is ever ready and able to draw us, when we are willing to listen to it; on which conditions I believe the mercy of God ever was, and ever will be freely extended, agreeable to the concurrent testimony of his witnesses, through a long succession of ages; but, in the most full and clear manner in the dispensation of the Gospel, as we have it recorded, and set forth, from and through its divine Promulgator, by precept and practice, who hath (as said the apostle) left us an example, that we should follow his steps; and has plainly told us in the most unequivocal language, the consequence of disobedience on the one hand, or due compliance on the other. This [the Gospel] I consider and believe to be the most perfect dispensation ever ministered to man in its kind, that is, an outward or secondary testimony of the will of God to us, and which I have ever found to be coincident with the direct and immediate testimony, dictates and instructions of that life, which is the light of man; which justly claims the precedence of every other means of instruction, being pure uncreated truth; divine in its nature, universal in its diffusion, and saving in its effects, and is I believe the bountiful Creator's free gift to his creatures; being that which the apostle calls "Christ (or the spirit of anointing) within, the hope of glory." And being the pure leaven of the kingdom, it operates on and produces in the minds of all those, whose will (resulting therefrom) is reduced, brought down and subjected to it, by its clear convictions of the precious advantage of a conformity to its own nature, which is order, harmony, and true solid peace, or in other words, the true heavenly image of righteousness and true holiness. Here is, in truth and reality, a putting on Christ, not by imputation, but actual operation; in which state, he makes no scruple of acknowledging the spiritual consanguinity or divine relation, saying, soever doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my mother, and sister, and brother," notwithstanding, as the Father's most dignified Son and Messenger, the Spirit or divine emanation was poured upon him without measure, and upon us by measure.

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"This I acknowledge to be my faith, and the settled result of anxious and early enquiry, which I have long and firmly believed; yet hope ever to stand ready to exchange for better, if better there are; and which, while they remain to be my sentiments, my heart's desire and prayer is, that I may ever be preserved cheerfully ready to openly acknowledge before men, preferring the testimony of a good conscience to the favour of princes, and every worldly consideration; believing it to be my duty, nevertheless, to extend charitable limitations to all who may apprehend they have seen further in any point whatsoever; under the conviction that, indeed, I am nothing without this Christian virtue, which I understand to be the love of God and man.

“I now add, that, consistent with the above sentiments, when I am asked if I believe in the vicarious sufferings and atonement of Christ, I answer candidly, I do not in the general acceptation of the terms; for, it appears to me (and has from early life) an inconsistent, unintelligible motley of absurdity, to suppose the Almighty so incensed and influenced with vindictive wrath, against millions and millions of rational intelligences; whom (it is asserted) he had by his all-creating fiat or operation wrapt, in miniature, in

one general head, and then permitted another power to involve in disorder and ruin, as to be inexorable to any other compromise or mode of reconciliation, but, that of voluntarily taking human nature upon himself, and dying a violent death to satisfy his own vengeance, and that to answer the purpose of reinstatement very partially; still leaving them far short of that angelic perfection, wherein the bewildered fabricators of this system of chosen absurdities assert they were at first created, but [both] in a natural and moral sense. I repeat again that this system of jargon, which scarcely admits of a parallel, appears irreconcileable in my judgment to the general attributes of Deity; which my understanding (contracted as it was) early revolted at; even against the general current of surrounding opinion, the importunity of imbibed prejudices, and fear of heretical deception, and that before I arrived at the age of seventeen years; and what to me change in nothing but increasing absurdity and visible traces of priestcraft, and ignorant credulity, almost at every repeated investigation. And what is beyond extraordinary, we are told that these unaccountable transactions took place ages before any of us, that are now on the stage of action, had any conscious existence. No wonder the native Indian of North America said, in answer to the missionaries' persuasions to subscribe to such shocking inconsistencies: 'It may not be amiss, before we offer him the reasons why we cannot comply with his request, to acquaint him with the ground and principles of that religion he would have us abandon. Our forefathers were under a strong persuasion, as we are, that those who act well in this life, will be rewarded in the next, in proportion to the degrees of their virtue: and on the other hand, those who have behaved wickedly here will also receive a just retribution hereafter; and if any one or more of our forefathers were guilty of a very heinous crime, or crimes, in such a case an allwise, powerful, just, and merciful God, would certainly correct the criminal, but would never involve those that are innocent in the guilt.' And I confess myself so fully of the same opinion, that, when I am asked whether I believe in the total depravity of human nature in consequence of Adam's fall, I answer plainly, I do not, in the general acceptation of the word; for, it is a term which in my opinion is only applicable (with strict propriety) to that state of obduration, which is the consequence of voluntarily choosing and persisting in evil, against the remonstrances, discoveries, and long-suffering visitations, of the light, grace, truth or word of God, until it becomes an object of the mind's terror, and settled aversion; in which state, it becomes to the soul a gnawing worm and source of fearful looking for. And further, when I am asked whether I believe that all the pains, and diseases, together with that natural death, to which the human and brute creation are subject, is the effect of Adam's fall, I answer plainly, that I do not; and if I am then asked why I profess myself a Christian, I answer, because I believe in the plain, wise and clear consistency of the doctrines of Jesus Christ; which are not, as I could ever discover, disgraced and clotted with any part of those glaring inconsistencies I have disavowed; and because I believe that, if any one had advanced them before him, he would not have hesitated to have included them among the number of those whom he addressed with the language of 'Ye

