ESSAY 
 
 OCIETY OF FRIENDS 
 
 AN INQUIKY INTO THE CAUSES 
 
 OF 
 
 HEIR DIMINISHED INFLUENCE AND NUMBERS, 
 
 fy JSuggwiicms for H 
 
 SAMUEL FOTHERGILL. 
 \\ 
 
 The Gospel is to be given to the world by human agency : when will it be 
 mplished ? It will be accomplished when those who have the Gospel do their 
 ; it might be done now the great failure has been in action." 
 
 PROFESSOR TAPPAN. 
 
 Return, Power of the Pentecost, return to thy people ! Shed down Thy flame 
 lany heads ! To us as to our fathers, and to those of the old time before them, 
 fulness of grace ! Without thee we can do nothing ; but, filled with the Holy 
 >t, the excellency of the power will be of Thee, God ! and not of us." 
 
 ARTHUR'S Tongue of Fire. 
 
 LONDON: 
 A. W. BENNETT, 5, BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT. 
 
 1859.
 
 LONDON: 
 
 FEINTED FOB A. W. BENNETT,' 
 BJSHOPSOATE WITHOUT.
 
 PEEF ACE, 
 
 IN presenting this Essay to the public, the writer feels that he is 
 only discharging a debt of gratitude that he owes to the Society of 
 Friends, for the many advantages and privileges which he has derived 
 from its valuable training, church fellowship, and eminently scriptural 
 and spiritual teaching. The offer of the prize was to him nothing 
 more than an incentive, in a definite form, to undertake that which 
 he had long desired to accomplish ; and the Essay was written with 
 the intention of bringing it before the public, whether it should gain 
 the prize or not. 
 
 That he will in some respects be misunderstood that oifence will 
 be given to many that passages will be found in the work which 
 seem to imply a spirit very different from that which dictated them, 
 the writer is prepared to expect. 
 
 If, however, the work be viewed as a whole, in the same spirit of 
 candour as that in which it was written, and judged of by its whole 
 scope and tendency, it is hoped that its perusal will prove suggestive 
 to the minds of those earnest well-wishers of the Society who see 
 that something is essentially wrong, and who are sincerely anxious 
 to have the cause discovered, that an efficient remedy may be 
 supplied. 
 
 The writer's leaning towards Wesley anism in some particulars 
 will, doubtless, prejudice some minds. The writer was conscious of
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 this from the first, and felt that, in some measure, it would lessen 
 the probability of gaining the prize. None, however, but those who 
 are very ignorant of the characteristic features of one or both of 
 these systems, would doubt, for a moment, where the chief sympathies 
 of the writer repose. Enough for this purpose has been said of the 
 superiority of the Friends in the pre-eminent spirituality of their 
 doctrines, their protest against the distinction between clergy and 
 laity their admirable and unequalled Church polity and discipline, 
 as distinguished from the arbitrary Conference system of the 
 Wesleyans, and their continued belief in what are called the sacra- 
 ments, as well as on the subject of war, oaths, &c. 
 
 There is much, nevertheless, for the Quakers to learn from the 
 Wesleyans. Different as the two systems seem from each other, they 
 have much more in common than a superficial acquaintance with 
 either would lead any one to imagine. Their views of the leading 
 doctrines of Christianity are to a great extent identical : both recog- 
 nize the necessity for the Holy Spirit's influence, though differing 
 as to the manner in which its aid is to be obtained. The Friends 
 have, perhaps, as much to learn with regard to the activity and 
 method to be employed in propagating the Gospel, as the Wesleyans 
 have to learn of the Friends as to the abolition of types and shadows, 
 and in relation to the true principle and mode of Church government 
 and discipline. 
 
 A long and careful observation of the modes in which truth 
 operates, the history of the Church in past ages, and the signs of the 
 times, convince the writer that the pressing want of our age is an 
 organization in which the magnificent doctrines and deep spirit-work 
 of the Friends, and their truly Christian mode of Church government, 
 shall be combined with a system of evangelization similar to that of 
 the Wesleyans, in which the office of the pastor shall be divested of
 
 PKEFACE. V 
 
 that priestly character that gives permanency to the distinction 
 between clergy and laity, and the systematic preaching of the gospel 
 and care of the members at all stages of their Christian progress, 
 shall secure the keeping of its views strongly before the members and 
 the world, and prevent that relapse into coldness, and indifference, 
 and worldly-mindedness, which now marks the Friends ; and at the 
 same time subdue those extravagances which, though rather an 
 accompaniment than an essential element of "Wesleyan labours and 
 Wesleyan success, have done so much to prejudice other and more 
 quiet-going believers against them. 
 
 There is one point which, in order to give efficiency to such an 
 organization, and, indeed, to enable any Church long to keep pace 
 with the spirit of the age, will have to be guarded with more care 
 than has ever yet been realized viz., the tendency of mankind to 
 moral slavery through the agency of stimulant and sedative drugs. 
 George Fox and John Wesley went further in that direction than 
 almost any other men in similar positions. The Friends' query 
 against the unnecessary frequenting of taverns and other public- 
 houses, excess in drinking, and other intemperance ; and Wesley's 
 still stronger and more direct protest against all dram-drinking and 
 dram-selling, and all indulgence in snuff and tobacco ; bear testimony 
 to their discernment and zeal in this respect. But with all their 
 care, both societies have suffered fearfully frorii this source of tempta- 
 tion. Henceforward no religious organization can afford to ignore 
 the intimate connexion between man's moral nature and the brain- 
 poisons. To meet the growing public sentiment on the subject, and 
 to keep pace with the results of past experiment, the conditions of 
 membership must be more rigidly defined in relation to these easily 
 besetting sins of civilized lands than anything the world has yet seen. 
 This topic has not been taken up in the body of the Essay, because
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 its influence is not peculiar to the Friends ; and other societies 
 equally exposed to it have grown both in numbers and influence, 
 while they have declined. 
 
 Mammon-worship, too, must have a more direct and systematic 
 antagonism ; and, in this way, history, philosophy, and experience, 
 going hand-in-hand with devotion, the light will be taken from under 
 the bushel, and again held up to the world with something of its 
 pristine freshness and purity a wave of reactionary influence will 
 flow through existing denominations, and awaken them into increasing 
 /eal and earnestness, and singleness of eye and purity of moral 
 standard and thus the grand work of the world's redemption will 
 be carried forward towards its glorious completion. To be permitted, 
 in however humble and limited a manner, to become a worker 
 together with God, though it be but to stand as a finger-post, and 
 point out to others the hidden danger, or the glorious path to pro- 
 gress, is the highest ambition of the writer in presenting this Essay 
 to the public ; and he now sends it forth with the earnest prayer 
 that, by the blessing of God, it may be a means of good to those 
 for whose especial consideration it was written, and, through them, 
 to the world at large. 
 
 SCAEBOEOUOH, 
 
 October 30th, 1859.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. Introductory 1 
 
 II. Authority and Tradition 10 
 
 III. The Bible and the Holy Spirit 16 
 
 IV. Immediate Leading of the Holy Spirit 26 
 
 V. Pouring out of the Spirit 29 
 
 VI. Extreme Views on the Pouring out of the Spirit 36 
 
 VII. Watching and Prayer 42 
 
 VIII. Silent "Waiting 52 
 
 IX. Singing 69 
 
 X. Preaching the Gospel , 63 
 
 XI. Ditto 74 
 
 XII. Ditto Wickliffe and Luther , 87 
 
 XIII. Payment of Ministers 100 
 
 XIV. A Model Pastor 106 
 
 XV. Teaching and Preaching , 119 
 
 XVI. Conversion an essential Prelude to the Ministry 1 38 
 
 XVII. Care of Individual Members , 146 
 
 XVIII. The Minor Peculiarities 151 
 
 XTX. The Spirit of the World 167 
 
 XX. Marriage Begulations and Birthright Membership -... 171 
 
 XXI. Support of the Poor 182 
 
 XXII. Conclusion ... 185
 
 ON 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTBODFCTORY. 
 
 " Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." 1 THESS. v. 21. 
 " Quicken me after thy loving-kindness ; so shall I keep the testimony of thy 
 mouth." Ps. cxix. 88. 
 
 THE announcement which has called forth the following pages is 
 made on the assumption that the Society of Friends has, during the 
 present century, been declining, both in numbers and influence. It 
 is not, therefore, necessary to enquire into the truthfulness of this 
 position; but, taking it as the basis of our enquiries, we shall 
 endeavour to show the causes of the supposed declension. That 
 such declension has actually taken place, however, there are few, 
 either of the friends or the foes of the Society, who will be found to 
 deny. The Friends themselves, so far from attempting to deny it, 
 endeavour to find consolation under the circumstances, in the belief 
 that the principles of the Society are more generally recognized by 
 persons of other religious denominations than they formerly were. 
 This is doubtless in some measure the case, though to a much more 
 
 B
 
 2 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 limited extent than many will be inclined to imagine ; or than would, 
 in all probability, have been the case, if the Friends, as a body, had 
 continued to maintain that prominent position amongst the various 
 religious denominations which, at one time, they did undoubtedly 
 occupy. 
 
 That the Society at one time bore a powerful testimony to the 
 world concerning " some of the errors to which it is most prone, and 
 some of the truths which are most necessary to it," we most cordially 
 believe ; and that their present comparative silence and inaction is a 
 serious loss to the world, a loss which nothing can supply but their 
 returning once more to life and activity, or the raising up of another 
 people, who, with more of faithfulness and of continuous zealous 
 labour, shall PROCLAIM their great distinguishing views to the world. 
 
 There must be something truly good, and great and noble, and 
 Christ-like, in Quakerism, to account for the high tone of morals, the 
 self-denying, God-honouring, martyr spirit of the early Friends, with 
 their readiness to bear one another's burdens, and their untiring zeal 
 for the bodily and spiritual welfare of the world at large. Such 
 results could never have followed from any other principle than the 
 self-sacrificing Spirit of Him that came to seek and to save that 
 which was lost. The germs of truth that could bind together such 
 an organization under circumstances so adverse, and in times when 
 the general religious feeling was so directly hostile, must have been 
 neither few nor unimportant. Throwing off all allegiance to the 
 Church of Eome and of England, clinging to no system of tradition 
 for their belief; but going at once to the Bible, they claimed for 
 every man that right of private judgment which, up to that time, had 
 scarcely been able to assert its prerogative, but which, notwithstand- 
 ing the labours and the sufferings of a "Wickliffe, a Bilney, a Baxter, 
 and a host of other martyr spirits, was, at the time when George 
 Fox and George Whitehead arose, in imminent danger of being as 
 effectually extinguished in England, as it had been, and remains to 
 be, in the greater part of Continental Europe. 
 
 Nor was the right of private judgment the only point in regard to 
 which they maintained a decided stand. Like the early reformers
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIEXDS. 3 
 
 they asserted that the true call to preach the Gospel comes from 
 Christ alone ; and with no other authority than that which the Holy 
 Spirit gave them, they went forth to preach. Everywhere appro- 
 priate results followed : open sinners were converted, cold formalists 
 were awakened and led to turn to God with full purpose of heart ; 
 at once the best proof that they really did possess the authority to 
 which they laid claim. As in the days of Wickliffe and Luther, 
 superstition, formalism, and an extremely low standard of morality 
 were fearfully prevalent, both among priests and people. They were 
 the rule, rather than the exception. Vice and immorality reared 
 their unblushing front under the highest sanctions; and religious 
 conviction and high integrity had become a snare and a source of 
 incessant suffering and danger to the possessor. The secular arm 
 was prostituted to the most depraved and violent proceedings under 
 the pretence of religious zeal ; the wicked bore rule, and the 
 righteous were oppressed for conscience' sake ; difficulties of a strictly 
 conscientious character being made by the persecuting magistrate a 
 sufficient excuse for handing over the most inoffensive and exemplary 
 characters, without the semblance of a trial, to the tender mercies of 
 brutal gaolers and ruffian prisoners, and the death-dealing atmo- 
 sphere of gaols, so foul and damp and cold as to be utterly unfit for 
 human abodes. Thousands were thus ruined in body and estate, 
 and many died in their hopeless bondage ; verifying remarkably the 
 language of the Prophet, " Judgment is turned away backward, and 
 justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity 
 cannot enter. Tea truth faileth, and he that DEPAETETH FEOM EVIL 
 
 MAKETH HIMSELF A PEET." 
 
 The influence exerted by the Friends at that time was greater than 
 that of any other religious body whatever. They stood in the same 
 relation to the Government and established religion of this country 
 that the Apostles and early believers did to the Scribes and Pharisees 
 and Chief Priests in the earliest days of the Church's history. At 
 that time nonconformity may be said to have owed very nearly all its 
 vigour and life and consistency to them ; for whatever faithfulness 
 others might show, and there were some noble examples, it is obvious 
 
 B 2
 
 4 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 that the nonconformists, as a class, were too time-serving in their 
 sentiments, and too intimately connected with the fearfully unstable 
 political affairs of the time, to admit of their exhibiting any con- 
 tinuous or steady light to the world. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the work of the Reformation was very 
 imperfectly effected in England; and that what was achieved by 
 Henry VIII. was rather a transference of unwarrantable human 
 authority in Divine affairs from one potentate to another, than a 
 change from a religion of superstition and formalism to one of life and 
 light and love. The following description of a degenerate Christianity 
 would apply as effectually to the greater part of the Anglican Church 
 two hundred years ago as it would do to the Church of Rome. " The 
 mere human period had succeeded to the creative and miraculous 
 period of the Church. After the extraordinary manifestations of the 
 Holy Ghost which had produced the Apostolic age, the Church had 
 been left to the inward power of the Comforter. But Christians did 
 not generally comprehend the spiritual life to which they were called. 
 God had been pleased to give them a divine religion, and this they 
 gradually assimilated more and more to the religions of human 
 origin. Instead of saying, in the spirit of the Gospel, The word of 
 God first, and through it the doctrine and the life, the doctrine and 
 through it the forms ; they said, Forms first, and salvation by these 
 forms. They ascribed to bishops a power which belongs to Holy 
 Scripture. Instead of ministers of the word they desired to have 
 priests ; instead of an inward sacrifice, a sacrifice on the altar ; and 
 costly temples instead of a living church. They began to seek in 
 men, in ceremonies, in holy places, what they could find only in the 
 word, and in the lively faith of the children of God. In this manner 
 evangelical religion gave place to Catholicism and by gradual degene- 
 racy in after years Catholicism gave birth to popery." * 
 
 That a vast amount of this formalism was retained in the Anglican 
 
 Church will probably be denied by none who have given the subject 
 
 an unbiased consideration ; abundant proofs of which may be seen 
 
 in the facility with which a certain party in the Establishment have, 
 
 * D'Aubigne, p. 24.
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. 5 
 
 under cover of the Prayer Book and its provisions, restored in the 
 bosom of the Anglican Church almost every feature of Eomanism. 
 Nor need this admixture excite our wonder, when it is remembered 
 that the principle on which the alteration was made was not to make 
 the system as pure as possible, but to rid it of its most obnoxious 
 features in such a manner as to do the least possible violence to 
 the prejudices of a people not half emancipated from the errors 
 of popery, while the persons to whom the important work was 
 entrusted grasped in a very imperfect manner the scope of those 
 glorious principles of spiritual life and light and liberty which were 
 then only dawning on the world. 
 
