had thrown themselves, 
 in fierce contest, around it. Its well-known blue and scar- 
 let colours, and its motto, " Chrisfs croivn and covenant,^^ 
 in brilliant gold letters; inspired us with a sacred enthu- 
 
Tlie Proem, 30 
 
 siasm. We gave a loud clieer to t!ie wounded ensip;n, and 
 rushed into the combat. Tlie redemption of that ilai; cost 
 the foe many a £;allant man. They fell beneath our broad 
 svvordsj and with horrible execrations dying on their lips, 
 they gave up their souls to their Judge. 
 
 Here I met in front that ferocious dragoon of Clavers, 
 named Tam Halliday, who had more than once, in his 
 raids, plundered my halls ; and had snatched the bread 
 from my weeping babes. He had just seized the white 
 staffof the flag, but his tremendous oath of exultation (we 
 of the covenant never swear) had scarcely passed its 
 polluted thresliold, when this andro-ferrara fell on the 
 guard of his sleel, and shivered it to pieces. " Kei reant 
 loon !" said I, " thou shalt this day remember thy evil 
 deeds." Ai^otherblow on his helmet laid him at his huge 
 length, and made him bite the dust. In the mele tbat 
 followed, 1 lost sight of him. We fought like lions, 
 but with the hearts of Chrisstians. While my i;ailant 
 companions stemmed the tide of battle, the standard, rent 
 to tatters, fell across my breast. 1 tore it from the staff, 
 and wrapt it round my body. We cut our way tlirougli 
 the enemy, and carried our general off the field. 
 
 Having gained a small knoll, we beheld once more the 
 dreadful spectacle below. Thick vl>lumes of smoke and 
 dust rolled in a lazy cloud over the dark bands mingled 
 in deadly fray. It was no longer a battle, but a massacre. 
 In the struggle of my feelings, I turned ray eyes on the 
 general and Paton ; I saw in the face of the latter an in- 
 describable conflict of passions. His long and shaggy 
 eyebrows were drawn over his eyes. His hand grasped 
 his sword. " 1 cannot yet leave the field," said the un- 
 daunted Paton. '^ With the general's permission, I shall 
 try to save some of our wretched men, beset by these hell 
 hounds. Who will go? At Kilsyth i saw service. When 
 deserted by my troop, I cut my way through Montrose's 
 men, and reached the spot where colonels Hacket and 
 Strachan were. We left the field together. Fifteen dra- 
 goons attacked us, we cut down thirteen, and two fled; 
 thirteen next assailed us, we left ten on the field, and 
 three fled; eleven highlanders next met us; we paused^ 
 and cheered each other. " Now, Johnny," cried Hacket 
 tg me, << put forth your mettle, else we are gone." Nine 
 
 7 
 
34 The Proem. 
 
 others we sent after their comrades, and twb fled.* NoWf 
 who will join this raid?" ^^ I will be your leader/' said 
 sir Robert, as we fell into the ranks. We marched on 
 the enemy's flank. " Yonder is Clavers," said Paton^ 
 while he directed his courser on him. The bloody man 
 >vas at that moment, nearly alone, hacking to pieces some 
 poor fellows already on their knees, and disarmed, and 
 imploring him by the common feelings of humanity to 
 spare their lives. He had just finished his usual oatli 
 against their ''^feelings of humanity,''^ when Paton pre- 
 sented himself. He instantly let go his prey, and slunk 
 back into the midst of his troopers. Having formed them, 
 he advanced. We formed, and made a furious onset. At 
 our first charge his troop reeled. Clavers was dismounted ; 
 but at that moment Dalzell assailed us on the flank and 
 rear. Our men fell around us like grass before the mower. 
 The bugleman sounded a retreat. Once more in the mele 
 I fell in with the general and Paton. We w ere covered 
 with wounds. We directed our flight in the rear of our 
 broken troops. By tire direction of the general, I had un- 
 furled the standard. It was borne ofif the field, flying at 
 the sword's point — but that honor cost mc much. I was 
 assailed by three fierce dragoons, five followed close in 
 their rear ; I called to Paton ; in a moment he was by my 
 side — I threw the standard to the general, and we rushed 
 on the foe. They fell beneath our swords; but my faithful 
 steed, which had carried me through all my dangers, was 
 mortally wounded — he fell. I was thrown in among the 
 fallen enemy ; I fainted. I opened my eyes on misery — 
 I found myself in the presence of Monmouth, a prisoner, 
 >vith other wretched creatures, waiting, in awful suspense, 
 their ultimate destiny." ***** 
 
 " Bloody Bothwell field ! on thee fell a host of my brave 
 companions. On thee twelve hundred prisoners were 
 stript, and laid on the cold ground ; till driven, like 
 sheep, to the shambles of the council. On thee flourished 
 the bloody conspiracy against the liberty of my country, 
 
 * This chivalrous defence is recorded, I find, in the life of capt. Paton,- 
 in the " Scots' Worthies," Edinb. edit, of 1812. This celebrated officer 
 was trained up to warfare in the army of Chai'les Gustavus, king of Swe- 
 den. This is a specimen of those heroic whigs, who brought about the 
 revolution of A.' D. 1688. 
 
The Proem. 35 
 
 aiul against our holy religion. Bloody Botliwell field ! 
 mine eyes shall never hehold thee more.'' 
 
 The laird reined his steed, and they set ofi", at full 
 gallop, on the way which led them to Strathaven. " Had 
 the deil been a hint him, and Jamie Clavers afore him, he 
 could nae hae gaen faster,'^ uncle John used to say ; nor 
 (his mind was so full of his sul)ject) did he stop till he 
 reached the plains where the crystal Geel mixes its tor- 
 rent with the dark Aven. 
 
 The sun was pouring the last beams of day over the 
 heights of Drumclog. and far below, in the peaceful and 
 lovely dale of Aven, the smoke of the evening fires was 
 rising iu lazy volumes over the mansion and the cottages. 
 *' Now lauded be his name," said the laird, as he stopt 
 short, and felt the visions of Bothwell and Ayresmorc 
 passing away from before his eyes ; " the storm of war is 
 blown over ; sweet peace has spread her wings over our 
 fields and in our halls — nor shall the joyful day be soon 
 forgotten ; a sheep^s head and a inch haggis, our national 
 dishes, shall annually smoke on ray board, on the day 
 that commemorates the return of peace — and welcome^ 
 and a God's speed to every guest who hails the day ! 
 
 Tradition says that a sheep's head and haggis, with 
 the oth«r solidities of a feast, were served up to all the 
 surviving companions of his toils ; and that he dismissed 
 them with presents, answering to the poverty of his 
 means ; then, indeed, but small, in consequence of the 
 raids of Clavers: — that after he had comforted his family, 
 and put things in their usual train, as in peaceful times, 
 he called his attendant, Gawen Witherspoon, "put my 
 chamber in order," said he, " and set forth my writing 
 utensils. Bring out my three-legged table — Jamie Gra- 
 hame has left me no better for a writing desk — it is 
 bnicMe gear, to be sure, but it will serve my purpose. 
 Then, Gawen, you may bring out my doublet and hose 
 from my peace wardrobe ; a polemic should not have 
 weapons of war about him, nor any thing that might re- 
 mind him of violence. 1 shall exchange my buff coat for 
 the velvets, the steel cap shall give place to the velvet 
 cap, and these huge jackboots, which have weathered 
 all storms, shall be displaced for the broad-toed slippers, 
 and the gray goose quill shall take the place of this 
 
3.a The Proem. 
 
 andro-fenaia. It is enough — now hang up my weapous, 
 aficr ;voii .^luill have dilii^ciitly scoured theoj ; my sword 
 and nuii^quctoon are, by God's grace, never to be again 
 put in requisition ; but, Gawen, tiiey must not rust. Let 
 them tell my children, and my children's children, what 
 was done and suflered by ihn'iv forebears^ to restore the 
 rei^n of law and of liberty. And, Gawen, you may hand 
 rxit, out these manuscripts. Those are the three indices. 
 That — U't me see — is my jiagan index. The outlines of 
 the riiitonic philosophy are painfully chalked out here. 
 That is my doctrinal, and that my Jiistorical index. 
 These loose slieets are the papers of the two Barclays — 
 the col. and his son, Robert. Tiie col. was a gallant sol- 
 dier, and an honest man ; but the son is, witii all his 
 araiableness, an iucorrigil)le sophist. The callan, I do 
 thinlc, Gawen, has been polluted by papistrie. 1 am sure 
 of it. The gallant col. would not believe me ; but the lad 
 was in the talous of his monk uncle of Paris. That heavy 
 book — it's heavy in mair senses than ane, Gawen — ay, 
 that is his ' tipology for the True Christian Divinity ;' 
 <Puli-hu !' as Clavers used to interject, when out of pa- 
 tience; the lad, though fresh from a monk's cell, abso- 
 lutely defies all the learning and divinity of Europe. The 
 col. was always a modest man, 1 wish I could say the 
 same of the son. Lay these loose papers on the buffet 
 stool ; they are precious specimens of George Fox. He 
 Nvas an extraordinary head-piece, that same George Fox. 
 Thcre^s no accounting for things — we are scarcely free 
 agents in these matters. Had even brother John told me 
 that I was born to be a polemic, 1 should have laughed 
 him to scorn ; 1 was led into this quaker controversy by 
 frequent, but the most perfect good-natured debates with 
 Sanders Hamilton in the caves, and in the Darn-houm of 
 Loudon hill. He was a kind of outre, muddy-headed 
 child, led infinitely more by a dreamy fancy than a clear 
 intellect ; though I used to give him credit that he was, in 
 one respect, like Mr. William Penn. In speech and 
 writing he never failed in having the last word ; and his 
 vociferations rung on our ears like a volley from the life- 
 guards. This Sanders Hamilton had actually the honor 
 of setting up the first quaker meetings in Scotland. He 
 set them up at my very lug, in my neighbour Drumboy's 
 
The Proem, 37 
 
 liouse.* We (I always include my associates, the gallant 
 worthies who honoured my hall in the killing times) have 
 cleared this county nearly of the pest. Why, Gawen, of 
 their once large meethigs, there are now no remains but 
 the melancholy remnant of mortality — their graves ! 
 though I knew not of one who died for his religion. 
 There, for instance, at Glassford, are nothing but the 
 graves of the fathers ; the youth have been converted. 
 You can easily know tlieir graves, my son, [the young 
 laird had put in a question on this subject] for as they 
 differed from all men when living, so they seemed deter- 
 mined to diifer from all men when dead. All the world, 
 you know, place the head respectfully to the west ; they 
 inter always with the head to the east. But Scotland, as 
 well as the county of Lanark and of Ayr, must be purged 
 of tliem — that is, if decent treatment can do it — so let m% 
 proceed, for 
 
 Hxc contentio utilis est mortalbus.i 
 
 as Longinus quotes out of Hesiod. * * * 
 
 Gawen shut the door, with a low bow, and leading 
 away the children, he left the laird to his lucubrations. 
 
 * * * * This venerable man lived to a good old 
 age. He died in the early part of the reign of the First 
 George. When he felt the hour of his dissolution drawing 
 nigh, he summoned his spouse and children around his 
 couch, and delivered solemn instructions and admonitions 
 to each individual, lie took an aflPectionate leave of his 
 spouse ; he raised her hand to his lip, then placed it in 
 the hand of the young laird, while he whispered forth 
 these words : *^ Now I go the way of all the earth ; 1 
 leave off converse with all temporal things — I have fought 
 a good fight — I have finished ray course — I have kept the 
 faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 righteousness." He paused in a long and deep silence— 
 a beam of joy lighted up his face ; he added in a low 
 whisper, ^^ Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, 
 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." He stretched 
 himself out on his couch, and raising his quivering hands 
 
 * This corresponds with the statemer.t of Sewel, Hist, of the Quaker^ 
 vol. i. p. in. Edit, of A. D. 1821. 
 
88 The Proem. 
 
 to his head, he closed his eyes with his own hauds, and 
 M^as gathered unto his fathers. 
 
 I have not translated the following note of the laird, 
 as I have his other pieces. The reader may easily per- 
 ceive the reason. 
 
 " 1 pretermit quhat niicht bee sayd anent the inenny 
 difficultys quhilk I hae met wi, in coUectin thae materials, 
 quhilk ye sail tin in the raackle linen frock, containin the 
 perchments and other instruments o' writin belongin to 
 this lairdship. In this bludy laun, for mony a lang yeer, 
 the logic o' the sword hais bin mair resourted till, than 
 ony o' Aristotle's argumentationes : or, weel I wait, than 
 ony ither o' the skulemen. Coonsel and arguements hae 
 brocht on sair dauds. 13aith gentlemen, an simple men 
 harle, in upo a' occasions, the bludy maximes o' papistrie. 
 They enlichten and convert myndes by hard knockes. 
 And they hae stuck dourly and dreichly tilPt. The best 
 champion aniang us haes been sairly forefochen ; not by 
 spritely raisons, but by blauds." 
 
 ****** 
 
 ^^ I hae had muckle tyme, T grant, and mony gude op^ 
 portunities. But, oich me kintry ! Scotland's no the richt 
 plaice for finishing sic works. In a laun whare toleration 
 is gifted free to ilka ane, the deevers seeks wull ay put 
 cot their horns, like snails at eese on their moist and mossy 
 braes, fearlessly. An' they'll beek on the bonny sinny 
 knows. And they'll streek themselves out, a' their fu' 
 lenthis in the sheelins. They ken nae enemy. They 
 hae nae dreed o' violence. They fear uocht for themsels. 
 They knaw nae weak side they hae. Their hale bonks 
 are rouled out, at their greusome lenthis, butt dreed, or 
 fear, into the licht. To get mine een on this new seek, 
 amang the lave, beeking at its full lenthis, butt fear or 
 dreed, was what I did graitly desiderate. But I might 
 not see it. It was na God's gude wull. Althocht 1 was 
 ains richt neer it, after the cooncel bannished me. 
 
 ^' But I hae, noo, nae doot that sum o' me bairns, or 
 aiblius; sum o' my bairus' bairns, wull migrate to that 
 
The Proem. S9 
 
 laun o' free toleration. Twa raisons hae suggested the 
 thocht — l*^. Tlie love of liberty, whilk I inheerited frae 
 me forbears ; an' quhilk I hae ay lauboured, butt rusing 
 ony o' my ain feckless sarvices, to empreint stedfastUke 
 on your myndes, that will urge ye to seek that laun. 2®. 
 Thae grawin colonies wull, sum daie, become a graite 
 nation. An' they sail be ane asylum to the oppressit o' 
 a' nations." 
 
 " I deposite, thairfoir, in the sayd linen frock, all and 
 haill o' the mateerials collected. Let them gae doon as 
 ane heir-loom in the feemily ; till sum ane o' me bairnsi, 
 sail, under God, compleet the vvark ; out o' the rich ma- 
 terials to be had in the toon of that singulair and graite 
 mann, Maister William Penn, in the province of Penn- 
 sylvania ; and in the province of Csesarea, (New Jersey) 
 over quhilk Robert Barclay, the sunne of my maist wor- 
 thie auld frien' col. Barclay, was sum tyme governor in 
 chief. There, gif the bruit be treuth, there are mony o' 
 iVeends o' the genuine auld stamp." * * * * 
 
 Torfoot, July 19, A. D. 1718. 
 
 In me chree score an' eleventh year. 
 
 O Lord when wilt thoo deleever ! 
 
 Cum, Lord Jesus 1 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 The polemic is often viewed with distrust and jealousy. 
 We live too remote from the impulse of a Reformation to 
 feel a just interest in theological discussions. In this age of 
 divisions, we have ceased to wonder, even at daring inno- 
 vations ; and Mammon has breathed a withering blast over 
 us, which chills the spirit of investigation. Each sec- 
 tary urges the clamorous plea for charity ; and, too often, 
 around the most deformed systems, its mantle has been 
 thrown by the hand of ignorance and religious indifler- 
 ence. The charity which " rejoices in the truth,*' blooms 
 not in its wonted loveliness. It has been degraded, by the 
 crowd, into a wild and hackneyed thing, whose smiles 
 are bestowed, promiscuously, on error and on truth. 
 
 Religious inquiry, and even controversy, is perfectly 
 consistent with the loveliest exercise of charity. It may 
 be so gracefully conducted, as to be made to bear along 
 with it the best proofs of its being the offspring of cha- 
 rity. The spirit that disgraced the polemic of ancient 
 times is no longer countenanced. The religious public 
 will soon frown into oblivion the volume which offers vio- 
 lence to the grace of brotherly love. It demands that 
 politeness and courtesy should preside over religious 
 debates. Polemics have been taught to distinguish be- 
 tween the principles and the man : to recognise the man 
 as a brother, while they frankly expose his heresy. They 
 have arrived at a higher distinction : tliey have set out on 
 this ground — that the salvation of the soul is, with all its 
 importance, something subordinate to the glory of God ; 
 and that, therefore, in choosing a system of religion, 
 there is a higher motive to be kept in view than the at- 
 tainment of salvation. To glorify the Deity is the first; 
 to reach heaven in safety is the second motive th^t gives 
 the impulse. Hence, in fixing our religions system, the 
 question is not " Who shall arrive in heaven ?'' On that 
 
 S 
 
31 Maxims. 
 
 all christians are agreed. " All who love our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ shall be saved infallibly." But the object of 
 inquiry is this : In journeying to heaven, by what reli- 
 gious system shall we promote, in the highest degree^ 
 the glory of Almighty God ? Undoubtedly by that in 
 which the perfect purity of Christ's doctrines, and the en- 
 tire number of his ordinances, put forth their energies 
 over the human mind. 
 
 The man who does rest on Jesus Christ as the only 
 foundation, but who, unhappily, in the hour of tempta- 
 tion, builds on it inferior materials — " hay or stubble'' — 
 shall, indeed, be saved ; but he shall " suffer loss," in 
 that day of joy, when the different degrees of glory shall 
 be assigned to each by the Great Judge of us all.* 
 
 It is, therefore, charity in one of its loveliest movements, 
 that prompts the christian to raise his voice and to expose 
 to his fellow men the dangers and the losses which ne- 
 cessarily arise out of error. 
 
 MAXIMS. 
 
 The following Maxims are submitted to the Society o' 
 Friends, and to all those who will follow me through 
 the discussion of this subject. I trust that the reader will 
 yield to them as to first principles, or Axioms. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 1. That is not charity which yields up, through friend- 
 ship or courtesy, doctrines obviously revealed ; which 
 pays court to error ; which makes error and truth indif- 
 ferent ; which separates sound sentiments from sound 
 morals. 
 
 2. To expose the defects and errors of a system does 
 not, surely, imply that we render no homage to the vir- 
 tues and worth of its authors and followers. It is not per- 
 secution. The conscience of man can not be justly under 
 any human restraint. All ought to have an unshackled 
 toleration : but let the press be free to expose errors j 
 
 * See 1 Cor. iii. 89, 6cc. 
 
Maxims. Bp 
 
 iliis is all we claim. And as the investigation and expo- 
 sure of errors in politics never lias been deemed persecu- 
 tion, why should it be deemed so in religion? To teach 
 and convince by arguments, a man of his errors, can no 
 more trench on his rights than to teach and convince him 
 of the truth. 
 
 3. To form an estimate of the truth and importance of 
 radical doctrines, from the amiable characters merely of 
 those with whom one associates, and whom one loves, is 
 surely no proof of a sound or an accomplished miud. It 
 can be nothing else than sheer prejudice. 
 
 4. Human opinions cannot be the standard of divine 
 truth — much less opinions formed through the partialities 
 of friendship, or of men of influence. 
 
 5. Amiable manners and decent morals cannot be the 
 test of orthodoxy, or the standard of divine truth. The 
 young and accomplished moralist, whom Jesus looked 
 on with approbation of his morals so far as they went, 
 did yet " lack" the most necessary part of the character 
 of the good man and of a sound mind ; and he conlirmed 
 the proof of this fatal lack, by turning his back on the 
 Lord Jesus. 
 
 The morals of the christian, and the morals of the 
 amiable and refined man may appear, to the superficial, 
 and to the patrons of morality without a christian prin- 
 ciple, to resemble each other, and even to be the same. 
 In the judgment of the church they are radically differ- 
 ent. Those are always founded in truth and in faith as 
 their basis, and are warm from the heart. Tiiese are the 
 mere external polish — the creatures of circumstance. 
 Those are the fruits which a vital principle of grace sends 
 forth into light in all their richness and flavour. These 
 are the fortuitous effects of a mind bland and polished, 
 but a stranger to the doctrines of the Lord Jesus, and 
 to the theory and experience of the " new birth.'' 
 
 6. Sincerity is not the test of orthodoxy, nor the stand- 
 ard of divine truth. The ignorant and fatally erroneous 
 are as capable of sincerity as the enlightened philosopher 
 and the intelligent christian. We have no reason to ques- 
 tion the sincerity of the Unitarian, of the Jew, of the 
 Moslem : yet who would say that they are all right^ or 
 orthodox, because they are sincere? 
 
30 Maxims. 
 
 Lastly. To pvonounce on the truth of religious opi- 
 nions, from their influence merely on the face of society, 
 has involved men in a series of errors. It is a presump- 
 tnoiis agitating of the question, whether the doctrines of 
 J^evelation have an intrinsic worth and importance. 
 It is a deciding, hy the puny intellect of man, that they 
 have only an extrinsic worth. It is a keeping out of view, 
 (luring tlie whole investigation, the hearing which these 
 doctrines have on the truth and perfections of Deity. It 
 is a declaring that the orthodoxy of opinions, and sys- 
 tems, is to he determined from their heneflting society — 
 ov at least from their not injuring it; — while the lie may 
 he given hy these systems to the sacred truth of Deity, 
 and the holiest of his perfections may be dishonoured. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 1. God only has a right to dictate to man's conscience. 
 
 2. The law which God hag dictated is the perfect and 
 only standard of doctrine, through the influence of the 
 Tloly Gliost. And such is the clearness, and abundant 
 fulness of the Holy Word, that every essential doctrine, 
 and the true meaning of every passage, may, by the aids 
 of the Holy Spirit, be determined from the parallel pas- 
 sages. The shallow and the indolent alone will exclaim, 
 •"'The heretic, as the church calls him, may be as correct 
 as she : he has a conscience and a mind to investigate as 
 well as she." This is the stale objection of the old Ca- 
 tholics against the Holy Scriptures, and it involves two 
 errors : — it is predicated on the supposition that the hu- 
 man mind is tlie arbiter of the truth ; and that the scrip- 
 tures are so obscure that we cannot determine from thera 
 any definite truth — that error, as easily as truth, may be 
 sustained from the pure word of God. 
 
 3. Almighty God has set the seal of his authority on 
 every item of doctrine, as well as every item of law in his 
 sacred word. He has dictated to our intellectual powers 
 as well as to our moral powers.* He enjoins on us the 
 duty of believing every truth which he has uttered, as 
 much as of obeying every law which he has sanctioned. 
 He has as truly said, *lll these doctrines of my icovd are 
 
 * Stapfei'i Theol. Polem. vol.iv. sect.l. p. 335. 
 
Maxims. 37 
 
 true, and thou sJialt believe them with all thy soul — as lie 
 has said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and him only 
 shalt thou serve. 
 
 4. Mail is bound to yield to God the entire services of 
 Lis intellectual and moral powers. To assert that a man 
 may mean well, and be immoral — ov that he may be a 
 good moralist, and yet revolt against God in the moral 
 exercise of his heart — or that he may please by his good 
 work, and yet deny with his lips, and disbelieve in his 
 heart those doctrines which his Creator has dictated to 
 him, and enjoined on him to believe, are surely the most 
 glaring contradictions. 
 
 Hence 5. In a moral agent, who owes the entire alle- 
 giance of his soul and conduct, the best deportment and 
 morals cannot compensate for the want of a right faith, 
 nor atone for the rebellion of the heart against its God. 
 
 Hence 6. A man may be a rebel against his Creator as 
 much by his sincere, yet erroneous belief, as by his immo- 
 ral conduct. The first is as much opposed to God's truth 
 as the last is opposed to his justice. By the first he ^^ives 
 the lie to God's truth, and persists in ^' making God a 
 liar." By the last he offers violence to the laws of his 
 Creator. By the first the corrupt mind puts forth its ma- 
 lice with as much malignity as by the last. The only 
 difference is, that the first is not so evident before the eyes 
 of men. But that does not touch the question of their ! e- 
 ing equally "open and naked before the eyes of Him 
 with whom we have to do." 
 
 PART III. 
 
 In the christian system there are certain doctrines in- 
 terwoven with its very existence. All christians believe, 
 them : " they are the sayings of the faithful." And while 
 they respect the entire liberty of conscience, all chris- 
 tians turn aside from those who deny them, and refuse 
 them communion. The following are of this class: 
 
 1. There is one God. He is in his essence undivided 
 and indivisible. He possesses every perfection. The 
 manner of his existence is as necessary as his existence 
 itself ; or, he is as necessarily what he is, as he necessa- 
 rily is. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." 
 " And God said, let us make man in our image." " God 
 
38 Maxims. 
 
 sent his Son.'^ " This is ray beloved Son'' — and as these 
 words were uttered, the " Holy Ghost descended on 
 him/^ Thus in the essence there is a plurality. Sometimes 
 these are even more distinctly specified. " There are 
 three that bear record in heaven — the Father, the Word^ 
 and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.'^ The Fa- 
 ther is very God; the Word is very God; the Holy 
 Ghost is very God. They are three in one sense, and 
 one in another sense. 
 
 2. Man's total depravity. Rom. v. 12. &c. 
 
 3. The necessity of regeneration. John iii. 3. 
 
 4. The reality and perfection of the atonement by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 5. Justification before God, through faith in Christ. 
 Gal. ii. 16. 
 
 6. Justification before the Church and the world, by 
 good works. James, ii. 24. 
 
 7. Sanctification by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 8. The resurrection of the body from the grave. John 
 V. 28, 29. 
 
 9. ^^ Eternal life," and "eternal punishment." Matth. 
 XXV. 46. 
 
 *^* See the Confessions, Articles, and Creeds of the 
 different sections of the christian church — American, En- 
 glish, Scottish, Dutch, French, Irish, &c. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 A polemic has not to enter the lists with the private 
 opinions of the individuals of a sect, nor with the loose 
 and vague ideas that float in society. The true opinions 
 of every society lie before the public in their approved 
 writings. These are fairly open to discussion ; their pub- 
 lication of them has in it the nature of an open challenge 
 — and who can blame the man that takes up the gaunt- 
 let? They are the assailants — I am the defendant. 
 
AN 
 
 HISTORICAL VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OPINIONS, AND OF THE OUIGIN, RISE, PROGRESS, &C. 
 
 COMMONLY CALLED QUAKERS. 
 
 <* Mihl Galba, Otho Yitellius necbeneficio nee injuria cogniti." 
 
 Tacittjs, 
 
** We are just considered as a good sort of people in the main ; who refuse 
 " to fight, and to swear, and to pay tythes ; and while the improved manners 
 •* of the age allow that for these, and other singularities, we ought not to be 
 " molested, the pubhc, in general, cares little further about us, and seldom 
 "inquiresa reason of the hope in us."....Quak. of A. D. 1811. Mosh. vol. iv. 
 p. 294. New York edit, of 1821. 
 
AN HISTORICAL DISSERTATION 
 
 ORIGIN, RISE, &c. 
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIEJVDS. 
 
 '♦ We do not wish to meddle with those called Mystics, or to adopt many oi" 
 theii" expressions." — Religious Society called Quakers, 1799. 
 
 § 1. All systems of christian doctrine, which lay claims to 
 consistency, have certain first principles, on which, as their ba- 
 sis, the whole superstructure rests. 
 
 The first principles of the religious system of the Friends are 
 reducible to two classes. The first respects the character of 
 Deity ; the second, the nature of the human soul. On their opi- 
 nions respecting these two subjects, rests the peculiarity of all 
 their religious sentiments — complicated and mysterious as they 
 may seem to be at first view. 
 
 I. On the first of these articles there is, unquestionably, some- 
 thing like a very serious defect in their system. According to 
 their approved writers, the Deity does, indeed, possess the per- 
 fection of justice. But it is not that justice which docs make an 
 atonement by the real sufferings and real death of an outward 
 mediator, indispensably necessary. The Deity, they teach, can 
 pardon sin without such shedding of blood.* They admit that 
 
 t* Perni, vol. ii. pp. 15, 529, 530, folio edition of his works, A. D. 1726. 
 
 
 
42 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 " there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the 
 Word, and the Holy Ghost." But from the variety, and the obscu- 
 rity of their opinions, it is difficult to ascertain whether they fol- 
 low the bare theory of Plato's triad; or embrace the modifica- 
 tions of this by Sabellius, or those of Socinus. But their trinity 
 is not the trinity of the holy scriptures. They admit of no dis- 
 tinction between the sacred persons of the most Holy Trinitj^ 
 They deny, in the most decided terms, that there are three dis- 
 tinct divine persons, equal in power and glory, united in the one 
 Godhead. The word and the spirit are, in their system, the 
 same thing; and these are, moreover, the Father— diud they reject 
 the word person from their system as altogether improper.* 
 
 II. Of the soul. On this subject they discover more clearly 
 those opinions which distinguish them from every other sect of 
 christians. " The soul," say they, '• came out of God, and is of 
 him, and is part of him.''''] The soul of man, simply as such, is not 
 the very essence of God. But as God '• breathed into man the 
 breath of life, and he became a living soul," it is of God, it is of 
 his being ; and that which comes out of God is a part of God.t 
 And to illustrate his meaning, Penn quotes a Jewish expositor on 
 Genesis ii. 17, and embodies his idea into their system. "God 
 inspired man with something of his own substance. He bestov/ed 
 something of his otcn divinity on him. He inspired him with the 
 Holy Ghost." 
 
 The soul, which is " a part of God," is, by Christ, brought up 
 again into God, whence it came, whereby they came to be onesoul,\\ 
 Hence, at death, the soul and spirit of man is centred into its 
 own being with God ; and this form of person returns whence it 
 is taken— into the essence and being of God.§ 
 
 The soul being of this divine origin, possesses a measure of 
 the spirit of God. " This divine principle is a divine light in 
 
 ♦ See a more full inquiiy into this subject in chap. 7, part ii, following. 
 
 f Fox's Great Mystery, pp. 29, 91, 273, &c. ancient edit. Penn, vol. ii. 
 p. 521. See also the "Snake in the Grass," sec. 2. 
 
 X Penn, vol. ii. p 521. 
 
 I) Fox's Great Myst. pp. 91, 100, 229, ancient edit.— and their rabbi, S. 
 Fisher, %vho treated Doctor Owen as an illiterate rustic, has exp' essed 
 the same opinion. See his " Velata quxdam revelata," p. 13, and Penn's 
 Defence of it, in vol. ii. p. 296. 
 
 § Burroughs's Dying Words — Seeprcf. to his works, fol. 1672, and ^x 
 ut supra. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 43 
 
 man. This internal guide every man brings into the world with 
 him. Man is fallen from his primitive dignity and excellence. In 
 his body there is an evil seed or principle. This opposes with 
 violence, and presses down the holy seed within. But if man, by 
 proper means, does cultivate the holy seed, it vrill spring up : it 
 illumines all within : it is the Christ in us who speaks in whis- 
 pers: it teaches us all that is necessary to salvation: it purifies 
 and elevates the soul to divinity. These means are not labour, 
 nor study. Learning is useless and even hurtful. The means 
 are solitude, silence, contemplation, and introversion. This last 
 includes the suspension of carnal reason^ and of wisdom, and of 
 judgment : and thence the bending of the whole soul inward to 
 the dictates of the holy light. During this mental labour the 
 holy seed struggles with the evil seed : its success is, for a time, 
 doubtful ; at last it rises, in the power of God, over all opposition. 
 This they call the sufferings of Christ—for Christ in them offers 
 up a sacrifice to God for them.* Its success in rising over the 
 corrupt nature is Christ's resurrection. By binding down the 
 evil seed, or by hurling it out of the soul, it justifies us before 
 God. In the same manner it sanctifies and elevates man to sin- 
 less perfection. This victory is, however, not easily obtained. 
 The opposition created by the evil seed is often most violent. 
 Hence the soul is filled with horror, and the body quakes and 
 trembles as the leaf before the wind. Finally, the human body, 
 composed of the gross materials of flesh and blood, is the prison 
 of the soul in this world. But it is dissolved at death, and crum- 
 bles into dust. The soul then receives a subtle and luciform and 
 etherial body, in which it shall exist forever : and hence there 
 is no resurrection of the same body from the grave.! 
 
 § 2. Notwithstanding the assertions of the Friends to the con- 
 trary, it has been constantly maintained by the learned, that the 
 peculiar tenets of the Society are Platonic, or mystic. It is but 
 justice to the Society to set the proofs before them, that they 
 may judge if it be fairly made out.| 
 
 ♦ Smith's Catcch.and Penn. ii. 410. Bard. Quak. Confut. sec. 4. 
 
 t Penn, vol.ii. 298. 544, 896, &c. 8cc, 
 
 t And no Friend can be displeased with the tracing of their tenets to 
 
44 *ln Histoncal Dissertation, 
 
 I. The Platonic system recognised the one supreme God; 
 and it is probable that their inferior deities held the same rank 
 and place in their system as the angels in their different orders 
 hold in the system of divine truth. The accusation has been 
 brought against Plato that his doctrine stript the Deity of some 
 of his divine attributes. This charge, however, has not been 
 made out. The sentiment of Plato respecting the invincible ma- 
 lignity of matter, which, according to him, the Supreme Deity 
 could not conquer, did certainly derogate from the glory of hig 
 omnipotence : but he certainly did not remove that perfection 
 from his idea of the divine nature ; and did we even admit the 
 full extent of this error, we should find that Plato's injury to that 
 natural perfection of Deity is not to be placed on a level with 
 that outrage which the leaders of the Society have offered to one 
 of the moral perfections. Their sentiments on the atonement de- 
 rogate from the glory of his justice. They deny that the claims 
 of justice against the sinner, are so righteous that they never 
 can, without a full satisfaction, be set aside. They do deny vin- 
 dictive justice. They reduce its terrific nature to the level of hu- 
 man equity. They shut their eyes against the breadth and 
 length, the depth and height of that guilt that aims its malignant 
 force against infinite holiness and purity. They keep out of view 
 those infinite obligations which man has violated ; and by the 
 violation of which he has contracted guilt of infinite malignity : 
 and with a maudlin sentimentalism they aver, that if -man can, 
 without criminality, pardon an oftence without a satisfaction, so 
 may Divine Justice pardon ; and so has Divine Justice pardoned 
 human guilt without a satisfaction !* 
 
 With these exceptions the sentiments of the Society har- 
 monize with those of Plato on this article. The unity of their 
 sentiments is more striking on that of the triad. Plato held that 
 there were three principles, or hypostases. The Father is the 
 first; he is the one,t or God himself, strictly speaking. The se- 
 cond is the Logos, or Word, who made the world. The third is 
 
 this source, after the encomium passed on the Mystics by the Society in 
 A. D. 1811. See the Vindication of the Quakers, Mosh. vol. iv. p. 29", 
 edit of 1821. 
 
 * Whitehead's Div. of Christ, p. 62, 63. Penn, ii. 13, 529, &c. 
 
 tT« 'EN. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 45 
 
 the Spirit, or Soul of the World. The first is the father of the 
 second ; and the second produced the third.* The Word and 
 Spirit were considered by them as inferior to the Father. He 
 never understood, he never taught the unity of essence in three 
 persons. It is a melancholy fact that the same idea was adopted 
 and persisted in by Penn. If there be any difference, the So- 
 ciety embrace this doctrine of Plato, as modified by Sabellius, 
 or by Socinus.t 
 
 II. The ancient maxim of the philosophers, " De nihilo nihil,'^ 
 — Noihing can come from nothing ; — was never controverted by 
 them : it was with them an axiom : it needed no proof. Even 
 Plato had not a scruple on the subject. Human souls, were, there- 
 fore, not made out of nothing. Plato, in his Timaeus, represents 
 the great first cause in conjunction with the inferior deities, 
 forming the inhabitants of the spheres. The immortal soul, 
 which they called the divine seed,l the seat of knowledge and 
 wisdom, was an emanation of God, and was as pure as his own 
 cssence.§ He gave it in charge to the inferior gods to give man 
 a spirit, or mortal soul ; the seat of the passions and the desires. 
 Heraclitus held that the Deity was a methodical fire, pervading 
 the universe : and that souls of men were parts taken out of the 
 universe ;|| and in whatever manner expressed, this was one of 
 the grand tenets of Platonisra ; that the divine essence or nature 
 was diffused through every soul, so as to make them constituent 
 parts of itself.H 
 
 Plato taught that the Great One created all human souls at 
 once. He put them into light and subtile bodies. Besides this 
 they have also luciform and etherial bodies.** These souls were 
 placed, at first, in the spheres that roll in space. In that state of 
 pre-existence each soul chose its guardian demon, who was 
 to be in future its companion and guidc.J]: These souls while ex- 
 
 ♦ Plat. Opera. 1011, 1012, and his 5 and 6 Lett, ad Dionys. ad Hermiam. 
 Cudw. Intel. Syst. book i. chap. 4. and Grot. De Veritate Lib. 4. sec. 12. 
 
 f Penn's Sandy Found, and vol. ii. ad initium. 
 
 if. Virg. iEn. vi. ver. 731. 
 
 § Plat. Tim. and Ogilvy's Theol. Plat. p. 105. 
 
 II Cudw. Intel. Syst. i. 51. 4to. mihi. 
 
 1 " Animas que nostras partem esse cceli." Plin. Lib. ii.cap. 26. 
 
 ** Proclus in Timseum and Plato in his Epinomis. Cudw. Int. Syst. p. 
 788. Virg. JEn. vi. v. 702. 
 
 :^:j: Plato in Timxo. & Phxd. and Virg. JEn. vi. ver. 730. 
 
46 ^n Historical Dissertation. 
 
 isting in their airy vehicle were actuated by opposing desires ; 
 and when the Supreme One conducts the inferior gods to the 
 highest celestial elevation, he is followed, with ease, by beings 
 like himself. Not so with others. By means of conflicting desires, 
 their wings, while mounting to the source of felicity, became im- 
 paired and broken. They fall from their superior regions and 
 enter into gross bodies on the earth.t This is the Platonic fall of 
 man. 
 
 Into these bodies the souls enter with their luciform bodies, or 
 vehicles. This light is shut up in these dark terrestrial bodies 
 like a light m a dark lantern.| This internal light was called by 
 some of them a spirit :|| Seneca makes it a sacred spirit. " Sacer 
 inter nos sedet spiritus." Lucan confers divine honours upon it. 
 " Est deus in nobis."§ And Ovid shuts up this god in the human 
 breast.lF Hence the demon of Socrates, which directed his mind 
 in the search of truth; which prescribed the measures that he 
 pursued ; which dictated what he ought to say ; or sealed his 
 lips in dutiful silence ; which lifted the curtain of futurity and 
 blessed its votary with visions and predictions.** And, hence, the 
 attendant god of Plotinus, to whom " the divine eye of his soul 
 was continually elevated."tt 
 
 In its present debased state the soul is urged on to re-ascend 
 to its original. The " deity within''' utters soft voices ; but these 
 cannot be heard until a dream, or a rapture, or the slumbers of 
 silence and the retirement of the soul into itself shall still the cla- 
 mours of reason and of sense. Nothing is more hostile to this di- 
 vine enthusiasm than mortal wisdom and bodily desires.J| To 
 detach the soul from these was the grand art taught by this phi- 
 losophy. Hence Socrates and Plato prescribed rules for purging 
 the rational soul, and clarifying the luciform vehicle in which 
 
 j Plat. Opcr. 1223, and Ogil. Theol. Plat. p. 160. 161. 
 
 X Suidas, Isidore, Hierocles used this language. Cudw Intel. Syst. 4to. 
 p. 790. The ancient Quakers were, by the wags of that age, called " dark, 
 lantern men." The " light within" was the beginning, the middle, and the 
 end of their extemporaneous effusions. 
 
 II Pletho in Oracul, Chald. Cud. In. Sys. i. 791, 4to. 
 
 § Phars. lib. 9. v. 568. 
 
 H Metaph. ii. Fab. 10. Et de arte Amandi, lib. iii. ver. 549. 
 
 •• Xenoph. Memor. Socrat. & Pluta. de genio Socr. and W. Penn, ii. 
 583. 
 
 ft Taylor's Plat. Philos. ii. p. 238. 
 
 %% Plutar. De Defect. Orac. — Spencer on Vulg. Prophecies, p. 32.— 
 
»ln Hhtorical Dissertation. 47 
 
 the soul was enveloped.* For, being attenuated to a certain de- 
 gree, it becomes " light and wingy ;" it mounts aloft as the thin 
 gas to the summit of perfection. Hence their cathartic virtues— 
 hence their corporal afflictions. By these means they chained 
 down the carnal mind, that the light within might spring up. 
 Hence this mode of address: " Let us hasten to the light 
 whence the soul came : look within : the fountain of good is 
 within : you will be wise if you behold yourselves in the Deity ; 
 in that light which alone is capable of teaching you. If you look 
 into that which is without, you will only do the works of dark- 
 ness.! And this specimen of a Platonic address will show with 
 what scrupulous fidelity the disciples adhere to their masters : 
 '■ O Friends ! turn in, turn in : where is the poison, there is the 
 cure : there you want Christ, and there you must find him."! 
 
 The soul, being purified, according to the Platonists, is eleva- 
 ted to a union with the Supreme God. They are surrounded by 
 divine splendours : rays of celestial light are extended to their 
 eyes : they speak, they write, from the inspirations of Deity.§ 
 At death the body is dissolved for ever— and the soul, bursting 
 from that vile prison, returns, in its luciform body, to God, out 
 of whom it came, and is absorbed into him.|| The resurrection of 
 the body was a subject of derision to these sophists. " To be 
 again placed in the same body," said Plotinus, " would be no 
 better than a second sleep." And Celaus reproached this doc- 
 trine, the hope of all good men, as " erKa*.^xut Ixt/j"— " the hope 
 of worms."1[ 
 
 § 3. These doctrines have been handed down from a remote 
 antiquity. Plato has not the honour of discovering them : he was 
 not even the first whose genius illustrated them : he was in- 
 
 Jamblicus De Myst. Egypt, sec. 3. cap. 7. Lampe Theol. Dissert. De 
 Theopneust, sec. 37. 
 
 • Bar. Apology, orig. Lat. edit. On the light, called it " Vehiculum 
 Dei." Engl, copy, p. 152. ed. Phil — Compared with Taylor's Plat. Phi- 
 losophy, vol. ii.p. 236. 4to. Lond. cd. 
 
 t Sybil. Orac. ii. 79. Ogil. Theol. Plat. 188. and Plat. Dial, of Soc. and 
 Alcib. 
 
 X Penn in his pref. to Fox's Jour. p. 57. mihi — Comp. Bar. Apol. and 
 prop. 586. sec. 13. 
 
 § Taylor's works of Plat. ii. 237, and 238, 4to. A. D. 1792. 
 
 II Taylor's works of Plat. ii. p. 268. 
 
 i orig. contra Cels. lib. v. 240. 
 
48 An Historical Bissertation. 
 
 <3ebted for them to the philosophy of Egypt, and especially to 
 the school of Pythagoras. This philosopher was a native of Si- 
 don : it was in his native city that Pythagoras met with some of 
 the disciples of Moschus, or Mochus, who is supposed, by some 
 of the learned, to have been theMosesof the Jews:* who, at any 
 rate, was a Phenician ; and had, undoubtedly, borrowed from 
 the Mosaic writings, or the traditions of the Jews. Moschus 
 taught that, besides matter, there are immortal souls, and a deity 
 distinct from the corporal world.t This fair system suffered 
 grievously from the hands into which it fell : the atheistic school 
 of Democritus and Epicurus formed their system from his doc- 
 trine of ^the corporal world, and denied the existence of God 
 and of spirits. Pythagoras, and especially Plato and Aristotle, 
 filled with prejudices against this philosophism, went into an op- 
 posite extreme. They rejected his opinions on the corporal 
 world, and confined their system to the spiritual part. Giving 
 loose reins to their glowing imaginations, they formed a sublime 
 theology, in which the character of their deity, and the pre-exist- 
 cnce and [immortality of souls form the only conspicuous part. 
 But matter is invincibly malignant : the body is a vile prison : the 
 only object to be kept in view with it is to get quit of it, as the 
 prisoner longs and labours after emancipation from bondage. 
 Plato was the most laborious and successful of the Socratic 
 school in propagating these doctrines. He died in the year be- 
 fore Christ three hundred and forty-eight.j 
 
 B, C. 270, to B. C. 246 The philosophy of Plato was widely 
 
 spread through Asia by the patronage of the kings of Egypt and 
 of Syria. Ptolemy, surnamed Lagus, caused a library to be 
 erected at Alexandria, and he collected into it every book 
 which he could procure. His son continued his patronage, and 
 enlarged its stores.|| The Syrian monarchy also formed an ex- 
 tensive library .§ The writings of Plato were too valuable, and 
 too well known not to occupy a conspicuous place in them. The 
 schools of Egypt and of Syria became the resort of men of 
 
 * Cudw Intel. Syst. chap.i. sec 10. 
 
 t Cudworth, book i. ch. i. sec. 41. p. 50. 
 
 X Lemp. Class. Diet. 
 
 II Justin. 17. c. 2, &c. Lemp. Classical Diet. 
 
 § Le Clerc's Life of Euseb. p. 69. 
 
•in Historical Dissertation. 4ft 
 
 learning and taste. From thence the sentiments of Plato were 
 spread widely abroad. Thus, two hundred years before Christ, 
 Asia was filled with the disciples of Plato.* 
 
 The Platonic philosophy underwent various transformations 
 before it reached the humble pages of the founder of the society. 
 Fathers and bishops, and heretics, united their efforts to chris- 
 tianize the sentiments of Plato. The result, as will appear in our 
 progress, was, that instead of bringing the sophism of that sage 
 into a christian form, they were invariably drawn off from the 
 pure fountain of truth, to the polluted streams of Egypt and 
 Greece. 
 
 Splendid as the language of Plato is, (and its beauties have 
 charmed every scholar,) it must be admitted that his ideas are 
 extremely obscure ; and many of them altogether unintelligible.! 
 The proofs of this appear strikingly, even on the pages of Tay- 
 lor, who has given us, perhaps, the purest system of Platonism, 
 and certainly the least obscure, from the hand of a disciple.J 
 But the commentators on that philosophy brought with them 
 much knowledge from the Jewish and Christian doctors. They 
 have illumined his pages, and brought his opinions to a systema- 
 tic form. Toward the close of the second century, the sect of 
 the Eclectics appeared. They adopted in general the doctrines 
 of Plato, respecting the Deity, and the human soul : but they 
 added to his opinions the rich gleanings from other systems. 
 This sect arose in Alexandria, at that time the seat of the sci- 
 ences. It spread rapidly through the Roman empire ; bearing 
 down before it all other sects. Even christian fathers embraced 
 its opinions. At the head of these was Clemens Alexandrinus. 
 This christian father was in the habit of teaching his pupils a 
 system of Platonic philosophy, before he led them to the know- 
 ledge of the holy scriptures !§ 
 
 Near the close of the second century flourished Ammonius 
 
 * Le Clerc'sLife of Euseb. p. 69. 
 
 f Longinus speaking ofhim and his commentator Plotinus, says : " The 
 greatest part of the matters of which thej^ treat, is incomprehensible." 
 Madame Dacier's Plato, vol. i. p. 162, Lend. Edit. 1720. 
 
 X See his works of Plato, 2d vol. quarto, London, A. D. 1792. " Heu 
 prisca jacet pietas,'' -vas the motto of Taylor as hegave up the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ for Plato, p. 32. 
 
 § Le Clerc's life of Clem. Al. 
 
 10 
 
So Jin Historical JJissprtation. 
 
 Saccas.* He affected a change in the Platonic system : which pro- 
 duced the most extensive and serious consequences. He held, 
 that the great principles of religious truth, were to be found 
 equally in the opinions of all sects; th;n they difi'-red only in 
 the manner of expressing themselves; that all religions, both 
 Gentile and Christian, are to be explnined by the principles of 
 the universal philosophy ; that this philosophy was taught by 
 Hermes in Egypt; that it waspreser\ed in the purest manner by 
 Plato ; that, therefore, all religions, in order to their being re- 
 stored to their original purity, must be reduced to this stand- 
 ard, which was called the philosophy of the East ; that in the ac- 
 compHshment of this reformation, the historical fables of the 
 heathen gods must be turned into allegory ; and modelled after 
 Plato ; and that, by the same process, the mysteries of the holy 
 scriptures are to be reconciled to the theology of Plato. 
 
 The rules of his moral discipline. Avere conformed to these te- 
 nets. They embraced all the catholic virtues and forms pre- 
 scribed by the Platonic doctors, for purifying the soul, and se- 
 parating it, as much as possible, from the trammels of the bodily 
 sensations, that it might be elevated to its original source. Sac- 
 cas had been educated in the faith of the gospel.t 
 
 In expounding his novel doctrines, his manner was pleas- 
 ing and insinuating. He made a free use of the language of the 
 holy scriptures, and his followers profiting by his example, seem- 
 ed to clothe Plato entirely in the garb of a christian, and out- 
 stripped even the fathers of the church in the profusion of scrip- 
 ture questions. This suited the taste of the age. Plato was not 
 sacrificed; and the badge of Christianity was at least put on. 
 Saccas met the prejudices of his audiences, as the Jesuits did 
 those of the Chinese. He met them more than half way in their 
 superstition. Pie did not ask them to change their idols. He 
 asked them only to adopt a new nomenclature. He brings for- 
 ward a creature of his brain. The body is weak. The name 
 and language resembles that of Christ. The multitude shouted 
 their applause. Their opinions were eagerly embraced. The 
 sect spreads its doctrines with rapidity into all quarters. 
 
 * Mosh. i. cent. ii. p. 2.ch. 1. Or according to others, A. D.232. Lempr 
 Bigr. Diet. 
 I Milaer'sch. hist, vol, i. ch. 9, cent. 2, Mosh. cent. ii. part 2, ch. 1. 
 
tin Historical Dissertation. 51 
 
 § 4. This philosophy gave birth to two extraordinary sects in 
 the bosom of the church. The mode of explaining by allegory, 
 was adopted by Clemens Alexandrinns, and l)y the celebrated 
 Origen. The last was passionately devoted to this philosophy. 
 These fathers took for the model of their expositions, the rhap- 
 sodies of the Eastern-philosophers, who made godly comments 
 on the w retched fables and absurdities of their ghostly histories. 
 Taught by these sophists, they supposed that the inspired wri- 
 ters had concealed their true meaning under difl'erent forms of 
 speech. The plainest doctrines, and even historical details were 
 found out to be nothing more than allegories, containing in their 
 bowels wonderful mysteries. They set themselves with much 
 solemnity, to penetrate those figures ; and they brought to view^, 
 doctrines which no mortal had before pretended to discover 
 there; and which certainly no inspired writer ever meant to 
 convey by these statements. To pave the way for this knight- 
 errantry in divinity, Origen laid down this dangerous maxim, 
 which he never would have adopted, had he been able, by a fair 
 and natural course, to find his favourite Plato within the pre- 
 cincts of the bible: "Many evils lie in adhering to the external 
 letter, or carnal part of the scriptures. Let us seek after the 
 spirit of the word, which is hidden and mysterious.^' " The 
 scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they 
 are written."* It is from this we trace the origin of that scho- 
 lastic theology which caused so much distraction in the church 
 in after ages. 
 
 The other sect was more notorious : it was that of the mys- 
 tics. They perfected the works begun by their master. By 
 tJie help of scripture phrases and a new nomenclature, Plato was 
 christianized. His conducting demon was ingeniously meta- 
 morphosed ; he became in their lips the spirit ; from the confu- 
 sion in his pages respecting the luciform body or vehicle of the 
 soul, and the demon, arose their confounding of the word and the 
 spiiit. These in process of time, among the peculiarities of cer- 
 tain heresies, became one and the same. The '* chy splendour''^ 
 of Porphyryt became, in their system, a divine illumination by 
 the rising up of the light within ; this re-union of the soul to God 
 
 * Orig. Strom, lib. 10. Mosh. i. cent. 3. p. 2. ch, .". 
 f Taylov'sPlatonicTheol. ii. p. 271. 
 
52 *in Historical Dissertation. 
 
 in the fund of the soul, so as to partake of the essence of God, 
 became in their hands the union to Christ within, whence they 
 obtain emancipation from sin, and the lofty honours of perfec- 
 tion.* His struggles of the soul in its descent to its original, in 
 obedience to the whispers of the god within it, became, with 
 these christians, the sufferings of Christ in their flesh. Some- 
 times his demon sunk beneath unruly passions or the force of 
 sin ; this became, with them, the crucifying of Christ in them, 
 and a falling finally away from grace.! He made the body to be 
 only a prison of the soul. Death sets us free, never again to be 
 enthralled by a union to it ; hence they drew the inference that 
 there is not a resurrection of tlie same body which is laid in the 
 grave. 
 
 They adopted also his austere discipline. Acting on the Pla- 
 tonic maxim, that the soul is an emanation from God and is 
 " of his essence;'''' and that it '"' comprehends in itself the elements of 
 all truth, human and divine ,•" they rejected all the aid of learning 
 and study, and indeed of every external means, to excite the 
 hidden flanie in the soul. Nothing, they taught, but solitude and 
 the stillness of repose, can effect this ; the body must be mortified ; 
 reason and wisdom must be checked : hence the origin of monks 
 and hermits. In a short time the deserts and the dens of wild 
 beasts were peopled with these fanatics. The eastern climate 
 greatly conduced to this ; their glowing atmosphere creates the 
 inactive and melancholy habits which distinguish the languid 
 minds of the East.j 
 
 Ammonius Saccas committed nothing to writing; but in the 
 fourth century, his mystic doctrine was reduced to a more regu- 
 lar system. This was effected by that fanatic Avho assumed the 
 name of Dionysius the Areopagite. His writings being spread 
 among the Greeks and Syrians, produced an incredible number 
 of disciples : these espoused the cause of mysticism with a de- 
 gree of enthusiasm bordering on madness. § In this century, this 
 sect passed into Italy, and the islands bordering on it, and from 
 thence into Gaul, and the rest of Europe. 
 
 * Bnr.Thes. on perfection. 
 
 t See Bar. Thes. on falling from grace. 
 
 % Mosh. cent. ii. p. 2. c. 1. cent. iii. p. 2. c. 3. 
 
 § Mosh. vol. i. cent. 4. p. 2. c. 3. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 53 
 
 But the oriental mystics differed widely from those of the 
 West. In mortifying the body, and in disengaging the soul from 
 its influence, and in exciting the internal light, the former imitat- 
 ed the manners of the idiot, and sometimes those of the maniac. 
 They withdrew into solitudes, whence occasionally they would 
 make sallies in a state of perfect nudity, and run with ferocious 
 looks, till nature was exhausted. Some of them retired mto caves^ 
 Avhere they remained motionless, and in awful silence, or edified 
 themselves by lacerating their miserable bodies. Some sat for 
 hours in a bending position, with their eyes fixed on some parti- 
 cular object; some threw themselves down and remained in cer- 
 tain postures until they fell into a trance ; some squinting their 
 eyes inward, fixed an earnest look on the tops of their noses; 
 others, (and hence the UnibilicanI of famous memory.) kept their 
 eyes eagerly and immoveably fixed on the middle region of their 
 belly, or the navel, until the pure light beamed forth from their 
 souls, and the still voice of their divine teacher tcithin was distinctly 
 heard.* The mystics of the west did not go all these lengths : 
 they owed it not to principle, but to the effects of a rigid climate, 
 and their national habits, that they were less frantic, and more 
 indulgent to their health and comfort.f 
 
 There were three different classes of these fanatics. The 
 Cenobites lived in one community, under one chief, who was in 
 later times called Abbot. The hermits lived in cottages or caves, 
 remote from the haunts of men or social comfort. The anchor- 
 ites frequented the wildest deserts without the shelter of a cave 
 or a cottage ; and whenever night found them, they threw them- 
 selves down and slept on the ground. This last class often wan- 
 dered into cities, and mingling with society they called on all 
 to repent, and pretended to confirm their claims to a divine mis- 
 sion by their miracles. They had no regular means of support, 
 but were supported by the hands of charity. J 
 
 In the fifth century, this sect received a fresh impulse in the 
 west by the translation of Plato into Latin. Greek was little 
 
 * Mosh. cent. 4. part 2. ch. 3. sec. 14. 
 
 t Mosh. cent. 14. part 2. c. 5. 
 
 j Mosh, do. sec. 15 & Niceph. Eccles. Hist. Tom. i. cap. 15. 16. p. 
 707. Milner ch. hist. vol. ii. cent. 4. chap. v. Spanhcm, Sac. et Eccl. 
 Hist. p. 934. fol. 
 
54? •An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 known in the west : even to the men of letters, Plato was a sealed 
 book. This translation put it into every body's hands ; hence 
 it happened, said an ancient writer, that all those Latins who 
 had any inclination to study the truth, fell into the notions of 
 Plato.* 
 
 In the sixth century, two events fell out, which procured fresh 
 accessions to its numbers. The one was the more extensive 
 circulation of the writings of the fictitious Dionysius, explain- 
 ed and enforced by the annotations of John of Scythopolis.t 
 The other was the overthrow of the Platonic schools under 
 the care of the pagan philosophers. From the age of Ammo- 
 oius Saccas, these schools had been in a flourishing state. In the 
 fourth century they produced some distinguished men, who, in 
 their turn, raised still higher, the forms of these schools. Of 
 these pupils, Plotinus was the most eminent ; he taught the Pla- 
 tonic system in Persia, and in the west as far as Rome. Ilis 
 successors were Amelius, Porphyry, and Jamblicus ; and in the 
 fifth centur}^, Syrianus and Proclus flourished. Seven philoso- 
 phers of smaller name succeeded Proclus; but the glory of 
 these once famous schools of Athens and Alexandria, was hasten- 
 ing to depart. The fame of the Platonic christian doctors gradu- 
 ally drew off" their pupils, and the edict of Justinian completed 
 their ruin in the beginning of the sixth century .J From this 
 time the Platonic philosophers began to take shelter under the 
 chinstian name. They carried with them into the bosom of 
 the church, a vast accession of strength to the mystics. These 
 flourished chiefly in the east. But the ninth century was a new 
 era to them in the western empire. 
 
 Michael Balbus, the emperor of the Greeks, presented a copy 
 of the works of Dionysius to Louis the Meek, emperor of the 
 westj by his orders it was carefully translated into Latin. § 
 Another and a more elegant translation was executed by John 
 Scot Erigena, under the patronage of the emperor Charles the 
 Bald. That learned Irishman was not content with translating 
 the pages of the pretended Dionysius ; he incorporated the mys- 
 
 * Sidon. Appolinarius Epist. Lib. 9. Ep. 9. &c. Mosh. ii. cent. v. p. 2. 
 ch. 1. sec. 3. 
 
 ■j- Mosh. ii. cent. vi. p. 2. c. 3. sec 6. 
 
 X Mosh. ii. cent. vi. part2. ch. 1. sec. 4. 
 
 § Ab. Hilduini Areopagetica p. 66. Edit, of 1563. 
 
«5k Historical Dissertation. 99 
 
 tic doctrine into his system of philosophy. By means of his 
 writings, which were much read, and under the extensive patron- 
 age of the emperors, the sect of the mystics carried its triumphs 
 into Germany, and France and Italy.* 
 
 The eleventh and twelfth centuries, present a melancholy pic- 
 ture of the condition of the church, and of the state of learning. 
 Gloomy superstition dozed on her throne, and shed her baleful 
 influence on the minds of men. In the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 centuries, the mystics produced several writers ; these gave forth 
 expositions of the scriptures : in all their sentiments they were 
 guided by their gloomy philosophy, and they forced the pure 
 doctrines of the gospel into an odious conformity with their vi- 
 sionary scheme. 
 
 § 5. While mysticism and superstition were struggling for the 
 superiority in the dark ages of catholic Europe, a fresh torrent 
 of the eastern philosophy was poured in through Italy. Various 
 causes combined to produce this. From the beginning of the 
 eleventh century, the thirst for knowledge had been encreasing; 
 the progress made in the succeeding centuries, little though it 
 was, seemed to add a fresh stimulus to the human mind to throw 
 off the yoke of darkness. In the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, the works of the ancients were sought after with extraor- 
 dinary avidity. "• The discovery of an ancient manuscript was 
 regarded as almost equal to the conquest of a kingdom." Among 
 the men of letters, who distinguished themselves in the collection 
 of manuscripts, we find the names of Poggio and Arispa. The 
 last having travelled into the East, returned in A/ D. 1423, with 
 238 manuscripts ; among these were all the works of Plato, Plo- 
 tinus and Proclus.t In A. D. 1438, a general council was held 
 at Ferrara, by the order of Pope Eugenius IV, to settle the points 
 in dispute between the Roman church and the Greek church. 
 In the retinue of the emperor of the East, who attended the 
 council, was Pletho, one of the most distinguished scholars of the 
 age ; and one who was passionately devoted to the Platonic phi- 
 losophy.J During his residence at Ferrara, and afterwards at 
 
 * Mosh. ii. cent. 9. p. 2. ch. 3. sec. 12. 
 t Roscoe's Lor De Med. vol. i. p. 33, &c. 
 
 t Fabricii Bibl. Grace torn. X. p. 739, 75Pi. Gibbon's Rome, vol. viii. 
 ch. 66. 
 
56 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 Florence, whither the council had been removed, he was assidu-: 
 ous in propagating his sentiments. Among the men of learning 
 and influence, he allured from Aristotle to the faith of Plato, \vas 
 Cosmo De Medici. This zealous convert founded the Platonic 
 Academy at Florence. He selected Ficino, one of his domes- 
 tics, and had him trained up with the utmost care, in the new 
 System, that he might be the ornament of the new academy and 
 the champion of Plato. Under the patronage of the family of 
 the Medici, and by the enthusiastic labours of Ficino, the sys- 
 tem gained a complete triumph over Aristode. At the feast or- 
 dained in honour of Plato, it was the custom to read or recite out 
 of that philosopher ; and all in the assembly were invited to make 
 comments on the passages. Besides the more early translations 
 ot Plato by Aretino, those of Ficino appeared first at Florence, 
 without date, and afterwards at Venice in A. D. 1491. His ver- 
 sion of Plotinus was published in 1492. He translated the ele- 
 ments of theology by Proclus, and wrote tracts " De opinionibus 
 circa Deum et animam.^^ " De divino furore ;" " De lumine."* 
 This laborious Platonist gave us a practical proof of the natural 
 tendency of his prhiciples ; he became a warm disciple and ad- 
 vocate of mysticism.! 
 
 This academy flourished under Lorenzo the son of Cosmo, and 
 under Pope Leo X. the son of Lorenzo, a most eminent patron of 
 Plato, and of learned men. From Italy, as a centre, the Plato- 
 nic doctrines were difl'used through Europe by the zeal of the 
 different orders of monks and priests. Among these missiona- 
 ries of Plato, was Nefo of Padua, who distinguished himself in the 
 cause by his *^eatise " De intellectu et Demonibus." He held 
 the unity of spiritual existence, and taught that one soul anima- 
 ted all nature.| Among the pupils who frequented the Platonic 
 Academy, we find some from England ; the most distinguished 
 were Grocin, who afterwards filled a Greek chair in Oxford, and 
 Linacer, who bears the honour of being the founder of the col- 
 lege of physicians of London, and its first president. 
 
 * Roscoe's Life of Lor. De Medici, i. p. 33, 33, 50, 77, 224, 226, iii. 
 293, &.C. 
 •{• Mosh. iii. cent. 15. part 2. c. 3. sec. 11. 
 t Roscoe's Life of Leo X. vol. IV. 123. 131. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 67 
 
 § 6. While this philosophy maintained its march for ages, it 
 attached to its standard, men of letters and theologians of every 
 rank. The former, not having devoted much attention to the 
 christian theology, were satisfied merely with speculations on 
 Plato. It was the latter cla?s that became the bold and danger- 
 ous innovators. They were better instructed in the Platonism 
 of Saccas than in the pure doctrines of Christ. They borrowed 
 the name of our Lord : they were the zealous and enthusiastic 
 disciples of Saccas : they carried into effect what their master 
 had begun : they drew out his principles to their full extent, and 
 lowered the holy truth and institutions of Christ to that impious 
 standard. They soon discovered that their favourite sentiments 
 superseded the doctrines which the church had regarded as fun- 
 damental. The rules for the contemplative life, and the cathartic 
 virtues for clarifying the soul, superseded the external ordinances 
 of the church. Their sacrilegious hands spared not even the 
 most solemn ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 In different ages individuals arose, who had the resolution to 
 avow their opinions, and though evidently guided by different mo- 
 tives, and combining in their motley system conflicting sentiments, 
 and pursuing forms of argument the most contradictory ; they al- 
 ways contrived to arrive at the same height of folly and mysti- 
 cism. 
 
 In the early ages some of them appeared in the Syrian and 
 Greek churches. The most conspicuous of these were the Nova- 
 tians, or Cathari. They placed religion in internal prayer : and 
 they rejected external forms, and both sacraments. In the days 
 of Tertullian a female preacher declaimed at Carthage against 
 the sacraments.* In the second century the followers of Monta- 
 nus yielded themselves up to the demon within, which they ho- 
 noured with the title of inspiration ; and they substituted some- 
 thins; like the Platonic triad for the christian doctrine of the Tri- 
 nity. The Pepurians, among other extravagances, elected their 
 bishops, under aid of divine impulses, from among their female 
 orators.! The Paulicians, who appeared in the East in the 
 ninth century, formed a numerous class of the Mystic Theolo- 
 
 • Tertul. lib. de Bapt. and Wall in his Hist, of Baptism. 
 I Broughton's Diet, of all Relig.ii. 551. 
 
 It 
 
58 tin Historical Dissertation. 
 
 gians. They passed out of Asia Minor into Thrace : from Greece 
 they passed into Sicily and Venice ; and by the pilgrims of Hun- 
 gary, in their return from Jerusalem, they were ushered into Ger- 
 many :* and at the close of this century a band of them, headed 
 by Gerard and Dulcimus, disseminated their opinions in Eng- 
 land.! They rejected the external means of grace, and particu- 
 larly the holy sacraments.^ The followers of Lucopetros, in the 
 twelfth century, were their associates in violence against the 
 holy institutions of Christ. In this century appeared the fanatic 
 Tanquelmus. If ever there was a transmigration of souls, his 
 soul must have passed, in the seventeenth century, into Fox, or 
 into the notorious Naylor : for, like the latter, and from the same 
 gross conceptions respecting the demon, the light, or the Christ 
 7i:ithin^ he fancied himself to be the very Son of God ; and re- 
 jected, with scorn, the ordinances of the church of Christ. In 
 the thirteenth century Amauri published his reveries. He em- 
 braced the fanatical views of Christ in us. He taught, that as 
 there are three in the Godhead, there were to be three grand 
 epochs in the government of the world : the first was the empire 
 of the Father— that expired with the Jewish law. The second 
 was the empire of the Son—that ceased with the gospel, about the 
 year 1260. Then commenced the empire of the Spirit™and un- 
 der this the abolition of the sacraments, and of all external 
 means of worship took place. § 
 
 The repose of ignorance was disturbed also by the brethren 
 and sisters of the True Spirit. Their leading tenet was this ; there 
 is something in every man that is neither created nor susceptible 
 of creation. This is the logos, or reason, or word. They advo- 
 cated perfection, and every perfect man was a Christ. Having 
 this lofty privilege, they felt no need of sacraments, or of any ex- 
 ternal means of worship. They were also distinguished by " their 
 singular and fantastic apparel."i| 
 
 The sect of Whippcrs excited violent tumults in this century. 
 
 * Gibbon's Rome, vii. chap. 54. 
 t Wall's Hist. Bap. by Fuller, p. 120, &c. 
 t Mosh. ii. c ix. p. 2. chap. 5. and cent. xi. p. 2. c. 5. sec. 4- 
 § Mosh iii. cent. xiii. p. 2. ch. 1. sec. T. Lemp. Biog. Diet. art. Amaurj. 
 The Joachimites held the same. 
 
 tl Mosh. iii. cent, xiii. part 2. ch. 2. sec. 9, 10, 11. 
 
Jin Historical Dissertation. 5,9 
 
 They had adopted the Platonic rules for purifying the soul by 
 mortifying the body, and carried them into a most rigorous ex- 
 ecution. They put on sackcloth : they assumed melancholy 
 looks : they laid aside all music and musical instruments : they 
 avoided pleasures, and even innocent amusements, as hostile to 
 piety : they held that bodily mortifications possessed equal me- 
 rit and efficacy as baptism, or any other christian rite : and they 
 subjected their bodies to severe macerations. This sect spread 
 its fury over German}^, France, and Italy. It found its way into 
 kings palaces. The king of France marched in one of their pro- 
 fessions, half naked, and armed with his whip; and the cardinal 
 of Lorraine, pious soul ! gave up the ghost, in consequence of cold 
 caught in his undress, while under the whip.* History traces 
 them down as far as the year 1601. t 
 
 In the fourteenth century Taulerus was himself a host in ex> 
 tending the power of mysticism. The following is the sum of his 
 doctrine. In every man there are three men : the outward, which 
 must be mortified ; the inward, or the soul, which " becomes di- 
 vine, and is wholly like God ;'' and there is the fund of the soul, 
 or the most inward spirit. In this fund God hcis founded himself. 
 He lies there hid. It is there that he begets his only begotten 
 Son ; this Son is the light within. When one is moved to introvert 
 he must lay aside his outward powers ; he must lay aside singing 
 and reading, and other good works ; he must sink down into the 
 fund, and follow the divine drazoings with all his heart. He will 
 soon feel the power of God, the Father ; his spirit will be so re- 
 formed by God's spirit, that he will take the right and pure way. 
 God pom's himself forth into his spirits, and he is filled with light 
 as the air with the beams of the sun. There is such a union form- 
 ed in him that he cannot discern between the created and the un- 
 created spirit ; his soul is made perfect ; it is swallowed up in the 
 essence of God ; it loses itself, and swims in him as in an abyss.:[ 
 
 His sermons contain perhaps the most complete system ex- 
 tant of the Platonism of Saccas. They were preached at Cologne 
 in A. D. 1346, and poured forth a deluge of fanaticism among the 
 
 * Boileau's Hist, of Flagellarites.chap. 23. 
 f De Thou's Hist, of his own times. 
 
 X Tauler's Sermons, passim, and Browne's '■ Quakerism," p. 431, &?. 
 4to.edit. A. D. 1678. 
 
60 An Historical Dissertation, 
 
 Gommon people. They were published in Dutch, at Antwerp, in 
 A. D. 1647 ; and Cressy, a Catholic priest of England, embodied 
 their sentiments into his " Sancta Sophia," and pubhshed a trans- 
 lation of them in England, in A. D. 1657.* 
 
 Paracelsus, the fine philosopher in the fifteenth century, and 
 Postello,t in the sixteenth, laboured in the same cause. To this 
 list we may add the names of Wigelius, and D. George, and the 
 family of Love; but the most active at this period was Behmen, 
 ofGorlitz. This fanatic commenced his career in 1600. Like 
 Fox, he was a cordwainer, and possessed a mind gloomy and illi- 
 terate. He claimed the honours of inspiration. He was " first 
 entranced," (I use his own account of it.) " by the light of God ; 
 and the astral spirit of his soul by the sudden glance of his eye 
 on a bright pewter plate." This flash entered the fund of his soul, 
 and roused up the light within to such a degree, that " he could 
 look into the heart, and the intimate nature of all creatures.":}; 
 Being thus constituted a prophet, by the help "of a pewter 
 plate," he laboured, after the manner of Taulerus, to bring the 
 degenerate world back to the paths of mysticism. 
 
 Taulerus and Behmen are not a little indebted to their Eng- 
 lish disciples. These have scattered some rays of light over a 
 system enveloped in Egyptian darkness. To Cressy, and to Sir 
 Harry Vane, and, long after them, to William Law, the modern 
 mystics owe their sincere gratitude. These, with others of infe- 
 rior name, certainly reduced the system to something of a tangi- 
 ble form, and put it into extensive circulation in England^. On 
 the continent of Europe they had also distinguished advocates. 
 They had Kotter and Hiel ; and, in Germany, Labadie. The 
 latter stood high among his visionary compatriots. After many 
 J- ears faithful services, the Society of Friends in England did, by 
 their deputies, Barclay and Penn, ofter him the right hand of fel- 
 lowship. And in this list of their authors we should deserve 
 blame if Ve omitted the name of Molinos. He was a Spanish 
 priest. By his book, the " Spiritu Alguide,"§ he did much to sub- 
 
 • Stillingfleet'sldol. and Superst. of the Roman Church, 2d edit. p. 
 285, &.C. 
 
 ■j-Post. Absenditosum. See. No. 612, diied. Phil. Library. 
 
 X Memoirs of Behmen, translated by Okely, j). 8, &,c. 
 
 § Published in Spanish and other languages. Lempr. Biog. Diet. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 61 
 
 serve the cause of Quietism, before the cruel talons of the Inqui- 
 sition had pounced upon him with their deadly violence. 
 
 § 7. The writings of these mystics had been widely spread in 
 England in the commencement of the seventeenth century. They 
 had been industriously circulated in small tracts and pamphlets : 
 ihey had been made accessible to the poorest cottager : they had 
 sown the seed of mysticism in the hearts of great multitudes, and 
 it was preparing to shoot up in every irregular form, under the 
 first favourable opportunity. 
 
 The Protestant church rendered every facility to this; and the 
 question has been invidiously put — " Whence came it that she has 
 originated this fanaticism ?^' 
 
 It is very evident that these sects, mentioned above, did exist 
 in their most obnoxious forms within the pale of the Romish 
 church.* But it is frankly admitted that they appeared neither so 
 numerous, nor so daring, as at the Reformation, and among the 
 the Protestant churches. The fact is this : they lost all their cre- 
 dit with the Romish church at that trying period ; they had not 
 the ability nor the disposition to defend that church in her pom- 
 pous external rites ; they were driven out of her pale. They turn- 
 ed theii" eyes on that liberty, and perfect freedom of sentiment 
 hat was permitted in the Protestant church. They saw that sen- 
 timents and practices which would have brought them under the 
 maternal care of the Catholic church, to the stake, were, in gene- 
 ral, tolerated, or at least attacked only by the argument of the 
 learned, which brought no bodily pains. They, therefore, eagerly 
 pressed into the liberty of the Protestant church ; and being in- 
 toxicated by their prophetic fury, and the spirit of their newly 
 acquired liberty, they were prepared to rush into every extra- 
 vagance ; and in proportion as a nation and a church become 
 agitated by civil and religious broils, the fury of fanaticism rages 
 long and fiercely ; for in these gloomy periods the human mind 
 becomes more easily a prey to superstition. In such times, also, 
 it frequently happens that the ministry, the guardians of truth 
 and good order, have their attention distracted by other objects, 
 or are wholly thrown off their guard ; or they have been actu- 
 
 ♦ Stillingfleet's Idol, and Superst. of the Church of Rome, ut supra. 
 
62 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 ally hurried into prisons or into exile. Then the wolves enter in 
 and devour the unguarded flock. 
 
 All these causes were in full operation in the middle of the se- 
 venteenth century, when the Society of Friends arose. The infa- 
 tuation and cruelty of James I. and the fanatical *tyranny of 
 Charles I. had spread a wide desolation in the church. The 
 minds of the people had, in the meantime, received a powerful 
 impulse, from the haughtj^ encroachments made on their liber- 
 ties. Bold and daring, and fond of liberty, the English rose in- 
 dignant against the folly and wickedness of their princes. Their 
 vengeance fell on the head of Charles I, who died, literally, a 
 " royal martyr :" but a martyr in the holy cause of the absolute 
 supremacy of kings by divine right ; and in the more holy cause 
 of the divine right of a bloody and persecuting hierarchy.! The 
 interregnum of Cromwell succeeded. There lived in that age 
 some of England's greatest divines and civilians; but all the in- 
 fluence of these persons, their sensible and rational piety, their' 
 love of good order, their zeal for the purity of truth, and the best 
 interests of the church and kingdom, could not stem, nor even 
 turn out of its course, that torrent of religious phrenzy which de- 
 solated England. Episcopalians, and Independents, and Presbj-- 
 Icrians rose, and triumphed, and fell in succession. The mighty 
 combat too frequently raged about outward forms and customs. 
 andpriests'' dresses ! They persecuted, and they were persecuted 
 in their turn ! Whilst these three great bodies, united and led on 
 by the best men in the land, were struggling for existence and 
 liberty, the church beheld, arising before her astonished eyes, a 
 new sect, and unheard of before in England. 
 
 The dreadful blow given to the faithful ministry, in the reigns 
 of Elizabeth, James, and Charles, by crushing their influence, 
 prepared the way for this sect. Such was the degree of oppres- 
 sion by the high court of com.njissions, under Elizabeth, that no 
 honest man could safely come forward into the sacred office. 
 Hence the deplorable state of the ministry in that period. Of 
 one hundred and forty ministers in Cornwall, not one could 
 preach a sermon. Man}^ of them were non-residenters : manv of 
 
 ; * He believed and acted on tlie principle of the diviiie right of Jcinpi! 
 jSeo Hume's account of his trial, vol. v. and Xeal Hist, partiii. ch .7 
 
•3w Historical Dissertation. f>8 
 
 them were immoral : some of them branded felons : and some Pa- 
 pists in disguise.* Faithful ministers were not permitted to preach, 
 nor even to teach, without submitting to terms at which their 
 consciences revolted. Hence it was no uncommon thing to sec 
 learned and pious ministers actually reduced to beg their daily 
 bread.t By the tyranny of the court, seconded by that of the 
 archbishop, many thousand parishes were deprived of their pas- 
 tors, and the people were left a prey to ignorance and fanaticism. 
 The court clergy were in the habit of declaring baptism to be re- 
 generation. Midwives w"ere formally licensed by bishops to bap- 
 tize infants. This had a tendency to bring this holy institution 
 into contempt with many. 
 
 The creatures of Elizabeth, who filled the highest places in 
 the church, to roll off themselves the public odium, had trans- 
 ferred the prosecution of the non-conforming clergy to the civil 
 courts. Hence ministers in the church were tried at the common 
 assizes ;J and being thus compelled to mingle at the bar with 
 rogues and felons, neither venerable years, nor learning, nor 
 piety, could protect them from insults. Though called to answer 
 merely to the charge of not conforming to certain customs and 
 dresses, not even pretended to be essential, nor even necessary 
 to th'^ religion of Christ, the vulgar, who judge often from ap- 
 pearances, heaped on these venerable men reproaches and in- 
 sults, which ought to be spared even against the vilest criminals. 
 This gave a deep wound to the character of the ministry. 
 
 Another cause of their depression is to be sought for in the cir- 
 cumstances attending the progress of the tenets of Brownism. So 
 early as the close of the reign of queen Elizabeth, that sect couM 
 count twenty thousand adherents scattered over the kingdom. 
 They were in the habit of declaiming against the Episcopal churck 
 as not a true church ; against her ministry as not a Christian mi- 
 nistry ; against her form of administering the holy sacraments as 
 unscriptural.il Without intending it, or at least without anticipa- 
 ting all the consequences, their loose declamation led the people, 
 insensibly, to despise the church, the ministry, and the holy sa- 
 craments. 
 
 ♦ See the Remonstrance of the Lords of the Council. Neal i, eh. 6. 
 t See the case of the learned Mr. Paget. Neal i. ch. 7. 
 ± Neal i. ch. 8. || Neal ii. ch. i. 
 
64 tin Historical Biasertatiun. 
 
 The peculiar tenets of this sect operated another way : it was 
 their sentiment that every " gifted brother'' should be at liberty 
 to speak freely in the church. The Society seemed to leave the 
 proof of their gifts to every one who laid claims to them ; and as 
 the mass of mankind are not unwilling to admit their gifts, the 
 world was soon filled and overwhelmed with exhorters. In market 
 places, and in churches after the ministers had closed the ser- 
 vices, the " gifted brothers" would seize every opportunity to 
 pour forth their indigested effusions. These exhibitions increased 
 w^ith the increasing liberty of that age. They received a fresh 
 impulse from the fanaticism of Cromwell and his dependants: 
 they carried them to the summit of extravagance. In his new 
 model of the army, Cromwell had appointed no chaplains ; and 
 after the battle of Naseby, the chaplains, who had till this time re- 
 tained their stations, returned to their cures. From this time en- 
 thusiasm spread through the army with a sweeping desolation.* 
 The officers acted as chaplains. Wherever they came they seized 
 on the pulpits and preached. They poured out in rapturous 
 style their crude and extravagant opinions. They mistook the 
 passion of speaking for inspirations. Even the common 
 soldiers Avere carried away by the same spirit. They spent 
 their leisure hours in preaching to the people. Mechanics, and, at 
 last, the women could no longer restrain the spirit: they assem- 
 bled their audiences, and preached and prayed with marvellous 
 fluency.! The voice of reason, and of the scriptures, and of the 
 ministry, was lost in the general tumult. 
 
 Among the sectarians who iigured at that time, we find the 
 Seekers, the Familists and the Behmenites, particularly specified.^ 
 They had propagated their tenets by means of humble pamphlets, 
 industriously scattered among the people. They were in the habit 
 of entering churches, and interrupting the ministry during divine 
 service. They taught by word and by signs. They walked the 
 streets in sackcloth, denouncing woes. Six soldiers entered a pa- 
 rish, church : one of them had five candles ; he declared that 
 five things were now abolished ; and he proceeded to extinguish a 
 candle as he named the different articles. Of these five things 
 
 ♦ A. D. 1645. See Hunie, vol. v. ch. 57. Nealiii. ch. 7. 
 t Warner's Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 569. 
 t Edward's Gangrena. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. €5 
 
 a1x)lishocl, three were the Sabbath, the ministry, and the holy 
 Bible,* 
 
 § 8. In this general confusion of things in church and state, 
 and when the harvest of fana icism was ready for an enterprising 
 reaper, George Fox appeared in his public character : this was 
 about the year 1644. 
 
 As in every other case, where the founder of a new sect 
 is brought into view, the most opposite characters are given 
 of this man. His converts have canonized him. Eccles styled him 
 " the friend of God, and the great apostle of Christ."t And Pcnn, 
 who professed never to give vain titles ; who would not lift his 
 hat to his father, nor even to his king ; honours him with the ti- 
 tle of " a man of God, a true prophet, and a true aposlle.''| El- 
 woocl,§ after having tacked together, in his character, almost all 
 the adjectives of the English language, seems to deplore the bar- 
 renness of its epithets. The Society did an honour to his Journal 
 which they have not yet vouchsafed to the holiest volume : they 
 introduced it into their meeting in the Savoj^^, London, and depo- 
 sited it in a box, there to be at hand, as their text book ; and in 
 their famous school at Bansworth, select passages were enjoined 
 to be read every day by the pupils.|] Some of his converts have 
 gone greater lengths: Audland addressed him in the style 
 of prayer.TF Cole called him the '^ father of many nations." 
 *" Fox's power," he said, '• had reached through his children to 
 the isles afar off.""—" His being and habitation was in the power 
 of the highest, by whose power he ruled and reigned ; his king- 
 dom was established in peace, and the increase thereof is without 
 end." Nor was this the language of obscurity and ignorance : 
 Penn actually justifies and applauds this homage paid to Fox.** 
 It was from this testimony of loyalty that the wits of that age styled 
 him " King George Fox :" his attending ministers were ^' his 
 court :" his dogmatical episdes were " royal edicts."!! 
 
 * Hume's History, vol. v. and note pp. 
 
 fBugg. p. 177. :{: Vol. ii. 211. § Pref. to Fox. Jour. 
 
 II Leslie " Snake," &c. p. 147, 148. ed. of 1696. 
 
 i See his letter, in itsorig. fornn., in the "Snake," p. 369. third ed. and 
 BuggPict. p. 67, A.D. 1714. 
 
 *• See Bugg's New Rome, p. 33, 34, and these words of Cole defended 
 by Penn, vol. ii. 215, 216. and 443. 
 
 tt " Spirit of the Hat," p. XI, and Penn, U. 204. 
 
 12 
 
66 An Historical Bisserfation. 
 
 On the other hand, Dr. Henrj More, the friend of Penn, held 
 up Fox to public resentment, as a melancholy fanatic, an(jt possessed 
 of a devil.* 
 
 The last character who has attempted the character of Fox is 
 Clarkson ; and though it was done long after the subsiding of 
 portj^ spirit, it is as partial, and as wide of sober history, as 
 those of his compatriots. Without examining the composition in 
 Fox's public character, he has contented himself with some de- 
 clamation on his courage, zeal, and similar qualities. But such 
 had Nero ; such had Mahommed ; and a Mary, queen of England, 
 was so conscientious, and so zealous, that she could not retain the 
 lands wrested from the Romish church, " because she valued the 
 salvation of her soul more than ten kingdoms."! It is not the pos- 
 session merely of these qualities, it is the cause in which they are 
 called forth, and the good motives which regulate them, that de- 
 termine the true character of the agent. There have been mar- 
 tyrs for every heresy. It is the holy cause which makes the 
 Christian martyr, B'lartyrdom merely demonstrates the sincerity 
 of the sufferer. 
 
 In drawing the character of Fox, I shall not, with More, call 
 him " a devil :" neither shall I deify him ; and I cannot be 
 charged with injustice if I shall take no other book than his own 
 Journal, and Scwell's History, for my guides. I shall not even 
 take the advantage of quotations from his earliest writings, nor the 
 first editions of his book : I will take it as it lies before the pub- 
 lic, after having undergone the severest castigations of modern 
 critics :| for I have proofs before me that they have expunged 
 ideas and expressions which no modern ear could endure. 
 
 G. Fox was of an obscure birth. He was in early youth appren- 
 ticed to a cordwainer. He was so illiterate that he could scarcely 
 write a legible hand, or even spell. His letters, deposited in 
 Zion college library, and his will, were adduced to prove that he 
 could not write a sentence of correct English.§ He was distin- 
 guished in youth for his sullen silence ; in his advanced years 
 
 • Theol. works, folio, Myst. of Godl. book 10, ch. 13, and Schol. in 
 Dial. V. sec. 5. 
 
 I Warner's Ch. Hist. ji. 371. folio. 
 iPhil.ed. 2 vols. 8vo. A. D. 1808. 
 4 Ell wood wrote his Journal. 
 
•An Historical Dissertatio7i. Ql 
 
 for the extreme volubility of his speech. He possessed uncommon 
 sensibility of mind : he had a tender and benevolent heart. He 
 felt religious impressions at an early age : he spoke with ardour 
 of the love of God.^Had he been placed in proper hands at that 
 interesting crisis, he might have become a useful citizen, and of 
 service to the church ; but he was seduced by the ignorance and 
 fanaticism of the age.] He was a mystic after the manner of Beh- 
 men : he came, like nim, through the ordeal of silence and deep 
 retirement. In his doublet, and breeches of leather, and girded, 
 in a primitive manner, with his leathern girdle, he strolled over 
 the country, spending whole days in hollow trees and lonesome 
 dells, and live-long nights in painful watchings.* He abstained 
 from food sometimes for several days.t 
 
 " The web of thought 
 Was shatter 'd ; burst into a thousaud threads. — 
 He loathed and sickened at the name of knowledge." 
 
