instead of leaning to his own understanding, he might, at this day, have been a pillar in the house of God, that should go no more out. The Lord, of his infinite mercy, grant that he may yet be brought to see, and to tremble, at the awful gulf upon the very brink of which he now totters; that, through unfeigned repentance, the evil heart of unbelief may be removed, and a capacity graciously given, to look with full faith to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; that thus, through the merits and mercies of a crucified Redeemer, he may finally obtain that eternal life, which remains to be "the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

We shall now close with the following extract from a sermon, delivered at Bristol, England, the 19th of 5th month, 1767, by that eminent minister of the gospel, Samuel Fothergill; in which he beautifully and feelingly declares his full and firm belief, as also that of the society of Friends, in those very doctrines which Elias Hicks denies. We earnestly exhort our readers to compare the sentiments in this extract, and indeed throughout the whole volume of his sermons, with those contained in Elias Hicks' sermons, lately published in this city. The contrast is truly affecting.

"We follow not formally, but we believe in, and are convinced, fully convinced, of the doctrines of the Christian religion; the incarnation, glory, life, death, mighty miracles, and various circumstances relative to the holy life of Jesus, 'as in the volume of the book it is written ;' and can, in an awful and reverent sense, commemorate those vast and most interesting events. We admire, with humble hearts and minds, the awful transactions of that time, when sweat, like drops of blood, ran from the face of the Holy Jesus; when being in agony, he prayed more earnestly; when he was betrayed, his sacred head crowned with thorns, his face spit upon, he was most ignominiously treated, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, he complained not.

"We behold him in his agonies on Calvary's mount, offering himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world; that he might purify us, by the shedding of his precious blood! More precious than the blood of bulls and goats,' or any other that was shed under the law. We believe in his amazing mercy in offering himself there, when laden with the immense weight of the sins of mankind, and the immediate sense of the Father's presence withdrawn, he was left to suffer alone; under this extreme pressure crying out, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani,' was crucified, dead and buried.

"Here pause a little, I beseech you. Contemplate the adorable theme! Acknowledge, Oh man, that unbounded gratitude which is ever due from thee: Oh, my soul, how much

owest thou unto thy Lord.' I know we have been stigmatized, as disbelieving the truths of the Christian religion. However I call the divine Record, the Saviour of the world, that was offered a sacrifice without the gates of Jerusalem, to witness for my belief; that he was sent from God to do the Father's will;' and I do, without controversy, believe that he was God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.' We do not at all doubt that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself;' 'that Christ gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, and that with his stripes we were healed.'

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"By virtue of that holy sacrifice, the remission of sins is gained; the awakening power of that sentence which is due to sin, is felt in a state of alienation from God; and as we believe that, if one died for all, then were all dead,' so we believe, that he who was crucified, dead, and buried, likewise triumphed over the grave, and now sitteth at the right hand of God,' in a glorified body, to make intercession for man; in order that he might effectually purchase, and redeem to himself, a people to the praise of his name; and diffuse throughout his universal empire, a similarity of opinion and nature, arising from the experience of his universal redeeming love.

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"I am no Arian-far from it. I believe in the clear, emphatic testimonies, laid down in holy writ, that Christ was more than a prophet. I repeat my belief, that he suffered, died, ascended, and is now come, the second time, without sin unto salvation,' in order to reconcile the world to himself. I know many are willing to admit that he died for all, as all were in a state of death; and that by the imputation of his righteousness, all are justified in the sight of God. Whereas, I think it more just to proceed in the language of the holy, inspired apostle, that they which live, should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him who died for them, and rose again ;' that there may be an effectual redemption, a thorough change; not the imputation of righteousness without works, but a real substantial righteousness, in heart and life; which may operate upon, and regulate the mind and will, and lead us to a conformity to his divine nature: not a righteousness imputed to us, from what Christ did and suffered without us, but a righteousness raised by him within us, through our surrendering ourselves to his government, and yielding entire submission to his heart-cleansing, refining power.

"However this doctrine may relish with some, I am convinced he died for all, that all should be saved; that through him, we might be justified in the sight of God, that we might 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his divine affections."" Pages 33, 34, 35, 36. Again in the same sermon, page 41,

"Our sins have been great, and our transgressions never could have been obliterated, had not Christ done it for us; let us therefore no longer dwell upon the rock of presumption, with Satan, who hath been a liar from the beginning; but let us rather descend into the valley of humility and peace, and settle accounts with the God of our lives; from whom I had strayed to that degree that my life became a burden to me, and I have wished that I had never been born; but Christ, who was a friend to the publicans and sinners, is now become the rock of my salvation; he hath caused me to trust in him, and to seek the Lord my God. The debt I owe is infinite. I desire ever to acknowledge it with all possible gratitude, and to do my utmost towards the discharge of it, while I have my being."

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Ir is no new thing for the writings of the early Quakers to be mu tilated and perverted, in order to prove their denial of the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. Among the many accusations and calumnies which were heaped upon this despised people, there was none more frequently reiterated, nor more fully refuted and denied, than this, which the compilers of the pamphlet are now endeavouring to support; and it is a fact, that, in order to sustain it, the enemies of the society have always been compelled to resort to garbling or misrepresentation of their language.

It is well known that the fundamental principle of the Society, is a belief in, and an obedience to, the sensible influences of the holy spirit of Christ, in the soul. At the time of its first rise, this important doctrine was too little known or believed in, while great dependence was placed upon the observation of mere outward rites, and a bare historical belief in the life, suffering, and death of Christ; the scriptures being considered as the word of God, and the alone treasury of that knowledge which gives life eternal. Hence it was, that the Society of Friends, strenuously enforced the necessity of coming to the real experience of the work of regeneration in the heart; to feel Christ ruling there by his spirit; that so the blessed and most comfortable truths of Holy Scripture might be sealed in their experience, by the revelation of that power which gave the scriptures forth. Now, because Friends preached the necessity of coming to know Christ within, they were charged with denying Christ without, and with believing in Christ no otherwise than as the spirit in man. And because they taught the necessity of the new birth in the soul, and a real change of heart, whereby all things came to be of God, they were accused of slighting, or wholly denying, the virtue of all that the Son of God had done for them, without them.

These several accusations they again and again refuted; declaring that while they enforced the necessity of the inward work, they were so far from denying the outward, that they were taught by the Holy Spirit, most reverently and gratefully to believe and acknowledge all that was done by Jesus Christ without them; and that although, with the apostle, they believed the spirit of Christ was in all men, who were not reprobates, yet, so far from doubting, they were taught by this very spirit, unfeignedly to believe and own, both the Godhead and manhood of Jesus Christ, his miraculous conception, holy life, miracles, propitiatory sacrifice, death, resurrection, ascension, mediation and intercession; and openly to avow their full faith in all that was contained in the Holy Scriptures of truth.

So repeatedly has the Society declared its belief, in all these doc trines of the Christian religion, that the generality of liberal minded men have been convinced of the soundness of its faith, and of its

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