 It was this formalism without life, the somewhat modified remnants 
 of popery, that the Friends attacked : and as in every age and every 
 country there have always been a faithful few, who are willing to lose 
 their all rather than conform to the compulsory religion of the State, 
 so the early Friends, going about from place to place as true evan- 
 gelists, met with tender-spirited individuals everywhere, who were 
 ready at once to embrace and carry out the spiritual doctrines that 
 they inculcated and whom fines and imprisonment and premunire, 
 and even cruel deaths, would not compel to attend a worship in which 
 they did not believe, nor deter from frequenting the " conventicle," 
 forbidden as it was under the empty pretence of its being a meeting 
 for sedition and cabal. These labours and sufferings of the Friends 
 were to that age what those of Wickliffe and Luther were to their 
 respective times ; and inasmuch as the doctrines of the Friends were 
 eminently scriptural, and struck at the very root of those tendencies 
 and abuses from which the papal heresy springs, the service that 
 they rendered at that time cannot be easily over-rated. The avidity 
 with which, in many cases, their opinions were received ; the mar- 
 vellous transformations that they produced ; replacing the unwearied 
 turbulence of the political agitator, or the ferocity of the fighting 
 sailor, by the meek, forbearing, and forgiving spirit of the true dis- 
 ciple ; and the ready reception given to their simple views of ttie 
 Christian polity and the economy of the Church, even in those tur- 
 bulent and superstitious times, show that it is not to anything in the
 
 6 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 nature of their leading doctrines that we must expect to trace the 
 strange coolness and formality and worldliness which, in strong con- 
 trast with the ardour and self-renunciation of early days, now mark 
 the great bulk of the Society. 
 
 The Friends pride themselves much on being a " peculiar people," 
 but we fear that in so far as they are so now, the peculiarity is of 
 a very different character from that which is indicated by the Apostle, 
 or which marked their early days. It was not a peculiar mode of 
 dress, or address, or worship, to which he alluded; but to that 
 holiness of life, and that zeal for good works, which cannot fail to 
 make those peculiar who carry these great principles into daily 
 action. But the " peculiarities " for which the Friends now contend, 
 instead of promoting their Christian activity, have rather the effect 
 of shutting them out from opportunities for usefulness, and making 
 them zealous rather for the maintenance of certain peculiar views, 
 the exhibition of which to the world they now regard as the grand 
 object of their existence. With deep instruction the Friends might 
 reconsider the passage in which their favourite expression occurs ; 
 Titus ii. 14 : " "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
 from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, ZEALOUS 
 of GOOD WOEKS." In the next chapter (v. 8,) this important point 
 is urged again : " This is a faithful saying, and these things I will 
 that thou affirm CONSTANTLY, that they which have believed in God 
 
 be CABEFTJL to MAINTAIN GOOD WOBKS." 
 
 Such was emphatically the zeal of the early Friends, as the journals 
 of G-eorge Fox, George Whitehead, Thomas Elwood, and a host of 
 worthies, fully demonstrated. How little, alas ! do the quiet, steady- 
 going, money-making, or pleasure-seeking Quakers of the present 
 day, answer to this noble type of Christian manhood ! Not that they 
 are altogether indifferent to the great cause of God and of humanity. 
 All honour to them for their noble and disinterested labours in 
 connexion with the Anti-slavery cause, the Peace Society, and the 
 Bible Society ; and of many of them on behalf of the Temperance 
 movement, and other valuable philanthropic institutions. We know 
 that in almost every locality where the Friends are found, there are
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 7 
 
 two or three worthy members of the Society, who, stepping out from 
 the retirement of a century, take a prominent and exemplary part in 
 the social, political, and religious movements of the day. 
 
 But all this does not meet the case. The good work in which 
 every church should be chiefly zealous which pre-eminently calls 
 for its labours and its prayers, and quickens its zeal that most 
 important of all good works, the bringing of sinners to God by the 
 preaching of the Gospel, is not prosecuted with a zeal commensurate 
 with its importance, or with the early promise of the Society. It is, 
 we believe, to this point that the declension which is the subject of 
 the present enquiry must be traced. From causes into which we 
 shall have to examine hereafter, the preaching of the Gospel has, 
 comparatively speaking, almost ceased amongst the Friends; what 
 there is, is addressed almost exclusively to their own members, and 
 consists chiefly of exhortations, general remarks, or allusions to their 
 own peculiarities, rather than any direct and systematic unfolding of 
 the great truths of the Gospel. 
 
 However important their peculiarities may be, it cannot 
 expected that they will be appreciated by the worldly-minded or 
 the uninitiated. Once let men be firmly grounded on the Rock of 
 Ages, and they will listen with considerate attention to the views, on 
 minor points, of those who have been instrumental to their awaken- 
 ing. But with the Friends the order is reversed. Their quaint dress 
 and manners first of all prejudice the observer against them ; then 
 comes the incomprehensible silent meeting, and the absence of those 
 customary modes of worship which are discarded, not because, like 
 water baptism and the " Sacrament of the Supper," they interfere 
 with their eminently spiritual views, but because they are opposed to 
 the theory of silent waiting a theory which, to ordinary minds, is 
 quite unintelligible ; which, according to the confession of many of 
 the most spiritually-minded and! experienced of the Friends, it is very 
 difficult to profit by, and which, according to J. J. Gurney, is very 
 liable to abuse, by engendering a spirit of slothfulness and indif- 
 ference. Did the Friends show less anxiety to conserve their pecu- 
 liarities, technially so called, and more zeal in the work of bringing
 
 8 ESSAY Off THE 
 
 sinners to Christ, their life and vigour would proportionally increase, 
 and they might soon be again what they once were, a burning and a 
 shining light, in the midst of " a sinful and perverse generation," 
 " a city that is set on an hill," that " cannot be hid." As it is, their 
 peculiarities, their exclusiveness in all that pertains to religion, their 
 utter standing aloof from other zealous Christian communities, so far 
 as any co-opepation in the direct work of preaching the Gospel is 
 concerned, or any strictly religious intercourse, has the effect of 
 placing their light under a bushel ; from which arises the double 
 disadvantage that men are prevented from seeing the light, and that 
 the light itself, for want of air, is becoming more and more faint, 
 and seriously threatens to go out altogether. That the Friends are 
 conscious of this tendency is obvious ; and those who possess, in com- 
 bination, the greatest proportion of zeal and liberality, have, for some 
 time, been trying to probe the evil to the bottom, and, if possible, to 
 discover 'some remedy. 
 
 Amongst the endeavours recently made to supply past defi- 
 ciencies, may be mentioned the Sabbath-school movement, and the 
 meetings for reading the Scriptures that have been attempted in 
 various places. The well-wishers of society at large, and of the 
 cause of Christ, will hail these measures as steps in the right 
 direction ; but those who have most carefully studied the subject 
 will not fail to see that, conducted as they are, they too much par- 
 take of the prevailing weakness of the Society, a morbid dread of 
 instrumentalities, of interference with the headship of Christ ; which 
 prevents them from allowing any individual so decidedly to take the 
 lead, as to give the character and tone necessary to render such 
 occasions truly profitable. 
 
 "We may safely predict that, until the Friends so far overcome 
 their prejudices as to introduce the Bible into their public meetings 
 for Divine worship, appoint men to read and expound the sacred 
 volume, and acknowledge that as true praying and preaching, which, 
 though entered upon at a stated time, is, nevertheless, not done in 
 man's will, but under a sense of imperative duty, and which, though 
 not despising the aid of previous research and prayerful preparation,
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 9 
 
 still relies upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, both for the guidance of 
 the speaker and the opening of the hearts of the hearers ; no means 
 that they can devise will be sufficient to stay the deeply-seated 
 and rapidly-spreading lethargy and decay which have invaded their 
 borders, and under the influence of which their first works are for- 
 gotten, many slumber or are sick among them, many more seek 
 elsewhere, in systems embodying far less of true spiritual life, for 
 light and warmth, while those who are spiritual, in spite of the sur- 
 rounding deadness, are too much wedded to their fatal prejudices to 
 admit of their suspecting anything wrong in the system, inducing 
 them to attribute all the evil to want of individual faithfulness, or 
 some equally vague and intangible cause. 
 
 This presumption, that their views of Christian faith and practice 
 are perfect, and that all the defects and deficiencies, so generally 
 admitted and lamented, are to be attributed, not to any defect in the 
 system, but to want of faithfulness on the part of the members in 
 carrying them out, arrogant as it appears to all except themselves, is 
 eminently calculated to divert their attention from the true causes 
 of the evil. J. J. Gurney says that, the views of Friends " appear 
 to be rightly grounded \ on certain essential principles of the Divine 
 law, and to be adapted with singular exactness to the purity and 
 spirituality of the Gospel dispensation." Again he says that these 
 distinguishing doctrines, including that of " silent waiting," "are 
 all grounded on the great Christian law, that they who worship God 
 must worship him in spirit and in truth." These positions, then, 
 once taken for granted, the cause of failure must be sought for else- 
 where ; but in assuming these positions there is no allowance made 
 for the possibility that, however scriptural the law referred to may 
 be, the inferences founded upon it by the Friends may be unsound. 
 No believers in the Bible will dispute the law, but very few of all 
 the myriads that have lived and died in the faith will admit the 
 soundness of the fabric which the Friends have built upon it. Here 
 they have fallen into the error of all sectarians ; that is, of all who, 
 whether intentionally or not, attach a degree of importance to their 
 own peculiar views, which leads them often to manifest an equal, and
 
 10 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 sometimes even a greater, degree of anxiety as to the maintenance 
 of those peculiar views, than to the spread of the truth itself; thus 
 materially limiting their power and their disposition to do good, or to 
 co-operate with the zealous members of other denominations. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AUTHOBITY AND TBADITION. 
 
 " Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according 
 to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands ? He answered and 
 said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you and said, This people honoureth 
 me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit, in vain do they worship 
 me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." MARK vii. 57. 
 
 THEEE is much meaning in the expression " extremes meet," as 
 may be amply illustrated from the present and the past of the 
 Society of Friends. They began with vindicating the right of private 
 judgment and the religion of the Bible, in opposition to the tradi- 
 tions of men, and the authoritative opinions of the false teachers of 
 religion. But they have gone so far in setting aside the knowledge 
 and the experience of their fellow-men, and the authority of Scrip- 
 ture, that they have gradually drifted into a condition in which the 
 opinions of the members in general, are as effectually ruled by that 
 which has been laid down for them, and embodied in the present 
 practices of the Society, as Rome or England. And yet, when brought 
 to the test of argument, they repudiate that very form of tradition 
 by which they allow themselves to be influenced. It is an extremely 
 common reply to any suggestion as to any of the views of the 
 Friends being erroneous, " "We must not reason on such matters." 
 The early Friends, it is said, were raised up, and led by the Holy 
 Spirit, in their organization of the Society, and it is not for us to 
 reason upon that which has been laid down under this influence. 
 Every one who knows any thing of the present state of the Society 
 must be aware that this kind of reasoning has, to a very great extent,
 
 SOCIETY OF FUIENDS. 11 
 
 the effect of restraining private judgment, and inducing the members 
 to rest contented with a state of spiritual coldness and destitution 
 which, without this quiescent repose on the judgment of others, 
 would be all but impossible. 
 
 It was in this manner that the Jews made void the command of 
 God by their tradition. They superseded the written word by their 
 own explanations of that word. "The Scriptures, say they, are 
 water ; the traditions are wine." " The words of the Scribes are lovely 
 above the words of the law." " Some of the words of the law are 
 weighty, but the traditions are all weighty." The fourth command- 
 ment is to do no work on the Sabbath day. Tradition said if a loaf 
 were carried on that day by a single person he would be guilty ; but 
 if two persons carried it together, both were innocent. In the same 
 manner the Romanist asserts that the Pope is infallible, and places 
 the decrees of the Church above the individual judgment and con- 
 science ; arguing that believers in general cannot be safely left to 
 put their own construction on the Sacred Scripture. 
 
 We do not mean that the error into which the Friends have fallen 
 is so exclusively or fatally injurious as that of the Jews or the 
 Romanists. Nor is it altogether identical in character. With the 
 Friends it is intimately connected with their leading views as to the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit. This they originally preached as " a 
 light to lighten every man that cometh into the world ; " but now 
 they receive as its teachings those things which the early Friends 
 received, and no longer reserve to themselves the privilege of ex- 
 amining them afresh and discriminating between their own deduc- 
 tions and those already made for them. Their extreme fear of man's 
 instrumentality has thus, by inevitable reaction, brought about the 
 very evil that they sought to avoid ; at the same time that it has 
 induced them in a great measure to forego the use of those instru- 
 mentalities which are the most efficacious in the propagation of truth 
 and the correction of error, and which, in all ages of the Church, 
 have received the signal and uniform blessing of the Almighty the 
 simple preaching of the word, and the diffusion of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, with all the subordinate appliances arising out these, and 
 adapted to the varying exigencies of times and places.
 
 12 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 It is Quakerism, and nothing but Quakerism, that the Friends are 
 content to propagate. Not the Quakerism of George Fox, but a 
 quaint and stiff formalism, with external badges that conceal and 
 disguise the truth, and fearfully limit the power of its professors 
 to influence the world around them. It is as if the Bible Society, 
 instead of being anxious solely to disseminate the words of life, in 
 any kind of binding and type as should be best adapted to the 
 wants of the purchaser, should say, No! here is our edition, and 
 if you will not have it you shall have none. The Friends have 
 offered the pearl of great price, it is true; but then it has been 
 so wrapped round with the napkin of non-essential peculiarities 
 of dress, address, and modes of worship, that the glimpse which the 
 world has had of the pearl has served rather to excite a hopeless 
 admiration of something rich and rare, but inaccessible to the gene- 
 rality, than a hopeful desire of obtaining a share of the treasure. 
 Or as if they should persist in offering a coin which is not current : 
 the metal is good, but then it is coined into such quaint and fan- 
 tastic, and withal such inconvenient shapes, that the world refuses it ; 
 not only because of its inconvenience, but because of the increased 
 difficulty thus presented to the testing of its genuineness. They are, 
 however, so pre-eminently attached to this peculiar coinage of their 
 own, that rather than melt it down and coin it afresh, or rub off any 
 of its angles, they persist in either passing it as it is, or keeping it to 
 themselves. A double loss is thus sustained by themselves and by 
 the world : the withdrawal of all this precious metal from general 
 circulation is painfully felt, and will help to account for many of the 
 most alarming social symptoms of the present day ; while on them- 
 selves the effect is no less disastrous. As in all the affairs of life, 
 there can be no standing still, vigorous progression and increase, or 
 decay and diminution being the only alternatives ; so it is with the 
 Friends: they have ceased to progress, they are rapidly declining, 
 and the time appears to be approaching, when, if they do not return 
 to their first works, the great Master will come and say, " Take from 
 him the talent, and give it to him that hath ten talents." 
 