 Goet/ie's Faustus^. 
 
 " Qui miser in campis moerens errabat aleis, 
 
 Ipse suum cor edens hominum vestigia vitans." Horn, by Cic. 
 
 This induced a disease : when attempts were made to bleed him, 
 no blood could be found. At another time he was so entranced, 
 or carried out of himself, that it was supposed that he was dead. 
 Out of this trance he eltosc so altered, that his body seemed to be 
 new moulded.! He read his bible ; but he had read Behmen 
 raore.§ According to the doctrine of his master, the result of this 
 mental agony was, that " the spirit of darkness was chained:" 
 " the power of God was over all :" " the pure fire appeared in 
 him."|| The sensorium was so purified that he could discern spirits : 
 for he too claimed this high prerogative ; or, in the words of Hu- 
 dibras, he 
 
 * Jour. i. p. 90, H8. 
 
 t Sec. J. 165. itiSec. i. 99. 
 
 § Compare Taylor's Platonic Operation on the Mind by the Catholic 
 virtues, the fii'st part of Fox's joui-nal. Tayl. ii. 277. That the Pla- 
 tonic writings were familiar and accessible to all, appears from these 
 facts. Penn praises the Platonic studies of Keith. Penn's Let. to Turner. 
 See " Snake," &c. p. 333. Behmen's Avera, or Day Spring, was pub- 
 lished in 1650; and Okely states, that some of B.'s works had gone 
 through four editions before /z/« new translation. 
 
 !l Sec. i. 94. 
 
68 Jin historical Dissertation, 
 
 " Had lights where other eyes were blind. 
 As pigs are said to see the wind." 
 
 Like Behraen, he carried his spirit of discerning into the virtues 
 of plants and creatures :* but he played it off to grander effect 
 on the human heart. He discerned who were saints, who were 
 devils, or apostates, '■'■ without speaking aicorfl!."t He was particu- 
 larly successful in this line among the fair and frail members of 
 his audience. '• Thou hast been a harlot,*' said this oracle to one : 
 " Thou hast an unclean spirit," said he to another, with an ef- 
 frontery which would have appalled an Amazon.| 
 
 This singular character began to discover, by the most natural 
 train of thinking, that this inward "/re," or " //g/i/," being 
 " Christ,'''' superseded the use of external means. He went no 
 more to the church, except only to reprove priest and people ; he 
 conceived a strange antipathy to " steeple houses :" the sight of 
 them " struck at his life'^'§ 
 
 He was ushered into his public ministry hy his precursor 
 Brown. Th'is precursor had " great prophecies and sights of him 
 on his death bed."|| It was at the death of this man that Fox had 
 his greatest Platonic purification, and his spirit of discerning per- 
 fected. 
 
 He was highly favoured with visions: he saw an angel of the 
 Lord standing with a glittering sword zIT he saw a rent in the 
 earth, and smoke coming out of it.** By a sort of second sight 
 he saw the visions of vast multitudes coming to him in white 
 clothing. As he set his missionary foot on the soil of Scotland he 
 "/e/? the seed of God to sparkle about him like f re. ^^^t He saw the 
 heavens opened to him ; he was caught up into the paradise of 
 God, and heard the intimation made to him that his name was 
 in the book of life.|;j: How true is the saying " aaar <a i ^ba-if xaxoc 
 
 iO'Ti *.at ^«\«^^o\/Rji <»!r«VT<j/««-«f 'o^f,(/c ifU(rt !"§§ 
 
 • Sewel, vol. i p. 43, edit, of 1811. 
 
 f Fox Great Myst. p. 89. Penn vindicates his claims. See his " Wind- 
 ing Sheet," sec. 2. In this treatise Penn advocates his claims of infalli- 
 bility I 
 
 :$: Journal, sec. i. p. 220. There are five instances recorded there Of 
 dooms pronounced agaist females by this oracle. 
 
 §Sec. i. 149. II Sec. i. 99. 
 
 % Sewel, vol ii. p. 91. ** Jour. vol. i. 180. 
 
 tt Journal,!. 448. :|::|:Sec.i. 109,241. 
 
 §§ Aristotle e Div. " Men that arc of a talkative and melancholy tem- 
 per see any kind of visions." 
 
An Historical Disse?'tatioii. 69 
 
 The system of his doctrine was simple. It was built on the 
 •• Christ zi'itJunJ'' His sufferings were within : his resurrection was 
 within : the rule and guide were within : nay none has a glory 
 and a heaven but that which is within.* 
 
 In his whole line of conduct he professed to be guided by im- 
 pulses from the oracle within ; these dictated the nature, the man- 
 ner, the time of his services. Moved by these, he made, during 
 divine service, an irruption into the great church at Nottingham, 
 and roared out against the doctrines of the preacher !t Wherever 
 he travelled, it " was in the motion of God's power."]: It was by 
 the same " power" he was prohil)ited from taking off his hat, of 
 bowing or scraping to any man. It dictated to him the orthodox 
 use of "thee and thou." This the Society called the nexo tongue, 
 with which they spoke as the spirit gave them utterance.^ When sit- 
 ting down to eat, the spirit would say " eat not,^'' and he instantly 
 ©beyed.|| In one of his apostolical journeys, the spirit moved 
 him to go to the top of Pendle hill, and forthwith he scaled its 
 lofty cliffs.lF On the summit of another hill he was thrown into a 
 trance : in the extacy of his visions he could not contain himself, 
 but hke the young Ciceronian, who pronounced his maiden 
 ?!peech to the cabbages in his mother's garden, Fox poured forth 
 with all the energies of inspiration, " the notable day,'''' to the. 
 winds and the barren heath.** He was moved, in one of his 
 marches to Litchfield, in the middle of winter, to throw off his 
 shoes, and to walk barefooted through that city, while he made the 
 streets re-echo with the lugubrious shouts of " wo, wo, wo to the 
 bloody city of Litchfield P^ When he returned to his shoes, he felc 
 
 • See Fox's Great Mystery, anct.edit. p. 214. Snake, &c. p. 164. 
 
 fSee moi-e specimens of this zeal, Jewel, vol. i. p. 51, 55, edit. 1811.—. 
 The Society has referred to this zeal of Fox with evident appj-obation. 
 See Vind. of Quak. Mosh, vol. iv. 9, edit, of 1821. Mr. Clarkson has ven- 
 tured to state, that " /^ojt disafiprovcd ofhin orjyi conduct^ in having in- 
 terrupted the fiublic service in the church of jVottltigham." Portrait, vol. 
 \. p. xi. But the Society will not thank him for this stretch of charity. Fox 
 acted this whole scene (if we may believe himself ) by an immediate reve- 
 lation : as he came v.-ithin siglit of the church, " The Lard said unto him, 
 go and cry agai?ist yonderidoUand the nvor.'ihippers in it." Journal, vol. 
 i. J). 115. To have disapproved of his own condu. t would have been to, 
 condemn his inspirations, and to give up his divine commission Clarkson 
 was not aware of this. He has ventured to teach before he learned the 
 principles of the Society. 
 
 X Sec. i. p. 241. § Burroughs'" works, fol.p. srJ, ed. 1672. 
 
 tjSec.i.17:?, \ Vol.i. p. 17.1. *♦ Sec i, p. 36. 
 
70 *An Historical Dissertation, 
 
 the '■'fire of God''' so in his feet, and all over him, that he was 
 dutifully constrained to wait for a divine signal to put on his 
 shoes. After some suspense, with his bare feet in the snow, the 
 oracle permitted him to put them on.* 
 
 He possessed invincible courage : this was bottomed on the 
 conviction that his Commission was equal to that of the apostles.t 
 He went further : " He. knew nothing but pin-eness and innocence : 
 he u-as renewed up into the image of God^ and luid arrived into the. 
 state of Adam before the falW^X With such a commission, and such 
 sinless perfection, he came forth to tell a guilty world " that God 
 was come hints elf to teach the people :"§ that all their ordinances and 
 sacraments were done away : and that all must turn to the pure 
 light in every one of themselves. Wherever he came, " the 
 power of God was over all.'''' Strangers bowed before him: priests- 
 were struck dumb : great doctors melted away : " some of them 
 ran and hid themselves under hedges :"' it was only necessary to 
 say that " the man in the leather breeches was come^'' and the power 
 of God fell on them.|| His accusers went mad and hanged 
 themselves.lF 
 
 So marvellous were his ministrations in " steeple houses^'' by way 
 ©f episodes to the services, that a great woman, as he modestly 
 tells us, took him, as he slunk away, for " an angel," or at least. 
 " a spirit.''** So dreadful was the power of God accompanying 
 his labours, that " the people flew like chaff before him into their 
 houses.^'^'t As he prayed the people trembled, and the house was 
 shaken. He healed the sick — he cured the lame — restored a man 
 who had his neck broken — cast out spirits.JJ Distressed souls, he 
 tells us, were sent out of the church by a revelation, to seek his 
 presence and to receive from him light and comfort.§§ And the 
 plague of London, and the Dutch war came in fulfilment of a 
 Quaker prophecy, to avenge the injuries done to that sect.|||| 
 
 " Nihil est, quod credere de se, 
 
 Non possit, quutn laudatur dis xquapotestas." Juv. Sat. iv. 71, 
 
 He had his share of vanity: though literally an ignorant 
 man, he affected to write letters to kings, and princes, and ma- 
 
 •Vol. i. 169. tilll- ii.p. 104. 
 
 ^ Vol. i. 169. il i. 158. ^ Sec 167. 
 
 ♦• Vol. i. 152. tti-P-lS6. 
 
 4t See Journal index, at the word " Miracles." 
 
 §§ Vol. i. p. 139. fin SeweU vol. ii. book vjii, p. 148. 
 
Jin Historical Dissertation. 71 
 
 ^istrates. He dictated some to the Pope, to the Grand Turk, 
 and even to the emperor of China.* And as a sovereign displays 
 himself, from his balcon}?-, to his admiring subjects, G. Fox tells us^ 
 that at a great meeting, " he was moved by the Lord to take off his 
 hat, and to stand awhile, to let the people look at him, for some 
 thousands were there."! And to crown the climax, he declared, 
 that having Christ in him, he was equal with God, and was the 
 judge of the world !\ 
 
 From A. D. 1644 to the close of his life. Fox went on to plant, 
 with a bold hand, the standard of mysticism. He soon found 
 associates armed with zeal equal to his own. Naylor, Jarns- 
 worth, Howgill, Burroughs, Penn, and Whitehead, are enrolled 
 among their first elders. These, with the exception of Penn, 
 were men of the lowest education, and of superficial minds, but 
 of great sensibility. They had the misfortune to be seduced in 
 then* youth by the doctrines of the mystics, which had hurled 
 reason from her throne in no weak minds. In them it met no 
 barrier from the scriptures or from science ; they shared, there- 
 fore, the same fate. 
 
 This however, was no bar in their way. Folios can be written 
 without the aid of learning, and without even the weight of brains, 
 or the solidity of intellect. And there is a height of eloquence to 
 which a mind labouring under a specific derangement can alone 
 ascend. The feelings and passions are lashed into fury. They 
 are titled with the holy and much injured name of inspiration ; 
 they set reason and judgment at defiance ; the sober argument of 
 science, and the habit of profound research would only extin- 
 guish its flame. Their motto was from the oracle : 
 
 " Cedamus Phoebo, et moniti meliora sequamury Virg. 
 
 §9. Such were these men. Believing themselves inspired, and 
 armed with apostolic powers, they issued from their obscurity 
 
 • Catal. of Quak. books quoted by the grand jury of Norfolk, 1699, and 
 Bugg. Pict. p, 334. 
 . fVol i.p. 369. 
 
 + Fox's Great Myst. p. 282, 248, and his Saul's Errand to Damas. p. 
 8. Howgill's works, A. D. 16r6 p. 232, and Penn, in his Invalidity of 
 Faldo, admits Fox's words, and explains ; and this doctrine of equility 
 with God is taught by Taulerus, the mystic, whom Bjrclay applauds — 
 (Apol, p. S63.) See the Sermons of Taulerus, quoted by Brown, Quaker- 
 ism, p, 434, 435, &c. 
 
''^ »lw Histm-ical Dissertation. 
 
 to turn the v,-oTld to righteousness. They used the language of 
 scripture with a convenient ambiguity : Christ was the " light with- 
 in :" his biood was within ; the spirit was the same ; the cross 
 was the power of God within ; they had an appearance of piety 
 to excess, a zeal that approached almost to madness ; an assur- 
 ance to presumption ; patience to apathy ; a perseverance to the 
 neglect of even self-preservation.* 
 
 They had no difficulty in adapting themselves to the lowest 
 class oi the people. Their declaration against tythes, was just and 
 imposing. They oflcred their followers liberty from church 
 power, from hireling priests, and from the grievous burden of 
 supporting the ministry. Their eloquence was of the most frantic 
 nature ; to a perpetual and monotonous flow of verbiage, they 
 united all their peculiarity of gestures ; they shook the head ; 
 they nodded ; they shrugged the shoulders ; their brawny arms 
 dangled by their sides, or assumed the mort threatening pos- 
 tures ; their frames shook ; their mouths foamed ; then with deep 
 intonations, ushered forth by a singular quavering, they " jcould 
 bellow as they'd hurst the ]iccnni.cJ''"\ Then their looks wild and 
 haggard,^ from toils and fastings, and cruel sufferings from an 
 Anirightcous magistracy, added fearfully to the effect, and made 
 ;)wful imjircssions on the su}";erstitious and young. They 
 
 *' Denounced and prayed with fierce devotion;' — 
 
 •' Stole from the mystics all their tones, 
 
 *• And gifted mortiSed groans: — 
 
 "Made children with their tones to run for't j 
 
 "As bad as bloody bones, and Lunford !" 
 
 HuDIBRAS. 
 
 The natural disposition of these men had, at first, urged them 
 «n to attempt their innovations; but their energies were called 
 forth, and their zeal excited to an amazing degree, by the visible 
 impressions which they had made on the illiterate multitude : 
 and as much by the hosannahs with which their disciples cheered 
 them in their singular career.§ Thoy struggled, they suffered, 
 
 » See Journal, vol. i. Passion. 
 
 f See the petition of the county of Lancaster, (E.) in Leslie's Snake, 
 &c. sec. 3. 
 
 i Fox's Jour. i. 502. 
 
 § '' O ! blessed be the day in which thou wast born" — " O ! dear heart, 
 go on conquering and to conquer," &c. See Sew. vol. ii. book viii. p. 104. 
 
A71 Histm'ical Dissertation. 73 
 
 they wrote, they published, and industriously scattered about 
 every item of their inspirations. 
 
 § 10. Their success in England and in Ireland, was considera- 
 ble. Fanaticism had poured out her intoxicating influence on 
 the multitude. The tyranny of a bloody hierarchy was continu- 
 ing to drive men from her protecjion. Error and hcresj^ are 
 often more zealous and active than truth. They seized with 
 avidity on the opportunities presented to them of joining the 
 wandering multitude into their folds ; they affected more conver- 
 sions to Quakerism by the distribution of their books, than ]:)y 
 their declamations ; to this object they devoted extensive funds. 
 When the society was organized, the respective meetings were 
 laid under heavy contributions. Out of these a fund was form- 
 ed to defray the expense of printing and pul^lishing the works 
 of their authors. Every facility was thus otlered to those who 
 chose to enter the lists. This, as might justly be expected, call- 
 ed forth hosts of writers. The expenses were promptly met : 
 and effectual means were taken to distribute their works with- 
 out trouble on the part of the authors. The quantity of Quaker 
 books, bj^ this means, poured from the press, is almost incredi- 
 ble. Whitine's catalogue of their books alone, consists of two 
 hundred and thirty-two pages. It contains a list of three thou- 
 sand six hundred and eleven books. Upwards of six hundred 
 other volumes were added ; making 4269 volumes. Each im- 
 pression of these contained al)out a thousand copies on an aver- 
 age. Thus the society, previous to A. D. 1715, had sent forth 
 four million two hundred and sixty-nine thousand volumes and 
 tracts.* From the same funds they have kept Barclay' afloat. 
 They published an edition of twelve thousand; of these, ten 
 thousand copies were distributed gratis. They had their book- 
 sellers in London who were actively engaged in selling and dis- 
 tributing their works. In the country*, men were employed tf» 
 carry them on pack horses, in all directions; and they have 
 been known to scatter their books and tracts along the highways 
 and in the streets.! 
 
 * Bugg's Pict- of Quak. part 5, p 101- 
 t Do. p. 103. 
 
74 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 § 11. But of all the causes which operated in favour of this 
 Society, persecution was, perhaps, the most efficient. Man, 
 prompted b}' his feehngs, will always take the part of the op- 
 pressed : and if the oppressed manifest the courage of a man 
 under Jiis suiTerings, and the forgiving spirit of a christian, let 
 his cause be bad or good, the people will always laud his cause 
 and bless the martyr. Persecution will make the most ordinary 
 character become popular. It is true of every sectarian, and of 
 every society, that the blood of their martyrs is the seed of their 
 church. Had the Welch let Fox talk his day, and then peace- 
 ably take himself away, their churches had not heard his name. 
 But his imprisonment, and subsequent sufferings in Cornwall, 
 spread his name, and Quakerism, in that region widely.* The 
 Saxons managed things better: the severest stroke that fell on 
 their fanatic Bohmen, was (he sentence of the electoral prince, 
 and the learned divines at Dresden, who dismissed him with 
 these words : " We cannot condemn thee, because we cannot mi- 
 derstand </(ee."t 
 
 Why has England been so slow in listening to reason, to the 
 comrnon feelings of hunianit}', and to the mild religion of Jesus, 
 w^hich breathes the spirit of liberty to the conscience ? Her dis- 
 tinjjuished divines and civilians had been long raising their en- 
 treatnig voice ; they had made the most feeling appeals to her 
 misguided government; they had implored her, but in vain, to 
 arrest, or at least to soften down (he fiery peiserutions of such 
 priests as Bancroft, and Laud, and Sheldon— men who had 
 stained the mitre with the best blood of the nation. Her W^elch 
 divine, Roger Williams, had ably advocated the doctrine of to- 
 leration to all sects. Her learned Owen had once and again, 
 amid the ragings of the most unnatural persecutions, presented 
 his appeals in behalf of toleration and indulgence. Her illus- 
 trious Milton had followed him whh luminous arguments. Her 
 bishop Taylor, and her Locke, had brought all the weight of 
 piety and talent into the field. Yet Williams, and the Baltimores, 
 and Pcnn, were the first who could carry the thing into effect- 
 but it was on the shores of America '.J 
 
 * Goueh's Hist. p. 217. Neal's Hist, vol.iv. p. 306. Bost. edit. 
 
 t Memoirs of Behinen, bv Okely. Edit, of &. D. 1780. 
 
 \ Gibbon, with an iiisiduous sneer, remarks, " I am sorry to observe 
 
•In Historical Dissertation, 75 
 
 Had the English magistracy taken Fox, and entreated him 
 kindly ; had they sent him home, fed and clothed, to his troubled 
 relatives, (for he had not, like the Arabian impostor, taken care 
 to convert his relations first,) and had the wits attacked his mot- 
 ley system with the couplets of Hudibras, they had dispersed hi? 
 followers ; and, perhaps, have spared the church of God the ex- 
 istence of modern mysticism! 
 
 § 12. The reception of Fox in Scotland was very different: 
 though he left England with a prophecy, and set his foot on 
 Scottish ground with a marvellous vision of the seed of God 
 sparkling about him* which betokened countless hosts flocking to 
 his standard there, he failed almost totally in the object of his 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 This was owing to the genius and habits of that people. The 
 author of" Modern Europe," like! many other theorists, who the- 
 orise, and prejudge, instead of collecting facts and reasoning 
 from them, has formed a very erroneous view of the religious 
 character of the Scottish nation. The Presbytery has not, as he 
 supposes, breathed a gloomy and fanatical spirit among them. 
 That people has ever been characterized by a bold and un- 
 
 that the three writers by whoni tlie rights of tolfrat:o?i"---{X.o have writ- 
 ten intelligibly he should have %a\(\ conaciince ) have been so nobly de- 
 fended, Bayle, Leibnitz, and Locke, are all laymen.^' Dec. and Fall of 
 Rome, vii. ch.o4. ad tin. Note. Mr. Williams tirst led the way, in A. D. 
 1643 or 1644. with his book. The Bloody Ttnant, or a Dialogue between 
 Truth and Peace. In this book his strong mind urges those arguments 
 which, at the distance of tifty years, the great Locke ])ursued with great- 
 er energy and success. See N'erplank's Histor. Disc, delivered before the 
 New York Histor. Soc. 1818, and the Aualectic Magaz. Feb. 1819, p. 
 142. Wilhams reduced to practice his theory in Rliode Island, when the 
 Quakers disturbed his peaceful province. Though he had the power, he 
 attacked them only by his invectives, syllog-lsms, &nd fians. He wrote a 
 book against Fox and Burroughs, which he named The Fox digged out 
 of his Burrows. Dr. Owen's tirst /'/ea appeared in A. D. 1647; Mil- 
 ton's in A. D. 1658 ; then liishop Jeremy Taylor; Penn, in A. D. 1681; 
 and Fenelon, and then Locke, in A. D. 1689. See Dr. Owen's Tvjo Pleas 
 for Indulgence arid Toleration, and Neal's Hist. Purit. vol. iv. 309, 310. 
 Best. edit, of 18ir. Bayle began to publish liis works in A. D 1611, after 
 he had accepted a professor's chair at Rotterdam. For Leibnitz, he 
 was an infant, *' mevjling and finking in his nurse's arms," when the im- 
 mortal Owen published his tirst Plea. Leibnitz was born A. D 1646.-— 
 These Independent Clergymen, were unquestionably the first teachers of 
 religious liberty. See Orme's Memoirs of Dr. Owen. Lend 1820, p. 99 
 Sec Edinb. Review, No. 71, p. 229. 
 
 • Jour. vol. i, p. 448. f Vol. iii. p. 196 
 
76 *l)i Historical Dissertation. 
 
 daunted spirit in religion, as well as in politics. The Scottish 
 mind in its texture, naturally firm and independent, fierce and im- 
 patient of control ; and, moreover, trained up under a discipline 
 far from being indulgent, but on thecontrary severe, and even ri- 
 gorous, as well in the domestic as in the public application of it, 
 has been gradually brought into this national habit under various 
 causes. There are two which seem to have exerted no small in- 
 fluence over this natural firmness aiKl independence in religion. 
 First — Before the accession of James VI. to the English throne, 
 the feudal aristocratical sy^^tem had been in great force ; the vas- 
 sals of the two rival parties (the king and the nobles) were much'' 
 caressed by their respective feudal lords, in order to secure and 
 strengthen their attachment. This made the vassals who were in 
 fact the body of the people, feel their weight and importance. 
 Second — The ministers, and the laymen, in the character of el- 
 ders, meet in the assemblies for government on the same floor, 
 on a footing of the most perfect equality. This equality rouses 
 the mind to vigorous exertion : it creates a boldness of inquiry, 
 and energy in deciding on matters of the greatest importance ; 
 and in proportion as a nation is enlightened, the spirit of inquiry ia 
 religion, even more than in politics, will show hself impatient of 
 restraint from the highest human influence. 
 
 Nor should I omit the influence on the public mind of that un- 
 questionable right of every free christian man to have a voice in 
 the choice of his spii-itual guide. This, perhaps, as much as any 
 other, keeps up the high tone of the people's independence and 
 firmness in religious matters \ and in times to which I refer, the 
 Scottish Presbyterians exercised that right. The act of A. D. 
 nil had not paralyzed the people's energies, nor had the act of 
 A. D. 1784 completed the mischief.* 
 
 This cfjuality of Presbytery has difl'used this spirit among all 
 ranks in that country ; and the manner in which the pastor's du- 
 ties are discharged iiecessaril}' keeps up the excitement. The 
 
 • It is vather a singular fact, tli-kt tlic Cienoral Assembl}' of tlie Church 
 of Scotland, from the year 1711 to 17^4, professed to consider the law of 
 patronage a grievance. Hence tliey gave annually their instructions to 
 their comiuissian to seek every op;iortnnity of getting that law abolished 
 hv parliament ; but in A. D. 1784 they gave this up, and tamely submit- 
 ted, and wish -d " rio innovations in settling' vacant churches." 
 
An Historical Ihissertation, 77 
 
 parish minister docs not stand at that awful distance i*rom his 
 flock which is constantly witnessed in the hierarchy. He visits 
 every family : he exhorts and prays with his humblest cottagers : 
 he carries home his instructions in this manner to their fire sides. 
 They reason, they jud,£^e, they decide for themselves : and such 
 is the genius of that metaphysical and daring people, that having 
 once made their decision, no earthly power—or to use a proverb 
 which originated in the days to which I allude—" neither the 
 de'il nor Clavcrhouse*' could shake them from their purpose. 
 
 Hence from an earlj^ period they have been a sober and grave 
 people. Their firmness in religion displays not the stubbornness 
 of the bigot, but the energy of the soul that has examined and 
 decided for itself. Their reserve and gravity is not the gloom of 
 the fanatic ; it is the habit of a mind addicted to anxious reflec- 
 tion and daily devotion. The Scottish population, with all their 
 faults, are equally removed from the gloom of the fanatic and the 
 madness of the enthusiast, as they are from the frigid indiflfer- 
 ence, " the fat contented ignorance" of the uneducated popula- 
 tion of England, which frames its creed, too often, to the views of 
 the present incumbent, who comes without their call, and who 
 goes without their regrets! 
 
 Such is a rude outline of the religious character of the Scottish 
 nation, during the religious phrcnzy in the commonwealth of 
 England. Bishop Burnet has given a fair picture of it. The old 
 Scotch ministry, before the Restoration, says the good bishop, 
 were a brave and solemn people ; their spirits were eager, their 
 tempers soured by universal suli'erings; but their appearance 
 created respect. They visited their parishes much ; they were 
 full of the scriptures ; they could speak extempore on any doc- 
 trine, and with fluency : they were ready at prayer ; it was the 
 custom of the people, after dinner and supper, to read the scrip- 
 tures, and the minister, when present, would expound them to 
 the family. By this means, such a degree of knowledge and 
 piety was diffused among the people, that the poor cottagers 
 could pray extempore, and discourse with accuracy on the lead- 
 ing doctrines of the gospel.* 
 
 ^Vhen these ministers were driven from their churches, at the 
 
 * Burnet's Ilist. of his own Times, p. 84, 226, Edinb. edit. 
 
78 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 Restoration, they were succeeded by bishops and priests. 
 " These," says the bishop, " were ignorant tea reproach, and 
 openly vicious."* The principal nobility and the priests were the 
 creatures of the court and of Charles II. Through these fit chan- 
 nels the court poured its pestilential influence over the unhappy 
 land. Ignorance and impiety, and boisterous profligacy, spread 
 their desolations among the higher circles. Nor did they confine 
 their desolating ravages to these : they swept before them the 
 great mass of the population.! 
 
 National crimes are like raging torrents : when they burst 
 the barriers they sweep all before them, with a fury encreased 
 by the very means of their restraint. The Presbj^tcrians and 
 Independents, under that religious spirit, by which the public 
 mind had received such an impulse in that age, had manifested 
 a laudable zeal for the prosperity of the church of God. Much 
 impressed with religious matters, much exercised in secret devo- 
 tions, they did not shake off the deep formed habits and temper 
 of their minds; they brought these forth, in a most natural man- 
 ner, into active life. Their common conversation, their political 
 measures, their every employment, bewrayed often unconsci- 
 ously, minds deeply engaged in religious matters ; the affairs of 
 the church were deemed, to say the least, fully as important as 
 those of the state. Reformation in the former was of equal im- 
 portance at least with that of the latter; hence among these 
 christian patriots the news of the day had yielded to religious in- 
 telligence, or theological discussion. The retailing of family se- 
 crets and scandal was displaced by statements of cases of con- 
 science and christian experience ; riot and mirth had been dis- 
 placed by social meetings and prayer: the music that lent its 
 charms to a pitiful ballad, or an indecorous song, had yielded to 
 the rustic notes of psalmody flowing warm from the heart. The 
 field, the desert, the street, rung morning and evening with these 
 wild unmeasured notes. They were above criticism ; for on 
 them floated the praises of Almight}'^ God, from the bosoms of a 
 simple and pious people. Every thing earthly has its drawback. 
 These good men were not without their blemishes, and many 
 
 • Burnet's Hist, of his own Times, p. 229. Ncal's Hist, of the Purlt 
 vol. iv. p. 383. Bost. edit. 
 
 t Cook's Hist, of the Church of Sr.otlanc], vol. jii. r,h. 22. 
 
•2n Historical Dissertation. 79 
 
 had mingled with them wlio yielded to the ungovernable spirit 
 of enthusiasm ; these too often formed a strange nntedley of things 
 earthly and thhigs spiritual. They often made sudden and rude 
 translations from earthly things to religion; and from religion to 
 trifles. They carried on their profane lips the most sacred things 
 into common conversation. They used indecent freetiom in their 
 conversational prayers to the Almighty; they renounced the 
 common names of ancestry, and with ridiculous gravity assumed 
 names appropriated to the saints and the elect; and as the -no- 
 bility blazon a sentence on the scroll of their arms, they adopted 
 occasionally a whole text, or the member of a text, for a sur- 
 name. Their disgusting cant rung eternally on the ears of men 
 in the house, in the field, in the conventicle, and in the camp. 
 
 Charles II, and his licentious courtiers identified religion with 
 these men men and their measures. Unable, or unwilling to dis- 
 tinguish the hypocrite from the pious, accustomed to associate in 
 their minds the profanity and irreligion of the cavalier with his 
 loyalty, they hated religion, and the very name of religion, be- 
 cause it was so much on the lips of those who had put them 
 down.* Of course when Charles II, and his creatures gained the 
 ascendancy, their zeal burned with equal fury against religion as 
 against the treason of their enemies. To scoff at religion, to bur- 
 lesque the most sacred truths, to become slaves to vice ; and not 
 only to palliate, but to glory in crime, soon became the prominent 
 feature in the maimers of that age. Impiety and profligacy be- 
 came identified with loyalty ; to be vicious was to be in the path 
 of honours and offices. On the contrary, a devout life, an 
 abhorrence of crime, brought honest men to death on the 
 gibbet, or by the steel of the life guards. And in military 
 rencontres, and in the mock trials before a military jury, or 
 before the council, there was no surer way for the victim to 
 escape the fangs of the military assassins, the Grahams, the Dal- 
 ziels, the Yorks of that day, than to make proof by imprecations 
 and riotings, that he was no psalm-singrr, nor a covenanter, nor 
 even a christian— but only a very wicked man! The boAvels of 
 the inquisitors Avere moved marvellously in them at the well 
 known voice of brotherhood and loyalty. 
 
 * See the interesting " Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson," by his accom- 
 plifchtd Lady, p. 358. 4to. 
 
80 *3w Historical Dissertation, 
 
 In this deplorable state of religion and morals there was an il- 
 lustrious band of christian patriots, neither small in numbers nor 
 of little influence, who presented a bold front against invading er- 
 ror and profligacy. Among these the persecuted ministers lurked, 
 and held their assemblies by stealth on the moors or in the mo- 
 rasses. These martyrs kept alive the spark of vital religion, and 
 truth, and liberty in that degenerate age. Their influence was 
 secret, but extensive ; their ardour inspired their followers with 
 a noble ^nthusia^m in the cause of truth ; they were prepared to 
 defend the holy cause of religion and their lives, equally by the 
 force of argument and by the edge of the sword ; and they ac- 
 tually did so.* 
 
 Through the storm of persecution, which raged for twenty and 
 eight years,! these christian patriots maintained their righteous 
 cause with various success. By an overwhelming power they 
 were at last liroken down, and driven to the wilds and fastnesses 
 of their rugged country. Even thither the tyrant's vengeance 
 pursued them : he turned loose on them a brutal soldiery ; urged 
 on by such ferocious assassins as Graham of Claverhouse, and 
 Dalziel, i\\cy swept the land like the pestilential blast of the de- 
 sert, breathing out death and destruction : they spared neither 
 men, women, nor children ; they employed, in some instance?, 
 the sagacity of the blood-hounds to discover their retreats, and 
 hunt them dowii.| At last the Almighty looked upon their sor- 
 rows, and pitied their agonies. lie roused the sleeping energies 
 of their country ; he hurled the Stewarts from the throne of 
 their fathers, and their bloody oppressors in the dust. He put 
 the reins of government into hands which conferred a portion, 
 at least, of her rights on bleeding Scotland. 
 
 In the days of the national settlement, justice was not render- 
 ed to these brave and pious men, who, with nil their failings, 
 (and they were not great.) harl secured to their country all th'- 
 civil and religious liberty which she cnjojs.^ That country has 
 
 ♦Wodrow's Church Hist, and Cruikshank's Hist, of that period; 
 Cook's Hist, of the Kirk of Srotland, vol. iii. ch. -24, &c. See Hume'.s 
 Hist, vol iii. ch. 40, p. 58. Ed. of A. D. 1822. and Quart. Review, No. 
 25, on Charles I. Char. 
 
 t From the Restoration of Charles H. A. D. 1660, to the Revolution, 
 A. n 1688. 
 
 t T^aing's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. 
 
 § Edinb. Rev. No. 54, p. 258. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 91 
 
 not paid yet the debt of gratitude ; that country has not protect- 
 ed their memory from insult; she permits, without a burst of 
 public indignation, the infidel historian to follow the partial and 
 absurd details of those royalists who confounded the virtuous 
 struggles of a people to regain their liberties with the crime of 
 treason. She permits him to confound virtue and vice ; to asperse 
 .the memory of her best patriots ; to laud the name of the atro- 
 cious Clavers !* 
 
 The poet and the novelist have lent their bewitching aid in 
 the work of slander. At one time they laud, with mawkish sen- 
 timentalism, the piety of English inquisitors and Scottish bishops, 
 whose hands were dipt in human blood to the wrists. At ano- 
 ther time they Avorship, in sublime style, and hardly without 
 tears, the gallant deeds of the muscovegran. savage Dalziel, and 
 the vandal Clavers, who butchered, in cold blood, the father and 
 son ; the mother and infant, and blooming maid ! who shot down, 
 as the deer of the forest, free born citizens, without a trial, on 
 their own land, and at their own fire sides ! — At one time we see 
 them throwing themselves into theatrical attitudes at the ficti- 
 tious rusticity and ferocious habits of the men of the conventi- 
 cles. At other times with imperturbable impudence they dis- 
 turb the -awful repose of the sainted martyrs, and drag them 
 from their bed of glory to hold them up, in the rusticity and fa- 
 naticism Avhich they have made to clothe them, to the laugh of 
 the vulgar, and the scoft' of the profane.t The hierarchy, gall- 
 ed at the victory gained over its tyrannical and bloody purpose, 
 to dragoon a nation into its religion and ceremonies, has imp©- 
 
 • See Hume's well known partial history of this period, vol. iv. chap. 
 66, 67, Sec. 
 
 f The inimitable beauties of " Old Mortality," can never atone to the 
 church for that studied concealment of much of the character of the 
 bloody Graham, which the mind cannot contemplate in real history, with- 
 out deep oppression ; for that generosity and heroism with which her 
 deadliest enemy is invested; (Edinburgh Review, No. 54, p. 259.) for the 
 studied concealment of cool-blooded personal murders ; for that outrage 
 offered to sacred doctrines and worthy ministers, by the fictitious preach- 
 ments put into the lips of its orators and conventicle men ; and for its 
 slanderous, or tn say the least, thrughtless charges of murder brought 
 against good men. Nothing can be more outrageous to historical fact, 
 than the fictitious death of cornet Graham at Diumclog, or that horri- 
 ble fiction of intended murder on the evening of the battle of Bothweli 
 Bridge. 
 
 14 
 
82 »in Histoincal Dissertation, 
 
 tentlj and ungenerously branded their virtuous struggle with the 
 opprobrious name of the "■grand rebellion." Nay, they have 
 been wounded by their degenerate sons. " Tu quoque mifhy 
 Brute." Nijri contented with that outrageous length of Erastian- 
 ism into which they have gone ; a moderate share of which we 
 Americans could have forgiven to men in their circumstances -, 
 not content with their unblushing testimony of perfect iuditfer- 
 ence to the form of church government, while they cling to the 
 civil establishment, which damns all other but its own ; not con- 
 tented with telling us Americans that the presbytery of Scotland 
 was the mere effect of fortuitous circumstances,* they have dared 
 to violate the sacred mej^ory of our martyrs ; for we two are 
 Presbyterians : anci to represent the calm and christian peace of 
 their last moments as the effects of enthusiasm.! But let shame 
 cover the face of that man who yields the honour of his native 
 country to the popular sentiment of a foreign kingdom : and who 
 is so cowardly, or so venal as to court popularity by surrender- 
 ing the glory of his native patriots to the form of the hierarchy ; 
 to the sneer of profligates, or to the ridicule of the infidel mob ! 
 My martyred ancestors ! I feel more pride in the deeds of your 
 prowess in the ranks of those patriotic christians who contended 
 by the pen and the sword, for the illustrious prize of religion and 
 liberty, than if you had worn the fairest coronet in the ranks of 
 the licensed oppressors of their country and of the church! 
 
 § 13. It was during the excitement of this period, and among 
 people strongly marked by this character, that the early Qua- 
 kers fell in their first missionary tours into Scotland. They 
 found the tempers of the people soured, but not gloomy. They 
 found them enthusiastically attached to that system of truth 
 which their fathers had delivered to them, and sealed with their 
 blood. But they soon discovered that they were not fanatics. 
 The sacred scriptures they invariably and most scrupulously 
 made the rule of their faith, and of their severe morals. Though 
 firm believers in the holy and constant interpositions of Provi- 
 
 * See Cook's History of the Kirk of Scotlaiul from the PLstablishment 
 of the Reformation to the Revolutioii, vol. iii. cliap. 22, ad fin. Edin. Edit. 
 
 t See this display of modern bigotry in the remarks on the character 
 and writings of that illustrious martvr James Guthrie. Cook. do. vol. 
 ii:. ch. 22. p. 240, 241. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 83 
 
 •dence, they were avowed and implacable enemies to the doctrines 
 of the new revelations and impulses, which ihe Quakers brought. 
 Hence they opposed a firm phalanx of reason and piety to 
 George Fox's innovations. In the city of Glasgow he could not 
 prevail " on even one of the toicn to come to his meeting.'''* 
 
 The fact is, the higher circles, and the populace despised them -, 
 and the middling and lower classes of the community were too 
 well informed, and had their minds too intensely fixed on the 
 religious scenes before their eyes, to be seduced by such weak 
 and ill-informed missionaries. 
 
 § 14. That country Avas afterwards assailed from another 
 quarter, and by a very different character. Though the Scot- 
 tish nation never gave countenance to the principles of the 
 Friends, it has, nevertheless, given the European and the Ame- 
 rican Quakers their best and most accomplished writer. This 
 was Robert Barclay. Colonel Barclay, his father, a most ami- 
 able and }X)lished gentleman, had, when abroad, imbibed the 
 doctrines of the new sect.t He instilled them, with much zeal, 
 into the youthful mind of his son, whom he had recalled from the 
 Scottish college of Paris. R. Barclay possessed superior talents, 
 and a good education for that age -, but he had certainly been 
 tainted by the Catholic doctrines, under the influence of his un- 
 cle of the Scots college]:. 
 
 ' Barclay had no disposition to imitate the leaders of the So- 
 ciety, nor would the genius of his nation have permitted him. 
 While Fox and Penn came forward with all the naked deformi- 
 ties of mysticism, Barclay presented himself as an apologist. He 
 appeared mild, candid, learned : he anxiously kept out of vie;w 
 those parts of the system which would shock the pious, and lay 
 them open to the successful attacks of the learned. He touched 
 not on their doctrine of the Trinity, nor on the proper divinity of 
 Christ, nor on the true idea of the Atonement. He passed lightly 
 on all their peculiarities which will not bear a strict scrutiny ; 
 
 • Jour. vi. i. 442. 
 
 f It is certain, however, that he was fully initiated into its mysteries da- 
 ring his imprisonment in Edinburgh, by a fellow prisoner who had im- 
 ported them from England. See Barclay's Life. duod. p. 10, 11. 
 
 t Bar. Life, p. 18. He admits this. 
 
84 ,|.;^ Historical Dissertation. 
 
 he selected those that bear a near resemblance to truth, and 
 which, by an imposing air of benevolence and utility, prefei 
 strong claims on the feelings of mankind. He made a dexterous 
 use of the increasing attachment to Arminianism among some of 
 the learned, and gave a powerful bias of his mystic system to that 
 mode of thinking. He employed much art, and some degree of 
 eloquence; he avoided the cant of his companions, yet he retain- 
 ed as much of their " luscious tedious way," as made the most 
 rigid acknowledge him as a true heir of the spirit of the Society.* 
 
 We admire Barclay more as an amiable man and a scholar, 
 than as a Quaker. His eminence, in this respect, is conspicuous, 
 as he stands alone. The vvritcrs of his Society, with the exception 
 of Penn, (I do not except Fisher,) were wild and rustic. We look 
 into Barclay's good modern Latin, and his flowing style, rather as 
 a literary curiosity and a proof of talent, than as a defence of 
 Quakerism. It is, indeed, not calculated to please by consistency 
 or perspicuity. We can allow him only the merit (and it is no 
 small merit) of writing good modern Latin, and of making a judi- 
 cious arrangement of all that an apologist can say in a bad 
 cause. The English copy wants the elegance of the original ;t it 
 is tedious and dull. He thrusts, occasionally, an octavo page into 
 one sentence. His an ! iguitics and defects are numerous and 
 glaring. 
 
 But the Scottish nation, or rather the religious world, has not 
 yet done justice to that distinguished man who entered the Ifsts 
 against Barclay, and helped to clear Scotland of this pestilence : 
 I mean Jolm Brown of fVamphry, who reviewed the Latin Apology 
 in his book entitled " Quakerism the Pathn-ay to PaganismJ'^l 
 
 Barclay, as an apologist, appears with good grace. He comes 
 forward with the easy elegance of an old Parisian ; he possesses 
 caution, shrewdness, and cunning. He shows a mind trained in 
 a Catholic college among Jesuits and men of taste. He had his 
 
 * See the judicious; note of Mosh. vol. v cent. 17, sec. 2, on Barclay. — 
 Few writers have t'ornied a move just idea of the sentiments of the Society 
 than tliis accurate historian. He who has had the courage and patience to 
 wade through the Quaker folios, and who next turns to Mosheim, will ad- 
 mire the accuracy and the lenity of that histofian. 
 
 I See the Latin copy in the Philad. Public Library, No. 1167, 8vo. 
 
 X A suiall 4to. pp. 5C9. Ediaburgli, A. D. 1678. "ijee Note A. Apj^en- 
 dix L 
 
Jn Ilistarical Dissertation. 85 
 
 afflictions ;* but the laird of the barony of Uryt enjoyed afflu- 
 ence and domestic comfort. This had its influence on the style 
 of the Apology. 
 
 But Brown of Wamphry came rushing down, like Laocoon, 
 into the midst of his nation, and gives the alarm to his hesitating 
 countrymen. Without troubling himself about consequences, he 
 hurls his spear into the Grecian m-onster : he rouses the energy 
 of ministers and people. The truth lay, he thought, clearly on 
 his side. He felt the value of the glorious gospel, for which he 
 had suffered even to bonds and cruel imprisonment ; and for the 
 sake of which; he was, at this time, banished from his native 
 country, and the secret and soothing comforts of the domestic 
 circle. His spirit Avas irritated. He was not very nice in the se- 
 lection of his weapons. Like the hardy and brave Highlander in 
 the dress and rude weapons of his ancestors ; or like Sampson, 
 with the jaw bone of an ass, he clears the field without any ceremony 
 or respect to nice feelings. Every circumstance conspired to pro- 
 duce this excitement in Brown. The church lay bleeding under a 
 persecution which had spread desolation over Scotland for many 
 years.:}: Truth had fallen in the street under the steel of the hier- 
 archy. Brown saw, with anguish, Barclay inflicting a fresh 
 and a deep wound. He entered the single combat with the feel- 
 ings of the hero who spreads his shield over his fallen friend. 
 His feelings defy the curb of strict propriety. His scowling eye 
 bids defiance to error only. He was not actuated by personal 
 revenge. Grief and sorrow are uppermost in his breast, while he 
 bends over the bleeding victim. He hurls into the dust the doc- 
 trines of Saccas ; and the raging hero leaves not the field, till he 
 has put down the foe, and scattered their ruins. § 
 
 The victory in Scotland was complete. The society docs in- 
 deed pretend that Barclay's answer silenced Brown ; but " Qua- 
 
 • Five months imprisonment by an unrighteous magistracy. 
 
 f In the North of Scotland. 
 
 X During the tyrannical power of Charles IT. and James II. 
 
 § The preface of Brown partake?, in a high degree, of the tone of con- 
 troversy of that age. The partial author of tlie " Life of Barclay," and 
 the ill-informed author of thi' article Barclay, in Brewster's Encyclope- 
 dia, have not done justice to Brciwu. The j)oicmic of that age should not 
 be compared with the moderns, but with his own contemporaries. I cau- 
 produce, out of Penn and other leading Quaker authors, much that is 
 equal to the worst in Brown, and much that is worstv 
 
86 ,2w Historical Dissertation, 
 
 kerism confirmed" is a bare repetition of former assertions^ Not 
 an argument of Brown has been weakened. Besides, Brown's 
 quarto was published in the close of the year 1678. Barclay's 
 reply (which has sunk into oblivion,) must have been posterior to 
 this. It could not have been seen by BroAvn ; for while Barclay 
 was admitted into the presence of Charles II, and was even gain- 
 ing favours for his sect,* Brown perished in A. D. 1679, by a 
 lingering disease, on a foreign shore ; whither the cruelty of that 
 persecuting tyrant and his brother, had pursued him.t But the 
 result determines on whose side the victory lies. The Quakers 
 were defeated ; and even at this day, while they form a respect- 
 able portion of the population of England and America, there are 
 only a few in the kingdom of Scotland, and even these few are 
 decreasing.! 
 
 § 15. On the continent of Europe, the society gained, at an 
 early day, a firm footing among the Protestants. Two causes 
 operated greatly in its favour. It was there that the sect of the 
 Mystics had widely diffused itself; and Pope Innocent XI, short- 
 ly after A. D. 1676, had issued his bull against Molinists and 
 Quietists ; and as the thunder of the Vatican had always a fiery 
 bolt accompanying it, many of these people were driven from the 
 Catholic countries, to take shelter under the liberty enjoyed by 
 Protestant Europe. These carried with them the seeds of the 
 Quaker principles. Combining their efforts, these sects reaped a 
 plentiful harvest in Holland and Germany.§ 
 
 § 16. The Friends were introduced on the continent of Ameri- 
 ca by the celebrated William Penn. Under his fostering care 
 and wise policy, they have grown up to be a powerful body. 
 These differ considerably from the European Quakers. There 
 arc two prominent parts in their character, in which this differ- 
 
 * Bar. ^ife p. 33, S^c. edition of A. U. 1805. 
 
 I Mr. Ward's preface to P-rnwn's bonk, " the Swan Song :" and preface 
 to Brown on tlie Ri)muns. Also Cruikshank's hist. vol. i ch. IV. and XI. 
 
 ± " Of the society of Quakers in Scotland," says Sir John Carr, in A. D. 
 1803, " tiiere are only betwfen one hundred and one hundred and fifty, 
 above seventeen years of age." Caledonian sketches, ch. 8, ad finem. 
 
 § Germany has, of all countries, been the most fertile in enthusiasm. 
 Sleidan asserts that, to his knowledge, there had appeared forty thousand 
 7)reter.ders to prophecy. Comment, lib. v. 
 
•in Historical Dissertation. 87 
 
 ence is marked. First, They are not 4cnown to have exhibited 
 many of those indecencies and frantic follies, into which the cru- 
 elty of persecution drove their early English brethren. And 
 second, Availing themselves of their liberty, and their distance 
 from the opposition carried on against their sect in Europe, they 
 have propagated the early opinions of the society, with a licensCj 
 in which no European Quaker could persuade himself to indulge.* 
 
 § 17. There are three periods in the Quaker history. The 
 first is the Foxonian. This period is distinguished by the obscu- 
 rity of their ideas, and the outrageous disorders of their public 
 conduct.! Their doctrines were not drawn from the Scriptures ; 
 they were not tangible to reason.^ Their " Christ within''^ was 
 taken by some of them, in a manner natural enough, for Christ 
 tvithin them litcraUy. This led them into excesses in speech, and 
 in practices. It became a favourite topic with them, to deny the 
 necessity of the gospel history of the sufferings and death of our 
 Lord. They affirmed, that those who had it not, may be saved, 
 as well as those who do have it. Others even denied that there 
 was any other Christ, and any other sufferings of Christ than 
 those which are zoithiti ;§ nor were their excesses in practice less 
 frantic. Toldervy and Naylor, and Milner are melancholy in- 
 stances of what befel not a few. Believing that Christ dwelt in 
 them as he did inhim xcho was crucified onCahary, Naylor accepted 
 of divine homage, and was led into Bristol on horseback, (in the 
 absence of an ass),|) while they shouted hosannahs to that Son of 
 God. Toldervy having put himself through a form of crucifixion, 
 covered himself in a paper winding sheet ; lay three quarters of 
 an hour (a quarter for a day,) and having risen " hy the mighty 
 power of God,'''' he ran over fields and ditches into a Quaker meet- 
 ing, and proclaimed that Christ was risen, and was now come to 
 commission twelve of them to preach the gospel to the dark 
 
 * What these opinions are, we shall see presently. See Keith's " De- 
 ism of IV. Penn ;" and the life of Custer, who was an eye-witness, in 
 Philadelphia, of the Keithian controversy. And Mosh. Eccl. Hist, vol, 
 V. cent. 17, part 2, sect. 2, ch. 4. 
 
 \ See a pamphlet, entitled " Hell broke loone ;" and Hongill's reply, 
 *♦ the mouth of the fiit stopped ;'' and Penn ii. 75. 
 
 X Dr. Owen on Trinity, Ed. 1798, p. T>^. 
 
 § See Smith's Primer for Quaker childi-en, p. 8, and Mosh. vol. v. c 
 17, part ii. sect. 2. 
 
 Ij Frwm the " difficulty " Hume thinks, " of Ending an ass in Bristol!" 
 
88 ^?i Historical Dissertation. 
 
 world.* This whole period is marked by scenes of disorder. 
 The leading Quakers strolled about, and burst into churches du- 
 ring the divine service ; interrupting the worship, and insulting 
 the ministry. They spoke contemptuously of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, and of all the divine ordinances.! This period extends 
 from about A. D. 1645 to A. D. 1660. 
 
 In the second period, the society appears to more advantage. 
 Their conduct is more orderly, and their tenets begin to be redu- 
 ced to a system. This was the fruit of the labours of Penn, Keith, 
 and other distinguished leaders ; and being reduced to the form 
 of a system, they appeared in their true light. " The Quakers," 
 said a cotemporary of Penn, " who have for a long season hover- 
 ed about like a swarm of flies, begin now to settle down in the 
 opinions lately by them declared for."| 
 
 Penn was, to say the least, a Sabellian. He rejected the holy 
 doctrine of three distinct persons in the Godhead. He admitted 
 that there is a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit ; but he taught that 
 these are the same. He appears, at other times, to breathe the 
 spirit of a Socinian. He quotes and applauds the idea of Crel- 
 lius, " that the Holy Spirit is the power and efficacy of God ;'' 
 which enters into man, and is the same thing as divine inspira- 
 tion§. In his " sandy foundation,'''' Penn has engrafted on his mys- 
 tic system, these tenets in their most virulent forms. Even Priest- 
 ley's zeal meets a rival here. Even Hume, and the poet of Ferney 
 are not more violent against the atonement of our Lord.|| His 
 belief on these fundamental articles was suspected at an earlj^'" 
 period. The suspicion was excited at a public dispute at the 
 Spital in London. He there opposed, for the first time, the doc- 
 trine of the Trinity. This drew the attention of the Socinians. 
 A leader of that sect applauded his labours, and courted his 
 friendship. When his " sandy foundation''' appeared, the fears of 
 
 * Toldervy 'shook, " Foof out of the Snare.'" See this curious produc- 
 tion in Phil. Library, Miscell. 4to. No. 927. See Bebse, Hist. ii. 2, 3, 
 Sewel Hibi. i. p. 246.' Fox's Great M> st. p. 298, edit, of 1659. 
 
 t Fox in vol. i. Jour, gives a detail of instances. Snake in the Grass, 
 edit. 3, p. 104. This author challenged the society to produce a genuine 
 passage from their writings, previous to the year 1660 ; which speaks with 
 reverence of the Holy Scriptures. No one, so far as I can discover, ha- 
 ventured to take up the glove. 
 
 X Dr. Owen on the Trinity, edit. 1793, p. 78. 
 
 §SeeCrellius " of the One God,'' p. 197, and Penn ii. pp. 109, llC 
 
 II See Poet ii. ch. vii. following. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 89 
 
 the christian public were confirmed ; and iis indignation was 
 turned against the Quakers as a Socinian sect. The warmth of 
 their aUies was increased ; they were preparing the bonds of 
 union. The Quakers and Socinians were about to gird on their 
 armour in the common cause. But Penn was a Mystic ; and his 
 system was not j'ct completed. While confined in the Tower, 
 and awaiting his trial under the charge of blasphemy, he con- 
 tinued to make additions to it. He wrote his " innocence with opetx 
 face ;" an apology for the sentiments of his first piece. He avows 
 that " he had not budged one jot,*' from the opinions of the '' san- 
 dy foundation." He applauds Socinus, as one who had clearer 
 prospects of the truth than the most of his cotemporaries ;* then 
 approaching the point in dispute, he confesses '' the divinity of 
 Christ.'''' He admits that there are three in the Godhead. His 
 Socinian allies viewed him with amazement. Th^y accused him 
 of gross contradiction. He denied the persons of the trinity, and 
 yet advocated their divinity. They turned from him with dis- 
 gust ; they refused their fellowship to his sect ; but this meagre 
 explanation gained Penn his liberty, and his assertion was true. 
 He had not " budged onejot.^'' That Christy whose divinity he ad- 
 vocates, is their " light within.''^ It is divine, because it is merely 
 God in his enlightening power ; and the third, the spirit, is God 
 in another of his functions.! 
 
 What inconsistencies are crowded into human character ! Penn 
 had, with daring hand, impugned the holiest doctrines of Christi- 
 anity ; he had even engrafted on his mystic principles the deism 
 of Lord Herbert.^ The church, and all good men are in tears. 
 They bewail the impiety of this man ; while he, in his cell, under 
 the accusation of blasphemy, consoles himself in his sufferings 
 for Christ ; and with great humility, enrols himself in the list of 
 martyrs ; and writes his " no Cross^ no Crown ! /" The christian 
 world asks, what is that cross of Penn, without which there is no 
 
 • Penn, vol, i. p. 268. 
 
 t Compare his " sandy foundations^' and his " innocency with open 
 face," in vol. i. of his works. 
 
 ^ This writer, in his treatise " De Religione Gentilum," lays down five 
 articles, which he supposes to embrace all that is necessary to salvation. 
 He excludes the peculiar doctrines of the bible. His articles are, he says, 
 of universal apphcation. This deism Penn embodies into his system. See 
 his " Christ. Quak." ch. 7, 8, 10, 11 — See Keith's deism of W. Penn, and 
 Vincent's review of the '* Sandy Foundation," written by Penn. 
 
 15 
 
90 Jin Historical Dissertation, 
 
 crown ? It is a cross of suffering, from the indignation of the 
 christian public, levelled against blasphemy of a peculiar and 
 deep aggravation ! Yes. Let the christian world remember, that 
 it was in these circumstances, in this medley of impiety and mar- 
 tyrdom, that this book was composed, by this most singular and 
 most deluded man !* 
 
 The third period is that of Barclay. He appeared at a time 
 when the keenest opposition was carried on against the society. 
 The principles of Penn, which his influence had spread widely 
 in the society, had kindled a furious flame against them in Eng- 
 land. Barclay undertakes to give the world the most correct 
 picture of their tenets. He moulded the system of mysticism into 
 a new form ; and drawing a veil over the Socinianism of his com- 
 patriots, he has compressed over the whole, the prominent fea- 
 tures of the Arminian and the Pelagian heresy.t 
 
 § 18. There was a gradual amalgamation of the heterogenous 
 sentiments of these three periods. This process took place under 
 the strong pressure of the public opinion against them ; excited 
 and strengthened by very able writers. The society, led on by 
 Penn and Barcla\'^, certainly did recede from the more mystic 
 sentiments of Fox ; j^et it was a retreat, conducted with the face 
 towards the enemy. This needs little proof. Vfe have only to 
 look into Penn's first works, which appeared about the year 1 668, 
 especially his " sandy foundation,'^ and compare them with the 
 wonderful concessions in his pieces, written between the years 
 1692 and 1698; particularly his "^e?/," and his '■'■Reply to the 
 bishop of Cork.'''' There is as great a difference between the opin- 
 ions of these two periods, as there is between the young Penn, the 
 dashing and thoughtless son of admiral Penn, and William Penn, 
 in the full flowing uniform of the society ; advancing with cautious 
 steps, and a suspicious eye thrown on all around him, and bowing 
 beneath the storm of public opinion. Barclay's talents, enriched 
 with the knowledge of the Roman fathers, which certainly bear 
 a near affinity to the modifications of Arminius, reformed the 
 Quaker system still more. The authors of the " Brief Apology''^ 
 
 » It is obvious that I speak of Penn as a sectarian leader, and a polemic 
 H^'dhe confined himself to politics, his fame had been entire. 
 f See his Theses, and the Prop, of the Apol. 
 
 X Dublin ed. of 1727. 
 
»ln Historical Dissertation. 91 
 
 are even more liberal, and more Pelagian ; and S. Fuller has 
 gone as far as any man can venture, in mingling the system of 
 Saccas with that of Pelagius, and of Arminius, to suit the modern 
 taste.* 
 
 § 19. Each of these periods has produced its authors. Each 
 has its partizans. Hence the great diversity of sentiment, even 
 to this day, in the society. We meet with the undefinable dog- 
 ipata of Fox, the Sabellianism of Fenn, the mystico-Arminianism 
 of Barclay. In later times. Job Scottt advances the Sabellian- 
 ism of Penn. At a still later date, we find the mystico-Socinia- 
 no-Arminianism of the society, on the dull pages of Clarkson, and 
 the silly pages of Bristed. Hence the society can, with a clear 
 conscience, adhere to the declaration which they made in the 
 year 1699 ; " We have not flinched from the tenets of our an- 
 cient elders." 
 
 § 20. Under the first of these periods, though not confined to 
 it, appeared those bodily phenomena, which imposed on them the 
 name of Quakers. Their speakers " had hideous contortions, and 
 violent motions of their limbs." They whined and hummed their 
 discourses in a confused imitation of singing ; and occasionally, 
 with uplifted face, " they bellowed as they'd burst the heavens," 
 and fell down in an ecstacy.| These bodily affections are thus 
 described by an eye-witness : — They fell down, they heaved 
 their breasts as if they would burst ; they quaked, they foamed 
 at their mouth ; they were convulsed as if their limbs would be 
 thrown into pieces."§ Penn accounts thus for these " holy trem- 
 blings ;" — " The Quakers were overtaken by the mighty hand of 
 God ; great were their pangs, under the terrors of the Lord." — 
 " Being redeemed through judgment, they became ministers of 
 
 **«Sevious Reply" to Boyce. Dublin, A. D. 1728. 
 
 1 1792. See Rathbone's Narrative, and Job Scott's Journal . 
 
 ^ Fal''o's Quakerism, See. p. 11, 12. 
 
 4 " Stablishing against quaking,'^ published in 1656. See the " Petition 
 of a county against the Quakers," in the " Snake in the Grass," p. 21, No. 
 1474, duod. Phil. Lib. See Fox's " Saul's Errand to Damascus," p. 5, 
 ancient ed. Warner's Eccles. Hist, ii p 581, ed. Lond. 1756, fol. Clark- 
 son and others, in the usual penury of their views, gravely tell us, that the 
 society were called Quakers, because Fox called upon the Justice Bennet 
 to tremble at the word of the Lord! On this supposition, Mr. Justice 
 Bennet should have been the Quaker. 
 
9!J' *1h Hisfoncal Dissertation. 
 
 judgment to others. The terrors of \t struck thousands. The 
 devils trembled, and all flesh was as grass ;" and — " did not the 
 devils roar and tremble, when about to be cast out by a stronger 
 than themselves."* 
 
 Barclay also makes honourable mention of these spasmodic 
 affections. He ascribes them to the violent collisions between 
 " the good seed and the bad seed." When Satan strives to excite 
 the one, and the spirit strives, by a counter influence, to raise the 
 other, the combat is carried on with varied success. The fraif 
 vessel which contains the fierce combatants, trembles, and is con- 
 vulsed ; and it is not till after fearful quakings, that the song of 
 victory bursts forth. t 
 
 These bodily phenomena are purely Platonic- That ancient 
 sect held, that the soul, in its struggles to ascend to its pure light 
 and intellect, meets with violent opposition from the corrupt mat- 
 ter of the body. " During these struggles, an evil spirit" (Bar- 
 clay calls it " the spirit ofdarkness''''l) " is insinuated into the place 
 of the Divine. And what will not the soul suffer under the pres- 
 sure of such an evil ?"§ Those theologians, who modelled this 
 Platonic principle into a christian form, made three sorts or de- 
 grees of contemplation. The first is purely intellectual ; the se- 
 cond is confined exclusively to the affections ; the third is a com- 
 pound of the. other two. To the second class, says Hilton,l| 
 belongs a peculiar " vocal prayer," in which, " a man feeling the 
 grace of devotion, speaks to God, as it were, bodily in his pre- 
 sence, with words suiting his inward stirrings." " This is painful 
 to the spii'it," says he, " and wasting to the body. For it makes 
 the body move here and there, as if the man were mad or drunk, 
 and could have no rest."1T 
 
 On these principles of the Platonics, are engrafted the very 
 
 * Faldo wittily remarked, that •' people having taken the Quakers to 
 be possessed of the devil, when so behaving, Mr. Penn has here confessed 
 that they are not mistaken ; and more than this too, that they themselves 
 are devils. For it was they only that roared." Penn calls this a "frothy 
 reply" vol. ii. 322, 334. 
 
 t Apology, Prop. xi. sect. 8. i A-pol. Prop. x. sect. 7. 
 
 4 Synesius, a Platonic Phil, and a prof. Christian. See Taylor's Plat. 
 li. p. 276. 
 
 B A Carthusian, in his " scale of perfection," written for the mother of 
 King Henry VII. of England. 
 
 1 See Dr. Wettenhall's " Gifts and Offices, 8cc." p. 167, No. 1650, 
 duod. Phil. Libr. 
 
tdn Historical Dissertation. 93 
 
 opposite practices of two modern sects. The one is that of the 
 dancers ; whom this principle carried forth into the merriest ges- 
 tures in devotion. They sung, they danced, they jumped Avith 
 unparalleled vivacity. They threw the ancient revels of Bac- 
 chus completely into the shade. This sect is perpetuated by a 
 sect of dissenting Quakers in the United States. The other sect 
 is that of the tremblers. The convulsive agonies in their worship 
 were, in all respects, similar to those of the priestess of Apollo, 
 when thrown from her tripod by the agitations " of the God with- 
 in ;" and to those of the ancient Syrian priests, mentioned in the 
 pages of Apuleius. " They raved and sighed. They drew their 
 breath from their very bowels. At length, they fell down in a 
 phrenetic fit ; pretending to be replete with the spirit of the god- 
 dess."* The same bodily affections were observed among the 
 Jews at Rome, and other places, in the j-ear IGlS.t 
 
 The convulsions of Apollo lasted with various fame, during the 
 glory of the Delphic oracle. At last, that spirit left his shrine. 
 The quakings of the Syrian priests also ceased. So these " holy 
 tremblings," which commenced about the year 1G50, went on 
 briskly till 1660. These ancient tremblings were completely 
 outdone by them. Those of the priestess could bear no compa- 
 rison. Here were the spasms of the delicate female. But in the 
 society, not only little children]: and women, but robust men 
 were thrown into " hideous contortions." In the former case, a 
 solitary person filled the temple of the idol with groans and 
 shrieks. In the latter, prostrate hundreds covered the place, as 
 in a day of slaughter. And if any credit can be given to an au- 
 thor, who was an eye-witness of what he relates, so great was 
 the combat between " the good seed and the bad seed," and so 
 hideous were the groans and the yellings, that in a field adjacent 
 to a meeting, the herds of cattle, and swine, and dogs, ran about 
 as if mad : and each joining in the notes which Nature has given 
 them, they swelled the chorus into something super-human.§ 
 '* Totus autem simul bacchatus est mons.'''' 
 
 * Boileau's Hist, of the Flagellantes, ch. G, 86, No. 3117, octavo, Phil 
 Library. 
 
 t By Sir E. Sandy's " View of Reli^. in the West," p. 241. 
 
 X Bar, Apol. Prop. XI. sect. 8, p. 374. And " Snake. Sec." p. 24. Fox 
 -• Saul's Errand," p. 5. And Basse, vol. ii. p. 2. No. 270, folio, Phil. Libr. 
 
 § " Snake, &c." p. 300, No. 1474, dv.od. Phi!, Library. 
 
94 tin Historical Dissertation. 
 
 But, as in its ancient precedent, this spirit began to evaporate. 
 From the year 1660 it gradually declined; and about 1697, it 
 almost entirely disappeared.* 
 
 And in subsequent periods, and even until lately, the preachers 
 had some dregs of this turbulent spirit. They quaked, they 
 shuddered, and heaved up words with hollow groans from the 
 " fund of the soul ;" but still they kept on their feet. And in our 
 times, in Philadelphia, there have been specimens of violent 
 shruggings of the shoulders, and brachial twitches, and prodi- 
 gious wry faces, and thumpings on the pews. These, however, 
 are not so much the effects of the Delphic spirit, as the unna- 
 tural efforts of a mind in travail, when it has nothing to bring 
 forth! 
 
 " Vixque tenet lacrymas, quia nil lacrymabile cernit."t Ovid. 
 
 § 2i. During the first period, and also the second, the zeal of 
 their prophets carried them into extravagances of another kind. 
 To give a brilliancy to their denunciations, and to rouse the pub- 
 lic attention, they taught by signs. Some of them went into 
 churches, during service, clothed in sackcloth, and their hair 
 sprinkled with ashes. Two females entered the protestant church 
 in Dieppe, in France, took their station in a conspicuous place, 
 and turning round in solemn silence to every quarter of the 
 church, exhibited their clothing in sackcloth, and their heads co- 
 vered with ashes.| Barclay, with all his learning and talents, 
 was not a match for the sweeping spirit of fanaticism. This great 
 man actually fell into the rank of the raving fanatics, and march- 
 ed through the streets of Aberdeen in sackcloth.§ A female in 
 sackcloth and ashes denounced woes against the wicked town of 
 Kendal.ll Huntington, robed in a linen sheet, surmounted with 
 a halter, round his neck, instead of a cravat, stood as a spectacle 
 to the gaping audience of Carlisle church.lT A female in the garb 
 
 • Snake, 8tc. p. 295. 
 
 f In the island of Formosa priestesses officiate in the pagan rites of the 
 altar. During their devotional services, they exhibit all the trances, 
 tremblings, and convulsions of ancient Delphi. See Rechteren's Voyage 
 to the E. Indies. Brought. Diet, of all Relig. ii. p. 359 
 
 i Sewel, vol. ii. p. 176. They made a pilgrimage from England for 
 this purpose alone. 
 
 § Biog. Brit. art. Barclay, and his Life, p. 25. 
 
 II Fox, Jour. ii. 65. 1 Do. i. p. 531. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 95 
 
 of sackcloth, and having her streaming hair covered with ashes, 
 passed to the different gates of Bristol ; with courage peculiar to 
 prophetesses, she stood during half an hour at the centre of the 
 market place ; the graceless mob, however, pelted her, and she 
 retreated.* Anne Wright, having in the same garb made her de- 
 but, into St. Patrick's in Dublin, entered on a pilgrimage to Lon- 
 don, and went in these weeds throug^i the chief streets, as a sign 
 of approaching judgments.! But to crown the whole, these pro- 
 phets appeared in public in a state of nudity. During the Com- 
 monwealth, and in the reign of Charles II. several individuals of 
 the society went in naked processions through the streets of Lon- 
 don.f A female came, in a state of perfect nudity, into Whitehall 
 chapel, before the Protector.§ The most distinguished of these 
 Lupercalian heroes were Eccles and Simpson. In London the 
 former appeared naked in the fair : and held on in his lectures 
 and denunciations against /o//y, till the loud whips of the coach- 
 men made him seek safety in flight. At another time, he threw 
 a catholic chapel in Ireland, into a scene of confusion. In the 
 midst of mass, this lupercus entered naked from the waist up- 
 wards, with a chafing dish on his head, containing coals and 
 burning brimstone ; and he cried with a dolefiil voice, " zoo, wo, 
 to the idols and its worshippers /"|| His third fete was performed 
 in a church in London. During divine service he came in stark 
 naked; and raising his arms besmeared with filth, he denounced 
 the woes of heaven on the worshippers.lT Simpson continued his 
 naked processions, from time to time, during the space of three 
 years !** 
 
 The society are not original in any prominent part of their 
 doctrinal or practical system. In this licentious practice they 
 had their precedents. The east had its gumnosophists. Marc 
 Antony, as well as others, acted the lupercus at Rome.tt Greece 
 
 • Besse's Suff. of the Quakers, i. p. 41. 
 
 t Penn. ii. p. 77, 78, &c. -^ Fox, Jour. ii. p. 65. 
 
 § Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iv. ch. 3. p. 175. Bost. edit. Mosh. 
 vol. V. cent. 17. Hist, of the Quakers. Sewel has omitted this fact for 
 obvious reasons. I cannot with the Christ. Obser. (vol. xiii. p. 101.) give 
 this up. It is stated by Neal, who was conversant with the men of that 
 period ; and though stated publicly by him, it never was questioned till 
 lately, so far as I can discover, 
 
 II Sewel, ii. 226. J Leslie, Snake, p. 104, or p. 101 ed. 2d. 
 
 •* Fox's Jour. i. 531. See also Tompkin's Piety Promoted, p. 217,218. 
 
 tt Liv. Hist. lib. i. Plutarch in Anton. &c. 
 
96 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 had, among her cynics, a Diogenes and a Menedemus ;* Bohe- 
 mia and Germany had their Beghards ; France had her Turle- 
 pins ;t Italy her friar Juniper.! All these professed an aversion 
 to the shackles of clothing in their holy processions ! 
 
 The society have lately told the world, that they have search- 
 ed, and can find no evidence that any of their females were 
 guilty of these disorders. § This betrays an inexcusable igno- 
 rance of the history and of the sentiments of their fathers. Fox, 
 and Penn, and Sewel, do not only admit the facts, but applaud 
 the acts of these immodest lupercalians.|| 
 
 § 22. Dress. — The society have always shown the greatest 
 anxiety to be plain and simple. In the attainment of this, they 
 changed the ancient names of days and months, as heathenish ; 
 though their reforming hands have left words in our language 
 equally heathenish in origin. They changed the familiar mode 
 of speech, which custom, from time immemorial, had sanctioned. 
 They became martyrs and confessors for the honour of the pro- 
 nouns thee and thou. Yet, alack! how weak are even martyrs! 
 Though they suffered, even to wounds and blood, for thee and 
 thou in the singular ; they have for more than a hundred years 
 been committing grammatical murder on the case and person. 
 They have all along been guilty of saying " how does thee do ?" 
 They carried their plainness, in a rigid manner, in ancient times, 
 to their houses and furniture. Some of them, when sending their 
 
 * Menedemus made his processions in the street as a fury come fresh 
 from Tartarus, to note down the incorrigibly wicked. VV. Anderson's 
 PhilosopViyof Greece, p. 368, &.c. foho. 
 
 t Mosh. vol. iii. cent. 13, p. 2, ch. 2. 
 
 X See Boileau's Hist, of the Flagellantcs, ch. 23. 
 
 § In their remarks on Mosheim's History, in an appendix to the Ame- 
 rican editions of that work, they are careful to say only " their females." 
 But the note seems to convey a denial of these naked processions. Mosh. 
 Eccl. Hist. New York edit. 'vol. iv. p. 287. 
 
 II These extravagances should not have been noticed, had they not 
 5>io\vn out of their principles, and been advocated by their writers. See 
 Fox's Jour. vol. i. pp. 208, 499, 531 ; ii. p. 65, 79. Sewel, ii. p. 226. See 
 article Signs, in their respective indices. Penn, ii. p. 80, 836, and parti- 
 cularly the eigiith chapter of his " Seriozts Jjiology." Works, vol. ii. 
 ■' for his saying thai some of our women went naked, 'tis affirmed 
 '» with liglitness ; thu' soniefcvj of otir Friends went naked for a sign," 
 iiC. Penn then proceeds to a godly comment on the scandalous practice. 
 See also Farnsworth's defence of these lupcrci, in his "' Pure Language 
 of the S*:irit," printed A. D. 1656. 
 
*An Historical Dissertation, 9T 
 
 eiiusions from the press, would not permit a proud capital letter 
 to stand in any of their modest pages. And one removed from 
 his tire side the luxury of tongs, and subsdtuted the primitive 
 implement of a cloven stick!* But the pride of plainness distin- 
 guishes the society from all other sects, in their dress. They 
 wear the broad brim,t the flowing coat and breeches. The oral 
 law respecting the make of the hat and the coat, has been like 
 the laws of the Medes and Persians ; or the laws of China when 
 they received the signature of the red pencil. But, as to the make 
 of the last article, I mean the small clothes, I cannot find that it 
 is a sine qua non — that it should exactly resemble the mode of that 
 on the fine statue of Penn, in the hospital yard of Philadelphia. 
 This has got a convenience, or else a singular decoration in front ; 
 the absence of which, in the moderns, records, with melancholy 
 evidence, how much they have degenerated from that great leader 
 of the ton. According to the oral canons, which fix and regulate 
 their costume, the most orthodox colour is drab ; sober gray and 
 brown, are tolerated. Black is, for obvious reasons, absolutely 
 heterodox. For red, the use of it is prohibited, and even pro- 
 scribed by the oral law, in terms approaching the rigour of the 
 law of Menii, who prohibits the Brahmins of India from even 
 tratlicking in red garments.^ The gay Quakers, however, it must 
 be observed, use nearly as much freedom with the oral canons of 
 the society, on this article, as many of the clergy do with the 
 canons of the church, in a better cause. They make them suit 
 their own way of thinking. 
 
 It has been justly observed, that there is litde profit in disput- 
 ing about matters of taste. Each nation has its own customs and 
 
 * Sewel, vol. i. p. 242. 
 
 t The broad brim has exercised the wit of poets and actors : 
 
 " IVKh broad brims fiometimes like umbrellas." — Hudibras. 
 The profane wit, Nokes, appeared on the stage under a tremendous hat. 
 But this was only as the iirst fruits to the harvest. Diyden brought one 
 of his pe.sonages forward, under a hat made after the dimensions of the 
 hind wheel of a carnage. See Dunscomb's Antiq. of liereford. Edit, of 
 1804. But the irresistilDle courage, and imperturbable gravity of the socie- 
 ty, in defence of the broad brim, have secured them the peaceable and 
 triumphant possession of it. 
 
 X Sir William Jones's Disc, on the Relation of the Chinese to the Hin- 
 dus ; and Life, p. 393. 
 
 16 
 
ys ^n Historical Dissertation. 
 
 standard of propriety. Which of us would pretend to refute the 
 arguments of a Turk in defence of his beard or his turban ? So 
 tenacious is the Chinese of his customs, that solemn embassies 
 have been refused an audience, because the haughty European 
 would not prostrate himself, or beat his forehead, a given num- 
 ber of times on the floor, before the presence ! We cannot refute 
 feelings or taste. Were it not even folly to persuade the society, 
 that the broad brim should give way to the narrow brim ? They 
 could tell you, that the Chinese wear brims even broader than 
 theirs. That blue or black is a finer colour than drab? They 
 could quote against us the custom of the Asiatic nations, where 
 light colours prevail. That they should banish the flowing skirts ? 
 The flowing robes of the east, where they derived their opinions, 
 are clearly in their favour. That modern manners make it a 
 mark of respect to uncover the head in the presence of a superior ? 
 They could tell you, that the orientals do not uncover their heads : 
 " that the Jews at Home, and the west, do not stir their bonnets 
 " in their synagogues to any man, but remain still covered."* And 
 if this were too modern to render it venerable authority, they 
 could call in, to their aid, the ancient Romans, who certainly re- 
 mained covered in their temples, when they drew near the shrine 
 of their idols. And what is more, they have the authority of Ta- 
 citus and of Plutarch, to prove that it was an especial privilege 
 of the priesthood among the heathens, in their public intercourse, 
 and in their solem.n services, while others were uncovered, never 
 to lay aside their hats.t 
 
 It is very certain, therefore, that many customs prevail among 
 us, for which we cannot produce such ancient and classic authori- 
 ty. However, there is, unhappily for them, one circumstance 
 which operates rather against their system. The common feel- 
 ings and sense of the west are clearly against them. Their at- 
 tempts to bring in upon us the customs'of the east, and its fashions 
 in dress, are about as anomalous and extraordinary, as would be 
 the zeal of a Turk, to induce the citizens of Constantinople to ex 
 
 * Sir E. Sandy's View of Religion in the west. Anno. 1613 p. 242. 
 f " Nunquam pileum deponebant." Baionius de Donat. Constant, and 
 Valer. Max. i. 1 and 4. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 99 
 
 change their pantaloons for the Quaker breeches, and yield up 
 the red turban to the broad brim of black beaver! 
 
 The charge of affectation, in ushering in singular customs and 
 forms of dress under covert of religion, has not been the severest 
 trial to which the faith of the Friends was subjected in older 
 times. No small portion of their bodily sufferings was originated 
 by their zealous adherence to an item of their religious cere- 
 monies connected with their dress. It was a part of their an- 
 cient religious ceremonies, not to uncover the head to a mortal 
 man. Hence their conscientious and most scrupulous refusal to 
 uncover their heads before magistrates and courts of justice. 
 They resisted the order from the bench to uncover, as an insult 
 to their religious creed ; as a wound inflicted on a tender part of 
 their conscience. Hence they would not be driven from their 
 faith and practice in this particular, by bonds and imprisonments. 
 They would sooner have consented to lose their heads than to 
 uncover them !* 
 
 But the society has derived benefits from the peculiarity of 
 their dress, sufficient to out balance the pains of martyrdom for 
 it. The circumstance, trivial as it may appear to the most of 
 christians, who devote their time rather to the cultivation of mind, 
 than to the arrangements of distinctive dress, has been one 
 strongly operating cause of fixing the public character of this 
 sect. 
 
 By the colour and shape of their vestments, they proclaim 
 their religion more loudly than by the trumpet of the Pharisee. 
 They exhibit their confession of faith, in their front and in their 
 rear. In the cut and colour of the coat, they carry their reli- 
 gious dogmata into the street, and into the counting house. They 
 hold them up to every eye, and tell them in every ear. They 
 invite, they challenge a rigid scrutiny ; and the world does fix 
 a keen and scrutinizing eye on them. It searches out, with an 
 
 * See an account of the tragic farce of Penn and Mead, respecting the 
 duties of the hat, before a ve y tyrannical court. Penn's works, vol. i. ad 
 nitium : and Sc.wei, vol. ii. p. 244. The late king, George III. when he 
 gave audience to the Friends, took care to save their honour, and spare 
 his own feehngs, by stationing an extra groom of the chamber at the door 
 of the levet, whose duty it was to take off each of their beavers as they 
 approached the presence. — Clarkaon. 
 
100 •in Historical Dissertation. 
 
 eagle-eye, the spots on their consecrated garments. This pro 
 duces a deep and permanent effect on their members. It ope- 
 rates on a well known principle of human nature. The deport- 
 ment of the student arranged in his well known garb and badge, 
 and of the soldier when bearing the uniform and arms of his 
 country, when among strangers, is rigid and virtuous ; wdiile the 
 eye of the public is intensely fixed on them. And it gradually 
 relaxes, as the public notice withih^aws its virtuous stimulant. 
 And it frequently becomes dissipated as they merge in the crowd 
 of common dress, and ordinary men. Every member, conscious 
 that he has made his challenge on the public attention, and con- 
 scious that he is, according to the tenor of this challenge, con- 
 stantly watched, is on his guard. He is always in an attitude of 
 defence. Hence a strict eye on each other's deportment, as 
 well as their own, that the common enemy may not find where- 
 with to reproach the faith. Hence their coldness and distrust, 
 and distance, and jealousy in the presence of strangers. Hence 
 the indirect and ambiguous style in conversation. Hence the 
 sly and cautious manner, bordering on cunning, which have 
 marked their pu6/ic character in all countries; especially, where 
 their numbers are small.* And hence, as the result, under all 
 the feelings of the pride of party, ingeniously created and kept 
 alive by the shibboleth of speech and fraternal livery, they keep 
 themselves fairly separated from the whole world ; and strongly, 
 of course, devoted to their own sect. 
 
 The singularity of their dress operates another way. The 
 Friends have been long known by the appellation of good mo- 
 ralists. Nay, if the good Clarkson be correct, they monopolize 
 all morality. Their dress and manners bring them forth from 
 the retired walk, in which other christians are seen to pursue 
 the journey of life. Hence, they are presented before the pub- 
 lic eye in contrast, not Avith the religious world, w ho, by their 
 
 * The character of the German and SrottiKh Quaker, is very different 
 from the Philadelphian Quaker. The latter feehng his power, and trust- 
 ing to the number of his a xiii; lies, kis down much or the stern manners 
 of olden times. The fornv^r. especially the Scotch Quaker, who stands 
 almost single handc d, in a country where metaphysics drive fanatacism 
 over Its southern border, has retained the ancient public character most 
 strongly marked. 
 
Jin Historical Dissertation. 101 
 
 dress, are merged in the common crowd, but with the whole mass 
 of civil society. And as the principles, and the morals of the 
 great mass of mankind, hear little of the impress of Christianity, 
 and much of moral pollution, the society, in the result of the com- 
 parison, has stood high in morals with the superficial observer. 
 
 Those founders of new sects* were unquestionably shrewd 
 observers of human nature ; who, in devising auxiliaries to 
 strengthen their society, and to attach, more closely, their prose- 
 lytes to their systems, have call.d into their aid, principles that 
 operate on the propensities and vanity of the human mind. What 
 Mohammed effected by the trivial rites of ablutions of water, or 
 sand, and by prostrations toward Mecca, and by pilgrimages ; 
 that Eustathius did; and that Fox and Penn did, in their way, 
 by a distinctive dress, and speech, and manners. They aspired 
 to the same lofty origin, the special command of heaven. They 
 had the same object in view. It is certain they do have the same 
 tendency. The devout Arab performs-liis ablutions, and pros- 
 trates himself toward Mecca ; and rises with unmeasurable feel- 
 ings of pride in his sect •. and damns the whole of the human 
 family who are not moslem. The pious Friend looks at the dress 
 and speech of his sect, unakerable as the lav.'s of the Medes and 
 Persians, and separates himself from every other sect in the 
 christian world ; and throws barriers in the way of communion 
 with them, never to be removed by him. 
 
 § 23. On oaths. — The society is distinguished from other 
 christians by their rejection of oaths. The members of the Re- 
 formed churches when called to give testimony, swear, with up- 
 lifted hand, by the name of God. They are guided in this by the 
 highest authority. " Thou shalt swear by his name."t This is 
 a section of the moral law. For there are three duties of moral 
 and perpetual obligations set down by it in the same verse. 
 " Thou shalt fear the Lord, and serve him : and cleave unto him, 
 
 • Fox and Penn were not the first who made a distinctive dress a ne- 
 cessary part of their creed. Among others, I find Eustathius of Sfbastia, 
 the leader of a sect, who clothed himself and his followers in a new and 
 fantastic dress. Socrat Hist. lib. iii. cap. 3. See also in Niceph. Cal. 
 Eccles. Hist, vol.i. p. 796. folio. 
 
 t Deut. X. 20. 
 
102 *ln Historical Dissertation. 
 
 " and swear by his name." The patriarchs gave their practical 
 exposition of this law by their use of oaths.* It was foretold by 
 an ancient prophet, that the faithful should, in the new testa- 
 ment church, " swear by the name of the Lord."t We have the 
 highest examples set before us. Almighty God sware by him- 
 self. An "• angel raised his hand and sware by him that liveth 
 for ever."J Paul used this form in writings dictated by the Holy 
 Ghost ; " I take God to record on my soul."§ An oath is of es- 
 sential importance. In the most interesting cases, both civil and 
 criminal, it is the only means by which truth can be drawn out. 
 And in every case that conies before a court, it goes farther than 
 any other means to separate truth from falsehood, and educe evi- 
 dence. 
 
 Nor are we dragged to an oath with reluctance. The chris- 
 tian considers it as a solemn act of worship. In an oath, which 
 we approach with deep solemnity and reverence, we offer hom- 
 age to the divine omniscience, and power, and justice. In fine, 
 we lay these two precepts together, and act on the necessary 
 eonclusion drawn out of them. " An oath of the Lord shall be 
 ''between them both that he hath not, &c." " For men verily 
 " swear by the greater ; and an oath for confirmation's sake is 
 " an end of all strife."|| The first of these texts puts a case of 
 necessity. The last recognizes " an oath" as a well known duty. 
 And it states by divine authority, the beneficial influence of an 
 ©ath on civil society. 
 
 The prohibition of our Lord, and that of James, " swear not 
 "at all, neither by heaven, nor by the earth," is considered by 
 some as a serious objection. Nay, it is supposed to amount to a 
 positive repeal of oaths. It certainly does not. It is an emphatic 
 exposition of the third precept of the law : " Thou shalt not take 
 the name of the Lord thy God in vain." It prohibits all profane 
 eaths in conversation, and all oaths made by other objects than 
 God.^ And, finally, we put this question with emphasis : Does 
 
 * Gen. xiv. 22.— Josh. xiv. 9. — 1 Sam. xx. 3. — 2 Kings, ii. 2. 
 f Isaiah, xix. IS. and Ix 16. 
 X Heb vi. 13 — Revel, x. 5, 6. 
 S 1 Corinth, i. 23. 
 II Exod. xxii. 11— Heb. vi. 16. 
 
 ^ See Ber. de Moor, perpet. Com. in Markii. Comp. vol. v. cap. 1?. 
 sect. 12. 
 
Jin Historical Dissertation. 103 
 
 the prohibition of an abuse of a law, abrogate that law ? Must 
 we refuse obedience to the command, " thou shalt serve the Lord," 
 because others abuse their mercies, and act the part of rebels? 
 Must we refuse to " swear by the Lord our God," because some 
 do swear profanely, and because that profaneness is forbidden ? 
 If we act on this principle of extermination, we shall soon anni- 
 hilate the authority of all laws, civil and divine. 
 
