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revival,' he says, has undoubtedly commenced;' and he conceives it to be on that account 'the duty of those who, under other circumstances, might feel themselves compelled to resort to the painful alternative of secession, to be willing to go a little longer mourning on their way, in the hope that brighter days are opening upon them.'

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"The crisis is a most interesting one; for the future character, if not the existence of Quakerism as a sect, hangs upon the issue. Should the attempt be made to put down the appeal to scripture by Quaker tradition— to bar the inquiry into the truth of received doctrines by Quaker authority-we do not hesitate to predict that the decision will prove fatal to the Society. To the law and to the testimony.' Who is William Penn or. Robert Barclay ? Who is John Calvin or John Wesley? Who is Thomas Cranmer or John Owen? Have we been baptized into the name of any of these? What means the explicit command, Call no man your master ?' Nothing is clearer in our judgment, than that it absolutely forbids all such deference to human authority in matters of doctrine, as is implied by making articles of faith, or an agreement with received dogmas, the terms of communion.

"Sectarian divisions are the unavoidable result of a different construction of the rule of faith, in the present imperfect state of Christian knowledge; yet, good has resulted from what must be regarded as in itself an evil. And so long as the paramount authority of the same inspired rule is acknowledged, there not only exists a common bond and ground of union, but a

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reasonable prospect of mutual approximation, as the true construction of all that has been disputed or doubted comes to be ascertained. Of such an approx

imation to the unity of the faith on the part of Friends, the publications of Mr. Crewdson and Mr. Ball afford a most instructive and heart-cheering instance. And while Quakerism has itself undergone, and is undergoing, so beneficial a modification, in consequence of the diffusion of scriptural light, it is due to the Society to acknowledge, that other Christian denominations have, as Dr. Hancock remarks, drawn nearer to some of the distinguishing Quaker principles.

"We must conclude, then, that for any party to set aside an honest appeal to the scriptures, by referring to the authority of another rule as precluding all inquiry and discussion, is an offence against the Head of the church: that it is conduct in the worst sense sectarian and schismatical; that it tends to render approximation to Christian unity of sentiment impossible; that it is an attempt to impose upon at least a portion of the church of Christ, a yoke which the master has not imposed, and conditions which the gospel does not sanction. We regret to find that this is the way in which the evangelical testimony of Isaac Crewdson has been met. I hope,' says Dr. Hancock, he will never be so far self-deceived as to propose to himself such an unattainable object, as that of convincing the serious, weighty, and reflecting members of the Society, that they do not know their own doctrines, or that scripture is against them; and that for nearly two hundred years they have been supporting a weak and brittle testimony

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with the loss of life, and of liberty, and of property, in favour of principles which are now found to be delusive and pernicious errors!' Why every sect may adopt the same language. With equal propriety may the Church of England man resent the attempt to detect a flaw in the articles or ritual of his church; and the Papist may plead with still greater force, the antiquity of his creed, and boast of the martyrs of his church. May not the testimony borne by Friends have been scriptural on some points, and weak and brittle on those which Mr. Crewdson has exposed? Such is undoubtedly the fact. Dr. Hancock himself would not defend all the testimony' of the early Friends. William Penn grew wiser as he grew older: why should not his followers? The church at large has grown wiser; the opponents of the Quaker testimony have learned wisdom; the doctrine of divine influence is no longer ridiculed and denied by the soi-disant orthodox; and the sufferings of the Quakers in defence of the gospel liberty have not been in vain. Will, then, the Society of Friends, taking their stand upon their 'unalterable principles, refuse to take advantage of the general advance of religious knowledge, and proclaim their own incapacity of improvement or progress. But Quakerism has undergone most material and beneficial modifications; and all the talk about its 'unalterable principles' is an empty flourish."

The Reviewer, then gives some extracts from Dr. Hancock's "Defence," and says "We can add nothing to these instructive remarks, they express our own views most accurately and forcibly. Only let Dr.

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Hancock and his friends follow them out; and they will no longer resist and oppose that revival which the diffusion of scriptural light is producing in their Society. Isaac Crewdson has assuredly been taught as immediately by Christ, as was Fox or Penn; and his aim is not less simply than theirs, "to direct all to Christ.' He has set up a "beacon," which, we trust, will prevent pious inquirers from being led astray by the will-o'-thewisp of "inward light," or any other theory. We have hitherto extracted no specimen of the publication which has given rise to this controversy; and which consists of a refutation, from scripture, of the errors advanced and maintained by the followers of Elias Hicks, the American heresiarch. As an appropriate close to the present article, we shall extract the "Conclusion" of Mr. Crewdson's admirable work."

The Reviewer then quotes the whole of the concluding article in the Beacon.

ADVERTISEMENT.

"THE WHOLE CORRESPONDENCE between the COMMITTEE of the YEARLY MEETING of FRIENDS and ISAAG CREWDSON," also Reviews of the Beacon, from the Wesleyan, Scottish Congregational, Baptist, and London Congregational Magazines, the Christian Observer and the Eclectic Review, may be had bound up with the "BEACON," at the original price-2s. 6d. HAMILTON and Co. London, or through any Bookseller.

This volume will afford the reader a clear and concise view of the controversy now pending in the Society of Friends. "The whole Correspondence" will include the "Defence of the Beacon," also the "Remarks of the Committee upon the Defence," and the "Minute of the Monthly Meeting," suspending ISAAC CREWDSON as a Minister of the Gospel, for not stoping the circulation of the "Beacon," a work written against HICKSISM, one of the most subtle and pernicious heresies that has ever assailed the Christian Church.

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