 General as is the kind of sentiment to which we have adverted 
 above, and injurious as it has been to the best interests of the
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 13 
 
 Society, there are those, who, however they may have been uncon- 
 sciously brought under the spell, advocate a free and independent 
 exercise of private judgment. Well would it have been for the 
 Society and for the world, if the following sentiment of J. J. Gurney 
 had been more extensively acted upon. He calls attention to two 
 rules laid down by the Apostle : 1, Let no man judge another man's 
 servant ; 2, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind ; in 
 order to which, he adds, it is plainly necessary for us to " prove all 
 things." " On this ground," he proceeds, " it will not be disputed 
 by persons of good sense, candour and liberality, that it is generally 
 very desirable for Christians who are arrived at sound years of 
 discretion, to prove those peculiar religious principles in which they 
 have been educated, to examine the foundation on which they rest, 
 to try them by the test of SCBIPTUBE and EXPEEIENCE, and more 
 especially with all humility and devotion of heart to seek the counsel 
 of God respecting them." Well would it have been for the Society 
 and for the world, if such truly sound and Christian sentiments had 
 been generally entertained and acted upon by the Friends. That 
 this has not been the case, however, is too notorious to all who are 
 acquainted with the workings of the Society. J. J. Gurney himself 
 was extensively blamed by the orthodox for this very liberality ; and 
 it cannot be denied that, to a very considerable extent, the dispo- 
 sition to refer all questions to the authority of the Church, and to 
 expect conformity on the ground of that authority, takes the place of 
 that private judgment of which J. J. G. invites and encourages the 
 exercise. 
 
 " This careful and devout examination," he goes on, " might, in 
 various instances, lead to the discarding of views and practices which 
 are useless and irrelevant, and which have no favourable influence in 
 promoting the cause of vital and practical religion." This sentence 
 ought to be inscribed in letters of gold over every meeting-house of 
 the Friends ; indicating as it does a proper and modest consciousness 
 of the possibility that, in some points, our favourite system may be 
 wrong an admission which, too generally, has given place to the 
 opinion that the Friends are right, and that all beside are wrong;
 
 14 ESSA.Y ON THE 
 
 and that any one who ventures to examine and decide for himself, 
 and act upon his convictions, must, of necessity, be wandering from 
 the truth ; unless, indeed, the process end in his remaining, in every 
 respect, a Quaker still. But let the admission contained in this 
 golden sentence of J. J. Gurney be really entertained in the mind, 
 and it will give a wholesome liberality to opinion, render necessary 
 changes possible without endangering the welfare of the Church, and 
 reconcile many of the most earnest members to the slow and gradual 
 process of healthy reform, which, in the present state of feeling, they 
 are compelled to regard as impossible under which impression they 
 abandon the Society, and seek, elsewhere, it may be in an atmo- 
 sphere in many respects much less congenial, an opportunity to 
 breathe more freely, and to exercise those gifts that may have been 
 entrusted to them. 
 
 But if this principle be adopted in sincerity, and if the investi- 
 gator be prepared, as J. J. Gurney suggests, in the event of his 
 investigation convincing him that the system is good, to " hold fast 
 that which is good," he must, injustice to his convictions, and to the 
 great object in view, be prepared not only to discard in sentiment, 
 but to seek the removal of, that which, on mature and prayerful 
 deliberation, he finds to be useless and irrelevant, and unfitted to 
 "promote the cause of vital and practical religion." 
 
 The necessity of being prepared for this alternative will be obvious, 
 if it be considered that everything which is not essential or truly 
 useful becomes a positive hindrance. It occupies time and atten- 
 tion that ought to be otherwise employed ; it leads to the placing of 
 confidence in that which is useless, to the exclusion of that which is 
 useful; it oflfends the good sense of those who see through it, and 
 prejudices the more intelligent and conscientious against the whole 
 system of which it is maintained to be an important or an essential 
 part. Such is the tendency of the human mind, that, in every com- 
 munity there will always be found some to exaggerate without bounds, 
 the importance to be attached to the non-essential and indifferent 
 features of their several systems ; confounding them with things that 
 are really essential or valuable, in such a manner as to confuse the
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 15 
 
 moral sentiment of numbers, and lead to an extensive disregard of the 
 truly excellent and even essential features of the system. To raise 
 non-essential peculiarities to the level of essentials, is, in effect, to 
 degrade essentials to the level of non-essentials ; leading those who 
 cannot accept the one, either to reject both, or to seek a position in 
 which the one may be entertained without the necessity of adhering 
 to the other. 
 
 In the minds of all genuine sectarians and there are such in every 
 community the sect itself is identical with Christianity. Thus with 
 the orthodox Quaker, Quakerism is Christianity, and Christianity is 
 Quakerism, and neither more nor less. Hence the straight collar 
 and the peculiar bonnet come to have an importance attached to them 
 which places them on a level with justification by faith, the influence 
 of the Spirit, the unlawfulness of oaths and of war. The whole system 
 is a " chain" which may be as effectually broken " by the lapse of one 
 of its smallest as of its largest links." 
 
 It is satisfactory to know that during the last few years a con- 
 siderable reaction has taken place in certain directions, and many, 
 very many, of the most earnest of the Friends, especially amongst 
 the younger members, are painfully feeling the necessity for some 
 change to avert the recent tendency to annihilation, and to supplj 
 the keenly felt want of more spiritual care and instruction throughout 
 their borders. A disposition to examine has thus been awakened, 
 similar to that embodied in J. J. Gurney's golden maxim ; and it is 
 in that spirit that we propose to pursue the present enquiry, expect- 
 ing to find something to condemn, and much, very much, to approve ; 
 something which is useless and irrelevant, and therefore to be dis- 
 carded ; something the removal of which would, like taking away 
 the dross and the tin from the silver, prove an inestimable advantage ; 
 or like the removal of a rotten timber from the side of a noble and 
 seaworthy ship, to replace it by sound heart of oak, that she may 
 plough the waves once more, and prove a harbinger of peace and joy 
 to thousands of sin-tossed wanderers on the ocean of life a fold for 
 the lambs of the great Shepherd a nursery for the recruits of that 
 great army in earth and heaven, the children of the kingdom,
 
 16 ESSAY ON TIIE 
 
 soldiers of the cross, whose weapons are " not carnal, but mighty 
 through God to the pulling down of strongholds." That the strictures 
 about to be made in the following pages may be viewed in this light ; 
 that they may be received as they are made, in the earnest desire that 
 light may be thrown upon the subject, with a view to the discovery 
 and removal of that which now dims the lustre and obstructs the 
 usefulness of a very important section of the Church of Christ on 
 earth, is the sincere prayer of the writer. " Faithful are the wounds 
 of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE BIBLE AND THE HOLT SPIEIT. 
 
 " Oh may these heavenly pages be 
 
 My ever dear delight ! 
 And still new beauties may I see, 
 And still increasing light ! 
 
 " Divine Instructor, gracious Lord ! 
 
 Be thou for ever near ; 
 Teach me to love thy sacred word, 
 And view my Saviour there ! " 
 
 STEELE. 
 
 PROTESTANT Christians in general have agreed in recognizing the 
 Bible as the only rule of faith and practice. The Friends, however, 
 in their zeal for the Holy Spirit, have diligently controverted this 
 view ; maintaining that the Holy Spirit, which gave forth those divine 
 truths, must be superior to the Scriptures themselves, and that 
 therefore the Holy Scriptures are not to be regarded as " the ade- 
 quate primary rule of faith and manners," but that they are to be 
 " esteemed a secondary rule, subordinate to the Spirit." * It is, we 
 believe, in connexion with the distinction here drawn, that we shall 
 
 * Barclay's Apology, p. 3.
 
 8OCIETT OF FRIENDS. 
 
 17 
 
 find the germ of that injurious influence which has gradually diffused 
 itself through the whole framework of the Society, and eventually 
 brought about the supineness and declension which we now have to 
 deplore. Robert Barclay's lengthy and elaborate argument, founded 
 on this proposition, is all employed to prove what no one is disposed 
 to dispute. He takes the expression in a sense that Wycliffe and 
 Luther, and Christians in general, never intended, when pleading for 
 the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice. The early reformers 
 pleaded for the Bible and the right of private judgment ; not against 
 the Holy Spirit, but against monkish tradition, and a form of belief 
 imposed by the authority of one man, or one church, upon the rest of 
 the world. But this very private judgment includes that for which 
 Barclay contends ; and he himself quotes numerous passages from 
 Calvin, the French Churches, the Synod of Dort, and the "Westminster 
 divines, to show that they all acknowledge the need of the Spirit to 
 confirm the teachings of the written word, and to seal its truths upon 
 the heart. But he goes further than this, and maintains that every 
 person in whom the Spirit dwells, is in a position to pronounce 
 authoritatively on the authenticity or correctness of any portion of 
 Scripture. Here he confounds the Holy Spirit itself with man's 
 deductions, and runs into an extreme which has led, in process of 
 time, to a depreciation of the value of Holy Scripture, which we cannot 
 but regard as one principal cause of the Society's degeneracy. 
 
 This doctrine, which has recently been revived in a new form in 
 Germany, and is now, with stealthy pace, insinuating itself into the 
 literature and even the pulpits of this country, tends as effectually 
 to supersede the true office of the Holy Spirit, and place man at the 
 mercy of the crude imaginings of his own unregenerate and carna 1 
 mind, as the extreme which the Friends are so anxious to avoid. 
 To illustrate his meaning, Barclay brings forward the exhortation, 
 " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ;" and asks, " What 
 Scripture rule can assure me that I have the true faith ? " He gives 
 two syllogisms to show that it cannot be proved from Scripture. 
 They are as follows : 
 
 " I find this proposition in the Scripture, 
 
 c
 
 18 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 " He that believes shall be saved. Thence I draw the assumption 
 " But I Eobert believe ; 
 " Therefore I shall be saved. Again: 
 
 " He that hath the true and certain marks of faith hath the true 
 faith. 
 
 " But I have those marks ; 
 " Therefore I have the true faith." 
 
 He objects to these conclusions, because, as he says, " in both the 
 minor is of my own making, not expressed in Scripture, and so a 
 human conclusion, not a Divine position; so that my faith and 
 assurance here is not built upon a Scripture proposition, but on a 
 human principle, which, unless I be sure of elsewhere, the Scriptures 
 give me no certainty of the matter." 
 
 Let us see how this mode of reasoning will apply to the leading 
 proposition of the Friends, on which their whole system of prayer 
 and preaching is founded. They assert that the aid of the Holy 
 Spirit cannot be depended upon at any given time, and that we 
 cannot even ask for its aid until moved to the act by its special 
 impulse, and that therefore the only acceptable mode of conducting 
 God's worship is to sit down in silence, and wait till the impulse 
 comes. Is this, we would ask, supported by any single Scripture 
 declaration ; or is it a merely human conclusion ? The Friends will 
 say, neither the one nor the other, but something that the Holy 
 Spirit taught the early Friends. But there is just the same room to 
 question this declaration as to doubt the minor member of the syllo- 
 gism. The one is a human conclusion as much as the other ; and we 
 shall hope to prove that that which asserts the necessity of silent 
 waiting is not sanctioned in Scripture, but that it is one of those 
 human conclusions from Scripture, to the authority of which Barclay 
 so reasonably objects. 
 
 It is not, as we have already observed, in opposition to the Holy 
 Spirit, but to the traditions and ordinances of men, that the Bible is 
 spoken of as the only rule of faith and practice. Thus Columba 
 maintained that it was the Holy Ghost, and not the forms of a 
 corrupt church, that made a servant of God. "The Holy Scrip-
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIF.XDS. 19 
 
 tures," said he, "are the only rule of faith. Throw aside all merit of 
 works, and look for salvation to the grace of God alone. Beware of 
 a religion which consists of outward observances ; it is better to keep 
 jour heart pure before God, than to abstain from meats. One alone 
 is your head, Jesus Christ." * Here is the Holy Ghost recognized, 
 the headship of Christ asserted, forms are repudiated. How like 
 the Friends themselves in all but the one expression, " the Scriptures 
 are the only rule ;" and surely the Friends would admit this too, 
 as opposed to the dogmas of a corrupt and formal Church. Again, 
 Wickliffe : " The canon law has no force when it is opposed to the 
 word of God." f The Friends themselves acknowledge the authority 
 of Scripture in this sense. Barclay says : " We do look upon them 
 as the ONLY fit outward judge of controversies among Christians, and 
 that whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their testimony may there- 
 fore be justly rejected as false ; and for our parts we are very willing 
 that all our doctrines and practices be tried by them as the judge and 
 test." Mark the inconsistency of this with what has gone before, 
 and the looseness of the language. He speaks of the Scriptures as 
 the only judge, and again the " judge and test ;" and yet he objects 
 to their being regarded as the highest rule and touchstone. As he 
 deprives the Holy Spirit of the attribute of personality by calling it 
 the rule, so he makes the Scripture personal by calling it a "judge." 
 The confusion of terms in connexion with this subject, with its conse- 
 quent confusion of ideas, does not stop here. In J. J. Gurney's 
 work the following remarkable expression occurs : " Obedience to the 
 dictates of the Spirit in the soul is the main rule of life." Robert 
 Barclay says the Spirit is the primary rule; J. J. Gurney says that 
 "obedience" is the rule. Let us for once adopt the syllogistic 
 method of which Barclay is so fond. 
 