 These arguments have no weight with the society. They de- 
 nounce all oaths. They simply affirm.* The ancient Friends 
 bequeathed them this antipathy, which was handed down to them 
 from their ancestors. From the time of queen Elizabeth, great 
 cruelty had been exercised under the arbitrary measures of the 
 bishops. In trials they were authorized to tender oaths, ex officio^ 
 to the suspected persons. This tyrannical procedure was warmly 
 opposed : the citizens and puritan ministers opposed these oaths 
 from the press and from the pulpit. Much Avas written against 
 them during this and the succeeding reigns. The people, as 
 might naturally have been expected, gradually transferred the 
 arguments from particulars to generals ; they argued against all 
 kinds of oaths. By the time the arguments reached the hands 
 ©f the Friends, (such is the propensity to generalize on almost 
 every theory) they were not allowed to except even the oath au- 
 thorized by divine authority : " the oath for confrmaticm's sake 
 " which is an end of all strife.'''' To support this novel doctrhte^ 
 they dragged in our Saviour's prohibition of profane oaths.t 
 Some enlarged their proof by appealing to Plato, who advocates 
 " a life beyond an oath.^''l And they ought to have added, that it 
 was the peculiar prerogative of the priests, among the pagans, to 
 
 • The primitive Quakers admitted the substance of an oath. See the 
 Quaker's Dialogue with Charles II. Sewel, vol. i. p. 435. Penn's Oath, 
 vol. ii. p 74. — Burroughs, p. 622. 
 
 ■j- Matth.v 34. James v 12 " Swear not ♦'ia^, 07w?zmo, at all, orby any 
 means. It is an adverb oi confirming*'' says Sdileusner, uot v,{ extent. 
 That is, let nothing induce you to swear. What r" namelv. those oaths of 
 ■which he is speaking; " by heaven, bv the earth." Oaths to which the 
 politest pagans were excessively prone in conversation, and in their grav- 
 est writings. 
 
 X Penn. ii. 513. who quotes Val. Maxim. 2. 10. and also Cicero pro Bal, 
 Laert. 
 
104 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 be exempted from an oath.* They had the management of the 
 divine things: they had free access to the holy inspirations of the 
 gods : a distrust of their word was inadmissible : they were, there- 
 fore, allowed a simple affirmation. 
 
 It is certain, that Penn has grafted his doctrine of immunity 
 from oaths, on the principle of Plato, to which I have referred 
 above. Plato's " life beyond an oath,'^ was a life spent under the 
 entire guidance of the light excited in its pure flame by the ca- 
 thartic virtues. The man being perfect, could not lie. An oath 
 was unnecessary. Penn models the argument thus :t the light, 
 ©r Christ, is come : he came to put an end to sin ; he is in them ; 
 he has put an end to sin in them ; they are perfect. In perfec- 
 tion there is no room for " distrust of honesty." Hence, they 
 cannot swear. To urge an oath on them, is to question the fact 
 ©f their perfection ; and to insinuate that they are weak sinners 
 like others. I will not conceal, however, that a German divine, 
 quoted by a writer of the society ,J is at perfect antipodes with 
 Penn, on this article. " Those heretics,''^ says he, " who will not 
 " sicear^ are like the devil. He is not known to have ever used an oath.'^ 
 And he never will. Swearing to the truth is a solemn public act 
 of homage to Almighty God. 
 
 § 24. — On war. On the subject of offensive war, there is only 
 one opinion among christians. It cannot be advocated on chris- 
 tian principles; it exhil)its on a wide field what the robber and 
 the assassin does on a limited scale. Their moral turpitude is 
 the same. There is only this difference, that the atrocities ot 
 war are aggravated in the ratio of the violence, murders, and 
 rapines which follow in its train. Ko christian, nor even pagan, 
 can pretend to jwstify offensive war- But the Society, through 
 an excess of zeal, proceed to the extremity of advocating non- 
 re;^istance. Defensive war is, in their opinion, in all cases un- 
 lawful. 
 
 All that the society has advanced on this topic, hardly amounts 
 
 * Phitarch quoted by Bitrnnius, (De Donatione Constantini Magni.) 
 Anno. 3'24 nuni 79, and Durham on Kevel. vol. ii p. 425. 
 •{- Vol. ii. loO. 488, 489, 796. and l>:ir prop, on this article. 
 t Stubbs,p. 157. of " Light shining," i>cc. 
 
tin Historical Dissertation. 105 
 
 to elegant declamation : and whatever force it has, it operates 
 only on one branch of the subject, and wholly in favour of our 
 opinion. War is cruel : it is horrible. Man warring against 
 man exhibits a brutal ferocity : the deeds are disgraceful even 
 to the savage : they outstrip the ferocious deeds of the lions of 
 the forest. These offer no violence to their own species. But 
 the greatest enemy of mankind is man. What a spectacle of 
 horror is presented on a field of battle, and in the sacking of a 
 city ! What feeling heart does not shudder at it ! What man 
 of principle does not abhor it ! Can a christian advocate war 
 which fills the world with so much misery ! All this is very true ; 
 and every sentiment is clearly supported by the passages of holy 
 writ usually quoted for authority.* But it is not in point; it does 
 not touch the question under discussion. It is merely a decla- 
 mation against offensive war ; and those demons in human form 
 who bring it. The guilt of this must certainly rest somewhere. 
 It cannot rest on those who ward oft' the execrable evil from their 
 own heads and the heads of those under their protection. It 
 must rest only on those who bring the war. 
 
 While, therefore, I am willing to go all the length of the so- 
 ciety, in denouncing offensive war, I ask them, in return, to fol- 
 low me in the arguments in favour of defensive war. 
 
 The Almighty has written a lav/ on our hearts, which impels 
 us to self-defence. This is something distinct from the spirit of 
 revenge, or a criminal indulgence of the passions. It is a univer- 
 sal principle ; it cannot be eradicated from the bosom, until reason 
 and judgment be hurled from their seat, and their influence over 
 us is lost. To oppose defensive measures, is to oppose a law of our 
 nature, impressed on every heart by the hand of Omnipotence. 
 
 The precept that determines the moralily of an action, is un- 
 changeable as the throne of Deity, whence it comes. If, by a 
 divine command, war was made lawful four thousand years ago, 
 it must be lawful now. Who gave the command to Moses to 
 fight against Amalck, when he brought war against his people ?t 
 
 * James iv. 1, &c. 
 
 ■j- Exod. xvii. 16. It cannot be pretended that this is a part of the 
 ceremonial law. 
 
 17 
 
106 *in Historical Dii-isertation, 
 
 Who was the " captain of the Lord's host," under whom Joshua 
 carried ou war in Canaan, against the nations who had rebelled 
 against God ? Are we prepared to accuse a prophet of the Lord, 
 who, under divine inspiration, roused his country's arms against 
 the encroaching foe ?* 
 
 If the law of God has declared that the man " who provides not 
 for his vwn house^ has denied the faith and is worse than an infide^'' 
 what, according to that law, must be the aggravation of that man's 
 guilt, who, on the theory of non-resistance, declares that he will 
 not defend the property of his family from the robber, nor their 
 lives from the violence of the murderer ? Something greatly 
 worse than infidel ! 
 
 Are we prepared to say that the arts of the King of Zion need 
 our apology? He has fought ; he does fight ; and he will fight, 
 at the head of his angels, against the assaults of the dragon who 
 dares to invade his church, and to carry violence into his sanc- 
 tuary.! 
 
 Defensive war began in heaven. When Satan and his angels 
 rebelled, the Almighty vindicated his honour, and supported his 
 government. He hurled the rebels from the battlements of 
 heaven, and he retains them in chains of darkness. During six 
 thousand years, he has been defending his church against the 
 assaults of hell. Such high authority have we for defensive war. 
 But on the principle of non-resistance, Satan would still have been 
 in heaven ! 
 
 The principle of non-resistance, taken in a political view, has 
 a dangerous tendency. Laws are necessary not only to the well 
 being, but the very existence of a state. A penalty is essentially 
 necessary to a law. Remove the penalty, and the law sinks into 
 the ineffective form of a petition. A penalty ought to be of suf- 
 ficient weight: the evil falling on the head of the offender, should 
 be greater than the good which he could promise to himself from 
 
 * Jerem. iclviii. 10. Serious discussions have taken place on these his- 
 torical and doctrinal passages of the Holy Scriptures, among the leading 
 Friends, particularly in Ireland ; and the opinion openly avowed that they 
 ought to be expunged. See a specimen of these discussions in Rathbone's 
 ■Narrative, p. 50,53. — and his ai^pendix, No. 2. 
 
 1 Rev.xii. 7. 
 
An Historical Dissertation, 107 
 
 the breach of the law. If this be not so, then temptation is held 
 out to crime ; the infliction of the penalty ought to be imperious 
 and rigid. If it does appear that the magistrate is not invested 
 with sufficient power, or that there is a possibility of the penalty 
 being set aside, a high temptation is held out to crime : hence the 
 magistracy must have every facility of executing the law, and 
 enforcing the penalty ; and, hence, they must be supported by 
 the arm of power against any combination of criminals. If they 
 are not, what security have we for life, liberty or property ? The 
 principle of non-resistance denies to the magistrate all the means 
 of compulsion : it denies him guards ; it denies him weapons ; it 
 bids him go on in the execution of the laws ; but he must go on 
 peaceably. Well ! but what if the criminals may not permit him 
 to go on peaceably ? What if they combine and resist ? They tear 
 themselves from the grasp of those who would lecture, them into 
 obedience ; and who are beseeching them to be so good as to 
 submit to the sentence of the law. They arm themselves ; they 
 offer violence ; a whole neighbourhood of Quakers is brought in ; 
 the question is emphatically put to them : you see the tumult ; 
 what must be done ? The criminals are violent; they are deaf 
 to all reason or persuasion. Must the laws be insulted ? must the 
 bench retreat? must the court be dispersed? must the citizens 
 perish by the weapons in the hands of these unprincipled men? 
 Ves ! say the stern advocates of non-resistance ; all this must be : 
 we will not try to prevent it. Nothing then can save the state 
 from ruin, unless one of two things shall take place. Either the 
 criminals being struck with yjity, will throw down their arms, set 
 up the court, recall the judges, and with a sudden docility of man- 
 ners, bow down and receive the sentence of the law, from pure 
 love of good order, or the judge, accompanied by the proper of- 
 ficers, will arm his guards, and reduce the criminals to obedience. 
 Such is the dangerous tendency of this tenet of the society, in 
 a political view. It tends directly to produce anarchy and ruin ; 
 but Holy Providence seldom permits an error to creep into the 
 world, without sending after it some powerful guardian of truth, 
 to paralyze its arm, or to check its influence ; or he leaves it 
 to its native violence, to bend its bow till it breaks. And thus 
 
108 dn Historical Dissertation. 
 
 the intended victim escapes. This is emphatically the case with 
 this principle ; its destructive tendency is so glaring, that it has 
 utterly defeated itself; it is incapable of any general practical 
 application. Hence, even the society cannot act on it, but in so 
 partial a manner, that they cannot be said to adhere to their 
 theory. They do admit of laws and penalties ; they do admit of 
 magistrates, and sentences, and punishments ; they do admit of 
 chains and dungeons ; they do admit of force and arms in our 
 state prisons. 
 
 '' But ij" our principles of non-resistance zoere knozvn, we should not 
 ■be attacked.^ This advances the extravagant idea, that the mur- 
 derer will not injure the good man, nor the weak; nor him who 
 has no intention of defending himself: that he will attack only the 
 brave and the fighting man. " But Holy Providence interferes^ in 
 a special manner^ in our behalf ; and wards off the violence of the wick- 
 ed.'"' Providence brings to pass his purposes by means ; to ex- 
 pect them without the use of means, is to expect miracles when 
 there is no necessity for them. Besides, if it be wrong fot' a 
 Quaker to defend himself, /lozo can he justify Providence in defendr 
 ing him from violent men? But no Quaker ever acted on this prin- 
 ciple ; and we will pledge that law, which God has written on his 
 heart, as the guarantee that he never will risk his life or his gold 
 in support of it ; he will act as the English Quaker did when as- 
 saulted by a robber. The man of non-resistance caught him in 
 his brawny arms, and thus harangued him ; and closed the farce 
 hy a tragedy : " I will not offer violence to thy body ; nor will I 
 shed thy blood : but / will hold thee in this pond, until thee shall 
 be incapable of doing any violence to an innocent man!" 
 
 The principle of non-resistance has a dangerous moral tenden- 
 cy. It has, indeed, the aspect of virtue, and of abhorrence of all 
 violence ; and it is a holy principle, so far as it is applied to offen- 
 sive war. But try it, on the true question of defensive war; bring 
 the arguments and declamation of the society to bear upon those 
 who defend their lives, liberty and propertj^ It contradicts the 
 common sense of mankind ; it resists the impulse of the first law 
 of our nature ; it contradicts the holy laws of morality ; it pleads 
 (hat violence may not be repelled ; it pleads for the removal of 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 109 
 
 every barrier before the march of crime, when it appears in a 
 formidable array of armed men ; it pleads for a license to them 
 to go the full length of their violence. If the robber assail you ; 
 if the assassin break into jouv chamber, the weapons of self-de* 
 fence must be wrested out of your hands ; you must not strike the 
 arm that is raised to lay your wife and jour infants bleeding 
 carcases beside your own ! If a foreign enemy pour its legions on 
 your shores to rob you of your country, your liberty, and all that 
 is dear to man, you must not fight. U entreaties fail, you must 
 surrender all into their hands. 
 
 " But this could not take place, if all men would embrace their prin- 
 ciples.'^ This is no argument ; if you think so, do not trouble the 
 world with a wild impracticable theory. If a principle is brought 
 forward, which professes to meliorate the condition of man, it 
 ought not to rest on a Utopian base. It ought not to be contrived 
 to suit man in Paradise ; it ought to assume the fact, that nian is 
 what he is. But, until the species be regenerated, there will be 
 violent men: there will be robbers: there will be murderers: 
 there will be unprincipled statesmen at the helm of government. 
 It is of little use to tell them, that they ought to be good vien ; and to 
 have better principles. It is silly to argue, that because there 
 ought to be no violent and unjust men, therefore, there ought to 
 be no defensive zcar. It is a miserable sophism. You tell us there 
 ought to be no violence and injustice ; there ought to be no cause 
 for self-defence ; and because there ought to be none, therefore, 
 there is no cause for self-defence. This is the total amount of the 
 argument against defensive war. Now, if we take human nature 
 as it is ; if we admit the fact, that there will be violent men, whose 
 vicious propensities will hurry them into violence ; and if, with 
 these facts before our eyes, we do advocate the principle of non- 
 resistance, we are advocating a principle of immoral and danger- 
 ous tendency. We are saying to the robber, we will not set 
 bounds to your crimes ; to the murderer, you may take away the 
 lives of many with impunity, to the unprincipled statesman, you 
 may trample on our national rights, and take away our liberty • 
 we shall not defend them. This is not merely sajing, let the 
 world be as wicked as it may be, I will not iisa.my influence to 
 
110 ^In Historical Dissertation. 
 
 diminish one crime. It says, let it become as wicked as the most 
 abandoned men can make it, 1 shall not throw up one barrier to 
 impede the march of crime. If every good man were to act on 
 this principle of non-resistance, moral pollution would speedily 
 be increased a thousand fold : if a nation were to adopt it unani- 
 mously, the consequences would be dreadful. Human nature is 
 depraved in all nations; wars will come; the age of miracles is 
 past ; Providence does work by means. If that nation did not de- 
 fend itself, it would soon exhibit a scene fit for the most tragic 
 muse ; lire would lay waste its cities and towns, and hamlets ; law- 
 less brigands would bring on our families ruin worse than death ; 
 the sword would sweep her population into the grave, or into 
 slavery ! Such is the tendency of this pretty, but romantic, theory 
 of non-resistance !* 
 
 But the society did not arrive, all at once, at this singular item 
 in their system. Extraordinary as it may appear, I mean to the 
 modern Quakers, it is a fact, that from the rise of the society, to 
 the year 1 660, the Friends did advocate zcar, and many of them 
 zoere in the army. The pages of Burroughs and of Fox, even after 
 the licentious liberties of modern editors in altering and expung- 
 ing passages, do still afibrd us {)roof. The former exhorted the 
 Protector to war against the Pope. " Let thy soldiers go forth 
 with a willing heart.*"! The same war spirit is breathed in his 
 address to the English army at Dunkirk. J Fox wrote an " address 
 to the conncll of officers.'''' He tells them what they might have 
 done, had they been faithful. They might have taken Rome, 
 and put down the Pope : they might next have subdued the Turks, 
 and put down Mahomet. He then laments, that many excellent 
 officers and soldiers were thrust out of the army by the Protec- 
 
 * The practice of the society has often done violence to their own theo- 
 ry. The laws demand, that we defend onr country ; or pay, to aid 
 in this gieat object. The Q rikers rcfu-e to pay this miiitiu fine or tax. 
 They resist the law even to bodily pains. It does seem very absurd, to 
 say that thev practise non-resistance. They resist to support the doctrine 
 of non-resistance. 
 
 ■j- " Good counsel rejected," p. 26, 27, 36, 37. and Quak. Unmasked, 
 p. 4. 
 
 t See Burroughs' Works ; fol. p. So5, 540. and" Snake," &c. Edit. 2. 
 p. 229, &c. 
 
dii Historical Dissertation, 111 
 
 tor, merely for using " ihou and ihee^'' and for wearing iheir hats.* 
 And in another place, he speaks of" the righteous end of the war^ 
 for liberty and /aa!."t To these, we may add the names of Penn 
 and his kinsman, the amiable Pennington ; they certainly were 
 not decidedly opposed to defensive war.X Penn reaped a goodly 
 harvest from his father's military and naval glory. If he had 
 been, in principle, decidedly opposed lo war, his conscience m.ust 
 have been ill at ease from the reflection, that all his wealth and 
 luxuries were the purchase of military services. But his con- 
 science was at ease; he approved of his father's deeds, he de- 
 fended his oflke and station ; he did approve of defensive war in 
 the following words : " he was employed," says he, respecting his 
 father, admiral Penn^ " he was emploj^ed in the preservation of 
 the countrj'^ from the rapes and spoils of foreigners. ''§ 
 
 But after the restoration, when they could no longer indulge 
 the hope of the downfall of Episcopacy, they shielded themselves 
 behind the principle of non-resistance. And, as a society, they 
 have advocated it to this day. 
 
 But there have been some collisions between their theory and 
 their practice. When Philadelphia was joung, the magistracy 
 was entirely in the hands of the Friends ; its port could boast of 
 only one sloop. A band of pirates coming up the river, carried 
 oft' the sloop. What did the society do? The faith and constan- 
 cy of the London Quakers, never met with such a trial. It is an 
 easy matter to be virtuous where there are no temptations. Did 
 the society become confessors and martyrs to their principle? 
 Verily, no ! Their magistracy issued commissions ; they raised an 
 armed band ; they retook their sloop, and made the banditti pri- 
 soners. It is curious, to see how the historians of the society, 
 wriggle and twist, under the difficult digestion of this morsel of 
 their history. They admit the fact, that the sloop was forcibly 
 
 • See p. 5, 6. anct. edit. See also Bugg's Pict. p. 50, Snake in the 
 Grass, p. 210. and edit. 2. p. 207 and 208. 
 
 I Fox's West answering the North, p. 16. and 102. and Snake, &c. p. 
 221. and edit. 2. p. 218. 
 
 X Penn, vol.i. p. 146. and Pennington, vol. i. 227. His " Address to 
 the Army." See Penn's Froject for securing the peace of Europe : He 
 admits the retaining of '■'^ forces^' &c. Sect. 4, 5, 9, in vol. ii. p. 841, 842. 
 
 § Vol. ii.p. 451. 
 
112 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 taken awaj^ and that it was recovered. But they pretend that 
 no arms were used ; that there was no fighting.* This contradicts 
 the' account given by men of probity, and who had access to 
 know all the truth.! And besides, it is highly improbable. Can 
 any man believe, that a strong banditti, who had possession of 
 the sloop in the river, would be moved by the sight of their pur- 
 suers, to sit down and hear a Quaker seraion ; and that they 
 would be instantaneously moved to grant their petitions, to restore 
 them the sloop, and submit their necks, like good hearted 
 citizens, to the sentence of the law? Pirates never possessed such 
 sensibility, nor such disinterested love of good order !t 
 
 The government of Pennsylvania had, by an act of William 
 and Mary, been taken out of the hands of Penn. It was, on his 
 petition, restored to him, on certain conditions. These were, that 
 he should secure and defend the place : that he should send 80 
 soldiers to Albany, when called for, to aid in the war against the 
 Indians: or find monej^ to pay that number. To these condi- 
 tions he acceded. § In A. D. 1701, Penn, in his speech to the 
 assembly of this state, exhorts them to take measures for their 
 defence. He laid before them the king's letter, demanding mo- 
 ney to aid in carrying on the war against the Indians of New 
 York. Penn recommended that the sum be granted by the as- 
 sembly. || 
 
 In the year 1 7G4, when the affairs of the Paxton volunteers 
 
 agitated the public mind, the Quakers of Philadelphia manifested 
 this spirit of Penn. They opposed the measures of those who 
 wished to treat with the " Paxton boys." They urged, " that 
 they had force sufficient to repel them, or even to kill them.-'^ 
 
 * Gough. iii. p. 341. 
 
 f See Keith's Appeal, and the Reply of the Society. See also the 
 " Snake," edit. 2- and p. 201. 
 
 X See another case : the recovery of a ship, commanded by a Quaker, 
 from the Turks. Sewel, vol. ii. book vii. pp. ~4, 80. 
 
 § See the letter from Philadelphia, dated 1695, pubhshed in London 
 •while Penn was there. Leslie in the " Snake," &c. appeals to it. p. 241, 
 or p. 237. edit. 2. 
 
 tl Vol.i. p. 146, 8cc. 
 
 1! See " The Quaker Unmasked," p. 7. no. 1007. Duod. Tract. 7. 
 Philad. Library, and a book called" a Trumpet Sounded out of the Wil- 
 derness of America." See a MS. in Philad. Libr. no. 1413, vol. i. quarto. 
 p. 23. Y. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 113 
 
 Their warlike preparations, which are remembered in this city 
 to this day, and which I have heard detailed by the most re- 
 spectable citizens, evinced a determination to carry their pur- 
 poses into effect. But the favourable issue of a treaty, prevented 
 the Quakers from resisting and kiUing these hot headed volun- 
 teers. And in different periods, those members of the society 
 who were chosen representatives in the state legislature, or in 
 congress, have, at the call of their country, voted for war meas- 
 ures.* 
 
 In fine, only one thing has saved the existence of the society. 
 They have had their brave fellow-citizens to fight in their de- 
 fence. And one thing has saved the existence of this article of 
 their faith. The government of Pennsylvania was taken out of 
 their hands. Had they possessed the chair of state, and the 
 offices of the magistracy in that great commonwealth, there would 
 not have been, this day, a Quaker who would advocate the prin- 
 ciple of non-resistance. They would either have surrendered 
 the state to an invading enemy, or have advocated, by martial 
 deeds, the lawfulness of defensive war. Thus the society owe 
 their existence, political, to the advocates of defensive war. But 
 for them, as Voltaire said, " they had been devoured and annihi- 
 lated.'' 
 
 § 25. .The Friends have been a divided people. The fanati- 
 cism of Milner, Naylor, and Toldervy created serious troubles. 
 Those Liberales, who, pursuing exclusively the dictates of" the 
 spirit," undervalued the Holy Bible, ci-eated still more. These 
 arose, by fair consequence, out of the principles of the society. 
 The fanatics only reduced into practice, by a daring hand, what 
 the society held in theory about a real Christ in every man. The 
 establishment of their discipline produced a schism, which, as far 
 as I can trace in their history, is perpetuated to thisday.t Fox 
 
 • In 1674, see "Quaker Unmasked,'' p. 9. and in 1815, the member 
 from Germantown voted for the war measures. These may have been 
 expelled. But this shows what their wise men will do, when brought into 
 collision with their duty as citizens. In A. D. 1741, Samuel Chew, a Qua- 
 ker, advocated, from the bench, the doctrine of self-defence. See a cu- 
 rious MS. no. 1413, in the Philad. Libr. p. 2. 3. W. volume i. quarto. See 
 his defence also in Pennsyl. Gazet. no. 690 
 
 f See Ra1;libone's Narrative. ' 
 
 18 
 
114 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 instituted their form of ecclesiastical government, not under au- 
 thority derived from the Holy Scriptures, but " by the counsel 
 and power of God ;"* and the yearly meeting of Ireland, so latp 
 as A. D. 1802, recognized this divine right of their government.t 
 The party who opposed Fox insisted that they had, in common 
 with their brethren, the infalhble guide in their bosom ; and they 
 could not be subjected to any discipline. The Foxites insisted, 
 on the other hand, that the spirit in the individual ought to sub- 
 mit to the spirit and universal wisdom of the society :\ the other par- 
 ty replied, " you tell us that services done without the motion of 
 the spirit are accursed; andyou condemn us when we have not only 
 no motion for this, but a positive impulse of the spirit against 
 it."§ The female meetings for discipline were another source of 
 bitter contention.|| A strong party opposed them as utterly im- 
 pertinent. They denounced, in strong terms, the innovation of 
 petticoat church government and female popes : they were for- 
 mally excommunicated, and in their turn they undauntingly 
 hurled their anathema at the heads of their opposers: they mu- 
 tually employed the most abusive terms :1[ " they were impos- 
 tors and demons." " It was Judas and the Jews against Christ :" 
 and as a witty author,** a cotemporary, remarked, " both parties 
 being persons of honour, we ought to believe both." 
 
 A. D. 1661. — A violent dissention arose in the society respect- 
 ing the orthodox use of the hat. Every Quaker must have heard 
 of Muckalow and his book^" the spirit of the hat.'''' It appeared in 
 defence of sitting covered in time of prayer : for why not then as 
 well as during the other parts of worship ! Penn entered the lists 
 against this hero of the hat ; he reminded him that he had once ap- 
 proved of the custom of the society, and had tasted " comfort from 
 prayers that came through an uncovered head :" and forthwith de- 
 nounced him as convicted of heretical pravity.tt The party who 
 were drawn up under the banner of" the spirit of the hat,'''' issued 
 their manifesto that " what they did was by immediate inspiration." 
 
 • Jour. ii. p. 85, 215, &c. f Rath. Nar. p. 12. 
 
 X See the Quaker '« Barbadoes Judgment," quoted in " Snake in the 
 Grass," p. 68, edit. 3. 
 
 § Penn ii. p. 539, and Hick's Repl. Dial. p. 64. 
 
 II A. U. lerr. « Pcnn ii. 189, 199 and 774. *♦ Leslie. 
 
 ft Penn's •' Spirit of Alex, the Cojjpersinith, &c " 
 
An Historical Dissertatio)i. 115 
 
 Perot, the leader of the van, " had received a command from the 
 
 Lord of heaven and earth to war against taking off the hat ;" 
 
 and in opposing him, therefore, they were opposing the spirit. 
 Penn and his party replied that " the Lord had given to the 
 church" (he meant the great body of the Friends,) an infallible 
 spirit to discern spirits ; and as they had discerned and judged 
 them, they had justly cast them out. To this, they replied, that 
 " as the light within was the perfect and sufficient guide to each ; 
 as Penn made the body of the society to bear sway over the light 
 in each ; therefore, not the light within but the body was become 
 the Quaker's rule." How was such a dispute to be settled ? Each 
 of the parties was equally inspired ; each professed to be the fa- 
 vourite of heaven. " Hie labor, hoc opus est.^'' A grand meeting 
 was summoned. " Prayers were made with weighty groans and 
 tremblings, that the Lord would break forth among them, in a 
 signal manner." In all ordinary cases, the rule of Horace would 
 have been religiously acted upon. " JV*e Deus intersit nisi dignus 
 ■vindice nodus.'''' But here were two inspired bodies vehemently 
 contending — whether the hat should be put off, or whether the hal 
 should be put on, during prayers. Their cries were heard ; their 
 spirit interfered ; " he rent through the meeting ;" both sides were 
 •greatly humbled ; " and many with such bodily tremblings, as (it 
 may well be credited) filled the beholders with astonishment, de- 
 clared from the mouth of the Lord against the ' spirit of the 
 hat.' " Penn and his party prevailed, and a decree was issued 
 in the following words : " It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost, 
 «md to us, in the performance of solemn public prayer to the Lord, to 
 pull off our hats,'''' i^c. : and as this practice is dedicated to divine 
 service, it must not be prostituted to human uses. 
 
 " Quid (lignum tanto fevet hie promissor hiatu ? 
 
 " Parturiunt monies ; nascetur ridiculus mus !"* HoR. 
 
 These disputes issued in a rupture. Hence the two rival sor 
 
 * See Rich's "Epist. to the seven churches, A. D. 1680." Bugg'sPict. 
 of Quakerism, p. 263. Sixty-seven country Quakers were pitted against 
 sixty-six Quakers of London. See also Penn ii. 189, 207, 208, 209, and 
 774. edit. fol. 1726. " Snake," p. 71, ed. 2.— and «' the Spirit of the Hat," 
 p. 11 — and its " Defence." The decree was issued in the Avords of Penn 
 above recited. See vol. ii. p. 207 of his works, folio. 
 
1 16 dn Historical Dissertation. 
 
 cieties of Harplano and Grace-street church in London. In the 
 progress of these contentions, a party arose, who carried the 
 principles of one of these sects into their full length. The one 
 had reasoned that as each had his Christ in him, there was no 
 need for discipline : the new sect argued that on the same principle 
 there can be no real necessity for meetings for worship. We 
 have the perfect rule in us ; why should we meet in public, to 
 give or to receive instruction from any man ? Shackleton and his 
 adherents in Ireland, have lately revived this idea, and have 
 created serious troubles in the body in that country.* 
 
 Near the close of the 17th century, the Kcithian controversy 
 arose : it aifected one of the most important doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity. In the year 1692, Keith, a zealous Quaker, being in 
 Philadelphia, discovered that the society used the greatest licen- 
 tiousness, in doing away, by allegory, the narrative of the real 
 sufferings of Christ ; and consequently the doctrine of a real 
 atonement. He suspected them of being infected with the spirit 
 of deism. He drew on him the resentment of the body. Penn 
 was at this time in London. Not understanding the true cause 
 of the dispute, he addressed a letter to Turner, a justice in Phila- 
 delphia. He defends " honest G. Keith and his Platonic studies." 
 Keith returned to London. He soon discovered that these senti- 
 ments, which he had attacked, were not confined to the transat- 
 lantic Quakers. Penn had spoken from the text, " the blood of 
 Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins." This exposition 
 was strictly orthodox on their principles. " The blood is the life, 
 and the life is the light within them.'''' Keith, at a subsequent meet- 
 ing, took up this subject, and showed that " sin was cleansed by 
 the blood of the true Christ actually shed on Calvary." Penn 
 started from his seat ; and, as he afterwards stated in the annual 
 meeting, being so " transported by the poAver of God, that he was 
 carried out of himself, and did not know whether he was sitting, 
 or standing, or on his knees : he thundered forth this anathema," 
 '•'- 1 pronounce thee an apostate, over the head of thee.'''' The great 
 body followed Penn. Keith was condemned by an edict of the 
 
 * See Shack. Lett, to the Monthly Meeting of Carlow, 1801, and Rath- 
 bone's Nar. p. 164. 
 
 t " Snake, Sec." p. 71 and 282. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 117 
 
 annual meeting, but was not tardy in his own defence : he de- 
 nounced the society as Deists, under the disguise of allegory, and 
 he went as far as arguments can go to establish the fact.* 
 
 In 171 1, a dissention arose in the annual meeting in London. 
 It was in consequence of an attempt, by a strong party, to have 
 a general review of the Friend's books : and to expunge any er- 
 rors that might be found in them. Whitehead was the head of 
 the other party. He argued, that a project of this kind, was a 
 virtual surrender of their infallibility and inspiration. His party 
 prevailed. Hence it is, that the polemics of the society defend 
 every expression that dropt from the pen of their ancients. They 
 would not surrender, to their opponents, one item ; nor deign to 
 offer one apology. In Whiting's collection of the books of the 
 society, however, it appears that great freedoms have been used. 
 The fact has been established, by a comparison of the ancient 
 and modern editions, that the most offensive expressions have 
 been expunged : that Fox's Journal, in particular, had undergone 
 a severe castigation.t Nor is this to be wondered at, Penn has 
 advocated the measure in a similar case. When Fox and he 
 ventured to alter, to a more orthodox sense, a paper " given forth 
 by inspiration," he defended the deed on this ground, " that the 
 spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.'"^ 
 
 Besides these divisions, the Free Quakers, who justly advocate 
 the principle of self-defence, have formed themselves into a socie- 
 ty. There are, also, the Jumping Quakers, who, in the days of 
 Penn, seceded, under their leader, Case.§ These copied their 
 gestures from the ancient Salii, the priests of Mars, in preference 
 to the priestess of Delphi. Instead of the devout acts of trem- 
 bling and quaking, they adopted those of jumping ! They arc 
 perpetuated among us to this day. They exist near Albany, and 
 in the state of Ohio. " They may be considered," said uncle 
 John, " as a species of extravagance, even in the kingdom of dark- 
 ness. And yet, (such is human nature) they may maintain their 
 march till they fall before the glory of the latter day ! For 
 
 * See Keith's « Deism of W. Penn,'' and Mosh, vol. v. cent. 17. ch. 4, 
 sect. 2. part 2. See note B. appendix 1. 
 t Buss's Pict. p. 64, 65. " Snake, &c." p. 113. 
 i See vol. ii. p. 217. 
 § See " The Quakers, a divided people," publ. in A. D. 1708. 
 
118 ^In Historical Dissertation. 
 
 though their doctrinal system is rotten to the core, they do, nath- 
 less, retain much of the decencies and loveliness of morality in 
 their private manners." 
 
 § 26. — Human nature is the same in all societies. The spirit 
 of persecution has disgraced almost every section of christians. 
 The Puritans were persecuted by the Hierarchy. In New Eng- 
 land, the Puritans persecuted the Friends.* And amiable as they 
 arc, the Friends have had a visit from this demon. Those who 
 have studied their history, will remember the cases of Pierson, 
 and of King, and of Chadwell, and Ann Mudd. In their Suffer- 
 ings we have a view, in miniature, of the members of the society 
 retaliating on individuals that cruelty which fell on them from 
 a persecuting priesthood. Those persons disturbed the Friends* 
 meetings as Fox and others did those of the church. They 
 were dragged out, and subjected to that specific cruelty, which 
 Fox records in his case. Pierson was insulted ; his clothes were 
 torn ; " his blood was shed ;" he was laid across a horse and car- 
 ried by Friends to an ale house. They had him seized by a 
 warrant; he was dragged before a justice. Four times they in> 
 prisoned him in arbitrary prisons : twice they placed him in the 
 jail of Carlisle ; and finally, at the annual meeting, they contrived 
 to have him arrested, under a charge of debt, and thrown into a 
 jail in London. His feeling appeals against the society, are made 
 precisely in the words of Fox against the church, and the cruel 
 magistracy of his day.t 
 
 To the same spirit, we must ascribe their harsh measures of dis- 
 cipline. Members have been expelled because they had scru- 
 ples against rising and uncovering during prayer.| Some have 
 felt the thunders of their Vatican, because they sold a book hos- 
 tile to their tenets. § If members marry out of the society, they 
 
 * I magnify not the syjot on the character of those great men who 
 founded New En;4land. I simply state a fact. And that spot is certainly 
 covered by that glory which their sons and tlieir daughters have thrown 
 arrmnd them bv their perfect liberality, and by their superior labours ia 
 the Bible and Missionary causes. 
 
 f Fenn ii. 193, 212, 2 14, and Muckalow's book, p. 22 and 29, and Pier- 
 sou's " Relation of the implacable cruelty of the Quak. A. D. 1713," and 
 Bueg's Picture of Quak. 
 
 :i;'"^Rathb. Nar. p. 72. 
 
 § I refer the Quaker to their Regist. of Condem. for 1681, and •' Snake, 
 8ic." edit. 3. p. 308, 309, or edit. 2. p. 304. 
 
^in Historical Dissertation. il9 
 
 are forthwith expelled. And in our large cities, this infliction on 
 a merchant, who has been brought up in the society, and who 
 has his mercantile concerns chiefly among them, is a signal for 
 his ruin.* In Ireland, and sometimes in England, they inflict a 
 kind of civil penalty on those who marry out of their communi- 
 ty. The parents of the offending parties " are enjoined by the 
 annual meetings not to give them any of their substance or portion^^ 
 until they return to the unity of the body. And those parents 
 who "" slmll give portions to them^ or entertain them, or be familiar 
 with them,'''' shall "fee closely dealt with.'''' And if they persist, tluy too 
 ihallbe excluded.] And this exclusion, in every case, except that 
 of the rich and independent, is paramount to ruin in temporal con 
 cerns.J 
 
 § 27. — The Society, from its first appearance, has had this pe- 
 culijjf feature, that it has always stood alone. It has been an 
 Ishmael on the limits of the Reformed churches. It has been 
 against every one of her sections, and every one of them has been 
 against it. Toward the close of the 17th century, the tide of pub- 
 lic opinion was directed against them with constant and increas- 
 ing violence. The pulpit and the press wei-e put in requisition. 
 Individuals and W'hole counties, ministers and laymen, bishops 
 and judges united -.heir eflx)rts to repel their violence against the 
 doctrines and institutions of Christ. Hicks had convicted them 
 of impiety and irreverence toward the Holy Scriptures.§ " The 
 magistracy, the gentlemen and ministry of the county of Lancas- 
 ter," had petitioned the council to interpose, to set bounds to thei;? 
 errors and disorders.jl Dr. Owen, a voluminous writer against 
 the society, but who seldom named them, had, with his known 
 weight of talents, and with great moderation, followed them over 
 their system, and had given triumphant refutations of their errors 
 in the Trinity, on the person of Christ : on the person and ope- 
 
 • See the melancholy details in Evans's Narrative. Philad. Athen. Libr, 
 pampl. vol. 53, no. 4. 
 
 t See extracts of the National Half-years' meeting, A. D. 1680. 
 
 X Rathbone's do. appendix, no. 6, on the connexion between disowu- 
 ment and persecution. 
 
 ^ Dialogue between a Christian and Quak. Penn ii. p. 590, and Rati;- 
 bone's Narrative, appendix no. 5. Phil. Libr. no. 3798, octave. 
 
 )l See the petition in " Snake, &c." p. 21, 
 
120 *^w Historical Dissertation. 
 
 rations of the spirit : on the Scriptures : on the Sabbath and tlie 
 divine ordinances.* Judge Hale had exposed their "superstitious 
 folly, in placing so much of their religion in keeping on the hat ; 
 in using thee and thou ; in changing names of days and months.' 
 He had exposed their " subtle schemes, in drawing off the peo- 
 ple from christian institutions and the ministry, that they might 
 infuse into them their corrupt principles."t Faldo had, at the 
 bar of the public, convicted them of Socinian errors.]: Stalham 
 had, with great effect, exhibited their contradictions with them- 
 selves and with the Scripturcs.§ The amiable and sensible Scan- 
 drett had travelled over their system, and exposed, in the most 
 candid manner, their complicated errors.|| Twenty-one divines, 
 among whom we find the names of Manton, Gouge and Baxter, 
 had established the fact, that the leaders of the society had form- 
 ed a medley of Sabellian and Socinian errors in their cr^i^.H 
 Three learned rectors,** in a joint production, entitled, " The Prin- 
 ciples of Quakers shown to be blasphemous and seditious,'''' had roused 
 the indignation of the religious public, and spread alarm through 
 the body of the society. Leslie, the favourite of the public in 
 that dispute, and distinguished for his ingenuity and solidity, his 
 sallies of wit and satire, had exposed on every vulnerable point, 
 the errors, the superstition and contradictions of the society.tt 
 The venerable bishop of Cork had, with dignity and success, 
 shown that the society was not only enveloped in a cloud of er- 
 rors, but that not two of their leaders were agreed about their 
 first principle.|t Keith had shown, by abundant evidence, that 
 by means of allegory, they had removed from their system, the 
 
 * Each of these is discussed less, or moi-e fully, in diflferent parts of his 
 works. 
 
 t Sir Matthew Hale's Works, vol. i. p. 208. edit. 1805. 
 
 X In his " Quakerism no Christianity.'^ A. D. 1673. 
 
 § " Reviler rebuked." 
 
 (I " Antidote against'Quak." Small quarto, in the Philad. Libr. no. 1323. 
 See Calamy's Ejected Min. Art. Scandrett. 
 
 f See Pref. to Faldo, and also Pcnn, ii. 608. 
 
 *• Dr. Beckham, Dr. Meriton and Dr. Topcliife. 
 
 If " Snake iri the Grass" It went through three editions in little more 
 than a year. It was the object of assault by every Quaker author. No 
 Quaker can speak of this book in temperate language. See no. .474, 
 duod. Philad. Libr. 
 
 Xt See his " Testimony, isi'c." and ,Penn, ii. 885. They cannot agree on 
 the nature of the light in them. See vol. ii. ch. vi. following. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 121 
 
 true outward Christ : and thai instead of him, who in real human 
 nature, had died on the cross, they had introduced the visionary 
 principle of the Christ within : and that they avowed the deisti- 
 cal sentiment, that the knowledge of the outward Christ was not 
 essentially necessary to the salvation of man in pagan darkness.* 
 Bennet's criticisms and learned expositions, had taught his coun- 
 trymen how to detect the sophistry of Barclay, and dissolve his 
 imposing syllogisms.! The act of toleration of A. D. 1689, had 
 required of the members of the society to make a confession of 
 their faith, in " God the Father, and the Lord Jesus his eternal 
 Son, the true God ; and the Holy Spirit, one God, blessed for 
 ever."| The veteran, F. Bugg, had, for upwards of thirty years, 
 laboured to unfold to the religious world, the true nature and ten- 
 dency of the doctrines of this sect. He had written eighty-five 
 books against the proselytes of Fox and Loe. He had put forth 
 his " painted harlot ,-" his " battering rams against new Rome ;" his 
 "one blow more at new Rome.** He had thrown his '"'• first bomb,''* 
 and his " second bomb,'''' and his " third bomb,''' into the " Quaker 
 camp."§ Several counties had petitioned parliament to examine 
 their tenets and conduct, and to watch them as dangerous inno- 
 vators.|| The learned Stillingfleet had unfolded the origin and the 
 natural tendency of the pestilential errors of the society .If Strong 
 suspicions had been excited in the public mind, of an intimate 
 connexion existing between the Jesuits and the leading men in 
 the society.** It is certain that some of these men had evinced 
 zeal for popery at an anterior date ; and the public had not been 
 fully satisfied that the Quakers had converted them. • Labadie, 
 of the society of Jesuits, established Quakerism in Holland. Bar- 
 
 " Deism of W. Penn" and Burnet's Hist, of his Own Times : vol. ii- 
 p. 248. fol. edit. 
 
 f See his Review of the Apology, entitled, " Confutation of Quak. 
 edit, octavo, 1705, 
 
 + Besse i. p. 50. fol. 
 
 § His great work is the Picture of Quak. in 8 parts. See no. 1554, oc- 
 tavo, in the Philad. Libr. edit, of A. D. 1714. 
 
 IJ See copies of the petitions in Bugg's Picture of Quak. p. 96. 
 
 i Dr. S. says, ''judging the father from the child's likeness in doctrine 
 and practice, the founder of the Jesuits is the grandfather of the Quakers." 
 " Idolat. of the Roman Church," p. 282. edit. 2. 
 
 •* See Besse, vol.i. p. 40, and " Quakerism Anatomized" by Jennerand 
 Taylor, p. 162, and Penn, vol, ii. p. 76. 
 
 19 
 
122 Jin Historical Dissertation. 
 
 clay was educated under his uncle in the Scots Catholic college* 
 of Paris. Vaughton, one of their best speakers, had been Catho- 
 lic. And Southbj, who had graced the assemblies in Philadel- 
 phia, had been a worshipper of the host and saints.j But the 
 books which issued from the press by the agency of Fox, excited 
 the strongest suspicions. The grand jury of Norfolk, England, 
 stated it to be a fact, established by his manuscript letters, that 
 Fox could not write two sentences in good English 4 and that it 
 was admitted by all his friends that he knew nothing of the 
 learned languages :§ yet that this man published, under his name, 
 eight books in Latin, and a species of polyglot, in which senten- 
 ces of Latin, Hebrew, Italian, Greek, Syriac and Chaldaic, were 
 arranged in their respective columns. j| Some said that the Jews 
 or at least Jesuits .lad compiled them : others supposed that the 
 ^old of the society had done it.ll 
 
 § 28. — The result of these able exposures, was the confirmation 
 of many wavering christians, the recovery of some distinguished 
 converts,** and a general and severe check to the tide of error. 
 It threw a damp on the ardour of the Lupercalians, and annihila- 
 ted those excessive disorders which are the stigma of the first and 
 second periods of their history. The great body of their people, 
 simple and illiterate, stood Avith breathless expectation, and rais- 
 ed their anxious eyes to their leaders. The public indignation 
 was too strong not to make them bend. They retreated from the 
 high ground which they had assumed. They lowered their tone. 
 But I cannot perceive that they renounced an item of their doc- 
 trinal system. Penn wrote his" Key.'''' He made marvellous conces- 
 sions. " Setting aside some school terms,'" says he, " we hold the 
 
 * Or Convent. 
 
 f In 169r, "Snake, gccin the Grass," p. 188 or p. 185. edit. ? of 1697. 
 
 X See a specimen in " B^igg's Picture " p. 386, &(:. 
 
 § Leslie, the autlior of t!ie " Snake," has waggishly supposed, that G. 
 Fox had stumbled on an ancient copy of the EngHsh Bible, and having 
 taken it foi- the orii^-lnal, he produced its authority as the authority of the 
 orighial tongues for his favourite, " thee and thou .'" 
 
 II See the petition of the grand jury in Bugg's Picture of Quakerism, p. 
 334, £cc. 
 
 f See " the Snake, &c." p 84. 
 
 ** See a specimen in Haworth's" Narrative," &c. Land. 1699, Philad. 
 Ljbr. no. 940, quarto, Tract ninth. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 123 
 
 substance of the doctrines of the church of England."* The 
 leaders of the sect sent forth a confession in twelve articles. 
 These made, in words at least, an approximation to the creed of 
 the Reformed churches. But the <rwe doctrines of the society arc 
 involved in ambiguity. If the words be taken in the orthodox- 
 sense, they do contain sentiments hostile to those laid before the 
 public already in their books. Their ambiguity rests chiefly on 
 the grand article, then chiefly in dispute. That is, Avhethcr they 
 have any other Christ than that in them : whether they do acknow- 
 ledge the Lord Christ to be a distinct person from the Father, and 
 in the heavens in his glorifed body. But with all its ambiguity. 
 this confession, even in the close of the 1 7th century, avows the 
 sentiment of the father of English Deists ;t that the knowledge of 
 the crucified Saviour is not essentially necessary to the salvation of 
 man.% And, with all the public indignation hanging over their 
 heads, they are not afraid actually to avow the Foxonian senti- 
 ment, that the name of Jesus and of Christ belongs to every mem- 
 ber in their church ; with this exception, that it belongs not so 
 ttmply§ to them as to him who was born of the Virgin. || But ad- 
 mitting that this confession were orthodox, it is in several points, 
 at perfect antipodes with the writings of their ancient elders, to 
 which they appeal as the standards of their orthodoxy ! 
 
 § 29. After these theological sentiments had slumbered, du- 
 ring the repose which the society enjoyed under the mild reigns 
 of Anne, of George the First, and of George the Second, the atten- 
 tion of the religious world was again excited, and directed to the 
 society by the venerable bishopof Litchfield and Coventry. That 
 eminent prelate wrote a " Vindication of the miracles of our Lord.'''' 
 In the course of his review of Woolston, he took occasion to con- 
 trast the opinions of the Quakers with those of that infidel. The 
 
 • See his " Faith of God held by Quakers :" and his reply to the bishop 
 of Cork. 
 
 t Hevberf'DeRelig. Gentil." 
 
 X See Sewel, vol. ii. p. 477', 478. 
 
 § III the first edition this word was printed in old English letters. Les- 
 lie's Snake, &c p. 175. 
 
 II See "the Christian Testim. art. x. ancient edit," and " Snake, &c." 
 p. 175 and edit. 2. p. 171. Sewel has taken the liberty oi omitting the last 
 eight articles. He gives only the least exceptiouatjle, viz. the first, se- 
 cond and third, vol. ii. p. 483. 
 
124 Jin Historical Dissertation, 
 
 result of his ingenious argument, in which he displays an exten- 
 sive and accurate acquaintance with the sentiments of the an- 
 cient Friends, is, that they are Deists under the disguise of alle- 
 gory. " The Quakers," said the bishop, " have been so far 
 deluded, as to lose the belief of a real and external Jesus, by the 
 Christ within., and the literal resurrection of the one by the spi- 
 ritual and moral one of the latter."* 
 
 This book was dedicated to the King. This circumstance, 
 with the ability and candour with which it was written, created 
 an alarm in the society : they put their advocates in requisition ; 
 but conscious of their weakness, they threw themselves at the 
 foot of the throne. They preferred a complaint against their 
 assailant, before their sovereign, and implored his protection as 
 if the good bishop had been about to send them to the stake — 
 or at least like a Cyclops, had been about to devour them bo- 
 dily ! They pledged a vindication of their tenets before the pub- 
 lic ; that vindication threw no light on the subject : it was a feeble 
 re-echo of the voice of their fathers ; expressing, however, a dis- 
 position to smooth some of the rougher features of their system, 
 and to throw a veil over some sentiments which were rather more 
 mystical than what the enlightened age would bear.j 
 
 § 30. The incidents in the latter years of their history are 
 uninteresting. It presents occasionally a prophet or a prophet- 
 ess at the bar of the public, with an insipid journal ;| or a sensi- 
 ble Friend attempting to represent their tenets as very orthodox, 
 even more orthodox than those which are surely contained in the 
 pages of Fox and Penn ;§ or a historian lamenting the degene- 
 racy of the modern Friends in dress and speech, and recreating 
 his memory and the imagination of his fellows, by a picture of 
 the characters of olden times ; whom he exalts to ghostly honours 
 equal to those of the calendar.|| But more frequently it exhibits 
 
 • Vindication of the Miracles of Jesus, against Woolston, p. 572. edit. 
 A. D 1730. See more of this, part ii. ch ix. following. 
 
 t Rcfily in two letters to the " Bishofi of Litchf. a7id Cov." by T. S. 
 Lend. A. D. 1733. No. 899. oct. Phil. Lib. 
 
 X journals of Job Scott, Philips, Grub, Gratton, Lucas, &,c. 
 
 § See the papers of H. Tuke. in Christ. OI)s. for May. 1814. 
 
 II See Besse's Sufferings of Quakers, 2 vols, folio, A. D. 1753, pp. No. 
 1405, Phil. Lib. 
 
t^w Historical Dissertation. 125 
 
 a disowned member, preferring bis unavailing plea to the ear of 
 the public, against tyranny and persecution.* 
 
 It is now a hundred and eighty years since these principles 
 were brought into operation. After various modifications under 
 the ordeal of public opinion, they seem, like Ishmael, to have 
 taken their place : and they " dwell in the presence of all their 
 brethren." In Britain the society gains few proselytes : they 
 appear to be on the decline in the land that gave them birth.t 
 The mere increase of their population does not suffice to fill up 
 the vacancies occasioned by the expulsions and desertions which 
 the society have to lament. In the United States, they are, it is 
 presumed, on the increase. Remote from the projects of ambi- 
 tious statesmen, and the struggles of the warrior for his bloody 
 laurels, and the political convulsions of nations, the society has 
 held on its way, and kept up the testimony of their fathers ; and 
 " followed its own concerns in pursuit of riches, with a step as 
 steady as time, and an appetite as keen as death." Amidst the 
 united and unceasing exertions of every section of the church, by 
 Missionary and Bible societies, to extend the blessings of Chris- 
 tianity to every region of the world, and to meliorate the condi- 
 tion of man, christian and savage, the society has declined every 
 invitation to second our efforts in the grand cause : and they stand 
 at the same painful distance from every section of the church, 
 and frown from them every approach to religious intercourse and 
 communion. Distinguished individuals have, indeed, with a no- 
 ble independence and amiable charity, lent their valuable servi- 
 ces in the gratuitous distribution of Bibles :J but, as a society, 
 they stand aloof and throw in their entire influence against the 
 enterprises of zeal and charity which distinguish this age. What 
 they do, they will do alone ; and that little which has been done 
 
 • Rathbone, Evans, &c. 
 
 f Clavkson's portrait of Quak. vol. iii. ch. 3. They amount to about 
 24,000 in Britain. Rathbone's Narrat. p. 219, note. In the close of tlie 
 seventeenth century they were calculated to amount to 100,000 souls in 
 England. See '■'■ Sjuike inthe Grass "p. 245 — second edit. 
 
 i In England leading 7ne?)ib('7-s have done themselves the highest hon- 
 our, and the cause of God essential services, by aiding the efforts of the 
 Bible Society. Christ. Observer, vol. for 1812. We can boast also of 
 our liberal New York Friends, members of the American Bible Societv. 
 The number, however, is extremely small. 
 
126 An Historical Dissertation. 
 
 this way by them, has been confined to some attempts at the ci- 
 vihzation of some Indian tribes, and the mehorating of the con- 
 dition of the Africans.* 
 
 § 31. Conclusion. — The force of prejudice and sectarian 
 pride may retain a principle even after it has been proved to be 
 of pernicious tendency. But self-defence will prompt some 
 change in the form at least, of management. 
 
 The society have certainly discovered, of late years, that 
 their illiterate prophets, with all the advantage of immediate objec- 
 tive revelatimis,-'''\ are not the best qualified in the world for their 
 public defence. They have not, however, given up their heredi- 
 tary antipathy to the sciences; and although they have no 
 learned members zealous enough to undertake their defences, 
 most fortunatelj'^ they have funds, and these funds, though 
 barred, for reasons of principle against the Missionary and Bible 
 societies, are freely unlocked in the cause of Quakerism. These 
 funds paid liberally for the gratuitous distribution of ten thousand 
 copies of the " Apology," and eight thousand copies of Wyeth :| 
 and in later times it has been no less liberal. It will form a cu- 
 rious era in letters, if their enemies in London should contrive to 
 excite a tumult against the Friends, by a fresh exposure of ava- 
 rice or monopoly of corn ; the writers of the Fleet and of Grub 
 street, who hire out their literary talents for a " consideration,'' 
 will soon discover, if they have not already fortunately discov- 
 ered, that the wealthy members of the society have become the 
 patrons of science, and are much more liberal in paying for any 
 thing in their line, than the most of the modern Mecanases, to 
 poets and pamphleteers ! 
 
 It is certain that with the exception of the amiable and revered 
 Tuke, their defendants in (he latest conflicts have been men not 
 of their society. The antagonist of the bishop of Litchfield and 
 
 * The extent of their influence in putting down that most execrable 
 traffic in human beintjs, the Jfricau Slave Trade, we cannot strictly de- 
 fine. The}' gloriously roused uj) the public mind to a sense of the evil ; 
 and then acted noij'.y and firmly in concert with the statesmen and chris- 
 tian ])ublic of tlie United States and Britain. " Palmam qui meruit, ferat." 
 
 J Karclay. 
 
 X Against Leslie's " Snake in the Grass. See Bugg. Pict. of Quak. 
 p. 102, 8tc. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 127 
 
 Coventry, was a polite and candid man ; but he was not a Quaker.* 
 And about the close of the eighteenth century and somewhat 
 later, when the public indignation against the English Quakers 
 was running so high that they could not venture with safety to 
 appear in the streets of London,! and when some defence was no 
 longer a matter of choice with them,their anxiety and "so?ne^ar- 
 ticular aid,''^l called forth two writers to their sinking cause.§ 
 They were not Quakers when they entered the field, but they 
 probably wrote themselves into that faith. Bristed, of the inner 
 temple, and who could draru up a briefs was the one : he appeared 
 in 1805, with his pitiful production sighing forth as many apolo- 
 gies for his want of time, and his defects, as for those of his af- 
 flicted clients.|| Thomas Clarkson who deserves the surname 
 of Jfricmms, (or his illustrious labours in behalf of bleeding Afri- 
 ca, was the other.TT 
 
 This amiable man was unsettled in his religious opinions, when 
 his labours for Africa introduced him among the Friends. He 
 had contented himself with those undefined sentiments on reli- 
 gion, which float in the society of the mere men of letters, and 
 among the persons who move in the gay circles : he found the 
 Quakers his faithful auxiliaries in the great cause of outraged 
 humanity, and like every other man who has not studied his Bi- 
 ble, nor the creeds and canons of the church, he drew the infer- 
 ence that the religious opinions of an amiable and humane people 
 must of course be orthodox, and the very best. To this conclu- 
 sion he was gradually drawn as his admiration of their efforts 
 increased, and as they entwined themselves around his afliect ions 
 by their hospitable attentions. Hence the fact, that his book 
 contains a portraiture of their doctrines, not drawn from their 
 works, the only correct source, I'ut from his impressions and 
 
 • See his Letters to the Bishop of L. and C A. D. 1733. 
 
 f The crime which the puliiic laid to their charge was the monopoliz- 
 ing of corn, 8tc. D. Bacon's verbal statemeut, and Evans's Narrat. 
 Pliilad. 1811, p. 236. 
 
 X Evans's Nar. 263, &c. &c, 
 
 § Bevan published a small duodecimo, in A. D. 1800. " J Refutation 
 of some Misreiiresentationss,'" &c. It is a hurriedly written and superficial 
 thing, without one new idea. 
 
 II See his " Society of Friends, or people called Quakers Examined," 
 8vo. one vol. 
 
 % Portraiture of Quak. 3 vol. 12. 
 
1 28 An Historical Diasertation. 
 
 feelings, with the meagre gleanings of conversation. He does not 
 quote, because he had not read the folios of the society. " Thus 
 say the Quakers," is the usual authority. It is all, in general, 
 that he vouchsafes to give us ; in vain we look into his loose and 
 defective representations, for a character of the first Friends, or 
 for the doctrinal system of Penn and Barclay. He neither at- 
 tempts the one, nor explains the other Yet defective as it is, 
 we consider his book valuable on one account, it does, in no ob- 
 scure manner, confirm the fact that the amiable Tuke has erred 
 in his representation of the doctrines of his society.* Clarkson 
 does prove that the society is as Sabellian and as Socinian as it 
 ever was, and that they have, with the holy sacraments, erased 
 from their system, the leading doctrines of Christianity. In fact, 
 his pages confirm all the charges which the venerable bishop of 
 St. David has brought forward against them.t We produce 
 the following theological system of this, the last of their cham- 
 pions, as the proof of what we have said. The spirit that had ap- 
 peared in the old creation, is the word or the light. This spirit^ or 
 7oord, was in time made jlesh. " // inhabited the body of the person 
 Jesus,''' The same spirit or word is in man, with this difference, that 
 it was perfect in Jesus, it is in man in a measure. This spirit acts 
 not only as a guide to man, it performs the office of a redeemer. ICs 
 rising up zoithin, is man''s new birth. This birth is his sanctification, and 
 this is the procuring cause of his justif cation and acceptance.l This, 
 meagre as it is, is sufficient to show that the present doctrines of 
 the English and American Friends, agree with those of Penn's 
 " Sandy Foundation," and of Job Scott's Journal. 
 
 § 32. — On the whole, the society of Friends exhibit a singu- 
 lar phenomenon in the history of the human mind, and of the 
 progress of refinement and knowledge. The society bears the 
 honoured name of Christ. It's doctrines are the dogmata of Plato 
 and Saccas ; its language is the consecrated language of the Bible; 
 
 * Take's Princi/iles, Is'c. of Quakers, and Christian Obs" July, 
 1814. 
 
 ■j- Sec his "Charge to his Clergy." Sep. 1813, and Christian Obs. 
 !Mayl814. 
 
 X Clarkson's Port. vol. ii. ch. 7, &c. compared with F. Nowgill's senti- 
 ments. Sewel, vol. ii. p. 220. Phil. Ed. 1811. 
 
Jin Historical Dissertation. 129 
 
 its ideas attached to this language are at antipodes with the ana- 
 logy of faith, and the creeds of all the churches. It renders 
 homage to the name of Christ ; the Christ they honour " is in 
 every man.^'' It professes to rest on the atonement of Christ ; the 
 atonement which it advocates is wrought out in the bosom of 
 every member of the sect.* It professes to retain the purest 
 system of Christianity,! and in that system, there is no place 
 found for the holiest doctrines of the Bible, the trinity, the dis- 
 tinct personality of the Holy Ghost; the distinct personality of 
 our Lord, the real atonement by his blood shed on Calvary ; and 
 all those doctrines built on those as their necessary basis. It 
 professes the highest veneration for the institutions of Christ; it 
 rejects the holiest of them, baptism and the Lord's supper. It 
 professes to be the most spiritual society : if we neutralize all 
 that in the system which has been derived from the mystics, 
 there will remain the residuum of an imposing but unsubstantial 
 morality : — imposing in the eyes of men, and not without its pur- 
 poses and uses ; but unsubstantial when weighed in the balance 
 of the sanctuary before the throne of justice. It professes to be- 
 lieve that each of its members has in him the true Christ, the 
 infallible spirit which alone does teach and guide him; yet it has 
 its outward teachers, and its meetings for discipline. Its leaders 
 pour out a torrent of raillery against Socinians ; yet Socinianism 
 is one of the most prominent features of its doctrinal system.j It 
 rejects the ministry as " made by man," because they arrive at 
 their office through a course of study and by a license ; and it 
 censures its members who venture to preach without license from 
 the select meeting of its ministers.§ It brands our ministry with 
 the appellation of " hirelings,'''' because according to the will of 
 their Lord, " they live by the gospel ;|| and it advocates the pro- 
 
 • Compare Pennii p. 231 and p. 530. 
 
 t Clarks. Port. vol. 1. p. v. p. 1. 
 
 ^ See Part II. and chap vii. following, on the doctrines of the society. 
 Compare Penn's Trait called " The Winding Sheet, iiT'c" with his books 
 *' Reasoning against Railing," and " The Sandy Foundation." See the 
 " Snake, l^c. sect. 11. 
 
 § " The monthly meeting are advised to select such under the denomi- 
 nation of elders." Sum. of Hist. Discip. of Friends. Lon. 8vo. p. 27. 
 Rathbone's Narrative, p. 156. Christ. Observer, vol. 12. p. 602, and vol. 
 13, p. p. 99, 112. 
 
 II 1 Cor. ix, 13, 14, Gal. vi. 6. 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 
 20 
 
130 *4w Historical Dissertation. 
 
 priety of supporting its own, though in a penurious manner.* 
 Its preachers speak only by the motions of inspiration ; yet elders 
 are appointed to superintend and regulate them in the meetings. 
 One party claiming infallibility sets up meetings of men and wo- 
 men for discipline ; another party with the same claims puts it 
 down as intolerant. One class under this infallibility excommu- 
 nicates its brethren for dissenting from them ; the other with 
 equal infallibility (the evidence of each is the same) and with 
 the zeal of those days when pope opposed pope, returned the 
 fulmination. As if heaven would become a party in their innova- 
 tions, Fox produced an inspiration to determine the orthodox 
 use of the " hat, and of thee and //low." As if heaven did not regard 
 contradictions, Penn tells us that Fox was not sent to teach the 
 propriety of speech.! It professes itself an enemy to external 
 forms : none are more tenacious of forms — none more precise than 
 they, even in the minor points of dress and speech. They pro- 
 fess themselves Friends to all, on the broad basis of a liberal 
 charity : and they denounce the ministry of all the churches ; 
 they denounce all christians but those of their own sect. J On 
 the score of religion they will neither grant nor receive any com- 
 munion ; they will admit of no interchange of christian fellowship. 
 They withdrew to such an immeasurable distance from the love- 
 ly practice of charity, that they will neither give nor take a 
 " God's speecP^ in the matters of religion-^ Nay, such is their 
 opinion of even the best of their fellow men, that they persecute 
 even to expulsion, and with a species of civil pains, those mem- 
 bers who marry individuals from any other christian society.|| 
 It professes that the worship of God is offered by the immediate 
 movings of the Spirit, who is not limited to place, time or persons.lF 
 Yet it has not only its stated ministers, but its meeting houses, 
 
 • Barclay, Theses, xl. and see Part ii. ch. 4, following. 
 
 t Fox Jour. i. 113. and Penn ii. p. 119. 
 
 ^ See the proofs in " Snake in the Grass," sect. 16. 
 
 § Hence it is evident that the title of Friend, [which Clarkson thinks 
 so lovely; but which makes no approximation to the affectionate title of 
 Brother, used by the ministers of Jesus Christ] has no connexion with re- 
 ligion ; it has merely a temporal bearing, or it is simply an empty com- 
 pliment, used habitually by these enemies of all titles and compliments, 
 when addressed by them to any one out of their society. 
 
 II See the statement above in sect. 26. 
 
 1 Bar. Les. xi. Apol. 
 
An Historical Dissertation. 131 
 
 in which alone it assembles ; its stated days, and stated hours, 
 which are as accurately observed as if announced by the " sand 
 glasses, or the helV of the " hirelings.'"' It professes " not to have 
 budged one jot from the testimony of its ancients ;" and it has 
 told the world, after all the volumes of Fox, and of Penn,and of Bar- 
 clay, were lying before it, that it holds to the creed, and to nearly 
 all the doctrines of the church of England.* As the steady fol- 
 lowers of Fox, the society makes plainness a distinguished article 
 of their religion ; yet such is the richness of their dresses, the 
 splendour of their equipages, the luxury of their tables, and the 
 delicacy and profusion of their wines,t that, if that same George 
 Fox were to rise from the dead, and behold the mournful degene- 
 racy of his disciples, he would come down in great wrath; he 
 would resume his Herculean labours, and he would light all his 
 battles over again, in organizing a new sect out of degenerated 
 Quakerism. 
 
 * Penn " Truth held by Quakers." A. D. 1699, p. 48. 
 t Plumpudding week — (all the world has heard of Plumpudding week) 
 affords a fair specimen of this to their count) y prophets and meniberi. 
 
 END OF PART I. 
 
OF THEIR DOCTRINAL TENETS, WORSHIP, MINISTRY, &C. 
 
 Quse et a falsis initiis profecta, vera esse non possunt : et, si essent vera, nihil 
 afFerrent quo melius viveremus." 
 
 Cic. de Finitus, I, 
 
PART 11. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THEIR GRAND RELIGIOUS TENET IMMEDIATE REVELATIONS. 
 
 Theodoret. 
 
 § 1. This is certainly the most important article in the creed 
 of the society : it is the pillar and ground of their system. Penn 
 and Barclay knew this, and they put forth their whole strength 
 to establish it. But, as it appears on their pages, it is confused 
 and obscure ; and, unquestionably, it is the most vulnerable point 
 of their whole theory. Without taking pains to investigate the 
 sentiments of the church, and without laying down any clear de- 
 finitions, and without even forming just conceptions of the point 
 in debate, they rush into the middle of their subject, and are 
 speedily enveloped in syllogism and mystification : .ind it is a 
 doubtful matter whether human patience can ferret them out. 
 
 These writers seem not to have been aware that, in the confes- 
 sions and articles of the churches, these doctrines have invaria- 
 bly been held essentials : that every true christian is taught of the 
 Holy Spirit ; that they receive of him every grace that adorns 
 the christian's character; that he operates by means ; that these 
 means are the Holy Scriptures and the institutions of his house ; 
 that these means hold the same relation to the Holy Spirit, which 
 secondary means and causes hold to Divine Providence ; that in 
 regard to the radical change of the human heart, the gospel of 
 Christ is the adequate and only means of setting before the mind 
 the divine objects of faith : but, that however clearly we may 
 perceive what doctrines are taught in the Scriptures, and by 
 
 * For a review of their " universal intuar-cl light," see chap. vi. follow- 
 ing, on the defects of their system in respect of a moral standard. 
 
136 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 what fulness of rational evidence they are attested, we cannot 
 have a due sense of their divine excellence and fitness, until we 
 possess the divine life and capacities : that there must be the 
 inward powers of discerning, as well as a clear presentation of 
 the objects before the mind ; that the Holy Ghost alone bestows 
 on us this life and these capacities ;* that this is done by an im- 
 mediate operation on the human soul ; that there is no room for 
 the intervention of a second cause in this step of the work ; for it 
 is equivalent to an act of " raising the dtad^"* and of " creating'^'' 
 something new ; and such acts are the acts of Omnipotent power: 
 that every secondary cause being necessarily inferior to the first 
 cause, in other words being inferior to Omnipotence, of course no 
 secondary cause can possess creating energy ; that this doctrine 
 is rational, and the doctrine of the Bible.t 
 
 They seem also not to have been aware, that the church draws 
 a deep line of distinction between this immediate operation on the 
 mind and immediate revelations. In the latter, something new and 
 unknown before, is supposed to be conveyed by an immediate 
 impulse. In the former, nothing of this kind does take place. The 
 renewed soul raises its eye to the written oracles of God, which 
 contain the last and the only revelation that shall ever be con- 
 veyed from the throne of light. This doctrine of the church is, 
 therefore, radically different from the immediate revelations of 
 the society : and it distinctly recognises the various gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost in his special influences.| 
 
 The church, moreover, bears her testimony of gratitude that 
 
 • Johniii. 3, 5. Eph. ii. 1, 5, 10, &c. 
 
 t Matth. xi. 25. Psalm cxix. 18. 2 Cov. iv. 6. Seethe Dutch An- 
 not. on Revel, ii). 18. President Edward's Serm. on Math. xvi. 17. Sau- 
 rin vol. vii. serm. i. Homily i. of the Church of England. Calv. Instit. 
 lib. 1, cap. 8. So also Beza, and Owen, and Bnllinger; and P. Martyr. 
 Loc. Com. p. 2. cap. 18. See W. I'erkins, the English Calvin's Works, 
 vol. iii. p. 336. fol. A. D. 1609. Presbyterian Confes. of Faith, chap. 1. 
 sect. 5. And we add to these all the fathers quoted by Barclay, andun- 
 fairly bent to his purpose. They held no sentiments foreign to those of 
 the church — on this point. 
 
 4^ Arc we to set down as the ebullition of ignorance, or the accusations 
 of slander, " all that cant that has been canted" in the society from Bar- 
 clay tothisday, about '■' afiofitate chrintians,''' and " degenerate c/i}istia?7s," 
 and" carnal christian-'i" who '■'■Jiout at the motions and actings of the s/ii- 
 rit," (Barcl. Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 1, &c.; simply because, as conscientious 
 christians, they frown from them the fanatical doctrine u{ immediate re- 
 velations ? See Bennet's Confut. of Quak. pp. 12, 13, &-C. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 137 
 
 hcj- Lord " baptized her with the Holy Ghost.^^ In this baptism the 
 Spirit was bestowed in his two extraordinnry operations. The 
 first was the principal. The second was subordinate to the first.* 
 The first was for general instruction in truth : the second for the 
 confirming of the heavenly origin of that truth : the first was the 
 extension of the gift of revelation, which re\ste(l on the ancient 
 prophets : the second embraced his supernatural and physical 
 gifts. Under the first class, we rank the gifts of the apostle and the 
 evangelist, and the prophet ; who brought forward those doctrines 
 which were not taught before, or were but obscurely known : 
 and which went to the completion of the gospel of Christ, and 
 who appointed in the churches which they planted, pastors and 
 governments. Under the second class we rank those who healed 
 all manner of diseases : and those who had " the inworking ofpozo- 
 ers :"t and those who taught and occasionally predicted future 
 events : and those who discerned spirits : and those who spoke 
 miraculously in divers tongues : and those who interpreted these 
 tongues. 
 
 The grand resources of both classes of these gifts were direct- 
 ed to two points. First: the completion of the sacred canon. 
 Second: the establishment of Christianity in the world. The first 
 was affected by delivering to the church, in a public manner, 
 their inspired writings: and by confirming the evidences of these 
 writings by miraculous powers. The second was accomplished 
 by organizing churches ; and by placing them under their re- 
 spective ministers and governments ; and the moral energies of 
 all the divine doctrines and institutions of Christ. These, in pro- 
 portion, as they accomplished their end, were to be withdrawn. 
 This was done by degrees. The office of the apostle became ex- 
 tinct at the decease of those who were invested with it.f Then 
 the class of superior prophets and of evangelists gradually van- 
 ished away. The second class of gifts was vouchsafed to the 
 church for a longer period. The reasons are obvious. On every 
 new field of its display, the gospel had to encounter the same 
 
 ♦ It is not denied, that both orders might be found in one and the same 
 person. 
 
 t Ev»5>)j//«T« cT^/nejutffiv. See M'Knight's New Transl. of the Epist. oa 
 1 Cor. xii. 10. 
 
 * Gal. ch. 1. See Campbell's Eccles. Lectures, v. sect. 3 and 4. 
 
 21 
 
138 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 public and ferocious enemies, which opposed it from the first. It 
 needed the aid of those miraculous powers to bring its blessing 
 sooner to the nations. Hence around the wide circle, over which 
 christianitj had spread its influences, we can trace the vestiges 
 of these gifts to the second, and the third, and the fourth, and even 
 to the fifth centuries.* But these have, at last, one by one been 
 withdrawn. And there are left the ordinary and ample class of 
 the officers, and the institutions of God's house ; and the special 
 gifts of the Holy Spirit, in the full play of successful operation. 
 There is, indeed, something which seems to me to bear a re- 
 semblance to the remains of the supernatural gifts of ancient 
 times: or, shall I rank it under the doctrine of communion with 
 God ? Or shall I place it in the ministration of angels ? Or under 
 certain operations of the Divine Comforter. 1 allude to " the 
 secret of the Lord being sometimes disclosed to them that love 
 him." Call it by the name of presentiments, or premonitions if 
 you please. It is something different from " objective revelations.''^ 
 These were bestowed for public benefit : and to have concealed 
 them would have been highly criminal. But the former were 
 personal, and were attended by evidence sufficient only to satisfy 
 the individual. These, if we may ciedit the best of men, have 
 been vouchsafed to some on the approach of calamities: or under 
 the pressure of heavy afflictions : or on the eve of their dissolu- 
 tion. They were tendered by the ministration of angels, through 
 the medium of some of the external senses; or by some impres- 
 sion left on the mind by invisible agency. 
 
 This is a subject of peculiar delicacy. But it is something truly 
 sublime. And the mind of the coolest and most dispassionate phi- 
 losopher will bend over it with feelings of uncommon interest. 
 There is nothing common between these premonitions and the 
 
 • Niceph. Eccles. Hist. vol. i. lib. iv. c 24, 25. Ruseb. adv. Hierocl. 
 cap. 4. Mosh. Hist. vol. i. cent. 4. part 1. sect 23. Wits. Miscel. Sacra, 
 lib. i. cap. 24. Bern. De Mooie, vol. i. cap. 1. sect. 33. Miracles were 
 wilnesstd by Just. Martyr in the second century ; by TertuUian, by Origeu 
 and by Minuiius Ftlix in the third ; by Lactantiiis in the fourth ; and in the 
 bcginniiii^ ot the fifth by Augustine. Their words may be seen in Pol, 
 Synopsis, vol. iv. part 1, p. 835. See also Dr. Owen on spiritual 
 gifts, chap. V. I beg leave, also, to refer to Zach. Brooke, Defensio 
 Miraculorum post temp, apost. no. 634, quai-to pamphl. Philad. Publ. 
 Library. And on the other side of the question, to Dodwell's arguments 
 against piracies in the times after the apostles, no. 3358, octavo pamphl. 
 Tract, third. Phil. Library. 
 
On Immediate Mpvelations. 139 
 
 dreamy visions which the pride of the fanatic pours into every 
 man's ear; or brings forward, with mischievous solemnity, to 
 prostrate religion and piety. They constitute a part of that high 
 intercourse that obtains between kindred spirits : that obtains bel 
 tween the Almighty and " the souls which he has made.'''' They 
 are the soothing whispers of redeeming love to the pious soul 
 throbbing with agony. They ai-e the interposing aid of an in- 
 visible arm stretched out to a soul sinking in the deep waters of 
 sorrow. They are the movements of the soft hand of mercy, 
 wiping off the cold dew of agony from the brow of the dying 
 christian and the suffering patriot ; and of the sainted martyr, 
 " baptized in blood-?'' Surely it is no enthusiasm to believe that, 
 in this sense, " the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.'''' If 
 it be, it is a delightful enthusiasm ! But, no ! when we look over 
 the recorded evidence in the history of our martyred fathers, in 
 times that happily have passed away, we cannot work our minds 
 up into a state of philosophical insensibility cold enough to op- 
 pose it, or even to doubt it.* 
 
 § 2. — In the history of the human mind, there are certain 
 phenomena, which have been reduced by some, under the class 
 of supernatural impulses. We may divide these into two kinds, 
 apparent and real. 
 
 First : apparent. — The usual operations of a calm, and espe- 
 
 * Those who wish to pursue this idea further, I beg leave to refer to 
 Niceph. Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. lib. x. cap. 35, fol. Archbish. Usher's Life, 
 fol. p. 33. Bishop Brown's sayings of the Jesuits, quoted (out of the Har- 
 leian Miscell. vol. v. p. 566,) by M'Lain in Mosh. vol. iv. cent. 16. chap. 
 1. Lempr. Biog. Diet, article, lord Lyttleton. Bishop Newton on the 
 Proph. vol, iii. p. 47, duod. edit. Le Clerc, Sept. Relig. of the Greeks, 
 p. 249. Spencer on Prodigies and Vulgar Proph. no. 3626, octavo. Phil. 
 Publ. Library. La Harpe's Narrat. of the singular prediction of Mons. 
 Cazotte. Analect. Mag. for A. D. 1815, p. 258. Our divines admit this 
 doctrine; while they sternly frown from them the spirit ot enthusiasm. 
 Bern. De Moore, vol. i. cap. 1. sect. 33, and Wits Miscel. Sac. lib. i. 
 cap. 24. •' Homines pa, ad profiiorem amicitiam 'Vuminis admissi, ab ifisa 
 edoceantur de rebus futuris — ad excitationem fiietatis, ad animi consola- 
 tionem, isfc.^' A Synod of the Reformed church in Germany, A. D. 1633, 
 being moved by some learned divines to declare against all prophecies 
 and revelations of this nature, declined it, adding : " Nondum ullam Ec- 
 clesiatn, aut consistorium, vel acadeviiam, novas id genus firofihetias fie- 
 nitus rejecisse, aut condemnasse — nos cur firimi esse veli?nus ?" Hist, of 
 Revel, by J. A. C. quoted by Spencer ut supra, p. 111. See also, Jortin's 
 Remarks on Eccles. Hist, and M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 391. 393. Nevr 
 York edit. 
 
140 t9/i Immediate Revelations. 
 
 cially of a distracted mind, are sometimes interrupted by strong 
 impressions suddenly and unaccountably conveyed. The cre- 
 dulous and weak pronounce them without hesitation, to be reve- 
 lations. 
 
 But 1. These may originate in the operations of conscience. 
 This moral power passes sentence on the actions of men. Its 
 operations cannot be always calm and undisturbed. For they 
 play in the bosom of the guilty. When the Divine Spirit reveals 
 to man his guilt, in the lightning of his law, convictions flash 
 through the soul. Terrors fill his heart. His frame is agitated. 
 His sensations, and language, and actions are strangely changed. 
 But whatever may be the phenomena here displayed, they may 
 all be sufficiently explained, or at least accounted for, without re- 
 sorting to impulses or revelations. These are found in the first 
 process of the work of grace on every christian's heart. But 
 they are not confined to them. They were discovered in the 
 bosom of Judas : and they never cease in the regions of despair ! 
 They display the convulsive throes of soul and conscience, strug- 
 gling painfully to raise itself up, under an insupportable weight of 
 guilt and despair. This offers a sufficient cause for the sudden- 
 ness and terribleness of the conceptions thrown into the mind. 
 
 2. These phenomena are most strikingly revealed in periods 
 when civil broils convulse church and state. Every human pas- 
 sion is wrought to its highest pitch ; and men's ears tingle with 
 dismal rumours and deeds of horror. Over these the gloomy 
 imagination broods long and deeply : it collects every minute de- 
 tail of circumstance which harrows up the soul. His mind be- 
 comes strongly agitated ; he cannot divert his thoughts from the 
 subject; it is his waking and his sleeping dream. Certain awful 
 conceptions, embodied in the venerated language of sacred writ, 
 and adapted, it may be, in a wonderful manner, to the circum- 
 stances of the time and place, are created suddenly and forcibly 
 in his mind. The suitableness of the conception, its unexpected 
 and sudden appearance, must convince every body, he thinks, 
 that it is no creation of his mind ; that it is nothing less than su- 
 pernatural. He broods over this eternally. The dark chaos of 
 his mind is peopled with these aerial creatures of fancy : the dis- 
 ease increases by the same causes which produced it. The im- 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 141 
 
 pressions on the mind are worn deeper and deeper, under the 
 multiplication of these phantoms. Conjectures mount up into 
 convictions, and convictions settle down into an imperturbable 
 belief that he is inspired. His conscience will let him no longer 
 rest : he must deliver his message ; he must speak — or he will 
 burst. He goes forth ; he raises his voice ; nothing can daunt 
 him. He is an Isaiah or a Paul. " This is the word of the Lord 
 unto you."* 
 
 3. There is a constant succession of ideas floating in the mind. 
 The succession is kept up, and regulated by the laws of associa- 
 tion. Sometimes the circumstances which gave birth to a new- 
 train of thoughts, may have been trivial ; and, therefore, very 
 transitory : but in that train of ideas to which they gave birth, 
 some very interesting thoughts may have been instantaneously 
 presented to the soul, and may have flashed through it like a 
 sun beam. Former scenes, it may be, are called up ; over which 
 the mind bends in rapturous delight. A house, a field, consecrated 
 by some memorable event ; a plain, a city, the theatre of a bat- 
 tle, where was lost or won the liberties of a country — our native 
 country, the spot where our youthful years were spent ; whose 
 every plain, and streamlet, and hill are imprinted in the deepest 
 lines on our souls — " Dukes reminiscitur Argos ;" but especially 
 the fond ideas of friends and of relations pass over the glowing 
 soul on wings of fire. The heart burns with desires after them ; 
 the feelings, prompted by sympathy, receive new impulses from 
 this fervour of mind, to impart some new discoveries in the truth 
 to them whom it loves, and whose fate it deplores as fatally ig- 
 norant of the " true light,'''' In this morbid state of the feelings, 
 such will be the force of these impressions on the tender and fa- 
 natical mind, that the man will have a firm persuasion that he is 
 " inwardly moved'''' by a " divine call ,-" that he has " drawings''^ to 
 some particular place, where he must announce his divine mes- 
 sage.! 
 
 ♦ The first volume of Fox's Journal is a continued illustration by facts 
 of this process in the vagaries of the mind. 
 
 f In G. Fox's Journal, there are instances of this recorded in almost 
 every page. The following is quoted, being the one which actually pre- 
 sented itself on my first opening the book. " Margaret Fell asked me to 
 go with her to the steeple house. Irejiliedy I must do as lam ordered by 
 
l42 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 These feelings are always strongest in the soft and melancholjr 
 mind, and as the mind of the less extravagant in fanaticism is. 
 usually, of this complexion, his convictions of " inward motion,'''' 
 and a " divine call,''^ will be so strong that the scattered remains 
 of reason will be utterly unable to overrule them; and the mor- 
 bid state of his judgment, will render the mind incapable of feel- 
 ing the force of arguments levelled against their folly. 
 
 4. To bodily disease we may trace some of these phenomena. 
 There is a certain distemper, some have called it a species of 
 epilepsy, in which, during a partial, if not a total suspension of 
 the faculties of reason and judgment, the memory continues to 
 exert its powers. It retains the incoherent and extraordinary 
 ebullitions of fancy, in those seasons, when by the influence of 
 bodily disease, it roved unrestrained by the higher powers of 
 reason and judgment. The man holds dialogues with invisible 
 beings ; he hears and replies to the soft voice of angels. On his 
 shattered organs, soft music as that from the fancied lute of 
 Apollo, thrills its notes. Visions flit before his eyes, and send 
 forth voices on the empty air; in his sombre moments the mate- 
 rial objects on which his heavy eye rested, recede and in the 
 distant and awful perspective, a heaven, or it may be, a hell, is 
 presented to his mind ; with some of their inmates, formerly his 
 associates. In the hour of solitude he whispers converse with 
 departed friends.* It is the wild play of imagination, unkennel- 
 ed, and racing furiously over the distempered brain; and the 
 memory, which fails totally in all the common cases of epilepsy, 
 retaining its influence here, preserves the images and movements 
 of these extraordinary conceptions ; and hence the man can de- 
 tail them after the fit is over. In George Fox's Journal,! there 
 are set down by an honest hand as distinct a diagnosis and prog- 
 nosis of the disease I allude to, as ever Doctor Rush discovered 
 
 the Lord So Heft her arid walked into the fields. And the word of the 
 Lord came unto me, saying ''go to the steeple house after them.*'' Vol. 
 i. p. 181. Margaret F il became, in process of time, George Fox's wife. 
 No person can doubt that George had "drawi7igs" to the " steejile house." 
 
 * Almost every neighbourhood presents cases of this kind, where bru- 
 tish intemper mce has shattered the organ of the brain. Two have fallen 
 under my own observation in New Jersey. 
 
 t Vol.' i. p. 94, 99, 103, 220, &c. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 148 
 
 ill the case (and it was, as every medical man believes, with the 
 Doctor, a clear case) of Swedenburgh.* 
 
 Over fallen minds a generous opponent can possess no other 
 feelings than sympathy and pity. Their wildest vagaries we 
 let pass ; we allow them the throne and the sceptre ; we let them 
 become generals and dictators ; we let them even talk of sending 
 us rain and fair weather ; but Avhen they stalk forth apostles and 
 prophets, and bring a new gospel, and when men worse than 
 they, yield them faith, and sing them hosannahs — nay, then 
 they are no longer to be suffered; they become lawful game, and 
 we may hunt them, provided that we do it with perfect good will to 
 their persons, and use no other weapons than irony and syllo- 
 gisms, and above all sacred Scripture. 
 
 Second — Real impulses — but produced by demons. 
 While the fallen angels are retained in hades under chains of 
 darkness, their present condition is doubtless very different from 
 what it will be in tartarusA They are permitted certain liber- 
 ties. " They go to and fro throvgh the earth,'''' and in their inter- 
 course with our species they manifest an implacable hostility. 
 " 77ie prince of the power of the air works in the children of disobedir 
 ence.^''l This is not to be limited to his more ordinary and com- 
 mon exertions to seduce men ; it may certainly be extended to 
 his every effort to uphold his falling throne by force and by cun- 
 ning, as the lion and the serpent :§ by force when he lords it over 
 our deluded species, and overwhelms them with the fury of his 
 open assaults: by cunning when "/le transforms himself into an 
 angel of light,'''' or officiates in pagan lands as prophet and priest, 
 at the shrine of superstition and idolatry. It is to this last that 
 I refer. 
 
 He has from time to time taken possession of persons ; he has 
 employed the engine of impulses and inspirations ; these he has 
 covered with the plausibility and light of some useful portions of 
 knowledge, and some imposing cases of conjecture or prediction. 
 He has thus extended his reign over the fair fields of reason and 
 
 * Dv. Rush on the Diseases of the Mind. 
 
 j- See Dr. Campbell on the distinction between hades and gehenna or 
 tartarus, in his Dissert, prefixed to his new translation of the Gospels. 
 X Eph. ii. 2. See Zanch. and Pol. Synops. in loc. 
 
