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which, however laudable their objects may be, are not their proper work and business; but engross the time, talents and attention, which ought to be devoted to the all-important concerns of the soul's salvation; and being in some measure substituted for that, produce great and serious loss to such individuals.

At different periods since we were first gathered to be a people, individuals have arisen among us, who have not submitted to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so as to experience the death of self and a resurrection into newness of life—or having known it, have fallen away from that happy estate, and endeavoured to lay waste the doctrines they once professed. Through the friendships of the world, and the desire after an easier way, they have become ashamed of the simplicity of the truth, and offended at the reproach which the worldly professor attaches to the self-denying religion of the cross of Christ; and their spiritual vision becoming thereby clouded, they have promulgated sentiments repugnant to our Christian faith, and to the spiritual nature and universality of the gospel, as set forth by our early Friends; particularly by Robert Barclay, in his able and excellent "Apology for the true Christian Divinity;" a work which has been frequently published and spread by our Society, as a correct exposition of its doctrines, and which we would recommend to the careful and serious perusal of all our members.

These defections are no new thing, nor are they peculiar to our Society; many, in different ages of the church, having made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, and for a time brought much suffering upon the faithful followers of Christ. But it is

worthy of observation, that those among us, who have thus turned against the truth and Friends, even though they were once eminent and useful instruments, have generally fallen away, so as to lose what they had known of the life and power of godliness; the men of this world have gathered them into their fellowship, and like withered branches, all greenness has been dried up.

During the season of trial already alluded to, when some of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity were denied by those who have since separated from us, many, from a sincere desire to maintain those precious doctrines inviolate, came forward in their defence. For want of coming under, and keeping to the unfoldings of divine light, by which alone the spiritual eye is enabled to see clearly, and a qualification is experienced to bear a true testimony to the gospel in its fulness, some of these, in their efforts to advocate those doctrines, have not sufficiently kept in view the internal operation of the gospel, as the power of God unto salvation; nor borne a clear and unequivocal testimony, as our ancient Friends did, to the universal appearance of Christ in the souls of all men, as "the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

Seeing the errors which arose from undervaluing the Holy Scriptures, there has been a tendency to run into the opposite extreme, and to exalt them into a place and office which they do not claim for themselves, and which derogate from the work and office of the Holy Spirit.

In attempting to counteract the sorrowful effects resulting from a denial of the benefits which accrue

to mankind from the sufferings and death of Christ, as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, the subject has been pressed so far as to give countenance to the idea that Christ has paid the debt, and done the work for us, without us; and that by a profession of faith in and reliance upon him, as their atonement and righteousness, the ungodly may be justified without experiencing sanctification through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For want of duly considering that the unfaithfulness or inconsistency of false professors, is no argument against a truth, sound and profitable in itself, we apprehend that the high pretensions to the light of Christ, made by those who separated from us, have induced some to undervalue this fundamental doctrine of Holy Scripture, and to treat it in a manner calculated to derogate from its sufficiency as the primary rule of faith and life; or to take such an imperfect and mixed view of it, as to lessen the value and importance which it justly holds in sound Scripture doctrine.

We think the influence and effects of these things are to be discovered in our favoured Society; and under a renewed fervent desire to discharge our religious duty in the sight of the great Head of the church, and an affectionate concern for our beloved fellow-members, that we may all come into the unity of the faith; striving together, through the Lord's gracious assistance, for the spreading of his kingdom, and the growth of each other in the pure unchangeable truth; we feel engaged to caution our dear Friends against the dangers to which we have thus briefly alluded; and to revive some of the doctrines and tes

timonies which our religious Society has always held, and still most surely believes; as well as to impart some tender counsel respecting other matters, which may endanger their stability, and the peace and prosperity of the Society at large.

OF THE ONE TRUE GOD, AND THE THREE THAT BEAR RECORD IN HEAVEN.

WE believe in one only wise, omnipotent and everlasting God, the creator and upholder of all things, visible and invisible,—and in one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, the mediator between God and man,-and in the Holy Spirit, which proceedeth from the Father and the Son; one God, blessed forever, to whom belong all glory and honour, adoration and praise, forever-Amen.

In speaking of the infinite, eternal Being, we have always considered it most proper and consistent with his all-glorious and incomprehensible existence and attributes, and safest for us, finite creatures, to confine ourselves to the language of Holy Scripture. For this reason, and because it tends to perplexity and doubt, the Society has always objected to the use of the terms person and personality, in speaking of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Man may think, by his wisdom and learning, to define the Divine existence, and render it more intelligible than the holy men who wrote under the immediate guidance of the Holy Ghost; but we believe that all such attempts will ever be vain and futile, and that it is our duty humbly to receive, and rest satisfied with, the descrip

tion of the Three that bear record in heaven, given to us in the language of Holy Scripture, without attempting to pry further into this sacred mystery. To speak of the Supreme Being as constituted of three persons, and to attempt to define in familiar terms the relative place and office of each, we believe does not tend to edification, but is calculated to lessen that reverence and fear which ought always to clothe the mind in speaking of Almighty God; tends to bewilder and confuse the sincere inquirer after truth, and not only leads into unprofitable speculation, but may give ground to the sceptic to cavil at the Christian religion.

Our ancient Friends, though often assailed in reference to this article of their faith, by persons who laboured to draw them into the use of terms which they considered improper and unscriptural, steadily refused to depart from the language of the prophets, and of our blessed Lord and his apostles, in relation to it; even though they were charged with unsoundness of principle, because they rejected those scholastic terms of their opponents.

George Fox, in a work entitled, "An Answer to all such as falsely say the Quakers are no Christians," writes thus on this subject, viz:

"We own the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as the apostles have declared. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth; for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one; and there are three which bear record in earth, which we own. And now let none be offended, because we do not call them by those unscriptural names of Trinity and Three persons, which are not

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