 According to Barclay, the Holy Spirit is the rule ; but according 
 to J. J. Gurney, obedience is the rule ; therefore obedience is the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 We will not press home the conclusion, quod est absurdum ; the 
 Friends have appreciated the true character and influence of the Holy 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 c2
 
 20 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 Spirit to an extent attained, perhaps,by no other Christian community ; 
 and it is deeply to be regretted that a laxity of language, such as we 
 have just pointed out, should have been allowed a place in their 
 writings ; the effect of which has been seriously to mar their good 
 work, undesignedly to rob the Bible of its proper importance, and its 
 proper place in their assemblies for public worship, and to inaugurate 
 that systen of expectant silence, under which the organism seems 
 likely to perish from sheer inanition. 
 
 In the third proposition itself, the language of Barclay is equally 
 loose. He first calls the Holy Spirit " the first and principal leader," 
 and then calls the same Spirit the KTJLE : as if the intelligent being 
 who gives the rule and applies it, and becomes to those who follow 
 him a LEADEB, could, at the same time, be the rule itself. The error 
 of the Friends appears to consist in confounding the rule with the 
 authority from which the rule proceeds. It is no more proper to 
 speak of the Holy Spirit as a rule or law, than to speak of the king 
 or the lawmakers of a country as the law of that country. There are 
 many, doubtless, who regard the Bible as the " word" and the law 
 in an improper sense. Christ is the "Word, and the law of God 
 includes his will in reference to all things, whether in heaven or 
 earth. But his written word contains the account of that portion of 
 his will which applies to man, and the knowledge of which is necessary 
 for his salvation. The written word is, as the Friends maintain, 
 powerless for good, except as it is brought home by the Spirit through 
 an enlightened understanding to an awakened heart; but, accom- 
 panied as it always will be by the Holy Spirit, according to the 
 promise of Christ, it is able to make wise unto salvation ; and it is, 
 to all intents and purposes, the sole rule of faith and practice. As 
 the declaration of Columba quoted above clearly shows, it is not as 
 opposed to, or distinct from, the Holy Spirit, but in harmony with 
 Him as the great teacher, that this declaration is designed. Accord- 
 ingly, the Bible with private judgment has ever been, and must 
 forever remain to be, the grand instrumentality on the one hand, 
 and security on the other, for that diffusion of spiritual light and truth 
 on which, under God, the salvation of the world depends. " If any
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 21 
 
 man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not : for I came not 
 to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, 
 and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him : the WORD 
 that I have SPOKEN, the same shall judge him at the last day." John 
 xii. 47, 48. The office of the Comforter was to bring all things to the 
 remembrance of the disciples, whatsoever Christ had said unto them. 
 " The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." 
 The inconsistency of Barclay, in his attempt to exalt the Spirit at 
 the expense of the Scriptures, is apparent from the fact, that his whole 
 argument to prove the Scriptures unnecessary as a rule of faith and 
 conduct,* is, from first to last, grounded upon and sustained by 
 quotations from those very Scriptures. While he hints that it is not 
 " by means of such and such writings or books that God will convey 
 such and such words" into the mouths of his people, he takes those 
 very words of Scripture into his mouth in order to prove his position ; 
 and instead of giving forth any of the oracular utterances that he 
 says the Lord has promised to put into the mouths of all his children 
 in this new dispensation, his whole treatise is an argument, and 
 nothing more, based on those very Scriptures that he is labouring to 
 prove, even as a means, unnecessary. Had the early Friends arrived 
 at their knowledge of the spiritual character of true religion, and of 
 the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, without 
 any knowledge whatever of the Bible and its contents, then might 
 Barclay have claimed for the Spirit's teaching what he has claimed. 
 Let us not be misunderstood. "We do not dispute the power of the 
 Almighty thus to communicate th^se truths to individuals and to 
 communities ; but we do dispute the conclusion that, having been 
 deposited and handed down to us in the Bible, they are likely ever 
 again to be communicated, except through its instrumentality. The 
 history of untold millions of the human family who, since the com- 
 mencement of the present dispensation, have lived and died in the 
 grossest heathen darkness, proves our position; and the fact that 
 
 * " Apology," pp. 78, 79 ; where he speaks of such as are under the new covenant 
 needing no man to teach them to whom the teachings of Scripture, though not 
 necessary, are, nevertheless, " very comfortable and profitable."
 
 22 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 those who know most of God and spiritual things are those who 
 most prize and study the Bible, and act out its teachings, amply 
 confirms it. Where the Bible is not, there vice and immorality, 
 superstition, idolatry and atheism, barbarism and ignorance, reigu 
 triumphant. "Where the Bible is, and is prized as it ought to be, 
 there religion, morality, order, intellectual social and political 
 progress, prevail ; and there the Holy Spirit, whose light is not 
 comprehended amid the darkness of paganism, is most recognized, 
 and sought as a Guide and Comforter. The Bible is God's 
 appointed means for turning men's attention to that very influence 
 of the Holy Spirit which, as Barclay justly contends, is essential to 
 bring us to God, to convert the soul, and give us a living interest in 
 Christ, the sinner's friend. But it is the Gospel which comes first, 
 not the Spirit, (as Barclay has it, p. 79,) bringing to light spiritual 
 life and immortality ; and then the Holy Ghost the Comforter is sent 
 to seal the truth upon the heart, and lead the willing disciple into 
 all truth. 
 
 If Barclay's theory were correct, then every saint would be equally 
 competent to write with the authority of the " holy men of old," who 
 " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." He seems to lose 
 sight of the fact that those utterances having been once made, by the 
 very few out of all the millions that have lived and died, whose 
 writings we are accustomed to regard as inspired, there is neither 
 the occasion nor the motive to communicate those truths afresh, in 
 the same supernatural manner, to every soul of man. But having 
 been recorded for our instruction, the reading of them conveys to 
 our minds just the amount and kind of information which is necessary 
 to enable the " darkness" of our naturally sin-polluted hearts and 
 clouded understandings to comprehend that light which otherwise 
 might continue to shine there all in vain. 
 
 Barclay goes so far as to say that there is no reason why new- 
 books should not be added to the Bible, seeing that the same Spirit 
 is still given. We grant that there is no limit to the power of God ; 
 but we maintain that such a manifestation of that power is eminently 
 improbable, and as such it is treated by the whole of the Christian
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 23 
 
 world, not excepting the Friends themselves a thing not by any 
 means to be expected. The same argument would apply to the signs 
 which in early times were to follow them that believed working of 
 miracles, treading on serpents, immunity from the effect of poison. 
 Any one, however, who should now put forth a claim to such powers, 
 would at once be regarded as either a lunatic or an impostor. 
 
 A considerable share of the misunderstanding of the Friends, and 
 consequent misdirection or suspension of effort, has arisen fro*m the 
 sentiment indicated in the following sentence from the work of Elisha 
 Bates : " It has been supposed by some that the Scriptures are the 
 only rule of faith and practice ; and, constructively, that without a 
 knowledge of them salvation is not possible." A long argument is 
 devoted to the question, in order to show that salvation is possible 
 without the knowledge of the truths revealed in the Scripture. But 
 this is not the question at issue between the Friends and enlightened 
 Christians generally. The question is not whether men may be saved 
 without this knowledge ; but whether after revealing his will in the 
 Scriptures, as it has never been elsewhere revealed to man, giving 
 to those Scriptures an authority and an influence never possessed by 
 any other instrumentality, and commanding his disciples to preach 
 those truths to all nations we are entitled to expect that the Holy 
 Spirit will do, without their instrumentality, that which is constantly 
 being done by means of them, and which we never see done without 
 them. If the views of the Friends are correct, there is nothing to 
 prevent the most depraved of heathen nations from rising to all the 
 light and purity and knowledge found among the best portions of 
 those countries where the Bible is known. But such a result never* 
 has been witnessed ; and there is nothing in nature or revelation to 
 warrant the expectation that it ever will be ; whereas, in thousands 
 of instances, the simple introduction and pressing home of Bible truth 
 has been the occasion of the entire renovation of individuals, and 
 sometimes of whole communities ; securing exemption from the con- 
 demnation of sin, freedom from its dominion, and a subsequent 
 expansion of all the powers of the soul, and development of all that 
 is good and great in man. The gospel is the power of God unto
 
 24 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 salvation ; but the gospel is not the Holy Spirit : it is the message of 
 reconciliation which the Father sent by his Son Jesus Christ to a 
 guilty world ; the record of this message is in the New Testament ; 
 and it is by means of this gospel, or Grod's message, or glad tidings, 
 that life and immortality are brought to light. 
 
 Elisha Bates shows that he is not unconscious of the weak point 
 in the views of the Friends ; for he adds, " I am aware that it is 
 possible not to distinguish between that which is possible and that 
 which is useful ; and consequently not to ascribe to that which is not 
 indispensable its due weight and importance." He then goes on 
 to show that the Friends have always maintained the utility of the 
 Scriptures, and quotes passages from the " Book of Extracts" to 
 prove this. But the unprejudiced reader will not fail to be struck 
 with the cautious reserve with which this award of utility is con- 
 ceded. Thus, in 1728 we have the expression, " that most excellent 
 book the Bible ;" and in 1720 it is recommended to search the Holy 
 Scriptures diligently, with due regard to the Holy Spirit from whence 
 they came ; " for they contain excellent doctrines, rules and precepts, 
 divine and moral" If this is not to " damn with faint praise," we do 
 not know the meaning of the expression ; for this is what might be 
 said of hundreds of good books, which lay no claim to that superiority 
 to which the acknowledged inspiration of the Holy Scriptures entitles 
 them. In other passages, however, the Friends concede much more 
 than they have acted out, with reference to the authority of the 
 Scriptures. In an advice from the Yearly Meeting of 1815, the fol- 
 lowing occurs: " Steadily direct your minds to Him who alone can 
 open and apply the Scriptures to our spiritual benefit." In 1728 the 
 Scriptures are described as " THE EXTEBNAL MEANS of conveying and 
 preserving to us an account of the things most surely to le believed 
 concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fulfilling of 
 the prophecies relating thereto." These are concessions in the face 
 of which the pertinacious refusal to acknowledge the Holy Scriptures 
 as the only rule of faith and conduct, in the sense usually understood 
 by enlightened Christians, cannot be too deeply regretted. They 
 have made a distinction where there is no difference, and on this
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 23 
 
 distinction they have founded an elaborate system of ministry and 
 worship, whose failure is now patent to the world. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that when the Saviour of the world was 
 tempted of the Devil, he replied to each suggestion of the enemy 
 from that which was written ; nor can we conceive how any part of 
 God's will can assume the character of a rule universally binding to 
 the end of time, which is not presented in such a permanent and 
 unchangeable form that, however individuals may misapply it, it still 
 remains the same, shedding the same clear light from one generation 
 to another. The argument of Barclay, that because the Bible does 
 not contain the special directions necessary for each individual in the 
 minute details of his everyday duty, it cannot therefore be regarded 
 as the sole rule, is almost too trifling to deserve serious notice. The 
 idea of a rule or law applying itself only requires to be mentioned in 
 order to show its absurdity ; and yet Barclay devotes a serious and 
 somewhat lengthy argument to the occasion ; and has, by the con- 
 founding of things that differ, involved the views of the Friends in 
 an obscurity and an inconsistency which has most materially influ- 
 enced their doctrines and their practices. It is to this point, we 
 firmly believe, that we must recur, in order to discover that element 
 of fundamental weakness which from the first has been incorporated 
 in the Society which has gradually paralyzed its activity, diminished 
 its usefulness, and brought about that state of things which it is the 
 object of the present inquiry to trace to its true causes. In the 
 following chapters, we shall have to pursue the operation of the 
 principle now under consideration, in the various arrangements and 
 workings of the Society.
 
 26 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IMMEDIATE TEACHING OF THE HOLT SPIEIT. 
 
 Holy Spirit, gracious Lord, 
 
 To us draw nigh, 
 And to each true heart afford 
 
 Thy ministry : 
 Fill us with abounding grace, 
 
 Strength and wisdom from above, 
 And in each dark dwelling-place 
 Kindle thou the flame of love. 
 
 LUTHER. 
 
 THE perceptible influence of the Holy Spirit is a principle which 
 the Friends have done well to maintain ; and though now acknow- 
 ledged to a much greater extent in the world at large than it was in 
 the early days of Quakerism, still it is by no means appreciated as it 
 ought to be, in the Church, or in the world. In fact, their testimony 
 on this important subject is as much needed now as ever it was. It 
 is the more to be regretted, on this very account, that they can rest 
 satisfied with their present state of silence and inaction, and that 
 they do not seek to modify their system so far as to secure the free 
 and regular unfolding of their views, to their own members and to 
 the world. Their light has become dim, and there must be a cause 
 for it. If their theory on this subject had been all that it professes 
 to be, and that they once thought it was, it should have gone on 
 increasing steadily in its influence and its acceptance with the world. 
 The weak point, whatever it is, cannot be on the part of the great 
 Master who raised them up, and "thrust them out;" nor of the 
 Holy Spirit, the Guide, the Comforter, who is pledged to abide with 
 his people for ever ; nor of the Book of books, for that is able as ever 
 to make wise unto salvation. In short, the failure must be in that 
 part of the fabric which man has constructed. Individual unfaith- 
 fulness, the favourite outcry of the Friends though, alas ! too com- 
 mon will not explain the state of things. That unfaithfulness itself
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIEXDS. 27 
 
 must have an adequate cause. If the fountain has been poisoned, the 
 stream cannot be pure : if the leading ideas are confused, the teaching 
 will partake of that confusion, and the practice will correspond with 
 the teaching ; nor, we are assured, can any attempt to remedy the 
 condition of the Friends ever produce more than a very partial effect, 
 until this cardinal error is rectified. Modified as the views of Barclay 
 appear when presented in the mild and persuasive style of J. J. 
 Gurney, their leading characteristics remain the same. "We have 
 already seen the confusion of terms into which he falls when he 
 speaks of obedience as the rule ; and the same want of perspicuity 
 will be found in his treatment of the subject of the present chapter. 
 In following out the subject of the immediate teachings of the 
 Holy Spirit, we find him attributing to it the following particulars : 
 
 1. The necessity for man's humiliation and Christ's exaltation. 
 
 2. The necessity for daily self-denial and taking up the cross. 
 
 3. The deadness and darkness that result from grieving the Spirit. 
 
 4. The application of the truths of Scripture to the particular 
 circumstances of the believer. 
 
 5. The necessity for an exact, comprehensive, and unmixed 
 obedience to the will of God. 
 
 Now it must be obvious to the unprejudiced mind, that four out of 
 the five kinds of teaching here attributed to the immediate influence of 
 the Spirit, are doctrines of the Holy Scripture ; some of which, though 
 feebly felt after by a few of the most enlightened heathens, and 
 somewhat more fully recognized by the chosen people of God, were 
 never distinctly known or recognized by men in general until the 
 words of Christ, recorded in the New Testament, gave them a dis- 
 tinctness and an authority which have since been felt and recognized 
 by millions ; and which, so long as the Holy Scriptures are devoutly 
 read, will continue to be recognized till the end of time. Does J. J. 
 Gurney wish us to understand that the knowledge of the necessity 
 for man's humiliation and Christ's exaltation is ever arrived at 
 independently of Bible truth ? The fourth particular is the only one 
 in which the immediate guidance of the Spirit can be expected, 
 independently of Scripture truth ; and, even in that respect, the divine
 
 28 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 will with regard to the line of conduct to be pursued by any individual 
 is more frequently communicated in connexion with Scripture than 
 in any other way. 
 