 * 1 Pet. V. 8. Rev. xx. 2. 
 
i44 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 truth : and he has bound the Gentiles under the triple chains of 
 ignorance, supe stiiioi! and idolatry! 
 
 t. He has taken possession of persons, and through them he 
 has poured forth his influences like an overflowing torrent, on 
 the human mn d. This is illustrated by the otherwise unac- 
 countable practices of the " Pythones,"" v, ho uttered their oracles 
 from their dens at Colophon, at Dodona, and at Delphi.* And 
 it is strikingly illustrated in the history of the demoniacs recorded 
 in the New Testament. Dr. Farmer has indeed, advanced a 
 new theory on this subject He rejects the doctrine of a real 
 possession by demons; he is of opinion " that the style employed 
 in describing these diseases, is adapted to popular prejudices, 
 and used to describe a natural disorder."! 
 
 But there are in these cases circum;;tances utterly unaccount- 
 able on this hypothesis. The demoniacs were not labouring un- 
 der a mere bodily disease ; there was something more. There 
 were in them certain beings, distinct from their souls and their 
 bodies ; beings which expressed desires and passions of their 
 own; which conversed rationally with Christ; which rendered 
 him homage. These are not the acts of insane me^i. Moreover, 
 they deprecated their expulsion ; they begged of him that they 
 might be disposed of in a certain way : they craved permission 
 to enter into the herd of swine : they did go out: they did enter 
 into the swine : and in one case we discover a demoniacal pos- 
 session, unaccompanied by any bodily disease. Even her mind 
 was calm, and she procured much gain to her master by divina- 
 tion, and the name given by sacred writ to this demon — "7ry6«»" 
 indicates that he was specifically the same with those which pre- 
 sided over the oracle of Apollo, at Delphi; and there are no 
 facts to bear out the supposition, that these Pythons laboured 
 under bodily diseases. The truth is, the impulses of the demons 
 produced the bodily distempers and convulsions of the priest- 
 esses. Dr. Farmer's theory makes the bodily convulsions to be 
 the cause of the impulses, and to create the oracles ! 
 
 * Pausan. Hist, of Greece, vol.iii. p. 353. duod. edit. Lond. Horn, 
 Iliad. \\h. xvi. ver. 234. Opsnpeus Coll. of Orac. quoted by Pansan. 
 Hist, of Greece, vol. iii. p. 334 notes. Relig. of the Greeks by Le Clerc, 
 Sept. p. ■?42, 8ic. 
 
 f Dr. Firmer on Demoniacs, 8cc. and Dr. Campbell's Gosp, vol. i...p'. 
 251, and Jortin's Remarks on Eccles. Hist. vol. i. p. 10, &c. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 145 
 
 2. Impelled by evil spirits, the demoniacs have uttered por- 
 tions of useful knowledge and have predicted future events, la 
 the lirst case it was easy to succeed -, in the last they were not 
 always successful. In instances by far the most numerous, they 
 covered their ignorance under a jargon of ambiguity. " Callide 
 qui ilia oracula composuit, perfecit ut quodcunque accidisset prr 
 dictum videretur," says TuUy ;* while human weakness and su 
 perstition, heightened by the sombre air of his consecrated cells, 
 or overpowered by the pomp and solemnity of his temples, have 
 received his responses with adoration ; and moved by them, have 
 resolved on peace or war, and have determined the fates of na- 
 tions, by giving them liberty, or by putting them under the yoke 
 of tyranny. 
 
 That evil spirits have the disposition to do this, cannot be ques- 
 tioned. That they are physically able to do it, is a supposition 
 neither irrational nor improbable. To efi'ect it, it is not neces- 
 sary that they should be omniscient or omnipresent. Myriads 
 can be called into action ; and they must have an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the human mind. They have been studying it 
 these six thousand years ! 
 
 They have, moreover, been inspecting, for ages, the political 
 movements of all nations : and, as has been shrewdly observed 
 by Hume, " the wars, the negociations and politics of one age, 
 resemble, in a striking manner, those of another."! The reason 
 is obvious. In all these the turbulent passions of men are the 
 prime movers ; and these passions are the same in every age, 
 and are equally stubborn and intractable,"! and will, of course, 
 lead to the same general results. Hence, by observing the pre- 
 dominant passions of the age, and anticipating the same effects 
 from the same causes, these spirits might readily conjecture the 
 fate of nations, as well as of individuals and societies. In pro- 
 portion as the probable effects of the causes might appear more 
 evident, they could utter their responses more clearly. As they 
 might be more doubtful, they could clothe them in ambiguity. 
 " Adhibuerunt etiam latebram obscuritatis ut idem versus alias in 
 
 * De Divin. lib. 2. 
 
 f Essays, vol. i. p. 110. 
 
 % Miller's Retrosp. vol. i. p. 9. 
 
 22 
 
146 On Immediate Hevelatwns. 
 
 aliam rem posse accomodari vidcrentur."* And if llie issue 
 should prove disastrous, contrary to the more obvious import of 
 the words, the honour of the oracle might be saved, and the head- 
 strong interpreter must bear the blame of perverting the will of 
 the God.t 
 
 In declaring incidents which are taking place at a distance ; in 
 disclosing secrets in the lives of individuals, as for instance acts of 
 theft, or of murder, these oracles would be more successful. Le- 
 gions of them hover in the air, on the deep, and over the face of 
 nations. The'se can detail to their prince, or to their worship- 
 pers, deeds which none but these invisible beings witnessed. To 
 predict incidents of this nature, therefore, comes fairly within the 
 range of their power.]: 
 
 They would find it an easier matter still to designate to an en- 
 quiring people, a chief, eminent for military prowess :§ or to si 
 senate, a sage of great moral and pohtical wisdom : or to dictate 
 a wholesome law, to pronounce a wise saying, to disclose a por- 
 tion of fair science. The prince of the fallen angels " was edu- 
 cated in the best divinity school of the universe."i| He is, doubt- 
 less, well acquainted with the Scriptures, with the writings of the 
 sages of ancient fame, and with the laws of different states. There, 
 is nothing irrational in supposing that he has actually extracted 
 sentences from these ; which, while the interests of his kingdom 
 would not suffer by them, would bind his admiring devotees more 
 strongly to the services of his throne ; nay, it would be a matter 
 of wonder to us, did we not find the prince of the fallen spirits 
 dictating oracles full of penetration and wisdom, and calculated 
 to excite the admiration of Greece and of Rome ! 
 
 This doctrine is as scriptural as it is rational. " If there arise 
 among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a 
 sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass :" — 
 
 * Tully ni: sup. 
 
 f The following are specimens of this play of Loxias : " Dir.o te, ffia- 
 cida, Ronianos vincere posse." " Croesus penetrans Halym magnam per- 
 verteret opum vim." These make equally for and against the persons 
 addressed. 
 
 ± Pausan. Hist. Greece, vol. i. p. 96, octavo, Lond. John de Mey 
 Comment. Phvsic. Pentateurhi Mos. vol.i. p. 158. Queen's Coll. Libr. 
 
 § Cornel. >fep. vit. Miltiad. 
 
 Ij Said that profound theologian President Edwards. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 147 
 
 '^ There shall arise false prophets, who shall show great signs 
 and wonders" — " That wicked shall be revealed, whose coming 
 is after the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and lying 
 wonders."* 
 
 And 1 do not see what can be opposed to the statements of an- 
 cient writers on this article. Historians, civil and ecclesiastical, 
 have recorded oracles which were accomplished with much ex- 
 actness; and were of great political consequence, and often of a 
 salutary and moral tendency.! 
 
 Our conclusion from the preceding remarks is this : demoniacs 
 may utter predictions and even valuable truths. Moral and po- 
 litical benefits may result from them. But our judgment of these 
 oracles is not to be formed from these partial benefits ; but from 
 their general tendencies, and from the effects actually resulting 
 from the whole. We ought never to lose sight of this fact, that 
 they were distinguished by their opposition to genuine truth ; and 
 to the honour of the one living and true God ; and to the eternal 
 happiness of man. Those very benefits which they conferred, 
 helped on the delusion: like the vapour's flash, at the midnight 
 hour, they shed a light over the benighted wanderer. He sees 
 the light and rejoices in the unexpected aid. But his gratitude 
 is soon displaced by the appalling discovery, that it has lighted 
 him on to his destruction. The favour conferred — death. 
 
 Hence if an individual, or a sect, bring forward predictions and 
 signs in support of a new gospel, we admit the possibility of these 
 wonders. We admit their probability ; and on evidence, we ad- 
 mit frankly their truth. But we know distinctly to what spirit 
 we are to refer them, and we class them accordingly with the 
 ■miracles of Greece and Rome. 
 
 § 3. — By these preliminary observations T have gained two 
 objects. First : we can now disentangle the question from the 
 extraneous matter mixed with it. We are not to enquire whether 
 there is an extraordinary dispensation of the Spirit in the new 
 economy : nor whether the believer is led by the Spirit of God, 
 
 * Deut. xiii. 1. Matth. xxiv. 24. 2 Thess. ii. 8, 9. See also 1 Sam 
 xviii. 10. 
 t Note C, appendix 1. 
 
148 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 as his secret instructor: nor whether the energies of th« Holy 
 Ghost be exerted in an immediate operation on the mind in the 
 process of regeneration : nor whether there be occasionally, a 
 communication from the Deity in the form of a premonition to a 
 pious mind. The question simply respects immediate ohjecfive re- 
 velations, which are specifically the same with those of the pro- 
 phets and apostles. And on this question we arc not to enquire 
 whether the existence of such revelations be possible : or whether 
 christians might not have them ; or at least, ought to have them.* 
 
 To institute such an enquiry Would betray arrogance and pre- 
 sumption. It would argue a great degree of folly. It would, 
 besides, serve no valuable end. What historian ever began his 
 narrative by an enquiry into the possibility of the existence of 
 the nation whose history he is going to write. It cannot be ques- 
 tioned that the Almighty, on condition of his being" willing, can 
 now as much as ever, endue men with the Holy Ghost. But the 
 possibility or the probability of things, does not determinate the 
 certainty of them. The simple question is : Has every christian 
 the gift of immediate objective revelations, which s}iggest to him his eve- 
 ry word and action? The affirmative of this is taken by every 
 Quaker. It is the grand shibboleth of the sect.t 
 
 Second: the other object gained is this : we can readily dispose 
 of all those arguments, which go to prove nothing more than what 
 
 * Barclay has thus unfairly shifted the question, (Prop. ii. sect. 13.) 
 from i\\ft fact \.o\.\\i: possibility of the thing. 
 
 f The proud claims of the sect are thus advanced : they have " imme- 
 diate revelations which are not to be subjected to the test of reason or 
 t)f scripture, as a more noble or certain rule." The scriptures may '« be 
 helpful and profitable." But they have such " inw.ard knowledge of God 
 by revelation, that there is no absolute necessity of any written rule." See 
 Apol. Prop. ii. Tliesis. and sect 15, p. 76, and sect. 4. p. 40. Penn thus 
 speaks plainly out. " The scriptures cannot be called a revelation of 
 God's will, till they are first opened by him who is the sfiirit of truth ;" 
 that is their inward light. See his works, vol. ii. p. 27. As to the speci- 
 fic nature of these revelations, they tell us that they are the same as those 
 of Moses, and of .Vbraham, and of Stephen. Bar! Apol. Prop. ii. sect 10 
 and 11. — Burrough's w,)iks, folio, p. 58, says, " the same spirit by which 
 they, (he is speaking of Moses and Jeremiah) were acted, acts us (the 
 Quakers) in the same way according to its measures." " The gospel 
 ii'hich they (the Quakers) y/rrccA, they have not received from men, nor 
 from book.'i, nor fro >n writings, but by the rei^elation of ,fesus Christ in 
 THEM." Peun liotnologates these words of Ciibson as the common senti- 
 ments of the societv *• Sure 1 am," says Penn, " that this assertion of 
 Gibson is right" Vol. ii. p. 472. 
 
On Immediate Hevelaiions. 149 
 
 'is admitted by us respecting the agency of the Holy Spirit, and 
 the operations of our own minds, and the apparent or real im- 
 pulses of demons. We are to reject them as unnecessary encum- 
 brances on the question under discussion. 
 
 § 4. — These claims of the leading Quakers are bold and dar- 
 ing* But how are they sustained ? It is one thing to come for- 
 ward fearlessly and unblushingly as an apostle. It is another 
 thing to support the high claims. 
 
 The shortest process, and certainly the most correct, would 
 have been to come out with miracles and predictions. This w'ould 
 have settled the point. In this manner the prophets of the Lord 
 did settle the point of dispute between them and their audiences. 
 They acted on this plain principle : claims to supernatural powers 
 demand supernatural proofs. We come in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus. We bring his gospel to you. We declare that our mes- 
 sage is from the court of heaven. We bring you proofs. Bring 
 hither your lame, and your blind, and your deaf, and we shall 
 heal them. Bring out your demoniacs, and we shall cast out the 
 demons by the power of Jesus Christ. Bring up your dead, and 
 in his name we shall restore them alive to your arms. Or thejr 
 raised their voice with " thus saith the Lord :" and spoke to remote 
 ages : and delivered to the church a testimony that blossomed 
 afresh in every succeeding generation. They disclosed a long 
 line of prophecies, which were accomplished in the evolutions of 
 Providence. And every new generation thus witnessed fresh 
 proofs of their divine commission. All this they did : and they 
 sustained the high character of ambassadors from God to men. 
 
 But the founders of this sect who rival the claims and honours 
 of the apostles and prophets, brought no proofs of this nature. 
 They were asked for the proofs of authority from heaven to sup- 
 port their new gospel ; thej' offered laboured and wordy decla- 
 mations ; they annoyed human patience with black letter syllo- 
 gism, or they prosed men to death with their dull lectures; or 
 they terrified the superstitious by prophetic maledictions. They 
 brought no miracles ; they offered no prophecies of great and 
 holy events to come ! 
 
 Penn was evidently perplexed with this dilemma. Constrained 
 
150 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 by his good sense to admit that " miracles are the only evi- 
 dence of revelations, he would nevertheless insist that there were 
 some prophets who did not work any miracles :* — Ay ! but they 
 predicted future events. He was aware of this also, and floun- 
 dering through an argument that sunk under him at every step — 
 out he comes at last, in a sullen mood, very unexpectedly in be- 
 half of signs supernatural. " Miracles," said he, " are ceased 
 only as visions are ceased ; that is, only to those who have no 
 faith. Some have known, and some do know the power of taking 
 up their sick beds and walking ; their faith made them whole.'*! 
 Yes ! and they have their miracles on register — ay ! and signs 
 marvellous, as the omen attending the death of that " demon of 
 msdom, that divine man,'*'' and progenitor of the society, Plotinus. 
 " Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici l"^: 
 
 • Vol. ii. p. 38. 
 
 t Vol. ii. p. 39. 
 
 + " A small serpent that had been concealed under his bed wandered 
 through a hole in the wall, and disappeared!" This is recorded by Tay- 
 lor (Plat. Phil. vol. ii. p. 218, quarto) who laboured to put down " super- 
 stition," and to revive paganism, in A. D. 1793. Fox Jour, has a regis- 
 ter of miracles. Sec his Index " Miracles, sfiirit of discerning, visions, 
 rain, iJfc." A priest "went mad" in the pulpit because he spoke against 
 their inward light. It would have been something more worthy and clever 
 if he had restored the man to his senses. A woman was tormented by a 
 spirit of distraction ; George bade her be quiet and still. In process of 
 time she mended. Myers with the lame arm sat once licfore him; George 
 cried with a reasonably loud voice, stand up on thy legs; and his arm was 
 made whole. It made no difference with George; had the man's foot been 
 lame, George would have commanded him to stretch out his arm, and 
 his foot would probably have been restored. The unfortunate Jay fell 
 from his horse and broke his neck. George wrung it round to its place, 
 and the man soon pursued his journey. He gives us only these moderate 
 samples ; but the ^^ devils were 7nade subject,"'' and other things took place 
 which he does not record " because this unbelieving age is not able to re- 
 ceive them nor bear them." (vol. i. p. 118.) \'\'hat a morsel would this 
 have been for Hume's Essay on Miracles. The industrious man has, with 
 infinite pains, gleaned from the pages of the pagans and Romanists certain 
 marvellous acts and things, the rivals of our Lord's miracles. He has 
 there the wonders of the Paphlagonian, and wf the emperor Vespasian. 
 He has there.the holy oil of Sar.igossa, tliat only made afresh natural 
 limb sjiring out like a mushroom from the old stumft; and he has there 
 the gossip stories of the tomb of the Abhe Paris.* And he has not oi>e 
 case from George Fox I Great men have not always their wits about 
 them ; neither had Hume; had he thrown the shield (jf such miracles as 
 those of Fox, on his open flank, would he have fallen so soon by the steel 
 of Campbell ? 
 
 * Hume's Essay on Mir. and Campbell's Refutation, part 2. sect. 4. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 151 
 
 But the prophets of the society have grown wiser. Time and 
 experience have brought the healing conviction that neither 
 miracles nor predictions are at their controul ; and hence, like 
 common men they descend into the arena and battle it with men 
 by the dull weapons of reason and syllogism!* 
 
 Their defence of their favourite point is set up in two forms. 
 First — " We bring no new gospel ; we bring only that which was 
 confirmed by the miracles of Christ and his apostles. You can- 
 not demand miracles of us. All that we advance we can make 
 good from the scriptures.! In this brief sentence there are three 
 errors. 1st. They do bring a new gospel ;J and the very terms 
 " immediate objective revelations*^ imply that new matter is brought 
 to the inspired mind ; if there is not, there can be no propriety in 
 using these terms on this subject. 2d. Individual claims to such 
 gifts must have individual proofs. The miracles of our Lord 
 and his apostles can no more establish the claims of modern in- 
 spirati, than the proofs of David's royal authority can those of 
 John of Munster to be king of Zion in Germany! 3d. It is great 
 extravagance to offer a text to prove a personal fact. " We are 
 apostles, and we will prove it by a text !" We may on the same 
 principles expect to hear a tailor quote Plato to prove that he is 
 an expert and fashionable tailor ! But seriously, the society be- 
 lieve that those revelations are not to be subjected to the test of 
 scripture, as to something more certain. Pray, how can they 
 venture on a proof of them from scripture ? and in reference to 
 the matter of these revelations, it is in the Bible, or it is not; 
 if it is, there is no necessity of becoming apostles and pro- 
 phets to find it out. If it is not, it is of the angel of darkness, 
 and comes under the fearful malediction of the departing spirit of 
 prophecy. " If any man shall add to these things, God shall add 
 to him the plagues that are written in this book.§ 
 
 Their second mode of defence. We distinguish between the 
 
 * When Penn entered the lists against Reeves and Mu^p:]eton, the no- 
 torious rivals of the early Quakers, he insisted upon visible miracles to 
 confirm their divine commission, Penn, vol. ii. p. 178. 
 
 t Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 12, p. 310, and Penn vol. ii. p. 48, contrasted 
 with his contradiction of this in p. 61 and p. 241. 
 
 4: See chap. vii. following in proof of this. 
 
 § Revel, xxii. 18. 
 
152 On Immediate Revelations, 
 
 thesis and hypothesis. It is one thing to say that revelations are 
 certain and infallible ; and another thing to affirm that such a 
 person, or such a people, has them. The first only is asserted by 
 us, say the Friends : the last may be questioned.* 
 
 This disingenuous shifting of the questions by Barclay, does 
 in fact, upset their own theory, and it resolves the whole ques- 
 tion under discussion into these truisms. Revelations are reve- 
 lations ; what comes from God does surely come from him ; in- 
 fallible is infallible, and that which is certain is certain ! The 
 whole sect cries out against this. Their proud claims to infalli- 
 ble inspirations were the chief causes of the severe sufferings of 
 their forefathers. Fox cries out against- him ; his every motion; 
 as well of body as of mind, was guided by these. Their minis- 
 try cry out against him ; they were " inspired by that which gave 
 out the scriptures," and " by this power of the Lord they were 
 to throw down teachings, and churches and worship."! Pena 
 cries out against him ; his whole career was enlightened by them.J 
 Barclay's theory cries out against it;§ nay to crown the climax 
 of absurdity, the good man of Dry himself, so far from giving up 
 personal claims on this point, does actually plant himself by the 
 side of John the apostle, and does claim for his writings what 
 John did for his. " What I have heard with the ears of my soul," 
 says Barclay, "and seen with my inward eyes, and my hands 
 have handled of the word of life, and ivhat hath been inwardly 
 manifested to me of the things of God, that do I tZec/are. "|| 
 
 In short there is not a book sanctioned by the society, that 
 does not claim the honours of revelation. And there is not a 
 preacher, of either sex, who does not come forward before the 
 
 • Bar. Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 13. 
 
 f Fox's Jo\ir. i. p. .S.iB. 
 
 t And the Following rare specimen will show what ideas he entertain- 
 ed of his brother prophets. A writer had held up to public execration 
 the curves of one of their prophets ai^iiinst the ministry of the Episcopal 
 church, and had remarked th it such language could not ])roceed from a 
 chiistian. Penn replied, " Tliongh they were a thousand times more 
 sharp against that accursed stock of hirelings, they had been but enough, 
 and I would then say not enough; but that the reverence I bear to the Ho- 
 ly Spirit would oblige me to acquiesce in whatever he should utter through 
 any prophet or servant of the Lord." Penn, vol. ii. p. 70, 
 
 § His. Thes. and prop. ii. 
 
 \] Apol. Ded. and Epist. to the reader. 
 
On ImmediatP' Revelations. 153 
 
 public with the most perfect conviction, that he is as much inspir- 
 ed as Isaiah or Paul was ; and that what he is about to utter, is 
 of as much weight as the messages of Isaiah or of Paul. Every 
 Quaker knows this. There is a perfect understanding on this 
 point between the preachers and the body of the people. They 
 practise on it daily. They cany it into the common forms of 
 speaking. When a favourite prophet comes and announces him- 
 self, he offers no promises of a discourse. He announces a meet- 
 ing. He can do no more. Neither he, nor any of them can di- 
 vine what they shall hear, nor Avhether they shall hear any thing. 
 It is not certain that there shall be an impulse. And if there 
 should be, he has no assurance that it will light on him, in pre- 
 ference to the humblest handmaid of the meeting ! 
 
 § 5. Besides the radical defects of these main arguments, the 
 following will exhibit a specimen of the palpable errors in the 
 conducting of their argument in defence of their revelations. 
 
 1. They invariably confound the special influences of the Spi- 
 rit with his supernatural or physical gifts. They set out to prove 
 that they have the revelations of the ancient prophets. And they 
 prove what no christian evei- denied, that the Spirit of God rests 
 in his influences on every good man. They profess to mount on 
 the same wing with Isaiah and Paul. Their waxen wings give 
 way, and they crawl disabled on the earth.* The fact is, while 
 they maintain their opinions by assertions bold and stiff, they al- 
 ways contrive, in the argument, to shift the main difficulty of the 
 question. — Penn and Barclay tell us, with a flourish, that they 
 will establish the certainty and infallibility of their revelations. 
 The latter after struggling into the difficulty, comes out, and with 
 infinite modesty tells us, that he makes no personal claims for 
 themselves. (Though by the way, we have seen that he writes 
 by inspiration.) There art revelations. He does not say that 
 they have them. " The question is not, who are, or who are not led ; 
 hut rchether all ought, and may be guided by the »S'/)tV(7."t And thus 
 all the machinery, and the whole battery of syllogism, are put 
 into their heavy operation to defend a position that not even a 
 
 * Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 1, 4, 5, 6, and Penn vol. ii. p. 61, 
 + Apol, p. §7. 
 
 23 
 
154* On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 king's fool would have attacked : namely, infallibility in wkere it is, 
 and certain revelations are with him who has certain revelations. And 
 the former, having planted himself in a sure position, and in a 
 most threatening attitude, exhausts all his strength in beating the 
 air ; turning his back on the Quaker position, he puts forth all 
 the powers of reason, and employs thirty nine texts of sacred 
 writ, and spends nineteen quarto pages to prove that the Holy 
 Spirit is " certain and infallible in his operations.'"* It does not 
 appear to have struck him that he ought to prove that they pos- 
 sessed those infallible gifts of the Spirit. That is left to the good- 
 natured readers gratuitous conclusion ! 
 
 2. They use, as synonymous terms, words that convey very 
 different ideas. They confound, for instance, the terms spirit 
 and law, and guide; cause and object; form and matter; light 
 and grace and Christ. These are jumbled together on their 
 mystic pages, and produce an effect like that which must have 
 taken place at the confusion of tongues at Babel. " The spirit 
 is the rule ;" " the light is the rule ;" " Christ is the light ;" " Christ 
 in us is the only word of God, and is our rule;" "objective reve- 
 lations are the spirit :" " the spirit is the object of revelation."! 
 There is a double error in all this ; it is impious — it is absurd. The 
 impiety consists in its bringing up their heresy, which confounds 
 the sacred persons of the most Holy Trinity, and which reduces 
 the sacred person of the Son, and the sacred person of the Holy 
 Ghost into a single virtue, or a grace. The absurdity lies in 
 making not the revelations of the spirit, but the Spirit himself the 
 (mly rule. And it is as glaring as the political absurdity would 
 be of constituting a rule of civil conduct — not out of the law, but 
 out of the persons who framed the law ; and of declaring to the 
 citizens that it is not the code of laws by which they must regu- 
 late their conduct, and to the judges that they must not judge ac- 
 cording to the law ; " Those ore but paper and ?«/v:." The rule of 
 j'-our actions is the souls and bodies of the legislators who framed 
 
 the law ! 
 
 3. They fly in the face of the clearest facts ; they lay it down 
 
 * Penn vol. ii. p. 96, &.c. 
 
 I Penn vol. ii p. 106, and Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 5, compared with the 
 Thesis on the Script, and Prop. v. and vi. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 155 
 
 as a fundamental principle, that God spake immediately to every 
 individual of the Jewish worshippers ; and that they all had im- 
 mediate revelations for the object of their faith.* They destroy 
 the distinction between mediate and immediate. " God spake to 
 all immediately." How ? Because "• God spake to them through 
 the High Priest;" because his Spirit rested on the seventy ; be- 
 cause two men prophesied in the camp ; because Moses express- 
 ed a wish that all the people might also prophesy! Yes, because 
 the Spirit rested on the prophets, he rested on the people : be- 
 cause God spake immediately to some^ therefore he spake imme- 
 diately to all ! And Barclay, who loves the rare and the sublime, 
 insists, that because God is omnipresent, therefore all men have 
 his revelations !t And, thence, by a form of logic unheard of from 
 the days of the Stagirite, he argues, that as all the Jews had re- 
 velations immediately from God, all men now may have them : and 
 because all men may have them, all men now do have them. 
 There is no saying where this logic may stop. We shall certain- 
 ly hear another class of men, who have got their brains turned, 
 not by theology^ but by politics, beginning to harangue us thus : — 
 It is unquestionably true that David was a king ; therefore all 
 his people were kings : and because all the Jews were kings, all 
 may be kings now: and because they may be kings, therefore all 
 men norv are kings. Another may, in the same manner, make it 
 out, that like David we are all psalmists ! 
 
 4. The principles which they adopt respecting faith, lead to 
 errors of the most serious nature. The sole object of the faith of 
 the saints they make to be immediate revelations.l They reject 
 the usual division of faith into different kinds : they confound the 
 different classes of faith : they admit only one kind.§ Moreover 
 
 * Apol.p. 46. 
 
 t Apol. p. 46, 47 and 67. 
 
 X Apol. Prop. ii. Assert. 5, p. 
 
 § " There can no more be two faiths than there can be two Gods." 
 Bar. Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 19, p. 51. The term faith besides being used in 
 a figurative sense for the subject of belief, as in Jude ver. 3, and in 1 Tim. 
 iii. 9, is used in four different senses in sacred writ, to describe an exercise 
 of the mind. 1. There is a temporary faith ; Math. xiii. 20, 21. 2. His- 
 torical faith : This is found in wicked men ; Acts viii. 13. And in devils, 
 James ii. 19. 3. The faith of miracles, 1 Cor. xiii. 2. Sometimes found 
 in wi ked characters, Matth. vii. 22,23. 4. Saving faith, Eph. ii. 8. 
 Now that expression of the Apostle, (Eph. iv. 5) " There is one faith," 
 on which B. founds his opinion, may be applied with perfect truth to each 
 of these classes. The men who have the first kind, may say, " we have 
 
156 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 they laj^ down this principle, that e\eyy one who has had faith, 
 must have had immediate revelations • and of course they admit 
 the converse, every one who has had these revelations, has had 
 faith : and as their system admits of only one faith, they must all 
 have had the same true or common faith. 
 
 Now let us see whither these principles will carry us. First ; 
 The object of our faith now is the same as that of the prophets ; 
 and they make no distinction between the saving faith of the pro- 
 phets considered as saints, and their belief as prophets in the di- 
 vinity of the messages with which they were changed. The one 
 and common object of their faith they make to be immediate 
 revelations. Now, on this principle of the sect, the object of faith 
 is not Our Redeemer : it is not his atoning blood : it is some di- 
 rect impulse simply. No one knows w hat may be the substance 
 of it : nor is that of any consequence. It is the revealing that is 
 the object of faith. It is not on the subject of the message that 
 faith terminates ; it is only on the form and manner in which the 
 subject is brought forward. We believe not in the matter, but 
 in the manner in which it is told ! When the shepherds heard the 
 angels announcing the birth of Christ, it was not his birth they 
 believed. " Immediate revelation, such as that of the prophets, 
 was the only object of their faith."* They believed in4.he super- 
 natural manner only, in w hich that birth was declared. Do they 
 deny this ? Then those to whom the shepherds told their reve- 
 lations, not having immediate revelations, had no object of faith. 
 They could not believe. 
 
 Second. There is only "one faith."' But the devil also "be- 
 lieves and trembles " He has, therefore, the same faith with the 
 best of men, and is as much a believer, in the same sense, as they 
 are ; and, like them, he has at every act of faith 'afresh impulse^ 
 an immediate revelation from heaven! 
 
 Third. "Every one who has faith, has immediate revelations 
 like the prophets and apostles :t" but all the true members of the 
 
 one faith." A 11 the " devils who believe and tremble " can say " we have 
 one faith." So may the persons vv!\o possessed the third class ; and (what 
 is the true meaning of the text) all true christians have '« o?ie Lord and 
 one faith" by which they all, ni the same manner, receive by an appro- 
 priating act, their common Lord and Saviour. 
 
 • Bar. Prop. ii. Assert. 5. | Apol. p. 47. 
 
On Immediate Hevelations. 157 
 
 Jewish and of the Christian church had fahh. Hence, on these 
 principles, every member had specifically the same inspirations 
 as those who were endowed with the highest gifts. All were 
 prophets like Isaiah ; all apostles like Paul ! Why then did the 
 people wait on the prophec3qngs of Isaiah? why did the king of 
 Israel send to consult a prophet ? why did the equally inspired 
 bear with the written epistles, " the dead letter'' of Paul. They 
 had what he had. " Propter quod unumquodque est tale, illud 
 ipsum est magis tale."* 
 
 Fourth. "Every one who has these revelations has faith, and 
 there is only ' one faith.' " Hence Balaam, who unquestionably 
 had true revelations, was as much a believer as Moses ! and those 
 persons " who had prophesied in Christ's name, and had cast out 
 devils, and had done many wonderful w^orks,"t w^ere as good men 
 as those in heaven, and yet were rejected by Christ. " Depart 
 from me, for I never knew you.'''' 
 
 Fifth. Some of their chief principles are supported by reason- 
 ing in a circle. Barclay's proof of one main point, and one on 
 which he had put forth all his strength, is a fair specimen of this.;}: 
 He is going to prove that they have revelations specifically the 
 same with those of the prophets. He lays down this premise — 
 " Our faith is the same as theirs." This, if spoken of saving faith, 
 is unquestionably true ; but that is not in point. He is not on 
 that subject. He is to make good the assertion, that " the object 
 of the prophets' faith is immediate revelations, and that these are 
 still continued to men." His argument is this : Where the faith 
 is one, the object of the faith is one ; but the faith is one, there- 
 fore the object of their faith and of our faith is one. 
 
 Now the essential act of this faith of which he speaks, consists 
 in the man's receiving w ith a holy assurance immediate revela- 
 tions from God : and our faith being, in these principles, specifi- 
 cally the same, must of course consist in the act of receiving new 
 revelations from God. Hence, Barclay's argument is rounded 
 off into this circle. In as much as we do, like the prophets, re- 
 ceive immediate revelations, we do have imjnediatp revelations ! 
 
 * Bar. Thes. iii. 
 
 f Math. vii. 22,23. 
 
 % Prop. ii. and Assert, v. 
 
158 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 Sixth. The writers of this sect assume higher ground than that 
 •which was taken by the apostles of our Lord. St. Paul, the very 
 chiefest of the apostles, submitted his inspired epistles to the 
 examination of those who had the Spirit, and calls on them to 
 ^^acknowledge that the things which lie wrote were the commandments 
 of the Lord.''''* But these modern apostles, not worthy to " stoop 
 down and unloose the latchet of his buskins, do give us no pre- 
 dictions, no miracles ; and they will not permit us to subject their 
 effusions ' to the test of reason, or of scripture, as a superior 
 rule.'"t 
 
 And what is more, they claim for the individuals of their sect 
 more than was ever vouchsafed to the members of the primitive 
 church in her most glorious times. Only a few possessed the 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost ; only a few were blessed with immediate 
 revelations, even at that eventful period when the prophecy of 
 Joel was accomplished-! But with them none are excluded from 
 immediate revelations. With them every believer has them ; 
 with them " all are apostles, all are prophets."§ 
 
 Last. The society of Friends, setting aside with cold disdain, 
 the common means of grace and the special influences of the Spi- 
 rit, and placing themselves wholly under the care of immediate 
 objective revelations, presents to view a singular spectacle, an 
 anomaly in the ecclesiastical world, perfectly novel and roman- 
 tic ! An anomaly as extraordinary as would be a world in which 
 the human mind arrived at perfection in knowledge, without one 
 of the ordinary means, and by a single act of Omnipotence. An 
 anomaly as extraordinary as a government of Providence would 
 be, out of which all secondary causes were banished, and where 
 every event was brought to pass by the immediate acts of Omni- 
 potence, embodying its energies in the form of a continuous suc- 
 cession of miracles ! 
 
 This outline will convey an idea of the manner in which Penn 
 
 • 1 Cor. xiv. 37. See the translation of the passage by M'Knight, vol. 
 iv. p. 10. and vol. ii. p. 118. 119, Bost. edit. 
 
 t A genuine revelation was deemed by the church inferior to that por- 
 tion of the scriptures already given ; until it had established itself by un- 
 equivocal evidence. Then it was on a footing of perfect equality with the 
 rest. 
 
 X Joel ii. 28. Actsii. 16. 
 
 § Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 11. 
 
On Immediate Revelations. 15§ 
 
 and Barclay have laboured on the chief article in their system, 
 and yet nobody wonders that such authors have not found their 
 oblivion. The writings of all chief sectaries became a text book 
 and a kind of bible to their disciples. It has ever been so; it is 
 nothing new and nothing strange. The Romanists lock up the 
 Bible and pour on the ignorant mob a flood of oral traditions 
 and legends. The Brahmins have supported the Shaster for a 
 thousand years : and the gold and devotion of the Mohammedans 
 have preserved the Koran for twelve centuries ! 
 
 § 6.— But the importance of this subject will not permit us to 
 rest satisfied with negative argument. It is possible to demon- 
 strate that these revelations are unnecessary, and in fact, have 
 no existence. 
 
 First, divine truth was revealed to the great body of thechurck 
 in the brightest days of prophets and apostles in no way differ- 
 ent from that in which it is revealed to us, and with precisely the 
 same evidence. 
 
 In the days of the most plentiful outpouring of the Holy Ghost, 
 a few individuals only possessed his extraordinary gifts, and the 
 body of the people were instructed by these. It is a matter of 
 historical fact that all were not prophets — not apostles. It is 
 equally an historical fact that the people received their instruc- 
 tions from no other source than from the men charged with di- 
 vine messages. Hence it is evident that the body of the people 
 did not receive truth immediately^ from God. 
 
 When those prophets who were charged with a commission, 
 brought forward their message to the church, it was by words 
 audibly pronounced ; or it was by words committed to writing^ 
 or it was by both. And when the church received their mes- 
 sages as the commands of the living God, there was some formal 
 and sufficient reason for her faith. The matter revealed could 
 not be the sole cause, inducing her belief. No created being is 
 competent to sit in judgment on this, and pronounce what mate- 
 rials ought to constitute a message from the court of heaven. He 
 has no standard within his reach ; it comes not within the range 
 of human experience. The message may, and does certainly 
 carry intrinsic proofs of its divine origin ; yet this cannot be the. 
 whoU cause or reason of its reception by the church. 
 
160 On Tmmediate Revelations. 
 
 Nor could this reception be procured by the form or the man- 
 ner in which they were presented originally to the mind of the 
 prophet himself. There are two arguments to establish this. 1 . 
 The evidence growing out of all circumstances of this kind, (al- 
 ways supposing them not to have been made to them in public 
 with certain tokens) could be felt only by the minds of the in- 
 spired. And personal and secret experiences are no proofs to 
 a second person. 2. To suppose that the faith of a prophet in 
 his own revelations was founded merely in the form and manner 
 in which they were received, is to suppose that the adversary of 
 God and man does not put forth his powers in counterfeiting the 
 usual forms of revelation, and it is to suppose that a prophet could 
 never be deceived by any species of delusion. The prophet's 
 faith in his own revelation could be founded only on a certain in- 
 timation, divinely impressed on his mind, that these communica- 
 tions were trulj- from God. Hence the veracity of God is the 
 only ground or formal object of the prophet's belief in his own 
 revelations, and not the/orm or manner in which they were pre- 
 sented to his mind ; and that which could not be the formal ob- 
 ject of their faith, cannot be the formal object of the faith of their 
 followers.* Hence the ground of the church's faith in the mes- 
 sages from the court of heaven, was the divine authority and ve- 
 racity, expressed in the solemn call " Thiis saiih the Lordf^ and 
 certified by that evidence external and internal, with which divine 
 ti'uth is presented to the human mind. 
 
 Now if such be the manner in which truth was imparted to the 
 great body of the people, and if such was the formal reason or 
 cause of their faith in it, it could make no difference whether it 
 was laid before them by the words, or by the writings of the in- 
 spired. If by their writings, it could be of no consequence 
 whethcr the writing was the original autograph, or an authentic 
 copy of it. If the copy be authentic it matters not whether it be 
 a first transcript, or the thousandih. 
 
 Hence it is evident, that to us in these times, divine truth is 
 communicated in a manner entirely the same as that in which it 
 
 * Barclay himself did acknowledge this when his mind was freed from 
 its momentary bias in favour of his system. See Apol. p. 50, top, though 
 it is admitted to the outrage of consistency. 
 
On Immediate KevelatioTis. 16t 
 
 was conveyed to them who lived in the ages of prophecy and of 
 miracle. And we possess evidence substantially the same; we 
 have all that testimony and evidence which led the fathers to 
 build their faith on the divine veracity. If we want their mira- 
 cles, we have at least the protracted miracles gradually devfiop^ 
 ing before our eyes in the evolutions of Providence fulfiilinr; the 
 prophecies. And hence were the scriptures obliterated ; and 
 did the age of prophecy and of miracle dawn once more on us; 
 did prophets and apostles heyin anew to open to us the councils 
 of heaven, and fill up the canon of scripture ; we and the Friends 
 should not enjoy a single benefit of a higher nature than we do 
 now possess. We should receive divine truths by revelations, 
 not immediately from God, but through the inspired few, who 
 would demonstrate their authority by miracles. And the vera- 
 city and authority of Almighty God would be, as it really now is, 
 the formal ground of our faith and obedience. Hence the im^ 
 mediate revelations of the Friends are entirely unnecessary. 
 
 Second. They form no part of the elemental principles of the 
 christian character, and they arc, therefore, not necessary to 
 salvation. That the Holy Ghost operates immediately on the 
 human mind by the secret influences which he puts forth, and 
 that these influences are essential to salvation, are doctrines 
 which we have always advocated. But that the revelations of 
 the Friends are essential to salvation, is a doctrine utterly inad- 
 missible. 
 
 Of the elemental principles constituting the good man's charac- 
 ter, they never, at any time, formed a part ; they are distinct 
 from faith, which consists in " receiving and resting on Jesus 
 Christ for eternal safety, as he is offered in the gospel." They 
 are distinct from love, from hope, from repentance, from the 
 practice of holiness. The men whom the Holy Ghost selected 
 and made prophets and apostles were employed a? instruments 
 merely to announce his messages to men. This official charac- 
 ter had no necessary dependance on their moral and religious 
 character. They might be good men ; they certainly were, with 
 a few exceptions, the best of men ; they might have been bad 
 men. As it regards merely the delivering of a message, a profli- 
 gate servant may, and often really does deliver his lord's in- 
 
 04 
 
162 On Immediate Revelations. 
 
 structions as accurately as a good servant will. A conduit of 
 the coarsest materials will convey the pure and limpid stream as 
 fully as if constructed of golden pipes. 
 
 As it respects that part of the prophetical office which consist- 
 ed in uttering the predictions, I presume the point will not be 
 contested. It must be very evident that that act of infinite sov- 
 ereignty which draws aside the curtain that conceals futurity, 
 and which places before a man's view a succession of remote 
 events, is essentially different from that act whereby He '■'' creates 
 us anew in Christ Jesus.^^ By the former, the man was put in pos- 
 session of something not for personal use, but for the public bene- 
 fit of the church : by the latter he is made the subject of a work 
 terminating on his own soul : by the former, certain powers of 
 the mind, especially the memory, is made the receptacle of know- 
 ledge, and hy it as a channel, the fertilizing streams are poured 
 over the church : in the latter the Holy Ghost puts forth his plas- 
 tic energies over the whole mind, and produces " the neiv creature.'''' 
 
 And as it respects the uttering of revealed doctrines, the point 
 is no less clear, for three reasons. 1. Even the pious prophets 
 did not, merely by virtue of their prophetical office, always un- 
 derstand the meaning of the doctrines which they revealed to the 
 church. On the contrary, after they had delivered them to the 
 people, they searched diligently into their meaning, and under 
 the guidance of the Divine Spirit, they arrived, as we do, at the 
 same knowledge of the truth. 
 
 The following is our authority for this assertion. '' Of which 
 salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently^ who pro- 
 phesied of the grace that should come unto you ; searching what, and 
 what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them, did signify; 
 when it testified before-hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that 
 should follow, unto whom it teas revealed that &c."* 
 
 It is here distinctly stated that the prophets did receive the 
 doctrines of truth by inspiration ; that they were fully qualified 
 by this means, to deliver them to the church : but that, neverthe- 
 less, they did not fully comprehend their meaning; that in order 
 to arrive at this " they searched diligently'''' into what " the Spirit 
 
 • 1. Pet. i, 11, 12, 
 
On Immediate 'Revelations. 163 
 
 Wio was in them did signify.'''' In other words, they searched into 
 the doctrines of the gospel already revealed^ and into " themanner 
 of time'''' in which the event of Christ's sufferings should be ac- 
 complished. And upon this diligent investigation of " ihtir omi 
 doctrines^^'' they received another " revelation^''^ which we call the 
 special guidance and instruction of the Holy Ghost, by which 
 they obtained, as every christian does obtain, a clear and believ- 
 ing view of the truth. 
 
 2. In addition to this argument, there are historical facts of 
 great weight. There have been true prophets, (because they had 
 divine revelations made to them) who yet were utterly destitute 
 of the grace of God. Balaam was an impious man, and he was 
 unquestionably a true prophet. The scriptures do pronounce 
 him a prophet. He predicted remote events which were accu- 
 rately accomplished.* He uttered divine truth in its usual style 
 of sublimity. He prophesied of the " star that should arise out of 
 Jacob, and the sceptre out of Israel^ who should have dominion" 
 This, as is evident from the light thrown on it by parallel passa- 
 ges, cannot be referred to any other than " the morning star''"' Je- 
 sus Christ, who has dominion over all things.! 
 
 3. Our Lord has set this matter to rest. He has declared that 
 m the day of final retribution, there will be on his left hand men 
 who not only prophesied, but who added the evidence of miracles 
 to their words. " Many shall say to me in that day^ Lord, Lordf 
 have we not prophesied in thy name ; and in thy name cast out devils ; 
 and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then will I pro- 
 fess unto them, I never knew you.'''' (He could not have said this, 
 
 had they ever, at any time, been in the possession of grace.) 
 " Depart from me ye that work iniquity. ''''\ Hence, if in the ele- 
 ments of his character, the good man possessed nothing more 
 than what may be found in the " mere prophet,'''' then he has not 
 one virtue or grace more to discriminate him from the ungodly, 
 than what Balaam and such as Balaam did possess. " Though I 
 have the gift of prophecy,'''' says St. Paul, " and understand all mys- 
 teries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so lliat I could 
 
 * Bishop Newton on the Proph. vol. i. Dissert, v. 
 •}■ Scott's Comment, on Numb. xxiv. 17. And particularly Henry on 
 that place. 
 
 t Math. vii. 22. 
 
164 On Immediate Revelations, 
 
 remove mountains^ and have not charity," (that is true love to God 
 and man) " / am nothing.''''* 
 
 Ttiird. Their revelations are brought fonvard without evi- 
 dence, and they are therefore uncertain and unprofitable. In 
 the experience of the true prophet, there was attached to every 
 one of his revelations a certain irresistible evidence that it is from 
 God. By this form of evidence, whatever it was, they could as 
 certainly, and as easily, at least, distinguish the voice of God from 
 that of a deceiver, as we can the voice of a friend from that of a 
 stranger. But this species of evidence could not be useful to any 
 but the prophet himself. It could not be laid down as a basis of 
 that faith which he demanded for his messages from the court of 
 heaven. It is invisible to us ; it is not felt by us ; it can produce 
 no faith in us ; and he who can suppose that it can, he who comes 
 forward with lofty claims, and divine messages, and new systems, 
 and appeals to no higher evidence than to certain inward feel- 
 ings, is an impostor and a knave: he insults our understandings ; 
 he deems us capable of being duped by the weakest artifices. 
 
 Now, admitting that the Friends have all that they claim ; ad- 
 mitting that their revelations are to them " clear and evident in 
 themselves," these revelations are radically different from the 
 special work of the Divine Spirit in the human mind ; and hence 
 they are not necessary to their salvation, and they cannot be 
 made useful to others without evidence ; and that only evidence 
 w-hich can carry conviction into the heart, I mean prediction 
 and miracle, the substantial evidence to which all good men look, 
 and to which evcrj truly inspired man always successfully re- 
 sorted, is invariably declined by every one of the inspired of the 
 society, and for the best reasons in the world. They have never 
 had the possession of the one nor of the other. Heaven, deaf to 
 the voice of their prophets and apostles, has not lent them one 
 prophecy, no, nor one solitary miracle to this day ! Hence, their 
 revelations are, in the eyes of the church, without proof, unpro- 
 fitable and useless. 
 
 Fourth, Holy revelations have fully accomplished their end, 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiii. 2. — See Dr. Owens examination of this point in his book 
 on the Spirit vol. 1. book. ii. Ch 1. Sect. 17, 18. And in his Discourse on' 
 the Holy Spirit and his gifts. Ch. 2. 
 
On Jmmeiliate Revelations. 165 
 
 and are withdrawn forever. The end proposed to be accom- 
 plished by them, was the completion of the sacred canon of 
 scripture. This has been done. Each book, delivered by the 
 inspirations of the Holy Ghost, is supported by innate and his- 
 torical evidence 5 and though bound up in one volume, each book 
 of the Old and New Testaments is not only full and complete in 
 the weight of its own evidence, but, in hke manner as the classic 
 authors are produced to establish the authenticity of each other, 
 these books of the sacred scriptures contain irresistible evidence 
 of the authenticity and divinity of each othei\ All the books 
 that were delivered to the church with these proofs of divine 
 origin, are placed in the canon. The canon is complete and per- 
 fect.* It was delivered to the church " to make men wise unto 
 salvation." The Spirit of God has denounced a curse on those 
 who shall " add to it, or who shall take away from it ;"t and every 
 immediate revelation does either add to revealed truth, or is ut- 
 terly unnecessary. 
 
 Fifth. The entire withdrawing of the miraculous gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost aftbrds us ample proof that immediate revelations 
 are closed. Divine inspiration was the loftiest and certainly the 
 most important of all the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. It was 
 the channel by which God conveyed his will to man ; and, in- 
 deed, all the other miraculous endowments were designed simply 
 to confirm the truth of this one. They were all directed to this 
 point, to establish to the conviction of men, that those revelations 
 which were brought forward were from God. This was the end 
 of the miracles of our Lord, the great prophet of the church. 
 " The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness 
 of me.'"| And it was the end of the miracles wrought by those 
 who were charged with his commissions.§ 
 
 But every miraculous gift is withdrawn. We have the testi- 
 mony of our senses to confirm this ; and the Almighty would not 
 
 • It is foreign from my purpose to enter into a discussion on the sacred 
 canon. Consult on this subject Prideaux Connect, vol. ii. p. 102, 411, &c. 
 Jones' Canon Author, of the New Test. Blair's Canon of Scnpt. Dr. 
 Owen's Comment, on the Heb. In rod. Dick on Inspir. See also Chal- 
 mer on the Histor. Evid. of the Bible. 
 
 f Prov. XXX. 6. Revel, xxii. 18, &c. 
 
 X John X, 25. 
 
 S Mark xvi. 20. 
 
466 On Immediate Ilevelations. 
 
 have withdrawn the secondary gifts, if the primary, which re- 
 quired their support, still remained. We have, therefore, the 
 evidence of our senses, that objective revelations are withdrawn 
 from the church. 
 
 Lastly. The doctrine of the Friends has no foundation in 
 any of those passages of holy scripture which they adduce in 
 proof of it.* It might be enough simply to say, that each of these 
 texts which they quote, refers either to the special influences of 
 the Spirit, or to his miraculous gifts. If to the former, then we 
 have gained our point, and the dispute is at an end. If to the lat- 
 ter, the Friends gain nothing fro;n this, unless they can prove 
 that all men were invested with these miraculous powers ; that 
 " all were prophets — " that all were apostles ;" that none were 
 taught mediately by inspired teachers. But in every age of in- 
 spiration, these gifts were vouchsafed only to a few ; and the 
 fact that these gifts were conferred then on a few only, ought 
 surely not to be quoted in proof that all men now have them. No- 
 thing but miraculous powers can bear the friends out in their ex- 
 traordinary claims. 
 
 I shall close with a review of their exposition of three passages 
 of sacred writ, which have been called, with some degree of as- 
 surance, " The Quaker texts.''^ And this, it is to be hoped, will be 
 Q sufficient specimen of the manner in which other texts are to 
 be redeemed from similar abuses. 
 
 1. " This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord ; my Spirit 
 that is on thee, and my words which I have put into thy mouth, 
 shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy 
 seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord from 
 henceforth and forever."! 
 
 It is evident! that these are the words of the Father to the Son 
 on behalf of his spiritual seed. They contain a double promise. 
 First : That the Spirit who rested on " the Redeemer," shall 
 never leave his " seed." Second : That the words put into " the 
 Redeemer's mouth shall never depart from the mouth of his 
 seed," nor of " his seed's seed." There is no intimation that the 
 
 * Such as Jerem. xxxi. 31. Joel ii. 28, 29. Heb. viii. 10. 1 John ii. 27. 
 Bar. Apol. Prop. ii. sect. 11, 12. 
 t Jer. Ux. 21 
 % From verse 20. 
 
On Immediate Kevelations. 167 
 
 Spirit will, by an immediate interposition, put words into their 
 mouths. " The words which I have put into thy (Christ's) mouth, 
 shall not depart out of the mouth of thy seed." It is a truth not 
 to be contested in this day of light and triumphant demonstra-- 
 tion, that we possess an authentic copy of his words, written by 
 men from his lips. And no " immediate revelation" can do more 
 than what this authentic copy actually does, in keeping them " in 
 our lips." 
 
 The gross abuse of this passage by Penn and Barclay merits 
 the severest reprehension. To give it a turn to their own pur-? 
 pose the one quotes it thus : " / will pour out my Spirit on thee, and 
 on thy seed and thy seed's seed to all generations.^'' And the other 
 models it into this form to be the basis of his syllogism : " My 
 word, I even /, saith the Lord, have put into your mouth.''''* And 
 from th'is forgery he draws the conclusion that as " the Spirit puts 
 words into their lips," they were certainly inspired. Had this 
 bold deed of altering a clause in the Testament of God Almighty, 
 been practised on a human instrument, the perpetrators would 
 have been declared guilty of felony, by the laws of every civil" 
 ized state. 
 
 2. " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all 
 things ;" " and ye need not that any man teach you."t If ever 
 there were a period in which these happy times and conditions 
 were fully enjoyed by individuals and by the church, it was 
 during the extraordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost in the apos- 
 tle's days. Did we take the sense imposed on these sacred pas- 
 sages as the sense of the apostles, then every one to whom thej 
 addressed themselves, was possessed of immediate revelations. 
 All were prophets, all were apostles, and none were taught by 
 the lips of inspired men. If christians had "the anointing'* in 
 this sense, the conduct of the aposdes was utterly inexplicable. 
 Why did they teach ? all had the teacher within. Why did they 
 preach? all had the light within. Why write epistles? why 
 did John write these words to tell them about " the anointine?'* 
 
 o 
 
 They all had the word in perfection within. 
 
 I cannot yield to the learned critic,J and refer this " anointing" 
 
 • Penn vol. ii. p. 494 note. Barcl. Prop. ii. sect. 11, p. 63. 
 t 1 John ii. 20 and 27, add to this Joel ii. 28, 29. Jer. xxxi. 31. 
 + Di*. M' Knight's new Trans, of the Epist. in loco, 
 
168 On Immediate Revelations, 
 
 and " this knowing all things to the extraordinary gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost in this discerning of Spirits." Let us place before 
 our minds the context. We shall perceive that the aposde is 
 referring to the doctrines which he had been inculcating on the 
 attention of the church, and is pointing to the " anti-christs" which 
 " had gone out from them." — " Ye have the anointing — ye need 
 not that any man teach you." You are no strangers to our doc- 
 trines ; they are in the lips of all the faithful ; you need none of 
 the teachings of these men — these false teachers — these pretend-, 
 ers to inspirations. You have the instructions of the apostles, by 
 word and epistle ; you have the anointing of the Spirit : and those 
 perceptions of truth which you have thence acquired, set you 
 above the necessity, and above the seducing influences of the 
 teachings of these false prophets. This simple exposition makes 
 the practice and the doctrine of the apostle consistent and har- 
 monious. 
 
 But if the Friends will insist on the literal meaning, then we 
 will act on the offensive ; we will turn on them and say : Be it so, 
 that these christians to whom John wrote had inspirations in the 
 fullest measure — be it so, that they, all men, woo:; en and children 
 were prophets and apostles : — what will that prove in your fa- 
 vour? Does that prove that modems — that t/ou have these inspi- 
 rations? Prove you that you are divinely led ! Bring forth your 
 miracles ! Pronounce your prophecies. — No ! you have none ! 
 Then you are self-convicted 
 
 Last, and that which is the burden of every Quakers sermon. 
 " The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withaV 
 
 Eiec(«-T(v A iii'oftti i <;)av6p&>fl-/5 rou ThiVf/turet vftt tw e-fiM^rpt*. '^ Lnder 
 
 the term " <ji«v{f«(r/c" '''' manifestation^'''' is comprised the different 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost. 1 The term literally taken siirnifies the 
 active manifestation hy proof. It implies the power and faculty of 
 declaring b^'- doctrine, and of demonstrating by deeds, that the, 
 person has the Holy Ghost.| It is a gift entrusted to men "{rpoe 
 
 * 1 Cor. xii. 7 . We are pained at hearing this text almost iinivursally 
 quoted by the Quaker preachers tans: "a ?«ctt.vM/-e cf the Spi' it. 6cc. ' 
 And not unfrequently is it wiitten in this manner, " a measure of the Spirit 
 is given." Wliich completely alters the meaning. 
 
 f See Dr. Owen on the Spir. vol. ii. ch. 1 sect. 11. 
 
 ± See Schiensneri Lexicon in voce. 
 
On Immediate "Revelations. 169 
 
 T.» ru/x<fifov ;" " for the good or benefit,"* that is of the church.t 
 This gift was bestowed not on all, but on " each" " t*«!rT«." For 
 it is to be referred to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit only.+ 
 And these gifts, it is evident, were not conferred on " all" with- 
 out discrimination. 
 
 Hence the meaning of the passage is this : The extraordinary 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost were given to each man chosen to extraordinor 
 ry services, to demonstrate that their messages were from God, and, 
 therefore, were for the common good. 
 
 Now, what advantage does the Quaker cause gain from this ? 
 In what manner can they shape an argument out of it? These 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost were given to select men in those ages to 
 which we refer. Does this offer any proof that inspirations are 
 given to all men now indiscriminately ? The individuals who ac- 
 tually possessed these gifts, demonstrated the divinity of their 
 commission by miraculous powers. Will that prove that the 
 equally high claims of the Quakers need not these domonstra- 
 tions ? On what principles are we called upon to yield our faith 
 to these pretenders, who bring no evidence, when the church of 
 old would yield to no claims, not even to those of an apostle, with- 
 out miracles? We can give no credit to them, for they lay down 
 no foundation for faith to rest upon. They claim the Holy 
 Ghost ; but they have no " (pafipwe-zc," no manifestation of his pre- 
 sence, by his gifts. No man can be a believer in their revelations 
 without renouncing his reason : and there is not a man of reflec- 
 tion in the society who would not laugh in his sleeve at the sim- 
 pleton who would believe without evidence, and with the deisti- 
 eal Pope who chuckled over the easy belief of his catholic 
 subjects, would exclaim '•^ A fne fabrication this — which has proved 
 so lucrative to us .'" 
 
 • See Schleus. and Stockius in voc. fvf/.<ptfM. 
 
 -}• As is evident from 1 Cor. xiv. 2, 5. 
 
 ± As the next verse (8) fully declares, and as everij Quaker admits. 
 
 25 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 
 ON THE CHARACTER OF THEIR SILENT WORSHIP. 
 
 " The funde of the soiile is the secretcst part of the soul. In this funde 
 God begets his soiine. Into this man must introvert, and drawe himself 
 in, and sinrk into this fundc, and denude himself of all thoughts, -words 
 and deeds. There God p^ureth himself into our spirits. We dissolve in 
 God and become pure, Sec. 
 
 Tauler a Dominican of A. D. 1346. 
 
 " Deep from the vault the Loxian murmurs flow ; 
 " And Pythias' awful voices peal below." 
 
 § 1 . That blunt polemic, Brown of Wamphry. after having Ijc- 
 stowed much attention on the form and theory of the silent wor- 
 ship of the Friends, exclaimed, that he had discovered in it 
 '"''plain vestiges of devilrie P''* 
 
 If the spirit of the age has polished the genius of criticism, it 
 has also smoothed down the rugged features of sectarianism. But 
 whatever polish may be conveyed to the surface of these prin- 
 ciples, their substantive form is the same. 
 
 We discover in the silent worship of the society singular phe- 
 nomena, produced evidently by a rigid adherence to their lead- 
 ing tenet. Its moral and physical aspect is altogether extraor- 
 dinaiy, and cannot fail to attract the notice of the philosopher 
 who investigates the history of the human mind. 
 
 The society has excluded not only all that is venerable by an- 
 tiquity, but what is sacred by the authority of our Lord. They 
 have banished the holy scriptures from their assemblies. They 
 are not permitted to be read there. They have excluded bap- 
 tism and the Lord's supper ; they have rejected stated prayers, 
 and the singing of psalms. They have removed the distinction 
 between the regular ministry and the flock. Their only minis- 
 try is composed of thosr straggling individuals whom a fortuitous 
 impulse brings upon their floor. Each of them enters the asseni- 
 
 ♦ Pref. of his book 
 
On thfiir Silent Worship. 171 
 
 blj with a weight of supernatural gifts and divine inspirations. 
 Their elders take their stations in a conspicuous place, and pos- 
 sessing the hereditary gift " of discerning spirits,"* they sit as 
 judges of what may be advanced. All remain covered according 
 to the edicts given forth by their prophets.! But as soon as the 
 " inspired is moved" to pray, the whole assembly, at one instant, 
 discerning the impulse of the spirit in the prophet^ harmoniously lay 
 aside the hat, and all stand up. It is resumed when the impulse 
 to pray is discontinued.]: They sit with looks lowering downward 
 on the ground, and " wait on the Lord." This " Lord is within 
 them ;" he is " in the fund of the soul." This, in the consecra- 
 ted style of the Friends, is " that deep in which unity is known."§ 
 Into this "fund" or abyss they descend; and, like so many 
 jEneases descending into Tartarus, each has his guardian Sybil. 
 Within this deep " they meet the Lord." This descent is called 
 the act of " intx'oversion." In it each puts forth all his energy in 
 directing thither the whole current of his thoughts, in chaining 
 down carnal wisdom, in silencing the whispers of reason, of pas- 
 sion, and appetite. During this deathhke slumber, this tempo- 
 rary suspension of judgment and reason, they turn into the pre- 
 sence of that " Lord who reigns in the fund of the soul." It 
 bestirs itself, and on " the rising of this seed of the divine life," 
 this inward lord, in awful, and solemn, and secret whisperings, 
 dictates their duties, chides their offences, engages to amendment. 
 It spends not all its strength in whispers: it puts forth active pow- 
 ers : it lays hold on the " evil seed within," and with terrible 
 energy chains it down or hurls it from its lurking places. || Some- 
 times under the name of " virtuous life," it proceeds from the 
 
 * See Fox's Jour. i. 99. 220. 
 
 t See vol. i. sect. 25, and Fox's Jour. i. p. 113, and Penn vol. ii. p. 207. 
 
 X The female ministers, acting in marvellous consistency with the 
 usurped power of their priesthood, uncover the head when they preach. 
 Paul laid his injunction on females not to speak, in the church, 1 Cor. xiv. 
 34, 35. His argument is, that woman is subject to man as her head. 1 
 Cor. xi. 3. But to teach is to usurp authority. 1 Tim. ii. 12, &c. They 
 must, therefore, not only remain silent, bit covered, in token of this sub- 
 jection. 1 Cor. xi. 7, 10, 8cc. As, therefore, they have refused the re- 
 straint of the apostle and of Christ, and have thrown off subjection to man 
 as their head, they do very consistently throw off their covering, the badge 
 and token of said subjection, when they are about to prophesy ! 
 
 <^ See S. Crisp's Serm. p. 127, Phil. ed. 
 
 I"! B.ir. Prop, xl, passim, especially sect. 7 and 8, 
 
172 On their Silent Worship, 
 
 ministrj'', and produces these effects ; and what is more remark- 
 able, " the very countenances as well as the words of the illite- 
 rate ministry," as Barclay assures us, " produced this exploit in 
 him as well as in others."* 
 
 There is another phenomenon of a still more singular nature. 
 On some occasions when the whole assembly are, by a singular 
 coincidence of sentiment and feeling, " gathered into the life," and 
 " have their minds centred in a degree of solemn quiet,"! this 
 " lord rends through the meeting. "f A general movement is pro- 
 duced ; they experience secret refreshings, which none can feel 
 but those who are " gathered into the seed ;" and this is " without 
 words ministered from vessel to vessel. "§ And where a few 
 stragglers may be " out of the life," by yielding to reason or to 
 fancy, the rest, firm as the needle to the pole, feel a nameless 
 sympathy, which in the appropriate nomenclature of their divines, 
 is called " f/mtt-rngs" toward their brethren. They will travail 
 as in birth for them. By the combined effort of the stronger 
 brother and of the weaker brother the carnal Spirit is, by a pow- 
 erful and secret process, decomposed, or precipitated, or held in 
 solution. There is yet another phenomenon — when a mocker has 
 chanced to come in during this awful silence, when so much was 
 going on in the invisible world " within;'''' where " the life has 
 been raised in a high measure," and the whole society has been 
 charged with this powerful spirit, " the greatest terror has been 
 struck into his soul."|| Its shivering transports have glanced 
 along his nerves like the electric shot from a Leyden, or a gal- 
 vanic battery : or if the day of his " visitation should not have 
 expired ;" that means if the spectator be not too hardened to be- 
 come a convert to these opinions, " it will reach the measure of 
 grace within him and raise it up." Thus the wandering soul is 
 often smitten by a brother " secretly without words ;" and thus 
 "one Friend is a midwife, through the secret travails of his soul, 
 to bring forth the life in another, without words."ir 
 
 * Apol. Prop. X. sect. 23, p. 381. 
 
 t Com. of the annual meeting of Ireland, in 1803, and Rathbone's Nar. 
 p. 140. 
 
 X Penn vol. ii. p. 205. 
 § Apol. Prop, xi, sect. 6, p. 366. 
 II Apol. Prop. xi. sect. 7, p. 370. 
 i Apol. Prop. xi. sect. 7. 
 
On their Silent Worship. 173 
 
 In some instances the society, like the devout audience of a 
 Roman chapel, during I he Latin service, has received " refresh- 
 ings'''' from addresses in a foreign language. For instance, an 
 English audience ^^ knew that one of the Dutch nation spoke by the 
 Spirit^ though in the Dutch language, which none of the meeting wn* 
 der stood ; because they all found refreshings.''''* 
 
 The society has often dwelt on the charms of their silent meet- 
 ings. Their apologist's sober prose mounts into epic poetry, as 
 he gives vent to his hosannahs.t It is evident that something of 
 this kind must be contrived to play it off. During the painful 
 rest of the body outwardly, some drama must be displayed with- 
 in ; for, as every simple christian perceives the grand character- 
 istic ordinancesof Christianity to be removed from the meeting as 
 completely as from the mosque ; as this worship can be perform- 
 ed in all its parts as well without words as by words; as every 
 individual avows the infallible guide of an inward light, the world 
 could not, otherwise, have conceived any just reason that could 
 be urged against Shackleton and the Schismatic Friends ; or in be- 
 half of their own public assemblies. The apologist even in his lucid 
 moments, when rationality peers amid the broken clouds of mys- 
 ticism, talks thus in defence of public meetings. " The vessels" 
 — (each of the persons in the assembly who contains an " imvard^* 
 fluid or " light ;") these " vessels" being set close together, this 
 caloric or " light" is transfused more readily from vessel to ves- 
 sel than if they remained at honie.| This, to say the least, ap- 
 pears natural enough ! 
 
 This is the first class of effects produced by the spirit of the 
 silent meetings. But there was not always silence. When the 
 Spirit " stirs up a word to edification," the inspired person rises 
 and speaks with great vehemence. Their ancients coming for- 
 ward in no ordinary characters, made no ordinary claims. 
 
 » The witty Faldo had remarked " Even so have children found re- 
 freshings at a puppet shoiv." Penn with wrath rebukes the ungodly 
 joke, and with much mystic argument undertakes the deience of the or- 
 thodoxy of " these refrebhings." '• A right sense,''' says he, " may be had 
 where the words may not be understood, which is the one tongue to the 
 children of the light." vol. ii. p. 268. 
 
 f See Prop. xi. sect. 7, &c. 
 Consult the Apol. Prop. xi. close of sect. 6, 8cc. 
 
174 Gn their Silent Worship. 
 
 '^ Thus saith the Lord God," was in olden times the usual preface- 
 of their speeches, and their writings. " The Spirit of the Lord 
 is upon me," said the modest Ambrose Riggs.* "This is God's 
 xmrd of truth ;" " I warrant this from God ;" " I speak from the 
 sense of the eternal Spirit" — were the prefaces of Penn.t And 
 when the meek Burroughs '• sounded the trumpet out of Zion" 
 with fire and sword, " it was by the order of the Spirit of God." 
 " The word of the Lord came unto him saying."]: 
 
 Their modern spirits take not such high ground. A remnant of 
 the ancient prophets does indeed claim scriptural honours to their 
 extemporaneous effusions ; but the vulgar crowd, if not the most 
 orthodox, introduce their homely remarks by an allusion to their 
 " mental impressions." 
 
 The chief object of these discourses has been to defend their 
 peculiar tenets ; to turn man to the oracle within, to lead him 
 away from external (which with them is paramount to carnal,) 
 ordinances ; to expatiate on the sufferings and merits of their mar- 
 tyrs ; to extol themselves as the solitary flock of Christ ; to pour out 
 mvectives against " hirelings," and against '* steeple houses," and 
 against the "dead letter" of the scriptures, and the " carnal or- 
 dinances" of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and against the 
 crying sin of using the pronoun "t/o?/," for " //tee and thou,'''' and 
 against ornaments and garments not of the society's cut and 
 fashion ; and against the heinous sin of salutations by uncovering 
 die head— which iniquitous practice had strangely overrun 
 Christendom ; and had as strangely displaced the orthodox cus- 
 tom of covering the head in worshipping assemblies, and in the 
 presence of superiors ! 
 
 The freedom of speech allowed in their meetings has pro- 
 duced scenes painful and ludicrous. I have mentioned a scene 
 between Keith and Penn.§ A grave Friend aiming at the quo- 
 tation of a text, sung out in his nasal twang, '' In my father's 
 house arc many manchets." And pray, said a simple one, " what 
 means that ?" " Manchets are round cakes, my Friends." " In 
 
 • Pennington's Works, Pref. p. 19. 
 ■f- Vol. ii. p. 553. 
 
 t See his "Trumpet sounded, &c. Bugg's Pict. of Quak. p. 33 of the 
 Art. of Quak. Faith, and *' Snake, yc." edit. 2, p. 204. 
 § Hist. Diss, in Part 1. sect. 2^. 
 
On Public Prayers. 175 
 
 my father's house are many manchets !" — Farnsworth holdmg 
 forth with wild zeal had wandered from his text. (It was no new 
 thing.) Elizabeth Barnes, herself a prophetess, recalled him 
 by the olden phrase — "Thou art whoring from the Lord!" 
 The prophet turned round with such a countenance as Barclay 
 believes fit to produce supernatural effects, and made a most un- 
 courteous retort on the lady in her ozm set phrase! The meeting 
 was thrown hito confusion.* On a certain occasion as one ot 
 their ministers was moved to pray, and had laid the broad brim 
 aside, and was fairly entitled to the floor, a female minister was 
 moved at that instant to begin " her m.essage;" at the same mo- 
 ment another member was moved to order silence ; another was 
 moved to " hale her out of doors." She, under the previous im- 
 pulse, was moved to speak to those who assembled around her 
 without; and the orderly brother within, following his impulse, 
 went on peaceably with his prayer !t 
 
 PniH'. 
 
 § 2. Of Public Prayers. — " Pray without ceasing." — St. Paul. — 
 The prayers which the church offers up statedly, by her Lord's 
 commands,! are opposed by the society with indecent warmth ;§ 
 and their preachers, rigid in principle, never pray unless under 
 a supernatural impulse ; and this spirit seldom, in these times^ 
 makes them a visit. 
 
 ♦ Penn vol. ii. p. 219, who defends Farnswm-th. 
 
 ■j- See Elizabeth Bathurst's book, " Truth Vmdicated," p. 7, 8, Sec- 
 It comes recommended to the Friends by the high names of C Marshall 
 andG. Whitehead. No. 8"6, duod. Phil. Library. Whitehead who de- 
 fends the above vagary of the lady, assures us that " he had no doubt but 
 that she was di-vinely ina/iired.'" G. Fox relates another of these coun- 
 ter impulses. As he and seme of his friends were conducted by the 
 military along the streets of Jolmston, George was moved to preach; 
 Lancaster was moved at the same instant " to sing with a melodious 
 voice." Journ. vol. i. p. 443. 
 
 X Phil. iv. 6. Psalm Ixv. 2. 1 Tim. ii. 1, &c. 
 
 § " Your graces before and after meat, your prayers and praises, the 
 Lord abhors. Parnelie's Writings, &c. p. 28, 36. Bugg's Pict. p. 62, 
 and Penn lets himself down against them thus — " I declare," (as an au- 
 thor observed of this singular man, when Penn was about to curse, he al- 
 ways by way of prophesy and solemnity, did it from the Lord — " I declare 
 from the Holy God, that an utter blast is coming on them all." Vol. ii. 
 p. 273. 
 
176 On Singing Psalms, §'c. 
 
 Ask the Quaker why he has not been in his closet ? " The Spi- 
 rit has not moved me." But thou hast not craved the benedic- 
 tion of God on thy family. " The Spirit did not move me." 
 Thou hast not implored a blessing on thy food ? " I made a pause 
 — but the Spirit did not move me." That meeting for discipline 
 was not constituted by prayer ? "■ The Spirit did not move any 
 of our elders." Meetings on First and Fifth-days are held and 
 dismissed ; I hear no supplications oifered before the throne of 
 grace ? " The Spirit did not move us." I do not know but old John 
 Brown, of Wamphry, might insist that he is right, and that facts 
 bear him out! One thing, however, we all do know. The Holy 
 Spirit, by a solemn precept, has made it a duty binding most 
 closely our consciences, " to pray zcithout ceasing.'''' But this spi- 
 rit, that brings this doctrine and these practices into the society, 
 does not cease to didate excuses for " restraining prayer P^ 
 
 In olden times there vv-as much more prayer in the society. 
 Their fathers carried it with them from those societies which 
 they abandoned. We have some of their best specimens of 
 prayer attached to the sermons of Penn, and Whitehead, and 
 Stephen Crisp. There is one peculiar feature stamped on them 
 all. They confess no sins :* they mourn over no delinquencies : 
 they abound with gratitude for their superior attainments ; and, 
 with the piety of him who went up to pray with the publican, 
 they thank God " that they are doing his will on earth as it is done 
 in heaven.''''] And, occasionally, we meet with apostrophes which 
 breathe more of malediction than of blessing, like Brian*s ban — 
 
 " And the few words that reached the air, 
 
 ♦' Although the holiest name is there, 
 
 " Had more of mj'sticism than prayer . . . ."if. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 § 3. Of Singing Psalms, <^c. — " Paritcr omnes, vclut uno ore, 
 et uno corde, confessionis psalmum Domino offerunt." — Basil. 
 
 * Penn cannot even speak respectfully of our confessions of sin in 
 prayer. See vol. ii. pp. 271, 676. 677. 
 
 t Crisp, p. 20, edit. Phil. A. D. 1787. 
 
 X See specimens of this in Penn vol. ii. p. 559, &c. See his book against 
 Faldo passim. His " Reasoning against Railing," which is strangely 
 misnamed, and his " Serious Apology." These are fruitful in prophetical 
 curses. 
 
On Singing Psalms, §*c. 177 
 
 Magnus in Epist. 63. — This branch of public worship is enjoined 
 on us by the highest authority. " Sing unto the Lord." Utter 
 his praises " in a song." And the reasons brought to enforce the 
 duty, are taken not from any peculiar slate of the church, but 
 are such as do present forcibly the perpetual obligation of it.* 
 
 Singing evidently implies music ; and, as the very form, and 
 notes, and air are no where fixed by divine authority, we arc 
 guided by the general canon. " Let all things be done decently 
 and in order." 
 
 The friends have not been visited by an impulse from their 
 spirit, to sing the praises of God in public. The society is op- 
 posed to the sweet harmony of music.t They act on principle; 
 their spirit has persisted in keeping them in obstinate silence. It 
 has not yet revealed the notes, the bars, and staves : and tender 
 consciences must not, and dare not fabricate them. It is " car- 
 nal wisdom" that invents these bars and staves and quavers ; to 
 sing them is ''^fleshly exercise,'''' and it is, therefore, rejected from 
 their spiritual system ! 
 
 There is another difficulty in their way. The songs of the 
 church are drawn out of the holy scriptures alone. She rejects 
 all the effusions of modern inspirations. In thus using, in our 
 songs, the experiences of the patriarchs and prophets, such as 
 
 * Colos. iii. 16, 8cc — These reasons are drawn from the natural and 
 moral character of God. We are enjoined to celebrate his praises in a 
 song, because he is God ; because he made us ; because of his providence ; 
 because he has, with the most magnificent display of his natural and mo- 
 ral attributes, redeemed us. Psalms passim. Our Lord and his apostles 
 set the example of the duty, under the new order of the christian dispen- 
 sation. Math. xxvi. 30. The Holy Ghost, by the apostle James, has 
 enjoined this duty on the church. James v. 13. Tiie singing of the praise 
 of God formed a prominent part of the exircise of the militant church, 
 as delineated in the vision of John. Rev. v. 9, &.c. The christian church, in 
 her primitive and purest times, regarded tiiis as a sacred duty. See 
 Cave's Prim. Chris, b. i. c. 9. Bingham's Orig. Eccles. vol. vi. lib. 14, 
 cap. 1,2. Plin. lib. x. ep'.st. 97, &c. " Soliti (Christiani) essent state 
 die — carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem." Bern, de Moore 
 Perpet. Comp. vol. vi. pp. 75, 76. Calvinus in 1 Cor. xiv. Lucian, (or 
 the author of the Dial. Tom. ii. Philop.) speaking of the Christians, says 
 " They fast long, spending whole nights in watchings and singing hymns." 
 Wettenhall on Gifts and offices, edit. 1679, p. 268. And (what is not the 
 least with the society) Barclay pleads for singing, " as a sweet and re- 
 freshing part of worship." 
 
 t There are, individually, many exceptions. The gay Friends in our 
 large cities begin to introduce musical instruments into tlieir families. 
 
 2G 
 
178 On Singivg Vsahns, 8Cc. 
 
 are there enrolled by the immediate inspiration of the Holy 
 Ghost, we incur, in the opinion of the society, the deep guilt of 
 hypocrisy. " You utter,'*'' say they, " what suited them, not what 
 suits you ; you apply to your own feelings their experiences.'^'' " You 
 utter lies,''''* 
 
 This heavy charge betrays sheer ignorance of the nature and 
 design of this part of divine worship, and a single explanation is 
 enough to repel it. We sing, not only to give vent to pious emo- 
 tions, but io produce them; and there is a strong moral tendency 
 in this part of worship to produce them. Thematter of our songs 
 is entirely dictated by the Spirit of God speaking in the Bible. 
 These divine truths are calculated to regulate our views; to col- 
 lect the wandering thoughts ; to rein the turbulent heart ; to in- 
 vigorate faith ; to animate zeal ; to inflame our love to God, and 
 to urge the whole soul forward in holy exercises and rational 
 devotion. The church combining her energies with one mouth, 
 and by the grace of God, with one heart, sings the love of her 
 Redeemer — or the divine goodness — or the terror and magnifi- 
 cence of his justice — or the guilt of sin and the vengeance that 
 pursues it. The lofty nature of the theme, combined with the 
 tender and enchanting force of the music, elevates the soul to 
 God in holy aspirations of love and delight; or it melts it into 
 unaffected sorrow for sin, and inspires it with the abhorrence of 
 crime. 
 
 If there be any weight in their objection against singing psalms, 
 it must strike with equal force against their public prayers. Their 
 preachers sometimes pray. No preacher can utter the precise 
 sentiments and vows of all the assembly. All do as really profess 
 to join in prayer as in singing. What the speaker may utter in 
 accordance to his own feelings and those of a part of the audi- 
 ence, must be wide of the feelings and vows of others. 
 
 But whatever the Friend-, do plead for in theory on this arti- 
 cle of their creed, it is certain that they practise more singing than 
 we do. We sing before and after sermon only; but their preach- 
 ers, male and female, monopolizing the whole, sing both prayers 
 
 * See Penn vol. ii. p. 60, Stubb's Light, &c. p. 151, and Bar. Apol 
 Prop. X. sect. 26, p. 421. 
 
On Singing Psalms, Sfc, 179 
 
 and strmons! and still their grand tenet is not surrendered. For, 
 verily, their notes are not according to the carnal rules of the 
 amateur; and in numbers their singing is not altogether human!* 
 
 * The friends will sing only when carried out by the sanction of an im- 
 pulse. I put the following case into the hands of their grave casuists, to 
 say by what impulse it was produced. An old Friend of Philadelphia, 
 husband of a minister who made a missionary tour of Europe, surprised 
 himself and his family by new musical powers. In a dream of the night, 
 when sleep had f lUen on hiin, he struck up with vigorous hmgs, the notes 
 of a well known lively tune. Tliert is no saying how long he would have 
 yielded himself up to the «' refreshing exercise;^' for it is certain he was 
 awakened by his family crovling \.\ co istL-rn tion, aro.uid his couch, to 
 leai'n by actual insjjection, whence " Yankee Doodle" could possibly pia- 
 ceed! (J. Queen.) 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 «>aOa." — St. Paul. 
 
 1. The office of the ministry was ordained by our Lord.* The 
 church is his house. None may intrude on it offices Avhich he 
 has not ordained ; none may revive what he has revoked ; none 
 may abolish what he has appointed. In theology these are axioms. 
 
 2. The extraordinary offices of other times must be carefully 
 distinguished from the ordinary offices. In the Jewish church 
 the Levites were the stated ministry. It was made their duty to 
 expound the law to the people.! On particular emergencies, ex- 
 traordinary officers were sent. Besides the ordinary function of 
 teaching, the prophet wrought miracles and predicted future 
 events. But this office was not hereditary ; it came immediately 
 from God ; and it ceased with the particular exigency which de- 
 manded it, or it expired with the life of the prophet. 
 
 In the christian church we recognise the same classification of 
 offices. Our Lord " gave apostles, evangelists and prophets ;" 
 these he invested with an extraordinary commission — these he 
 armed with extraordinary powers. He had great work to be per- 
 formed by them. It was no less than the establishment of Chris- 
 tianity, and the overthrow of philosophism, idolatry and super- 
 stition ; and these, though supported by the prince of darkness, 
 and by potentates and sages, tumbled in ruins before the truth, 
 and the great offixes of Christ's house. They were swept away 
 as a mound of sand before the roiling tide. 
 
 But after Christianity was established, it was necessary that 
 there should be officers in the house of God, who should rule and 
 teach permanently. Hence another class of officers was appoint- 
 
 * Eph. iv. 11, 12. 
 
 t Lfv. x.ll. Neh. viii. 8. 
 
On the Ministry, 181 
 
 ed.* These were ordained in every church by the apostles and 
 evangelists ;t and in their turn these committed the office to faith- 
 ful men who succeeded them. 
 
 3. This class of offices was ordained by our Lord to be of per- 
 petual duration. 
 
 The apostolical office was such, that it could not be hereditary. 
 This point is settled by St. Peter in the character of an apostle 
 which he has drawn. The following are the essential ingredients 
 entering into the composition of this office. He was one who had 
 been an eye witness of our Lord's resurrection ; he had seen him 
 alive after his passion — he had conversed with him — he had 
 received his commission immediateli/ from him — he wrought mi- 
 racles and predicted future events. The gift of the Holy Ghost 
 followed the laying on of his hands : of course when be died, his 
 office could not be conveyed to a successor.| The claim, therefore, 
 of Pope, Metropolitan bishop, and Quaker, is equally vain and 
 presumptuous. 
 
 The office of evangelist and prophet, taken in the higher ac- 
 ceptation, § must also be ranked in this superior class. They 
 had the extraordinary gifts, and they were destined to their of- 
 fice, and to the field of their labours, by a mandate pronounced 
 from heaven. II 
 
 In determining the duration of these offices, we are to be guided 
 by this maxim. The scriptures being the only rule by which 
 the church is directed, in every matter affecting doctrine and 
 policy, it is evident, that every office designed by her Lord to 
 be permanent, and every thing respecting these offices, will be 
 fully and distinctly marked out in them ; and, when no rule is 
 delivered respecting the call, or the qualifications, or the duties 
 of an office ; when no orders are issued by her Lord, respecting 
 future proceedings in those matters, it is thence most distinctly 
 declared that those offices are withdrawn. 
 
 Let us apply this maxim to the matter before us. No canon 
 
 * Eph. iv. 11. last clause. 
 
 t 2Tim.ii. 2, Tit. 1,5. 
 
 :j: Consult Acts i. 22, and 1 Cor. ix. See Campbell's Eccl. Lecture?, 
 sect. V. 
 
 § To prophesy in the lower acceptation is to preach, 1 Cor. xiv. 3. to 
 sing psalms, Chron. xxv. 1, 2, 3, and to mterprct, Exod, vii. 1. 
 
 II Acts xiii. 2. 
 
182 On the Minisfri/. 
 
 is delivered respecting the call to any of these extraordinary of- 
 fices. Nothing is intimated respecting the qualifications ; nothing 
 respecting the duties ; nothing respecting their ordination. The 
 church then, has no orders on the matter. This silence pro- 
 nounces his will respecting these offices. They are revoked. 
 Facts corroborate this proof. These offices expired with that 
 number who were originally invested with them. 
 
 But our Lord had said, " Go ye, and teach all nations ; and lo ! 
 I am with you always, even to the end of the world." There 
 was, therefore, another order of teachers and rulers in his house, 
 who were to teach, in succession, "all nations;" and, therefore, 
 to exist throughout the ages that shall roll on till the " end of the 
 world." These are distinguished from the members of the 
 church ; and they are three in number. 1. The pastor, who is 
 also called bishop, and teaching elder. 2. The ruling elder. 3. 
 The deacon.* 
 
 These offices were appointed by our Lord. Faithful men 
 were ordained to them, by the apostles, in every church. They 
 were enjoined to commit their office to faithful men to succeed 
 them.t The fullest instructions are delivered in the scriptures, 
 respecting the requisite qualifications, and the calling, the choos- 
 ing, and ordaining of men to them. The duties, enjoined on them 
 with no ordinary degree of solemnity, make it evident, that the 
 office, to which the duties are attached, is not occasional, but 
 permanent and most important.^ Hitherto, there has been a suc- 
 cession of thcm.§ There is no intimation in the divine records, 
 that a period shall arrive in the militant church, when they shall 
 be unnecessary, or shall cease. On the contrary, our Lord's 
 promise " Lo ! I am with you to the end of the world," is the 
 
 * Acts XX. 17, romp, with 28. iTim. v. 17. Rom. :<iii. 8. See Dr. 
 Campbell's Ecck's. Lect. Lect. iv. ad fin. On the idenlity of the office 
 marked l)v these three namts, the pastor, bishop and teaching elder, see 
 Dr. Miller's letters on cliurch governntent. 
 
 f Acts xiv. 23. 2 Tim. ii. 2. Tit. i. 5. 
 
 X 1 Thes. V. 12. Heb. >;iii. 7. 1 Pet. v. 1. 1 Tim. iii. 8, 13. 
 
 § On the question redirecting the succession of the ministry, throngh the 
 ages of the apostacy of Rome, sec Dr. Owen's Disc, on the Spirit and spi- 
 ritual gifts. Ch. \\. sect. 9, 10. Turret, vol. iii. Loc. 18, quest. 25. 
 Bern, de Moore Perp. Com. in Markii Comp. vol. vi. cap. 32, sect. 13, 
 
On the Ministry. 183 
 
 most secure guarantee that there shall be a perpetual succession 
 of pastors and rulers. 
 
 4. No person, destitute of the requisite qualifications, may as- 
 sume the office of pastor or bishop. He must possess good na- 
 tural talents. " There are some who believe that there is a sort 
 of divinity in the utter absence of understanding. They esteem 
 idiots and lunatics as prophets ; they think their ravings celestial, 
 because they are nonsense ; their stupidity instructive, because 
 unintelligible."* This is the sin which besets the people who 
 trust in impulses. But the world has become too enlightened to 
 countenance the folly. Their declamation has passed away like 
 the roar of a distant mountain stream. The age demands that 
 the ministry be committed to men of talents. 
 