fools and blind! And indeed, I am fully of the mind that the generally supported doctrines of imputed sin, and imputed righteousness, with other absurd appendages which have been attached to the Christian religion, have disgraced it more in the eyes of men, in some degree disposed to thoughtful investigation, than all the malicious efforts of its openly avowed enemies; indeed they afford its enemies much of the materials for their most powerful engines against it: they first urge the absurdities advanced by many of its professors, and then their openly opposite practice to its essential ground and principles; which, together, afford much mournful occasion for the complaint that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.'"

A. D. Hannah Barnard, the female preacher silenced by two subordinate 1801. Meetings last year, appeals to the Yearly Meeting. The Meeting

hears the case, and confirms the decision of the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings against her. She returns to the State of New York, refusing the provision for her passage offered her by the Meeting for Sufferings in London.

The Minutes of the Yearly Meeting on this case, which are brief and general its importance considered, will be found annexed. The turningpoint of the case was, certainly, the authority of HOLY SCRIPTURE. To the direct and pointed question put to her by Joseph Gurney Bevan, one of the Respondents, whether she would agree that the question between them should be decided by Scripture, she made an evasive reply; which at once decided the judgment of the Meeting.

QUARTERLY MEETING OF LONDON, &c. Third Mo. 25th 1801.

"The following notice of an Appeal to the ensuing Yearly Meeting was brought in and read.

To the Quarterly Meeting for London and Middlesex, to be held at Devonshire House :-Feeling the injury of which I complained to you greatly increased, instead of redressed, by the manner in which you have treated my appeal to your Meeting, 30th of 12th Mo. last, as contained in your Minute of the 9th of 1st Mo. delivered to me by your order, I hereby give notice of my intention of appealing against the same to the next Yearly Meeting.

'Bromley, Middlesex, 23d 3d Mo. 1801.'

'Hannah Barnard.'

"And the following Friends are appointed to attend the same on behalf of this Meeting, at the next Yearly Meeting, William Forster, William Dillwyn, Jos. Gurney Bevan, Frederick Smith, Sparks Moline, Richard Phillips."

YEARLY MEETING, 1st of 6th Mo. 1801. "The following Report, from the Committee appointed to hear and judge of Appeals, was brought in and read, and the further consideration thereof is referred to our next sitting, viz.

'We your Committee for hearing and judging of Appeals, have received and deliberately considered the Appeal of Hannah Barnard, of the State of New York in North America, against the Quarterly Meeting of London. and Middlesex, for confirming the conclusion of Devonshire House Monthly Meeting, which had united in the recommendation given to the said

Hannah Barnard to desist from travelling, and speaking as a minister; and advised her to return home: and this Committee having heard the said Appellant, together with the Respondents on behalf of the Quarterly Meeting, until both parties acknowledged that we have heard them fully and fairly, do report, that it appears to us that the said Hannah Barnard does not unite with our Society in its belief of the holy Scriptures, the truth of which in several important instances she does not acknowledge, particularly those parts of the Old Testament which assert, that the Almighty commanded the Israelites to make war upon other nations—and various parts of the New Testament relating to miracles, and the miraculous conception of Christ. We are therefore unanimously of the judgment, that the said Quarterly Meeting is fully justified in confirming the judgment of the Monthly Meeting of Devonshire House, and its advice to the said Hannah Barnard; and it further appears, that the proceedings of the said Monthly and Quarterly Meetings have been regular and orderly.