 Jesus Christ promised that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, should 
 come, to call to the remembrance of the disciples whatsoever He had 
 said unto them, and to make clear to their apprehension all those 
 things that they were not able to bear in that early stage of their 
 discipleship. The North American Indians worshipped the Great 
 Spirit, and recognized his voice speaking in their hearts ; but it was 
 in a very imperfect manner, and never so as to teach them the great 
 truths that J. J. G. attributes to its teaching, independently of 
 means. 
 
 The true office of the Holy Spirit, then, it would appear, is that of 
 a guide ; a living, personal, ever-present, though unseen friend, with 
 the power and the will to lead and guide and protect the believer in 
 every emergency, if the believer will but give humble and diligent 
 and earnest heed ; never resisting never holding back never going 
 before his guide : a being who may be grieved, and led to take his 
 departure ; but who patiently and, lovingly attends the believer, 
 dwells with him, warms his heart, and enlightens his understanding, 
 and APPLIES with PERCEPTIBLE AUTHORITY the written rule, the 
 once-spoken words of the great Lawgiver. 
 
 It appears, then, that the Friends have expected from the imme- 
 diate influence of the Holy Spirit that which is not to be expected 
 from its influence, except in connexion with the means of obtaining 
 knowledge of spiritual things contained in the Scriptures. They 
 have thus, unintentionally it may be, but not on that account the less 
 really, lessened the authority and importance practically attached to 
 the Scriptures, and confounded with direct or immediate inspiration 
 those teachings of the Spirit, the medium of which is the truth con- 
 tained in the Scriptures, and which, therefore, cannot in any proper 
 sense of the term be called immediate. In one sense all teaching 
 must be immediate. The truth, whether derived from reading the 
 sacred page, or hearing it from the lips of the preacher, must be 
 sealed upon the heart by the co-operating influence of the Holy
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIE^DS. 29 
 
 Spirit ; but this is not the point at issue ; for this is admitted, as we 
 have already shown, by almost all classes of Christians ; while few 
 would be disposed to deny the possibility, still fewer would allow the 
 probability, of what the Friends contend for. The results of their 
 extreme and somewhat confused view on this subject have been, as 
 we have seen 1, The diminished importance attached to the Scrip- 
 tures ; 2, A correspondingly low estimate of the importance to be 
 attached to the ministry ; and 3, The almost total disuse of those 
 instrumentalities by means of which God accomplishes his purposes, 
 sustaining the spiritual life of the believer, and spreading the truth 
 abroad in the world ; means which, whenever they are faithfully 
 employed, in humble consciousness of man's nothingness, and trustful 
 dependence on God's all-sufficiency, never fail to produce corres- 
 ponding fruits to his praise ; while the neglect of them, either by 
 individuals or communities, cannot take place without consequent 
 coldness, deadness, and, if long enough continued, death and 
 dissolution. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 POTJBING OUT OF THE SPIEIT. 
 
 " Lord, we believe to us and ours 
 The apostolic promise given ; 
 We wait the Pentecostal powers, 
 
 The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. 
 Assembled here with one accord, 
 
 Calmly we wait the promised grace, 
 The purchase of our dying Lord : 
 Come, Holy Ghost, and fill the place." 
 
 WESLETAN HYMN-BOOK. 
 
 A VERT favourite passage with the Friends is the following : 
 " And it shall come to pass, afterward, that I will pour out of my 
 Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall pro- 
 phesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall
 
 30 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 see visions : also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens will I 
 pour out of my Spirit" Joel ii. 28. Also, Jeremiah xxxi. 33 : 
 " After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward 
 parts, and write it in their hearts ; and I will be to them a God, and 
 they shall be to me a people. And they shall no more teach every 
 man his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord : for they all shall know 
 me, from the least unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I 
 will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." 
 
 These passages are continually brought forward by the Friends to 
 prove that the preaching of the gospel is now no longer necessary, 
 but that this outpouring of the Spirit does for men all that is 
 required for their salvation, independently of outward means. This 
 view is in strict harmony with that of the immediate teaching of the 
 Holy Spirit referred to in the last chapter. It harmonizes, too, with 
 the " silent waiting" now so prevalent, and affords a kind of apology 
 for the very small importance attached to the employment of sus- 
 tained efforts for the conversion of the world. The argument is, All 
 may know him, therefore it is their own fault if they do not. But if 
 it be inferred that this outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh was to 
 be independent of the outward revelation of God's will contained in 
 the Bible, then ought we to find the fruits of it in the heathen 
 nations throughout the world. On the contrary, it is painfully clear 
 that except where the Bible has gone, and ly means of Bible truth, 
 the heathen nations remain as dark, and as helplessly ignorant of the 
 great provision made for their salvation, as they were at the time 
 when the prophecy was written. 
 
 This remark equally applies to those inhabitants of Christian 
 countries who have not heard the glad tidings ; nor is there any 
 reason to suppose that it will ever be different. Nay such is the 
 extent to which God in his wisdom has made us dependent on each 
 other's instrumentality, that it is next to impossible for any man 
 to maintain a lively and consistent Christian walk, who does not 
 hold frequent intercourse with his fellow-believers, or employ himself 
 continually in seeking to spread the Redeemer's name. Not that it 
 is impossible with God, but this is the way of his appointing.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 31 
 
 The possibility of depending too much on man's aid in spiritual 
 matters is such as to require continual care. This tendency was so 
 keenly felt and appreciated by the early Friends, and the evils pro- 
 duced by it were then so rampant, that it should scarcely excite our 
 wonder, though it may be a subject of regret, that they have gone so 
 completely into the opposite extreme. The gospel of Christ is the 
 power of God unto salvation ; but it must be communicated in the 
 appointed way before its blessings are likely to be realized. The 
 promise is held out that whosoever will call on the name of the Lord 
 shall be saved. " How then," adds the Apostle, " shall they call on 
 him in whom they have not believed ? And how shall they believe 
 in him of whom they have not heard ? And how shall they hear 
 without a preacher ? And how shall they preach except they be 
 sent ? As it is written, how beautiful upon the mountains are the 
 feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings 
 of good things !" " So then faith coraeth by hearing, and hearing by 
 the word of God." Eom. x. 13-17. Called to the work by the Spirit 
 of Christ, yearning over the perishing heathen, but sent out by the 
 churches at home, the missionary has taken his life in his hand, and 
 gone unprotected, save by his unseen Lord and Master, amidst the 
 degraded and barbarous savages of the South Sea Islands. He has 
 preached according to his ability the gospel of Christ, though in a 
 way that Robert Barclay would call " superstition, will-worship and 
 idolatry," and which many of the modern Friends would say was 
 " denying Christ." They have laboured and prayed, and by disin- 
 terested attention to the bodily comforts of the heathen, have proved 
 that they came in the spirit of the great Master, as expressed by 
 Paul, "We seek not yours, but you." Undaunted by sickness, 
 hunger, opposition, and danger, they have persevered until God's 
 blessing upon their labours has sealed the work divine. The desert 
 has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. Idolatry, superstition, cruelty, 
 and barbarism, have given place to the intelligent and heartfelt worship 
 of the great Jehovah, brotherly love, the abandonment of war, 
 Christian legislation, and the cultivation of the useful arts. 
 
 The Friends, strangely enough, seem to have misapprehended the
 
 32 ESSAY. ON THE 
 
 manner in which the Spirit is to be poured out upon all flesh, and the 
 law written in the hearts of the people. The saints of old had God's 
 law, and they loved it. David says: "0! how I love thy law!" 
 "What was this law that David loved ? Certainly not the ceremonial 
 law of Moses ; but that expression of God's will with which he was 
 acquainted ; the very same law which, in much greater fulness, is 
 revealed in the gospel of grace, and of which the holy men of old 
 had a foretaste that made them long for more, but which could only 
 be fully and generally realized by the "bringing in of a better hope" 
 in Jesus Christ. The people in general had little conception of this 
 law ; they were in a condition to which the outward ceremonials of 
 the law given from Sinai was pre-eminently adapted. They were not 
 participants in the sense that all believers are now. The ceremonials 
 of the law were all carried out by the appointed tribe and the chosen 
 family the tribe of Levi the house of Aaron. The mass of the 
 people were standers-by, spectators, and sometimes hearers, but not 
 full participators in the acts of Divine worship. The moral obliga- 
 tions of the law are the same in all dispensations, " to do justice, to 
 love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." " To love the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself ;" on 
 these two hang all the law and the prophets. " Love is the fulfilling 
 of the law." This, however, was very imperfectly understood during 
 the ministration of condemnation, under which many things were 
 permitted, and even commanded, which, with the present light, are 
 totally inadmissible having been distinctly forbidden by Christ 
 himself.* The washings and sprinklings and carnal ordinances were 
 IMPOSED ON them till the times of reformation : " a yoke," says 
 Peter, " which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." Acts 
 rv. 10. This imposed law which required to le borne this minis- 
 tration of condemnation, which, by its constant sacrifices and washings 
 and burnings, spoke plainly of guilt and condemnation, but merely 
 indicated, not provided, a means of escape was to be exchanged for 
 the ministration of reconciliation ; the " law of the Spirit of life in 
 * " Ye have heard that it hath been said."
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIENDS. 33 
 
 Christ Jesus." It was to be written in the hearts and affections of 
 God's people, who, no longer under the yoke, the schoolmaster, or 
 the bondage of fear, now serve with love and grateful alacrity ; their 
 wills being enforced by the Divine will, and themselves made new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus ; partakers of the holy nature of a holy 
 God, they now serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of 
 the letter, with an intelligent appreciation of the ground of their 
 acceptance in Christ Jesus, and a zeal for all that is holy and just 
 and good. Instead of standing without while the high priest went 
 into the holy place to minister, offering first for his own sins, and 
 then for the people, every believer may now COME boldly to the 
 throne of grace, plead on his own behalf the one offering of the 
 great High Priest of our profession, and receive direct from God, 
 through his Son, grace to help in every time of need. " The law 
 made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." 
 This bringing in of a better hope was the revelation of a higher law, 
 the law of love, of self-sacrifice for the good of others, of overcoming 
 evil with good, of living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, and 
 obtaining the dominion over sin even in this present life. " For 
 what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, 
 God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, 
 condemned sin in the flesh." " God was in Christ, reconciling the 
 world unto himself." 
 
 The Jews were commanded to write their law on their door-posts, 
 to bind it as a frontlet on their foreheads, and on the palms of their 
 hands, that they might have its requirements in incessant remem- 
 brance. The priests were to have inscriptions on their dresses, in 
 the skirts of their robes. It was the abuse of this kind of homage 
 to the law to which Christ referred, when he reproved the hypocrites 
 of his day, for making broad their phylacteries and enlarging the 
 borders of their garments. 
 
 But this element of love, self-sacrificing love, sends home the law 
 of Christ at once to the heart of the repentant and reconciled child 
 of adoption, and fixes it there indelibly and operatively, as a living 
 principle and spring of action, regulating, controlling and directing 
 everv impulse and affection, and filling the heart with ardent longings 
 
 D
 
 34 ESSAY OK THE 
 
 to be like Christ, and to do his will, in such wise that all outward 
 remembrancers become totally unnecessary. It is a well of water 
 springing up unto everlasting life ; a fountain of life preserving from 
 the snares of death, ever springing, fresh and pure and invigorating ; 
 filling the heart to overflowing, as the believer faithfully and lovingly 
 abides under its influence, and follows its impulses ; guiding into all 
 truth; a safeguard against every assault of the enemy ; a law written 
 in the heart, not independent of the written Word, but received 
 through its instrumentality, and sent home by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 But this law is not written in the hearts of the heathen now, or of 
 the unconverted in Christian lands, any more than it was before the 
 coming of Christ ; the prediction, therefore, must rather be regarded as 
 describing the character of the present dispensation, and predicting 
 its ultimate fulfilment, than as a thing now leing realized by all flesh, 
 as the current views of the Friends on this point, and the frequent 
 observations of their preachers, would seem to imply. The prediction 
 is fulfilled in the experience of the individual, when he has embraced 
 the truth in such a manner that it frees him from the condemnation 
 of sin, raises him above its power, and enables him to walk in newness 
 of life; and so moulds and regulates and governs his whole life and 
 being, body, soul, and spirit, as to make him a new man in Christ 
 Jesus, created afresh unto love and good works. It will be fulfilled 
 with reference to all flesh, when all have experienced this blessed 
 change ; and so long as there remains a brother who does not know 
 these great truths by his own happy experience, so long will it be 
 necessary for some one to say to that brother, " Know the Lord." 
 Thus, then, this striking prediction, instead of being an excuse for 
 inaction, becomes the strongest possible incentive to diligently pro- 
 claiming the glad tidings, and exhorting one another, as we see the 
 day approaching when OUB opportunity for doing good, and proving 
 our faith by our works, shall exist no longer. " "Work while it is 
 called to-day ; the night cometh, when no man can work." 
 
 On the day of Pentecost the promise was fulfilled " I will pour 
 out my Spirit upon all flesh." Peter declared, " This is that which 
 was spoken." It was not, however in a sense which communicated, 
 but which guaranteed it to all flesh. The state of things was ushered
 
 SOCIETY OP PUIENDS. 35 
 
 in, under which it should be accessible to all as it had never been 
 before. But it was not then communicated to all flesh ; otherwise 
 the labours of the Apostles, instead of commencing from that very 
 time, should then have ceased, because the dispensation was brought 
 in " This is that which was spoken." It was not, however, com- 
 pleted then, but begun ; it has been going on ever since, and it will 
 not cease to be carried on, until it is fulfilled in the universal spread 
 of the knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ, and its hearty 
 reception in the hearts and inward parts of all men, leading to a 
 thorough change of nature, and a hearty reception of Jesus as King 
 of Kings, and Lord of Lords. In this will consist the consummation 
 of the promise, " I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." 
 