 These talents must be strengthened and polished by the sci- 
 ences. The bishop must be master of his own language, so as 
 to convey his ideas in a pleasing manner, even to men of taste 
 and letters. The Spirit of God conveyed the divine mind to us 
 in the Hebrew and Greek languages. He ought to be master 
 of these. Without this branch of learning, the polemic is not 
 effectually prepared to enter the lists. Without it, the Humes, 
 with all their idol reason, the Penns and Barclays with all their 
 idol revelations, are at the mercy of translators, and want the first 
 elements of candid criticism. The bishop is thrown into every 
 company ; he must be able to support conversation with men of 
 taste and science ; he must be able to detect the infidel in the 
 labyrinth of scepticism ; to confound the wit of the sophist ; to 
 silence the gainsayer ; to recall the wanderer by the force of per- 
 suasion ; and the erroneous by the light of argument. He must, 
 therefore, be an able critic, a profound reasoner, a master of per- 
 suasion : he must have a deep knowledge of the human mind, 
 and of human nature. He must be a patient casuist, a devout 
 and eloquent preacher : he must be well versed in the history of 
 the church, and of his own country, and of ancient and modern 
 nations. In short, to support the dignity of the gospel ministry, 
 he must be great in every thing that respects science, and mo- 
 rals, and religion. The advocate of an illiterate ministry is a 
 
 * Indep. Whig, No. 65, vol. iii. p. 104. 
 
184 On the Ministry, 
 
 traitor to the sciences, and an enemy to the gospel. He would 
 disarm the soldiers of the cross : he would surrender the inte- 
 rests of religion into the hands of infidelity and philosophism.* 
 
 Finally, these talents and acquirements must be sanctified by 
 the grace of God. The former are simply the materials of the 
 machine. It is the latter, it is grace that combines, impels, and 
 directs it, so as to call forth its energies, and produce the proper 
 effects.f 
 
 5. None may assume this office Avithout a lawful call.j 
 
 A call is either extraordinary, that is, without the intervention 
 of human means, or, it is ordinary. The call of the apostles was 
 of the former class : the latter is eflfccted by common means, un- 
 der Divine Providence. Such was the call of the pastors and 
 inilers, whom the apostles ordained. 
 
 In this last class there is another distinction. A call is either 
 internal or external. The former is from the Most High. It is ex- 
 pressed not by dreams, nor visions, nor impulses. Distinguished 
 talents and piety mark out the object : he is led on by a combi- 
 nation of events in Providence ; his purposes are overruled, and 
 his way is hedged up; he is constrained by powerful motives to 
 come forward to the ministry. This is his internal call. The 
 proper officers of the church, guided by the holy scriptures, de- 
 cide on his qualifications ; thence the church prays him to " take 
 the oversight of them." This is his external call. It agrees with 
 the other thus far ; that it is brought about in the course of a 
 -watchful providence, but b}^ a dillerent class of means.§ The 
 
 • It has been too often said, that the apostles were ilHterate men ; and 
 the unbelieving Pharisees called them ii^tt-nai But they were trained up 
 in the school of Christ, during the space of three years ; and, to complete 
 their leamicd education, he conferred on them, by a miracle, the gift of 
 tongues. We have not on record a more cutting reproof of an illiterate 
 ministry and its advocates, than this action of our Lord. Did the Friends 
 appreciate this miraculous intei-position of the Head of the cliurch, they 
 ■would cease to glory in their illiterate ministers. See Bar. Apol. Prop. 
 X. sect. 13. &:c. 
 
 \ 1 Cor. xiii. 1. 4. 
 
 X Jer. xxiii. 21, 32. 
 
 § Under this class may be ranked a species of call that is in a certain 
 sense extraordinary, yet not so as to be classed with that of the apostles. 
 For, however much his call may be out of the usual way, the person 
 comes forward with no extraordinary powers. Of this nature was the 
 call of the Reformers ; such was the call of the two young laymen who 
 being carried captive among the East Indians, formed christian assemblies. 
 
On the Ministry. 185 
 
 pfistor is set apart by prayer and fasting, and " the laying on of 
 the hands of the presbytery."* By these simple definitions we 
 set apart, as irrevalent matter, that tedious and loose declama- 
 tion of Barclay, which forms the greater part of his disquisition 
 on the ministry. 
 
 6. The ministry have strong claims on the regard and protec- 
 tion of their country. As persons of distinguished talents, great 
 literary attainments, and correct morals, they possess much in- 
 dividual influence, which they exert for the good of the commu- 
 nity. And their official labours have the greatest tendency to 
 promote peace and good order; to check vice, to cherish virtue, 
 to prevent crimes, to Ibster the spirit of religious and civil liberty. 
 Their official labours are a national blessing; and every patriot 
 will duly appreciate them. What would be the moral and politi- 
 cal effects produced on society and the nation at large, by the 
 degradation of their character and office, or hy their expulsion? 
 This may be conceived from a survey of the m^ral character of 
 England under the reign of Mary and of Elizabeth, and of Scotland 
 and England under the reign of Charles II. and James II. The 
 bigotry of the court had nearly crushed the faithful ministry. Ig- 
 norance and superstition, leading on the horrid train which they 
 naturally produce, had established their reign over the mass of 
 the population. They had chained down the genius of liberty, 
 and were preparing the people to bend their willing necks to the 
 worst of slavery — that over the conscience t 
 
 Still more distinctly may we conceive of these effects from facts 
 in the history of France. The sanguinary house of Bourbon had 
 inflicted many evils on the ministry. Charles IX. young in years, 
 but old in crime, struck the first dreadful blow in the massacre of 
 St. Bartholomew.]: New tyrants added fresh injuries : and at 
 the distance of a hundred ^^ears, Lewis XIV. let slip the fiends 
 
 by preaching the word. Theodos. I/ih. i.cap. 23. Sozom. Lib. i. cap. 15. 
 S'nch was the call of the captive lady, who brought the Queen of the 
 Therians over to the faith, thence the king and the nation. Ruffin. Lib. x. 
 cap. 11, Turret, vol. iii. loc. 18, quest. 23, sect. 16, 17, 18, 19, &c. And 
 such the call of John Adams in Pitcairn's Island, in the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 * 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 -j- Hume Hist. eh. 61 and 67. "Neal vol. i. ch. 4, 5, 6, vol. iv.ch. &. Dr. 
 Cook's Hist. vol. ii. ch. 12, vol. iii. ch. 22, 23, 26. 
 
 X In A. D. 1572. 
 
186 On the Ministry. 
 
 of persecution. By a succession of cruelties, hy massacres, an«i 
 banishment, the body of the faithful mini.stry was destro3^ed ; the 
 rest, a wretched remnant, pining in obscurity, fell by degrees a 
 prey to the ignorance and the superstition of the age. The way 
 was thus gradually paved for the deadly march of Deism. Led 
 on at last, by Voltaire and his satellites, this frightful demon fill- 
 ed the nation with its emissaries : these, in their progress, met 
 with feelile opposition: "truth had fallen in the streets;" the 
 faithful Avatchmcn were gone. That singular species of enthusi- 
 asts steady to their bloody purpose, confounded the catholic 
 priest with the reformed pastor ; the abuses of superstition with 
 the holy religion of the Bible. Their deep laid conspiracy 
 against Christianity burst forth in the Revolution ; and it buried 
 religion and government, and morals, and the nation in blood and 
 havoc. These facts show that the principles which breathe hos- 
 tility against the christian ministry, are plotting treason against 
 the country. 
 
 From the nature of their office the ministry have to oppose the 
 progress of infidelity, enthusiasm and crime. The slaves of these 
 three have always hated, and will always hate, the ministry. 
 This explains a fact on record, on the page of histoiy, and which 
 is established by evidence daily. I allude to the three public 
 and avowed enemies of the mini-trj^; the s.icicty of Friends; the 
 society of Deists ; and the dilTcrent clas.^cs of immoral characters. 
 That the last two classes should be decidedly hostile, is no matter 
 of surprise. The unsanctificd heart has not a deeper characteris- 
 tic than this. It hates the power that strips it of its idols. But 
 the hostility of the Friends is from principle, it is not personal ; 
 it is not the effect merely of the sufferings of their founders, under 
 a persecuting priesthood : though this has had its influence, yet 
 it is naturally engendered by their great tenet. Barclay explains 
 the mystery in the following consistent manner. The primitive 
 church possessefl " the Spirit and the life;"* the night of apostacy 
 succeeded ; " tiie life and substance of the christian religion icas lost;''''* 
 the sitccession u-as cut off; the true seed was lost in them that held 
 the sacred office; the result was fatal to them ; their line and of- 
 
 * Apol. Prop. X. sect. 5, p. 291. The usual cant of the Socinian sec- 
 tary. 
 
On the Ministnj. 187 
 
 fice became extinct. And as an estate that has been entailed, 
 devolves to the prince of the realm, when there is no heir to 
 claim it, and as he gives it again to whom he will, even so the 
 faithful ministry being extinct, the office, like an entailed estate, 
 devolved back on Christ. He gave it to whom he pleased. This 
 event which has no parallel in history, took place in England 
 during the civil convulsions of Charles I. and Cromwell. Christ 
 "gare the title and true right to those who turned to the pure light ivith- 
 ?•«."* George Fox, cordwainer, and his co-adjutors were the 
 royal heirs ; they received the whole right and title in fee simple. 
 
 Hence their jealousy and unrelenting hostility. They view the 
 ministry with the same feelings with which the intruder views 
 the true heir at law, who claims his property. The war they 
 bring is, therefore, a war of extermination ; there cannot be even 
 an armistice, until they surrender their leading tenet, or zoe give up 
 our Bible ! 
 
 The office which the Society has created in the room of the 
 ministry, is specifically different. It is a pure anomaly in the 
 religious world ; it bears not the features of the pastor, nor of the 
 diocesan bishop, nor of patriarch, nor of pope. It makes an ap- 
 proach to the apostolical office; it is fabricated entirely out of 
 immediate Revelations.! These constitute the office ; these create 
 the necessary qualifications ; these form the call to active services ; 
 these suggest the ideas; these put words into the lips. Hence 
 they who are invested with the office assume the title of" apostles^'' 
 and place themselves in the line of successors to St. Peter I 
 
 We have shown that the apostolical office could not, according 
 to its nature, be hereditary. But admitting that it were, the 
 successors must come prepared to establish their claims by " vir- 
 tues and miracles.''^ 
 
 • See Apol. Prop. x. sect. 10, p. 303. 
 
 + " Ministei- the woi-d faithfully as it is manifested and revealed to 
 them-" Advices of the Yearly Meet. Lond. so late as 1802, ^c. 
 
 ^ «' Notandum est hoc, &c." It is to be observed that neither "ttptfc" 
 a miracle, nor " rji/wt/w" a sign was required from the prophet who taught 
 the law and exhorted to the fulfilment of its duties. But the prophet who 
 demanded the faith of men to a new article of belief was called on for his 
 sign, or miracle; and these he gave on suitable occasions. _ Grotiusin 
 ]3eu't. xviii. 22- The Jews acted on this principle. Math. xii. 38. Luke 
 xi. 16, 29, &c. Our Saviour would not yield to the caprice of men, nor 
 permit them t© dictate to him the time or nature of his miracles. But he 
 
188 On the Ministry. 
 
 " That IS not necessary," says the apologiit ; " we luring no 
 ne-iv gospel, but that which was confirmed by the miracles of 
 Christ and his apostles."* The society docs bring a gospel radi- 
 cally altered, if not new; many of their doctrines are new; they 
 exclude from their system the most holy ordinances of baptism 
 ai::d the supper ; they introduce the divine right of female preach- 
 ing, and " female prelacy ;''t and the " bald, unjointed" form of 
 their worship does not bear any near resemblance to the plat- 
 form of the New Testament. 
 
 To bring forward this new model of the gospel they present 
 themselves under the title of '' apostles," and claim the honours 
 of* immediate revelations." Hence we demand of them evidence 
 at least ecjual to that of the holy apostles. " That is not incum- 
 bent on us," says Barclay, '• because Christ and his apostles es- 
 tablished their commission, and the gospel by miracles; there is 
 no reason why wc should repeat them; their proofs are our proofs.^ 
 
 This argument has no parallel in the royal logic"of John of 
 Munster. History informs us that this person (he was a tailor) 
 at the head of the fanatics of Germany, set up certain claims to 
 the throne of Zion. The sage reasoned in the manner of Bar- 
 clay. " It is admitted b3'^ all that David and Solomon were le- 
 gitimate kings at Jerusalem ; they gave sufficient proofs of it. 
 This supersedes the necessity of proofs on my part. I am there- 
 fore king of Zion at Munster !" The force of this logic is marvel- 
 lous; its magic wand makes kings and apostles start up like 
 mushrooms ! 
 
 There is no evading this demand It is most reasonable; apos- 
 tolical claims must be supported by apostolical proofs. Let the 
 public functionaries of the society, therefore, produce the evi- 
 dence of their commission from the court of heaven. Do not 
 suppose that ancient miracles will bear out the claims of modera 
 aposdes ; do not take refuge in telling us that if this demand be 
 
 took occasion, frequently, to give the fcqnisite proofs by the most stupen- 
 dous miracles. " Sinfjulareni signi in pvophetis judicaudis rationeiii ha- 
 beri discimus, &c." Seldcn De Synod. Lib. iii. cap. 6. Spencer on Vulgar 
 Prophecies, p. 60. 
 
 • Apol. Prop. X. sect. 12. 
 
 f But^K's Pii^t. p. 176, Snake, &c. p. 54, 92 
 
 X Apol, Prop. X. sect. 12. 
 
On the Ministry. 189 
 
 just, the first Reformers ought also to have been called on for 
 their miracles. The cases are different ; they brought no new 
 claims on our faith ; they came with no new revelations ; they 
 claimed no apostolical honours : they appealed to the scriptures, 
 and the correspondence of their doctrines and practice to " the 
 law and testimony," was the best evidence of their call to the 
 ministry. Do not tell us that you discern spirits; we ask the 
 proofs of this high gift: do not tell us that one inspired preacher 
 bears his testimony to another. Whence are we to learn that 
 the witness is himself inspired ? A third revelation is necessary 
 to confirm the second : there is^io end of this species of argument. 
 There was a proof beyond this in primitive times : — and a proof 
 beyond which no appeal could be carried. This was " prophecy 
 and miracles." If you are apostles let us have the proof which 
 the holy apostles never declined. Let us witness predictions 
 and miraculous powers ; tell us not of the predictions of Fox. 
 The oracle of Apollo gave ambiguous responses which were easi- 
 ly interpreted after the event fell out. Do not leii us that some 
 illiterate Friends corrected translations from the learned lan- 
 guages. The thing wants proof; and if proved, it will only shovr 
 that a modern demoniac can equal ihe ancient demoniac in speak- 
 ing foreign tongues !* 
 
 Upon the whole, these modern apostles want the " powers and 
 miracles" which were essential to the office of the holy apostles. 
 They have nothing to bear out their ghostly claims : they have 
 not a solitary evidence of their " divine mission." On their own 
 principles, they have no true elder, and no true preacher in their 
 society. We do, therefore, denounce, and every honest Friend 
 must, with us, denounce the unsupported claims of these men 
 over them, as the sickly dreams of enthusiasts, and the gainful 
 craft of impostors ! 
 
 • See the note C- in the Appendix on Oracles, &c. 
 
CHAPTER ly. 
 
 ON THE MAINTENANCE OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 Paul. 
 
 The society condemns, in terms unusually severe, the minis- 
 try, who take a remuneration for their services. In their new 
 nomenclature, they have no other title for them than hirelings ;'* 
 and the " hireling''' has been the favourite subject of invective 
 in the public assembly and in the domestic circle. The theme 
 has inspired ideas into brainless insipidity : it has roused luke- 
 warmness into activity, and dullness into passionate sensibility. 
 It has exhausted the loquacity of the female orator, and blown 
 the fire of the zealot into fury ;* and the sons of Mammon, the 
 while, like '■^fat contented ignorance^' have smiled on their labours, 
 and lauded the system that spares the gold. 
 
 We have no right, as we have assuredly no inclination, to in- 
 terfere with the internal regulations of the society. We have 
 simply to say, that as their orators have not the requisite talents 
 for the ministry, nor a call to it ; as they perform no stated pas- 
 toral services, we have to render them the praise of doing a strict 
 act of justice, in declining a stated support to their ministers. 
 They merit nothing ; hence, they justly receive nothing. The 
 case is different with the true ministry ; and Barclay,! whose good 
 sense would not allow him to deny it, has admitted the divine 
 force of those laws to which we appeal in support of these claims. 
 for clerical maintenance. *' Ld the elders that rule well, be counted 
 
 * Penn, one of their politest writers, and one who knew what the term 
 charity meant, does not allow a " /iriest" or " dinsenting mmister" to be 
 saved. " j^gai7ist them" said he, " the boiling "vengfance of an irritated 
 God is ready to be poured out." See his " Guide Mist." p. 18, A. D. 
 1668, and" Quak. a new Nick." p. 165. There are other passages which 
 I cannot venture to set down. See his "Serious Apology," p. 156 — 
 Evan's " Narrative" laments this outrage to charitv. 
 
 t Prop. X. sect. 28, p> 04".. 
 
On the Maintenance of the Ministry, 191 
 
 worthy of double honour .^^ especially they who labour in word and doc- 
 trine : For the scripture says, thou shall not muzzle the ox that tread- 
 eth out the corn ,• and the labourer is worthy of his hire.'''' " The Lord 
 hath ordained that they who preach the gospel, should live of the gos* 
 
 pel:'] 
 
 To all these plain precepts, the society opposes their exposi- 
 tion of one text. " Freely ye have received, freely gbe."| " That 
 is, the gospel is freely given to you ; accept of no pay in return." 
 This objection %vill vanish when we bring the whole passage into 
 view. " Heal all diseases, raise the dead, cast out devils ; freely yt 
 have received, freely give,'*'' Our Lord uttered this in reference t© 
 miraculous powers only. The disciples had given no reward for 
 them ; they must exercise them freely on all. They must not, 
 like Simon Magus, seek gain from a display of miracles.§ But 
 when he speaks of their support in the ministry, as he does in the 
 following verses, he says Provide neither gold nor silver, nor clothes.''^ 
 If there be any obscurity in this, let it be explained by precepts 
 delivered at a later period. " The labourer is worthy of his re- 
 ward:'' " The Lord has ordained that they who preach the gospel 
 should live of the gospel:^ If this precept '"'' freely give''' did prohi- 
 bit the taking of support in any form, it would prohibit the Qua- 
 ker prophet from taking food and raiment. Their own exposi- 
 tion, therefore, militates even against their tenet and general 
 practice in this matter. " For greater or less do not affect thfe 
 argument." 
 
 The declamation of the society, against the temporal support 
 of the christian ministry, betrays the marked spirit of the sect. 
 Judging all men to have a fraternal sympathy with them on the 
 comparative value of gold and learning, they make a feeling appeal. 
 They besiege the selfish principle ; they summon to their aid the 
 innate love of money ; they make a dexterous and novel use of 
 those great principles in human nature, that nothing is closer to a 
 man''s heart than his purse ; that it is to the great mob — " the one 
 thing needful ;" and, hence, that they readily yield the palm of 
 
 * See Schleusner in ti/j.* ; Pretium honorarium. 
 
 f 1 Tim. V. 17, and 18. 1 Cor. ix. 11, and 14. and Gal. vi. 6 
 
 X Matth. X. 8, 
 
 § Or take pay as physicians for these miraculous cures. 
 
492 On the Maintenance of the Muiistri/. 
 
 merit to that system, as the most judicious and the most orthodox, 
 which costs the least ! 
 
 But whither does the violent declamation of the society ten3"1 
 They do give their orators a support, and the apologist attvocates 
 the propriety of it.* It differs only in the extent and manner of 
 bestowing it. Our ministry receive their annual support. Thi» 
 is barely sufficient, and often hardly sufficient, to put it in thfir 
 power " to lead about a zcife or sister ;" and to spare a little from 
 domestic uses for the calls of charity ; and, for obvious reasons, 
 it is paid in current money. 
 
 Their preachers have no salary, but they receive their remu- 
 nerations. It is not claimed as a debt. There is not and there 
 cannot be a pastoral relation existing between the people and 
 those who are moved by fortuitous impulses. There can be, 
 therefore, no regular claims. " Tli^y receive what is necessary and 
 convenient.'^ That docs not mean gold or silver. Paj^ment in 
 this form would make them " hirelings.^^ The phrase is explained 
 by their casuists to mean that which individuals can spare from 
 a luxurious table and a well furnished wardrobe. The gold is 
 saved consistently with the strictest scruples of conscience ! 
 What the inspired receive is in the form of alms. He receives a 
 coat when a rich man condescends to give one. It may be new. 
 It may be thrown off his patron's shoulders. It may be line. It 
 may be coarse. He has noiight to say. It is an alms. Some- 
 times he is blessed with beef and pudding. He is grateful. 
 Sometimes with a loaf and cresses. It is altogether as charity 
 opens her resources. He sits down and munches his crust — 
 thanldul that his office affords him " a bit of bread." When he 
 discloses to the assembly the divine impulse on him to itinerate, 
 a grand consultation is heid.| Who shall furnish the carriages ? 
 who the horses ? who the travelling expenses ? who shall be pur- 
 
 * Apology Prop. x. sect. 28. That affectation of alarm, displaved by 
 the body ot Friends in the sta e of M..inc% in 1821, when tliey implored 
 the Legislature not to exempt from t.ixat)on any of their ministers, was 
 a mere fanfaronade, but it was pfayed off with a dainty grace on the 
 whoie ! 
 
 t Barclay. 
 
 4: When tlie prophet is moved to go to foreig-i parts, he draws on the 
 public treasury. When an eminent preacher went from Pennsylvania o 
 Britain, some years ago, on a missionary expedition, his wallet was not, 
 
On the Maintenance of the Ministry. 193 
 
 veyor ?* " But might he not just as well have the amount in 
 specie ? Let him have only the prime cost. You will save your 
 bodily trouble/' No, verily, he shall not have money. The 
 world shall never have reason to call the prophet " an hireling.'^ 
 Proh tempora ! proh mores ! 
 
 But these things are given to their orators in consideration of 
 services. " Greater and less seems not to affect the argument.'* 
 And it is no matter whether payment be made in money, in 
 traffic or in laboui-. It is still a payment. Their preachers are, 
 therefore, on their own definitions, " /lire/mgs." And, unhappy 
 men ! they are subjected to numberless privations, and the curses 
 ©f a disgusting dependence. But their motto is from the an- 
 cients " Vivere convenienter naturae." There was a happy 
 piixture of.wisdom and prudence in requiring the ministry to be 
 illiterate. Strangers to the sciences, they pled their way through 
 life by help of their hereditary ideas, which are gained without 
 expense, and retained without mental exertions. They are stran- 
 gers to the exalted sentiments and delicate sensibility of the 
 learned and polished mind. They can submit to privations and 
 dependence which would break the heart of the learned and re- 
 fined. They are borne aloft, amid their labours and sulTerings, 
 by the proud consciousness of inspirations, and the caresses, 
 which the socie-ty lavish, instead of gold, on their prophets. 
 What toils and privations will not a rude unlettered mind submit 
 to ; what enterprises will it not hazard, when it deems itself the 
 favourite of heaven, and admitted into its secrets ? when the ho- 
 sannahs of partizans dissipate the languors of fatigue, and the 
 despondency of melancholy ! Fanaticism urges it on. Life, and 
 toils, and speeches are at the service of applauders. But the 
 brilliant rays of science, and the holy light of religion, once 
 poured on the gloomy mind — oh ! how soon would they scatter 
 the delusion, and restore him to society a rational and sober 
 
 like the Cynic's, filled Avith lupines, but with a lordly weight of gold. 
 Some of the society were much dissatisfied at his weighty drafts. — [Rev. 
 Mr. Clarkson of L.] 
 
 • I speak, of course, of their stated and itinerating ministry. I do not 
 take into the account those from the farm or the counting house ; who 
 *' toith fair round belly with good capon lined," and with heads full of 
 pounds, shillings and v'ence, come to teach their carnal neighbours tem- 
 perance and disinterestedness ! 
 
 28 
 
194 On the Ma i n te n anca of th e Mi n islrij, 
 
 minded christian ! A Mohammed, and a Fox, and a Naylor would 
 have been cured by these, had it pleased the^Deity to bend on 
 their hearts their plastic energies ! 
 
 This spirit of hostility against a learned ministry will never 
 extend its influence beyond the narrow precincts of the society.*^ 
 If it did, how melancholy would be its ravages ! Our population 
 would become as illiterate as the great body of the Friends ;t our 
 learned and pious ministry Avould sink beneath the torrent ot 
 Gothic ignorance. Our academies and colleges would be de- 
 serted ; and the owl would scream from the tottering walls oi 
 those edifices, which are now the seat of science and of religion! 
 
 And let the society pursue this system of hostility to the liberal 
 education and the support of their orators. It is producing its 
 slow, but certain effects. The time will come when the spirit which 
 was sustained by the fascinating influence of novelty in an age of 
 ignorance, and which was nursed into vigour by an ill-advised 
 persecution, will surely evaporate. The vapour of Delphi has 
 been dissipated. Apollo has been struck dumb. Fox — Naylor — 
 Penn — Barclay — have had no successor. A generation not very 
 remote, may not produce a prophet to mourn over the desolate 
 
 oracle. '* Nexfav to vfijfiOf 11 A«<|>v( jMfff-Tov* xa/ TOi/Tt nuXivn rev ^picfAov.^^'^ 
 
 This principle of the society is, therefore, secretly and surely 
 hastening its ruin. 
 
 " Ms consili expers mole ruit sua." — Hor^ 
 
 * Facts bear me out. Our ministry in all the sections of the i-eformed 
 churches, are annually encreasing in a prodigious ratio. The society is 
 admitied by Clarkson to be annually decreasing. 
 
 f Clarkson vol. iii. p. 168. 
 
 X Apollo in Daphne, Lucianus in Pseudomanti. 
 
-CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON FEMALE PREACHING. 
 
 " Ceclunt grammatici, vincuntur rhetores, omnis 
 " Turba tacet. nee causidicus, nee prxco loquatur, 
 " Altera i,ec mulier : verborum tanta cadit vis, 
 '* Tot pariter pelves, et tintinnabula dicas 
 
 " Pulsari." Juuen. Sat- VI. 
 
 " One would supjjose that nature had varied from its fixed principles : 
 ^nd that in these days women were men, and men women !" 
 
 Strabo. 
 
 Another striking feature in the principles of the society is their 
 admission of a feminine priesthood, and a feminine episcopacy. 
 They actually permit their females to preach, and to superintend 
 meetings for discipline. The practice is now peculiar to the so- 
 ciety. But it is not novel ; nor is it without weighty precedents. 
 
 From time immemorial, the devotee of mystical systems, and 
 of reveJations new and fresh from the invisible impulse, have 
 courted with unremitting fervour the patronage of the' sex. And 
 that most singular and most interesting division of the species ; 
 *' the first in that which is wrong, and the first in that which is 
 good," have too readily yielded them their influence. They 
 whilom, threw the veil of sanctity over the deceptions craft of 
 the fane. They gained credence to the maudlin reveries of fa- 
 naticism. And they have too willingly lent their aid to nurse 
 the monstrous births of heresy. Apollo's oracle at Delphi had 
 probably been dumb without his priestesses. Numa found it 
 impossible to support the weight of royalty, or to produce wise 
 laws for his subjects, without his Egeria. Simon Magus waSi 
 aided in his bold career by his Helena; in whom, he tells us, 
 there resided a female Ghost. Valentine employed several pro- 
 phetesses to give effect to his innovations.* Montanus was sup- 
 ported by the inspirations of Priscilla and Maximilla.t A female 
 
 * IrenxusAdvers. Val. Lib. i, and Brown's Quakerism, p. 2i. 
 .t Spanli. Sac. et Eccles. Hist. p. 646, fol. 
 
196 On Female Ministers. 
 
 zealot held a high rank amid the Mystics of Orleans. Eager 
 multitudes pressed around the prophetesses Hildegrand and 
 Elizabeth, whose fair hands sustained the banner of inspiration 
 in the twelfth century. In the thirteenth JuUana and Wilhelmina, 
 and the sisters of the Free Spirit, maugre all the weaknesses and 
 infirmities of fiesh, raised their fame to the stars. Poretta, the 
 foremost of female bishops, made a figure in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury. The female Pietists and fair Rosamond, and mother Pc- 
 dersen, and aunt Guyon were oracles in the seventeenth. And 
 there was Catherine De Sens whose prophecyings broke a Pope's 
 peace and heart, and rent the church catholic by broils and fac- 
 tions for fifty-one years.* 
 
 The Holy Catholic church too, though built on no less than 
 the rock of St. Peter.t and propped up by Him zvho zoears the triji- 
 ple crown ; and by priests ; and by friars, white, black, and gray ; 
 has yielded to the force of truth, and the necessity of the patron- 
 age of the fair. And although sworn, on their legends, to be in- 
 sensible to the charms of the sex, the Pope and his ghostly court 
 have bought their smiles and their influence to their cause. The 
 spiritual degree of saintship was the price of their hire : there 
 was saint Bridget, and there was saint Teresa, and there was 
 saint Matilda, and a long list of names greater and less, which 
 the infallibility of Rome has blazoned on the roll of the ghostly 
 calendar. And in the unlucky reign of the Stewarts in England, 
 while the bowels of the Holy Father piously yearned over the 
 lost treasures of the apostate realm ; while the measures of James 
 VI. had been long putting forth their kindly influences in che- 
 rishing popery, though at the same time, indeed, sundry weighty 
 volumes of his black letter writings were hurled by majesty, at 
 its head; while the opinions of the reigning monarch Charles I. 
 and the maxims of his co',n-t re-animated the expiring hope that 
 England might be regained ; Rome, judging that women might 
 achieve what men had tried in vain, commissioned certain female 
 Jesuits, and bade them go and regenerate apostate England. 
 And it is iaipossihle to conjecture what might have been the ex- 
 
 * Spencer on V'ulg. Propli. p. 20— ^Josh. vol. ili. cant. 14, part 2, ch. 2. 
 t The Protestant church professes to be built on the rock of a^es. 
 Christ. 
 
On Female Ministers, 19/^ 
 
 traordinary spiritual revolution of that kingdom, under the irre- 
 sistible influence of these bewitching Jesuits, had not that weak 
 and shuffling Pope Urban, moved, it is shrewdly conjectured, 
 more by jealousy for mail's honour, than by zeal for the good 
 old cause, actually abolished the new order. Fated kingdom of 
 England ! how hast thou to bless the memory of Urban and his 
 papal edict ?* 
 
 But — '' Palman qui meruit ft rat. ''"' The society of Friends can 
 produce a list of heroines and feminine bishops not matched in 
 any age, by Jews or Gentiles — heathens or christians. From 
 those oi''''i}ie. first convinctment^'' through a long line of prophetesses, 
 down to the " anodic minister Sarah Morris,'''t and the fluent Em- 
 lyn, and the eloquent Hunt. They can boast of a line of pro- 
 phetesses by whom all the ancients — aye, and the moderns, arc 
 completely thrown into the shade. They have had inspn-ed 
 keroines and orators who spouted cataracts of eloquence against 
 " hirelings,'''' and against " steeple houses,''^ and against " carnal or- 
 dinances.^'' And, if we may credit their first journalists, they 
 swept away all opposition, and hurried magistrates, and priests, 
 and people into one common medley of ruin! Thej^ had their 
 Anne Wright who, to the extraordinary gifts of preaching, added 
 the rare courage of making processions in sack-cloth and ashes 
 through the metropolis of England, and of Ireland; and who, to 
 give effect to public testimony, stood forth in her consecrated gar- 
 ment of sackcloth and the sprinkling of ashes in the aisle of the 
 great church of St Patrick. J They have had their Mary Fisher, 
 whose zeal, worthy of so grand an enterprise, prompted her to a 
 devout pilgrimage to Adrianonle, to convert the Sultan Mahomed 
 IV. and the Turkish nation !§ And the later glory of the society 
 has lighted up to them a Harrison, whose spirit-stirring zeal 
 
 * These female Jesuit*- hnd monasteries in Italy and Flanders. They 
 foUo-ed the Je.^u^c's rul^s. They were not confined to the cloister ; they 
 weu' abroad and preached. F ither Gerrani set up this order in Eng- 
 lai)d. He bega') with (wo youn.Ef women. Nor let John Bull exclaim 
 only tivo ! If the kingdr.m of Pri.m fell in ruins by one Helen — what 
 W'-aid two femal'^ Jesuits .oc have done ? Pope Urban VIII. suppressed 
 this order A. D 1630. Bronghton's Diet. vol. ii. p. 538. 
 
 •j- Evan's N".vi it. Phil d. ,). 82. 
 
 X J--^.oer's Qi, k. ,). 162, Penn's Works vol. ii. p. 17, 79, 
 
 § Gough's Hist, of the Qjak. vol. i. p. 421, 
 
198 On Female Ministers. 
 
 made her aspire to higher things than dull domestic concerns, 
 and to rise superior to all the ordinary ties which unite females 
 to husbands, to family, or to country. She made a pilgrimage. 
 for the benefit of Europe, to convert her graceless nations!* 
 
 Such has been the state of the female ministry in the society ; 
 and what has been, may very readily again be. " There is no- 
 thing new under the sun." It requires not the gift of prescience 
 to foretell that the present facilities held out by the society, will 
 secure a succession of conscientious female ministers. Hard 
 though the ordeal be, some will always be found equally pre- 
 pared to overcome the dull propensities which bind ordinary 
 females to domestic employment, and to rid themselves of the 
 trammels of that modesty which constrains weaker females to 
 shrink back fro-a the stare of man, behind their fathers and hus- 
 bands ; and to throw off the proud yoke of man who lords it over 
 them; and to disdain the tyrannical injunction of the man Paul, 
 who, too severe and too unaccommodating to females, has 
 trenched on woman's sovereignty ; and has verily said " Females 
 shall not teach nor usurp authority over man.'"! 
 
 Barclay was too well acquainted with the duties of a polished 
 man, and too happy in a gifted wife,J to be silent on this subject. 
 Yet he has said little ; and that little he has contrived to partake 
 of obscurity and indecision. § 
 
 I do not profess to be able to give any satisfactory reason why 
 he, who is so full even to weariness on all other subjects, should 
 leave this so abruptly, after thrusting it too into the corner of 
 another subject. I have been sometimes induced to ascribe it to 
 
 * The following anecdote of this lady, whose virtues and courage were 
 worthy of a better cause, I had from my late friend James Quin, an el- 
 der in Walnut street church, Philadelphia. She presented herself at the 
 jjates of Valenciennes, during the Revolutionary struggle in France. The 
 governor examined her passport and papers. " To all the spiritually 
 minded — followers of the light within. Sec. &c." " My good woman," 
 said he, returiiing her j)a))ers, " you have mistaken your way. There is 
 not such a class of jjeings in V^ilenciennes." 
 
 I " Paul sfioke tliia in his own spirit" — is their easy way of loosing the 
 gordian knot of a hard text. E\-an's " Narrative" shows how common 
 this mode of solution has become in Philadelphia. 
 
 X That amiable and accomphshed woman, dame Barclay, was an emi- 
 neiit speaker in the society, long after the learned Barclay had withered 
 in his early grave. 
 
 § See Prop. >:. sect. 27. 
 
On Female Ministers. 199 
 
 his sharp foresight, (almost equal to a jorophetical spirit) that the 
 transccndant succession of female talents in their ministry should 
 always be fully adequate to say enough for themselves. It is 
 certain that no female preacher ever yet needed to make the 
 solemn invocation of worthy and learned Zachary Boyd, in his 
 printed but unpublished version of Job. 
 
 '* There was a man, and his name was Job ; 
 
 " And he dwelt in the land of Uz. 
 *' And he had a s^ood gift of the gab — 
 
 ♦' May the like befal us !" 
 
 To bring this subject fairly before my readers, I shall male 
 these preliminary observations. 
 
 1 . The whole weight of the argument, for female preaching, 
 jrests on the assumption that divine inspirations are vouchsafed 
 to the societ}^, and that their females, equally with their males, 
 share in the supernatural endowments ; and they appeal to these 
 words of Paul as not only authorizing female preaching, but di- 
 recting and regulating their deportment when uttering their in- 
 spirations. " Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head 
 uncovered dishonoureth her head.''''* 
 
 2. The term " prophesy'''' has more than one signification in the 
 sacred volume. These four select passages exhibit it in as many 
 different senses. " Jeremiah prophesied these things.^'' " Shemaiah 
 has prophesied a lie.'''' " He that prophesieth speaketh to men to edi- 
 fication, and exhortation, and comfort.^'' " David separated them la 
 prophesy with harps, to give thanks and praise the Lord.''"'] Thus, to 
 prophesy, is — First, to predict future events. Second, to utter 
 pretended revelations. Third, to expound and declare the will 
 of God already revealed. Fourth, to sing the praises of God. 
 
 Now, of all the senses determined by these quotations, the 
 fourth only is applicable to the whole assembly of the church. 
 
 Individuals only did predict : individuals only were false pro- 
 phets : individuals only were expounders of the truth. But every 
 worshipper may be said to prophesy in the sense determined by 
 
 * And yet, contrary to the very letter of this same authority, every fe- 
 male preacher lays aside her bonnet, when she begins to utter her inspi- 
 rations in their meetings. 
 
 t Jer. XX. 1, xxix. 31. 1 Cor. xiv. 3. 1 Chron. xxv. 
 
200 On Female Ministers. 
 
 the fourth quotation. Every worshipper docs sing the praises of 
 God : every VNorsnipper does say anieit to the prayers offered up 
 in the church. Hence, every worshipper, male and female, 
 does, in the words of St. Paul, '•^ pray and prophcf<y.''' 
 
 Now a very important question arises here. In what sense is 
 the term prophesy to be understood, when women are said " to 
 pray and prophecy f ' No decision can be made on this subject, 
 until this question be disposed of. The Friends have taken no 
 notice of this question : they have not even observed that the 
 term is used in different senses. Hence the obscurity and con- 
 fusion of their writers on this article. 
 
 3. There are certain divine precepts, which, in the most ex- 
 plicit terms, prohibit females from preaching. " Let your women 
 keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted to them to speak.''' 
 " It is a shame for zi-omcn to speak in the church."' " Let the u-omen 
 learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woynan to teach, 
 nor to usurp authority over the man, hut to he in silence.'''* 
 
 On comparing these precepts with the apostolical directions 
 quoted in favour of female preaching, we perceive a distinction 
 clearly marked out by the highest authority. In the latter, wo- 
 men who ''^ pray and prophesy^'' are enjoined " to have their heads 
 veiled in token of subjection.'" In the former, females are prohi- 
 bited from teaching, and even from speaking in the church. 
 Thus, females may " pray and prophesy" on certain conditions. 
 But on no condition may they " teach or speak in the church.'' 
 The Spirit of inspiration cannot contradict himself. It is evi 
 dent, therefore, that he speaks of two distinct things. All wor- 
 shippers, male and female, " may pray and prophesy.^'' Men only 
 may " teach'' in the church of God. 
 
 4. It is a truth which we readily admit, that there have been 
 proptretesses A\ho have rendered distinguished services to the 
 church. The names of many are on record in the holy writings, 
 and the memory of their services never can perish. But these 
 were always raised up on extraordinary occasions, and for ex- 
 traordinary services. Let it be carefully observed, that the 
 regular and ordinary teachers of the Old Testament church 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiv. 14, 34, 35. 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. 
 
On Female Ministers. 201 
 
 were the Levites ; and there were no female teachers among 
 them. In the apostolic age also, there were prophetesses. 
 But these females were invested with extraordinary offices. 
 They were not merely teachers ; they predicted future events : 
 and this high authority and commission with which they were 
 clothed, commanded an affectionate and respectful attention from 
 the church. 
 
 If any enter claims to the succession of such high offices, let 
 us see also the succession of their gifts. Do any demand our 
 faith and obedience as prophetesses now ? Let us see the copi- 
 manding proofs of their miraculous or prophetical powers? This 
 is what the church demanded in every age ; and this was unhe- 
 sitatingly complied with by every true prophet. It is as reason- 
 able now as in ancient times. Extraordinary claims can rest 
 only on extraordinary proofs. Ordinary claims are supported 
 by common proofs. The Friends have none of the apostolic 
 powers to display. Their female prophets can not work mi- 
 racles, no, nor predict. There is one species of proof within 
 their reach, and we do rigidly demand that. The apostle 
 Paul suggests it in the close of his famous discourse against fe- 
 male preachers. Having solemnly charged the females, in the 
 name of his Lord, not to teach nor speak in the church, he adds 
 these most memorable words : " If any man think himself a pro- 
 phet or spiritual, let him acknozoledge that the things that I write are, 
 the commandments of the Lord^ Now then, if these female preach- 
 ers are inspired by that Spirit, who spoke by Paul, I call on 
 them to say that these are the commandments of the Lord which 
 he uttered. Those females who are inspired by the Spirit of 
 God, will devoutly obey the precept; and shaking off all the 
 prejudices of the sect, and of their early education, they " will 
 learn in all silence and suhynission.'''' But those females who " will 
 speak and teach in the church,'''' have not only no evidence to ap- 
 prove themselves to the consciences of men, but they positively 
 refuse to obey the Holy Ghost speaking by Paul. And hence 
 there can be no difficulty in deciding what spirit has stirred up 
 these female Korahs to this outrageous rebellion against the di- 
 vine order of the house of God ! 
 
 5. There existed in the church in primitive times the offices 
 
 29 
 
202 On Female Ministers. 
 
 of deaconesses, and female presbyters.* The necessity of these 
 offices grew out of the peculiar manners of some eastern nations. 
 In Judea the females were not strictly secluded from society; 
 they were admitted to social intercourse in the presence of their 
 parents and husbands; and hence they had access to the preach- 
 ing of the gospel by the stated ministry. The case was very 
 diflerent with the females of the surrounding nations ; these were 
 strictly secluded ; the mijiisters of the gospel had no access to 
 them. Accordingly, recourse was had to the services of chris- 
 tian females of distinguished piety and rank in life. These 
 taught the secluded females, and formed their morals. 
 
 St. Paul makes frequent allusions to this female office.f In 
 the following ages this office arose to such a rank of importance 
 that females were set apart to it publicly by the usual solemn 
 form of ordination, and the " laying on of the hands of the Preshy- 
 
 ^ery-t 
 
 But these females did not officiate in public ; they did not 
 
 teach men. They exercised their function in the retirements of 
 the harem, and among females. And the office ceased with the 
 Custom and usage which created it. It never existed, by apos- 
 tolical authority, in any country where females were not con- 
 fined to the harem. Hence this office cannot be adduced as a 
 precedent to establish a public female ministry in any country. 
 It cannot be adduced as a precedent in any western nation, in 
 our times. 
 
 If the eastern manners were, by some miraculous revolution 
 of morals and customs, to prevail amongst us, and deprive us of 
 the sweetest charms of society, the presence of the fair sex, by 
 driving them into the harem, the church would then most cer- 
 tainly institute a female ministry for their salvation. But, even 
 this would be yielded on this essential condition. The female 
 ministry must discharge its offices in the harem — andin the harem 
 only — where no man — not even a saint, durst enter, or look, were 
 it even to save a woman's soul ! 
 
 j- Iti 'i;n • iJisi'e to the Philippians he names too distinguished females 
 who " laboured luU/i him in the Lord." Ch. iv. 3. 
 
 X This is evident fro n the second canon of the council of Laodicea, 
 quoted by Gi'otius in Pol. Synop. in Rom. xvi. I, 
 
On Female Ministers. 203 
 
 b". It is also admitted that in certain circumstances females 
 must become preachers. They may be thrown on a heathen 
 shore; they ma}'- be carried captives among a savage people. 
 It is unquestionably their duty in such cases, to preach the gos- 
 pel of Christ to their fellow men. Such a thing has been done, 
 and it has been stamped with the approbation of Heaven. The 
 conversion of the Iberians was begun by a captive lady. By 
 her pious instructions the Queen of the country was converted to 
 the christian faith: their united labours brought the king over; 
 and in process of time the leading men and the body of the peo- 
 ple embraced Christianity.* It is in such circumstances as these 
 only, that the early doctors of the Reformed churches have ad- 
 mitted a female ministry to be possible, and even needful.t 
 
 These preliminary observations being made, we are now en- 
 abled to separate from the question all irrevalent matter. The 
 question is this. Ought females, in the existing circumstances of 
 the church, to be admitted into the holy ministry, or to discharge 
 any pastoral duty ? 
 
 Since the system of revelation is completed ; and no alterations 
 Avill ever be made in it ; since, as the wiser Friends do admit, 
 none of their prophets pretend to reveal truths unknown before ; 
 since there is now no necessity for the divine inspirations which 
 guided the prophet of old; and since there is no evidence that 
 revelations are vouchsafed to the Friends ;| we reject the proof- 
 less claims of the female preacher as arrogant and insufferable. 
 And we hold the religious impulses by which they profess to be 
 guided as the fraudful art of imposture; or at best, the wild re^ 
 veries of fanaticism! 
 
 We cannot rank the female preacher by the side of the pro- 
 phetesses who were sent by inspiration. They do not teach the 
 isarae doctrine ; they do not produce their testimony. We can- 
 
 * Ruffin. Lib. x. cap. ii. Turret, torn. iii. p. 247. 
 
 f Luther, Calvin, Turretine, and others have distinctly admitted this. 
 Barclay in quoting Luther as favouring their female ministry, (Apol. 
 Prop. X. sect. 9, ad fin.) has done the Reformer a gross injury, which the 
 society, as honest men, ought to repair. Luther alluded to particular 
 cases, similar to what is quoted in the text. Barclay has applied to gen- 
 eral and ordinary cases, what Luther expressed as to particular and ex- 
 traordinary cases. 
 
 t See Partii. ch. 1. 
 
20^ On Female Ministers. 
 
 not class tlieni with the presbyters and deaconesses who taught 
 secluded females. They come unblushingly before the public, 
 and teach grave men ! They are not content to become teachers 
 of the heathen, when thrown on their wild shores ; they thrust 
 themselves into the crowded assemblies of our populous cities ; 
 they announce themselves to the public by a gazette, or a hand- 
 bill extraordinary; and preach under the very eye of learning 
 and piety ! They refuse to confine prophecy to the singing of 
 praise in a psalm. Their defective system has even ceased to 
 acknowledge practically this species of prophecy. 
 
 Where then, shall we class this anomalous and singular spe- 
 cies? They belong to nothing purely modern. They resemble 
 those females, who, in days of yore, broke through good order, 
 and the laws of heaven ; usurped the prerogatives of men ; and 
 fired by wild fanaticism, poured forth their unmerciful rhapso- 
 dies, in measures more than human, and in cant utterly inimita- 
 ble ! Women that set law and discipline, and offices ecclesiastical, 
 at defiance. Women, w hom riot even St. Paul — no, nor even the 
 whole college of the apostles, could reduce to silence ! Alas ! then, 
 for us! what can we do against the thunder-storm? 
 
 The precept which prohibits the female from speaking and 
 teaching in the church is a divine precept. And what claims our 
 attention, none of the reasons brought to enforce it are taken 
 from the condition of individuals, or of nations which might 
 change. They are all taken from the moral fitness of things. 
 First : " It is a shame for women to speak in the church.^'' It is in- 
 consistent with modesty — that amiable virtue, and loveliest or- 
 nament in the female character. Second: It is the special law 
 of God recorded in the sacred volume, and engraven on every 
 virtuous female's heart, that woman should be in subjection to 
 man, as her superior. And, as teaching in public is an act of 
 authority over them who are taught, female preaching is prohi- 
 bited on the ground that " to teach in the church,'''' is " to usurp au- 
 thority over the man.'''* 
 
 These divine precepts are so pointed against this innovation, 
 that they have galfed the society to a degree which they are not 
 willing to admit. And every writer has tried his ingenuity in 
 
 * 1 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
On Female Ministers. 205 
 
 turning aside the galling weapon. Some of the early, and in- 
 deed the best writers of the sect, have resorted to a singular ex- 
 position of the precepts which prohibit female preaching. Fox, 
 Farnsworth — and after them Penn himself, insisted that the " i«o- 
 7>ia?i" forbidden to teach, is not actually a woman — it is not the 
 sex — it cannot be ; it is the wisdom of the flesh, or man speaking 
 in his fleshly spirit. And by the term " mari''^ in the discourse 
 of the apostle, is meant " Christ^'' the husband of his people. 
 Hence carnal wisdom, or man speaking in his own spirit, is the 
 woman that is forbidden to speak in the church.* 
 
 If this novel exposition be correct, the context must bear them 
 out. Let us try the force of Penn's exposition thus.t " Every 
 man,''' that is, Christ, '•^praying or prophesying having his head cover- 
 ed, dishonoureth his head. But every woman, " that is, carnal wis- 
 dom," who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonoureth 
 her head ; for that is all one as if she, that is, carnal wisdom, were 
 shaven.''"' Verse 9. " The man,'''' that means Christ, " was not created 
 for the woman,'''' that is, for carnal wisdom ; " but woman,'''' that is, 
 carnal wisdom, " was made for the man,'''' that is, for Christ! !| 
 
 The following quotation from the apostolic Constitutions, ex- 
 hibits the sentiments of the primitive christians on this subject, 
 and is at one with the spirit of the precepts above recited. " And 
 let the women sit apart, observing silence. We do not permit women 
 to teach in the church, but only to join in prayer and listen to the 
 preacher. For our Lord and master Jesus Christ sent us twelve to 
 teach the people and the nations. He sent no females to preach the 
 gospel. This teas not without design. For there were with us the 
 mother of Jesus and her sisters. If it had been necessary that females 
 should preach, he himself first would have enjoined them, as well as 
 ourselves, to teach the people by preaching. But if man be the head of 
 the woman, it is not just that the body should bear rule over the head.^''§ 
 
 * Penn vol. ii. p. 134, &c. 
 
 t 1 Cor. xi. 4, 5. 
 
 t This extravagance of Penn out-Origens Origen himself; and has ab- 
 solutely no parallel, saving it be the unique exposition of Isai. viii. 1. By 
 Gregorv Nyss. Oper. Tom. ii. p. 135 ; and by Huet. Demonst. Evang. 
 Prop. vii. sect. 15. " Ut uxor dicatur grandis liber, et stylus hominis 
 earn partem notat, iSi'c." See Ber. De Moore vol. i. p. 124. The learned 
 know the vest. 
 
 § " K«i ii T-c/va;**?," k. t. A." Apost. Const. Lib.ii. c. 57. Lib.iii. cap. 
 6. and Bern. De MoorPerp. com. in Markii Comp. vol. v. p. iS7. 
 
206 On Female Ministers. 
 
 In fine, the authority assumed by the female episcopacy in 
 the church, is more unjust and more tyrannical, than that which 
 the female usurps in the domestic circle, when she degrades 
 her husband and seizes the reins of government over the family. 
 The one is a breach of civil order; the other is a breach of the 
 laivs of God's house. And there is a degree of guilt attached to 
 cnixies of this last kind, which throws a frightful shade of aggra- 
 vation and infamy over them. And can a man of spirit submit 
 to this infamous usurpation ? On the poor hen-pecked sufferer wc 
 bestow our sympathy, as on a martyr for the rights of man. In 
 his degradation his will is not stained by any acquiescence in the 
 tyrannical encroachments of his help-mate. But the silence and 
 the complacent submission of the society, to this public encroach- 
 ment on the civil and religious rights of man, present the matter 
 in a different point of light. We feel not so much the yearnings 
 of sympathy for the hen-pecked martyr struggling occasionally 
 for his rights. We feel all the virtuous indignation of the man 
 and the christian against men who have sold their birth-right, 
 and yielded up their powers to the dominion of the petticoat ! — 
 Oh the times ! Oh the manners ! Can this age that has been en- 
 riched by every work of taste; that has elevated exevy branch 
 of science to such a proud eminence; that has produced so many 
 men of learning and refinement; so many orators in church and 
 in state; whose labours are diffusing among all ranks in society, 
 the most correct views of man's natural rights; such love of or- 
 der, piety, and religion: Can this age bear the presumptuous 
 opinions of them who would bring back on us the mysticism and 
 folly of the dark ages, when bearded men lislened to prating 
 girls; and professors resigned their chairs todoatiug old women! 
 
 We call on every man of science and friend to literature in 
 the society, to exert himself in correctino; the vitiated taste of 
 men; v-ho even for their amusement can listen to the incoherent 
 effusions of illiterate females ! We call on every virtuous and 
 amiable lady in the societj^ to use all her influence in taking 
 away this scandal to man — this reproach to the sex! We call on 
 every man of spirit and independence to set his f^ice against this 
 insult on his dignity and prerogative; this outrage to the laws of 
 God and of nature ! And oh ! ye hen-pecked, and far from peace 
 
On Female Ministers. 207 
 
 and comfort, gladly would we aid you in regaining your lost 
 paradise, out of which your ambitious Eves have so wantonly 
 turned you ! Make one effort more, we beseech you, to make 
 them feel their proper station in society. But alas ! no — words 
 will not do it. Arguments cannot. Distraction can be restrain- 
 ed only by force. And none but the brutish can apply force to 
 arguments, especially where the fair are concerned. I give up 
 the case, therefore, as hopeless. Alas ! and we have lived to 
 see the day when those evils reign that made the most patient 
 of the fathers groan. '• Alii discunt, proh pudor ! a feminis quod 
 homines doceant — Scribimus indocti, doctique poemata passim — 
 Hanc garrula anus, hanc delirus senex, banc sophista verbosa 
 praesuraunt, lacerant, docent, antequan/ discaat."* We have 
 lived to see the day when these female henomena have ceased 
 to excite surprise or interest ! The no\ _ Ity is gone ; and with it 
 that burning shame that was on the cheeks of our fathers, when 
 they were first compelled to witness the intrusion on their pre- 
 rogative, and on delicacy and decency! The wonderment of the 
 mob has subsided into a leering stare ! And the thing is become 
 a matter of perfect indifference to the orderly and the polished ; 
 to the magistrate, to the pastor, and to the prelate. Oh ye grave 
 Roman senators, who arrested the solemn busmess of the com- 
 monwealth, in order to consult the oracle what alarming events 
 the appearance of a female in your forum to plead her o\\ n cause, 
 might portend to the city;t the stoutest of you had ^'- stood aghast 
 with speechless trance''' — had you witnessed what our eyes behold — 
 females mounting the rostrum, and declaiming in the assemblies 
 of the people — had you witnessed grave men and even prelates, 
 and even pastors, and even the united wisdom of the people in 
 the halls of the state and the congress, sitting down under th(^ 
 prophecyings of mother Juliana, and the refreshings of a petti- 
 coated preacher! Proh temporal Proh mores !J * * * * qjj 
 
 • Hierony. torn. iii. 7. 
 
 + Plutarch. 
 
 if This has been literally exemplified \u the congress, and in oar state 
 lej;:slatures. The mother Julianas of the day have been invited to en- 
 lig.icen our congress, from the speaker's seat. And a few years ago the 
 legislature of New Jersey postponed the business of the commonwealth, 
 to h;i down under the "divine refreshments" of a reverend mother De- 
 borah, who ©tcupied the speaker's s-jat with infinite grace .' 
 
208 On Female Ministers. 
 
 pope Gregory XI. groaned forth the lugubrious words in his last 
 
 hours ''^ Ah! let no man listen after me, to the prophecyings 
 
 of a woman — of a Catharine De Sens /" Helen fired a Troy after 
 ten years bloody trials and sorrows ! This prophetess kindled 
 a fire that blazed in church and state during fifty-one revolving 
 
 "VPFIT'S I * 'T •T* *i* "4^ 't^ 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ttN THE DEFECTS OF THEIR SYSTEM IN RESPECT OF A MORAL STANDARD. 
 
 Psalm xix. 7. — ,:>r\B nnonn mnw n"'n'> r\ny caj na^sfo no'on n>n> n-nn 
 
 The sectary and the polemic often find themselves in a situa- 
 tion trying to the most stubborn virtues. But no force of tempta- 
 tion can be alleged in extenuation of dishonesty and treachery. 
 The man who flatters the loveliness of truth, at the moment that 
 his hand wields the poniard of the ossassin, is, to say the least, 
 sunk to the lowest degree of literary depravity. 
 
 In the infidel world, the most noted of this class were Herbert 
 and his copyers, down to Hobbes. They professed to venerate 
 the scriptures, and they aimed a blow at their existence. In the 
 christian world, the cardinals Bellarmine and Hosius were their 
 associates in rliis crime. Tiiese advocoted the divinity of the 
 scriptures, but avowed that the written word, though useful, was 
 not necessary. Nay, the lips of Hosius asserted, " that the inte- 
 rests of the church had been better consulted, had revelation not been 
 committed to writing.^''* 
 
 The Friends are their companions in arms, and rivals in zeal. 
 They differ only in the object of their design. The infidel has 
 assailed the honour and dignity of the holy scriptures, in order 
 to exalt to divine honours the light of reason ; the cardinals to 
 elevate the tradition of the Fathers ; the Friends the revelations 
 of their " light within.'''' 
 
 When Herbert! and Hosius qualify their rude attack on the 
 holy scriptures, by professions of veneration for their sanctity, 
 we must question their sincerity, or insult our own understand- 
 ings. The truth is, they acted on the maxim of the catholic 
 courts, who worship the vicar of Christ, but hesitate not to wage 
 bloody wars against the man and his court. They praise the 
 
 • Turret. Loc. li. qusest. 2. sect. 1. Bernh. de Moore, torn. i. p. 128. 
 t Herb. Relig. Laic. p. 28. 
 
 30 
 
210 On the Defects of their System 
 
 sacred scriptures, but it is only to prepare the way for a system 
 to which they made revelation yield the honours of its divinity 
 and loveliness! 
 
 Of the same nature are the professions of veneration which 
 blazon the pages of the early Friends. They admit the scrip- 
 tures to be holy and useful : they insist that they ought to be 
 read and believed •' where they are known :" that they are the 
 " only fit outward judge of controversies."* 
 
 But they do insist that they are inferior to their perfect rule 
 " the light within ;" and it is in supporting the proof of this princi- 
 pal article of their creed, that they have been carried forth into 
 such intemperate sallies of zeal against the holy scriptures. 
 
 The " scriptures," say they, " are the dead letter,''' while their 
 " light" is made " the living rule."'! " Ye doat on the scriptures 
 without," said Parnell ^X and to the question, may I not read the 
 Bible ? the oracle gave this laconic answer — " Read thine own 
 heart. "§ " The gospel is preached in every creature by the light 
 of God in their consciences.'"!! " No command of the scriptures 
 is any farther binding on a man, than as he finds a conviction in 
 his own conscience."!! '• That which is spoken from the spirit 
 of truth in any," (and " the spirit" and " the light," in their no- 
 menclature, are synonymous terms) " is of as great authority as 
 the scriptures ; yea, and greater."** Penn insists that their re- 
 velations and the scriptures are " of the same family ;" but admits 
 that the '^scriptures are the elder brother ;"tt and yet this elder 
 brother has but a meagre honour rendered to him. For PenE 
 m;:intains that the Bible cannot be the rule of faith and morals. 
 *' They are not such a rule as ought to be plain, proper and in- 
 telligible." And, as if inspired by the spirit of Bellarmine, he 
 throws out th^^ aost disingenuous insinuation against their authen- 
 
 " Penn vol. ii. j). 815, S96. And the '• London Epistles" are tiovj pretty 
 orthodox. The folluwip.g is modern. " We believe the scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testaments to he of divine original ; and give full credit to 
 the historical facts as well as doctrines therein dehvered." See the Qua- 
 ker notes in the American edit, of Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. vol. iv. 
 
 f See Penn vol. ii. p. 66. X " Christ Exalted," p. 3. § SeeStal- 
 ham. IJ S. Fisher's "-JLig^/it of Christ," sect. 20. ^ Penn vol. ii. p. 
 253. Biu-ronghs' Works, folio, p. 47". *♦ Whitehead's " Truths Dif." 
 p. 7, and quoted by Penn, vol. ii. p. 674, and Snake, &c. edit. 2, p. 107. 
 rf Vol. ii. p. 331 
 
Jis it vpgavds a JMoral Standard. 211 
 
 Ticity. He magnifies the depredations of time, and the corrup- 
 tions of translators, and the ambiguities of different readings, and 
 then exclaims with Herbert and Rome — " Behold the uncertain- 
 ty of my opponent's word of God."* " But the light within," 
 says he, " leads all out of darkness into God's marvellous light." 
 " Wherefore, O Friends, turn in, turn in! where is the poison, 
 there is the antidote ; where you want Christ, there you must find 
 him."t 
 
 This bold and licentious freedom of the primitive Friends, 
 combined against them all pious people. The indignation was 
 strong and eifective ; the Friends felt it, and yielded to the tem- 
 pest. Some items were withdrawn ; some were disowned ; much 
 was explained; an ambiguous style was adopted. Whiting pub- 
 lished a purged edition of their chief writers; and occasionally a 
 long panegyric on the scriptures was spoken in the meeting, or 
 published to the world.]: 
 
 But they made no retreat. Tt was one of those deceptions 
 marches on which a foe presents himself to all appearances mov- 
 ing oif in cautious and measured steps; while the very movement 
 is bringing them closer on their enemy's flank. 
 
 It is impossible to mistake the proof of this. Barclay has de-i 
 voted a proposition§ to prove that revelations and the light with- 
 in form the grand standard of faith and morals; and that the 
 scriptures occupy the humble station of a " secondary rule ;" and 
 so very slender are the honours bestowed on this " secondary 
 rule," that the little which his theory ascribes to them., may posi- 
 tively be accomplished to as good purpose by the approved writ- 
 ings of the society. 
 
 This will appear distinctly from a brief contrast of the apos- 
 tles' account of the use of the scriptures,|| with Barclay's account 
 of their immediate revelations. 1. "All scripture is given by 
 inspiration of God." " The Friends," says Barclay, " are not 
 
 * Penn vol. ii. pp. 326, 495. See also the Ancient Edit, of his Christian 
 Quakei', y)p. 8, 10. and Keith's Deism of W. Penn, pp. 29, 80, 63. 
 
 f Penn's Pref. to Fox's Journ. Phil. Edit. p. 57. 
 
 i See Penn's Reply to the Bishop of Cork, and Sewel vol. ii. p. 472, 
 Phil. Edit, and Bar. Apol. Pi'op. iii. sect. 1, c^c. 
 
 § Prop. ii. of his Apol. 
 
 )| In 2 Tim. iii. and 16. 
 
SIS On the Defects of their System 
 
 only inspired, but they have the spirit for their original and prin- 
 cipal rule."* 2. " The scriptures are profitable I'or doctrines." 
 Barclay says, " their revelations are the only sure way to attain 
 the saving knowledge of God."t 3. " The scriptures are given 
 for reproofs." Barclay's revelations of the " Light" do, by their 
 evidence, force the well-disposed mind to assent, and irresistibly 
 move it to what is right.j 4. " The scriptures are profitable for 
 corrections." Barclay says " their revelations never moved 
 them to any thing amiss — never deceived them."§ 5. The scrip- 
 tures convey instructions in righteousness." " The revelations of 
 the inward light," says Barclay, " are the only certain basis of 
 all christian faith."|l Finally, the scriptures make the man of 
 God perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works." " Our 
 holy religion," says Penn, " has God for its father, and victory 
 for its ollspring." " We know," continues he, that we are of God ; 
 and those who oppose our testimony (of the Light) are in the 
 gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity."1[ 
 
 Having thus clearly determined " the Light" to be the perfect 
 standard, and the scriptures to be the " secondary rule," the 
 apologist proceeds to remove the objection, the full weight of 
 which he felt. " Of what use can this secondary rule be, since 
 the light is a perfect rule?" His ingenuity has reduced these to 
 three.** First. The scriptures give an historical account of God's 
 people, and of his providence attending tlicm. 1 put it to the 
 candour of every orthodox Quaker, whether any profane history, 
 whether in particular Fox's Journal and Sewel's Narrative, have 
 not done as much. Second. " They give a prophetical account of 
 several things, of which some arc past, and some are yet to come." 
 Every disciple believes that the Journal and Sewel have given 
 an account of several prophetical things, of which (and we shall 
 not disturb their faith) " some are already past, and of which, 
 verily, some are yet to come.''tt Third. " They contain a full 
 account of all the chief principles of %he doctrines of Christ." 
 Every orthodox Quaker has given full credence to the inspira- 
 
 * See his Theses, and Prop. iii. f Prop. ii. sect. 3. X Theses. 
 ii. ^ I'rop. ii. sect. 13. || Prop. ii. sect. 16. ^ Vol. ii. pp. 228 
 and 194. ** See Apol. Tlies. and Prop. iii. 
 
 tt Such as his marvellous propliecy of the conversion of the Scottish 
 Nation to Quakerism. " This is yet to come." 
 
*ls it regards a Moral Standard. 213 
 
 tions of their primitive elders ; and have been verily persuaded 
 that their works have done all tnis. Hence if they are only " a 
 secondary rule" they are reduced to the level of human writings. 
 
 But will the christian world bear this rude attack? The apolo- 
 gist, no doubt, asked himself this very weighty question, and 
 hence he comes to play off a very admirable deception. God 
 forbid that we should undervalue the scriptures: we only depress 
 them to exalt the Holy Spirit. He, not the scriptures, is our 
 perfect rule.* This violence then, is piously designed to bring 
 honour to the "Spirit." But the artifice is too shallow; it is a 
 deception practised on the use of the word " spirit." This "" spirit" 
 cannot be the Holy Ghost. He cannot, without the grossest vio- 
 lation of decency and common sense, be called " the rule." No 
 man ever made the law and the legislator the same thing; no 
 man ever said that the legislator is the rule of our civil duties. 
 Hence if there be a single grain of meaning in Barclay's words, 
 he means to say that the " light within," or their revelations, which 
 they believe to be from the Holy Spirit, are the only perfect 
 rule.t 
 
 On these deistical principles of even the moderate Barclay, it 
 needs not be any matter of surprise, should we find the leaders 
 of the society denying the necessity of having revelation com- 
 mitted to writing. "" From a prophet,''^ says Philo the Jew, " no- 
 thing is hid. He has an intdhctual sun in him.'''' Men so highly 
 endowed certainly need not the humble aid of written revelations. 
 Pennington, one of their doctrinal writers, has frankly admitted^ 
 this. ••' As for us called Quakers, we should have knozvn our religion 
 as well as we do, if no scripture had been written.'^^l And the uni- 
 form practice of the society gives a definite exposition of their 
 sentiments. The Bible is never read in their meetings for wor- 
 ship; and this is not to be classed under the mild name of an 
 omission. The practice grows out of a first principle ; it is bound 
 up in the existence of the "society. Place a Bible in the hands 
 of their preachers. Let them speak " according to the law and, 
 the testimony,''^ and they would exalt the scriptures above their 
 
 * S'-e his Prop. iii. and sect. 2. 
 
 t Their writers make " /?M/i/j-a/'/on.v" and the " sfiirit" ihe same. See 
 ch. vii. sect. 2 following, and Penn vol. ii. p. 6/, ikv.. 
 
 X See his Tract called " Some things rtlating to religion,-' p. 7. 
 
214 On the Defects of their System 
 
 "Light/' Their revelations would cease ; their li^ht would be 
 obscured; their glorj would depart. Hence the zeal with which 
 they have opposed the introduction of a Bible into their places 
 of worship. When " an ancient and grave Quaker" brought his 
 Bible into Grace Church street meeting, nnd had nctually com- 
 menced reading it, it was taken from him, and himself thrust 
 forth.* And, as far as 1 can discover, no attempt has been made 
 since that to introduce it. And when Keith left their commu- 
 nion and introduced a Bible into his meeting, the society consid- 
 ered '• this sign of his returning to the priest's worship" as the 
 closing proof of his irrecoverable apostacy.t 
 
 Since then, the society has adopted " the Light" as the perfect 
 standard of faith and morals, it is but reasonable to expect that 
 their sentiments on this article should be clear and consistent. 
 Any thing like contradiction, or ambiguitj", or even obscurity, 
 must be fatal to their system. It must render the whole uncer- 
 tain, defective, and worse than useless. But there never was an 
 article in any system, in which so much confusiai; and contra- 
 diction have existed, as on that of the " light v/ithin." The in- 
 coherent lemmata of Mohammed's Koran strung together like 
 bird's eggs, arc consistency'' itself, compared to this. 
 
 The following extracts exhibit a fair specimen and proof of 
 this. " This light," says Fox,| " i.9 not the nabiral light ,•" " it is 
 not the consciencc.^^ " I'he light u-ilhin is hut one, and that light is 
 Christy " Christ is not distinct from the saints.^'' " The light ?V 
 distinct from the soul,'''' says Fulier.§ " ^,'/ Ms light tee mean no 
 other divine principle than the Spirit of Christ, ar the grace of God,'' 
 " It is,'"' saj'S another,i| " the saviour and redeemer of him that lo'.'Hh 
 it."** •■' Christ cvithin is magi's true light and guide. ^^ '• The Spirit 
 of Christ in man is the true light and guide.''''^ " The light of the 
 »o?-J,-' says Naylor,** '■ isGod^s love to the worhV " lite princi- 
 ple in you,''"' saj's Bishop,tt " is ofGnd ,• the measure of him in you.'''' 
 
 * In 16S1, thcauthor of the "Snake," &c.. published this uncontradicted 
 fact shortly after it took place. See " Snake," &c. Edit. 2. p. 101. 
 
 t "Snake, &c." p. 148, Et'it. 1 and 3d. 
 
 X See his Great Myst. p. 209, 201, 207, and his epistL- " On the way 
 to the Kingdom, p. 4, (1674.) § Reply to Bnyce, pp. 60 and 21. 
 II Burroughs'Warning, p. 14. Stilham. p. 53. ^ Foster's guide to the 
 blind p. 7, 9, and Penn ii p. 489. •* "Door opened, p. 2, 3, &c. 
 +t Vind. of Quak. Qiier. 285. 
 
^s it regards a Moral Standard. 215 
 
 ^ By the seed we mean Christ. ^^ " The light within^'' says "White- 
 head,* " is divine and uncreated ; it is the divine essence itself. It 
 must be God. To deny tJtis is to deny his omnipresence.'^'' " It is an 
 eternal light,'^ says Fox, junior.! " It made all of one blood ; it up- 
 holds all things.^' 
 
 Let us next examine the pages of Penn. " Christ in his own 
 essence is the light of the intellectnal wortd.^^X " The light and spirit 
 are one, though two names.^^§ " The liglit is eternal, holy, and om- 
 nipresent /?g/i/."|| " Though every measure of this light is not the 
 entire eternal being, yet zee are bold to assert that it is no other than 
 God the fulness of light.^^ In the course of his discussion it be- 
 comes in his hands, " the word of God, the true Christ, the wisdom, 
 the anointing, the gift of C od." " // is the same that was in tliat body 
 that was an offering for sin." " It was a manifestation in the soul of 
 Christ, the word of God, the Lord from heaven , a quickening spirit.''''^ 
 " This principle of light is the gift f God through Jesus Christ to 
 man."** " The spirit of Christ within is his voice withinJ"^^ " The 
 light that Cometh from God is God ; for God is light. "\X We never 
 said that the light within is the only Lord and Saviour and very Gorl."§§ 
 '• This light is not the Most Higli God, hut a manifestation from him." 
 He next proceeds to talk of " God measuring forth himself in in- 
 ward discoveries. "WW On the whole " this seed or Christ within," 
 saj^s Penn, is something that needs redemption, " we assert the re- 
 demption of the seed : For the light and life that has been smm in 
 many, is loaded with sin and pressed down."^^ And lastly, it is 
 man's "pmts instinct which prompts him, <^c.^''*** And is equally in 
 the Pagan and Christian.'t'tX 
 
 But, finally, will the learned Barclay setde the dispute; or 
 shed a beam of light through this chaos? "The light within," 
 says he, " is not the human soul ; it is the seed, the word, the 
 grace, the spirit of God. It is the Christ within, the vehiclej|| of 
 
 * See his « Dipper plunged," p. 13, and his " Div. Light," p. 22, 23, 
 Fuller against Boyce p. 63. Penn quotes and defends these sentiments, 
 ■vol. ii. p. 672. f See tlie tract in his works, (publ. 1665) entitled 
 " Words of the true and eternal Light." :f Vol. ii. p. 857. § Chris- 
 tian Qaak.part 1, append, p. 151. [] " Reas. against Railing," p. 151, 
 Art. 21. 1 Vol ii. p. 502, 506, ** Vol. ii. p. 8S5. -j-f Vol. ii. p. 
 SOO. XX "^'ol- i' P- 672. §§ Vol. ii. p. 232, and 780 i|| Vol. ii. 
 
 p. 580. 11 Vol. ii. p. 520 •♦* Vol. ii. p. 714. fit Vol. ii. p- 
 
 244,i!45, and 463. ±tt " Vrhimhnv Dei" origl. .Edit. Lnt. 
 
216 On the Defects of their System 
 
 God, the spiritual body of Christ. " It is that in which God and 
 Christ are as wrapt up."* " It is not the essence of God pre- 
 cisely taken. It is a real substance, a spiritual, heavenly, and 
 invisible principle." " This substance or seed, or spiritual body 
 
 of Christ was as really united to the word as his outward 
 
 body was." " Christ in us is not a third spiritual nature distinct 
 from that which is in the man Christ Jesus, who was crucified 
 according to the flesh at Jerusalem. For the same that is in us, 
 was and is in him. In him was the fountain ; we have the stream." 
 " The seed being in us, the man Christ Jesus is in us : not in his 
 whole manhood, but according to what is proper to us."t In 
 fine, says Sewel, " the Quakers believe this light to be the grace 
 of God, &c."J 
 
 Such are the accounts which their most enlightened writers 
 have given of this fundamental tenet. They are at antipodes 
 with each other. Well might the venerable bishop of Cork be- 
 seech Penn to stop their career of publishing and of proselytiz- 
 ing until they should have an understanding among themselves, 
 
 and be of one sentiment.§ This light is not the natural 
 
 light; it is not the conscience; it is not the soul. It is a distinct 
 substance; it is the seed ; it is the measure of God; it is Christ; 
 it is the Spirit ; it is the Spirit of Christ ; it is Christ and the Spirit ; 
 it is the love of God ; it is the Saviour of men ; it needs redemp- 
 tion itself; it is not a creature; it is divine; it is omnipresent; it 
 is eternal; it is God — though not the entire Eternal Being; it is 
 the essence of God, say some; it is not God, say others. The 
 orthodox may worship it, said West. Penn said amen ! the so- 
 ciety said yes. But when Naylor and a few desperate characters 
 tried the force of this dogma in actual practice ; and when the 
 religious world cried out against the blasphemy, and when the 
 misguided judges branded Naylor with the hot iron and sent him 
 to the dungeon, instead of putting him into an hospital, the so- 
 ciety also forsook Penn's theory, and pronounced their anathema 
 over the fallen victim Moreover, it is the vehicle of God. 
 
 • B".r. Apol. Prop. v. and vi. sect. 13. 
 
 f Apol. Prop. V. and vi. and Quak. Confirmed, sect. 4, and his large 
 works, Lond. 1692, and p. 627, Bcnuet's Confut. of Quak. p. 115. 
 ^ VoL ii. p. 5iT. $ In hi.s " Testimony, &c." against Penn. 
 
Jls it regards a Moral Standard. S17 
 
 It is that in which God and Christ are as wrapt up ! It is his 
 grace. 
 
 What a tissue of contradictions! what man or angel — I do not 
 say Quaker, can tell us what this thing is ? It is a pure anomaly ; 
 it is an absolute non-descript in the list of existences ; it is a being ; 
 it is not God ; it is not angel nor man. And seriously, it is not 
 beast, nor fish, nor fowl, nor creeping thing ; it is not a divine 
 perfection ; it is not an angelic nor human attribute. It is a being 
 which had escaped the vigilant researches of rabbis and doctors, 
 and plain orthodox divines — aye, and of modern philosophers 
 who have been carrying the lamp of discovery into all the recess- 
 es of moral and physical science. A being equally removed 
 above the eagle eye of Newton, and the nice chemical investiga- 
 tions of Sir Humphrey Davy. A being which had yet, by its 
 anomalous light, irradiated the gloomy cloisters of the mystic, as 
 it does now the bosom of the Friend ! Hence, we are entitled to 
 the conclusion, that the system of the Friends is radically defec- 
 tiv-e in regard to a moral standard, or rule of faith and manners. 
 It has removed the only perfect rule, and it has produced no sub- 
 stitute to which the proverb is not applicable. " Sicut plumbea 
 LesbiEB oedificationis regula : ad lapidis enim figaram transmo- 
 yetur — nee manet regula."* 
 
 * '''Slvrtf TJi? Af9-/3/«5."it. T. /. Aristot, Eth. lib. v. cap, 14. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE DEFECTS OF THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF THE SOCIETY IN POINT 
 OF DOCTRINES. 
 
 Doctrina eorum pallium est ex laceris vetenim hxresium panniculis 
 consutum." — /. JMarkii Orut. 2. 
 
 An opinion has gained currency, that the doctrines of the so- 
 ciety cannot be distinctly ascertained ; that they are either con- 
 cealed, or, from their peculiar nature, are not tangible to reason. 
 That the world cannot understand their opinions, is, in fact, an 
 early dogma of the society itself. And they have been anxious 
 to persuade the public that the christian world can no more pene- 
 trate their secret love, than the ancient vulgar could the veil of 
 the Eleusinian mysteries ; and they throw down the same gaunt- 
 let of defiance. " Procul oh! procul eslc profani.^''* 
 
 But this is only a species of mse de guerre played off for con- 
 cealment or defence. The doctrines of the society can be dis- 
 tinctly ascertained. They have authors who were fully into the 
 secrets of the society. Their writings are regarded as inspired 
 oracles by every orthodox Friend ; and as long as they are 
 Friends, and profess to be the followers of those worthies who 
 organized the society, the volumes of those elders, and not the 
 detached opinions of individuals in modern times, must determine 
 their orthodoxy.! Were they to condemn the doctrines of Fox, 
 or of Penn, or of Barclay, or of Pennington, or of Whitehead, 
 they could no longer claim the name of Friends. They would 
 surrender the testimony of their fathers, sealed by their blood, 
 and transmitted to their children, as a legacy never to be parted 
 
 • See Smith's Catechism, p. 94, and Penn ii. p. 455. 
 
 f The yearly meeting at Philadelphia, in 1821, directed the youth of 
 the society to the " writings of their primitive Friends," to open their 
 eyes on the fallacy and danger of changeable doctrines. See also the 
 strong language of the society on this, in their Vind. Mosh. vol. iv. p. 
 304, ed. 1821. 
 
Oil the Defects of their Sijstem in Point of Doctrines. 219 
 
 with, but with their name and existence. Were they to admit 
 that those writers were, in a single instance, in error, or that 
 they made even a recantation, they would surrender the very 
 principle on which they have erected their system, and which 
 distinguishes them from every other sect. These writers testi- 
 fied that they were guided by immediate revelations ; and the 
 society has given full credence to their inspirations. Their mes- 
 sages were received as " the word of the Lord God" to the body.*t 
 From these writings we shall produce all our documents. 
 
 But a difficulty meets us at the very threshold ; a difficulty, 
 however, which arises not so much from the obscurity of these 
 writers as from the want of consistency. They wrote so much, 
 and so long, and so fast, that, inspired or not inspired, certain it 
 is, their folios bear the melancholy proofs of human frailty. 
 What is confidently advanced, from " the Spirit," in one folio, is 
 sometimes flatly denied in a second folio by the same high au- 
 thority.]: This is the sin which greatly besets the sixteen hun- 
 dred folio pages of Penn. They are patched up out of pieces 
 composed at remote periods, of a long life spent in a tempest of 
 controversy. They arc, in faet, a kind of guage on which the 
 growing opinions of the society were graduated. They faithfully 
 mark the progress of their principles, inch by inch, through the 
 purifying ordeal of opposition, toward that death-like stillness in 
 which they have slumbered for a century. Emerging from the 
 tenebrosity of mysticism, they laboured it through the rugged 
 mazes of Socinianism, and they finally settle down in an ambi- 
 guous homogenity with Pelagius and Arminius. 
 
 I mention this particularly, to guard against an array of quo- 
 tations from private opinions, or from different parts of their 
 works.§ And let the members of the society look to it. If it 
 
 * Burroughs' Epist. to his Works. Penn vol. ii. 186, 291, &c. Fox's 
 Journ- passim. 
 
 f Fox, the founder of the society, taught his followers to consider it in- 
 sufferable heresy to call the scriptures " t/ie word of God." But he had 
 110 scruples of canscieiice in calling his own inspirations, in the shape of 
 Kpistles, " the nvord of the Lord God," as he actually docs four times in 
 one Ejiistle. Journ. vol. i. p. 357, 358, .359. Phil. edit, of 1808. 
 
 t The reader is referred for proof to chap. vi. in the gleanings on the 
 *' Light, Sec." in this work. 
 
 § As from the London Epistles Bvo. e<Ut. 1806, Bait, which contains 
 much orthodoxv in its modern form. 
 
220 On the Defects of their System 
 
 can, by fair quotations, be made out, that Penn formed his sys- 
 tem out of a particlar class of doctrines, they are bound in honour 
 to uphold his consistency. He publicly professed to be led by 
 the " spirit of the eternal God.'''' The society have admitted his 
 claims. Hence, no orthodox Quaker can admit that he was in 
 error, or retracted ought of what he had advanced. And as 
 their writers, from Barclay to Henry Juke, are but copyers of 
 Penn, and have not, in any instance, if they speak truth, ever 
 contradicted him, then his opinions may be fairly considered 
 as the public opinions of the body. However, to do the subject 
 justice, I shall quote from any of their approved authors indis- 
 criminately. 
 
 The christian and learned world has ever held that system to 
 be radically defective from which are excluded the peculiar 
 doctrines of the gospel. That system, therefore, which excludes 
 from the list of its peculiar tenets the sacred doctrine of the most 
 Holy Trinity; which denies the personal distinction between 
 Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost ; which rejects the real atone- 
 ment of Jesus Christ the second person, in human nature, at Je- 
 rusalem; which denies the necessity of the atonement; which so 
 far disclaims the necessity of the knowledge and the faith ef 
 Christ's outward sufferings, and outuard death, and outward re- 
 surrection, as to avow, that heathen nations, who never heard of 
 these, have, by the inward light, the same opportunities of sal- 
 vation as Christians have by divine revelation ; which admits of 
 no other justification before God than certain nameless undefin- 
 able operations on the mind by the inward light, and no other 
 faith than the bending of the mind inward on this same light — 
 that system must be defective in the last degree. 
 
 § 1. 0/" the Most Holy Tr'inity. — In the christian system this 
 article is fundamental. On it rests the weight of all the peculiar' 
 doctrines of the gospel. It is brought forward in the sacred 
 scriptures with clearness and proof adequate to its importance. 
 There is one God. This is not contested. It is no less evident 
 that there are, in the one Jehovah, three ;* each of whom is God, 
 
 » Gen. i. 25, xi. 6, 7. Isa. xxziv. 16, xlviii. 16. Math, iii- 16, 17. 
 1 John V.7. 
 
In Point of Doctrines. 221 
 
 and is called God. Thus the Father is God. This is not denied* 
 The Son is God.* The Holy Ghost is God.t But there is only 
 one God. Therefore, in the unity of Godhead there are three. 
 This is an awful mystery; but it is no contradiction. They are 
 three in one particular mode. They are one in another modem 
 These three are persons or subsistences. They do personal 
 acts. The Father begets the Son. The Son " is tJie only begot- 
 ten of the Father.^'' The Spirit " proceeds" from the Father and 
 Son. Each performs sovereign, independent, and divine acts. 
 The Father sent the Son ; the Son came, and " had power to lay 
 down his life, and power to take it again.'''' And the Spirit " dis- 
 tributes to each man severally according as he will,'''' To each of 
 these distinctly are ascribed divine agency,| divine perfectionS5§ 
 and divine homage.|| Hence, they are persons, divine and dis- 
 tinct, and thus, " there are three that bear record in heaven, the 
 Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three are\ 
 one."1[ 
 
 The sentiments of the society on this article, were, at first, 
 neither distinct nor clearly expressed. They seemed to adopt 
 the current language of the christian world : they believed, they 
 said, according to the letter of the scriptures, in '• the Father, 
 and the Son, and the Holy Ghost •," and that these three were truly 
 and properly " one." But their collisions with several antago- 
 nists brought out their real sentiments. And notwithstanding 
 their unusual affectation of avoiding every thing like indecent 
 
 prying into mysteries Oh ! with what painful precision 
 
 are their sentiments expressed ! 
 
 In their system the sacred " three" are not merely" one God*' 
 in the language of the church. These " though nominally dis- 
 tinguished," says Penn, " arc essentially the same divine light;"** 
 there is no distinction of persons.! f "They are properly and 
 
 * John i. 1, 2, &c. f Acts v. 3, -1. + John v. IT, 21, 23. 1 Cor. 
 xii. 11. § Rev. i. 8. Psalm cxxxix- 7. \\ Ivlauli. xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. 
 xiii. 14. 
 
 *\ John V. 7, SiC. See on tliis ai-ticle Turfet. and Bern, de Moore dc 
 Trinit.-ite. Dr. Owen's small vol. on Trinity, 12mo. Hor« Solit. 2 vols. 
 Scott's Essays. Sloss on Trinity. Professor Stuart on .\ndover's Review 
 of Sparks's Sermon. Dr. Wardlaw's Discourses on the Socin. Controv, 
 and Dr. Miller's Letters on Unitarianism. 
 
 *♦ Vol. i. p. 2^7. tl Fox'-s Great Myst. p. Il2, 293< 
 
222 On the Defects of their System 
 
 truly one ; they are only three different manifestations or opera- 
 tions of God. Christ is the everlasting Father ; and the Father 
 may be said to have taken human nature as well as Christ.* 
 
 In the gloomy hours of sorrow, when, in addition to the well- 
 laid-on corrections of polemics, the English parliament had enact- 
 ed severe laws against blasphemy ;t and a stern magistracy had 
 laid their iron hand on Penn; and a dark dungeon of the Tower 
 had actually received him under the charge of blasphemy ; the 
 concessions of this extraordinary man became marvellous. On 
 a sudden he became too orthodox on this article, for the followers 
 of Biddle and Socinus. But no sooner had the dungeon disgorged 
 him after a meagre explanation,;]: than he proved before the pub- 
 lic, the truth of his assertion made in the Tower, " tliat he had 
 not budged one jof from his early faith.§ Hen(?e it is beyond 
 doubt that his book entitled " The Sandy Foundation Shaken,''' con- 
 tains the true guage of his faith, and the faith of the society on 
 this article.!! 
 