'Committee Room, Devonshire House, 1st of the 6th Mo. 1801. Signed by Rich. Dearman, H. Tuke, John Pryor, Francis Balkwill, Rob. Maddock, Samuel Rundell, Joseph Storrs, Philip D. Tuckett, John Grant, John Bateman, Geo. Jones, John Fletcher.'

[Adjourned and met again, same day.]

"The Report of the Committee on the Appeal of Hannah Barnard against the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex, having been read in the presence of the Appellant, and of the Respondents appointed on the part of the Quarterly Meeting; and the Appellant having expressed dissatisfaction with the said Report: this Meeting proceeded to read the Appeal, and to hear what further the said Hannah Barnard was disposed to offer, and also to hear the Respondents thereon. The Appellant and Respondents then withdrawing, this Meeting proceeded in further deliberation on the case, and is of the solid judgment, that the said Report ought to be confirmed; and this Meeting doth hereby accordingly confirm the

same.

"The clerk is directed to hand a copy of the above Minute and of the Report to the said Hannah Barnard, and it is also directed that a copy of each be sent to the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex.

"6th Mo. 2. This Meeting directs the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex, to take care that copies of the proceedings of the several Meetings, in the case of Hannah Barnard, be transmitted by the Monthly Meeting of Devonshire House, without delay, to the Monthly Meeting of Hudson in the State of New York."

From a letter written by Joseph Gurney Bevan to a Friend, on the occasion, I may adduce the following additional evidence of the disbelief of Hannah Barnard in the testimony of holy Scripture.

"There were only two points brought much into view at the Yearly Meeting the subject of the Jewish wars, and that of miracles. The discussion of these was interspersed with much altercation, respecting the mode of treatment which she had experienced-which doth not affect the main question. Her assertion was, that the Almighty never commanded one nation to make war upon another, nor ever commissioned one man to take

the life of another. [She said] that she did not consider an accordance of belief in what she called 'historic facts' necessary to salvation: that different constructions of the Scripture should not be taken for disbelief. In which she had the example [she thought] of Thos. Elwood, who had said in relating [in his Sacred History'] that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, or suffered it to be hardened.' That Robert Barclay had gone as far as she had, in questioning the infallibility of Scripture; that his works were lately recommended by the Society in the Summary:' that with respect to the miraculous conception, it had not been revealed to her! And that R. B. had allowed, that an historical faith in the account of Christ's birth, miracles, &c., was not an essential part of Christianity. She wished to sum up the whole business in her 'not seeming to agree' with Friends, in the particulars on which the appeal turned.

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"The Respondent for the Quarterly Meeting [I believe, J. G. B. himself] said that he did not apprehend it was necessary for him, before such an assembly, to argue for the authenticity of Scripture as a true record: but that, if the position of Hannah Barnard be admitted, a great part of it must be given up as utterly false! With regard to Moses, who wrote the account of the Jewish wars (and who often ushers in his narrative with the words 'And the Lord spake unto Moses') he is made-to say the best of him— a deceived deceiver. And yet Christ gives him the character of a true prophet, tells the Jews that their disbelief of the writings of Moses was the reason that they would not believe his words, asserts that one rising from the dead would not speak more convincingly than the writings of Moses: and (what is as much as the rest to the subject) he calls the law of Moses, enjoining death upon the curser of a parent, the word of God:' (See John v. 46, Luke xvi. 31, and Mark, vii. 10—13.

"He observed, the present was not a question of salvation, but of the propriety of Hannah Barnard's being considered a Christian minister; and that it was not a different construction' of Scripture that was her defect, but an absolute denial of a great part of it. He said that as she had wandered from Moses to Pharaoh, he would take the liberty of going as far as to Jonah. There was, he said, a Friend in the Meeting who, in a letter he had written to Hannah, had accused her of disbelieving the Scripture account of Jonah; whereas Christ treats it as truth, making it a type of his own interment, (Matt. xii. 40.) So that here was another instance of the discordance of Hannah with 'the lip of truth.'

"He denied that Barclay had contradicted the Scriptures: for that he had said in his Apology, 3rd Prop. that we consented to consider any thing that any should do, pretending to the Spirit and contradicting the testimony of Scripture, as a delusion. Such however was the case of Hannah Barnard. At the time that Barclay wrote, the Scriptures were idolized, and considered of themselves a complete rule: at this day, the city of truth is besieged in another quarter. It is true that Barclay said (in his Letter to Paets) that an historical faith and knowledge of the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, was not such an essential part of the Christian religion, as that it could not subsist without it: and this, the Respondent observed, was only consistent with what Barclay held