 The effects of the views of the Friends on the subject of the 
 present chapter, in lessening their sense of the urgency of the great 
 work of winning souls to Christ, and their disposition to labour 
 heartily in the great work of the world's redemption, must be 
 regarded as intimately connected with their present fruitless and 
 cold condition. It is at once a cause and a sign of their fearful de- 
 generacy. There is, alas! little in common between the modern 
 Quaker, who congratulates himself on the immunities purchased for 
 him by the sufferings of other generations, his comfortable worldly 
 position, his privilege of reading his Bible at home, and enjoying his 
 own cogitations in his silent meeting, regardless of the world of sin. 
 that lies around him at his very door, and the cry of perishing 
 sinners that are rushing headlong to destruction : and the earnest, 
 untiring, fearless Quaker of earlier times, who, under the constraining 
 love of Christ, groaning constantly under a measure of that agony 
 which his great Master felt, when, with visage more marred than any 
 man, he bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows, forsook house and 
 home, encountered hardships, perils, and fierce persecutions, in order 
 that he might preach the gospel to dying men, and be instrumental 
 in bringing some to that knowledge of the Lord, which the modern 
 Quaker seems to expect will be brought about by some magical or 
 supernatural process with which he has no manner of connexion 
 whatever. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 EXTREME YIEW OK THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLT SPIRIT. 
 
 " We cannot be content to look upon the minister of this actual hour as anything 
 less, in the intention of God and our Saviour, than an instrument ' of the mighty 
 power of God,' the power which is unto salvation. We do not expect the gift of 
 tongues or of miracles, because these were not essential to the work of the ministry ; 
 but the active co-operation, the abiding unction of the Holy Spirit is." " TONGUE 
 OF FIBE," BY WILLIAM ABTHUR. 
 
 IT will be necessary to our purpose still further to pursue the 
 question whether the position which the Friends have taken up in 
 reference to the Holy Spirit's influence has an adequate Scripture 
 foundation, and whether, in their anxiety to maintain that position 
 with all its attendant results, they have not overlooked some of the 
 most important and obvious Scripture truths. 
 
 Eobert Barclay and J. J. Grurney alike level their argument chiefly 
 against those who neither wait for the Spirit nor expect its influence. 
 That there are such persons must be admitted, and that they were 
 very numerous in the times of Pox, Penn and Barclay, is notorious. 
 But it is equally clear that there may be a middle course between this 
 denial of the Holy Spirit's office and the doctrine of the Friends. 
 That there is such a middle course is proved by the practices and 
 doctrines of many of the worthies that were contemporary with Fox 
 and Penn and Barclay, and of the great bulk of evangelical Chris- 
 tians at the present day. "While acknowledging with the Friends 
 the need of the Holy Spirit's aid for the conduct of true worship, 
 and the effectual preaching of the gospel, they, however, believe 
 that this aid may be depended on in answer to believing prayer ; and 
 moreover, that meetings for worshipping the Almighty may be held 
 at certain stated periods, and the solemn duties of prayer and praise, 
 and the preaching of the gospel, entered upon not as Barclay has 
 it, " in man's own time, and which he can begin or leave off at his 
 pleasure," but in the fear of God, from a profound conviction that
 
 SOCIETY OP FEIENDS. 37 
 
 to neglect to make and carry out these appointments would be 
 treachery to the cause of Christ, painfully indicative of want of faith 
 in hia promises or of intelligent appreciation of his designs. 
 
 But the sweeping censure of Barclay not only condemns the prac- 
 tice of the great proportion of Christians at the present day, and of 
 those to whose instrumentality nearly all the practical piety in the 
 world owes, under Q-od, its existence; they equally condemn the 
 teachings and preachings of those great men "who have been provi- 
 dentially raised up from time to time as Wickliffe, Luther, Knox, 
 Rowland Hill, Wesley, "Whitfield, and a host of others whose " will- 
 worship and abominable idolatry," as Barclay would style it, has 
 been blessed and owned by God, to the conversion of thousands, the 
 dispersion of grossest error, and the diffusion of truth, with all its 
 healing, vivifying influences, from one end of the earth to the 'other. 
 
 The Friends do not pretend to bring forward one passage of Scrip- 
 ture to show by a distinct declaration that the early believers or the 
 Jews of old actually began their meetings for worship by " silent 
 waiting." They assume the position as a necessary consequence of 
 their mode of viewing the work of the Holy Spirit. The weakness 
 of this position, and the looseness of their mode of reasoning on the 
 subject, cannot be better shown than by a reference to those very 
 passages which Barclay has quoted in order to sustain his argument 
 on this point. We give the passages as they occur in the " Apology ;" 
 and we ask any candid person to say, whether singly, or as a whole, 
 they are calculated in the slightest degree to favour the theory that 
 " silent waiting," as entertained by the Friends, was a. systematic and 
 essential part of the public worship, either of the Jews or of the 
 Christians in Bible times.* As a general rule, the passages imply 
 a dependence on the Almighty, a trusting in him, an expectation of 
 good from him which is not only compatible with, but in many of 
 the passages necessarily implies, the use of active means ; some of 
 them evidently extending their meaning not to a meeting for worship 
 
 * The passages quoted by Barclay on this subject need only to be referred to, 
 to show how little they apply to the question at issue. They were none of them 
 properly meetings for public worship.
 
 38 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 merely, but to the habits and practices of a whole life. In short, so 
 irrelevant are some of the passages referred to, to the subject in 
 hand, that the idea is strongly suggested that they have been selected 
 simply because they contain the word " wait," and not as the result 
 of any careful investigation of their bearing on the point in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 1. Psalm xxvii. 14: "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, 
 and he shall strengthen thy heart : wait, I say, on the Lord." 
 
 2. Psalm xxxvii. 7 : Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him : 
 fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of 
 the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass." The result is given 
 verse 9 : " For evil-doers shall be cut off; but they that wait upon 
 'the Lord, they shall inherit the earth." 
 
 Psalm xxxvii. 34 : " Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he 
 shall exalt thee to inherit the land : when the wicked are cut off, thou 
 shalt see it." 
 
 Prov. xx. 22 : " Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on 
 the Lord, and he shall save thee." Mark the antithesis here. This 
 is an injunction against avenging ourselves, with an assurance of 
 God's protection from evil-doers. 
 
 Isaiah xxx. 18 : " And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may 
 be gracious unto you ; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may 
 have mercy upon you ; for the Lord is a God of judgment ; blessed 
 are all they that WAIT FOB, him." The whole chapter should be 
 read. Barclay's application of this verse is simply trifling with the 
 subject. 
 
 Hosea xii. 8 : " Therefore turn thou to thy God ; keep mercy and 
 judgment, and wait on thy God CONTINUALLY." Eead the context. 
 
 Zeph. iii. 8 : " Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, UNTIL 
 THE DAY THAT I EiSE UP jfO THE PEEY ; for my determination is 
 to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour 
 upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger : for all the 
 earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." A rather long 
 silent meeting this ! ! 
 
 Matt. xxiv. 42, and xxv. 13 : " Watch, therefore, for ye know not
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 39 
 
 what hour your Lord doth come." " Watch, therefore : for ye know 
 neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." 
 One does not know whether to be astonished most at the pre- 
 sumption or the bigotry that could take these passages from their 
 magnificent connexion, bearing as they do on the whole life and 
 circumstances of the believer, to make them do service in support 
 of a theory which, at best, can only be regarded as a freak of the 
 imagination. 
 
 Mark xiii. 33, 35, 37, are to the same purport. 
 
 Luke xxi. 36 : " Watch ye, therefore, and pray alway, that ye may 
 be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to 
 pass, and to stand before the Son of man." Here is the duty of a 
 whole lifetime again, indicating a process which must be carried on 
 in every waking moment ; whether employed in the ordinary affairs 
 of life, or in the active services of the sanctuary. 
 
 Acts i. 4, 5 : " And being assembled together with them, com- 
 manded them that they should NOT DEPART FROM JERUSALEM, but 
 wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of 
 me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized 
 with the Holy Ghost NOT MANY DAYS HENCE." We have reserved 
 the examination of this passage to the concluding chapter. Suffice it 
 here to say that the interval over which this waiting was to extend 
 was no shorter a period than ten days. 
 
 Acts xx. 31 : " Therefore watch, and remember, that, by the space 
 of three years, I ceased not to warn every one night and day with 
 tears." This injunction to watch was immediately preceded by the 
 prediction that after Paul's departing grievous wolves would enter, 
 not sparing the flock, and perverse men arise from themselves, seeking 
 to draw away disciples after them. We leave our readers to discover 
 the bearing of this last upon " silent waiting." 
 
 We forbear to occupy more space by quoting the remaining pas- 
 sages, but simply give the references, that any one who is not yet 
 satisfied as to the kind of Scripture authority advanced by Barclay in 
 favour of " silent waiting," may read the passages and judge for 
 himself. 1 Cor. xiv. 13 ; Col. iv. 2 ; 1 Thess. v. 6; 2 Tim. iv. 5 ;
 
 40 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 1 Pet. iv. 7 ; Psalm xxv. 3, and xxxvii. 9, and Ixix. 6 ; Isaiah xl. 23 ; 
 Lam. iii. 25, 26 ; Isaiah xl. 31 ; " Apology," p. 341. "We have asked many 
 Friends of varied standing in the Society, if they had ever turned to 
 these passages as they stand in the " Apology," but we never met with 
 one who had done so previous to our calling attention to the subject. 
 Both waiting and watching are so often spoken of in Scripture the 
 one so obviously implying a deliberate trusting repose on the faithful- 
 ness of the Almighty, and the other an incessant unwearying vigilance 
 to defeat the designs of our soul's enemy, both of them compatible 
 with a course of action varied in character, extended over a whole 
 lifetime that it would be a work of supererogation to enter into any 
 formal argument to prove their inapplicability to the question in hand. 
 It cannot be too deeply lamented that the Friends have attached so 
 much importance to a system so utterly without a Scripture founda- 
 tion, to the neglect of approved means of usefulness, of which we 
 have abundant example in the Scriptures, and which are sustained by 
 the most distinct commands and unquestionable examples. 
 
 As a set off against Barclay's formidable array of quot'ations, we 
 propose to give two or three to show that stated times were observed 
 in the celebration of God's worship, both in private and in public, 
 and that " waiting" is not incompatible with the use of means. 
 
 Psalm Ixxxi. 1, 2, 3 : " Sing aloud unto God our strength ; make 
 a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring 
 hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up 
 the trumpet in the new moon; in the TIME APPOINTED, on our 
 solemn feast-day." 
 
 Psalm xxxiv. 17 : " The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and 
 delivereth them out of all their troubles." 
 
 Psalm xxxiv. 6: "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard 
 him, and saved him out of all his troubles." A man in a pit would 
 have to wait and cry at the same time. He must cry in order to 
 attract attention, and still he must wait until the deliverance come. 
 The two are by no means incompatible they are essentially con- 
 nected ; whereas to wait in silence under such circumstances, would 
 indicate the failure of faith, or the sullen moodiness of despair. In
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. 41 
 
 a passage that J. J. Gurney brings forward in support of his favourite 
 theory, David actually combines the two. Psalm Ix. 1 : "I waited 
 patiently for the Lord, and He inclined His ear unto me, and heard 
 my cry." To all except the mind prejudiced in favour of a pet 
 system, the crying and the waiting would here be taken as going 
 together. But David actually fixes beforehand his time for vocal 
 prayer, and expresses his assurance that it will be answered. Psalm 
 Iv. 17 : "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry 
 aloud ; and He shall hear my voice." 
 
 Psalm xxxiv. 15, and 1 Peter iii. 12 : " The eyes of the Lord are 
 upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers." 
 
 Heb. iv. 16 : " Let us therefore COME BOLDLY unto the throne of 
 grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help IN TIME OF 
 
 NEED." 
 
 Psalm c. 4 : " ENTER into his courts with thanksgiving, and into 
 his gates with praise." 
 
 If David be in distress he cries unto the Lord ; if poor and needy, 
 he says, " Help thou me ;'' if cold and dead, and in that state in 
 which the Friend would refrain and wait in silence, David STILL 
 SPEAKS, and appropriately SAYS, " Quicken thou me, according to 
 thy word." Whatever may be required as to "waiting," the cry 
 seems a necessary condition without which no answer is to be ex- 
 pected ; but the Friends have attached such an undue importance or 
 an erroneous meaning to the waiting, that they have nearly ceased 
 altogether to cry, and the result is such as might fairly have been 
 anticipated. If the Friend finds the fire to burn as he sits and 
 muses, so do thousands of Christians when engaged in vocal prayer ; 
 having begun, perhaps, under a painful sense of coldness and dead- 
 ness, they have, nevertheless, from a conviction that it was God's 
 appointed way, addressed Him in prayer ; every word uttered has 
 been attended with increasing power ; deadness has been changed 
 for holy fervour ; the hungry has been filled, and supplication has 
 ended in thanksgiving and praise. It is one of the commonest snares 
 of the enemy of souls to tempt believers to abstain from prayer on 
 this very ground of their unfitness ; a most effectual method for 
 rendering such a condition permanent. It is dishonouring God to
 
 42 ESSA5T ON THE 
 
 suppose that if we feel our need, He will not give us power to use 
 his own appointed means for having it supplied. If there is any 
 reluctance it is always on our part. His readiness to hear and 
 answer could not be more strongly expressed for our encouragement 
 than in the following (Isaiah Ixv. 24) : " And it shall come to pass, 
 that before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet speaking, 
 I will hear." 
 
 The exhortations and encouragements, nay the commands, to pray 
 throughout the New Testament, and the examples also, are so nume- 
 rous that it is difficult to make a selection ; and as we shall have 
 occasion to refer again to the subject we will leave it for the present, 
 simply referring the reader to the parable of the unjust judge, which 
 Jesus spoke in order to teach the lesson " that men ought always 
 to pray, and not to faint." The attempt to get over this subject, by 
 saying that praying inwardly or in the heart is meant, is painfully 
 unsatisfactory. The faintest " breathing of a sigh" after Grod will 
 doubtless be recognized if the result of true feeling ; but it will 
 never take the place of earnest, systematic, persevering vocal prayer. 
 " Rejoice evermore : Pray without ceasing : In everything give 
 thanks."! Thess. v. 15-17. 
 
 " I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands ; 
 without wrath and doubting." 1 Tim. ii. 8. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 WATCHING AND PEATEE. 
 
 " And again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
 anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in 
 heaven." MATT, xviii. 19. 
 
 " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children ; how 
 much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ?" 
 LUKE xi. 13. 
 