 The frst "sandy foundation'' to be " shaken" is the doctrine 
 of one God in three distinct and separate persons. In the course 
 of his discussion he writes thus : " A'o one substance can have three 
 distinct subsistences, andpresene its unity.'' " This doctrine of three 
 divine persons,''- says he, '• zoill make three Gods.''^ And " Whitehead!^ 
 continues he, "■ to bring this strange doctrine to the capacity of the 
 people, cmnpared their three persons to three apostles, saying, hoio could 
 three of them be one apostle ?'"[[ In another place his impiety carries 
 him the audacious length of asserting that our doctrine of the Holy 
 Trinity is absurd !** And bolder than Voltaire or Priestlj^, he de- 
 mands " Whether if God did beget a son, that son had not a beginning ? 
 If the Holy Ghost proceeded from both, is he contemporary uith the 
 
 * See this sentiment in Fox"s Great Mvst. p. 246, ancient Edit, and 
 ♦' Snake in the Grass," p. 121, Edit. 2, of 169". f Anno 1 of WilHam 
 and Mary. q: See his Reply to the Bishop of Cork, in vol. ii. folio; 
 see particularly p. 802. ^ See his " Innoceucy viih open face," &c. 
 and his " Key, S;c." 
 
 II Clarkson Port. vol. ii. ch. 13, on Relig. appears utterly ignorant of 
 even the existence of this book — though he might h.ave quoted it with per- 
 fect consitittnicy. For Barclay he was too sagacious an .'ipologiKt to bring 
 forward to view the society's doctrine en this article ! If the Christ. Ob- 
 serv. !iad read tliis book of Penn, would they have written that in their 
 vol. 13 p. 11.". 
 
 \ Penn's Sandy Found. &c. p. 11, ancient Edit, of 1668, and Vincent's 
 Refutation, p. 15—19. ** Vol. ii. and Tract First, p. 12. 
 
 \ 
 
In Point of Doctrines. 223 
 
 son ?•' But my pen refuses to pollute my pages with 
 
 more Oh! my God! It is thus that his unclean spirit 
 
 blasphemed against the " eternal spirit,"' who does proceed from 
 the Father and the Son !* And against " the only begotten soyi of 
 God,'''' " whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting.^^] And 
 thus his philosophism betrays its origin. " Philosophiam Plato- 
 nicam omnium hsereticorum condimentum."| Because human 
 reason — because our feeble intellects which are bewildered by 
 a thousand mysteries of nature — our intellects to which the union 
 of our souls to matter in one person is an impenetrable mystery; 
 because these intellects cannot comprehend the mode of the ex- 
 istence of Jehovah in Trinity; therefore, with the vandalism of 
 Socinus, Penn sweeps away the holiest doctrine from the chris- 
 tian system, and with it all the peculiar doctrines of the gospel ! 
 
 § 2. Of the persons of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. — In the 
 volumes of the Friends the sacred name of Christ and of the 
 Holy Ghost, seems to receive the loftiest honours ; and the lips of 
 their speakers utter these holiest names with reverence. This 
 has produced a favourable impression on the public mind ; and 
 for this the society ought to receive full credit. But this estab- 
 lishes nothing in favour of their orthodoxy. Words are simply 
 the arbitrary signs of our ideas. The lips of Mohammed also 
 spoke of Jesus Christ with respect ;§ the Jesuit too, and the Fran- 
 ciscan, the brother of the scapulary ; and even Conrad the In- 
 quisitor, while they mumbled over an unknown mass, pronounced 
 these sacred names with solemnity. And it costs a writer but a 
 small effort to employ the current language of Christianity ; while 
 those in the secret can easily affix their sentiments to the words 
 of their leader. 
 
 We have an illustration of this in the case before us, painfully 
 striking. The holiest names whom all the christian world adores, 
 are sacrilegiously imposed upon those images which ancient 
 heretics fabricated, and the labours of Socinus adorned for wor- 
 ship! 
 
 The society has always admitted the divinity of Christ and of the 
 
 * Heb. ix. 14. John xv. 26. Gal. iv. 6. f John i. 18, Mic. v. 2. 
 
 * Tertul. De Anirna. § Gibbon's Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp. 
 
 vol. vi. p. 251. Phil 2 Edit. 
 
224 On the Defects of their System 
 
 Holy Spirit.* But how? Why — because the Son and Spi- 
 rit are manifestations or operations of the Godhead ; and what- 
 ever is of God must necessarily be divine. This is the total 
 amount of this great, this marvellous admission that these are di- 
 vine ; this is the utmost extent of the divinity which the society 
 allows them. In addition to this, the personal distinction between 
 the Son and the Spirit, is denied by them in strong and positive 
 terms.! With them these sacred persons mean one and the same 
 thing. The following quotations are the proofs of these asser- 
 tions. 
 
 Penn conveys his sentiments unblushingly in the language of 
 Crellius, whom he applauds.^ " The Holy Spirit is the power 
 or efficacy of God, which proceeds from God, and issuing into 
 man, sanctifies and consecrates them — which power and eificacy 
 of God they were wont to call inspirations." "We believe in 
 one spirit that proceeds and breathes from the Father and Son, 
 as the life and virtue of the Father and Son ;" " and he who has 
 one has all, for these three are one. "§ Pennington and Clarkson 
 re-echo the same sentinients.|| Job Scott, a distinguished'modcrn 
 leader, professed his firm faith in " the divinity of Christ," but 
 denied the persons in the Godhead. He conveys his sentiments 
 clearly in these extraordinary words : " It is clear to my mind 
 that that one divinity became actually the seed of the woman, 
 and he is one in the head and in all the members. "IT 
 
 In the process of their refinement by allegory it is evident that 
 the society has not only destroyed the distinction between the 
 divine persons, but as the Bishop of Litchfield has justly observ- 
 
 * H. Tuke and Clavkson in his Port. vol. ii. 228, Edit. 2. Is it suppo- 
 sable that these two very excellent men were unacquainted with Penn's 
 books and real sentiments ? — I think not. 
 
 f Yes, though Penn does say " the so?i is distinct from the Father.'" See 
 Tol. ii. p. 802. 
 
 :j: '• 1 wish," says Penn, " that Crellius had been as sound and clear in 
 all other points." He had been writing Sociniauism on the Trinity. I 
 am aware that Penn armed cap-a-pee with the weapons which Socinus 
 had laid down, had entered the lists against a Socin/an, (the author of 
 *« The Quaker's Spirit Tried ;") that he fought against these " Socinian 
 notions," and that he advocated the " divinity of Christ," vol. ii. pp. 109, 
 110,112. But their dress and armour being changed, Trojan attacked 
 Trojan in falling Troy, and did each other incredible mischief in the dark. 
 
 § Vol. ii. p. 67. I Clark. Port. vol. ii. p. 229. 
 
 1 Rathb. Narrat. p. 30. Compare this with Penn's declamation against 
 the terms " person of Christ," in vol. ii, p. 587. 
 
In Point of Doctrines. 225 
 
 ed,* they have rejected the outward Christ, for the inward 
 Christ, whom alone they seem to regard. In Christ's human na- 
 ture, which is called by them, indiscriminately, " his person," 
 and " the flesh and blood of the vail,"t there dwelt the spirit or 
 light which is Christ ;| and the same Christ who was without 
 measure in the man Jesus, they make to be in all men in a cer- 
 tain measure. " The scriptures," say they, " expressly distin- 
 guish between Christ and the garment that he wore ; and we 
 can never call the bodily garment Christ.§ Fox having given 
 a detail of the inward crucifixion, and the mztjart^ resurrection of 
 Christ,i| has added in as polished a style as he had been in the 
 habit of using to his uninspired antagonists, " Devils and repro- 
 bates talk of him without." " The Devil," (he took great liber-, 
 ties with this personage in his exhibitions) " the devil is in thee, 
 for thou sayest thou art saved by the Christ without.^'' And to 
 crown the whole, this apostle adds " If there be any other Christ 
 than he who is crucified within., he is a false C/in5/."TT But per- 
 chance this may have been uttered in one of those unhappy mo- 
 ments which fell on Fox between two lucid intervals. No, I can- 
 not avail myself of this supposition to excuse him ; for Penn ac- 
 tually maintains the orthodoxy of the passage, while he throws 
 his shield over Fox, and frowns defiance on every one who dares 
 demur.** 
 
 Further : they seem to deny that the very human nature of 
 Christ in which he suffered death, is in glory in the heavens. 
 " Your imagined God beyond the stars^ and your carnal Christ is 
 utterly denied. To say that Christ is God and man in one person, 
 is a ?je/"tt Fox disputed against the assertion " that the body of 
 the man Christ that was crucified, is now in the presence of God the 
 
 * In his " Vindication of Jesus' Mir." p. 146, 147. f Pennington's 
 Quest, to Professors, p. 25. + Fox's Saul's Errand to Damas. p. 14. 
 Anc. Edit. § "Principles oftheQuak. anc. Edit. p. 126. || "Of 
 
 his resurrection we (Quakers) are eye-witnesses." Fox's Great Myst. p. 
 242, and Second Letter to the P>ishop of Litchfield, p. 34. 1 Fox's 
 Great Myst. p. 206, 250, 183, See " Snake, 8cc." p. 128, Edit. 2. 
 
 ** Works, vol. ii. p. 674, and 490. 
 
 •ff See C. Atkinson's terrible book with a terrible name. *' The Sword 
 of the Lord Drawn," p. 5, anc. Edit, and "Snake," p. 128 and 379. Edit. 
 2. and Whitehead's Reply to the Snake, p. 155. A. D 1697. He admits 
 the words as a fair quotation. See also Penn's Defence of them. Works, 
 vol. ii. 612. 
 
 32 
 
226 On the Defects of their System 
 
 Father.'''' And against this, " that Christ is absent from them as 
 touching thejlesh.^'' And he gravely maintained that " those who 
 profess a Christ without and one within, make two Christs."* To 
 the same purpose are the words of Friends of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. " Is the divinity and humanity of Christ divided ? can then 
 his godhead be present, and he who is the heavenly man he absent?''^] 
 And Barclay, in defiance of all the principles of his philosophy, 
 goes into the same absurdity. " The man Christ Jesus is in m5," 
 says he, " though not in his whole manhood, but according to that 
 Tvhich is proper to us, and yet without cdl division.^''X And Burroughs 
 asserted that " the very man — the very body — the very Christ of God 
 is within W5."§ 
 
 The application of this principle has carried them into another 
 extravagance. As, by their theory, the human nature of our 
 Lord was his ^^ person ;''"' and as Christ was the " spiriC that re- 
 sided in Jesus ; and as the same " spirit,''^ though in an inferior 
 measure, is in each of them, they talked of " Christ manifest in 
 their flesh." To support this. Fox makes the apostle say that 
 "Christ was manifested in his (Paul's) flesh to condemn sin in 
 the flesh."|| And Penn, full of the same matchless ideas, vehe- 
 mently exclaims, " If those are called anti-Christs Avho denied 
 his coming in the flesh, what must they be reputed who as stiffly 
 disown his inward, nearer, and more spiritual coming in the soul ; 
 which is the higher and more noble knowledge of Christ — yea, the mys- 
 tery hid for ages, and now revealed to his people?'"'^ This is the 
 doctrine sedulously instilled into their youth. " False ministers 
 preach Christ without, and bid people believe in him, as he is in heaven 
 above : but true ministers preach Christ -within.'''' " Is that within 
 thee the only foundation and principle of thy religion? Answer. That 
 of God in me is so ;for 7ce knoic that it is Christ ; and being Christ, 
 it must needs be only and principal : For that which is only admits 
 not of another — and that -which is principal is greatest in being.''^** 
 Barclay held an opinion that Christ had " t-wo bodies.-^ The 
 
 • Great Mvst. pp. 211, 210 and 254, and Second Lett, to the Bishop of 
 Litclifield, 17S3, p. 22, &.c. f " Brief Apol. for Quakers." A. D. 1727, 
 p. 32. t Bar. Works, Lond. 1692, p. 627. § Works, p. 149, anc. 
 Edit, and "Snake," &c. SLCt 10. || Great Myst. p. 206. 1 Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 780. ♦• Smith's Primer for Quaker Children, p. 8, 9, & 57. 
 
In Point of Doctrines. 2S7 
 
 one was outward : the other was the " vehiculum Dei," or spirit- 
 ual body, united to the word as really as his outward body was."* 
 
 I shall close this disgusting detail with an additional proof from 
 Penn. '' Christ qualified that body for his service. But that 
 body did not constitute Christ." He had just said, " that the 
 holy person, born at Nazareth^ was the body in which Christ 
 resided." " He is invisible, and ever was to the ungodly world."t 
 And the Christ who dwelt in this body is the Holy Spirit. " For," 
 says he, pressing a text violently into his service, " the Lord is 
 that Spirit."|: And " I will not leave you comfortless. I will 
 come unto you."§ But how is this to his point ? To the inspired, 
 every thing is easy. He determines, by his own authority, that 
 " the Comforter, to be sent from the Father," is no other, and 
 can be no other than Christ in his " spiritual appearance among 
 //iem."|| And, as a serious difficulty might arise in the minds of 
 them who took the letter of scripture for proof, instead of his 
 sacred revelations, he makes the said text to undergo a conve- 
 nient alteration, so as to run thus — " I will come a comforter 
 unto you."lF And thus he makes Christ to send himself from 
 the Father, under the name of the Spirit.** 
 
 Finally, let the reader compare all this with the following so- 
 lemn confession of the Friends of the present day. " We never 
 doubted the truth of the actual birth, life, sufferings, death, re- 
 surrection and ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 
 * See his Great Works, edit. 1693, p. 306, and Penn ii. 802. f Vol. 
 ii. pp. 816 and 415. 
 
 X The terms "■sfiirit" and " Lorcl^' are terms of cofnmon application. 
 Thus God is a spirit ; and, as a sovereign, he is Lord. For the same rea- 
 sons Christ is a " spirit," and the Lord ; and the Holv Ghost is a spirit, 
 and the Lord. Thus 2 Cor. iii. 18 tvo Ki/fitu nnu/Atiref " from the Lord 
 the spirit. But it is no whei-e said by divine auihuniy, that Christ is the 
 Holy Spirit ; or that the Holy Ghost is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 § John xiv. 18. || Vol ii. 471, 472. 1 See vol. ii. 419, 428. See 
 also Barclay Apol. Prop. v. and vi. and " Quakerism Confirmed," sect. 4. 
 
 ** The text " Christ is in you excejit ye be reprobates^' 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 
 has been quoted in support of their " Christ within." Our Lord had as- 
 cended into heaven bodily, in the presence of his disciples : and his hu- 
 man nature cannot be in more places than one at the same time. Hence 
 it cannot be applied to him literally. It is to be referred to him as the 
 image and pattern after which the christian is sanctified. There is a 
 bright and lovely combination of graces in the christian, which constitute 
 a fair though humble resemblance of Christ. This is the image of our 
 Lord ; and the name of Christ is put on it to show its author and relation. 
 
228 On the Defects of their System 
 
 as related by the evangelists, without reserve or diminution, by 
 allegorical explanation.* 
 
 § 3. Of the Atonement. — Having ascertained the sentiments of 
 the society respecting our Lord Jesus Christ, ^ve are now pre- 
 pared to understand their doctrine of the atonement. 
 
 Penn has professed his belief in the atonement of Christ. 
 " We own remission of sins, and eternal salvation by the son of 
 God." " VV^e declare that we know of no other name than that 
 of Christ the mighty God, by whom atonement and plenteous re- 
 demption comes.'* " He is the only and complete Saviour from 
 the pollution and guilt of sin."t All their polemics from Barclay 
 to Clarkson, devoutly copy after the same faith ; and it is pre- 
 sumed that the society in general, holds this doctrine in these very 
 words. For when the Bishop of St. Asaph, in his charge to the 
 clergy of his diocese, in A. D. 1813, ranked the Quakers by the 
 side of the Socinians, as the common enemies of the atonement, 
 it produced a very considerable sensation in the society : and 
 some came out against the Bishop's " error."! Jt is admitted, 
 then, that the society owns the atonement of Christ, and the re- 
 mission of sins by him."'§ 
 
 But all the world knows that words and phrases are one thing, 
 and that ideas attached to them are another. Here is another 
 most melancholy proof of this. Alas! how little does the religious 
 world know of the doctrines of the Friends. The truth is, that 
 notwithstanding the forms of confession which have been quoted, 
 and which are common in the lips of their speakers ; the holy 
 doctrine of the atonement as delivered in the Bible, and taught 
 in the rules and canons of the churches, is denied in the most 
 positive and unqualified terms by every orthodox Quaker !\\ The 
 denial is interwoven in their very principles. They never can 
 believe in the atonement of our Lord Jesus, unless they renounce 
 the fundamental principle of the sect — that on which their exist- 
 ence as a society rests. They do deny the most Holy Trinity, 
 
 * Mosh. vol. iv. p. 287, edit, of 1821. f See vol. ii. pp. 607, 14, 
 
 and 617. t Christ. Obsevv. July 1814. § See London Epist. for 
 
 A. D. 1732, sect. 8. i| Whose tenets are modelled after those of their 
 ancient elders, Penn, Fox, Barclay, 8cc. 
 
In Point of Doctrines. 229 
 
 bj the denial of the three divine persons in the unity of Godhead ; 
 thej take away the personal distinction between Jesus Christ 
 and the Holy Ghost. And oh ! their sentiments on the atone- 
 ment are dreadfully consistent with these other opinions!* 
 
 I will show from authentic writings what atonement they do 
 reject ; and what atonement they really own. 
 
 The following radical doctrine of the Bible, which is most 
 firmly received by all the Reformed churches, is that which 
 Pennt makes the " second sandy foundation tobc shaken,'''' namely : 
 " That it is impossible that God can pardon sin without a plenary satis- 
 faction.^^X 
 
 His sentiments on divine justice will be a fit introduction to 
 this subject. " If God winks at the ignorant, must this man be 
 so prying? If the judge of all the earth will not be strict, ought 
 he to turn inquisitor ?"§ The Supreme one being thus represent- 
 ed as indifferent to the claims of strict justice, his reader is pre- 
 pared for the development of his doctrine of atonement. 
 
 A satisfaction or atonement, in the sense defined by the Re- 
 formed churches, was not necessary ; and it was not given. On 
 the first position, which he has laid down with a bold hand, he 
 reasons from the case of debts among men. " It is not called un- 
 just,"" says he, " to forgive a debt:'* but in certain cases it would 
 be a heinous crime. Besides, does it follow that because a debt 
 may be set aside, the infinite claims of divine justice may be de- 
 stroyed ? To set them aside unanswered, unhonoured, would be 
 an act of infinite injustice. || 
 
 On the second position this is the substance of his argument. 
 " If Christ satisfied God's justice, he did it as God, or as man, or 
 as God and man; but he did it not as God, nor as man, nor as 
 God and man: — therefore he has not satisfied God's justice."Tr 
 He has pursued this argument in the most indecent and offensive 
 language, in one of his books** — a book which, in my deliberate 
 opinion, puts Sabellius and Socinus, and perhaps even Priestly 
 
 * Consult Stapferi Theol. Polem. vol. iv. cap. 15, sect 29, 30, &c. on 
 the necessary connexion between tluir principles, and all their errors. 
 
 t In vol. ii. p. 248. X Jo'^ xxxvi. 1>!. Psal, xlix. 7, 8, 9, Is. liii. 6. 
 
 Heb. ix. 22. § Vol. ii. p. 715. || Si-e Turret, ior, iii. Qiust 19. 
 
 and B. D. Moore, vol. i. p. 67.5, &c. Dr. Owen on the Justice of God. 
 
 1 See vol. i. p. 248. ** Against Clapham in vol. ii. 13 of his Works. 
 
230 On the Defects of their System 
 
 to the blush ! In another place* he has called in the aid of rea- 
 son — aye ! and of scripture, to demonstrate the doctrine of the 
 necessity and reality of the atonement to be " irreligious, absurd, 
 and blasphemous !" 
 
 These are equalled only by the impieties of Whitehead. " Sa- 
 tisfaction zoas not needful. Cannot God command his wrath ? cannot 
 he satisfy and please himself? This is to represent God as more cruel 
 than maj?."! Christ's sufferings could not be any satisfaction to God''s 
 justice for our sijis ; for they were persecutors who imputed them to 
 himJ'^X " Nothing hut a creature suffered ,* he suffered by sinners.^ 
 It cannot be that God punishes our sins in Christ to satisfy his jus- 
 tice.^W God promises pardons on our repentance.'''"^ This is but a 
 partial specimen of the audacious style of their books lying be- 
 fore the public. 
 
 On these principles what importance or value can we attach to 
 the death of Jesus Christ? The leaders felt the weight of this 
 question ; and their answer has revealed their marvellous har- 
 mony with Socinus and Priestly. These taught that our Lord 
 "sea/ec/" his testimony with his blood; he fell a martyr to the 
 truth. No more! And was this all the design of his mission? 
 Yes ! this system which breathes a withering blast on all our hopes, 
 admits of no more ! and Penn admits of no more ! Having stated 
 '*• that a body was prepared for Christ in which he came to fulfil 
 his father's will; that he preached the promise of salvation and 
 remission of sins through him to those who believed; that for 
 this doctrine, and for asserting that he was the offspring of God, 
 and one with God, the Jews crucified him ;" and his blood " must 
 be believed on as a ' seal' to ratify and confirm the glad tidings 
 of remission of sin."** 
 
 But the society does confess " an atonement by C/ir?'si."tt The 
 following quotations will explain at once its nature, and the pro- 
 cess by which it accomplishes their salvation. " We believe 
 that Christ within us doth offer himself a living sacrifice to God 
 for us, by which the wrath of God is appeased to us. Is there 
 power in that light within me to save me from sin ? Yes, all power 
 
 • In vol. ii. p. 530. f See his book strangely named " The Divinity 
 of Christ," p. 62. t I^"- P- 63. § p. 58, 45. || p. 52. 1 p. 
 
 4.0. •* See vol. ii. p. 281. tt Lo»d. Epist. for A. D. 1732, sect. 8. 
 
In Point of Doctrines, 231 
 
 in heaven and in earth is in it !"* Penn against Faldo defends 
 the orthodoxy of this passage.! 
 
 In another place, after a comment on the atonement, which 
 Priestly would have dictated, and the Deist will approve, Penn 
 exclaims: " Is it not more suitable to truth and scripture to be- 
 lieve that God was in Christ, (who is in us) reconciling man to 
 himself, by removing that sin which ruled in their hearts ; and 
 by his light giving them to know the glory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ."]: 
 
 Barclay gives a clear exposition of his master's views. '■''Jesus 
 Christ himself is in the heart of every man andwomanin the little in- 
 corruptible seed there.^''§ On this mystic dogma he thus rears his 
 wild theory. In those who do not resist, but who act in concert 
 with the labours of this seed within, and do their best in this pro- 
 cess of mystical parturition, " their Christ will be brought forth in 
 them.** This inward birth is a grand era. The " Christ alive in 
 them" works all his works ; this is his righteousness. As this 
 grows more and more vigorous by the careful nursing of the sub- 
 ject, it produces astonishing effects. " It counterbalances, it over- 
 comes, it roots out the evil seed in man ;" and thence he becomes 
 really "just and holy before God." " Besides this, every other 
 kind of justification is imaginary.''|| And so late as A. D. 1793, 
 Job Scot! advocates this frightful mysticism. " There is no other 
 possible way of salvation but by that of a real conception and birth of 
 the divinity in mar?."ir And, in regard to faith it is made to cor- 
 respond to this unparalleled mode of justification. Faith is " the 
 aspect which the soul bends inward on the Christ there," while 
 " it follows the leading of the internal light."** 
 
 In fine, all the Quaker writers from George Fox down to the 
 amiable Henry Tuke, make redemption by Christ and regenera- 
 
 * Smith's Catechism. f Vol. ii. 410, and 645. $ Vol. ii. p 14. 
 
 § Apology Prop. v. and vi. p. 191, &c. I'hil. edit. 1808. 
 
 II Bar. Apol. Thes. Prop. vii. pp. 190, 199, CIO, 220, 232, &c. and Pen- 
 nington, vol. i. 608. 
 
 •H Quoted from Rathb. Nar. p. 30. See alboCIarkson's Port. vol. ii. p. 
 viii. sect. 2. and p. l.?2, 134, and 230. 
 
 •* S. Crispp. 323. Phil. edit. 1787. Sec Pennhigton i. p. 600, and Penn. 
 ii. 784. Speaking of our Justification by what Christ did vjithout us, Penn 
 says, " we boldly affirm it in the name' of the Lord, to he the dcctvine of 
 devils!" See his Serious Apol. ch. vi. or Works vol. ii. p. 'Jo and 522- 
 Note, 
 
232 On the Defects of their System 
 
 tion the same. What, we believe, our Lord did on the cross, 
 they believe to be altogether a work within on the human mind. 
 This arises necessarily out of their belief of the Christ within. 
 It is a fatal error woven throughout the whole system !* 
 
 § 4. Of the Resurrection from the dead. — The doctrine of the 
 resurrection from the dead is peculiar to the gospel and one of 
 its fundamental articles. To believe it is a peculiar badge of the 
 christian ; to deny it is to be guilty of error.j In respect of the 
 body that shall be raised, all admit that it will not partake of the 
 gross nature and qualities with which it is laid in the grave. On 
 this article all the churches of Christ have declared out of the 
 holy scriptures their belief as follows : — That the body shall un- 
 dergo such a process of purification, that its earthly and gross 
 qualities shall be entirely removed ; that its corruption shall be 
 changed into incorruption ; its dishonour into glory ; its weakness 
 into power ; its natural body into a spiritual body ; its mortality 
 into immortality : that nevertheless this change in its qualities 
 shall not destroy its essential qualities and nature ; that it shall 
 still be the identical body which lived here, and in which the 
 soul resided; that the holy scriptures do teach distinctly that 
 those " w/io are in their graves shall come forth ; and the many zvho 
 sleep in the dust shall awake.'''' That it was the identical body of 
 our Lord which was raised from the grave, and " he rose as the 
 first fruits of them that sleep f'^ that if the same body is not raised 
 it will not be a resurrection but a creation of new bodies ; that if 
 the same body be not raised, the body which was bought by the 
 blood of our Lord and sanctified by the blessed Spirit, and was 
 the instrument by which his good works were performed, shall 
 be lost in the dust, and consumed by the last flames; and another 
 body shall receive the honours and the reward of the Redeemers 
 purchase — though he is not its saviour, and it can never join in 
 the song of the redeemed in bliss as it was not " redeemed by his 
 blood ;" that if the same body is not raised, men do not receive the 
 things in the hodyX according to what he has done in this life, al- 
 
 • See Pref. of Fox's Journ. and Henry Take's " Princifdes of the Qua- 
 kers,'''' edit. 5, p. 184. Christ. Observer, vol. 13, p. 110. f Matth. 
 xxii. 29, 2 Tim. ii. 18. % 2 Cor. v. 10. The word doneis an addition 
 of the translator in this text. 
 
In Point of Doctrines, 233 
 
 though inspiration has declared it ; that if the same body be not 
 raised, the bodies of the wicked, the very instruments of sin, shall 
 escape vengeance and sleep in the dust 5 and in the " resurrection 
 of damnation" they shall have other bodies which never were 
 stained by sin, and never partook of guilt, and which it were in- 
 justice to subject to punishment. 
 
 The sentiments of the society are perfectlj'- at one with those 
 of their masters. " The body is the prison of the soul,'''' said the 
 Platonic divines ; " Death is the escape of the soul from it : never 
 again shall it be confned in it. The soul after death, is joined to its 
 aeriform body, and returns into the essence of that Being out of which 
 it was taken.'''* 
 
 The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead held by the so- 
 ciety,! is, therefore, radically different from that of the Bible. 
 
 On this subject there have existed two opinions in the society. 
 First: Those whose sj^stem has been rigorously consistent with 
 that of their masters, have confined their doctrine on this article 
 exclusively to the mystic resurrection within them.;!: These, as 
 the zealous disciples of Hymeneus and Philctus,§ to whom the 
 venerable Paul paid such marked attention, || have taught that 
 " the resurrection is past already.''' 
 
 Second: In the close of the seventeenth century, the leaders of 
 the society being driven to the last resort by the polemics of the 
 day, came out with an avowal of a resurrection '"''from the grave.'''' 
 But the value of the concession was hardly appreciated, when, 
 to the astonishment of the religious world, they again came out 
 against the resurrection of the same body that was laid in the 
 grave. Here is something marvellous. Here is a raising out 
 of the grave, and yet not of the body that is in the grave. But 
 the persevering Penn, ever undaunted in the hour of fighting, 
 stood out against the shafts of irony, and satire, and argument. 
 He threw his gauntlet down with this challenge: Your resurrec- 
 tion " is a conceit that agrees better with the Alcoran than with the 
 gospelJ^ The absurdity^'' says he, " of the Popish transuhstantiation 
 
 * Cicero De Divin. et consol. oper. p. 446. Plat, in liis Timjeus. Tay- 
 lor's Platonic Phil. vol. ii. p. 218, and 335, qunrto. f Penn vol. ii. p. 
 896. X Fox, and those of the ''first conviticement," Great Mvst. p. 
 214, &c. § 2 Tim. ii. ver. 17, 18. \\ 1 Tim. i. 20. 
 
 K Penn vol. ii, p. 896. What is the gospel in his opinion r* The gwspel 
 
 3.3 
 
234 On the Defects of their System 
 
 is rather mit-done than equalled by this feshly resurrection.'^ Great 
 spirits are never content with moderate measures ; and this often 
 brings men of ancient times into contact with those of modera 
 times. Hence by the same impulse of zeal, for it could not be 
 a designed imitation, Penn renews the very dilemma by which 
 the Sadducees thought to entangle our Lord. " If they rise so," 
 he is speaking of the " same bodies,'''' " then every man is to rise mar- 
 ried,''^ et cetera.! And that it may not be supposed that he dis- 
 putes merely against the rising of the " gross and natural body" — 
 a thing which no man advocates, he takes care to mark the 
 very point against which his hostility is directed ; it is against the 
 " identity and sameness of the body.''''^ 
 
 His favourite argument is " that bodies compounded out of this 
 elementary world, cannot outlive their own matter ;" and that '' dust 
 cannot he eternaV As if the Almighty cannot make mat- 
 ter as well as spirit eternal ! 
 
 § 5. The second coming of Christ to Judgment. — Whatever may 
 be the modern sentiments of the society on this article, and they 
 must have undergone, it is hoped, a material change, from the 
 kindly interchange of sentiment in their civil intercourse with 
 the christian world, it is certain that the primitive Friends de- 
 nied the second coming of the Lord Jesus in human nature to the 
 last judgment. 
 
 Their system, in brief, seems to have been this : At death the 
 body returns to its native dust, never again to leave it; the soul 
 returns into the essence of that being out of which it came. Christ 
 does not return to raise the dead, or to separate the righteous 
 
 is by Barclay, actually put within man. And even the very fireachers, 
 ■whose '• feet," the apostle savs ** are beautiful on the mountains," and 
 the " two idged sword," and " the fire and the hammer"— all, all are dc- 
 tuaWy li'ii/iiu t/ie /ft. ' Apol. Prop. v. and vi sect. 23. Aye! " and Moses 
 and the prophets ixreivi/h/n them. "■ Fisher's Velata." p. 4. No wonder 
 it is that a writer said of them " they carry about with them consubstan- 
 tiation in their bellies." 
 
 ♦ Penn vol. ii. ch. 13 of his "Railing against Reason." Against the 
 Popish transnbstantiation, or that tiie bread and wine in the holy supper 
 art in fact changed into the very flesh and the very blood of Christ, we 
 have the evidence of all our senses. But in the " resurrection" there is 
 nothing contrary to reason, or the senses, or experience. 
 
 f Vol. ii. 545. compare th\s 7nodern with the ancient Sadducee, Matth. 
 XX. 28. X Vol. ii. 544, also Take andClarkson Portr. vol. ii. p. 229. 
 
In Point of Doctrines, 235 
 
 from the wicked. Little is written bj them to elucidate their 
 sentiments on this subject; but that little is awfully decisive. 
 Having admitted Christ's first coming in the Jlesh, they maintain, 
 with warmth, that his second coming was in the effusion of the 
 Holy Ghost at Pentecost. " These we acknowledge/^ said G. 
 Whitehead, " but of no other do we read,^'* " And those are like to 
 be deceived who expect this per sohal coming of Christ.''''] And thus 
 they placed themselves in the rank of the bold spirits of St. Pe- 
 ter's time, who demanded 'where is the promise of his coming T'J 
 
 § 6. and last. Of the Future State. — The sentiments of the so- 
 ciety in general, respecting the future state, have not been ex- 
 actly ascertained. Their chief writers speak in general terms, 
 and avoid minute discussion on this topic. This much, however, 
 is certain, that Burroughs, one of their inspirati, uttered in his 
 last moments, this memorable Platonic sentiment, to which I have 
 alluded before : " Now my soul and spirit is centred into its own 
 being with God, and this form of person must return from whence it 
 came."§ And Fox has left these words on record, " that none 
 has a glory and a heaven but within them."|| 
 "Sic itur — sed non ad astra." 
 
 ****** These are the doctrines of the society as exhibited 
 in their books lying before the public. What a contrast to the 
 purity of the gospel ! How different from its spirit is the whole 
 body of these doctrines ; and the prospects held up by them to 
 man pressing forward to his final destiny ! On the one side, the 
 gospel exhibits the character of Deity in its true light ; combining 
 in the infinity of perfection, all that is magnificent and glorious 
 with all that is lovely and awful — ^^ A just God and a Saviour.'^ It 
 exhibits the three distinct and divine persons, the Father, and 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in one undivided essence. It 
 spreads before the wandering and disconsolate sinner the most 
 cheering hopes from the atonement of Christ. It points out to 
 man the fatal consequences of givuig himself up to the guidance 
 
 • See his " Li^ht Within," p. 40. t See his " Christ Ascended," p. 
 23, and his " JVature of Christ,'' p. 29, and Fuller's " Rr/i/y to 12 Que- 
 ries," p. 81. X 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4. § Hovvgill's Testim. prefixed to the 
 Works of Burroughs' foiio, A. D. 1673. || Great Myst. p. 214, old 
 edit. See Buggs Pict. of Qtiak. p. 399, &c. &c. 
 
236 On the J)pfects of their System 
 
 of his own heart, or of any prinriple within him ; it woos him 
 aw^ay from every false hope, and directs him to the exalted Sa- 
 viour in heaven; it paints in proper colours the vanity of all sub- 
 lunary objects ; it supports the pilgrim when ready to sink in 
 despair under the pressure of human woes ; it guides him through 
 the mazes of folly by the pure and steady light of truth ; it leads 
 him into the possession of all that is virtuous and lovely ; it re- 
 freshes him from the living streams of salvation ; it cheers his 
 drooping spirit in the last fearful conflict; it lights up with holy 
 joy the countenance of the dying christian, and throws its lovely 
 beams of hope on the soul of the bending mourner as he conveys 
 the dead to the silent tomb; it carries the soul of the sleeping 
 pilgrim to the bright realms of glory, and thither it guarantees 
 the certain ascension of the same body which he lays in the 
 grave; there to reap the rich rewards of the divine love in pure 
 and perpetual bliss. 
 
 But on the other side, turn your eyes on these prospects set 
 before our pilgrim. There lovely nature ceases to smile ; a with- 
 ering blast has passed over the face of the land ; the herbs have 
 perished ; the flowers have faded ; the forest has shed its leaves ; 
 the whirlwind has swept them away; the pestilence has walked 
 in secret, and spent its energies on animated nature; desolation 
 scowls from his throne of darkness. — For oh! the sun has set 
 over that world. His kindly influences are gone — and gone is 
 that divine person who redeemed by purchase and by power, 
 the trembling pilgrim ; and gone too is that divine person who 
 led his steps into the paths of righteousness. The lamp of truth 
 flashes in the socket, and threatens to leave him in the gloom of 
 despair ; every object presents a dreary aspect ; he moves through 
 darkness to a land unknown ; shifting phantoms hover round him ; 
 unearthly voices tempt him to turn inward on the energies of his 
 own mind, and seek what is necessary there. At the sight of 
 the moral chaos within, he is thrown back with encreasing sor- 
 row on what is without. The pitiless storm mingles its terrors 
 with the ragings of the mountain stream: the thunders roar; the 
 lightning's livid glare reveals the face of nature in her new de- 
 formities ; the demon of the storm mingles his unearthly shrieks 
 with the roaring of the thunder, and lashing the whirlwind into 
 
In Point of Doctrines. 237 
 
 fury, he rides over his head, and threatens to " carry him away in 
 a tempest of the night P'' Return, O pilgrim ! from the valley of the 
 shadow of death ; return to the valley of vision. This is the land 
 of light ; hither thy God beckons thee 5 here thy Saviour stretches 
 out his arms to receive thee ; here the Comforter will dry up thy 
 tears. And when the years of thy life shall be numbered he will 
 bear thee away to the land of the blessed ; and the church will 
 embalm thy memory in her sweet remembrance, while with a 
 tear she pronounces " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord !" 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PROEM. 
 
 The immortal author of a Talc in a Tub has indubitably been 
 unjust to brother John in the matter of brother Peter's coat. He 
 makes the said John Presbyter to fall outrageously on Peter's 
 coat, and despoil it of every portion of its embroidery, of its un- 
 necessary foldings and loop-holes and buttons. And, moreover, 
 he makes him, through the excess of zeal, to displace these su- 
 pernumeraries, actually to tear and rend the garment in sundry 
 places. Now to whatever lengths the zeal of John did carry 
 him — and he went great lengths (lauded be his zeal,) in reducing 
 brother Peters coat to a christian-like shape and condition, I 
 aver, and I ofter to prove it, that the action which the aforesaid 
 immortal author ascribes to brother John, was in its literal extent 
 done by hrotlur George. John's coat possesses not only every 
 necessary item of loop and button, durability, and gracefulness, 
 but moreover, it is modestly equipped with a just apportionment 
 of embroidery ; but George's violence has not only stript off all 
 ornaments, and all necessaries, but it has rent and mangled it to 
 such a degree that it has no earthly resemblance to a coat; nor 
 is it even fit to cover his nakedness ! The proof of this is forth- 
 coming. 
 
 And with my reader's permission, dropping this figure, I shall 
 enter on the proofs of the defects of the quaker system in 
 
 POINT OF religious INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 § 1. Of the Lord's Day. "n«p/ tkc J,3/o^*c iJ^«p«c ii ?r«VT«c «»9p«-re/ 
 
 ♦vo^a^ot/e-/.— Theophilus Antioch. — The Quakers reject the fourth 
 commandment; and of course they deny the morality of the Sab- 
 bath. With them all days are alike holy ; with them " every 
 day is the Lord's day." " The immediate raovings of the spirit 
 are not limited to time or place ;"* and they strenuously assert that 
 there is no authority from scripture making or declaring the first 
 day of the week the christian Sabbath. 
 
 * Bar. 
 
On the Defects of their System^ §*c. 239 
 
 It* is admitted by all that a portion of our time must be de- 
 voted exclusively, to the service of Almighty God ; and it is very 
 evident that this time ought to be so fixed and universally under- 
 stood, that the christian world may enter on its solemn services 
 without distraction or misunderstanding. If divine authority has 
 not fixed a day, what earthly power could dictate to the whole 
 christian world? And if all men are left to fix their own time, 
 what a scene of confusion and disorder would be produced ia 
 society ! 
 
 The testimony of the Bible is clear and definite that " the God 
 of Order'''' has not left such an important point unsettled. From 
 the beginning " God blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it;'''' or 
 set it apart. The observance of this " rcsi" could not be design- 
 ed for the Most High in any other respect than that it should be 
 sacred to his service. Hence it was ordained for man's favour 
 and benefit. 
 
 This " res/" or " Sabbath''- is noticed as existing and actually ob- 
 served by public consent, previous to the publication of the 
 fourth commandment.! And in that precept the injunction is so 
 expressed as to recognise a former precept on this subject. " Re- 
 member the Sabbath day to keep it holy." 
 
 Now, this precept is enrolled with the other nine which are ex- 
 clusively moral. And as it has a special reference to the divine 
 worship, it is most certainly a moral precept. But even admit- 
 ting that we were to give up what is called its morality, the 
 weight of its obligation would not be lessened in a single grain 
 by the admission ; far less would it thereby be abrogated. It 
 would still be a divine precept ; and as a divine precept it is as 
 positive and as binding as that which enjoins Baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper. 
 
 The keeping of the Sabbath is an ordinance of perpetual ob- 
 ligation in the church. Its existence in the church after the in- 
 troduction of the christian dispensation, and the conversion of 
 the Gentiles, is distinctly foretold by a prophet.| Our Saviour's 
 discourse assumes it as a matter of fact not to be questioned, that 
 
 * I have made a free use of President Edwards' Sermon on the Sab- 
 bath, to illustrate and confirm 02ir views on this subject. 
 t Exod. xvi. V. 23, 26. t Isa. Ivi. 6, 7, 8. 
 
240 On the Dpfects of their System 
 
 the Sabbath would be observed as usual when the Jewish cere- 
 monies and legal rites should have ceased.* And all these are 
 predicated on the most certain truth, that the precept " Remem- 
 ber the Sabbath day to keep it holy," stood unrepealed — and 
 should maintain its authority till the last trumpet should sound 
 the last note of time. 
 
 The Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first 
 day of the week ; or rather we should say, it has probably now 
 reverted to that daj'^ on which it was observed by Adam and the 
 patriarchs. It is certain that the Sabbath of Adam, though the 
 seventh day of time, was yet the first entire day that he saw,t 
 And it is most natural to suppose — and there is nothing repug- 
 nant to it in scripture, that he began the computation of the days 
 of the week from the first entire day that he beheld. Thus it 
 may be fairly said that the Sabbath became, in future compu- 
 tions, the first day of the week. This argument receives addi- 
 tional strength from the following historical facts: When the de- 
 scendants of Adam apostatized from the worship of the true 
 God, they substituted in his place the sun; thatlu.ninary which^ 
 more than all others, strikes the minds of savage people with re- 
 ligious awe, and which, therefore, all heathens worship. They 
 carried with them indeed the day on which their fathers wor- 
 shipped ; but they worshipped the sun. Hence the day was called 
 the sun's day in the languageof their respective nations.:J: Hence 
 as the learned Selden has shown, Sunday, the day observed by 
 the patriarchs as' their Sabbath, was the first day of the week in 
 the nations of the east, and is so still.§ Thus the Sabbath of the 
 
 » Mattli. xxiv. 20. 
 
 •{• He was created the last of living things, after the morning; of the 
 sixth day. Hence the Jewish doctors say " man was created in the even- 
 ing," i. e. the beginning *' of Sabbath." Talmud. See VVitsius Econ. of 
 the Cov. vo!. i. book i. ch. 7. 
 
 :}: "'H TOO »x<6t/ x*yo^f?i) »M«f«." The day called Sunday. Justin. 
 Mart. Apol. ii. sub hn. P.iiis edit, or Apol. i. Thirlby's edit. p. 98. In 
 the same place, J. Martyr makes the day on which God rested, and the 
 day on which our Lord rose, the s;:me, or first day. 
 
 § field. Jus. Nat. et Gent. lib. iii. c. 22. That the ancient nations of 
 the East computed time by seven days, Uion Cassius asserts, lib. 33. That 
 this was a very anci JUt custom, Hcroaotus declares, lib. 2. Josephus 
 against Appion. ii. ad fin. says that no city of the Greeks, that no city of 
 the Barbarians was ignorant of the custom of observing the seventh day 
 or portion of time. See Grotius de Veritatc lib. i. sect. 16. 
 
J?i Point of lieligious Institutions. 241 
 
 patriarchs was the Sunday of the pagans. The Jews alone of 
 all the eastern nations seem to have had the day changed. As 
 God altered the beginning of their year,* so he changed the day 
 of their worship from the first to the seventh day, to commemo- 
 rate their deliverance on that day from Egypt. Hence the 
 fourth precept viewed as a moral precept, and binding on the 
 church in all ages, is enforced by the consideration of God rest- 
 ing on that day, and sanctifying it.t But when it is applied to 
 the particular case of the Jewish church, that precept is enforced 
 by another consideration. " The Lord brought thee from Egypt 
 by a mighty hand ; therefore the Lord thy God hath commanded 
 thee to keep this Sahbath day."X 
 
 When therefore, Judaism ceased, the seventh day Sabbath na- 
 turally ceased with it.§ And hence, considering the divine com- 
 mand that enjoined on Adam and his posterity, the keeping of 
 the Sabbath to be still of force, (and it never has been repealed 
 by God) it is easy to see that on the abolition of Judaism, the 
 Sabbath reverted from the seventh to the first day of the week, 
 without the necessity of any additional command on the subject.|| 
 
 Our first day Sabbath is, therefore, the same with the original 
 Sabbath of the church of God, previous to the peculiarities of 
 Judaism. 
 
 This is the Sabbath that is ordained to be of perpetual obli- 
 gation. The church observed the Sabbath at first to commemo- 
 rate the finishing of the creation. And the same reason still binds 
 us. But there is an enereascd obligation laid on us by our Lord. 
 On the first day of the week he rose from the dead : this finished 
 the work of our redemption — the most glorious of all the works 
 of God. And as the Aiithor of the old creation rested from his 
 
 * Exod. xii. 2. f Exud. xx. 11. 
 
 X Deut. V. 15. Seethe original. The term Sa'abath has tlie'demonstva- 
 tive or emphatic prefix, rnsar ty Sabbati hujus diem. And to the same- 
 purpose arc the words ut'Lztk. xx. 12. '■'■ I gai'e t hem t)21j Sabbaths." 
 " Mif Sabbaths"' which were on the first days to the patriarchs " I gave 
 fo thcni" on their seventh day. This construction is, in my opinion, more 
 natural than that of Dr. Paley. Phil, book v. ch. 7. 
 
 § The Jewish proverb thus rendered into Latin by Grotius, (De Veri- 
 tate lib. v. sect. 10, note.) " Circumcmo fiellit Sabbatum," has been made 
 literally true. With circumcision the Jewish Sabbath is gone. 
 
 II Kennicot's Dissert, on the oblations of Cain and Abel, p. 1S4, ?£r' 
 Guyse's note on Col. ii. 16. and Dr. Owen on the Sabb&tb . 
 
 34 
 
242 On the Defects of their System 
 
 works, and ordained in the church a Sabbath to commemorate 
 the finishing of that work, so our Lord, the author of the new 
 creation, the redemption of man, has ordained a Sabbath to com- 
 memorate his finished work. We have the highest authority for 
 this argument. An inspired writer has expressly used it. " There 
 remaineih^ therefore^ a rest* for the people of God : for he that is en- 
 tered into his rest, has himself ceased from his zoorks, as God did 
 from /us." But Christ rose on the first day of the week. Hence 
 on the first day only, can we commemorate his finished work. 
 
 And if there have been even the shadow of a doubt left by 
 any obscurity in these intimations of his will, those peculiar ho- 
 nours which our Lord conferred on the first day Sabbath have 
 entirely removed them. On this day he rose from the dead ; 
 on this day he appeared to his two disciples going to Emmaus ; 
 on this day he appeared in the midst of his disciples once and 
 again ;t on this day he poured out the Holy Ghost in his extra- 
 ordinary gifts on his apostles ;| and it was on this day that he dis- 
 closed the revelations to St. John for the comfort of the church 
 in every vicissitude of her pilgrimage. 
 
 The following will illustrate the fact that the command " to re- 
 member the Sabbath day" is not revoked. An apostle has de- 
 livered this precept : " Upon the first day of the week let every 
 
 one lay by him in store. "'§ Two things are here enjoined ; 
 
 a duty, and the time fixed for that duty. A collection must be 
 made for the poor saints ; and this collection must be made on 
 *• the first day of the week 5"' and this high authority enjoins the 
 last as decisively as the first. But collections for the saints were 
 always made by the churches in their weekly assemblies for 
 worship. Hence in connexion w ith remembering the poor, the 
 precept involves an injunction to meet for divine worship " on the 
 first day of the Aveek." 
 
 There is another argument which ought to be brought into 
 view. This Sabbath is in the New Testament called " the Lord's 
 d«i/."|| Now when God puts his name on persons or things, he 
 
 * " I^a/B^arier/itc,''^ the keeping of a Sabbath, Heb. iv. 9, 10. 
 
 f John ;. <. 19 cind 26. ij: It was on Pentecost, or the fiftieth day : 
 which, u( cording to the statement of Moses, was the day succeeding the 
 Jewish Sabbath. See Levit. xxiii. 15, 16. 
 
 § ICor. xvi.2,&c. |l Rev. i. 10. 
 
In Point of Religious Institutions. 243 
 
 intimates that they are in a peculiar manner devoted to him for 
 no common display of his glory. If this day, then, be the Lord's 
 day, it must be specially devoted to him in religious services. 
 The friends affirm that " every day is the Lord's day." This is 
 mere shuffling to evade the argument. St. John fixes by these 
 terms, the precise pjeriod on which he received his holy revela- 
 tions. It was on " the Lord's day ;" he could not without the 
 imputation of trifling, mean every day, or any day. This phrase 
 is, in fact, not singular nor obscure; its meaning is clearly deter- 
 mined in other particulars. Thus we say the " Lord's prayer," 
 the " Lord's supper." No man complains of the obscurity of 
 these phrases; we know distinctly at first view, what idea is 
 meant to be conveyed by them. Can any thing except preju- 
 •dice, prevent us from admitting that the phrase " Lord's day'''' 
 marks as distinctly the relation of that day to our Lord, as the 
 phrase " Lord's supper'''' does the relation of that institution to 
 him ? Will the Quaker admit that " every prayer is the Lord's 
 prayer ? that every supper is the Lord's supper ?" 
 
 But has not an apostle classed " Sabbath days" with the abol- 
 ished ceremonies of the Jews?* He has — and this, instead of 
 operating against our argument, confirms what we have been ad- 
 vancing. The sacred writers invariably use the term Sabbath in 
 the New Testament, when writing of the Jewish rest. And this 
 establishes the fact that they have abolished the seventh day 
 Sabbath. But the command given before the law of ceremonies to 
 keep a day of rest^ stands unrepealed. 
 
 Finally : the authentic records of the church establish the fact 
 that christians in every age of the new dispensation, have kept 
 the Sabbath on the first day of the week. The ancients men- 
 tion in explicit terms, not only the fact, but their reasons for do- 
 ing so. " Tlaxai m iv to/{ af^etioit t» T</U<of va^/Sarof, /jitrtBtxt J'i i Kufiot 
 
 T»i Tov erct^Saroti H^tp air t/c >ti/|)/«itm»."t " Of old there was among the 
 ancients the honourable Sabbath ; but our Lord changed the day 
 of Sabbath to the Lord's day." 
 
 Now if this had not thesanctionof our Lord, it was an unwar- 
 
 • Barclay's Obj. from Col. ii. 16. 
 
 t Athanasius In Homul. deSemente. and B. D. Moor Com. ii. p. 829, 
 also see Bingh. Orig. Eccles. vol. v. lib. 13, c. 9, 10, and vol. ix. lib. 20, 
 -'. 2. Turret, vol. ii. 85, &c. 
 
244 On the Defects of their System 
 
 rantable innovation ; if so, when was it made ? In no age posterior 
 to the apostolical, for we can trace it up to that period. If an 
 innovation, by whom was it first made? by an individual? No 
 uninspired person could move the church to an innovation so 
 general. By a particular church ? no particular church could 
 dictate to the church universal. By the whole church perhaps 
 this custom v.a- iitroduced; but where did that ever meet in 
 council? Never, unless in the sacred college of the apostles ; and 
 to no other source can we trace the origin of this change. Our 
 ix>rd withdrew the peculiarities of Judaism. Their Sabbath re- 
 ceded with the rest ; the original precept was recognised to be in 
 full force: and these inspired ministers of Christ acted under its 
 authority, and set us a sure and safe example. 
 
 If these things are so, there must be a radical defect in that 
 system which rejects the moral obligation to keep the Lord's 
 day; and no human authority or contrivance can supply what is 
 thence lacking. But they do assemble for worship on the Sabbath ; 
 and, as if to make atonement for the violence which their father's 
 offered to the fourth commandment, they do observe, with equal 
 solemnity, another day in the week besides that. But the Sab- 
 bath which they keep is, on their plea, not enjoined by the au- 
 thority of heaven ; and if it be not enjoined, it is a human device, 
 unwarrantably intruded into the service of their Creator. And- 
 hence they place themselves by the side of those to whom the 
 Most High has said, '' Who hath required this at your hands ? the 
 calling of assemhlies I cannot army u-ith. It is iniquity even the so- 
 lemn meeting.^'* They keep a Sabbath, and another day, and 
 have no divine authority for it ! — 1'his is to be set down with the 
 works of supererogation; it is a kind of venturous rivalship in 
 his Holiness' zeal, who instead of resting in the number of sacra- 
 ments fixed by the authority of heaven, has liberally provided 
 his church with seven : or in that of the still more liberal Dr. 
 Deacon of England, whose burning zeal has swelled the list of 
 the sacraments to twelve!! Hence on the principles of the 
 Friends, their meeting for worship on First-days is not required 
 by any law of God. It is therefore, on their part, an act of de- 
 liberate zcill zvorship in the sight of God ! 
 
 ♦ Isa. i. 12, IS. f See his " View of Christianity." oz\.?i.vo. Publish- 
 ed in the year J 748. 
 
In Point nf Jleligious Institutions — Baptism. 245 
 
 § 2. Of the Holy Sacraments, — In the house of God, there are, 
 besides the preaching of the gospel, the holy sacraments. By 
 the former, divine truths are conveyed to us by the sense of hear- 
 ing; by the latter, passing through a variety of the senses, they 
 strike the mind with deeper force. '* Wert thou a soul without a 
 body," said the eloquent Chrysosthom, " our Lord would have 
 conveyed to thee his gifts naked, and without sensible signs : but 
 as thy soul is united to thy body, he has delivered them by visi- 
 ble tilings." Thus he employs means adapted to our nature. By 
 the preaching of the gospel he produces faith ; by the sacraments 
 he confirms it in our diffident and wavering minds, and seals his 
 love upon our hearts. 
 
 These sacraments are two : Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 
 
 The society has rejected both of these institutions. This is 
 the necessary consequence of the first error of their system. 
 Their Christ and their worship are wholly within. Those ordi- 
 nances, therefore, which direct their minds to that Christ, and 
 to those objects without them, are not only useless, but positively 
 injurious. They ought, of course, to cease ; and they have ceased. 
 This is their doctrine and the form of their defence.* And all 
 else that is offered by their advocates, resemble the stratagems 
 of a retreating enemy. They are merely hindrances thrown 
 up to prevent a pursuit. They do not pretend to be guided by 
 the scriptures. Their guide is within them. But they deem it 
 lawful for them to take the benefit of all that they can produce 
 out of them, in the shape of objections, against those who make 
 the Holy Bible the standard of truth and duty. 
 
 Of Baptism. — "K«» viJy t///sX7.«/{' Av^yac ^a.vritrai.^'' — The follow- 
 ing is the whole amount of their objections to this institution. 
 " There is but one baptism. That one baptism is not water baptism. 
 It is Christ*s baptism of the Holy Ghost. Water baptism was only 
 the figure of the baptism of the Spirit. The latter has been conferred 
 071 us. The former^ therefore, has ceasec/."t 
 
 The argument is founded on a false assumption, and the whole 
 body of it is a combination of error and sophistry. 
 
 * The argument that takes away their light within, and their revela- 
 tions, takes away this doctrine and their argument, 
 •j- Bar. Thes. and Prop. xii. 
 
246 OJ their Defects in Point of Divine 
 
 For, first — The word baptize, in its original and universal ac- 
 ceptation, signifies to wash ; and it implies as necessarily the pre- 
 sence and use of water, as the phrase, to rain, does the falling of 
 water. It is used, like many other terms, in a figurative sense. 
 But when it is used in that sense, it is always qualified by words, 
 which leave no doubt of what is intended. Thus, " He will bap- 
 tize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.'''' So is the phrase " to 
 rahfC used in a figurative sense. " God rained manna and fiesh 
 from heaven.'^'' But when the simple term " baptize'''' is used, it can 
 no more imply the baptism of the Holy Ghost, than the term 
 " rain'^ can imply the fall of manna, or of flesh ; and this original 
 and classical meaning of the word is not to be departed from, 
 unless the authority of the context shall clearly decide that a 
 figurative sense is intended. Far less should it be confounded 
 ^ith any thing more remote from this signification.* 
 
 Second — The term baptize is in several instances used in a 
 figurative sense, and each of these instances brings to view a dif- 
 ferent kind of baptism. The fathers distinguished them into 
 three classes.! The first is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
 There are six texts in which this kind is mentioned ; and a single 
 expression of our Lord clearly determines in what sense these 
 are to be understood. " Ye," the apostles, " shall be baptized with 
 the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.'''' This took place on the day 
 of Pentecost. Hence this baptism difl^ered from the baptism of 
 John, both in manner and in design. In the latter, water was 
 used as the sacred symbol. The candidate professed his faith 
 in Christ, and pledged himself in solemn vows to repent of his 
 sins, and to lead a pious life. In the former no water was used. 
 There appeared in the baptized apostles " cloven tongues like as 
 offire.^''X They spoke in foreign tongues, and received other 
 miraculous powers. As to the latter, our Lord and his disciples 
 
 * I have known well informed Quakers assert not only that " baptism'* 
 meant the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but that in the commission of the 
 apostles, Matth. xxviii. 19, it is perfectly synonymous with the words" to 
 teach ;" and Barclay, with the rage which possesses the society of putting 
 all nnthin them, makes the water John iii. 5, to be inward mystical iva- 
 ter I p. 455. 
 
 f " Baptismus, 1. Flaminis, 2. Luminis, 3. Sanguinis. [The 4. (flu- 
 minis) is laater ba/iti/nn.'} 
 
 ± Math. iii. 22. Mark i. 8. Ltike iii. 16. John i. 33. Actsi. 5, and 
 ch- xi. 16. 
 
Ordinances. — Baptism, 2411 
 
 even in the days of John, " made and baptized more disciples than 
 John^ But the baptism of the Holy Ghost was not conferred 
 until our Lord had ascended ; and this distinction is thus clearly 
 marked by the highest authority. " As yet the Holy Ghost had 
 fallen upon none of them ; only they -were baptized in the name of 
 JesusJ'''* 
 
 The second is the baptism of doctrine. " The baptism of John, 
 whence was it ?" They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and 
 in the ^ea." 
 
 The third is the baptism of blood. " / have a baptism to be 
 baptized with.''"' This took place in the garden of Gethsemane, 
 when our Lord's " sweat was as great drops of blood falling down 
 oti the groitn J."t 
 
 And we may add a fourth ; the inward baptism of the Holy 
 Spirit, which, together with the outward baptism by water, makes 
 the one baptism common to all true christians. This is intended 
 in the following words. " By one spirit are toe all baptized into 
 one body.^' This is to be carefully distinguished from " the bap- 
 tism of the Holy Ghost.X The apostles most certainly had the 
 grace of God in them long before the day of Pentecost. After 
 they were baptized with water ; after they had been baptized by 
 the Spirit, then, into one body, our Lord said, " ye shall be bap- 
 tized zoith the Holy Ghost not many days hence,'''' It is evident, 
 therefore, that at their baptism with water, or at any rate, at Uie 
 moment of their conversion, they " xoere baptized by the Spirit,''' 
 At Pentecost, they were baptized with the Holy Ghost. The 
 first was the baptism of the Spirit in his saving and special in- 
 fluences. The last was the baptism of the Spirit in his miracu- 
 lous gifts. The first regarded them as true christians ; the last 
 qualified them as true apostles. I have not met with a Quaker 
 or a Quaker writer who does not invariably confound these two, 
 as they always do confound the saving gifts with the miraculous 
 gifts of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 ♦ Acts viii. 16, 17. See Pool. Synops. iiiMatth. iii. 11. 
 
 t Luke xii. 50. See also Mark x. 39. 
 
 4^ These three are distinctly mentioned in the narrative of Paul's con- 
 version. He was baptized by the spirit of special grace, Acts ix. 6 and- 
 11 — I)y the " Holy Gliost" in his extraordinary gifts, verse 17, compared 
 Avith ch. viii. 15, &c. and by the baptism of water under the ministry of 
 Ananias. " Arise and be baptized." " And he arose and was baptized." 
 Ch. xxii. 16. 
 
248 Of the Defects of their System in Foint of 
 
 We have thus made it out, that there is a plurality of baptisms. 
 And thus we have destroyed the ground-work of Barclay, and 
 the society's fabric — " that there is but one baptism.^^ 
 
 Third : Since there is a plurality of baptisms, we must explain 
 that much injured quotation,* — " There is one baptism^'' according 
 to the analogy of faith. In exhorting christians to unity, the 
 apostle brings a forcible motive from the facts, that " there is one 
 Lord, one faith, one baptism.'^ This is very different from the turn 
 which the apologist gives to the text : he saj^s, " there is but one 
 baptism."! Were a mediator to interpose his good offices be- 
 tween two contending powers, and exhort them to forbearance 
 and peace, by reminding them that they were brethren, original- 
 ly of one family, and that they had one language, could it be 
 justly inferred that he asserted that " there was but one language? 
 — would it not lie evident that he fixes on one that is common to 
 both ; while he omits the mention of others that Avere foreign to 
 his subject. On this principle we explain the expression — you 
 have " one baptism" common to you as christians ; you are all 
 baptized with the same clement ; j'ou have the same renovation 
 of mind and spirit, which is signified and sealed by this external 
 rite. It includes the same profession of faith in your common 
 Lord ; it binds you to the same duties. He could not have 
 brought a motive from any other baptism: no other baptism was 
 common to them all. And this " one baptism'''' according to the 
 literal and classical meaning of the word, is that baptism which 
 we advocate, and which we practise. 
 
 Hence Barclay's first position is false in fact, and it is founded 
 on a deception. He puts the term " ftwi" into this sacred clause 
 of our Saviour's testament ; and had it been a human testament, 
 it would have been felony in law ; and he makes the divine in- 
 strument say " there is but one baptism." And on this fraud he 
 builds his miserable sophism ! 
 
 But even allowing him all the benefit of this fraud — allowing 
 that there " is but one baptism,^'' his doctrine has no foundation 
 here ; for the church teaches tliat the outward means and the 
 inward grace, are the " one baplisrn" common to all true believers. 
 By the outward baptism of water " they put on Chris f^ by profeS' 
 
 * From Eph. iv. 6. f Bar. Apol. Prop. xii. sect. 3. p. 427. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — Baptism. 249 
 
 sion ; and thence have the common relation of membership to 
 each other. By the inward baptism of the spirit '•'• they put on 
 Chrisf \n reality: and thence have the common relation of God's 
 children. 
 
 This is a point on which I never could get a Quaker to do the 
 church justice. While we do carefully distinguish these two, we 
 do not separate them. We do not advocate water baptism to 
 the exclusion of the baptism of the spirit; we do not expect to 
 obtain the latter without employing the former ; we do not con- 
 sider the outward baptism to be the component part of the in- 
 ward. No — the last bears the relation to the first which the 
 end bears to the means. And this connexion is established 
 clearly, and by the highest authority.* 
 
 Did the Friends make themselves acquainted with the senti- 
 ments of the church, on this distinction between the means and 
 the grace, and on the nature of the connexion between the means 
 and the end, they certainly had not brought against her these 
 erroneous imputations.! Their error lies in taking it for granted 
 that we confound the external baptism with the internal ; that we 
 make water baptism the whole baptism intended; or tiiat we 
 make the former in such a way a part of the latter, that where 
 the one is, there must be the other. 
 
 This distinction between the means and the grace, is marked 
 in a striking manner by that much injured text. " Baptism doth 
 also now save us, not the putting away of the filth ofthefiesh.'''\ 
 
 Here two baptisms are mentioned. The Friends admit this. 
 The apostle does not set aside as unnecessary, either the one or 
 the other; he carefully distinguishes them, and assigns to each its 
 own distinct place in our salvation. "" Baptism saves ws," but it 
 is "vioi the putting away of the filth of the flesh.''' It is not the ex- 
 ternal washing that is the whole baptism. It does " save us ;" 
 but it is only as the means ; it represents ; it seals ; it applies the 
 blood of Christ: and it is by the blood of Christ alone, applied 
 through his institutions, by the Divine Spirit, that we are saved. 
 
 It is on this text that Barclay — that the whole society hang up 
 
 * In Mark xvi. 16, and Eph. v. 26. Gal. iii. 27. 
 
 t That our doctrine will infer that all those who are baptized will have 
 *' fiiU on Christ,^' and will be saved. % 1 Pet. iii. 21. 
 
 35 
 
350 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 that weight, the sin which besets them. " Water haptism^^ say 
 thej, " «A- not the putting away of the flth of the flesh — therefore wa- 
 ter baptism is not the true baptism.'''* This is worse than sophistry ; 
 it is an absurdity 5 it is paramount to this : Because the means 
 are not the blessed agent ; because the means are not the blessed 
 etFect; therefore, there is no necessity for the use of means, it 
 is not only an absurd objection, it has a licentious tendency ; it 
 will detract from the honour of every ordinance of the Most 
 High. Circumcision, for instance, was certainly enjoined by 
 divine authority. The apostle explaining the use of it, says 
 " Neither is that circumcision which is in the flesh ; but circumcision 
 IS that of the heart in the spirit.''^ Had Barclay — had any Quaker 
 been introduced to Abraham, or to Moses, he would have rea- 
 soned thus : as he has argued against baptism. " The outward 
 act of circumcision is not the circumcision of the heart; and it is 
 certain that the outward cannot produce the inward : that of the 
 heart, therefore, is the only true circumcision. And it is unwar- 
 rantable and trifling in you, Abraham, and in you, Moses, to cir- 
 cumcise the foreskin of the flesh !" Verily the children 
 
 of our modern Zipporahs have reason to offer up daily gratitude 
 to God, because they do not live under the ancient order of 
 things ! The tavern scene of Moses might be repeated to them 
 with circumstances of encreased terror and destruction ! 
 
 Every Quaker who walks devoutly in the steps of Barclay, 
 makes baptism, by water, the figure of baptism by the Holy 
 Ghost; and, gravely asserts that because the latter has come, 
 the former has past away. But, unhappily for this argument, it 
 is built on a false assumption. There is not, on the page of holy 
 writ, even an insinuation that baptism, by water, is the figure of 
 the baptism of the Holy Ghost; and that the first was to cease 
 when the last was conferred is assumed without proof. Nay, it 
 is assumed in the face of the clearest evidence to the contrary. 
 At Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Ghost took place. And, 
 it is evident, that under the eyes of the apostles, special care 
 was taken in the succeeding ages, during the purest days of 
 
 * This is borrowed from Barclay, Apol.Prop.xii. sect. 1 and 4, proofs 
 4 and :>, by Pike on Bapt. p. II, A. 1) 170o. The objection is on tlie lips 
 of every Quaker wlio doeb possess an idea on the subject. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — Baptism. 251 
 
 the church, that all who embraced the gospel should be bap- 
 tized with water.* 
 
 The Quakers have resorted to the following words for an ar- 
 gument against baptism. They are the words of John. " He 
 mvst increase ; hut I must decrease.'''' Before this can assume the 
 form of an effective argument, the critics of the society must 
 make it out, by some singular process of argument, that John and 
 water baptism were one individual thing — and must decrease 
 
 before Christ and his baptism which must be also one 
 
 and the same thing — according to their premises ! 
 
 Fourth : This doctrine of the society involves in it a series of 
 contradictions. The true and literal meaning of the word " bap- 
 tize,*" say they, is not to baptize with water, but with the Holy 
 Ghost. — This supposition sets aside the authority of the Greek 
 classics : it supposes that the figurative use of words existed be- 
 fore their natural and original sense : it makes language vao-ue 
 and uncertain : it denies that the sacred penman used the cur- 
 rent language of Greece : that he imposed arbitrary meaning on 
 words, to the manifest deception of his readers. If this suppo- 
 sition be true, the apostles were without grace, and without 
 faith, and without the love of God — until the day of Pen- 
 tecost, when they were baptized with the Holy Ghost. If this 
 supposition be true, then no man is baptized — that is, on their 
 principles, no man has the Holy Spirit, who has not, like the 
 apostles, extraordinary gifts, and can work miracles. This sup- 
 position is made in the face of holy writ. For some " rcere bap- 
 tized in the name of the Lord Jesus, on zvhoni the Holy Ghost had not 
 yet fallen.^^t If this supposition be true, the apostles must have 
 baptized " with the Holy Ghost," those who had the Holy 
 Ghost. The centurion, for instance, and his attendants, and 
 Crispus, were devout worshippers of the true God.J And they 
 must, therefore, have been endued with the Holy Spirit. And 
 yet, after this proof of their having the Spirit, the apostle order- 
 ed them to be baptized — that is, on their principle, they 
 conferred on them the Holy Ghost. If this supposition be true, 
 the apostle who exhorted the people in these words, " repent and 
 
 * Acts ii. 38, &c. &c. f Acts viii. 18. X Acts x. 2 and 48, xviii. 8. 
 
252 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 hfi baptized, every one of you, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost^'' 
 is held up as an idle proser, publishing this truism — which need- 
 ed no powers of inspiration to dictate it — " Be baptized with the 
 Holy Ghost, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost,'''' 
 
 Fifth: The sentiments of the society slander the venerable 
 and inspired apostles. Peter having perceived that the " Holy 
 Ghost had fallen'''' on his Gentile audience, made this appeal to 
 every heart present: " Can any man forbid water that these should 
 not be baptized r* And he commanded them to be baptized. Bar- 
 clay admits the fact that the apostle did baptize with water. 
 What! after Pentecost? after the baptism of the Ploly Ghost? 
 Has he surrendered the point? — No, it is saved by the good old 
 convenient maxim — " What will not bend must break." He 
 impugns the authority of the apostle ; he denies that the fact 
 proves the right] he denies that he had any authority to baptize 
 with water. He ranks this action of the apostle by the side of 
 an error which he ventures to ascribe to him, " that he constrain- 
 ed the Gentiles in general, to be circumcised ;"t and leaves his 
 readers to infer that the baptism with water was as unwarrant- 
 able as this.J Oh ! the impious daring of men, whom dis- 
 tinguished talents have thrown forward into the first ranks of 
 error ! And whose unholy hands labour to subdue every thing 
 
 to the measure of their system The venerable apostle 
 
 had been called to account for trespassing the limits which na- 
 tional prejudice had fixed between the Jews and the Gentiles : 
 he had justified himself in the presence of the apostles, by a de- 
 tail of the circumstances which led him to it: he had appealed 
 to his Lord for the authority under which he had acted, in teach- 
 ing and baptizing the Gentiles. '"' IVhat was I that I could withstand 
 God f On hearing this, friends and foes " held their peace.'''' They 
 
 * Acts X. 47. t Apol. Prop. xii. sect. 9. 
 
 ■\. There is no eviclenci; tiiat St. Peter constrained the Gentiles to be 
 circumcised. He was rebuked by another apostle for dissembling, and 
 for compelling the Gentiles " ^o live like the Jews." Gal. ii. 11. But 
 this does not involve the charge of Barclay. And it is certain tliat in the 
 Synod of Jerusalem in A. D. 52, Peter did publicly contend that the Gen- 
 tiles sAo^i/c/ not be circumcised. Acts xv. And even admitting, for a mo- 
 ment, that St. Peter had neen gaihy of this, he would have been tram- 
 pling on the decree of the Syn.d of Jerusalem ; which set the Gentiles 
 free from circumcision. Hence even on Barclay's ground the two cases 
 are not parallel. Barclay does, therefore, slander St. Peter. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — Baptism. 253 
 
 ceased to blame. " T%ey glorified God''' for what was done. It 
 was reserved for a Catholic college of Paris to produce a pupil 
 who should refuse " to hold his peace,'''' and who should condemn 
 the holy aposde: — aye, and the whole college of the apostles! 
 Nor does the sanctity of the apostle Paul escape their severity. 
 They represent him as actually asserting that he had no com- 
 mission to baptize ;* and yet they allow, he did baptize with wa- 
 ter. But he had a commission; he had it in common with the 
 
 rest ; " Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them And he did 
 
 baptize with water.! This is a valuable comment on the mean- 
 ing of the terms in the commission. It is not once to be laid in 
 the balance with the theories of system makers; and his words 
 which are abused to a foreign purpose, must be explained in a 
 manner consistent with his commission and his actual practice. 
 " Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach.^^ That is, he was sent 
 not '■^principally to baptize.'^ This work belonged chiefly to the 
 ordinary ministers of the church. He was sent chiefly to preach 
 and plant churches ; for this was the weighty duty of an apostle.J 
 
 Sixth — The doctrine of the society involves in it something 
 worse than contradictions. That baptism in the commission of 
 the apostles, they make to be the baptism of the Holy Ghost :§ 
 and this" baptism of the Holy Ghost includes his special influences 
 and his miraculous powers. With this baptism, the apostles, say 
 they, did baptize their audiences. And thus the apostles had 
 power to give the Holy Ghost, in his saving influences, and in 
 his miraculous gifts. 
 
 Every Quaker is in the habit of making invidious distinctions 
 between Christ's baptism and water baptism. The last is only 
 
 * Barclay's Apol. Prop. xi. sect. 7. p. 442. 
 
 t The society admits that he baptized with water ; for otherwise it 
 would follow that he " thanked God that he bajitlzed feiv'"' with the Holy 
 Ghost ; or that he was not " sent to bajitize'' with the Holy Ghost, 1 
 Cor. i. 14, 16. 
 
 X The practice of St. Peter throws a clear lig:ht on this fact. He did 
 not baptize the converts himself, he " commanded them to be baptized^* 
 Actsx. 38. In the following passage we ha\e an instance nt ilie nega- 
 tive term " nof used in the above sense. " / desired mercy and not 
 sacrifice.'" Hos. vi. 6. Matth. ix. 13. Sacrifices were enjoined by dn ine 
 authority ; but mercy was required firinci/ia/ly. In the foUouing texts 
 the critic may find additional instances. Jcr. vii. 22. 23. 1 Pet- iii. 3, 4 
 John XV. 22, 24, &c. § Bar. Apol. Prop. xii. p. 450. 
 
254 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 a washing in water. The first made by the Holy Spirit. Men 
 may baptize with water. Christ only could baptize with the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 But, when they are pressed for an argument against the apos- 
 tles' commission " to haplize with zoater,''^ they spontaneously give 
 up this distinction. They cease to claim for Christ the exclusive 
 honour of baptizing with the Holy Ghost. They even advocate 
 warmly what before they were sure was wrong. They are cer- 
 tain that the apostles — that men did baptize with the Holy Ghost* 
 
 The baptism of the Holj' Ghost cannot be elfected by man. It 
 is infinitely beyond the reach of human power. It is competent 
 to God alone. Hence the language held by the holy scriptures. 
 '■'■He will baptize you zoith the Holy G/iosf." " The Father ivill send 
 ym the Holy Ghost.'''' There is no evidence that a commission is 
 given to man to baptize with this baptism. In no place is it on 
 record that man has done it, or that man can do it. 
 
 If the apostles baptized with the Holy Ghost, they did it either 
 as the agents or as the means. Not as the agents could they do 
 it.t They could not usurp the prerogative of God. In all their 
 official deeds they occupied the humble stations of instruments ; 
 IV hose movements, and whose very existence were absolutely at 
 the divine disposal. And it is a maxim resting on the highest 
 authority, and useful in leading the critic into the correct mean- 
 ing of many passages of sacred writ, that our Lord and his min- 
 isters are said " to do that which the means employed by them have a 
 moral tendency to produce.^''l Apply this to the different baptisms 
 of the Spirit. St. Paul was sent to " open the eyes of the blind, to 
 htm from the ponder of Satan to God.^"* This he did, simply by 
 publishing and expounding the truths of the gospel. He dis- 
 claimed all agency that might be suspected of trenching on the 
 honour of his Lord. " Paul may plant, Apollos may water, but God 
 giveth the increase.'''' On the contrary, if his teaching had, as the 
 Quakers say, been his act of baptizing with the Holy Ghost, his 
 gifts would have been as extensive and as general as his teaching 
 among the Gentiles. 
 
 * Barclay is very positive on this. See Prop. xii. sect. 8, p. 450. 
 t Barclay says, yes, as instruments — p. 450. 
 
 t See some fine illustrations and proofs of this in Ezek. xxiv. 13. Matth. 
 xxiii. 37. Acts xxvi. 18, &c. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — Baptism. 255 
 
 Let us also extend this to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as 
 it respects, most properly, his miraculous gifts. The apostles 
 implored heaven for these gifts. As they prayed, they laid their 
 hands on those for whom they besought them. This action was 
 a sign by which they marked out to their audience the person on 
 whom the gift was to be conferred ; and it was done not without 
 a prophetic impulse, by which they knew that their prayers were 
 heard, and that the Holy Ghost Avas about to fall on the indi-* 
 vidual. Their wills could not dictate to infinite sovereignty. 
 Their power could not regulate the operations of Omnipotence. 
 They could not give the Holy Ghost. The divine promise had 
 secured the possession of these gifts to them and to the church. 
 The means were resorted to in due form, and it was while in the 
 humble and devout use of these means, that the Holy Ghost, in 
 perfect sovereignty, " came on the.m.'''"^ Man had no higher 
 agency than this : and it was Simon Magus only who had con- 
 ceived the execrable idea that the apostles had the supernatural 
 gifts at their command, and could, at their pleasure, by the act 
 of laying on their hands, confer the Holy Ghost.f Simon Magus, 
 therefore, is the patron of this doctrine, that men could baptize with 
 the Holy Ghost. It belongs not to us. It is no part of the code 
 of truth. The curse of St. Peter has barred it from the sanc- 
 tuary of the Lord ! 
 
 This is the amount of the society's objections against baptism. 
 The following apology for our holy baptism we submit to the 
 candour of those of the society who have the courage to shake 
 oft" the fetters of their law, which, with an inquisitorial spirit, in- 
 terdicts the reading of all books not of their index. 
 
 The origin of this institution is not to be traced to the sprink- 
 lings in the Jewish church. It began under the ministry of John 
 the baptist ; and he belonged not to the dispensation of the Old 
 Testament, but to that of the New.^ He announced the high 
 authority under which he acted. God " sent me to baptize.''' The 
 word of God came unto John.'' He came preaching the baptism of 
 repentance.§ This baptism, wc have shown, was different from 
 the '^baptism of the Holy Ghost.'' The latter did not take place 
 
 * Acts xix. 6. t See Acts viii. 17, 18, and xix- 6. + Mark i, 
 
 1, 2. § John i. 33. Luke iii. 2, 3. 
 
256 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 until Pentecost. But Christ and his disciples " made and bap- 
 tized more disciples than John ;" even in the lifetime of the baptist.* 
 Can we venture to suppose the disciples did take on them to 
 baptize without a commission from our Lord ?t Is it conceivable 
 that our Lord would permit it without a rebuke? Is it conceivable 
 that he would permit his own servants to intrude on his house an 
 institution that never received his sanction ? No, never. They 
 practised it under his eye. He " made and baptized disciples''^ by 
 them. He gave, therefore, in most unequivocal terms, his sanc- 
 tion to this ordinance. He sealed it with the seal of heaven. 
 Nothing but sheer prejudice of sectarism can repel the evi- 
 dence of its divine origin thus spread over the first pages of the 
 gospel. 
 
 When our Lord met his disciples, previous to his departure 
 to glory, he extended their commission. " Go ye into all the 
 world ; teach all nations ; baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 arid of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And, Lo! I am with you 
 always, even to the end of the world.''"' It is evident that he extends 
 the commission to the pastors who should, in continuous succes- 
 sion, officiate in his house. It was only by a succession of pas- 
 tors that " all nations^^ could be taught, and baptized.| To his 
 immediate disciples, and to their successors in the pastoral 
 office, therefore, he pledges his divine presence and support in 
 their official duties. • And these duties were " the teaching and 
 haptizing of all nations.'''' These two, we have shown, cannot be 
 the same thing. They are as distinct as was John's preaching 
 from his " water baptism.'''' And the distinction is founded in 
 common sense. It is obvious to the mind of all who are not fet- 
 tered down by a system. 
 
 But the promise of support and presence by our Lord extends 
 to his servants in theii- official operations among all nations : and 
 " to the end of the world.^^ Hence the holy ordinance of baptism 
 is secured to the church in perpetual duration. The Lord 
 Jesus will support it through every generation, until the last 
 trumpet shall announce his descent to the general judgment. 
 
 ♦ John iii. 22, andiv. 1, 2. 
 
 f The leading Quakers have always asserted in positive terms that they 
 did ! Pike on Baptism, p. 23, Lond. 1703. 
 
 X Either their successors in the ministry must be included, or the 
 apostle^ must have been supposed to live to "the end of the ivorld." 
 
Divine Ordivances. — Baptism. 257 
 
 It is mere trifling on solemn matters to say — and yet Bar- 
 clay, their measure and rule of orthodoxy, does say it — that 
 there is no mention of " wafer'''' in that commission of our Lord 
 to us.* When " John was sent to baptize" there was no " men- 
 tion of water." But his practice was a plain comment on 
 a very plain term. The point needs no laboured arguments — 
 no profound dissertations. We appeal to the vocabulary and 
 the lexicon for the meaning of the term. We have the literal 
 meaning of it fixed by all Greece, to support us. If any other 
 baptism had been intended by our Lord, the intentional de- 
 parture from the common acceptation of the word would have 
 been frankly and honestly stated. It would have been qualified 
 by some terms. It would have been qualified by the words 
 " spirit,''^ and '■'■ Jire.^'' Besides, the baptism of Christ's disciples 
 was the same as the baptism of John. And John baptized with 
 water.! In short, to no other baptism can the words of the 
 
 * This is actually found in Prop. xii. sect. 8. p. 446. 
 
 f The denying of this would not matei-ially affect my argument — yet 
 I must say a few words in support of the identity of these baptisms. The 
 baptism of John and tlie baptism of Christ were the same in their di- 
 vine origin ; and the same as it respects the element, and tlie mode of 
 applying it. In both the parties baptized did profess their faith in Christ. 
 Acts xix, 4. arid also their repentance. Luke iii. 3. The baptism of 
 John was the baptism of the gospel. It was in practice after " the be- 
 ginning of the gospel." Mark i. 1. It testified of Christ actually come. 
 The prophets prophesied, and the ceremonial law now in foice until 
 John. Matth. xi. 13. In him they were fulfilled. And in hmi, of course, 
 the shadows ceased. Hence it is obvious that Joim's baptism was a new 
 Testament rite. But the baptism of the New Testament " is one." 
 Eph. IV. 5. Therefore the ba])tism of John and of Christ are the same. 
 Some critics have conceived that they have discovered proofs of John's 
 disciples having again been baptized. But there is no evidence ot this in 
 the New Testamtnt. In Acts xix. v. 1, 6, the enquiry which St. Paul 
 made of the disciples, was ?;o^ wliether they were baptized, but whether 
 " theij had received the Holy Ghost ;" that is, in his miraculous gifts, 
 since they believed. Water baptism was not the subject of their con- 
 fei'ence. And, upon hearing their answer that " they had not so much 
 as heard of the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost, Paul laid his hands on 
 them, and the Holy Ghost came upon them. The 5th verse is not a 
 part of the narrative of St. Luke. It is the continuation of St. Paul's 
 address. It contains a statement of John's doctrine; the nature of his 
 baptism ; and what his disciples did. " IV/ien they" the disciples of 
 John, ^"^ heard this," i. e John's doctrine respecting Christ, "■ they were 
 baptized," i. e. by John "■in the name of Jesus Christ." This is the 
 opinion of the ablest critics and fathers of the reformation. Turretine 
 on the identity of the two baptisms, vol. iii. p. 444. Bern, de Moore, vol. 
 V. 396-402. vol. vi. 802. And on the last point see Tur. hi. p. 448. Beza, 
 Marnixius, Cocceius, &c. I. Mark, Medul. and Comp. in B, D. Moore, 
 
 36 
 
258 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 commission be referred. And, least of all, to the baptism of the 
 Holj Ghost. Our Lord, and none but he, can baptize with the 
 Holy Ghost. He could not permit — he could not enjoin his dis- 
 ciples to encroach on his own preroa;ative. He could not lay 
 on them the burden of toiling in a physical impossibility ! 
 
 This is our argument. And in addition to this, I shall add a 
 specimen of proof, which might be pursued to a considerable 
 length, from those texts which convey strong assurances of the 
 perpetual obligations of baptism. 
 
 1. " Except a man be born of the water and of the spirit he can- 
 not enter the kingdom of God.'''' To be " born of the spiriC is an 
 expression that needs no explanation here. All refer it to the 
 moral change of the heart under the irresistible energies of the 
 spirit. "" To be born of the water,'''' was a phrase of such current 
 use among the Jews, that its meaning was distinctly understood 
 by every one. When a man renounced paganism he was re- 
 ceived into the community of the church by baptism. This era 
 was to him the commencement of a new life. He was said em- 
 phatically " to be born.'''' And as he was initiated into this life by 
 baptism, he was said, by a most natural figure, to have been 
 " born of water*'' when he was baptized.* Our Lord, therefore, 
 declared, in language familiar to his audience, and very intel- 
 ligible to us, that unless we be baptized ivith water, and re- 
 novated by the Spirit^ we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. 
 The first is the necessary means. The last is the essential quali- 
 fication. 
 
 2. " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'*'' According 
 
 vol. V. p. 401, &c. who gives Mark's ybwr arguments agamst the ana- 
 bafitism of John's disciples. 
 
 Dilemma, 1. If the baptism of John was not the baptism of the New 
 Testriment, then our Lord was not baptized — and hence he wanted that 
 toward the New Testament church, which, by circumcision, he had to- 
 •ward the Old Testament church. 
 
 2. Hence the argument of St. Paul is enervated " one Lord, one faith, 
 one b ptism." OurLoidhad not one oi the bonds of union and com- 
 munion said here to exist between each saint and himself. 
 
 3. Hence there can be no meaning in our Lord's words when he came 
 to he baptized. If not of the New Testament, it could not be a part of 
 his righteousness to be fulfilled. 
 
 • Selden Di Tu. Nat. et Gent. p. 158, 159. Edit. 166S. Lightfoot, vol. 
 i. p. 5-25 5:7. Wall's Hist, of Bap. vol. i. Introd, Lond. 1705. Bennet's 
 Confut. Quak. p. 27&. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — Baptism. 259 
 
 to the plain and literal meaning of the term, the baptism here 
 intended is the baptism of water. And, as our Lord establishes 
 a positive and moral connexion between baptism and faith, the 
 one shall endure as long as the other shall be found on the 
 earth. 
 
 Again : To enforce the duty of cultivating union and peace -in 
 the church, the spirit of inspiration has placed the right of bap- 
 tism by the side of faith ; and thence produces a powerful mo= 
 live from the fact that these are common to all true christians. — 
 " Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one 
 faith, one Lord, one baptism,^^ Now, it has been shown that this 
 baptism is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is baptism by 
 water — not excluding, as already explained, the inward gracd 
 thereby signified. The baptism of the Holy Ghost, in his mira- 
 culous powers, was not common to all. It was conferred on a 
 small portion of the members of the church. It could not, with 
 any propriety, be adduced as an argument in this matter. A 
 particular premise cannot, without the grossest violation of the 
 rules of sound argument, be made to produce a general con- 
 clusion. But, the baptism to which we allude, was common to 
 every christian. Now, it is the unity of this common tie that is 
 brought to enjoin a great and lasting moral duty. And it is 
 placed by the side of faith, for this moral object. Since, there- 
 fore, this institution is ranked with faith, and is employed to en- 
 force a moral duty of perpetual obligation, it is a fair inference 
 that baptism, like faith, shall be of perpetual existence in the 
 church. 
 