 ROBERT BAECLAT quotes Matt. xxiv. 42," "Watch and pray," 
 to show that watching is to precede prayer ("Apology," p. 349);
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 43 
 
 a position which no one who knows what true prayer is will be 
 disposed to controvert. But there is ample room to question the 
 construction that he puts upon it, when he says that we are to watch 
 and wait for the seasonable time to pray, which is when the Spirit 
 moves thereto. Such an inference in connexion with any of the 
 affairs of ordinary life would be regarded as extremely impractical. 
 It is doing serious violence to the text. "Whatever duty any one is 
 about to enter upon at a stated time, it will be essential for its 
 proper discharge, that the mind be gradually prepared for it, by with- 
 drawing the attention from other subjects, and steadily fixing the 
 thoughts upon the one that is about to claim the whole attention, 
 and tax to the full the capabilities of the individual. The judge who 
 is about to take his place on the bench the lecturer who is about to 
 elucidate some department of science the student about to pass his 
 examination all must thus prepare the mind for coming duties, if 
 they would discharge them aright. And such preparation, if they 
 are qualified in other respects, will fit them to enter at once on their 
 several duties when the time arrives. It is the same with the 
 worship of the Almighty. The person whose life and conversation are 
 in harmony with the law of his God ; who " lives in the Spirit, and 
 walks in the Spirit," who is " instant in season and out of season," 
 and such is the frame of mind which is required of every Christian, 
 whether a minister or not, with a corresponding amount of care to 
 have his mind collected, distinctly feeling his dependence on the help 
 of the Spirit, may fairly presume that when under these circum- 
 stances he asks for the aid of that Spirit, it will be granted. 
 
 There could not be a greater mark of disrespect to an earthly 
 potentate than to come into his presence in such a condition or 
 frame of mind, that the preparation necessary for addressing him 
 properly should be done in his presence during the interview. And 
 surely the great Jehovah, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, may 
 reasonably expect that his children, when about to meet for the pur- 
 pose of holding communion with Him, instead of rushing into his 
 presence with the mind full of the hurry of business, or the distract- 
 ing objects of some favourite pursuit engrossing the attention ; or,
 
 44 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 which is little better, in a state of coldness and deadness which unfits 
 them for the solemn acts of worship ; they should come fully prepared 
 to enter at once upon the solemn duties of the occasion ; thus pro- 
 viding for the occupancy of the whole time with suitable exercises, 
 and complying with the injunction of the Psalmist, " ENTER into 
 his courts with thanksgiving, and into his gates with praise." 
 
 Barclay's loose mode of reasoning is again conspicuous on this 
 point. He says, " Therefore cannot we prefix set times to pray 
 outwardly, so as to lay a necessity to speak words at such times, 
 whether we feel this heavenly influence or no ; for that we judge 
 were a tempting of God, and a COMING BEFORE Hm WITHOUT DUE 
 PREPARATION." Not at all ! To come before him without due pre- 
 paration would certainly be tempting God; but the fixing of set 
 times does not preclude, it rather enforces, the necessity for DUE 
 PREPARATION. What argument might not be made to appear 
 plausible by such a " begging of the question " as this ? 
 
 As we have already observed, one of the most frequent forms of 
 temptation with which Satan tries the true believer, is to induce him 
 to desist from using the means of grace, for fear that he may offend 
 by not using them aright. There could not be a greater delusion. 
 The very feeling of unfitness to use those means ought to be the 
 strongest possible incentive to a prompt and diligent exercise of 
 them. "What time so suitable to ASK for warmth and light, as when 
 you are SENSIBLE of coldness and darkness? As well -might the 
 shivering houseless wretch, driven by the pitiless storm of winter, 
 refuse to approach the fire, as a man under similar spiritual disad- 
 vantages hesitate to approach the throne of grace. "Blessed are 
 they that hunger, for they shall be filled ;" but then it is on condition of 
 their asking : " ASK and ye shall receive." To say we have not faith 
 to ask, is to dishonour God ; that very absence of faith constitutes our 
 most aggravated sin. As well might a man who wishes to learn to 
 swim desist from entering the water until he has acquired the wished 
 for art. It is by use, not by inaction, that all our powers, gifts and 
 graces, must grow : the greater the sense of inability to pray, the 
 greater the need that the effort should be made. Much is said by
 
 SOCIETY OF PEIENDS. 45 
 
 the Friends about silent prayer and secret hid den wrestlings; but 
 those who have earnestly and sincerely tried both will bear out the 
 assertion that there is, about the distinct audible expression of our 
 want& to the Almighty, a specific and perceptible influence that 
 silent prayer will not and cannot convey. We do not in the slightest 
 degree wish to disparage silent prayer in its proper place and time. 
 A thousand occasions occur through the day when it alone is avail- 
 able, and there may be seasons in the experience of the believer when 
 it is congenial. Something of the kind is suggested in the Lamen- 
 tations of Jeremiah, iii. 27-30 : " It is good for a man that he bear 
 the yoke in his youth. HE SITTETH ALONE, AND KEEPETH SILENCE, 
 because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the 
 dust, if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that 
 smiteth him ; he is filled with reproach." This is as it ought to be, 
 a blessing will attend such silence ; but this passage cannot, we 
 conceive, except by an extremely forced construction, add any weight 
 to the Friends' theory of " silent meetings ;" nor can it render less 
 authoritative the command of Christ, " Thou when thou prayest, 
 enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy 
 Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall 
 reward thee openly:" still less will it afford -a substitute for social 
 prayer in the family circle, in the select meetings of true believers, or 
 in the great congregation. Nothing can be more clear and pointed 
 than the recognition of preconcerted prayer in the following decla- 
 ration, (Matt, xviii. 19) : " If two of you shall agree on earth, as 
 touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of 
 my Father which is in heaven." A promise the truth of which has 
 been realized times without number. 
 
 When we consider the many hindrances that there are to the 
 regular attendance of public worship, the manner in which most 
 persons have the necessary cares of the world, if not its unnecessary 
 pursuits and pleasures, pressing upon their attention throughout the 
 week, it will be seen that the whole time must be extremely short 
 which can be allotted to the direct pursuit of that knowledge of the 
 Scriptures which is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor-
 
 46 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 rection, for instruction in righteousness." To those who study the 
 Scriptures most, and most devoutly, they present an inexhaustible 
 fountain of knowledge of the most elevating and profitable character ; 
 and those who are most anxious to cherish the flame of Divine lave on 
 the altar of the heart, find that they cannot be too often refreshing 
 their memories with its inspired teachings, constituting as they do 
 the ordinary and most important medium through which the Holy 
 Spirit enlightens the understanding, purifies the affections, and exalts 
 and warms the heart. 
 
 Such being the disproportion between the time ordinarily at com- 
 mand and the vast and solemn importance of the occasion, we must 
 be prepared to expect that, with so much of the time of the Friends 
 taken up in silent waiting, the amount of Scriptural instruction 
 conveyed to the members must be, indeed, very small. It is probable 
 that, at the present day, taking the whole of England through, not a 
 quarter of an hour on an average in each meeting of every Sabbath is 
 occupied in oral communication ; and out of the time thus occupied, 
 it will be found that a large proportion consists of exhortation rather 
 than instruction or the expounding of Scripture. We are told that, 
 in proportion to the number of members, there are as many ministers 
 as at any former period. This may be the case ; but when it is borne 
 in mind that many meetings have no minister at all, and generally 
 spend the whole time in silence ; while in others the minister will 
 often be silent for weeks together, and often from home ; and further 
 that few of the ministers when they do stand up occupy more than 
 from ten to twenty minutes, and very frequently not more than five 
 minutes ; it will be seen at once that it is impossible that the Friends 
 should, either to their own members or to the world, " declare the 
 whole counsel of God." No wonder, then, that even the devout 
 amongst them acknowledge that they find it extremely difficult to 
 profit by their meetings for worship, and for weeks together return 
 from them as empty as they went that the worldly-minded find 
 their thoughts so steadily running in the accustomed channel of 
 commerce, science, or art that the members acknowledge to a great 
 extent ignorance or doubt of their great fundamental principles, and
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 47 
 
 that a vast and rapidly increasing proportion of the more earnest of 
 the young people leave these barren mountains, where there is so 
 little of dew and rain and fields of offering, and go to the more 
 fertile valleys, where, with less exalted views of the spirituality of 
 Christianity, there is far more life and warmth. 
 
 The point at issue between the sincere and devout of other persua- 
 sions and the Friends seems to be this : both parties agree that to 
 pray without the Spirit is not only useless, but that it is mocking 
 God. The Friends then say, If you do not feel fit for the duty, wait 
 till you do. The other party say, Tou must by no means desist from 
 prayer ; the command to pray is absolute ; the neglect of the duty is 
 necessarily followed by spiritual dearth. Since, then, the duty must 
 be performed, and it cannot be performed aright without a certain 
 state of preparation, it becomes an absolute and imperative duty to 
 seek for that preparation ; and we are encouraged by the assurance 
 that we cannot seek in vain. We have as much right to excuse 
 ourselves in the neglect of any other Christian duty as in this, from 
 an idea of our own inability or unfitness. If we are faithful in doing 
 our part, "watching unto prayer," all day long and every day, and 
 especially as the appointed time draws near, and if we exercise faith 
 in the promises of Christ, the required aid will never be wanting 
 when the occasion arrives. If ever applicable, these promises must 
 be especially so on such an occasion : " "Whatsoever ye shall ask of 
 the Father in my name He will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked 
 nothing in my name : ask and ye shall receiv.e, that your joy may be 
 full." John xvi. 23. To show the applicability of this promise to 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus made that touching appeal to the 
 readiness of fathers to comply with the requests of their children, 
 and then adds, " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
 to your children, HOW MUCH MOEE shall your heavenly Father give the 
 HOLT SPIEIT to THEM THAT ASK IT ?" To carry out the analogy, 
 when would the father be so likely to give the fish or the bread to the 
 child, as when he saw him to be in need of it ? So would the time of 
 supreme need be the favoured time for our heavenly Father to give 
 the Holy Spirit to his asking children. There is a strange inconsis-
 
 48 
 
 tency in the Friends' views on this subject, for no body fef Christians 
 have insisted more fully than they have on the freedom and fulness 
 with which the Holy Ghost is now given to every believer, or on the 
 necessity that is laid on every believer to maintain habitually a state 
 of reverent, watchful consciousness of God's nearness to him a 
 condition pre-eminently adapted to fit us to enter on his social 
 worship. By means of this inconsistency they have as effectually 
 distinguished their ministers from the rest of the people as the 
 division into laity and clergy has done with other denominations ; and 
 they are at this very moment as reluctant to recognize the gift in a 
 brother who does not feel called upon to exercise it exactly after 
 their fashion, as the most sincere believer in the approved method of 
 laying on of hands, &c., &c. 
 
 The advocate of a prescribed form of prayer advances the very 
 same difficulty as the Friends that the minister cannot be expected 
 to be prepared at any given time to offer prayer that is acceptable to 
 the Almighty, or that expresses the wants of his congregation. In 
 this difficulty the Friend says, " "Wait till the impulse comes ; " and 
 often this waiting continues till the end of the meeting, and that 
 for several weeks in succession ; or the last five minutes are taken 
 up in vocal prayer; or, after the usual time for "breaking up" the 
 meeting, some one rises, and with the minds of the hearers preju- 
 diced by their having waited in silence an hour and a-half, or two 
 hours, when every one has become uneasy, and begun to wonder 
 when the signal is to be given for their liberation and it may be, 
 sundry blowings of noses, putting on of hats, and significant 
 shufflings of feet, have given warning to the heads of the meeting 
 that patience is nearly exhausted they are detained till the said 
 minister has " relieved his mind." Whatever may be said as to the 
 necessity for the minister to sit an hour and a-half on such occasions, 
 in order to be prepared to speak five or ten minutes, the laws of 
 physiology proclaim unmistakeably that the audience must be in the 
 least favourable condition of mind and body for profiting by what is 
 communicated. 
 
 The advocate of a prescribed form of prayer, on the other hand,
 
 SOCIETY OF TBIENDS. 49 
 
 may secure jrhe very best form of words conceivable ; but when the 
 same form is repeated again and again, the law of habit comes into 
 operation, and the accustomed sounds glide over the ear, or are 
 uttered by the lips, without reaching the understanding or the heart. 
 They come from the book, and not from the heart, and though, to a 
 certain extent, as in the case of singing, the very utterance of the 
 words is calculated to awaken the feelings that they express, still 
 they form a very inadequate substitute for the gushings of a heart 
 filled with gratitude and love to God, and burning with zeal for his 
 glory and the salvation of sinners. But this is not the worst. As 
 with the Friends, the means taken to avoid the evil serve only to 
 enhance it. Thus the clergyman knowing that he has only to read 
 an appointed form of words, and the Friend knowing that he is not 
 expected to utter any words at all, are alike tempted to become indif- 
 ferent as to whether they encourage the spirit of prayer or not. As 
 to the extent to which this result is experienced where a liturgy is 
 used, it is not our province here to inquire. The tendency of the 
 system of the Friends to produce this result is acknowledged and 
 pointed out by J. J. Gurney. In his chapter on the selection, &c., 
 of ministers, he says that " the absence of all human interference 
 with the sole prerogative and peculiar work of the Lord, however 
 excellent and desirable in itself, will be found to have its imitating 
 and corresponding vice in SPIEITUAL DULNESS and INACTIYITY ; in a 
 BEAL NEGLECT of the DIVINE CALL, and in the OMISSION of the 
 EEQUIEED DUTY." " Such," he adds, "is our liability to error, and 
 such the artfulness of our spiritual enemy, that the very doctrine of 
 our own insufficiency may be made a COVEE FOE INEETNESS, and for 
 a CULPABLE and COWAEDLY SECESSION from the good fight of faith." 
 This acknowledgment on the part of J. J. Gurney speaks volumes. 
 It has been confirmed to us by the confession of approved ministers 
 in the Society, both in public and in private. They have acknow- 
 ledged the extreme difficulty they find in attaining to the object of 
 silent waiting often for weeks together having experienced no satis- 
 factory degree of that solemn prostration of soul before the Almighty, 
 and lifting up of the desires to Him, which, according to their theory
 
 50 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 is the mere preliminary to acceptable worship. The middle course 
 generally pursued by those who use extempore prayer in their stated 
 services, most effectually meets the difficulty. They are not one 
 whit less sensible than the Friends of the need of the Holy Spirit 
 to direct their thoughts, to solemnize their minds, to warm their 
 hearts, and to raise them above the engrossing attractions of earth, 
 and to enable them to give expression to their wants in vocal prayer. 
 But instead of adopting either of the extremes just pointed out, 
 they, with a more exalted faith, accept the promise of the Saviour, 
 that their heavenly Father will give them the Holy Spirit. The 
 knowledge, then, that they will be expected to engage in public 
 prayer at a given time, presents to them the strongest possible in- 
 ducement to seek, by private prayer, and earnest meditation, and 
 incessant watchfulness, a state of preparation for the solemn duty 
 preserving them alike from the indifference of the man who has a 
 prescribed form of prayers to read, and the spiritual dulness and 
 inactivity of the Friend, who painfully realizes the truth of the 
 adage, " what is anybody's business is nobody's business." Instead 
 of having to wait for the impulse, the man who in faith thus gives 
 himself continually to prayer, comes with a heart yearning over his 
 congregation, and full of the conviction of his own utter nothingness. 
 He asks and receives according to his faith, and the consequence 
 is, that instead of going away empty, as the Friends have to do so 
 frequently, in spite of the supposed super-excellency of their boasted 
 system, such a minister rarely, if ever, leaves the pulpit, without 
 receiving, and, as an instrument in God's hands, conveying, a distinct 
 and perceptible blessing. We are aware that some of these min- 
 isters have expressed a disposition almost to long for something like 
 the system of the Friends, and to shrink from the burden, as they 
 have felt it, of thus uttering words at a stated time. But here the 
 favourite mode adopted by the Friends to account for their own 
 present condition may fairly be brought home. May not this be 
 altogether for want of individual faithfulness ? "We never hear of 
 such men as John Wesley and Rowland Hill having such experience, 
 though they often felt disappointed at not having an opportunity,
 
 SOCIETY OF rillEKDS. 
 