 Last — " Ye are the body of Christ, and -members in particular.'''' 
 " By one Spirit are zee all baptized into one body." The first truth 
 established here, is, " that Christ and believers are one body." The 
 next is, that there is a double bond of union. The spirit, who 
 was given to our Lord without measure, rests also on us. This 
 is one common bond. The next is baptism, by which, as the 
 means of divine wisdom, the Holy Spirit is conferred on us. 
 This baptism, for the reasons already stated, could not be the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost. That was conferred on very few. 
 This baptism is common to all the saints, and, hence our Lord 
 was baptized with water: and as he came up out of the water 
 
260 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 the Holy Spirit descended on him. Whosoever, therefore, has not 
 been baptized with water, is not baptized as our Lord was. He wants 
 one of the bonds -ivkich constitute the grand union of the body mystical ! 
 The society entrench themselves behind the argument, that 
 Christ was circumcised ; and, if we must be baptized because he 
 was baptized, we must, by a parity of reason, be circumcised. 
 This is not an argument ; it is not even an objection. It is a 
 strong auxiliary to our argument. Our Lord was the head of 
 his body, the Old Testament church, as well as of the New Tes- 
 tament church. Hence he was circumcised. For, at the time 
 of his incarnation, it is evident, that " circumcision was the seal of 
 the righteousness of faith.^'* But, as the Lord of his church, he 
 introduced the new dispensation, with all its peculiar rites. He 
 abolished the ordinances of the old economy. Baptism has as- 
 sumed the place and office of circumcision 5! and the latter has 
 disappeared for ever. 
 
 § 3. The Lord's Supper. " Sacramenti vcritatem fraternitate 
 omni praesentecelebramus.-' — Cypr. Epist. 63, p. Ill, folio, 1593. 
 — The besetting sin of the society has here shown itself in a fresh 
 sally of extravagance, and without one redeeming quality. 
 
 One of their prophets, Naylor, while as yet the full blossom 
 of his honours was fresh on him, and before the nipping frost had 
 withered them and laid them low, came forward into the midst 
 of his sect, and boldly, as did the apostle who rebuked the Co- 
 rinthian church, pronounced an abolishing inspiration against 
 the Lord's supper! " fVhat I have received of the Lord, that I de- 
 clare unto you .... If you intend to sup with the Lord, or to shew 
 the Lord^s death until he come, let your eating and drinking, so often 
 
 * Rom. iv. 11. 
 
 t Coi. ii. 11. 12 — Circumcision, according to St. Paul, was ^' the seal 
 of the righteoiimicss of fuit/i.'" Rom.iv. 11. '■'■ The Lord thy God will 
 circumcise thine heart, cr'c-" Deiit. xxx- 6. It actually, therefore, did 
 represent, apply, and seal to the ancimt worshipper that which baptism 
 does represent, apply, and seal to us under the New Testament. 
 
 If there be no ordinance substituted to us and to our children, in the' 
 room of circumcision, we want an important means of grace which the 
 Jew and his children had : and our children must be deemed to be un- 
 churched — cut off from that membership in the church into which they 
 we'e introduced by God in the Abrahanuc covenant. Gen. xvii. 7, 10. 
 And hence our privileges, under this superior dispensation, must be ac- 
 tually abridged ! 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord's Suppei\ 261 
 
 as you do it, be in remembrance of him — that at death you may wit- 
 ness against excess. This is to have communion with his body and 
 blood?'"' 
 
 What degree of credence the society vouchsafed to the divini- 
 ty of this message, I shall not stop to enquire. It is too evident 
 that they have obeyed that Python in this particular, rather than 
 the apostle Paul, or even our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 That stretch of power which the primitive Friends exercised 
 from a long line of mystic predecessors, and by which they 
 struck from its place the holiest rite of Christianity, was followed 
 by another equal in boldness. That w as the substitution of the 
 mystic supper in the place of the Lord's supper. The folloAV- 
 ing outline of this unearthly thing is from the tedious pag€s of the 
 apologist. Christ has two bodies ; the outward body, and the 
 spiritual body : each of these is called Christ. The spiritual 
 body was veiled under the figures of the Old Testament; it was 
 also veiled, in some respects, under the body of Christ w hile on 
 earth.t This spiritual body is clothed with light; and he has 
 poured out into the hearts of all men a measure of that light by 
 which he is clothed. This light within is that body and blood 
 on which they feed ;| and their act of feeding on it, is their act 
 of " introversion." Their souls retire inward upon the light, and 
 sweetly partake of the life there. And this is done as often as 
 they meet in their assemblies ;§ or oftener, if they choose " to in- 
 trovert^^ upon the resources with which their souls arc richly 
 gifted ! 
 
 This extravagance has put forth its desolating power over the 
 whole sect; it has generated that furious zeal against the Lord's 
 supper, which has no parallel in the annals of sectarian violence: 
 it has made the zealot forget the common decencies which man 
 ow^es to man ; it has made him denounce our holy supper as use- 
 less, and even hurtful ; it has made him curse it as the betrayer 
 which bids man away from the Christ within them to the Christ 
 without : from the light within to the Christ on the throne of glory 
 in the heavens.|| 
 
 • See this specimen of bathos and impudence in Xaylor's " Love to the 
 Lost,"" p. 43, 44, 45, old edition, and Stalham, p. 192, No. 480, quai to. 
 Phil. Library. 
 
 t Bar. Ap. Prop. 13, sect. 2, p. 463 and 464. % Do. sect. 2, pp. 
 
 464, 465, § Do. p. 467. 8 " The Presbyterians and In dc fiend cniti 
 
262 Of the Defects of their Sijstem in Point of 
 
 1. The first error of the society, and that which has poured 
 the virulent poison into all parts of the system, having been neu- 
 tralized, and with it the defence set up in behalf of this mystic 
 supper,* all that remains is "bald, unjointed talk;" wherein a 
 masked hostility, yet wilful, and without a redeeming quality of 
 candour, or of argument, puts forth its feeble and ill-combined 
 powers against the holy supper of the Lord. 
 
 For instance : In the first place, this ordinance, they say, has. 
 more than any other, excited violent and bloody contentions. 1 
 And therefore, good natured men ! they would bury it in its 
 bloody grave, with all the mischief created by it ! — It never merit- 
 ed this from the tongue of slander ; it is the ordinance of the «jod 
 of peace; it is the feast of love and unity among brethren. If 
 disputes have existed respecting it, was it the cause ? U hich of 
 the holiest doctrines of divine revelation have not been rudely 
 impugned ? Had sectarians not polluted the threshold of the 
 church, these disputes had never existed. Had the mystics not 
 entered the lists, the feelings of the church had been spared the 
 rudest violence ever offered to the holy sacraments ! 
 
 2. They bring forward their feelings as the standard of ortho- 
 dox3% " God withholds not his hidden manna from W5," say they, 
 " /ze dailij ou-ns us hy his presence in the omission of this.'''\ If there 
 had been either propriety or orthodoxy in this language, it cer- 
 tainly had been adopted by the apostles at that most proper time 
 for bringing it forward — I mean when they reclined beside their 
 Lord, under the beams of his presence, during the first supper. 
 But, though they had the benefit of his presence, they did 
 not bring forward this objection ; they did not adduce anj" 
 real or fictitious privilege to suspend the force of a positive insti- 
 tution. They did not adduce feelings and sentimentalism to re- 
 lax the obligation of a positive divine command. '"God owns us 
 in our own way — in the omission of this supper P'' This is what the 
 wild Arab of the desert says, while he frowns on the Nazarene ; 
 
 feed on the refiort of a thi7ig done many hundred years ago " Burroughs' 
 Trumpet, p. 17. Pcnn vol. ii. p. 279. " Their communion is tkecii/i and 
 table of de-i'ils." G. Fox's '• Iscws coming up out of die North/' p. 14. 
 Bugg's Pict. of Quak. p. 151. 
 
 * See the Part ii. ch. 1, on Immediate Revelations. f Bar. Ap. Prop. 
 13, sect. 4, p. 470. % That is, the Lord's Supper. See " Brief Apolo- 
 gy for tfie Quakers." Dubl. edit. p. 62. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord's Supper. 263 
 
 or with fitful devotion applies himself to his ablutions with sand, 
 in the lack of water, according to the Koran. This is what the 
 Catholic says, while, with '"' lack lustre ft/e," he counts his beads, 
 or lacerates his body most piously with the sanctified scourge; 
 or crawls heaven-ward on his naked knees, up the stairs of Saint 
 Peter! '"'' God owns us in our own way, in the omission of this T* 
 And so exclaims the moody-brained deist, while he closes his 
 phrenzied eye against the holy beams of truth, and plunges into 
 the gloom and hopelessness of paganism ! These, amid the wide 
 diversity of system and character, do all agree marvellously in 
 the conspiracy against heaven's will ; and with inimitable self- 
 complacency, they graduate their orthodoxy on the scale of their 
 individual feelings ! 
 
 3. Guided by the principles of the mystic interpretation, they 
 bring forward expositions of plain texts capricious and even gro- 
 tesque. 
 
 When the terms " bread'''' and " wme" and " a/^," meet our eye 
 in such passages of holy writ as these : " The cup of blessing which 
 we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ : the bread 
 which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ /"' we 
 are to be on our guard against the natural import and common 
 acceptation of the word; we are to take care lest we be deceived 
 by too much plainness of diction; we are not to refer such terms 
 to the outward cup, and the outward bread. No — they mean the 
 inward cup — they mean the inward bread. It is the mystic sup- 
 per to which they refer.* 
 
 When these terms are indeed taken in a figure, we shall find 
 our authority distinctly in the context, or in the passage itself. 
 We shall thence be able clearly to make it out that it were ab- 
 surd to take them in the literal sense. Not to be guided by this 
 rule is to become Don Quixotes in theology, or Origens outright ! 
 
 The eccentricities of human nature have been developed more 
 strikingly in religion, perhaps, than in politics, or in science, or 
 even in knight errantry itself. In their displays on the field of 
 religion, they have bid defiance to grave reason, to ridicule, to 
 scorn. In a thousand new modifications they have exercised 
 human patience and forbearance. '' There is nothing the most 
 
 ♦ Bar. Ap. Prop. 13, sect. 5, p. 475. 
 
201 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 absurd which has not been iiUered bj some philosopher." There 
 is nothing the most eccentric which some soi-disant theologician 
 has not (Quixote like) maintained, even at the peril of life and 
 limb. Even novices in theology have ceased to marvel. But 
 this novel commentary on the mystic supper will move the most 
 rigid muscles. Barclay, and those who have kept Barclay 
 afloat, do make St. Paul,* by a singular process of mysticism, to 
 pour out the " internal lighP'' or the " inward Chris f^ into a cup ; 
 to bless it ; to fix it down by hands more subtle than those of any 
 chemical operator; to break it; and to distribute it to the peo- 
 ple ! Verily, may the veteran polemic exclaim, after casting his 
 eyes over the wide field of ancient and modern heresies, the 
 authors of this same mystic interpretation have distanced all the 
 spirits that ever descended into the race of absurdities. Saccas 
 and Origen, Jemima and Johanna, are thrown fairly into the 
 rear, and are unhorsed. 
 
 " Cedite Romani doctores, cedite Graii." 
 
 4. The society has always considered it a leading error of 
 the church, that " she ties the participation of the body and blood of 
 Christ to the ceremony of using bread and wine f' and they insist 
 *' that, as the ancient prophets did partake of the body and blood of 
 Christ, without this ceremony, and as others may, in like manner, en- 
 joy the thing signifed, the ceremony ought to be dispensed with.'t 
 
 But if the holy supper be the institution of our Lord, and if 
 lie has constituted really a sacramental union between the sign 
 and the thing thereby signified,^ then, in all ordinary cases, we 
 may not rationally expect the communion of the body and blood 
 of the Lord without the instituted means. In extraordinary 
 eases, we admit, God will bestow it on those who may not have 
 access to the ordinary means. But He alone is judge of those 
 cases. We cannot be supposed to derive any authority from 
 these extraordinary dispensations, to set aside the ordinary 
 means of salvation. The Almighty fed Israel with manna in the 
 desert. May we venture to convert this into an argument for 
 
 * In the above recited vei'se from 1 Cor. x. 16. 
 t Bar. Apol. Prop. 13, p. 471, 473. 
 
 X Sec in the second division of this article at obs. 6, in defence of the 
 holy supper. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord's Supper. 265 
 
 indolence, and thereby paralyze the arm of industry? May we 
 fold our hands with the sluggard, and raise our eyes to heaven 
 for manna ? 
 
 As it respects the members of the ancient Jewish church, let 
 it be observed, (hat they very evidently had their solemn feast 
 on their sacrifices, particularly on " the Lamb of the passover ;'''' 
 and, that this was not merely a custom commemorative of their 
 escape from Egypt,* but that the same divine object of faith was, 
 by this means, presented to them which is presented to us in the 
 holy supper, we have the most positive assurance. Christ is 
 '■' tlbc Lamb of God,'^ And " Christ our passover is sacrificed for 
 «5."t The only point of dilfcrence between the two lies in this. 
 The fathers, devoutly participating of the paschal feast, looked 
 forward, through the revolving ages, to the sacrifice about to be 
 offered up by the Messiah. We, guided by the symbolical in- 
 structions of our sacrament, look back over the revolutions of 
 ages, to him who was actually sacrificed for us on the top of 
 Calvary. 
 
 5. In the apostolic age, when the ceremonial laws were gra- 
 dually giving way before the rising glorj^ of the Christian dis- 
 pensation, our Lord granted certain indulgences to the weak- 
 nesses of the Jewish converts. He indulged them in the ancient 
 rites of " abstaining from meats^''' and of observing " holy days.^'' 
 But the indulgence was not extended to their posterity, nor was 
 it claimed by them. The law which established the new insti- 
 tutions clearly abolished the old. The apostles asserted their 
 christian liberty, and warmly opposed them who wished to bring 
 back on the church the rites, the abstinence from meats, the 
 holy days of the Jewish church. The epistles of Paul abound 
 with precepts and remonstrances on this subject. But who, that 
 lays claims to accuracy on first jH'inciples, could confound the 
 institutions of the new economj^ with the rites of the old ? Who 
 can permit themselves to act so absurdly as to rank among the 
 ancient Jewish rites the holy supper which had not its existence 
 in the times of the Old Testament? or, who can permit himself 
 to quote against a christian ordinance the canons which abolishedl 
 
 * As Barclay has ventured to assert. Apol. p. 475- 
 t John i. 29. 1 Cor, v. 7. 
 
 37 
 
266 Of the Defects of their System in Faint of 
 
 the Jewish ceremonies ? It was reserved for the writers of the 
 society of Friends to be guilty of all this !* 
 
 6. They insist that the holy supper was a certain Jewish ce- 
 remony attending the passover ; that Jesus complied with it; and 
 that the primitive christians being chiefly Jews, did, for some 
 time, observe it.t This is a gratuitous assertion of the apologist. 
 No one passage can be brought from holy writ to support it. The 
 law which ordained the passover makes no mention of any such 
 appendage. The Old Testament is silent on the subject. 
 
 But the learned man is not to be put otf. He does find au- 
 thority. He plunges into the oblivion of unfortunate authors, and 
 drags up a certain Pauhis Riccius. His black letter proofs he 
 thinks to be decisive on the matter. He enlightens the world 
 by the discovery that this surely was a Jewish ceremony. But 
 whence has this oracle, this Paulus Riccius derived his illumina- 
 tion ? From no other source, verily, than the writers of the Jew- 
 ish Talmud ; and these, as all the world knows, wrote after the 
 destruction of their city and nation. If the apocryplial authors, 
 with all the advantages which may be supposed to have arisen 
 from their national privileges and valuable materials, are so in- 
 sipid, and brainless, and fabulous, what can we expect from those 
 men who wrote long after the destruction of their temple, and 
 who were not even permitted to grub out documents and mate- 
 rials from the ruins of their capital.]: And, moreover, they wrote 
 avowedly to the prejudice of Christianity. They abound with 
 palpable errors, and with puerile fables.§ Their authority is of 
 no weight in history. Their judgment is of no importance on 
 any article that relates to the name and institutions of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Yet, after all, if any Friend, learned in the HebrcAV and the 
 Talmud, shall be conscientiously scrupulous for the authority of 
 
 * Hence the irrelevancy of Barclay's objections against the sacrament, 
 taken from Rom. xiv. 17. Colos. ii. 16. Apol. Prop. 13, sect. 5, 9. 
 
 f Bar. Apol. Prop. 13, sect. 6, p. 480. 
 
 X See Mosh. Chron. Tables Cent. iii. Buck's Theol. Diet. Art. Tal- 
 mud, who quotes the unanimous testimony of the Jews, " that the Mishna 
 or text oj the Talmud was written at the close of the seco?id century.'''' 
 Prideavix places it in the beginning of the sixth century. Connect, vol. 
 iii. 447. 
 
 § The plain reader may see a fair specimen in Buck's Theol. Diet, at 
 the article Talmud. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord's Supper, 267 
 
 these same Talmuds, we can afford to give up all this — and we 
 have no great zeal on the matter. We may, in fact, admit all 
 that Barclay and his Paulus Riccius have asserted, that there 
 was a supper of bread and wine attached to the passover. This 
 is wholly irrelevant in their argument, and it touches not our ar- 
 gument. " What we are to look to, is Christ's practice ; and we 
 are sure that that should oblige us more than the Jewish practice 
 should oblige Christ."* 
 
 Lastly. " The washing of the disciples' feet has been as posi- 
 tively enjoined by Christ as the supper ; and yet that has been 
 set aside : why then is the supper retained ?"t 
 
 In the eastern world custom had established the practice of 
 using no other covering for the feet than sandals : the climate 
 was extremely warm. At the close of the day it was the office 
 of the host to afford his guests the means of " washing tJieir feet.^^ 
 It was in all private families deemed an act of kindness to bathe 
 the feet of the traveller; it had certainly been the practice of all 
 ranks from time immemorial to do so. And the service "of 
 washing the feet" belonged alone to the domestics of the family. ''^l 
 Our Lord, after the first supper, in order to give his disciples a 
 lesson of humility, and to impress on their minds the remem- 
 brance of that law which constituted a perfect equality among 
 all the members of the ministerial office, actually condescended 
 to do what the menial servants of the family would otherwise 
 certainly have done. He did not originate the custom " of wash- 
 ing the feet -^^ he introduced no new rite ; he employed no mystic 
 signs ; he simply placed himself in the servant's stead — and act- 
 ing as a menial servant, he taught them a most impressive lesson 
 of humility, and of brotherly love and sympathy. He has left 
 us no precept that these should be expressed positively by " the 
 washing of each other's feet ;^^ and there is no injunction " to wash 
 each other's feet ^'' until he '"''come again,'*'' To relieve and comfort 
 the brethren, is a duty of perpetual obligation ; as to the manner 
 of doing this most effectually, it is left to all christians to do it 
 according to their national forms and customs ; and these forms 
 and customs are left untouched by the Spirit of revelation, as are 
 
 * Brown of Wamphry against Barclay. f Bar. Apol. Prop. 13, sect. 
 6, p. 481. + Harmer's Observations, &c. and Paxton's Illustrations 
 vol. ii. p. 342, 343, Phil. edit. Burder's Oriental Customs, No. 611, 612 
 
268 Of the Defects of their Si/stem in Point of 
 
 the lans^uages and forms of government of respective nations. 
 The laws of Divine Providence here bear sway. The kingdom 
 of grace has not put forth a single injunction on the matter. 
 
 But the severity of the apologist has exposed his sect to re- 
 taliation. If this ancient practice of " washing the. fed''^ he suf- 
 ficient in their estimation to establish among the moderns of the 
 West the Oriental custom " of washing the feel,'''' pra}", why has 
 not the zeal of the societj-, like that of their Pennsylvanian 
 neighbours, the Dunkers, introduced it into the number of their 
 forms? If they can see, so clearly, its positive institution, will 
 our ne"-ligence, in this particular, atone for their criminality in 
 rejecting both the holy supper and the washing the disciples' 
 feet ? 
 
 We have, however, a more serious objection than what grows 
 out of their inconsistency. Had our Lord ordained " the zmshing 
 offeet^^ as a religious ordinance, we should have had two sacra- 
 mental washings with water. And, each of them, as must be 
 evident to every Friend, signifying the same thing,* one of 
 them must be superfluous : and evidently that one which has not, 
 as baptism has, a precept enforcing a perpetual observance. 
 
 Such is the whole plan of attack on this most holy institution : an 
 attack planned in the maudlin brains of Fox ; matured by Penn ; 
 and executed by Barclay. 
 
 " Sic fatus senior, telumque imbelle, sine ictu 
 
 " Conjecit." Virg. 
 
 The whole materiel of the force brought forward is evidently 
 borrowed.! But the principles and suggestions of Grotius are 
 
 * Bernard I)e Moor, vol. v. p. 328. 
 
 ■j- 1 am sorr\ to say from Grotius — whose unguarded principles have 
 invited the sectarian to an impious daring in this matter, which none 
 ■would have lamented more sincerely than the learned man. Grotius, 
 while residing at the court of France, as Swedish ambassador, wrote his 
 book, " De coena adjnini-straiida ubi non fiantores sunt ; an semper 
 communkanda jicr syjubola." 
 
 The Icarnerl man's errors in doctrine had drawn down on him a sen- 
 tence of expulsion from the reformed church. The Lutheran church 
 had, for the same reason, shut her doors against him. The remonstrants 
 had, at that lime, no pastors, and no communion. In this untoward com- 
 bination of circumstances, which created no ordinary temptation to mo- 
 del his creed ac( ording to his present feelings, he offered his plea that 
 the pastor was not essentially necessary to the right celebration of the 
 Lord's supper. And that it was not necessary that the external symbols 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord's Siipjper. 269 
 
 set forth in all the threatening array of syllogisms, pursued 
 through all the figures and moods and categories of Aristotle — 
 and in a style of bold execution which might add a sprig of 
 laurel to the immortality of the Stagirite. Nor is this all. He 
 has contrived to render his dogmata, in a manner, inaccessible, 
 by throwing around them the ponderous circumlocutions of the 
 leaden age of Fox, and by shedding over them the narcotic 
 influence of mysticism, which no assailant can approach without 
 feeling their soporiferous influence creeping over all his senses! 
 
 II. We now invite the society's politeness to the apology of 
 ihe church in behalf of her solemn festival. 
 
 1. The first holy supper was an institution distinct from the 
 passover. 
 
 In the passover, the flesh of the paschal lamb, and unleavened 
 bread w.ere used — wine also was added.* Some of the learnedj 
 have been of opinion that in this ceremony there was a double 
 supper : that in the first the paschal lamb was eaten, and in the 
 second the unleavened bread : and the last was by our Lord 
 converted into the holy supper. Others admit the double sup- 
 per of the paschal lamb and of the unleavened bread ; but contend 
 that our holy institution was added by our Lord as the third and 
 distinct supper. J But our divines have shown from the authentic 
 records of the Jews " that the paschal lamb was the last thing 
 eaten in the passover ; and that the whole rite was closed by the 
 paschal cup passing round the company."§ There was, there 
 fore, no room for the second supper. 
 
 should be used- In other words the learned man reasoned that symbolical 
 mstruction might be effected without the use of symbols. His ingenious 
 triflings have been revived by Penn and Bai'chiy. See Voet. Polit. 
 Eccles. vol. i. p. 764. Cloppenburgh has refuted Grotius in his Disp 
 Sel. Theol. 4. Oper. Tom. i. p. 592, 598. See Bernard De Moor, vol- 
 V. p. 665. Grotius wrote in Latin, A. D. 1638. Barclay published his 
 Apology in Latin, A. D. 1676, some time after his return from the Scotch 
 college of Paris. 
 
 * See Luke xxii. 18, and Talmud Tract. De Sab. fol. 11, quoted by 
 Witsius Oecon. Fed. vol. ii. ch. 17, p. 448. 
 
 t Scaliger De Emend. Temp. Lib. vii. 571, and Bern. De Moor. Per- 
 pet. Com. vol. V. p. 321. % Maldonatus and Grotius De Coena Dom. 
 
 § Calvin De Cxn. Dom. Buxtorf. Ad Histor. Instit. S. Ccenje Dom. 
 sect. 14. Leusd. Phil. Hebrceo-mixt. Dissert. 38, Qusest. 6. Goodwin's 
 Moses and Aaron, book iii. ch. 4, sect. 21, 22. Bern. DeMoorPei'p. com. 
 vol. V. p. 321, 322. 
 
270 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 And it is made evident to a demonstration from the sacred 
 narrative* that this was the order observed in the first holy sup- 
 per. Ailer they had eaten the passover, and after the paschal 
 cup " had been taken and divided among them^^ our Lord " took 
 bread,^^ and " he took the ciip,''^ and instituted another supper : it 
 was, therefore, most evidently no part of the passover ; but it was 
 as evidently something substituted in its place. " Do this,''"' said 
 our Lord, " do this in remembrance of me.'''' 
 
 2. This supper is something entirely distinct from the agape 
 or love feasts. It is not quite evident that these feasts, though 
 observed by the primitive christians, were of divine appointment. 
 The first mention of them we find in that early period of Chris- 
 tianity when the disciples had all things in common.! The wants 
 of the poor were relieved by the bounties of the rich ; tables were 
 spread for them in the places of public worship, that their devo- 
 tion might be accompanied by active charity. These feasts 
 originally preceded the eating of the Lord''s supper.| 
 
 Jn a following age when the abuses that had crept into the 
 agape, became flagrant in the church, the council that met at 
 Carthage decreed that these feasts should be kept after the Lord's 
 sapper. § 
 
 But ds these abuses could not be prevented while the occasions 
 of tem.ptation existed, the love feasts were formally abohshed by 
 a canon of the council of Laodicea.|| On the whole, the follow- 
 ing two points are established respecting the love feasts. 1. It 
 
 ♦ Of Luke xxii. 18, &c. f Acts ii. 44, 45, ch. iv. 62, 84. Spanhem. 
 Sac. et. Eccles. Hist. p. 620, folio. 
 
 + 1 Cor. xi. 20, 22. The Corinthians had committed a double abuse 
 in their agape. The rich did indeed bring with them the materiel o{ the 
 feast ; but instead of yielding to the tender sympathies of charity, and 
 spreading a table for their poor brethren, previous to their associating at 
 tlie table of their Lord, they appropriated the whole to their own gratifi- 
 cation ; and while their brethren " were hungry ^^ they " were drunken " 
 The apostle applies to them the severe and just discipline of God's house, 
 charging them not only with this shocking abuse, but with profaning the 
 table of the Lord, and thereby " eating and drinking damnation to tliem- 
 selves." He thus makes it evident that the church united these two, and 
 that the love feast preceded the holy supper. 
 
 § " Sacramenta altaris nonnisi a jejunis hominibus celebrarentur." 
 Canon 4 of the council of Carthage, held in the reign of Aurelian, towards 
 the close of the third centurv, before A. D. 275. See Turret, vol. iii. 
 p. 476. 
 II "Aon ofiortet in — Ecclesiafacere agafias, et in domo Dei manducare'" 
 Canon 28, as quoted by Turret, vol. iii. p. 476. 
 
Divine Ordinances.— 'Tlie Lord^s Supper. 271 
 
 is not evident that they were ordained by our Lord. 2. And 
 when kept they were always followed or preceded by the Lord's 
 supper.* 
 
 3. The holy supper was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 The passover having been eaten, and the cup having been dis- 
 tributed among the disciples,! this Jewish ordinance was finished, 
 and it was not to be resumed; it had accomplished its end; it 
 was but the type. It had for ages set before the church the 
 prophecy of the coming Messiah ; it had been annually reiterat- 
 ing the consoling promise : " Behold the lamb of God is coming," 
 He was come whom it had been so long announcing ; the glory 
 of the antitype filled the church ; the type was lost in the glori- 
 ous vision — and to-morrow's sun was to reveal to the Jewish na- 
 tion their Messiah suspended on the cross; and as the passover 
 could only speak of him as coming, it could no longer utter its 
 voice without misleading the church. 
 
 But the new dispensation was not to be inferior in any respect 
 to the old. Now the old had never been without an institution 
 of wisdom to direct the church to her coming Lord. The goodness 
 of God could not permit her to remain without an institution as 
 well calculated, at least, to commemorate the advent and death 
 of her Lord. Hence the Lord of the passover having withdrawn 
 it, ordained another in its stead. " Ow Lord took bread and bless- 
 ed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, take, eat ; this 
 is my body given for you — this do in remembrance of me. Likewise 
 also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new testament in my 
 blood, which is shed for you — drink ye all ofit.^^'t And the solemn 
 service was closed with singing a hymn. Thus by the highest 
 authority this holy institution was delivered to the church ; thus 
 by precept and by example its religious observance is enjoined 
 upon us. The primitive christians did faithfully obey the injunc- 
 tion of their Lord. " They continued stedfastly in the apostWs doc- 
 trine, and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer.""^ 
 From the manner in which the " breaking of bread'^ is introduced, 
 
 • Consult Bern. De Moor Perpet. com. vol. v. p. 558. Turret, vol. m. 
 p. 471, 472, 475. Voet. Eccles. Polit. vol. i. p. 478, 479. Bingham Orig. 
 Eccles. vol. vi. 564, &c. &c. Woifius in Cur. Phil, and Crije. ad Judac 
 ver. 12. See also Schleusneri Lexic. Nov. Test, article Agafiai. 
 
 t Luke xxii. 17. t Luke xxii. 19, 20. § Acts ii.' 42, &c. 
 
272 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 and from the religious nature of the things with which it is de- 
 signedly associated, it is very plain that it cannot, without vio- 
 lence, be referred to common meals. Can it be gravely asserted 
 that an inspired w^riter would stop to tell us that the christians 
 " continued stedfastly to break bread in common meals ?" Does not 
 all the world know that all men do break bread, from house to 
 house, in common meals ? That wise men and fools — that the pa- 
 gan- and the christian never cease to do it ? We could not defend 
 the page of inspiration from the charge of di'ivclling, did we fix 
 this as the meaning of '" breaking bread.'''' 
 
 The Spirit of God is here speaking of the acts of the church. 
 He associates, from design, this act with '' doctrines and fellozc- 
 s/i.?/*." It was a feast, then, of the church. It was a feast pre- 
 ceded and followed by preaching.* But they were love feasts? 
 No, It cannot be made to appear that love-feasts were ordained 
 by our Lord. They could not, therefore, be interwoven in the 
 narrative of inspiration. They could not be placed by the side 
 of the apostles' '• doctrine, and fellowsliip, and prayer.''^ And did 
 ■RC even admit that they were love-feasts, our argument would 
 lose nothing, [t is evident, from authentic documents, that the 
 holy supper was always united with these love-feasts. The very 
 design of them was to assemble the church for the holy supper. 
 The last was the principal end; the first was only accessary. 
 
 About t\ienty-six years after this institution had been in full 
 operation in the church, our Lord gave an additional expression 
 of his will on the matter. This has settled the point respecting 
 its authority and perpetual obligation. I allude to what was de- 
 livered to the Corinthians. 
 
 The apostle, having corrected the abuses in their love-feasts, 
 and, having reminded them that their coming together for such 
 purposes as those to v.hich they had debased their love-feasts, 
 was not to eat the Lord's supper, proceeds in all the solemnity 
 of his high commission, not to put down the festival of the sup- 
 per, which he certainly would have done, had it been a human 
 institution! — not to abolish it, which he certainly would have 
 done had it been a part of the abrogated ceremonies, or a 
 
 * Acts XX. 7. t As the council of Laodicea abolished the love 
 
 feasts. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord^s Supper. 2t^ 
 
 temporary institution. But he proceeds, in the words of the 
 Holy Ghost, to repeat its divinity ; its sacred uses ; its perpetual 
 obligation. " / have received of the Lord that which also I delivered 
 unto you ; that the Lord Jesus^ the same night in which he was fee- 
 trayed^ took bread' And Ziehen he had given thanks, he brake it ; and 
 said, take, eat; this is my body broken far you. This do in remmv 
 brance of me. He also took the cup, after he had slipped, saying, this 
 cup is the new •testament in my blood. This do, as often as ye 
 drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and 
 drink this cup, ye do shew or, x.itreiyytx>.t7t shew ye forth the Lord's 
 death till he come.'''' 
 
 This divine message has filled up the measure of our desires* 
 Nothing can come after it. It is full; it is explicit. It leaves no 
 room for doubt or evasion. It places this sacred institution on 
 an imperishable basis. It throws around it such a blaze of glory, 
 that we cannot approach it without awe and veneration ! 
 
 The society have at no time 3nelded to these feelings. With 
 them it has no authority, no use, no glory ! They contrive to 
 represent the whole of this sacred passage as having no more 
 the force of a divine injunction to observe this sacred festival, 
 than the words, " as nfim as yon go to Rome visit the capital,'''' can 
 be supposed to lay a man under an obligation to visit Rome.* 
 
 This form of argument, which the apologist has put into the 
 lips of every Quaker, exhibits a mortifying specimen of the ef- 
 fect produced by certain superficial remarks, and a play upon 
 words, boldly ventured on illiterate minds. Not " fat, contented 
 ignorance" herself, dozing in her cell, or shrinking from the 
 misej-y of being doomed to think and reflect for herself, can be 
 more easily satisfied ; and yield herself a more ready slave to 
 vulgar error than these simple minds to their authorized thinkers i 
 
 Were it not that the Baronet of Ury has been allowed to 
 think for the amiable sect from generation to generation, we 
 might remind them that this old and feeble objection, talked 
 into popularity, within the limits of the meeting, by a few dull 
 prosers, does really imply that the person addressed by it, has 
 been in the habit of going to Rome. " As often as you go to 
 Rome, see the capitoi:' If he has not been in the habit of going 
 
 *= Bar. Ap. Prop. 13, p. 492- 
 38 
 
274 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 thither, it has no bearing on the point. It has absolutely no 
 meaning;. But taking it for granted that, as usual, he is about 
 to visit Rome, it assumes the air of a definite request. And 
 coming from one to whom he owes all obedience, it becomes a 
 positive comn)and, that he do visit the capitol. Taking it in its 
 most natural construction, it operates wholly against the senti- 
 ments of the society, and in our favour. 
 
 Nay, I entreat the patience of the society a mpment. I insist 
 that their own explanations, instead of proving the ordinance of 
 the supper to have been abolished, do actually prove more 
 against them than even we want to establish. The precept say* 
 unequivocally to the church, " As often as ye eat this bread and 
 drink this ctip, shoiv ye forth the Lord's death till he come.'''' That 
 is, they say, as often as ye use bread and wine, ye must do this in 
 my memory. 
 
 In the parallel alleged by them, there is a matter of indif- 
 ference : " As often as ye go to Rome, see the capitol.'''' But there 
 is no such indifference here. " Do this in remembrance of me — 
 as often as ye eat bread and drink of this cup.'^ The " going to 
 Rome''* is a mere contingency. You may go thither. You may 
 not go. But the using of these viands is not a matter of con- 
 tingency. It does occur every day, and every where. On the 
 principles of the apologist it would prove that we ought to 
 celebrate the Lord's supper at every meal. Their own explana- 
 tions unlock an overflowing of argument against them. Thej 
 pour forth gratuitously a redundancy of proof in our favour. 
 But we wish not to be carried along by this excess of misguided 
 zeal. We do not wish to be so lavish of proof. It is to guard 
 us against the abuse of making the holy supper a common meal, 
 that this very explanation is introduced into the precept — " as of- 
 ten as ye cat this bread and drink this wine." He makes an em- 
 phatic distinction between the symbols of the old sacrament, and 
 the symbols of the new. You have hitherto used the paschal 
 lamb ; it is my will that you henceforth use bread and wine. I 
 have consecrated thetn to my service, to represent my broken 
 body and my shed blood ; and as often as ye do use this bread 
 and this wine — " do it — not as a common meal — " do it in remem'^ 
 hrance of me.'''' 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord's Supper. 275 
 
 Our apostle has delivered two additional precepts in this place. 
 The first regulates the necessary preparation of the christian ; 
 the second, in terms the most definite, enjoins on every christian 
 the duty of celebrating the Lord's supper. " Let a man examine 
 himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup,'''' To 
 strip the assailant of the last fragment of his shivered weapon, 
 and to expose him in all the nakedness of impotent folly — what 
 more could be done, which this voice of the Almighty has not 
 done? 
 
 4. Of all the institutions of our Lord, this rises highest in so- 
 lemnity and importance. The holy scriptures present to us those 
 doctrines to which heaven awards the honour of ''^ making men 
 Tcise unto salvation.'^^ The ministry expound them to our minds, 
 and enforce them on our consciences. To baptism is awarded 
 the instrumentality of giving an extraordinary exhibition of the 
 purifying blood of Christ. But in this holy festival our Lord 
 comes down in the sight of the church in his lovely and awful 
 majest}^, and invites us to a blessed communion with him. 
 
 Now, that ordinance is most solemn in which there is the full- 
 est and most striking representation of the love of our suffering 
 and dying Lord; in which extraordinary communications are 
 made from the throne of grace, for the celebrations of which no 
 ordinary preparations are required ; in the abuse of which a 
 guilt of no ordinary stain is contracted — and for the violating of 
 the sanctity of which a fearful retribution follows.* And such, 
 in every particular, is the Lord's supper. The circumstance of 
 solemn pomp and mystery thrown around it, strikes the mind of 
 even the thoughtless; how much more the mind of the humble 
 and devout christian! At all times we should approach the Lord 
 with profound reverence ; but in this institution, like Moses and 
 Joshua, " We put off our shoes from ojf our feet, for the ground on 
 which rue stand is holy.'''' 
 
 5. There are more avenues into the human mind than one. 
 We have, assuredly, no right to say that God does, or that God 
 will convey his mind to us only by the eye, or by the ear; by 
 any other of the senses, or by all of them at once ; it must be al- 
 lowed, he at least can convey his will to us. And if he is pleased 
 
 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29. 
 
270 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 so to do, it must be admitted that the impression made on our 
 minds will be deep and lasting in proportion to the numl)er of the 
 senses that may have been employed in his service. 
 
 Now this can be done only by material forms, constituted sym- 
 bols by the proper authority. These symbols set up before our 
 senses, and brought into contact with them, will, in consequence 
 of this constitution, convey to the mind moral instruction not only 
 correct, but peculiarly forcible. Thus, in regard to the subject 
 before us, the proofs and expressions of our Saviour's love, are, 
 in a manner, made tangible ; and they are poured in upon our 
 minds through the different avenues of the senses : and recipro- 
 cating his divine love, our minds pour forth before him a flood of 
 emotions and love, and vows and devotion. Every person ac- 
 quainted with human nature and the philosophy of the mind, 
 must surely feel the wisdom and high importance of this mode of 
 communication ; and when to this is added the consideration, 
 that in religion the communion is to be kept up between Him 
 who is a pure Spirit, and creatures whose spirits dwell in mate- 
 rial frames, and receive their impressions through the senses, 
 may we not say that it is, in a manner, absolutely necessary in 
 religion. Let it not be objected to this, that the Holy Spirit pro- 
 duces effects on the mind by the immediate presence of his plas- 
 tic power; it is neither orthodox nor safe to question this truth — 
 most certainly he does. But let us remember that his mysterious 
 operations are attended, at the same moment, by his effectual em- 
 ploj'^ment of the outward means of grace. It is so in the kingdom 
 of nature : the secret emanation of his pQwer makes the oak burst 
 from the acorn; but not without the kindly influence of the dew 
 and of the sun, is the work perfected. 
 
 Our Lord has justified his wisdom and goodness in causing 
 this extraordinary exhibition of his body and blood to be given 
 under material sj'-mbols. The kind and the number of these have 
 been determined by his own authority. " He took bread and wine.'''' 
 These are brought into the assembly of the church, and are placed 
 on the table of the Lord ; after solemn invocation the one is bro- 
 ken, the other is poured out; they are put into the hands of the 
 saints — they take them, and use them in a sacramental manner. 
 For the rest, as it respects all minor circumstances attending it, 
 
Divine Ordinances, — The LoriVs Supper. 277 
 
 we are guided by that general canon, " Let all things be done de- 
 cently and in order.'' 
 
 6. There is a sacramental union established between the sym- 
 bols and the things designed to be expressed by them. 
 
 This union, in the judgment of the church, docs not consist in 
 the conversion of the symbols into that which they are appointed 
 to represent; nor is it a union arising out of the nature of the 
 things. It is a union which God has been pleased to constitute 
 through grace, between the pious use of the symbols and the ex- 
 hibition of the thing signified by them. The union is relative ; it 
 resembles the connexion existing between the cause and the ef- 
 fect — between means and the end. It is a real union, because 
 it has for its basis the divine institution thereof, and this does 
 create the union. And the devout communicant does, in the pious 
 use of the symbols, actually partake of the blessed realities ex- 
 hibited in them. 
 
 One explanation more is necessary. Our Lord ordinarily 
 works by means ; but he is not confined to them ; he can accom- 
 plish his will above them and beyond them. In this sacramental 
 union it is distinctly understood by us, that two things are so con- 
 nected that the one cannot ordinarily be possessed without the 
 other. In an extraordinary way it may be enjoyed. This re- 
 mark applies equally to the preaching of the gospel, and to the 
 holy sacraments. Thus the blessings of the divine presence are 
 necessarily connected in an ordinary manner, with the assembling 
 of ourselves in the house of God for worship ; but surely it is not 
 confined to that. Barclay has admitted this.* We extend it for 
 the same reasons to the Lord's supper ; but the circumstance of 
 our Lord working in sovereignty above and beyond all means, 
 can no more authorize us to lay aside the ordinarj'^ means of 
 grace, such as the preaching of the gospel, and the observance 
 of the sacraments, than the fact of God's feeding the Jews with 
 manna, can excuse the folly of the man, who, expatiating on the 
 pleasures of freedom from bodily toils, and declining to cultivate 
 his fields, lauds the Divine beneficence and raises his eyes very 
 (Jevoutly to heaven for manna! 
 
 Barclay, and with him the whole society, have rejected this 
 
 • Apol. Prop. 13, p. 472. 
 
278 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 sacramental union. " The communion of the body and blood of 
 Christ"* say they, " has no relation, nor respect, to the cere- 
 mony of bread and wine." Why are the Friends so incon- 
 sistent? Why do they not also deny the connexion between 
 " the assembling of themselves and the feeling of the divine pre- 
 sence?" Why do they not deny the connexion between their 
 preaching and the " convincement" of sinners ? They strenu- 
 ously contend for all these. They glow with zeal in advocating 
 these connexions. By what arguments do they support them? 
 Not from the nature of the things. In the nature of things no 
 such connexion does exist. It is only by a divine institution 
 God has enjoined us to meet. He has ordained the preaching 
 of the gospel. He has pledged his presence in the assemblies 
 of the saints.t And it is from the influences of his presence that 
 these means derive all their efficacy. " Paul may plant — God 
 only gives the increase.'''' The supper was ordained by the same 
 authority. The same blessed influence here unites the means 
 and the end. 
 
 This union may be distinctly marked in the following things. 
 First: In the fitness of the symbols to represent what is intend- 
 ed. These are the substantial parts of that food by which hu- 
 man life is sustained and comforted. And they passed through 
 a necessary process before they were fit for this. Our Lord 
 gave his body to be bruised and broken for us. And his blood 
 was shed on the cross. By these sufferings — by this agonizing 
 death he consummated his atonement. Through this process of 
 suffering and dying, "/«> ^^/i" became '■''meat indeed: and his 
 hlood''' became " drink indeed,^''l to nourish those who " receive^ 
 the benefit of " his atonement J^ 
 
 Second : There is not only a natural, but a moral fitness. 
 Divine authority has created a mysterious and real union be- 
 tween the symbols and the thing signified by them, so that they 
 are made to represent to the faith of the saints, " the body and tlw. 
 blood of the Lord.''^ The following words of inspiration do cer- 
 tainly convey this idea. If they do not, they are utterly inex- 
 
 * Whnt they mean by the " blood, &.c. of Christ," is shown in this section on 
 Oie mystic shipper. See the beg-inning of this article, 
 t Matthew xxviii. 20, t Jolm vi. 56. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — Tlie Lord's Supper. 279 
 
 plicable. " This bread is my body broken for you. This cup is the 
 new testament in my blood.''"' " The cup, is the communion of the 
 blood of Christ. The bread, is the communion of the body of 
 Christ.''^* " He ' is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,'' who 
 eats this bread and drinks this cup unworthily.'''' And his guilt arises 
 out of his " not discerning,''^ in these elements, " the Lord^s body.''"' 
 Now, T put it to the candour of every Friend to say — if there be 
 no union created between the external symbols, and the thing 
 divinely set forth — if there be no union so constituted, that we 
 can, in the representation, certainly " discern the Lord''s body^'' 
 how can the sin of " not discerning iV be charged on any man 
 by the Judge of all the earth. 
 
 Third: The holy supper is not only a sign but a seal of the 
 covenant of grace. It does not only represent, in an affecting 
 manner, the reality of our Saviour's death and atonement, it 
 also confirms, to us, the blessings of his grace. It bears to the 
 new covenant the same relation which the rainbow bears to the 
 covenant of Noah. The rainbow certainly does not serve merely 
 to commemorate the fact of the deluge. It is a seal appended 
 to that covenant, which God made with our father Noah, to con- 
 firm our faith in the divine assurance that the earth shall not be 
 destroyed by another deluge. 
 
 The following is a specimen of the proof from holy writ, that 
 the supper is, in this sense, a seal of the new covenant. " Take^ 
 eat : this is my body broken for you.''^ Here is the comment of 
 Calvin on this text; and, as the apologist claims this very eminent 
 father as at one with them in their view of the supper,] it ought, in 
 all conscience, to have with them its full weight. " Our Lord by 
 stretching out to v^ his visible symbols, gives along with them to us 
 his own body. J^or is Christ false. He does not amuse us with empty 
 figures. Hence there is no doubt that truth is united to his sign.- 
 That is, as it respects spiritual power, we are as really made par- 
 takers of the body of Christ, as we feed on bread.''''\ 
 
 Nor is the following less forcible : " This cup is the new tes- 
 tament hi my blood.''"' Every covenant was ratified by blood. The 
 blood of the victim streaming before the eyes of the parties, 
 
 * 1 Cor. X. 16. f Bar. Apol. p. 498. X Quia Dominu^" isfc. 
 
 C^lv. in 1 Cor. xi. 24- Bern. De Moor, vol. v. 256. 
 
280 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 confirmed the truth to their entire satisfaction, that the con- 
 ditions of the covenant were fulfilled. Christ had assumed the 
 mediatorship of the new covenant. In fulfilling its conditions he 
 oflered himself a sacrifice for us. Here are the proofs and 
 pledges of it deposited with the church. " This cup is the nero 
 testament in my blood. This bread is my body broken for you.'''* 
 These symbols represent his body broken and his blood shed 
 for us. This was all that was required in that covenant. The 
 condition has, therefore, been fulfilled. Hence the certainty of 
 the blessings secured to us. The basis on which this certain 
 assurance rests, is our Lord's own declaration. And by this 
 ordinance his declaration is presented by proofs which forcibly 
 strike the mind. We feel these proofs. We see them. We taste 
 them. We cannot but believe the evidence of our senses. We 
 must believe his truth, certified by his veracity, conveying upon 
 our minds, proofs through the testimony of our senses. 
 
 Again : The Lord's supper is a feast upon a sacrifice. This 
 is the result to which an argument of Paul has carried him.* 
 The substance of it is this. In dissuading from idolatry, he laid 
 down these positions. 1. That in eating of the body and blood 
 of Christ, ollered up to God, on the cross, we have a real com- 
 munion in his sufferings and death. " The cup of blessing which 
 we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ. The bread 
 which Tve break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ?'''' 
 
 2. That the Jews who eat of the meat of the sacrifice, did 
 partake as really of the moral benefits of the sacrifice as those 
 for whom it was offered up. " Are not they who eat of the sacri- 
 fice partakers of the altar ?" This being laid down as the true 
 meaning of the use of sacrifices, he argues in a divine manner, 
 that if those, to whom he is addressing himself, did partake of 
 the Gentile feasts on their sacrifices, even although they had not 
 been present at the altar, or had assisted in the public ceremo- 
 nies, yet they were thereby actually guilty of idolatry. " The, 
 things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. Ye can- 
 not be partakers of the Lord''s table, and of the table of devils.'''' 
 
 Thus the apostle, guided by inspiration, makes it evident 
 that there is a perfect analogy existing between these different 
 
 * In 1 Cor. X. 16, 18, 20, 21. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord^s Supper. 281 
 
 feasts. If there were not, his argument loses its consistency and 
 divinity. The Lord's supper, therefore, bears that relation to 
 the great Christian sacrifice, which the feasts of the Jews and 
 the Gentiles, after their sacrifices, did bear to their sacrifices. 
 But these feasts were feasts on their sacrifices. And all who, at 
 the table, partook of them, were interested in the moral benefits 
 arising from the blood of the victim as much as those who as- 
 sisted at the altar or who oflered up the victim. Hence, by the 
 apostle's argument from these premises, the Lord's supper is a 
 feast on the great Christian sacrifice offered up on Calvary. 
 And in feeding on this sacrifice by faith — and we actually do it, 
 when we devoutly take the sacred symbols into our hands, and 
 use them sacramentally — we are considered in law, and in jus- 
 tice, as the persons for whom the atoning blood of the chris- 
 tian sacrifice was shed. 
 
 • Now, the feasting on a sacrifice was a solemn federal rite in 
 the Jewish church. This is easily explained. The altar was 
 the table of God. The sacrifice otFered up on it was "/w5 mecfi."* 
 Hence when the church sat down to eat of the sacrifice, " the 
 fruit of the altar^^^ they became the guests of the Lord. They 
 did eat and drink with him. And this communion did certainly 
 imply that love and peace existed between the parties. This 
 idea was universally understood. It was thus that covenants of 
 peace were ratified, and carried into effect. The parties erected 
 their altar, and eat thereon.t And in the feast at the altar the 
 devout Jew appeared as the one party " in the covenant of his 
 God.''''\ He received the confirmations of the divine love : And 
 he pledged his vows of fidelity to his God. 
 
 But according to our apostle in his argument referred to above, 
 there is a perfect analogy between the feast of the Jewish church 
 and the Lord's supper. Hence while we feast on the christian 
 sacrifice we arc made his guests. " He sups with us and we sup 
 with him.'''' We devote ourselves to him by solemn vows ; he 
 confirms his covenant of peace with us.§ 
 
 And there is, in this institution, the highest moral tendency to 
 
 * Mai. i. 7, 12. t G Ti. xxxi. 44. :(: Lev. ii. 13. 
 § Consult Cudworth's Treatise on the Lord's supper in the end of the 
 second volume of his Intcikctual System, p. 26, 34, Mihi, quarto. 
 
 39 
 
282 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 promote this: — The visible symbols in reference to the Lord's 
 supper, are to us what the rainbow of Noah's covenant is to all 
 men ; what the wetting of the fleece was to Jephthah ; and what 
 the live coal laid on Isaiah's lips, was to him. These did seal 
 and ratify what was announced. 
 
 Hence the christian with the sacred symbols in his hands, is 
 taught thus divinely to reason. As certainly as my God has set 
 apart these elements as the instruments of a sj^mbolical represen- 
 tation of the death of my Redeemer; as certainly as they have 
 been put gratuitously into my hands for this purpose ; so certainly 
 has he in his body, by his passion on the cross, made a thorough 
 atonement; so certainly is he freely given to me ; so certainly 
 shall I have on my due acceptance of him, rich grace for every 
 want in this transitory state ; and in yonder bright world whither 
 he beckons me, a crown of immortal glory. Can 1 doubt the 
 veracity of my Lord? Can I hesitate to give the fullest credence 
 to his promises ? I may sooner doubt these evidences of my 
 senses — these evidences of my seeing, and feeling, and tasting of 
 these materials, which are by his authority put into my hands, 
 and made by him the sjniibols of his atonement. 
 
 Thus, therefore, the Lord's supper is a seal of the covenant of 
 grace. And thus, it is evident, that there is a sacramental union 
 between the visible symbols and the grace that is thereby signi- 
 fied. 
 
 From the premises the following inferences are clearly made 
 out. First: That there is no foundation in scripture or in the 
 nature of the things for the fanciful distinction of Barclay'-, that 
 the death of Christ zcas shown forth by bread and wine until that event 
 actually took place; but that the communion of his body and blood is 
 had only through the internal light, and without an external ceremony.* 
 Second: That the holy supper is a most necessary means of our 
 christian comfort and salvation. The church is at issue on this 
 matter with all her opposers, and she distinctly pronounces her 
 judgment. There is not, in all cases of the dereliction of reason, a 
 mark of folly and insanity, more deeply branded on human con- 
 duct, than that of him who frowns from him the sacred bread and 
 the sacred cuj); and who in the midst of smiling plenty offered 
 
 * Bar. Apol. Piop. 13, p. 477. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — TJie Lord's Supper. 283 
 
 to him by the angel of mercy, destroys his soul by a slow linger- 
 ing death. And Oh ! but the fitful peals of laughter poured through 
 the open jaws of the maniac are not half so dreary on the ear of 
 melancholy; and the low protracted convulsive scream of the ex- 
 piring criminal, is not half so horrible to the ear of recoiling hu- 
 manity, as is his boisterous mirth on the ears of all good men, 
 while he labours it through the murderous process of self-destruc- 
 tion ! Third: That the sacrilegious hand which ofters violence 
 to this holy institution is stained by crime of the deepest aggrava- 
 tion. It has ever been deemed an atrocious offence to offer in- 
 sult and violence to the person with whom a covenant of amity 
 had been confirmed by eating and drinking. The conscience of 
 even a heathen has set this mark of infamy on it. Even Celsus 
 has gone so far as to bring a charge of inconsistency against the 
 sacred narrative which has detailed the treachery of Judas — be- 
 cause it records what human nature, as he thought, was not ca- 
 pable of perpetrating — that is, treachery after having sealed the 
 covenant of amity by eating and drinking.* 
 
 Public opinion is the same now, respecting solemn covenants 
 ratified by an oath. Oh ! who can conceive the sweeping stroke 
 of that Justice whose stern eye singles out, for vengeance, the 
 wretch who breaks the covenant of his God ; and who " is 
 guilty of the body and blood of the LordP^ And, Oh! tell me if the 
 sacrilegious abstraction of the cup from this sacred institution, by 
 the priests of Rome, have rendered it doubtful, at least, whether 
 this sacrament be solemnized, or even recognized in that 
 church:! — if the act of unworthy communicating does involve 
 guilt of such a distressing nature^ — what must be the guilt of 
 that offender, who, without the plea which ignorance and weak- 
 ness are allowed to plead in extenuation of his crime, who with- 
 out even the plea of the prodigal, whose passions have carried 
 him forward into hostilities against the truth, who through an 
 unsanctified zeal, lashed into fury by enthusiasm, pours contempt 
 on this standing memorial of Christ's love, this standing proof 
 
 * " Ot/ «v9f«jrS • »0(»av»o-«c ff^vs^m tvK av etuToi, toA>.5 TXior « Qti 
 cuftvu^tiBtK tVK BLi eiurS) tvi^auXat^ iyjviTO."— -Cels. IN OrIGKN. 
 
 t See Dv. Adam Clark on The Eucharist, p. 55, who " df^Jies all the 
 priests of Rome to prove that this sacrament is ever dispensed in their 
 society." They withhold the cup from the laity. % 1 Cor. xi. 29. 
 
284 Of the Defects of their System in Point of 
 
 of his divine mission and purity of character,* and in face of 
 that authority which gave it birth, wages war against it " as an 
 idle Jewish ceremony ;" and with sacrilegious hands tears it 
 from its lofty place, which God has assigned to it in his sanc- 
 tuary, and trains up his children and his domestics, with a fatal 
 fidelity to do the same; and leaves to his posterity the legacy 
 of the spirit of persecution ! " Ok! my soul, come not thou into his 
 secret ; into his assembly, mine honour, be not thou united /" 
 
 7 and last. These two sacraments are of perpetual obligation. 
 We hold up the proofs of their divine appointment ; and we in- 
 sist that our Lord's authority alone can abolish what his decree 
 has ordained. Either you are guilty of a daring outrage on his 
 prerogative, or his prerogative has been exercised in abolishing 
 these institutions. If you acted, in this measure, under his 
 auspices, the decree that abolished them is on record. Where, we 
 demand, are the proofs of your commission from the court of 
 heaven? Where is the abolishing decree registered? We chal- 
 lenge the sectary to produce it. We ask not the sickly dreams 
 of the visionary. We listen to no appeals, however confidently 
 made, to the motiveless farrago — the incoherent jargons of self- 
 commissioned kings and prophets. We appeal to the only au- 
 thenticated messages of God — the holy scriptures. If the decree 
 ever existed it is to be found there. It is not there. It never 
 existed. 
 
 Indeed the nature of the services rendered by these means of 
 his ordination are such, in the kingdom of grace, that they will 
 be essentially necessary as long as he has any of his mediatorial 
 Work to be executed, and as long as he continues to work as he 
 always works — by means. And that will be until he " shall de- 
 liver itp the kingdom to the Father^ Hence the parting words of 
 our Lord, " Go teach and baptize — and lo ! I am zvith you alzvay, 
 even to the end of the world.^* " Shczo ye forth the Lord^s death till he 
 come «o-o??t." Was there ever a point made more plain and explicit ? 
 Can the vocabulary of language exhibit more specific or more 
 intelligible words ? " The coming again of the Lord Jesus^' is the 
 limit of their duration, the period of their authority over us. 
 
 • See Dr. Dwight's Works, Sermon 160, where he demonstrates that 
 the holy sacraments are '• standing proofs of our Lord's divine ?)iis- 
 sion :'* And to opjiose them is, of course, equivalent to the act of 
 leaguing against his mission. 
 
Divine Ordinances. — The Lord^s Supper. 285 
 
 The terms, we have said, are very intelligible. But it is the 
 misfortune of words in divine as well as inhuman laws, that they 
 are generally plain and obvious until the thought which they con- 
 vey unluckily crosses some one's path, and thwarts him in some 
 favourite aim : they immediately become mysterious and of dou- 
 ble and uncertain meaning. 
 
 Now, it has been always understood in the church, since the 
 spirit of inspiration put it into universal currency, that there were 
 two comings of Christ. His '■^Jirst coming''^ and his " second com- 
 ing.^''* 
 
 Our Lord has come in '"'■ the flesh.'''' This advent was prior to 
 the appointment of these sacraments. This cannot be " i/ic com- 
 ing" referred to. " He shall appear the second time without sin unto 
 salvation ;" he " will descend with a shout ,•" he will sit on the 
 ^'' great white throne /" he will summon all nations into his presence ; 
 he will judge the quick and the dead. This is emphatically 
 styled " the coming of Christ f and till this ^'' coming^'' these sacra- 
 ments will continue in full operation. 
 
 The leaders of the society in their incurable rage for mysti- 
 cism, have very gravely told us that " Christ's coming is not to 
 be referred to any outward coming, but to his inward coining ; and 
 this inivard coining is nothing less and nothing more, say they, 
 than the mission of the Spirit at Pentecost. " The coming of the 
 Holy Ghost, is, say they, the coming of Christ — and that is past. 
 These " ceremonies lasted till the coming of Christ." Since that 
 they have ceased.f 
 
 Whether Sabellius of olden times, or the Sabellius of the 
 society, is to have the merit of discovering " that the mission of 
 the Spirit and the coming of Christ are the same thing," and 
 whence they may have derived their authority for the theory, 
 I profess that it is not for uninspired men to determine. But, 
 eertainly, it must have originated with that haggard spirit who 
 
 • Acts vii. 52, Acts xiii. 24, and Acts ii. 11. Heb. ix. 28, Sec. I speak 
 not here of his '* comings" taken evidently in a nietapliorical manner, and 
 designed to convey the idea of some extraordinary movement in Provi- 
 dence, or display of grace, as in Exod. iii. S, and xix. 11. Psal. cxi. 5. 
 Isa. ly.iv. 1. Micah. i. 3. I speak not here of these, for we niust not con- 
 found things Hteral and metaphorical . 
 
 t See Penn vol. ii. 833, 834, 908. Barcl. Apol. Prop. 13,p. 492, and 
 J. Pike on Bapt. and the supper, p. 119. 
 
286 Of the Defects of their System, ^c. 
 
 brooded on each of them ; and whose breath has blown a 
 withering blast over the fair system of truth ; whose damning 
 theory has confounded the holy persons of the Son and the 
 Holy Ghost ; and who has blotted out of their " other gospeV the 
 most holy doctrine of the Triniti/ ; and who has dried up the 
 last stream of hope and comfort to the sad soul ; and who bids 
 the fainting pilgrim go weep in despair ! But this theory will 
 never obtain currency. " Tht Lord God omnipotent reigneth /" 
 
 The " coming of Chrisf'' is not " the mission of the Holy Ghost." ' 
 Our Lord has ascended on high. And, according to his pro- 
 mise he has sent us the Holy Spirit. But, He himself, in hu- 
 man nature, is in the midst of the throne.* And he will remain 
 there " till the restitution of all things''''] It will not help our 
 mystic friends out of the difficulty, to refer this " coming of our 
 Lord'''' to his secret communion with us. This he has vouchsafed 
 to the pious of all ages. This he will not suffer to be inter- 
 rupted at any period. In this manner, he will continue to come 
 till the trump of God shall sound the last note of time. And, the 
 Friends being witnesses, this is a " spiritual coming.^'' Let them 
 take it in either sense, in ours, or their own, they must, in con- 
 sistency, yield the point ; and admit the perpetual obligation of 
 baptism and the Lord's supper, or wage war against the ob- 
 vious assurances and precepts of the Holy Ghost. Let them 
 choose the alternative of the dilemma. 
 
 • Revel, chap. V. fActsiii. 21. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE MORAL TENDENCY OF THEIR RELIGIOUS 
 
 TENETS. 
 
 5rx«ii«jwivo/." — St. Paul. 
 
 The moral man of the world, is not the moral man of the Bi- 
 ble ; the virtues of the former are the virtues of its philosophy — 
 those of the latter are produced by the spirit, and regulated by 
 the precepts of the gospel. Those divine precepts are from the 
 same throne whence issue the laws that govern nature. It 
 would betray the act of a maniac to assume the liberty and pow- 
 er of changing the laws of nature. It does betray equal folly, 
 and much more danger to trench on the prerogatives of Deity, 
 to dictate to infinite sovereignty what actions should form the 
 constituent parts of morality in the bosom and in the actions of 
 his moral subjects. Christianity is at issue with the world on 
 this point, and we shall not yield one inch of ground to the ad- 
 versary ; we shall not applaud that image, that phantom, which 
 the world has set up in the place of morality. It is hollow; it is 
 baseless ; it is a body without a spirit. To set aside the pecu- 
 liar doctrines of Christianity which exhibit the aids and the mo- 
 lives to obey its precepts, we do contend, is to take away the 
 soul and spirit of sound morals. 
 
 The Friends have been distinguished by the name of good 
 moralists ; whether justly or not on the above principles, I shall 
 not now enquire. I will admit the morality and sound policy 
 usually ascribed to them ; I \vill not detract one grain from their 
 justice, their integrity, their honesty. Their kind and amiable 
 manners have secured them a right to the title of Friends ; their 
 females are distinguished for their prudence, their modesty, and 
 elegance of manners ; their attention to the wants of the poor, 
 their deportment towards the Indian tribes, and their labours 
 in behalf of bleeding Africa, call forth our applause. I will not 
 detract ought from the laurels which have long and justly adorn- 
 ed the brows of some of their leaders, I revere the memory of 
 
288 Of the Moral Tendency 
 
 governor* Barclay as a man of letters, prudence and integrity. 
 The name of Penn associates in my mind the ideas of wisdom 
 and sound policy, built on strict national justice ; while the memo- 
 ry of Cortes and Pizarro floats along the stream of time, they 
 will bear along with them the execration of mankind. But the 
 memory of Penn as a politician, will be embalmed in the recol- 
 lection of millions of freemen, who will guard the honour and 
 laws of that fair state which bears the name of its illustrious 
 founder. 
 
 But the society of Friends do not come before the public mere- 
 ly as good moralists; they thank not the world for the negative 
 virtues in which it has officiously clothed them ; they stand for- 
 ward with the highest claims of a christian society ; they do claim 
 apostolical honours and an apostolical commission to their ancient 
 elders. In the ascent of reformation they have left the christian 
 world far behind in the gloom of the dark ages ;t they tour aloft 
 in air; they plant their proud standard on the highest battlement 
 of Zion ; they throw ai'oundthem a cloud of glory and perfection ; 
 they look down with inimitable complacency on the bustling 
 sects crawling far below, and frown defiance to the proudest of 
 them, to approach their height. Not as moralists do they take 
 their proud stand, but as a new sect bearing a new modification 
 of Christianity. Christianity reformed even to sublimity ! Chris- 
 tianity stript of its peculiar institutions! 
 
 The moral tendency of their religious system may be con- 
 sidered in its effects on the mind ; on their manners ; on prac- 
 tical religion, and on learning. These moral effects are pre- 
 sented to our eyes with the historical evidence of a hundred and 
 seventy years. 
 
 1. The doctrine of supernatural impulses, carried out in its 
 legitimate tendency, lays their minds open to endless follies and 
 deception. 
 
 Let a man be fully convinced that he carries in his bosom a 
 power that dictates every proper measure, and guides him with 
 infallibilit}', and he will seldom act like a sober and rational 
 being. He will check, as intrusions, the dictates of reason ; and 
 
 • He was appointed governor of New Jersey in A. D. 1682, by 
 Charles II. f Bar. Apol. Prop. x. sect. 11. 
 
Of their lleligious Tenets. 289 
 
 ie will spurn from him the advices of friends. Even the holy 
 counsels of the Bible will loose their weight with him. Never 
 content with common means, and common things, nothing short 
 of supernatural agency comes up to the measure of his taste. 
 He will court with anxiety the dream, or the still voice of the 
 awful midnight hour; or the solemn vision of the forest, or of 
 the cave. He will be the child of superstition. A strong in- 
 clination, nursed by some particular bias, will have the force, 
 with him, of a divine impulse. He will, by degrees, transfer the 
 influence of these motions from moral objects to the common 
 affairs of life. They will, in process of time, be put in requisi- 
 sition to guide his appetites, his business, and even his gestures. 
 Incidents are on record in the history of the sect, which do 
 abundantly show that this is no theory. 
 
 One of these reforming inspirati was moved to carry off the 
 sand glass from the priest's desk. He affirmed that he did it in 
 obedience to the Spirit. And Fox insisted that that could not be 
 theft which was prompted by inspiration.* One of these in- 
 spired few resided in major Hobson's family. Finding his mind 
 inaccessible to argument, the major, by means of a long tube, 
 carried into a trunk that stood in the chamber of the Friend, 
 conveyed dismal sounds into his ears, about the witching time of 
 night. His mind having been suitably elevated by this prepar- 
 atory measure, he heard words distinctly calling on him to arise 
 and go to a certain place. He arose and devoutly obeyed the 
 Oracle.! Fox, when walking over a plain received a command 
 from the invisible guide within to ascend the adjacent cliffs, 
 and he promptly obeyed.;}: When seated at the table, it said, 
 " George eat not ;" and he arose forthwith.§ Toldervy was the 
 most implicit in his obedience, "i/e couldnot limit the holy one in 
 him in any thing.'''* He had been a dashing and gay servant in 
 colonel Webb's family. But after hearing one Quaker lecture 
 this spirit in him new modelled his whole life. Thou shalt not 
 use '■'- you and ye.''"' And he thenceforth used the style of the 
 sanctified. Thou shalt not use " points nor a hat-band, nor one 
 
 • " Great mystery," old Edit. p. 77, and "Snake, &c." p. 94, Edit. 3, 
 or p. 91. 2 Edit. f Faldo's " Quak. &c." p. 27, and Penn. vol. ii. p. 
 306. X Jowr. vol. i. 173. $ Vol. i. p. 172. 
 
 40 
 
290 Of the Moral Tendency 
 
 unnecessary button." And he rejected them. He met the colo- 
 nel no longer with an obsequious air, but under a huge hat and 
 with " William Webb^ how does thy body do ?" While the colonel 
 was entertaining a polite company, " I was moved by the spirit," 
 said John, '' to go and dine with them." Instead of waiting on 
 his master, he walked into the hall, covered, and with a gravity 
 that was not to be discomposed, he took his stool, placed it at 
 the head of the table, " and applied himself to his work." We 
 next find him behind a counter. But the spirit moved him to 
 give new names to certain articles that " were named by the 
 will of man." This new nomenclature produced such confusion 
 that he was again dismissed, fn short, he eat when prompted 
 by his spiritual guide : and refrained, scrupulously, from those 
 viands which it proscribed.* Some were prompted to rid them- 
 selves of the shackles of clothes, and to act the Lupercus. Some 
 wei'e moved to take off the hat in prayer. Some were moved 
 not to take oft" the hat. Some it moved to stand during devotion : 
 some it moved to sit. Guided by these impulses, some laid 
 aside the leading institutions of Christ. Muggleton, though not 
 of the society, professed to follow the same infallible guide, and, 
 outrageously consistent, he rejected the Bible, and teachers, and 
 pastors, and sacraments, and assemblies for worship. In late 
 times, Shackleton revived this principle in the society in Ire- 
 land ; and rigorously followed it up, till he found himself pre- 
 cisely where this enthusiasm carries its votaries — in the train of 
 Herbert and Hume, and the miserable Paine.t 
 
 2. The first grand tenet of the sect has a tendency to lead 
 men into the wildering mazes of deism. 
 
 Their leading tenet elevates their revelations above the Bible : 
 and the Holy Bible is m.ade to sink into a secondary rule; 
 liable to be interpreted by their revelations; and obeyed only 
 so far as it corresponds with their impulses. | These revelations, 
 say they, do all that the scriptures can do — and in a superior 
 manner. The scriptures are from the Spirit, but they have that 
 very Spirit as their guide. And '"'■propter quod unumquodque est 
 
 * See his book, " Foot out of the Snare," pp. 10, 15, 17, 18, 19, &c. 
 See the Note D. Appendix I. f See " The Snak« in the Grass," sect. 
 21, for further specimens equally striking % Penn. vol. ii. p. 515. 
 
Of their Ileligious Tenets. 291 
 
 tale, illud ipsum est magis tale*''* It is true, in all their defences, 
 they confound their impulses and the Spirit. Or their impulses 
 and the Spirit are the same. Hence their conclusion that they 
 are superior to the Bible. It is only an extension of the same 
 idea, when they say, that " Turks and pagans who never heard 
 of the history of the sufferings and death of Christ, may, by the 
 light within, be saved, as well as the christian." 
 
 These opinions are advocated in the Apology with all the in- 
 genuity and wildering sophistry of Barclay.! It is easy to see 
 what must be the conclusions to which the mind of the Friend is 
 led, who approaches Barclay with all the prepossessions of sec- 
 tarian partiality. " These scriptures are good. But my fathers 
 and I think that they are not essentially necessary. I have that 
 in me — and every man has that in him, which is really superior. 
 They are the secondary rule. I have in me the primary rule. 
 These are but as a dead letter, compared to my infallible guide." 
 The next step to the Quaker, is easy and natural. Every be- 
 liever in Barclay rises up from the perusal of the Apology, as 
 really and practically a Deist, as if he had been studying Her- 
 bert or Bolingbroke, or Hume ! 
 
 The Keithian controversy which agitated the society in Phila- 
 delphia and London in the days of Penn, affords proof of the ex- 
 istence of deism among them at that early period. It is a fact 
 capable of the most distinct proof from the writings of that period, 
 that the accusation brought against Keith was " that he preached 
 two Christs.^'' The proof was that he taught " that the Lord Je- 
 sus is in the heavens in human nature, and that the light within 
 is the spiritual presence of Christ:" for this doctrine he was con- 
 demned. The process began in Philadelphia — the final sentence 
 was pronounced in London. Keith justly rephed, " if I am guil- 
 ty of error in your estimation, then you do deny the real Christ 
 in human nature in heaven ; if you do not deny Christ thus in 
 glory, how can you pronounce me guilty ? How can you assert 
 that I preach two Christs ?"| 
 
 • Bar. Apol. Prop. iii. Sect. -2. f Apol. Prop. iii. 
 
 + See Keith's J^eiu Englayid Spirit of Persecution, p. 2, and h\s Deism 
 of JV. Penn, and " Snake," edit. 2, p. 61, 65, 66 ; and on the other side, 
 see his Antagonist's, S. Jennings, Acct. of this Controv. at Philad. 
 
292 Of the Moral Tendency 
 
 The infidel system of Woolston furnishes an additional proof 
 of this fact; it grew up by the most natural process, out of the 
 Quaker principles. This idea was suggested and pursued at 
 some length by Richard, bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, in 
 his review of Woolston : he has estabhshed this position, that 
 Woolston and the Friends explained away, by the magic of al- 
 legory, the literal meaning of the New Testament — and particu- 
 larly that they opposed the spiritual and inward Christ to the 
 outward and carnal Christ, in all the circumstances of his birth, 
 death and resurrection.* The anonymous champion of the so- 
 ciety was a novice at argument ; his strength lay in denying the 
 resemblance.! The al)le author of the defence of the bishop 
 went fully into the examination of this subject; he laid down the 
 following points of resemblance ; and the copious extracts from 
 Woolston and the writers of the society, have fairly borne him 
 out in his argument. " 1. Some of the leading Quakers as well 
 as Woolston, seem to deny the facts relating to an outward Christ. 
 2. Other leading Quakers express themselves with great indif- 
 ference, as likewise does Woolston, whether the facts of an out- 
 ward Christ were performed or not — and if performed, they do, 
 with him, deny the necessity of the belief of them. 3. The Qua- 
 kers in general assert that these outward facts are typical of the 
 operations of the inward Christ; so does Woolston professedly. 
 4. The Quakers infinitely prefer the inward Christ to the outward 
 and carnal Christ. 5. Woolston has copied their mode of allegory. 
 6. By the means of allegory both of them explain away the holy 
 sacraments. 7. Some of them agree with Woolston that there 
 is no other resurrection, nor hell, nor heaven, but those within 
 them."+ 
 
 Since that period this spirit has been silently maintaining its 
 deadly march ; there has been no Keith within to check it — with- 
 out, there has been no Leslie armed with " The Snake" to chas- 
 tise the lowering demon back to its place. 
 
 The frequency of expulsions, with the sentiments which the 
 narratives of expelled members breathe, and the facts Avhich 
 
 * See the ♦' Vindication of the Miracles of Jesus,'" p. 572. f Letters 
 first and second to the Bp. of L ai.d Co\ entry. No. 898, octavo, Philad. 
 Lib. t Viod. of the Bishop of L. and Gov. p. 146, 147, edition of A. D. 
 1733. 
 
Of their Religious Tenets. §93 
 
 they detail, furnish additional proof that their leading tenet re- 
 specting the scriptures, has diffused this spirit. We have only to 
 open the narratives of Rathbone and of Evans to see this. Them- 
 selves the advocates of this principle,* thej bring forward facts 
 to show that the pestilential spirit has spread its ravages, espe- 
 cially in Ireland. Deism was advocated in the national meeting 
 there in 1797, and met with a feeble opposition; at the next an- 
 nual meeting some offenders were excluded, and an order was 
 issued that an edition of the Apology should be published to check 
 the growing evil. But in the same decree, in the fatal spirit of that 
 very Apology, they avowed the deistical sentiment that " the 
 scriptures are writings xvhich are only a secondary rule under the. 
 spirit of truth.'''' And by the " spirit of truth," every Quaker 
 knows the light within is meant. The followers of Herbert from 
 Hume to Paine call it reason or conscience.^ 
 
 Rathbone did assure the society, (and he spoke from deep 
 experience,) that the publishing of the Apology would have an 
 effect exactly the reverse of what they wished.J 
 
 This state of matters, in Ireland, was announced to the annual 
 meeting in London. In a debate on a certificate given to a pro- 
 phetess who had actually ventured to advocate the divine war- 
 rant of the Jewish wars under Moses and Joshua, which certifi- 
 cate had been given by the annual meeting of Ireland, it was 
 Stated by a leading member, (in the face of the meeting in 
 London,) that the select, or national meeting of ministers in Ire- 
 land, was in such a state that nothing was of any account which 
 came from it.§ 
 
 It is not supposed that the resemblance between the Friend 
 and the Deist extends over every item of their systems. Nothing 
 can be more different than their style and language. The Friend 
 quotes scripture. His language abounds with it. He speaks in 
 an imposing form of Christ ; of his death ; of his atonement ; of 
 his salvation.il Language, however, is but the arbitrary signs 
 
 ♦ Rathb. Nar. p. 175, &c. f See the papers of Hancock, Shackleton 
 •with the Na'". of Rathbone and of Evans (Phil.) p. 27. See the Report 
 of the committee of the Natl. An. meetme of Ireland, A. D. 1798. The 
 Extr. in Rathbone's Nar. p. 53. " % Rathb. Nar. p. 53 and 101 
 
 § Rathb. N;ir. p. 109, and of his Memorial, p. 92. |j See chap. vii. 
 
 Sect. 2 and 3, preceding. 
 
^94 Of the Moral Tendency 
 
 of our ideas. Make the Friend define his terms. Ask him what 
 Christ he speaks of? What is the atonement? What is salvation? 
 *' Uno ore nobiscum loqui videntur, sed ludunt tantum oRquivocationi- 
 hus ad decipiendas idiotas comparatis.^^* 
 
 In defiance of the ditference of style they are strongly asso- 
 ciated with Deists. And though they come forward as different 
 sects, they make their force bear on the common enemy with 
 the deadly aim of a combined power. The Deist has excluded 
 from his meagre system the most holy doctrine of Trinity. The 
 Friend does the same — only he admits what resembles the 
 Platonic triad as modified by Sabellius or by Socinus. The 
 Deist denies the necessity of an atonement by the shedding of 
 blood. Penn does the same in the most decided and forcible 
 terms.t The Deist denies the truth of the atonement. The Friend 
 does the same. But he has the sufferings, the death, the atone- 
 ment of the Christ within him. The Deist rejects the permanent 
 office of the holy ministry. The Friend does the same. But 
 admits that the inspired brother may exhort when he is moved. 
 The Deist rejects the holy Sabbath. The Friend denies the 
 olivine warrant to keep it holy — and makes " all days alike.'* 
 The Deist has rejected the holy sacraments. The Friend does 
 the same. But he satisfies himself that he has an inward bap- 
 tism, and an inward supper. Each of these sects has put into 
 the breast of all men, independent of the holy scriptures, a suf- 
 ficient rule and guide to happiness.^ On this principle, as a 
 most natural consequence, each of them is hostile to Bible 
 societies, and to missionary enterprises. This inward principle, 
 each contends, may be called Logos. They differ as to the name 
 it ought to assume in the lips of the vulgar. The Deist will 
 render it reason. The Friend calls it Christ, or light, or spirit. 
 The Deist makes this being or thing to display its energies in 
 every man — Turk, savage, and christian. The Friend gives it 
 equal powers. The Deist exalts it alx)ve scripture. The Qua- 
 ker docs the same. The march of intellect, and the reign of 
 reason is the salvation of the Deist. The rising up of this light 
 
 * Cloppenburgii Gangrxna, A. D. 1645, p. 2. f His '♦ Sandy Foun- 
 flation Shaken." And chap. 7, sect. 1 and 2, of this work. i Hence 
 
 their abuse of those texts : 1 Cor. xii. 7. Titus ii. 11, 
 
Of their Religious Tenets, S99 
 
 inwardly^ is that of the Quaker.* The Deist stands insulated 
 from the whole religious world ; and frowns defiance and con- 
 tempt on every sect. The Quaker has hitherto rejected every 
 overture of fellowship with the churches, and preached the 
 bitterest sarcasms on our ministry and our solemn ordinances ! 
 
 3. Their grand tenet of the universal inward light has a ten- 
 dency to destroy rational and true religion. " The rising up of 
 this lighf^ is, with them, the resurrection of Christ: another of its 
 movements is his sufferings and death. They who never heard 
 of the history of our Lord have the atonement within them.t 
 Pagans though " blinded in their minds, and burdened by super- 
 stition, are united to the Lord." " Their salvation is effected 
 without the knowledge of Christ in the gospel, as persons are 
 cured by medicines which operate in them, though they know 
 neither their nature nor their name."| Thus the purity of re- 
 ligion is not inconsistent with pagan superstition : nor the gloom 
 of ignorance with devotion. Thus religion is not the result of a 
 clear mind, and a sound judgment, inve.-tigating, believing, and 
 acting. It is a mere mechanical operation of a foreign power or 
 substance within, called " the Light," producing certain unde- 
 fined effects in the region of the mind ; while the devotee is left 
 as ignorant of religion and of morals, as the patient is of the 
 composition of his cathartic ! 
 
 Thus the church invisible is composed of a medley of charac- 
 ters, and of jarring elements. Some are redeemed by the only 
 Lord and Saviour — others by the energies of the light. Some 
 are saved through the knowledge and belief of the truth: others, 
 though adults, are destitute of both. Some are the sons of God 
 without rebuke in the midst of impiety and crime : others arc 
 superstitious pagans in life — and, dying, " they curse their king 
 and their gods, and look upward /" 
 
 4. Their general principles are hostile to the practice of 
 brotherly love and charity. They have drawn around them- 
 selves a trench deep and wide. Within this they have en- 
 trenched themselves. And, in this age of concord, they approach 
 no sect of Christians. They place themselves in a state as in- 
 
 ♦ See chap. vii. sect. 3, preceding. f Apol. Prop. x. sect. 2, 4. 
 
 X Apol. Prop. V. and vi. sect. 25. 
 
29S Of the Moral Tendency 
 
 sulated as the Jews. The spirit of their fathers reared this 
 barrier ; and taught them this bigotry. " He," (the pope,) " and 
 yoii,'''' (protestants,) said Fox, " are apostatized from the infallible 
 spirit of the apostles in which we have come.^''* " Our holy religion.,^^ 
 said Penn, " has God for its father, and victory for its offspring.^''] 
 " We know that we are of God, and all who oppose our testimony'''' 
 (of the light within,) '' are in the gall of bitterness and bond of 
 iniquity. ''"'X Even the enlightened Barclay lets himself down 
 among the sins of bigotrj'. He proscribes the whole protestant 
 church. They are all destitute of the spirit of religion. They 
 are all overrun with error — and need the hand of the reformer, 
 as much as the Romish church. § And Penn, with the thunder of 
 the Vatican, sweeps away her ministry, and her sacraments, 
 and her existence.|| 
 
 These sentiments, uncharitable as they are, and worthy of a 
 Spanish inquisition, the society have, with scrupulous exactness, 
 brought into all their practice. They have no fellowship with 
 the christian world. They never unite in prayer with them. 
 They never enter their temples. They never bid them God 
 speed. They never accept of a God speed from them. They 
 will not give a child in marriage, to a member of any christian 
 society. They will receive none in marriage, unless they re 
 nounce even the scruples of their conscience. They denounce 
 the children of their own bowels if they frequent a christian 
 church. They sternly deny them the liberty of conscience to 
 read the books of other societies. They disown them if they 
 marry out of the society. And they command the parents of 
 disowned youth, not " to entertain or even to comfort them. "IF 
 Some of their enlightened members have lamented this state of 
 things. But the voice of lovely charity has been hitherto 
 drowned in the tumultuous clamours of bigotry. And yet, with 
 an amiable kind of inconsistency, they assume the title of 
 Friends: and they are kind and obliging in their intercourse 
 with the world. 
 
 • "Great Myst. Anc." Edit. p. 105. "Snake," &c. p. 37. t Vol. 
 ii. 228. + Vol. ii. p. 194. § Apol. Prop. xiii. sect. 1. \\ Vol. ii. 
 pp. 91©, 911. 'f Rathbone's Narrative, p. 42, 44, 45, &c. Appendix, 
 No. 5. 
 
Of their Jleligious Tenets. 297 
 
 3. Their tenets are hostile to the sciences. 
 
 The society, to speak in general terms, have not permitted the 
 Muses to find a residence among them. They make little account 
 of the humane and moral effects of science ; and still less of that 
 noble and intellectual gratification which men of learning enjoy 
 in the pursuits of science. They fix the value of the sciences by 
 a peculiar standard — that standard is a certain kind of utility. 
 Such is that spirit which guides their decisions, that nothing comes 
 up to its measure which is not positively connected with business 
 and the means of gain. They are strangers to the languages ; 
 they despise the rules of polished composition and eloquence ; 
 logic and philosopliy disgust them; the science and art of music, 
 which has charms for the savage, and raptures for the polished 
 mind, have not charms for them -, chemistry and physics are not 
 utterly rejected, they are valuable guides in the path of gain. 
 Of mathematics, the solitary branch which treats of number&N 
 meets with patrons ; and a graceful leger is generally preferred 
 to the fairest course of science. 
 
 This is not the accidental whim of caprice. Their principles 
 breathe a spirit of hostility to the liberal sciences. They deem 
 it presumptuous and unholy to undertake the defence of spirituals 
 by the mere labours of mortal intellect ; and the case will be 
 made still worse if that intellect has been polished by human 
 means.* Their light within is an inexhaustible fund of support 
 in all defensive operations; human ingenuity and ratiocination 
 can add nothing to its energies : and if the dead languages should 
 be necessary, even that help will be vouchsafed by the " Light. " 
 This is not conjecture. The learned Barclay has assured us that 
 a Friend, so illiterate that he could not even read, actually cor- 
 Tected a Hebrew quotation made by a learned professor :t and if 
 an illiterate man, why not other men ? If Hebrew roots are thus 
 at the skilful controul of this " Light,'^ why not the whole of the 
 arcana of nature ?| 
 
 This hostility to learning is hereditary. " All languages are 
 to me as dust,"§ said their founder. And in the days of Crom- 
 
 * Hence their cant about " college made ministers." f Apol. Prop, 
 iii. sect. 4, and x. sect. 19. See note B. apnendix. % As Behmen 
 
 (Life, &c. by Okely, p. 23, 112. 117,) and G. Fox (Journal i. p. 105) did 
 actually believe ' § Fox's Bcttledoor, see the Introduction. 
 
 41 
 
^9^ Of the Moral Tendency 
 
 well, Fox gave a practical comment on these words, by placing 
 himself in the front of those who would have quenched the light 
 of science by a decisive blow. He addressed the populace in 
 this style: " I declare, in the presence of God, that magistrates 
 that are in the fear of the Lord will break down mass houses, 
 and schools, and colleges in which you make ministers."* Penn 
 would spare the schools, but he would turn the colleges and uni- 
 versities into desolation.! And the mild Barclay is transformed 
 into a Goth against literature. " It is more hurtful than usefuV 
 As "ybr logic and philosophy'''' they ought to be '■forgotten and /o5^" 
 For systematic divinity it " is a monster ; it is man in his devilish 
 zmsdom'^ — Nay " it is the devil obscuring the knowledge of God.'^''X 
 The labours of the leaders were not lost on the populace ; while 
 they applauded their zeal, they yielded themselves to the undis- 
 turbed repose of easy contented ignorance. 
 
 Yet how inconsistent is human nature even when guided by in- 
 spirations ! In the intervals of this Gothic fury against letters, 
 Penn has quoted Rabbis, and Latins, and Greeks! Barclay is 
 ever on the catch to overwhelm his antagonist by Latin, and syl- 
 logisms, and the Fathers ! Fox relieved his paroxysms of anger 
 against learning by publishing eight books in Latin, and a polyglott.^ 
 And the Quakers are the only sect known to have become mar- 
 iyrs and confessors for the strict and grammatical use of'-'' thou and 
 theeir 
 
 The efiecLs of this hostility to the sciences is strongly marked 
 on the features of the society at this day ; they have few men of 
 science ;|| they have no literary societies ; they have no periodi- 
 
 • See Fox's " Papists'' Strenffl/i," printed in tlie year 1658, and " Snake 
 in the Grass," p. 219. And the fury of Fox and his associates was fol- 
 lowed up by an "Address to Parliament," on the same subject, signed by 
 " roOO handmtiids and daui^htcrs of the Lord." 
 
 f Vol. ii. p. 56. % Apol. Prop. x. sect. 15, 20, 21. When free from 
 the bias of the sect, Barclay advocated schools and learning. Sect. 15. 
 
 § The polyglott had the name of Fox attached to each page. It cer- 
 tainly was his polyglott ; for it was discovered that a Jew received his full 
 price for it. " Snake," p. 84. 
 
 II It is pleasing to have some brilliant exceptions. Lindley Murray, 
 the philosophical Waring (Miller's Retrosp. vol. i. 43.) Doctor Birk- 
 beck, Anthony Purver (Lempr. Biog. Diet.) Gummere, Dr. Jones, Pro- 
 fessor Griscom, 8cc. But we can allow them no more merit in producing 
 these, than what they will claim for giving us two of our favourite Gen- 
 erals — General Green, and General Brown of the U. S. Army. 
 
Of their Religious Tenets, 299 
 
 cal publications;* they have no learned academies; they have 
 no colleges ; they have produced no learned works. There is a 
 peculiar vacancy of mind in their leading men, and a want of 
 disposition or unfitness to support a conversation on a topic of his- 
 tory or the sciences. 
 
 In the domestic circle and around the festive board, this fea- 
 ture assumes a more marked form ; there are, occasionally, long 
 and dreary pauses in the conversation ; the lips of all the party 
 are sealed in an obstinate taciturnity. The world had assigned 
 as the natural cause of this, their limited edu cation, and a conse- 
 quent barrenness of idea. But Clarkson has the merit of invent- 
 ing the true cause. He gravely tells us, that the party is retired 
 into themselves, and are waiting for supernatural impulses ! Na- 
 ture, the philosophers tell us, abhors a vacuum; and it is very na- 
 tural that the human mind in a state of vacuum., should crave re- 
 plenishment from some source. If the common means resorted 
 to by philosophers and christians should be refused as too de- 
 grading; if holy revelations should be denied to them — even 
 like Saul, it will court the presence and commerce of unearth- 
 ly beings, and bow down at the shrine of demons! 
 
 6. Their doctrine of infallibility has a pernicious tendency. 
 The elders of the society have claimed this attribute : and they 
 have maintained their defence with no common warmth. The 
 force of argument and the edge of satire have driven them from 
 the high ground which they assumed at first. But they still hold, 
 in an obstinate manner, a qualified infallibility. They lay down 
 this position. " The infallible spirit is given to every one of us.^^ 
 Their proof is this. " The spirit is infallible." Each of us has 
 the spirit. Each of us, therefore, is infallible.! They do not say, 
 
 * Thai is exclusively their own. The " Philanthropist" was conduct- 
 ed chiefly by Friends. 1817. 
 
 t This syllogism has a fatal chasm in it. They do not establish the 
 identity of their s/iirit with the Holy (r/iost. And, if their spirit were in- 
 fallible, that does not prove that he leads them in an infallible manner. 
 Clarkson, in his panegyric of the sect, has strangely omitted their attri- 
 bute of infallibility. If any doubt the fact of tliis claim, I refer for proof 
 to Barclay's works, Lond. 1692, p. 893. His Anarchy of Ranters, p. 84, 
 88. Pcnn", vol. ii. 106, 126, 241, 252, 263, 330. Pennington, vol. ii. p. 674. 
 Fox's Great Myst. Epist. to the reader, p. 7, and p. 33, &c. GnfF. Jour. 
 189. Rathl). Na'r. append. No. vi. 66, 70, &c. The two branches of this 
 doctrine, are 1. That of their sinless perfection. 2, Tliat of discerning 
 spirits. 
 
300 Of the Moral Tendency^ ^'c. 
 
 that the man is infallible. But he has this spirit in him. And in 
 proportion as he adheres to its dictates, he acts and judges in a 
 manner infallibly correct. 
 
 " This doctrine of infallibility," says a sensible writer, who 
 was once a leading Quaker — " even thus qualified and limited, is, 
 under the influence of enthusiasm and credulity, as liable to 
 abuse as absolute infallibility. It is impalpable to all grasp. It 
 eludes all inquiry. It acknowledges no definite connexion with 
 persons, places, or time. It admits of no test by which the va- 
 lidity of its claims can be fairly ascertained. And, finally, it 
 resolves itself into an accommodating truism of no practical use ; 
 that they who are infallible must be right. And the competent 
 judges of their practice and opinions, are those only who concur 
 with them.''* 
 
 From this dangerous tenet has originated the self-sufficiency 
 that marks the leaders of the sect. Hence that spirit with which 
 they view every other sect of christians. Hence that unblushing 
 confidence with which their illiterate deaconesses and deacons 
 can address a public assemblj^ Hence it is that the mind of 
 the Friend is entrenched within his hereditary opinions, and 
 bids defiance to argument and persuasion. Hence that peculiar 
 feature in their devotions. The printed and the spoken prayers 
 of their prophets afford no instance of the confession of sin, and 
 contrition for the weakness and corruption of their nature.! 
 Hence that peculiar character of their writings. They never 
 retract. They defend every sentiment, the most crude and con- 
 tradictory that has fallen from the pen of fanaticism. Penn has 
 professedly defended every feature of Fox's inspirations !J 
 
 *Rathb. Nar. Appendix, No. vi. p. 66. f See chap. ii. sect. 2, 
 
 preceding. % See vol. ii. pp. 119, 139, 146, 147, 191, 216, 434, 541, 
 
 &c. It was on this principle that the society, in 1711, resisted the at- 
 tempt to review and correct the hooks of Friends. They reasoned a 
 priori. Since they were written by the infaUible spirit, there could be 
 no error in them . 
 
THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 " MtyaXm etTroXiiriunei'i ojuui ivyud; a.f*ctfrti[A.u. — LoXGINUS. 
 
 This history of the opinions of the Friends, and of their or- 
 ganization as a separate sect, and of the moral tendency of 
 their system, I now bring to a close. I lay it at the feet of my 
 Divine Master, and implore his benediction on it. 
 
 I have not lessened, nor have I aggravated, from design, 
 aught of their peculiar system. 1 have laboured to come at the 
 truth, so far as I could trace it through so many obscure wind- 
 ings. Much pains have been taken to quote correctly. With 
 the labour and pains of many years our doctrinal and historical 
 indices were filled up from every writer, of any name, in the 
 society. In these their different opinions Avere collated. These 
 I have had before me with the best editions of their favourite 
 authors which I could obtain. 
 
 The society's attention I cannot expect. They are as rigor- 
 ous as the holy father and cardinals of Rome in framing their 
 index expurgatorius. With them there is no practical liberty of 
 the press. Their internal polity takes it utterly away. Our 
 people read both sides of the question. They absolutely pro- 
 hibit their youth, and, indeed, members in general, from look- 
 ing into any book not of their iyidex. From the year 1676, their 
 monthly and quarterly meetings are enjoined to " keep an exact 
 account what priests and others have written books against Friends.''''* 
 And the person and name, not the book, is usually held up to 
 view. Their people durst not, and, generally speakings cannot read 
 our books. They would be persecuted even to expiiision — if, 
 asserting their natural rights, they would think for ihem elves. 
 Their opinions become hereditarj. They manage the mritter by 
 proxy ! And even many of their leading members and pi'eachers 
 
 ♦ Lond. Epist. for A. D. 1676. 
 
302 The Conclusion. 
 
 will hardly venture themselves. If they are hardy enough — it 
 is somewhat after the godly example of the abbot of St. Cyran, 
 who never took up a book of the heretics without going through 
 the process of exorcising the devil out of it, 
 
 " Sed fortasse nos non canimus surdis." 
 
 The regard of the christian world is respectfully solicited to 
 this historical review of the Quaker system. Men, brethren and 
 fathers, examine and clecide for yourselves. I place it in your 
 hands with diffidence and respect. 
 
 If these statements be correct, as it is honestly believed that 
 they are, it will be no difficult matter to form a just idea of the 
 system. Of their amiable virtues we speak not. Those merit 
 every praise. Of their admirable civil polity, embracing their 
 internal and external polity, we say nothing which is not tem- 
 pered with respect, and even applause. But their religious 
 system,, and their christian aspect, we hold up to view, as those 
 of a sect making the most inordinate pretensions and claims. 
 
 From this exhibition of facts, it is seen that their system com- 
 bines, in one heterogeneous mass, almost every species of heresy 
 and error, ancient and modern : that with Saccas they arc mys- 
 tics — and have excluded some of the most sacred institutions of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ: that with Sabellius they are Sabellians, 
 on the most sacred doctrine of Trinity, and the distinct divine 
 persons : that with Pciagius they are Pelagians : that with Ar- 
 minius, they are Arminians on the doctrine of grace: that with 
 Paul of Samoseta, and the Ebionites, and the two Socini, they 
 are Unitarians, and reject from their creed the most sacred 
 Trinity, and the distinct personality of the Son of God, and the 
 atonement ; that with Origen and others of modern name they 
 are Univcrsalists. And j^et, in the modification of these senti- 
 ments, there are so many repulsive materials wrought up in 
 them, that the society can never amalgamate with any one of 
 all these sects. They cannot even approximate to a friendly 
 communion with any sect within or without the limits of the 
 visible church ! " Arise^ God ! plead thine 07im cause — lift up 
 Ihy feet unfo the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy hath 
 
The Conclusion. 303 
 
 done, wickedly in the sanctuary* They have cast fire into thy sanc- 
 tuary ; they have defiled, by casting down, the dwelling place of thy 
 name unto the ground. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face 
 to shine, and we shall be saved. Thou shalt arise and have mercy 
 on Zion. For the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come .'" — 
 Psalm Ixxiv. &c. 
 
 THE END. 
 
APPENDIX 1. 
 
 Note Ji.^Sect. 14, Part I. 
 
 John Brown was banished Nov. 6, 1662: and died in Holland, 
 1679, of a lingering disease. The king i»f England exerted his in- 
 fluence to get him banished from Holland, but the states protected 
 him. The friends of Barclay and of Quakerism have atfected to 
 consider Brown as a rustic and illiterate man. Nothing can be 
 more erroneous. See Mr. Ward's character of him, (and he knew 
 him well.) " He was eminent in grace and learning, and of great 
 natural powers ; a man of undaunted courage in opposing corrup- 
 tion and error; and jealous for the Lord of Hosts above all his 
 brethren." Pref. to Brown on the Romans. 
 
 Cruikshanks calls him "the learned, zealous and pious Brown." 
 Hist. vol. 1. p. 134. The illustrious and learned Leydecker, Pro- 
 fessor of Theology at Utrecht, has given a character of Brown io 
 his preface to Brown on Justification. " His praise lives deserv- 
 edly in the churches, and his light shone in our low countries: 
 having been banished his native land for his zeal, piety, faithtul- 
 ness and good conscience. He wrote with a great deal of wis- 
 dom," &c. &c. &c. 
 
 F. Spanheim Filius, whom Professor Leydecker calls " the most 
 famous divine of that age," was a warm friend of Brown, and gave 
 his public approbation of him as a writer. The learned professor 
 applauded Brown's book on the '-'Morality of the Sabbath." Brown 
 was succeeded in his pastoral charge in Rotterdam, by Fleming^ 
 the author of " the Fulfilling of the Scriptures.'' 
 
 Note B.—Sect. 25, Part I. 
 
 Keith. — After this rupture, the society poured its vials of wrath 
 ©n "poor Keith's"* head. And individuals uttered their personal 
 anathemas. The prophetical curse of the inflammable Whitehead 
 was the most intemperate. See " The Snake," &c. sect. 20, for a 
 copy of it. 
 
 After this, Keith was reconciled in the church of England; and 
 became a regular priest. In the years 1702, 1703, 1704, he per- 
 
 * The term used by the writers of the society after the rupture : while 
 " honest George," when in good standing-, was applauded for his '« learning and 
 Platonic studies." bee Penn's letter to Turner. *' Snake," &c. p. 3:^2. 
 
 1 
 
2 Jippendix 1. 
 
 formed an important and successful mission on the American con- 
 tinent, under the care of the Episcopal Society for propagating the 
 gospel in foreign parts. His services were attended with a signal 
 divine blessing in Pennsylvania and Jersey. During this service, 
 and by his former labours among the Quakers, seven hundred Qua- 
 kers were converted from their errors and ivere baptized. See Dr. 
 Humphry's Hist, of the above society : Lond. A. D. 1730. And 
 Christ. Observer for April, 1816.* 
 
 Note C.—Part 11. Chap. I. p. 21. 
 
 ON ORACLES, IMPULSES, &C. 
 
 ". . . . They were often of a salutary and moral tendency." They 
 did sometimes preserve the lives and liberties of a people; they 
 sometimes prevented wars and the effusion of blood. Pausan. 
 Greece, vol.iii. p. 6, 240. vol. iii.p. 69. edit. 1794, translated. They 
 marked out men who were the saviours of their country. Cornel. 
 Nep. vit. Miltiadis : and the fall of great men. Niceph. Cal. Eccles. 
 flist. vol. i. p. 512. fol. Tacitus Annal, lib. ii. cap. 54. Sueton. 
 vita Domitiani. 
 
 Those of the ancients who aspired to philosophical views of this 
 subject, were much divided on the character of oracles. The most 
 rational and virtuous sects did not ascribe them to evil demons. 
 The docirine of evil demons seemed to form no part of the system 
 of the Platonists. They considered them celestial beings. They 
 were the objects of love and worship. See Plat. Epinom. Opera 
 ejus, 101 1. AudOgilvie's Plat. Phil. p. 76. Hence they considered 
 oracles to proceed from the deity, whose messengers these demons 
 were. "Oracles are ever from God, says Aristotle, k«///» j8»AT/5-«/f," 
 «. T. X. •' And that he sends them not to the best and the wisest, 
 but to men as it may happen, is an absurd conceit." Aristot. De 
 Divin. &.C. cap. i. Spencer on Vulgar Proph. &c. p. 41. Besides 
 the sect of the Platonics, the Stoics embraced these sentiments, 
 and advocated tlie divinity of oracles. Ou the other side, the sects 
 of the Cynics, Peripateticv! and Epicurians entered the lists. They 
 ascribed tliem to fraud. They boldly ridiculed the purelities and 
 ambiguities of Delphi. And if we look to their numbers, their 
 physical strength, at least, is not small. Euseb. Evangel. Prepar. 
 
 • For an account of some of the principal books, published during the 
 Keithian controversy, see a curious MS. no. 1413, Philad. Library, vol. i. p. 
 23. W. small quarto. 
 
AppendLv I. 3 
 
 lib. iv. mentions six hundred pagan authors who had written against 
 oracles. See Fontenelle's Hist, of Oracles, (no. 1655, duodecimo. 
 Phila. Library, p. 54.) Of the moderns, the Dutch writer Bekker, 
 in his book " The World Bewitched,"" which made a great noise in 
 the end of the 17th century, insists that the spirit of Python, was 
 a good spirit. But Wyenus refuted him, as F. A. Lauipe shows us in 
 his learned Treatise concerning the QtoTtvssei, sect. 8. (Rev. J. De 
 Witt's library.) Fontenelle, in his history of oracles, combats the 
 doctrine of oracles coming from the impulse of Demons. He ridicules 
 the idea of their being in any way supernatural. He admits, that 
 the general belief of the learned, was then against him. But he 
 refers the current doctrine to the " easy belief" of the primitive 
 fathers, who originated it : and he labours to make Cicero of his 
 sentiment, " and to spare nothing the most sacred at Rome." Fon- 
 tenelle, p. 6, 61, &c. Van Dale (De Idol, et Div. part 3, cap. 10.) 
 has attempted to show, that the whole is fraud and imposition. Of 
 the same opinion is the English writer Ady, and especially John 
 Webster, in his book " of the arts of Witchcraft," chap. 6, sect. 49. 
 And it was deemed a suspicious circumstance, and in their favour 
 that females, credulous and too easily imposed upon, were usually 
 employed to utter the oracles. Thus, at Delphos the Pythia;and 
 at Dodona, as Strabo informs us, " three old women gave them out." 
 And genuine witchcraft is found only among the gray tangled 
 hairs, and frightful wrinkles of poor, old and crazy females. But 
 keeping out of view modern cases, Lampe (De Theopneustai, sect. 
 6.) shows that the cases which they quote will not bear them out. 
 The one brought from the sacred page makes clearly against them. 
 (Acts xvi.) The " damsel" had a spirit of Python. It was a being 
 certainly distinct from her. And this spirit was cast out of her by 
 the apostle, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Some writers, leaning 
 to Van Dale's sentiment, are inclined to add to fraud, the aid of a 
 natural or acquired habit: that of ventriloquism. It is certain from 
 Plutarch, (De Oracul. Defoe, p. 414.) that with Greek writers, the 
 words vv6a)i and iyy*9^tfj.v6iy are synonymous. And the derivation 
 of the former word (by Clerk in Lampe, ut supra, sect. 7.) from the 
 Hebrew nia Puth imus venter mulieris : and by Stockius, lexicon, 
 who adds spirtus impuritatis amansex imo ventre loquitur." These 
 Pythons, says Schleusner, in verbo, " clausis labiis, inflatis buccis, 
 tumido ventre, vel humi jacentes, vel tripodi insidentes ita loque- 
 bantur ut verba non ore proferrentur, sed intus in pectore audi- 
 rentur, et homines superstitiosi facile credebant alium in pectore 
 
4 *ljjpendiiV I. 
 
 loqui." Turieu opposes this in his book. "Des Dogm." part iii. 
 Tract 2, cap. 5. And so does Dejlingius, and also Wolfius. "There 
 is 'no evidence,' say they, 'that this Pythia' used a strange sound. 
 She spoke with a loud voice." But circumstances persuade us, 
 says Lampe, (Theop. sect. 7.) that besides these usual paroxysms of 
 ventriloquists, she uttered words in an ordinary form of speech ; 
 " quie edocta sunt in ipso afflatu diabolico." Some ancient writers 
 ascribed them to some natural causes operating in the place whence 
 they were given forth. Plutarch wrote a treatise iTfg/ t^v mMxn- 
 iroran ^^nsufian: "concerning the oracles that have ceased." [Not 
 the ceasing of oracles, as too many have rendered it. For unless 
 there be some other evidence, this certainly will not prove that 
 oracles ceased at the introduction of Christianity.] He ascribes 
 the ceasing of some oracles, in part, to a natural cause. The va- 
 pour by which the Pythia became inebriated and frantic, had lost 
 its strength. He seems to have thought, that " the divine vapour" 
 inspired the oracles. So also, Jamblicus De Myst. Egypt, p. 66. 
 " Sibvlla suscipiebat deum per spiritum tenuem igneumque qui 
 erumpebat ex antri ore, &c." Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. ii. p. 93, and 
 Strabo Geozr. lib. ix. are of the same opinion: and also Longinus, 
 "who uses the epithet "«tjwoc tvdio;." De Sublim. sect. 13.* Pru- 
 dentius also, who has said, " Perdidit insanos niendax Dodona va- 
 pf)res." In Apoth. tit. contra Jud. In perfect consistency with 
 the Platonic idea, "that demons were pure subtle air." Plat. Oper. 
 Epinom. p. 1011.) Aristotle reconciles the two. The Sibylls had 
 no other inspiration, no other demon than " those divine vapours," 
 by which they were agitated. Aristot. Probl. sect. 30. And this 
 operated on them like fiery spirits. " Ardebant torrente vi magna 
 flammarum." Anion. Marcel, lib. 21. and Spencer on Vulg. proph. 
 p. H)6 and 107. In farther proof of this, some of the ancients state, 
 that at Abdera there were pasture fields, in which the horses were 
 turned into a state of fury and madness. Plin. lib. 25. c. 8. AndTuIly 
 De Natura Deor. observes, that this vapour or atmosphere affected 
 also the people of the place, " obnoxios esse stupori." Consult 
 Templeri Idea Theol. Leviath. p. 329. (Queen's Coll. Library, N. 
 B.) Cicero seems to favour this doctrine, where he says: •' Quid 
 tarn divinura quam afflatus ex terra mentem ita movens ut earn pro- 
 vidam rerum futurarum efficiat ; ut ea non modo cernat multo ante ; 
 
 * " Ev6« ^nyfia iy< ^»s « eivamtiv ^u.a-ii «t/xo» ivd»ev." Longin. De sub 
 sect. 13. 
 
Appendix I. 5 
 
 sed etiam numero versuque pronunciet?" De Divin. lib. 2. But 
 in another place lib. 2. cap. 54, he produces this very circumstance 
 as an argument, to prove that there was " art and contrivance" at 
 least, in these oracles. For it is physically impossible, that responses 
 could be made and uttered in high wrought poetry and verse, by a 
 human being labouring under a fit of epilepsy. 
 
 Some of our divines are of opinion, that even in the case of some 
 among the pagans, the Holy Ghost might overrule their minds ; and 
 bend them to his own purpose, and give forth a truth by them. 
 Hieron. Comment in Job. "Illis, (he is speaking of the prophets 
 who were not of the true religion,) dedit Deus verbum suum, ut pro- 
 nunciarent mysteria futura hominibus." Dr. Owen (on the spirit, 
 vol. i. book ii. ch. 2. sect 18.) is also of this opinion. And the cases 
 of Balaam and the Magi at our Saviour's birth, and the Pythia 
 (Acts xvi.) bear him sufficiently out in this point. For these pagans 
 uttered divine truths from neither their own powers nor inclina- 
 tion, but by a superior and divine power prompting them. He is 
 not so fortunate in the next case which he refers to, where he says, 
 "and this must also be acknowledged by those who believe that 
 the famous Sibylls recorded predictions of our Lord." The ques- 
 tion respecting the characters of these Sibylls, and the forgery of 
 those books, now bearing the name of the " Sibylline Oracles," is 
 now fairly settled ; and it is to be hoped, will never again be stirred. 
 It is certain, that the characters and the doctrines of these Sibylls, 
 were, if we believe their own writings, infamous in the greatest de- 
 gree. They could not have been from God. (See Prideaux Connect, 
 vol. iv.book ix. part 2.) And there is in them a minuteness of de- 
 tail in their predictions, which is the reverse of every divine pre- 
 diction. Even credulity itself must admit, that even Satan had not 
 sagacity enough to divine as this expost facto prophesyer does. 
 "The virgin Mary shall conceive and bear a son," says this forger, 
 pretending to deliver a prediction as old as Isaiah, "And his name 
 ?hall be called Jesus." Sibyll. lib. ii. Spencer on Vuig. prop. p. 90. 
 The Jewish writers and the christian fathers have demonstrated 
 this truth, that the oracles were given out by evil demons. Euseb. 
 Evang. prop. Le Clerc's Life of Euseb. p. 158. Lond. edit, of 1G96. 
 Epiphanius having made a distinction between oeyair/f i;5rvoy,and the 
 »Ky«9-/5 ^gtvftjy, refers the last to the frantic prophets, whose minds be- 
 came useless, and their speech incoherent. Lib. i. Contra Hseres. 
 48. These heathen prophets became " og>.«v«y j»,ft.»6i'^ " the orgaa 
 
6 Appendix 1. 
 
 ©f the demon.'' When slow to move, they used certain stimulat- 
 ing processes to invite this influence. " The idolatrous prophets 
 among the Jews," says Maimonides, "used not to prophecy until 
 they had used extatical solemnities, and had become frantic and 
 epileptical." Maim. Idol. cap. 6. sect. 1. Spencer p. 36. This 
 was common at Delphi. And there is, at least, one instance of a 
 Pythia expiring under the violent convulsions of one of these fits. 
 Plutarch. De Defec. Orac. and Lucan lib. v. ver. 17. Broughton's 
 Diet. Article, Oracle. Origen. Contra Cels. lib. iii. says, " there are 
 evident demonstrations of demons being present in their temples 
 and statues, by their rendering oracles, by healing, by tormenting 
 the superstitious." See also Dr. Henry More's Myst. of Iniquity, 
 book i. ch. 7. And even Fontenelle's zeal against the supernatural 
 origin of oracles, has not prevented him from admitting that this 
 might occasionally be the case. Hist, of Orac. p. 43. There are 
 striking specimens of this in the prophets of Baal ; and in the cases 
 of those "on whom there was an evil spirit from the Lord." " Ubi- 
 Gunque spiritus Domini malus dicitur," says father Augustine, "in- 
 telligitur diabolus esse ; qui Domini dicitur esse propter ministe- 
 rium, malus propter vitium dictus videtur." Dg Mirab. Script. 
 Owen, Spir. vol. i. book ii. ch. 1. "The devil did predict future 
 events, in the oracles," says the English Calvin, Perkins. And in 
 this he supposes him to have been guided by his own insight into 
 the sacred scriptures. In Daniel ch. xi. 3, for instance, there 
 is a clear prediction respecting Alexander the Great. And it is 
 certain, that the following oracle was given out from one of the 
 shrines to Alexander, when setting forward in his war against 
 Darius, the king of Persia. " Alexander shall be a conqueror.^' 
 See Perkin's curious and sober " Treatise on Witchcrafte,''^ works 
 vol. iii. part 2. p. 617. folio, A. D. 1609. Peucer in his book "De 
 Prsecipuis Divin. generibus," refers oracles to the same origin. He 
 reduces them to two classes. ''First: those given forth from places 
 inhabited by devils, soni/u, tinnitu, gestu, vel niitu statuarum.''^ 
 "Second: those given forth by men moved by a diabolical spirit, 
 accompanied by violent gestures and convulsions." See J. Tem- 
 pleri Idea Theol. Leviath.p. 329. The following are from Spencer, 
 whom I have quoted so often. " Satan first excites such images in 
 the fancies of these prophets, as may probably determine them to 
 foretell many things which he conceives most likely to fall vvithin 
 the sphere of his activity; and then he accomplishes as many as he 
 
Apjiendix 1. 7 
 
 can." " When Satan finds a mind fitted by this distemper for him 
 to work upon, to make an imposture more fine and subtle, he maj 
 act it to some expressions, beyond the bare capacity of this jug- 
 gling humour, as to speak languages; to tell things at a distance, 
 as the certain coming of a friend ; or an epileptic fit : the German 
 prophetess Christina often did this last." p. 91 and 108. And Cud- 
 worth mentions out of the Asclepian dialogue a prediction of As- 
 clepius respecting the fall of the Egyptian paganism: and another 
 of Antoninus the philosopher, on the same subject. And Augustin 
 remarks on the prediction, that it was "made instinctu falacis 
 spiritus," by the suggestion of an evil spirit, who was lamenting 
 the approaching downfall of the empire of darkness. Cudw. vol. 
 i. book i. ch. 4. See learned notes of Grotius on " Somnia" and 
 "Spectra," in his book De veritate, (pp. 78, 79.) lib. i. sect. 17. 
 
 A dissertation on this subject and the various phenomena con- 
 nected with it, by a mind tutored by philosophy and theology, that 
 can rise equally above the credulity and fanaticism of olden times, 
 and the indolent and brainless scepticism of our times, is a deside- 
 ratum in the literary world. 
 
 I shall never advocate the vulgar folly that floats in society, and 
 peoples the world with phantoms, ghosts, witches, and what is 
 worse than these, supports and countenances miserable impostors, 
 under the title of " witch doctors.''^ 
 
 Yet every scholar would wish to see the subject taken up in a 
 scriptural view ; and discussed rigidly according to the principles 
 of the Baconian philosophy. It is certain that there are spirits good 
 and evil. It is certain that they communicate with each other. 
 It is certain from scripture that they can operate on mind and on 
 matter. It is certain from the gospel that malevolent spirits operate 
 in the way of tormenting minds and bodies. And the pages of the 
 classics contain instances of oracular predictions by evil demons, 
 uttered by human lips. (Cudworth, vol. ii. book i. ch. 5.) Hence 
 malevolent spirits communicate with mind. Heidan states that in 
 Germany, during the confusions of the time of the Anabaptists of 
 Munster, when they had all property in common, " puellas duas 
 esse quae revelabant omnia" when any of their members secreted 
 any of their property, or did not give it fully up. Bodin. Mag. 
 Demon, lib. iii. ad Templeri Idea Theol. Lev. p. 328. M'Knight 
 in his Harmony, Dissert, on Demons, adduces instances of similar 
 predictions. Tacitus Annal. lib. ii. cap 54, states that the oracle of 
 
S Jipyendix 1. 
 
 Celaros predicted the untimely death of Germanicus. And, what 
 is a still raore remarkable phenomenon connected with this, we 
 have decisive evidence that persons, illiterate and diseased, have 
 uttered languages of which they had no previous knowledge. Psel- 
 lius De Oper. Daem. states what he witnessed in a maniacal woman 
 who knew nothing but her own language. When an Armenian 
 came into the room she "spoke the Armenian language readily and 
 conversed with the stranger. Cudworth, vol.ii. ch. 5.* The learned 
 physician Fernelius " de abditis rerum causis," states that his pa- 
 tient, a young nobleman, after being three months under his me- 
 dical care, and labouring under a disease that baffled medicine, 
 made exclamations in Greek and Latin, and uttered distinct sen- 
 tences. He knew nothing of Greek previous to this. Cudw. do. 
 M'Knight in his Harmony quotes some more instances to the same 
 purpose. Melancthom writes that he had himself seen a person 
 "nescientem legere" not even able to read, who yet spoke Greek 
 and Latin. See Templeri Idea, ut supra. And the Quaker writer 
 Barclay makes us familiar with the case of an illiterate member 
 who by the Spirit discerned wrong translations from the Hebrew 
 and Greek. Apol. Prop. iii. sect. 4 and 19. 
 
 * * * * By thus excluding theory and adducing facts for everj 
 thought advanced, we might attain to a rational view of the sub- 
 ject. ^ * * * 
 
 Note D.—Part II. Chap. IX. 
 
 John Toldervy was led, by a very natural process, to suppose that 
 if the imvard light was his only guide, it must have the supervision 
 of his appetites, as well as of his moral conduct. If he was to give 
 up his reason to its controul, then surely also his appetite, even in 
 regard of the matter of eating and drinking. He refused to eat un- 
 less the inward guide moved him. And the voice of the appetite 
 calling for food, was considered as the voice of the flesh or the evil 
 will of man. In adhering to this principle he was subjected to se- 
 vere fastings, and abstinence from sleep. He fasted, on a time, 
 nearly two days. The spirit of his appetite rose in arms against 
 this unreasonable treatment. But still the itnvard guide gave no 
 signal of permission. What could John do? He could hold out no 
 
 * There is a case of a female in delirium uttering words of Greek and Latin. 
 But it is ascertained that, when a child, she liad been familiar with such expres- 
 sions and words. 
 
Appendix I. 9 
 
 longer. He flew to the larder. He found none of his usual viands. 
 But as the evil one would have it, there presented itself to his view 
 ^' a fine roast of beef. ''^ Here commenced a fierce combat between 
 the " Jewish spirits ivithin Am" and the other spirit. The one 
 charged him not to touch the beef, the other to eat the beef. John, 
 refrain, was the war cry on the one side : exercise your grinders, 
 good John, was the cry on the other. At length the appetite pre- 
 vailed : and John did lay to. But dearly did he pay for thus wan- 
 tonly "denying his Lord and Master.^^ (p. 29.) He had a terrible 
 fit of the " trembling^^ of that age. And the stern chastising spirit 
 turned the fine roast beef in him into a smart cathartic ! ! pp. 19, 
 29, of his book " The foot out of the snare.^^ Lond. edit, of 1656, 
 See it in vol. No. 927, quarto Miscellanies in the Phil. Library. 
 
 EVD OF THE NOTES'. 
 
APPENDIX ir. 
 
 COi\TAlM.\G A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED QUAKER 
 WRITERS AND PREACHERS. 
 
 Ca])ut feiTeum, nates plumheae, crumen?E que aiireae." 
 
 £u)optaii College Proverb. 
 
 1. George Fox, skku. His character is delineated in vol. ii. 
 Though illiterate he dictated much. His Journal, written by Ell- 
 wood, was published in the year 1694: his epistles four years after: 
 his doctrinal pieces, one hundred and fifty in number, were pub- 
 lished in 1706. All except his Journal have sunk to their proper 
 place, oblivion. He wrote books which Friends of the present day 
 would not believe though they were' told, such as "Saul's Errand 
 to Damascus," "News coming up out of the North," ancient editions . 
 His wife Margaret Fell Fox, was an eminent speaker in the society. 
 There is a copious memoir of her extant. 
 
 2. William Penn, their most voluminous writer and gigantic de- 
 fender His tracts were collected and published in 1727, in two 
 vols, folio, of about 80() pp. each. Enough has been said of him 
 already. His "-No cross no crown," is a decent moral thing; and 
 has been justly the most popular of his works. I have already no- 
 ticed the singular circumstance, that this volume was written in 
 the Tower while lying under a legal charge of blasphemy. They 
 who will read his " Sandy foundation shaken.-^ will be able to judge 
 of the relevancy of the charge. His life has been written by Clark- 
 son : it is a dull and heartless piece, yet it is the best life we have 
 of this great man. 
 
 3. Robert Barclay gave the Quakers the standard books, the 
 Apolitgy, their confessions of faith, their catechism. The charac- 
 ter of the first has been detailed in Part I. The latter, expressed 
 simply in the language of the Bible after the form of those of the 
 KtMnonstrants, show what mischievous tenets may be advanced by 
 mi-applications of divine truths. Satan, we know, brandished texts 
 against our Lord : but he was not right because he uttered texts 
 of the sacred volume. His v.-orks were published in a folio volume, 
 in Loudon, ia 1692: and afterwards in 3 vols, octavo, ia 1718, un- 
 
Appendix II. 11 
 
 der this modest title : " Truth triumphant, thro'' the spiritual tvar- 
 fare and christian labours and writings of that able and faithful ser- 
 vant B. Barclay.''^ It was an act of kindness to tell us by this 
 title, for we had not otherwise known it, like the awkward pain- 
 ter who painted his bear so wide of the mark, and kindly added in 
 letters below, ^^ this is the bear.^^ Barclay was unquestionably a 
 great man ; and it is not our interest to diminish from his talents 
 and real acquisitions. I hold him up in all his superiority as the 
 great Quaker champion: and in doing so, I only raise higher the 
 fame of that honest John Brown of Wamphry, whose rough and 
 unseemly broad axe, Quakers, and that uninformed writer in Brew- 
 ster's Encyclop. (article Barclay,) love to traduce. I appeal to the 
 towns and cities, and country parishes of Scotland, where the two 
 heroes entered the fierce combat, and fought. I appeal to exist- 
 ing facts. Brown, and some few more of us, drove him out of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 A short account of R. Barclay was published in Philadelphia, in 
 1805. Coming from head quarters it is a little too partial, and our 
 John Brown is treated somewhat uncivilly ; but that we can let 
 pass. It comes, I say, from head quarters. It is a memoir really of 
 great merit; it sets the character of that am'iable and distinguished 
 man in a very fair light. No man who knew the firivate character 
 of Barclay would permit a whisper against it. Laird Thomas, and 
 even John Brown, never would permit a surmise against his pri- 
 vate character and morals. Tiieir philippics were poured forth 
 against "the monstrous system'''' only. 
 
 4. Isaac Pennington was a gentleman of " fine estate ;" of art 
 amiable mind, and polished manners. He was nearly related to 
 the Penn family. His works were published in two vols, quarto, 
 under this lugubrious title : ''the works of the long mournful and 
 sore distressed Isaac Pennington." The second edition, London, 
 in 1761, (No. 166 quarto, Pliil. Library,) in all containing 1393 
 quarto pp. There are copies also of tht-m in folio, and in octavo. 
 He has few controversial pieces : and those few are conducted with 
 moderation and charity. His talent does not lie in argument. He 
 is plain, simple, shallow, and often descends to puerilities. He is 
 verbose, and attacks us with that unmerciful length of sentences 
 which causes a retreat sooner than any argument advanced. His 
 works are in greater request, or at least, I think they are more read 
 than the folios of Penn, by the society. In his doctrines, with the 
 
12 Appendix IL 
 
 exceptions of diverse sentences, which squint towards orthodoxy, 
 he is completely at one with Penn. On the Trinity he is a Uni- 
 tarian, vol. i. p. 264. On justification he is a deep mystic, vol. i. p. 
 607. On the scriptures his theory is deistical. See his tract " Some 
 things relating to religion." 
 
 5. Edward Burroughs was an immediate convert of Fox. In 
 his manner of preaching and writing he was violent, sometimes fu- 
 rious and indecent. His attack on good John Bunyan is a speci- 
 men of his unjustifiable virulence and falsehood. See p. 136 of his 
 works. He professed to write by immediate inspirations, and he 
 sent them forth with " blood and thunder." " The word of tiie Lord 
 came unto me saying," is a sample in his terrible book with a ter- 
 rible name, luV/e/icc/. — "A trumpet of the Lord, or fearful voices 
 of terrible thunders, dictated and written by a son of thunder." 
 His works were collected and published in A. D. 1672, in folio, 896 
 pp. It does contain a marvellous display of mysticism, and badin- 
 age, and solemnity, and curses, and prophecy ! [See No. 251, Phil. 
 Library, folio.] Those modest Friends who set forth his v.orks 
 give us this character of him. " /n E. Burroughs the fulness of 
 grace and virtue divelt.^^ He died in A. D. 1663. 
 
 6. G. Whitehead. He was one of their most popular preachers 
 and boldest champions. He possessed a vigorous mind, but he was 
 extremely illiterate. As a polemic he was stubborn and disinger.'i- 
 ous. He was resolute to throw down the gauntlet, and no less so 
 to take it up. Determined to have the victory, he often lost sight 
 of the great aim of every true polemic, and stooped to trick, and 
 craft, and misrepresentation. See his narrative of his dispute with 
 Scandret: and this author's epistle to the readei- prefixed to his 
 '^Antidote against Quakerism.''^ He is a bulky writer. But I do 
 not find that his works have been collected. His " Divinity of 
 Chrisl,^^ is perhaps the best known. In this book on our Lord's 
 "Divinity,''^ he puts forth his virulence against his divinity, and 
 personality, and atonement. See pp. 62, 63, &c. 
 
 7. " The doctrinal ivorks of the Quakers.''' London, folio. No. 250. 
 Phil. Library. This is a heavy mass compiled from their writers 
 and speakers. It presents tlie Quaker system under the _^rs/ and 
 second periods. The Unitarian tenets are merged in its mysticism, 
 and 3'et it is purged of some of the most nauseating compositions of 
 the first period. *' Sanies errand to Damascus^'' is left out of Fox's 
 share of the volume, as Leslie actually foretold that it would be. This 
 
Apjiendix II. i$ 
 
 volume is, peradventure, the most unmerciful volume that ever was 
 hurled from the leaden throne of dulness. I can speak feelingly 
 on this matter. Its soporific influence is absolutely irresistible 1 
 
 8. Francis Howgill was one of the writers of the first period, and 
 one of those worthies who travelled from " sheple houac to steeply 
 house'^ to interrupt, on the spot, the propagation of priestly error, 
 and external worship. He copied closely after Fox. His works 
 were reprinted in a folio of 740 pp. in 1 6rG, under this title, " Daivn- 
 ings of the gospel day.'''' He has throughout, with his compatriots, 
 that loose, rambling, heartless way, into which men naturally sink 
 who pour forth in extemporaneous declamations infinitely more than 
 they ever thought upon or digested. The piece which chiefly, for 
 a while, attracted the public notice, was his able discussion on 
 " Tithes^ It was admired as a learned thing from a Quaker. But, 
 unfortunately, he fell into the hands of Leslie, who proved it to be 
 a plagiarism from Selden. Being of the first period, he is more of 
 a mystic than a Unitarian. As a proof, this fanatic actually ad- 
 vocates the " unity and equality of the human soul ivilh GodP^ See 
 p. 232 of his works. 
 
 9. Thomas EUwood was an industrious and on the whole a pretty 
 respectable writer. He wrote Fox's Journal ; Sacred History, &c. 
 His style is affected, and quaint, and turgid. His character of Fox 
 is a specimen. See Mosh. vol. v. chap. 4. cent. 17. sect. 2, part ii. 
 and in Fox's Jour. vol. i. p. 79. But the most striking thing about 
 it, is that eternal verbiage and length of periods that exhaust our 
 patience, and lacerate the nerves. And as if this had not been 
 enough, he has persecuted the world with his own life, in an octavo 
 vol. of 505 pp. About sixty pages of which detail his conversion 
 to the Friends' doctrines, and his refusing filial reverence in un- 
 covering his head before his father : his " whirrets on the ear:" his 
 resolution in still covering his head: his again coming before his fa- 
 ther with " At;f mountier cap^^ on, when his hats had been taken from 
 him: his successful elopement: the pursuit of him by his aged father: 
 his reception with the Friends. Then through 63 octavo pages he 
 details his adventures, befitting such a runaway, in Bridewell and 
 Newgate: his sufferings and tliose of his conipanions ; the severest 
 of which was that of one of them put under the strappado for " cob- 
 bling shoes on the Sabbath day.'''' See his life passim. And farther 
 particulars of this unnatural son toward his father in Bugg. Pict. of 
 Quak. p. 240. 
 
44) Appendix II. 
 
 10. Wyeth. He had been a labouring man, but his talents were 
 respectable for one in his humble station. He hatl a facilifj of ex- 
 pressing himself in a plain way. He wrote ^^ angtcis JfageUahis, or 
 a switch for the Snake^^ (of Leslie.) He was not a David to en- 
 counter this Goliah. He and Whitehead (and it is marvellous,) were 
 reduced to silence by Leslie. See the conference between the 
 Vind. of the bishop of Litchfield, and the author of the second let- 
 ter to the bishop (who apologized for their silence.) The society, 
 however, took ample vengeance by a gratuitous distribution of ten 
 thousand copies of Wyeth, and a declaration in their meetings " that 
 the Snake teas fully answered.''^ The good natured people believed 
 it on this statement. For as Leslie was not in the Index none of 
 their members were permitted to judge for themselves. Because 
 the young, or even senior Friends, are not permitted to read or ex- 
 amine our books for themselves. If they are, let us see the fact. 
 
 11. Samuel Fisher was a priest of the church of England, and 
 had, of course, received a liberal education. He yielded to his 
 scruples respecting infant baptism; resigned his living worth /:200 
 sterl. per annnum, and united himself to the Baptist church. But 
 he had yielded also to the imposing dreams of mysticism, hence 
 the necessary ettects of the declamations of the early Friends over 
 his mind. William Penn tells us that he had often been " refreshed 
 by his tracts; and that he admired his self-denial and humility." 
 If this eminent man had not told us this, we never could have dis- 
 covered his claims to these virtues. That he was a man of humi- 
 lity it may be, but it is certain that he claimed for his sect the ex- 
 clusive honours of being the only children of wisdom, the only 
 people of ivhom wisdom is justified as of her children. See his " Lux 
 Christi,^^ sect. -2. Phil. ^it. of A. D. 1744.* And in writing this 
 ** Ltix Chrisii,^^ it was enough for him that he had pleased God, &c. 
 sect. 35. That he was an humble and self-denied man may be. 
 But in his " Rusticus ad Academicos,"' which he wrote against Dr. 
 Owen, in the defence of the doctrine and practice of " Quaking,''^ 
 he tells the doctor that he " was a blind guide and a brute beast, for 
 speaking against it.^^ See exercit. 2. p. 18. 
 
 Besides these works, which contain a rambling defence of mys- 
 tic tenets, of which Dr. Owen and Mr. Baxter took no notice, he 
 wrote Episcopus aposcopos against bishop Gaudcn, which is equally 
 full of those rustic indecencies, which his disappointed and irrita- 
 
 ♦ lu the Athen. tib. I'hil. vol. 16, Pampli. No. 10. 
 
Jlppendlx II. 15 
 
 ted mind poured out, instead of logical arguments. His " Lux 
 ChristV^ is the best known. An edition was published bj Mr. 
 James in Philadelphia, in A. D. ir87. It is in tolerable modern 
 Latin : but it is blustering and incoherent. He collects some select 
 texts on light, and applies them all to the inward light. Sect. 2, 3, 
 4, 5. He makes their inward Christ, and the image of Christ, and 
 the Christ in glory, all one, and all the three are the law. " Legis, 
 i. e. lucis Dei in conscientia " Sect. 8, 9, 10, 16, 26. He wrote 
 by immediate revelation. Sect. 32. He closes by a terrible anathema 
 against those who shall disbelieve him. Sect. ^5. 
 
 12. Ilubberthorn. He wrote some fugitive pieces. His TnUh'^s 
 Defence is the best known. He was a bold and persevering man. 
 In his mode of conducting and closing a dispute, we see in him 
 the coufi-de-muin of the Friends in primitive tinies. They offered 
 no miracles to support their spiritual pretensions. But they gave 
 forth many words, and closed with, "you are now answered from 
 the mouth of the Lord." See his works, p. 89, and Bugg's Pict. p. 
 129. 
 
 13. Edicard Billing, a man of warm and enthusiastic feelings, 
 and much given to rant. He wrote " reproof to his fellow-sol- 
 diers." His sentiments exhibit the orthodoxy of the first jjeriod. 
 "Their (the Quaker.^') suficrings and wounds, were the wounds 
 which the Lord of life received." See his book published in A. D. 
 1659, also Bugg. p. 361. 
 
 14. /?. Farmoorth had been a domestic in the family of Mr. 
 Lord. He possessed some energy, but was illiterate. He was first 
 seduced by the writings of Saltmarsh, and imbibed the tenets of 
 familism. He entertained a great contempt for all external insti- 
 tutions and worship. He commenced his career of preaching over 
 the kingdom about the time of Fox's first appearing. They met 
 and coalesced. He wrote several books. " They are," says a co- 
 temporary, • " much admired by the Quakers." And it requires 
 but a momentary glance at them to sec the truth of Stalham's 
 other remark, "that they exhibit malice more than human against 
 Christ's institutions and ambassadors." See his book against Stal- 
 ham, and Stalham's " Reviler Rebuked." 
 
 15. Dennis Hollister. He wrote " The skirts of the whore discov-- 
 ered." He was a plain, blundering man, who hastened to teach 
 others before he had himself been illumined. 
 
 * StaUiam. 
 
16 Ajdijendix II. 
 
 16. TTiomas Lawson. He was a man of education and had be6rt 
 in holy orders. He had been a priest of the church of England. 
 But had studied the Behmens and the Averas, and the Cressys, 
 more than the homilies and canons of his church. He became a 
 convert under Fox. He was a voluminous writer in the first pe- 
 riod. He wrote "The untaught teacher;" "The lip of wisdom 
 opened;" "On the seven liberal arts." His manner is quaint and 
 tedious, and verbose. Like the rest of the writers of the first pe- 
 riod, he never masters his subject; never lays it down in well se- 
 lected terms ; but in the indecisive and rambling manner of a youth - 
 ful composer, he seems to make his ideas follow his words, or adapt 
 themselves to them. His works are now little known. 
 
 17. James Ndylor. He had been a captain in the army :"but in his 
 conversion became a zealous preacher. His best known piece is 
 '■^ Love to the lost.^^ We have said enough of this unhappy man al- 
 ready, (see part i. sect. 17.) Neal states that he was supposed to 
 have the features usually given by painters to Jesus Christ. And 
 this, it is probable, helped on the work of depravity in this fanatic's 
 accepting divine homage, and in the deluded females of Bristol 
 offering it to him. I have seen an engraving of him, executed in 
 England, about the time of his crime and his cruel punishment. 
 He certainly had nothing of a Jew's feature, if that likeness be 
 correct. His face was long and withered ; his chin of unusual 
 length ; his eyes small and hollow, and his head covered with a 
 beaver, having a brim of unusual breadth. 
 
 18. John Toldervy. This singular fanatic has been noticed al- 
 ready, (part i. sect. 17, &c.) He lived and died in the society. It 
 is probable that he atoned for his extravagance, though it does not 
 appear that the society had been very severe on him. All, however, 
 admitted that he " /j«rf run out from the seed in him ;^^ but still, he 
 had " the seed in him.'''' He wrote " The foot out of the snare." 
 See this singular piece in Phil. Libr. vol. of Miscel. No. 927, quarto. 
 James Naylor wrote, and none more fit than he to write, " Foot 
 still in the snare." John replied, made confessions, and some 
 acknowledgments: he neverdenied any of the factsstated in hisbook. 
 And so John Vias never cast out, he was not even suspended, so far 
 as I can discover, until he gave proofs of penitence. 
 
 19. T. Gilpin of Kendal. When converted to the society he had, 
 it seems, his full share, and he thought, rather more than his share, 
 of the tremblings of body so common in that day. His quiverings. 
 
Appendix II. 17 
 
 and shudderings, and tremblings, and convulsions, issuing in deep 
 and oppressive groans, attracted the public attention in no common 
 degree. They made a bruit over the kingdom. He wrote "• 77te 
 Quakers Shaken.^' A second edition appeared in A. D. 1655, giv- 
 ing a minute account of his bodily dealings; and of the possession 
 and actings of I. Milner. The book was attested by the mayor of 
 the city of Kendal. I have not been able to procure a copy of this 
 book. I have seen only a brief analysis of it by a writer of I6r8. 
 It exliibits a modern case of demoniacal possession. 
 
 20. George Fox, Junior. He was not a relative of the founder. 
 In his sentiments and style he was his correct imitator. He was a 
 thorough mystic. He was taken away at an early stage of the first 
 period. His works were re-printed in 1665. Hi^ " Words of the 
 eternal and true light^^ is the most remarkable collection. He be- 
 stows every attribute of the divine nature on " The light within.''^ 
 See also Bugg's Pict. p. 58, Part I. 
 
 21. Josiah Coal. He was a man of keen sensibility and ungo- 
 vernable passions. In his preaching and writings he gave full sway 
 to them, and mistook the ebullitions of passion for divine inspira- 
 tions. His besetting sin was his propensity to ban. Withoutstop- 
 ping to reason the point he would send his antagonist to Tartarus. 
 His works form a pretty large volume. The most noted seems to 
 be "The whore unveiled." An antagonist of G. Fox had treated 
 his revelations rather cavalierly. The following is a specimen of 
 Josiah's ban. " In the name of that God that spans the heavens, 
 I bind thee on earth; and thou art bound in heaven : and in chains 
 under darkness to the judgment of the great day thou shalt be re- 
 served." See his works p. 243,-244. See also Bugg's Pict. p. 65. 
 He had entered the arena with the notorious Muggleton. [This sin- 
 gular man erred witii the seceding Quakers, simply in carrying out 
 into their utmost stretch the leaditig tenet of the sect, in a manner 
 perfectly natural.] Muggleton having like Josiah, lost his temper, 
 resorted to the club logic of banning. He thundered forth liis bull, 
 and sent him to Tartarus. And as a proof that his sentence would 
 bind him, he assured him that he would always be in " A terror of 
 damnation.'''* Like Pope against Pope, Josiah sent forth his fulmi- 
 nation, in the words above. On !iis death bed Josiah, for some mo- 
 tive or other, probably from no higher motive than that which 
 prompts the school boy, in the hour of darkness, and in the solitary 
 way, " to whistle aloud, to bear his courage up ;" having called to 
 
 3 
 
18 AppendLv 11. 
 
 mind Muggleton and his ban, raised himself up, and thus spoke 
 with his remaining strength : " Thou, Muggleton, art a son of dark- 
 ness ; a co-worker with the prince of the bottomless pit, in which 
 shall be thy inheritance forever." And then closed with binding 
 on him a5;ain the chains of darkness ! See Tompkin's '' Piety pro- 
 moted,-^ p. 44. 
 
 22. Stephen Crisp was an able and fluent speaker in the society. 
 His volume of sermons, to each of which is attached the praver 
 which he made at the close of each, do really great credit to his 
 head, and to his heart. Mixed, it is true, with much alloy, there 
 is much precious metal. He had a wild native eloquence which 
 must have had great eifect. Honest Siephen, it is said, did not 
 stand very high in the good opinion of the society. It was whis- 
 pered that his failings leaned toward the fair sisters. But it is cer- 
 tain that nothing was esiablished against him. And his enemies 
 did not want the inclination to go all lengths. He ought to be, 
 therefore, deemed an innocent man. See Bugg's Pict. p. 115. His 
 sermons were re-printed in a neat octavo of 386 pp. by Mr. James 
 of Phil. A. D. 1787. 
 
 23. fV. Smith wrote the "Quakers' primer and catechism." In 
 this he brought forth the mystic doctrines with great virulence: 
 and he shows an almost superhuman malice against the doctrines, 
 and institutions, and servants of Jesus Christ. 
 
 24. fV. Simpson stood in the front lines of their champions. 
 "The relation of his life and death" is what remains of him. It 
 was revived by the society, and recommended in their catalogue 
 of 17('8. In p. 10, they have thus embalmed his memory. " God 
 has sent his servants endued with a divine spirit and power ; whose 
 integrity and innocency, have appeared in the likeness and image 
 of Almighty God." See also Bugg. p. 154. He whom they thus 
 have canonized, was the man who acted the Lupercus, and con- 
 tinued, during three years, to make his naked processions through 
 the streets. [See part i. sect. 21.] 
 
 25. IV. Erlmry wrote " A call to the churches." His style is 
 plain : his whole manner artless and illiterate. He thinks he was 
 a forerunner to the Friends, as John was to Christ. See his book, 
 and also his Reviewer, Stalham, Epist. to the reader. Moreover, 
 he thinks, that Christ taught only that small part of the gospel 
 which was peculiar to the Jews: that the gospel which the apos- 
 tles preached, was not that which they wrote. Then he proses 
 
»dil)pendix II. 19 
 
 about the light within: that God dwells as much in them, and in 
 the same manner as in Christ: that in regard to the dnine urdi- 
 nances we have not so much as scripture for any of theiu : that the 
 coming of Christ mentioned by the angels, at Christ's ascension, 
 (Acts ii. 11.) is his coming in the spirit and power in the sainis in 
 their flesh, when confused and dark. See his Call, pp. 4, 6. Pj 
 19, 37, &c. and Stalham, ut supra. He was, therefore, a thorough, 
 mystic of the first period. 
 
 26 John Audlund was a speaker of some boldness. His mind 
 was rustic and illiterate to a shocking degree. His letter to Fox 
 made a great noise in the world. In this letter, he permitted his 
 filial admiration to run out into the impassioned language of prayer 
 and adoration. (See part i. sect. 8.) This letter was procured and 
 published by Leslie, in the mode in which it was spelled. Its au- 
 thenticity was established by his friends in the town where he lived 
 and died. And it deserves notice, that it is published in the se- 
 cond edition of " 1 he Snake," sect. 8, which was reviewed by G. 
 Whitehead, and he has not produced a single false quotation. See 
 his answer to the Snake given forth about A. D. 1697. 
 
 27. Nicholas Lucas. His furious zeal for the •' light" has carried 
 him into deism. 
 
 28. Nicholas Lilburn. He writes on the "Resurrection ;" which, 
 on inspection, turns out to be on his own conversion. This is a fair 
 specimen. " Happening to meet some of the precious people call- 
 ed Quakers, and getting into my hands two of their volumes of about 
 17011 pp. I have — been knocked down off., or from my former legs, 
 or standing — and sent to the true teacher, the light within. A 
 thing not to be deemed over marvellous ; or by any means incredi- 
 ble. Fur if the reviewing; of a siii";le government fast dav sermon 
 produced such a deep sleep over the intellectual powers, and the 
 natural senses of even an Edinburgh Reviewer, is it a matter of 
 surprise, that 1700 folio pages should '^ knock doivn any man off, or 
 
 from his legs, or standing J^^ 
 
 Hoc nee caput feireum, nee nates plumbese ferre possint ! 
 
 29. Patrick Livingston wrote "Downright dealing," a remark- 
 able production, in which he puts forth all his strength in defence 
 of the " Trembling and quaking" of the first and second periods. 
 See a specimen in p. 10, and in " Snake, &,c." sect. 21. 
 
 30. James Parnel, though a youth, was " a poiverful minister of 
 
20 Appendix 11. 
 
 the gospeU^ Sewel, vol. i. p. 150. He possessed some talents and 
 was not without some literature, though his works do not show it. 
 He v/iote " The trumpet of the Lord soiinded, or a blast against 
 pride.'^ Considering the audiences he addressed, and those to whom 
 he wrote, this would seem to be as ill-timed as the sermon of the 
 clergyman in Gallowav (Scotland.) which was a philippic against 
 the pride and luxury of the age, delivered to a rustic audience, of 
 whom the greater half had neither shoes nor stockings I But this 
 reforming Quaker carried matters too far. We allow them to de- 
 claim, until they are as hoarse as a Roman crier : but they should 
 not send us to the pit for our coats, and buttons, and speech. " Wo 
 to you that are called vSir, Mr. and Madam, and Mistress. To hell 
 you must go, and lie there for ever and ever: given forth by the 
 spirit of the Lord through his servant James Parnel." p. 28, and 
 Bugg. p. 61. Judge Hill committed this young man to prison un- 
 der a charge of blasphemy. He gravely observed to the judge, 
 ''thou hast persecuted Christ, and hast set at liberty Barabbas.'^ Bugg. 
 p. 115. The persecution and cruelty sustained by this youth, have 
 left a stamp of infamy on the priesthood and magistracy of that age, 
 that excite our deepest abhorrence and detestation ! If a man is 
 deemed erroneous, outreason him ; if he be extravagant in his sal- 
 lies, apply the caustic of satire. But to persecute, and harass, 
 and murder by imprisonment in such a dungeon as that in which 
 poor young Parnel languished out his life. Oh ! it was most un- 
 christian — and m.ost inhuman I 
 
 31. Charles Atkinson wrote "The sword of the Lord drawn." 
 The design was to cut down the ministry, the churches, and the 
 nations. He was an empty headed and conceited man. He was 
 justly expelled from the society for immorality. See "Snake," &c, 
 sect. 6. 
 
 33. W. Shawcn was an eminent preacher of the second period. 
 He wrote '• A treatise on thoughts and imaginations." This is a 
 specimen : he is drawing the character of the Friends : " they are 
 meeker than Moses ; stronger than Sampson ; wiser than Solomon ; 
 more patient than Job, &c." p. 25. edit, of A. D. 1685. 
 
 S3. " Some principles of the Quakers,^' A. D. 1693. This volume 
 reminds me of the famous Monday, after the sacrament sermons 
 in Scotland, the professed object of which is to ''redd up the 
 marches.-' It is not to edify, but to run down, as fair game, every 
 sect on the field. The polite author of Barclay's life (Phil. edit, of 
 
Apiiendix IL "^ 21 
 
 A. D. 1805.) has, in p. 121, given us rather an unfavourable speci- 
 men of our good old John Brown of Wamphry. His epistle dedi- 
 catory or prefatory, as well as the epistle ad calcem, are, I admit, 
 somewhat ferocious. But 1 am tempted to give, by way of cour- 
 tesy, a specimen from this volume, which is of a later date than 
 Brown's. The Friends call their antagonists "conjurers," thieves,*' 
 "robbers," "antichrists," "witches," "devils," "scarlet-coloured 
 beasts," " blood-hounds gaping like the mouth of hell," " lizards," 
 " moles," "tinkers," "green headed trumpeters," "wheel-barrows," 
 "gim-cracks," whirlpools," "whirligigs," "moon calfs,"^"tatterde- 
 malions,"" serpents," "vipers," "ministers of the devil," "bears," 
 •' devils incarnate." See in " Snake," sect. 17. And if they touch 
 a hair of old Wamphry's beard, they may have more, even from 
 the pages of William Penn himself. 
 
 34. Henry Pickworih. He had been an eminent speaker and a 
 popular writer. His works were revived and recommended in 
 ■\Vhiting-s catalogue, p. 132. edit, of A. D. 1708. There is an im- 
 portant item in his brief history. When Bugg was in the triumphant 
 career of Quaker refutation, Pickworth challenged him to a public 
 debate. He retired apparently overwhelmed and confused. The 
 magistrates and people, in whose presence the debate was conduct- 
 ed, rose, en masse, and carrying to the market place all the Quaker 
 books which could be discovered, they consumed them as pesti- 
 lential and heretical. The aged veteran having published a narra- 
 tive of this, Pickworth applied himself to the refutation. He made 
 an extensive collection of Quaker books, in order that he might 
 have every facility in detecting Bugg's misquoted passages. This 
 constrained him to examine their books more minutely than 
 he ever had done. His eyes were opened to the nakedness and 
 deformity of the system. He was fully convinced of their deep 
 error and heresy ; publicly renounced them ; took his stand by the 
 venerable Bugg, and wrote a pathetic appeal to the parliament on 
 the erroneous system of Quakerism. See his paper of nineteen 
 charges presented to Pari. A. D. 1714, also Bugg, part vii. 256. 
 
 35. Story's Journal (No. Ill, folio,) and his "Discourses," 
 
 No. 412, octavo, Phil. Library. They display a plain and benevo- 
 lent mind ; but a mind without talent, and without the cultivation 
 of letters. Tliey are dull and heartless productions. 
 
 35. John Ferrot was one of the leading seceding Quakers, who 
 claimed the honours of being the true church. He had suffered 
 
22 tAppendix It. 
 
 imprisonment in the city of Rome, whither his zeal hacT carried him, 
 and by some means or other escaped, to create trouble in the bm letj. 
 He wrote the history of his sufferings, under this title, which shows 
 Tis at once the man and the mind ; "The wren in the burning bush 
 waving her wings of contraction." When he delivered epistles to 
 the males, he subscribed himself " John," when to the females, 
 "your tender sister John." Yet sixty-seven against sixty-six in 
 the grand Quaker schism, stood up for this man. William Penn 
 thus gravely writes of him, " T/iaf if he had been as faithful as his 
 •companions, he might have been hanged at Home (as we are in- 
 formed) to his own comfurt, the truth's honour, and the church^* 
 peace.'''' Vol. ii. p. -203. 
 
 37. /. Muckalow was another of the seceding Friends. He wrote 
 *' The spirit of the hat.^^ This book is a severe one. It deiails 
 more of the scenes behind the curtain than any other of that persud. 
 It details " The violence nffered in the assemblies," ''The pulling 
 down and the bailings forth." " We went to the utmost as far as 
 our power reached." p. 29, &c. Penn makes rather a silly defence. 
 See vol. ii. p. 193. 
 
 38, 39,40. John Field, B, Coole, I. TfTiiting. They wrote against 
 Keith, but with little effect. 
 
 41. ■ Tompkins wrote " Piety promoted," a collection of the 
 dying sayings of Quakers. Dubl. A. D. 172i. No. 438, duod. Phil. 
 Library. I was much pleased with a perusal of tiiis book. The 
 reader will be sensibly touched by the affecting cases of pious youth. 
 He will also be struck with this fact, that there is not an instance 
 of a leading member or preacher confessing a single sin, or be- 
 wailing a single delinquency, or professing any contrition under 
 the hand of a holy and pure God. And he will be more sensibly 
 struck when he discovers that it is not an oversight, but a strict 
 acting up to principle. [See part ii. ch. ii. sect. 2.] 
 
 42. Joseoh Pike of the city of Cork, Ireland, was an eminent and 
 sensible Quaker writer. His best known piece is '• A treatise on 
 baptism and the Lord's supper." Loud. A. D. 1703. Like Ful- 
 ler's, it is a distant echo of Barclay on those subjects. Yet lie brings 
 forward, in a very pleasing style all that they can say against these 
 divine ordinances. He also makes a respectable attempt to reply 
 to the objections brought against their theory, by Bennet and some 
 others. He is plain and unaffected. He has avoided that disgust- 
 ing cant, and the style of cursing and banning so characteristic ot 
 the first and second periods. 
 
Apppndlw II. 23 
 
 43. Hookas " Spirit of the martyrs revived.'* A. D. 1719. 
 
 It details in a piain siyle, many painfui facts of tlie sufferings of 
 the Quakers, and it delineates mucli of the manners of that iron 
 age. See N(t. 737, octavo, Phil. Libr. 
 
 44. ChancUer's " Apology for the Quakers." A. D. 1727. Of the 
 last period in its tenets. A dull and heartless performance. 
 
 4.5. BevPti's " D.r'fence of Robert Barclay." Dubl. A. D. 1727. 
 The cause of Quakerism must have been triumphant in Ireland in 
 that <lay, when such a sixpenny champion could hold up Barclay's 
 wounded head. A Mr. Bevau had his " Vindication''^ published in 
 A. D. 1 800. 
 
 46. Scmiuel Fuller wrote with a spirit nearly as fierce and un- 
 charitable, as that which stalked over the land during the common- 
 wealth, and the times of Charles II. and James II. His book is 
 called " Answerto twelve sections of abusive queries." Dubl. 1728. 
 He has nothing new nor forcible. He is a distant echo of Barclay. 
 He puts forth but comparatively few of the tenets of mvsticisni 
 and of Unitarianism. He is a thorough Pelagian and Armenian. 
 No. 909, octavo, Phil. Libr. 
 
 47. Setvel is, perhaps, the best known historian of Quakerism 
 next to Penn. It is well known that he was not a man of letters. 
 And he has much of the besetting sin of the Quaker writers, in 
 point of style and manner. His manner is chiefly after that of 
 Penn and EUwood. If we can only bear with his tediousness, and 
 the partiality which each has for his own; and the quaintness of 
 manner ; and that vexatious long windedness of sentence ; we shall 
 find some amusement, and a considerable share of information. A 
 good edition of his history was published at Phil. A. D. 1811, in 2 
 vols, octavo. 
 
 48. Besse. "A collection of the sufferings of the people called 
 Quakers," from A. D. I6.i0to 1689, two volumes folio, pp. 1405. 
 See No. 270, folio, Phil. Library. These volumes contain some 
 valuable memorials and authentic statements. They contain a col- 
 lection from those immense volumes belonging to the yearly meet- 
 ing, under which their shelves groan ; and in which are recorded, 
 or rather piled up, those papers which are delivered by the monthly 
 and quarterly meetings in Britain and Ireland ; which have been 
 in the habit of making out regular returns of the sufferings of the 
 Friends in their respective departments. But they are jumbled 
 together without any proper selection. Had the trifling incidents, 
 
24 - Appendix II. 
 
 and the minute details of the most insipid stuft'been rejected, these 
 folios had dwindled down to a tolerable quarto. The chief thing 
 to recommend them is fine black ink, good paper and print. 
 
 49. John Rutty writes "The rise and progress of the Quakers in 
 Ireland,-' a quarto vol. pp. 484. This history details the events 
 of the society fronj the year 1653 to 1751. The only thing pass- 
 able in the book is the Introduction. The body of the book forms a 
 bundle of dry anecdotes, with not so much a history, as a fulsome 
 encomium on each of the Friends who planted and watered Quak- 
 erism in Ireland, as if they could have sustained the glory of being 
 set up beside the prophets and apostles! See No. 196, quarto, Phil. 
 Library. 
 
 50. Gough wrote "The history of the people called Quakers, 
 &c." Dubl. A. D. 1790, 4 vols, octavo. The author is a plain and 
 amiable man : but without letters and without taste. He has gleaned 
 his materials from Sevvel, Besse, and a MS. of S. Smith. In his 
 preface he betrays the impossibility of his being impartial. He 
 blames writers v.lio consult those who wrote on the other side of 
 the question. Nothing will satisfy honest John Gough, but the 
 copying of their own statements, and the giving of no credit to any 
 but themselves. He can discover no difterence between writing of 
 their society, and writing against them. He very gravely tells us, 
 that he has discovered no change in the body of the Friends in 
 point of sentiment or manners, or principles or mode of preaching. 
 Vol. iii. p. 325. The two points of which he gives the most lame 
 and defective account are the Keithian controversy. He does not 
 bring into view the true subject of the dispute; namely, whether 
 Christ is really in heaven icithout, in glorified human nature. This 
 is the garbled account which I have read. See vol. iii. 328, &c. 
 The other point is the capture of the sloop, vi et armis, of the 
 Quakers. He wriggles and twists in no ordinary degree. But the 
 motions are natural, for he feels sore. Vol. iii. 341. His volumes 
 are written in a plain and clear style; yet has that luscious full- 
 ness and that tedious minuteness on mere trifles, which is the be- 
 setting sin of Quaker authors and preachers. He brings down the 
 history of the society to A. D. 1764. Each volume has a small in- 
 dex, and they neatly printed. No. 1922 octavo, Phil. Library. 
 
 51. iS'. Father gill. "Life and travels in the ministry." He was 
 greatly respected by all who knew his private worth. His pro- 
 ductions were shallow and often puerile. No. 479 duod. Phil. Lib. 
 He died in A. D. 1773. 
 
Ajjpendix II. 25 
 
 52. A. Bennezef. "A short account of the Quakers, and their set- 
 tlement in America." Phil. pp. 44. edit. 2. The most remarkable 
 thing about this book is, that it has seen a second edition. It has 
 no claims to the title it has assumed. It contains the meagre glean- 
 ings of a man, amiable it is true, but superficially acquainted with 
 his subject. The most striking of his fanfarades are those about 
 liberty, and about war. Like other Quaker authors, he very un- 
 fortunately does not touch the question. See p. 9, 10, &c. 
 
 53. Antony Furver was a man born of humble parents, but of 
 singular powers of mind. Though compelled to labour in an hum- 
 ble sphere, he found time to pursue his studies. And such was 
 the application of this wonderful man ; that, notwithstanding all the 
 untoward circumstances in his lot, he mastered the Hebrew^ and 
 Greek languages. In 1764, he completed his new translation of 
 the Old and New Testaments from the original languages. It was 
 published in 2 vols, folio. It is said to possess great simplicity and 
 is remarkably literal. He was greatly respected: and justly stood 
 very high as a preacher in the society. He died, much lamented, 
 in 1777. 
 
 54. Mrs. Sophia Hume. " Exhortation to the inhabitants of Caro- 
 lina." A. D. 1747. She was an amiable and highly accomplished 
 lady. But she committed an egregious error in taking up polemi- 
 cal theology ; and in becoming a teacher of men. 
 
 55. John Woolmatv's •' Works." The repose of this book will 
 not be disturbed. 
 
 56. Catharine Philips^s " Journal." 
 
 57. Sarah GrubWs " Journal." 
 
 58. Margaret Lucases " Jouvna.lJ'^ 
 
 59. John Gratlon'^s "Journal." 
 
 60. Job Scotth "Journal." This is the journal of a person of 
 respectable talents. Job seems to have revived in a considerable 
 degree, the mysticism and Unitarianism of the 1st and 2d periods. 
 
 61. 31rs. Harrison of Philadelphia, was a very worthy lady. She 
 seems to have set down, as her model, the venerable mothers of 
 her sect, such as Dame Margaret Fell, Dame C. Barclay, Hannah 
 Bernard, Mary Fisher, E. Bathurst, Anne Wright. Like these she 
 laboured and travelled from shore to shore ; and with a zeal becom- 
 ing a nobler and better cause. 
 
 62. Mr. Waring, a man of quiet and retired habits, but a pro- 
 found philosopher. Hedied A. D. 1793. Miller's Retrosp. vol. i. 45. 
 
 4 
 
S6 Appendix 11. 
 
 &\i. John Griffitli's "Journal." He was a plain and honest man : 
 simple and mild in his manners: illiterate and much infected with 
 enthusiasm. In his peregrinations, he was " often moved to testify 
 against undue liberties." He needed no information. He knew 
 all worth knowing about his audience, though a stranger to them. 
 '• Right spirited ministers have an infulUble guide within,'" said 
 John, "and have no need of any outward guide or information in , 
 their services." Jour. p. 189. See Rathbone, p. TO. This is about 
 as fair a specimen of their Journals as I can find. 
 
 64. Rathbone, formerly, was an eminent member of the society. 
 He shows himself to be a man of genteel manners and cultivated 
 mind. There is an air of uncommon frankness and candour in all 
 that he says. He wrote " A narrative of events in Ireland from 
 A. D. 1791 to 1803." Himself and his book are visible and strik- 
 ing proofs of the tendency of the first grand tenet of the society, 
 immediate revelations, as advocated by Barclay. By undervaluing 
 the sacred word of God, it leads to deism. Yet such is the state 
 of Quakerism in Ireland, that there exists no evidence that Rath- 
 bone would have been ejected from the society for his tenets, had he 
 not written this book containing such plain, blunt tales of their 
 management behind the curtain. 
 
 65. Bristed. " The society of Friends, or Quakers, examined." 
 Lond. 1805. This trifling and lumpish book has been noticed 
 already. Part i. sect. 31. 
 
 66. Clarksori's " Portrait of Quakerism." Lond. and Phil. 3 vols. 
 It is a hurried and very unfinished production both as to matter and 
 manner. He has paid no respect to the true opinions of the sect, 
 as laid down in the volumes of their ancients; and which always 
 must be the test of orthodoxy, as long as they venerate their claims 
 (as they do) to divine inspiration. He gives us the uncertain 
 gleanings of his conversations with the Friends. He is a dull and 
 heartless writer: and yet with all its defects, the Friends seem 
 willing that it should become popular. I would recommend it as 
 giving the best portrait of their civil polity, and of their manners. 
 But its delineations of their theological opinions, or of the religious 
 character of the society are extremely meagre and unfair. 
 
 67. Tuke wrote " The principles of the Quakers/' See Christ. 
 Observer, July 1814, &c. &c. 
 
 68. Richard Mott, a distinguished and popular preacher. 
 
 69. ^/ias ^icA;^, a preacher equally popular, if not superior. The 
 
Appendix tl. S7 
 
 following extract from the Chester Plough Boy and Sat. Even. 
 Post of Jan. 1, 1823, of a sermon of Mr. Hicks's, will afford a speci- 
 men of the sentiments of their present ministry. '-Children have 
 all one religion, and if suffered to grow up together, without having 
 any of the doctrines of men instilled into them, there would be but 
 one religion in the world."* "The kingdom of lieaven is within 
 you ; and if you find it not there, before death, y«)u will hereafter 
 look for it in vain. Heaven is the sure and natural result of act- 
 ing up to the dictates of tlutt God in man. Hell is the torment 
 experienced in our souls consequent on the transgression of these 
 dictates." He " preaches no mysteries." "What advantage can 
 it be to any one, to believe in what he cannot understand." " The 
 christian religion involves no mysteries, &c." 
 
 This last sentiment, equally repugnant to holy writ, and to the 
 first principles of reason and philosophy, is an awkward but despe- 
 rately feeble hit at the doctrine of the most Holy Trinity, which 
 Penn and his equally misguided followers have wantonly dared to 
 exclude from their system. If it be of no advantage to believe ivhat 
 we cannot understand, then is it of no advantage to believe in the 
 being of the Deity. For He, as well as tlie manner oi his existence 
 in Trinity, is infinitely removed beyond our finite understanding. 
 But honest Elias is no philosoplier, no chemist, no theologian ;and 
 men of his venerable years are, every where, privileged charac- 
 ters ! 
 
 *' 'O Xsyoj ifag/nay-nf XuTrxi ; xat « !rei>.uXey/« yDJccrof." 
 "Speakings is the solace of grief— an;l gaiTulity that of old ag-e." 
 
 He has been severely and justly blamed of late for the stern 
 heterodoxy of his sentiments. Some of his friends have quoted an 
 obscure author, a cotemporary of George Fox, William Bailey hy 
 name, to prove that Elias has been no innovator in first principles. 
 His friends liave been guilty of a double fault in doing this. They 
 have disturbed the peaceful sleep of the dead. Bailey had been 
 entombed in oblivion. Why did they stir the dust which covered 
 him ^ In quoting this man, moreover, they have hurt their cause. 
 The very quotation makes the Light, and the Spirit, and Jesus one 
 and the same. And thus, by confounding, or denying the distinct 
 
 • We shall hear of some philosopher proposing to shut up children by them- 
 selves to ascertain the true primitive language. But he must not permit any 
 goats to have access to them to suckle them. 
 
28 Appendix II. 
 
 persons of tl»e most holj and adorable Trinity, they make them- 
 selves witnesses that Elias Hieks is, like his predecessors, Sabel- 
 lian or Unitarian ! *" 
 
 70. Priscilla Hunt, a female preacher, who has lately come on 
 the boards ; and has attracted much public attention. In the yearly 
 meeting at Philadelphia, of A. D. 1823, she advocated in all their 
 extent, the sentiments of Elias Kicks. The applause, and the rich 
 donations which she received, fully prove the popularity of these 
 doctrines in the society of Friends. 
 
 T shall conclude with a brief review of the two latest writers, and 
 of the present state of the controversy. 
 
 1. " Letters of Paul and Amicus," octavo, pp. 512, Wilmington. 
 This volume contains letters first published in the Christian Re- 
 pository. " Paul," a zealous and able advocate of the doctrines ot 
 the Reformed churches, came out against the Quakers. His chief 
 design, according to his own statement, was not to give a systematic 
 defence of the doctrines of tlie Reformed churches, but to draw oft' 
 the veil from the real doctrines held by the society of Friends, and 
 to expose them to the view of the Christian public. In this aim, 
 he has succeeded completely. 
 
 " Amicus," a Friend of the Foxonian period, and well skilled in 
 the peculiar doctrines of that time, came forward to explain and 
 to refute. Like "Paul" he came en masque. And the dispute was 
 carried on vigorously for twenty-one months! 
 
 It must be admitted, that serious inconveniences will result from 
 the disputes of polemics en masque. One very obvious one is this: 
 when heated they will become personal, rude and scurrilous. Hav- 
 ing only anonymous characters to lose, they will not permit public 
 opinion to have its due influence in checking their uncourteous 
 sallies. 
 
 But I mean something more than even this, when I say that 
 "Amicus" comes (\\\i en masque. He does not, and he v>UI not 
 bring out the real doctrines of the society, until he is dared, and 
 pushed, and heated. At length, he does come out; bluA ivdhout 
 mask. 
 
 *• Paul" is somewhat feeble on baptism. But on every other point 
 he defends and refutes very successfully. And he goads on '• Ami- 
 cus" till he has confessed all the system of the Friends. 
 
 * See Bailey's book entitled, ".i cominon objection answered about the navie of 
 ■/ems.'" Old edition. 
 
Jippendix II. 29 
 
 It is the fullest disclosure which we have in the modern times of 
 the society; it is a full length portrait of the genuine Quakerism 
 of the old school ; it exhibits the correctness of every charge which 
 I have brought against them out of their books. And if the society 
 adhere to Fox, and Penn and Barclay ; if, in fact, the modern 
 Friends hold to the testimony of their ancient elders, they must 
 acknowledge the doctrines of " Amicus" as their orthodox doctrines. 
 To blame these, would be to blame the inspirations of Fox and 
 Penn; to condemn these, would be to condemn all the Friends of 
 the first " convincement.^^ None, therefore, in their last annual 
 meeting, blamed "Amicus," but those (better informed men I 
 readily admit them to be,) who are receding from genuine Quaker- 
 ism, and are approaching the Reformed churches. 
 
 On the subject of the Holy Sacraments, "Amicus" exhibits little 
 solidity of argument: while the decencies and courtesy of modern 
 polemics, I am constrained to say, seem to have been thrown off 
 at the very entrance of the arena. He actually denies that our 
 Lord ordained either baptism by water, or any supper whatever, 
 different from the passover ! 
 
 After denying that he is opposed to missions, he manifests, in 
 the progress of the discussions, that decided and deadly hostility 
 to our missions and Bible societies, which reigns in the society as 
 a body : and which every one who has studied their tenets, knuws 
 to be combined with the very elements of their system. See 
 " Amicus's" first letters, and his letters on the Internal Light, and 
 " Paul's" statements, p. 23, &c. 
 
 In his letters on " Internal Light,^' " Amicus" rejects from his 
 system the doctrine of the exclusive superiority and necessity of 
 a written revelation. The scriptures, as usual, he makes a second- 
 ary rule, and inferior to the light in the human mind. And when 
 pressed hard by his able antagonist, he brings out unsparingly their 
 well known ancient doctrine in these words: "-Deists and pagans 
 are partakers of saving grace,^^ all having the Christ within, as well 
 as christians. See p. 283. He actually rails at Christendom. «'The 
 religion of Christendom," says he, " is falsely called the christian 
 religion," p. 298. And according to this charitable and enlight- 
 ened christian, so far are the morals of pagans superior to those of 
 the christians that (I use his own words,) "those called heathens, 
 savages, idolaters, have far outstripped professing christians in 
 divine works of mercy, justice and truth !" p. 268, 269, 272. 
 
30 Appendix IT. 
 
 The doctrine of the most Holy Trinity " Amicus" denies in lan- 
 guage the most revolting to a christian's feelings, and outrageous 
 to tlie common decencies and courtesy of society. For charity, 
 alas ! he seems to put it out of the question. The following is a 
 specimen. " To adore the triune God is to adore the unknown God." 
 p. 394. '• The tliree persons are tliree gods, or three nothings." 
 p. 338. The doctrine of the Trinity is irrational, absurd and mon- 
 strous, p. 403, 423. This doctrine " makes Jehovah ajinite mortah 
 the Deity an unsubstantial Beings and the Saviour the third part of 
 a monstrous divinity P^ p. 423. Sec also his letters 37 and 38, and 
 the preface p. viii. 
 
 On the doctrine of the atonement he is equally violent ; having 
 made the terms '• Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" to mean one and 
 the same thing : having denied the relation of Father and Son, he 
 takes away all possibility of an atonement. Accordingly he denies, 
 in bitter terms, an atonement by the sutteringsand death of a divine 
 person. But he advocates an atonement precisely of the nature 
 described by me in Part II. preceding. 
 
 That this tends to deism is obvious from the following words of 
 " Amicus." " The salvation of the soul is effected, not by that 
 which Christ did for us in his outward and temporary manifesta- 
 tion, nor by any imputation of his righteousness or merits." p. 478. 
 He shows afterwards, that their sanctification or inward righteous- 
 ness, is the cause of their justification and salvation, p. 499. 
 
 Thus from documents of the most satisfactory kind, the christian 
 public can judge of the charges brought against the society by 
 "Paul," and by myself,* that they luwe rejected from their system 
 the peculiar and essential doctrines of the gospel of Christ. If the 
 Unitarians be entitled to the name of christians, then have the 
 Friends also a right to it I 
 
 There are In " Paul's" letters some instances of harshness and 
 asperity. It is to be regretted that one who could command such 
 an overwhelming force of argument, should yield to the provoca- 
 tions and bulhjings of his adversary. But with all his blemishes, 
 (and which of us is free of them }) he is an able champion in the 
 cause of truth. He is evidently a youthful writer. And when he 
 is matured iu years and experience, the church will certainly call 
 
 ♦ On this union of sentiment I beg leave to state, that my MS. was in the 
 bands of my pubhsher, before 1 saw the letters of Paul and Amicus. 
 
Apj^endLv II. 31 
 
 upon him to resume his able pen in the great conflict with this class 
 of Unitarians. 
 
 The whole manner of " Amicus," indicates a vigorous mind and 
 considerable reading. But he has not digested well what he has 
 read : nor has he read enough. He was, in fact, not ready for this 
 conflict with " Paul." His reading has been too much on the one 
 side. He knows not the true sentiments of the Trinitarians : or, 
 to say the least, he has not employed his knowledge of them as he 
 ouaht to have done. He is warm from the moment he leaves the 
 starting post. In each succeeding letter he waxes hotter and 
 hotter, until he becontes really offensive and often disgusting. And 
 not unfrequentlv, when the ideas of " mhsionary exertions,''^ " and 
 Bible societies^'''' and a " mercenary IdreUng miniHtry^^ come athwart 
 his heated imagination, he actually raves ! p. 288, 289, 40'1, 415, &c. 
 
 The style of '"Amicus" partakes much of the " tedious, luscious 
 way of Penn." He often exhausts the patience of his antagonist 
 and his reader. And what is worse for his cause, he weakens the 
 force of his own arguments by an eternal verbosity : while he leavies 
 himself neither room, nor time, to reply to the main arguments of 
 his opponent. His tedious, dry way is little calculaterl to carry 
 conviction into the heart. He proses his reader almost to death, 
 at one time, and at another, he dissipates the ennui by feelings 
 excited by his barefaced misrepresentations, or his sallies of ven- 
 geance. He disgusts the man of letters by his want of taste: and 
 he lacerates the feelings of the pious christian bv language uttered 
 with lightness, and certainly very uncharitable; and, to say the 
 least, bordering on the boldest blasphemy ! See his preface p. viii. 
 and p. 423. And indeed the whole of the letter on the Trinity and 
 the atnnement. 
 
 2. Vindex in his "Truth vindicated in six letters to the Pres- 
 byterians." He has gone over much of the samp ground, (see let- 
 ters 2d and 3d.) He has advanced the same tenets in substance. 
 And he exhibits two much of the style and spirit of '» Amicus." 
 Like the other two, he fights c?i masque; being either unwilling, or 
 else not daring to show his face in defence of what he says. 
 
 THE END, 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 rxo% 
 
 riKH 
 
 for 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 opposers 
 
 — 
 
 32 
 
 natural 
 
 35 
 
 15 
 
 Ayresmore 
 
 36 
 
 35 
 
 child 
 
 38 
 39 
 
 1] 
 
 frock 
 
 34 ( 
 
 or 42* note 
 
 89 
 
 47 
 
 24 
 
 Celaus 
 
 48 
 
 9, 12, 15 
 
 corporal 
 
 50 
 
 27 
 
 questions 
 
 — 
 
 33 
 
 weak 
 
 52 
 
 4 
 
 descent 
 
 54 
 
 14 
 
 forms 
 
 56 
 
 3 
 
 after infiuer 
 
 .58 
 
 26 
 
 true 
 
 67 68 69 70 83 notes 
 
 sec. 
 
 69 
 
 do. 
 
 Jewel 
 
 n 
 
 11 
 
 
 73 
 
 8 
 
 joining: 
 
 do 
 
 9 
 
 affected 
 
 74 
 
 note 
 
 insiduous 
 
 75 
 
 note line 18 
 
 A. D, 1611 
 
 81 
 
 14 
 
 
 88 
 
 note bottom line 
 
 Poet 
 
 ]06 
 
 13 
 
 arts 
 
 185 
 
 7 from the bottom 
 
 Therians 
 
 188 
 
 17 
 
 after "para 
 
 193 
 
 15 
 
 « pled" 
 
 202 
 
 4 from the bottom note 
 
 " too" 
 
 230 
 
 7 
 
 Juke 
 
 257 
 
 25 
 
 now 
 
 258 
 
 3 from bottom 
 
 Tu. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 2 
 
 6 from bottom 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 Turieu 
 
 read 
 oppressors 
 national. 
 Ayrsmoss. 
 chielde. 
 
 pock. 
 
 8,9. 
 
 Celsus. 
 
 corporeal 
 
 quotations. 
 
 heathen. 
 
 ascent. 
 
 fame, 
 whom. 
 
 free. 
 
 vol. 
 
 Sewel. 
 
 Famsworth. 
 
 gaining 
 
 effected. 
 
 insidious. 
 
 A. D. 1681. 
 
 Muscovegfian . 
 
 Part. 
 
 acts 
 
 Iberians 
 , " saving." 
 
 "plod." 
 
 " the." 
 
 Tuke. 
 
 was. 
 
 Jur. 
 
 "puerilities." 
 Jurieu. 
 
 • There i» an error in tlie papng. See 34, &c. 
 
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