 51 
 
 when they aA-ived at a fresh place, of proclaiming God's compassion 
 to " dying men."* If the Friends are capable of profiting by past 
 experience, (and we are happy to see signs of a disposition to do this 
 to a greater extent than has hitherto prevailed), they cannot but see, 
 that the fair and faithful trial which they have made for the last two 
 hundred years, is, so far as the doctrine of silent waiting is con- 
 cerned, a decided failure ; and they must, if ever they would return 
 to a state of life and vigour such as every true Church should ex- 
 hibit, be content very materially to modify their views and their 
 practices on this most important subject. 
 
 If importunate and unremitting prayer is necessary to the vigour 
 and the growth of the spiritual life in the individual believer, it is 
 not less so in the Church. United prayer must be regarded as 
 essential, in fact, to the prosperity of Christ's cause. It is in 
 answer to united prayer that God's blessings are conferred ; and it 
 must be regarded as one of the marked defects of the system of 
 Friends, that while their system allows of any one engaging in 
 prayer in their meetings for public worship, they have no special 
 seasons for prayer, and taKe no means to encourage their members to 
 engage in that most refreshing, strengthening, and invigorating 
 exercise. The rarity of vocal prayer in their meetings for worship, 
 and the entire absence of meetings amongst the members for social 
 prayer, must be regarded as one very important defect directly cal- 
 culated to lower the tone of spiritual life within their borders, to 
 lessen their interest in the spread of Christ's cause, and to paralyse 
 their efforts for the conversion of sinners and the reconciling of the 
 world to God. 
 
 * The introduction of meetings such as we have elsewhere suggested, founded on 
 the model of Paul, 1 Cor. xiv., for spontaneous utterance, where " all might speak 
 and all be edified," would doubtless be a great relief and encouragement to the 
 minister as valuable probably to him as to his congregation. 
 
 E2
 
 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 SILENT WAITING. 
 
 " Occupy till I come." LUKE xix. 13. 
 
 " Peter therefore was kept in prison : but prayer was made without ceasing of 
 the Church unto God for him." ACTS xii. 5. 
 
 " Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort, 
 with all long-suffering and doctrine." 2 TIM. iv. 2. 
 
 So great a change as that which the Friends have made from the 
 ordinary modes of worship, by the introduction of silent waiting, 
 cannot be a matter of indifference. If not productive of positive 
 good, it must result in absolute loss. Such, we believe, has been the 
 case to a fearful extent. All our talents and graces grow by exercise. 
 To occupy, implies to USE in such a manner that GROWTH may be the 
 result. The man who returned the one talent whole as he had 
 received it, was condemned as " wicked and slothful." All good 
 impulses and convictions, if not developed and employed in action, 
 become dead. J. J. Grurney has ably drawn attention to this subject 
 in his " Thoughts on Habit and Discipline." The Friends should be 
 an example in this respect. One of their most favourite texts is, 
 " The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man TO PROFIT 
 withal." 1 Cor. xii. 7. What is this but a talent ? Premature and 
 excessive exertion is doubtless an evil, and must be carefully guarded 
 against ; but so surely as the child is invigorated and strengthened 
 by exercise adapted to its strength, so surely will the young believer ; 
 as surely as the limbs of a child will pine and grow feeble through 
 inaction, or grow strong and firm by means of their legitimate exer- 
 cise, so does the spiritual life require its proper exercise, as well as its 
 proper aliment, from the very first. As a full-grown man who is not 
 regularly and fully employed in business, or in some sphere of active
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 53 
 
 usefulness, acquires habits of indolence and indifference, which steadily 
 impair his powers and lessen his aptitude and his inclination for useful 
 life ; and as the mind, unless employed steadily in the acquisition of 
 knowledge, the exercise of discrimination, and the steady prosecution 
 of some well-concerted design, actually degenerates and loses capacity, 
 so with the spiritual life of the more advanced believer. The spiritual 
 as well as the intellectual and physical faculties must, from first to 
 last, have their appropriate employment graces must be put to the 
 test, and fruits brought forth, culture and fruit-bearing, discipline 
 and labour, must give tone, and vigour, and reality to the life in the 
 inner man, or lethargy, if not death, will be the inevitable conse- 
 quence. " Faith without works is dead." 
 
 That system, then, of Church government must be considered 
 faulty in one grand particular which does not provide for the careful 
 supervision, ENCOURAGEMENT, and regulation of the exercise of the 
 graces of all its members, from the very babes in Christ up to the 
 young men and strong men, and the fathers and mothers in Israel. 
 Nothing is so strengthening to the faith, or so adapted to root and 
 ground the believer, as a distinct and decided profession of his being 
 on the Lord's side, and labouring earnestly to bring others to the 
 knowledge of that grace by which he has himself been blessed. We 
 are fully alive to the injury that may result from prematurely enter- 
 ing upon the several stages of Christian usefulness ; but the danger 
 of inaction is at least as great, and, from the very nature of the case, 
 is less likely to be discovered, and more easily results in a compla- 
 cently acquiescent indifference to the cause of Christ. Into this 
 error we are satisfied the Friends have fallen. They make it their 
 boast that they leave all the work of preparation and selection to the 
 great Master ; but philosophy and Scripture example alike teach us, 
 that in this respect, as in almost every other, the great Master works 
 by MEANS the neglect of which, on the part of man, is invariably 
 followed by a corresponding failure in the result. 
 
 " Bring ye all the tithes into my storehouse, that there may be meat 
 in my house ; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
 
 54 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." 
 Mai. iii. 10. 
 
 The view taken by the Friends of the general diffusion of the 
 Spirit, ought, if correct, to qualify all their members to reprove, 
 rebuke, exhort ; to make every one of them feel it incumbent upon 
 him to seek to spread the glad tidings. But their doctrine of waiting 
 for a special impulse has, unhappily, more than neutralized their 
 truly scriptural doctrine with regard to the necessity that the 
 Christian minister should be called by Christ and that being so 
 called, he does not. require the authority of man to qualify him for 
 the work. For a Friend now to ask his neighbour after the state of 
 his soul, or to take any direct steps to bring about his conversion to 
 God, would be painfully repugnant to his habitual silence on reli- 
 gious subjects. If a young Friend should tell an older one, that he 
 believed himself to have passed from death to life, that he was a new 
 creature in. Christ Jesus, and was distinctly conscious of God's recon- 
 ciled and pardoning love, it would be regarded, to say the least, as great 
 presumption probably little less than a snare of the devil. Accord- 
 ing to the Friends, all the Lord's children are now prophets, and yet 
 how few of them prophesy ! and these how seldom ! and how short 
 their communications ! and how unsatisfactory, according to their 
 own account ! . for when the Friends have their present silent condi- 
 tion pressed home as a proof of the failure of the system, the answer 
 almost uniformly is, " Such as it is, the less preaching we have the 
 better." They now make a virtue of necessity, and discover in silent 
 meetings a something superior to the ^ost lively oral communica- 
 tions ; and their ministers frequently, on rising to give utterance to 
 what they believe the Spirit has given them to communicate, begin 
 by apologizing for interrupting the worship of the meeting, advancing 
 as a reason, that they would not feel easy to leave without making 
 the proposed communication ! 
 
 Doubtless all preaching and prayer done in man's own strength, 
 without the aid of the Holy Spirit, are offensive in the sight of God. 
 But the question is, whether preaching and praying at a stated time 
 is necessarily, and from that single circumstance, to be regarded as
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 55 
 
 done in man's carnal and unregeuerate will. Such a conclusion, and 
 it is that of the Friends, as stated by Barclay in his eleventh propo- 
 sition, and confirmed by the declarations and practices of the Friends 
 at the present day, condemns as " abominable idolatry, superstition 
 and will-worship," * the life-long and eminently successful labours of 
 many of the most holy and most useful Christian ministers that ever 
 lived in short, of by far the greater part of the ministers of Christ, 
 both before and since the rise of the Friends. It is by means of 
 such ministry that the cause of Christ has been maintained in the 
 world, and is maintained at the present day ; while, with regard to the 
 Friends themselves, whose rise, according to Barclay and others, was 
 but the dawning of a brighter and a better day, in which their silent 
 and expectant theory was to constitute the grand feature of supe- 
 riority, it cannot be denied that for a long period their influence 
 has steadily become less, and the inroads that they may be making 
 upon the kingdom of Satan are totally inappreciable, while their own 
 members are, in the mean time, rapidly drafting off into other com- 
 munities or into the world or settling down as orthodox Quaker 
 moralists, utterly ignorant of the fire, and the life, and the zeal that 
 animated their forefathers in the truth, and indifferent to anything 
 but the keeping up of those forms in which they have been brought 
 up, and to which, it is to be feared, they almost look for salvation. 
 
 The solemnizing effects described by the early Friends as the 
 result of their silent meetings, are rarely known now, except in a 
 very limited degree, while the same effects are every day being expe- 
 rienced from the ordinary mode of conducting the social or congre- 
 gational worship of Jehovah. Conviction for sin, conversion, com- 
 forting of believers, instruction in righteousness not in so large 
 proportion as is to be desired, but in an incomparably greater degree 
 than amongst the Friends, is the every-day result. There are many 
 causes at work, which the Friends feel in common with other 
 denominations, deadening the spiritual life of the churches, and pre- 
 judicing the world at large against the truth ; but all these are totally 
 inadequate to the solution of the question at issue. 
 
 * " Apology," prop. xi.
 
 56 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 "We are aware that the Friends, acknowledging, as they are com- 
 pelled to do, the greater activity and success of other bodies, contend 
 that the effect produced is superficial and transitory, and that the 
 standard of piety amongst other Dissenters and the Evangelical 
 pprtion of the Church of England is very low. "We admit that 
 there is some ground for this assertion. The standard of practical 
 piety generally held up, even from our pulpits, is, in many respects, 
 fearfully low, and to a still greater extent imperfect, and the attain- 
 ments of very many professors fall far short of that which is held 
 up. If, however, the extreme care employed by the Friends in 
 admitting members be borne in mind, and also the fact that their 
 proselytes are ALMOST INYABIABLT persons who, in connexion with 
 other bodies, have already attained to a considerable degree of 
 Christian experience and that, on the other hand, a large propor- 
 tion of the converts brought into other churches are persons who 
 have had none of the advantages of a religious education, and often 
 have spent their lives in the grossest ignorance and the most de- 
 basing sin, we might fairly expect a higher standard amongst the 
 Friends. In many respects it is so ; though of late years it has, we 
 fear, seriously degenerated, at least in practice ; and those who have 
 had the most extensive opportunities for making an unbiased com- 
 parison, will be disposed to question the existence of any decided 
 superiority, if the comparison be fairly made. This kind of com- 
 parison is, however, at best, an unsatisfactory kind of evidence, from 
 the extreme difficulty of applying it. There are some of the best 
 and some of the worst in every section that could be named. Such 
 characters as Baxter, John Fletcher, Mrs. Fletcher, Legh Eichmond, 
 Charles Simeon, might be worthily grouped with the most eminently 
 pious and devoted of the Friends ; while, on the other hand, in- 
 stances of unprincipled meanness, utter want of integrity, gross 
 sensuality and every kind of hypocrisy, could be selected from the 
 lists of those who have once cast in their lot with every section ot 
 God's people. The causes of these delinquencies are, for the most 
 part, in operation in every Christian community, and therefore their 
 results can afford little aid in an enquiry like the present. Bather
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 57 
 
 than raise invidious comparisons, we would mourn over the common 
 lot, and seek by all available means to have the causes removed, in 
 order that the churches may all heartily unite in the one grand 
 design of spreading abroad the truth, and bringing the whole world 
 under its genuine influence. 
 
 "We have alluded to the more exalted faith exhibited by the man 
 who, in the fear of God, fixes a time to preach and pray, seeks the 
 requisite preparation, and when the time comes, asks and receives 
 the promised aid of the Spirit. It is not, however, that the Friends 
 are deficient in faith. They exercise, in reference to war, a higher 
 amount and kind of faith than almost any other community of 
 Christians ; and the result has proved that their confidence has not 
 been misplaced ; but with regard to the particular under considera- 
 tion, from an error of judgment their faith has been misdirected ; 
 they have failed to apply to the promised aid of the Spirit, for stated 
 opportunities, that faith which they exercise on other occasions. On 
 this very point, they have expended an amount of faith in expectant 
 waiting, with its painfully intermittent and steadily decreasing 
 results, which, if thrown into the regular and stated preaching of 
 the Gospel, would, in all probability, have kept them what they once 
 were, first and foremost in the great work of evangelization. This 
 partial or improper direction of faith is not peculiar to the Friends. 
 The Romanist exercises faith, strong enough to all intents and 
 purposes ; but then it is not fixed on the right objects. The Wes- 
 leyan falls just as far short of the Friend in relation to war, as he 
 takes the lead in reference to the gift of the Spirit. Here the re- 
 luctant grasp of the Friend shrinks back from the appropriating act, 
 and he waits in fruitless inaction, rejecting the means. The other 
 equally waits, but it is in a different manner ; while he waits he 
 works, he fasts, but he prays too ; as the husbandman waits for the 
 early and the latter rain, but does not neglect to plough and manure 
 the soil and to sow the seed so he wrestles in earnest prayer, using 
 all the known means for gaining his object, and rests not until the 
 promised aid arrives. " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
 evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall
 
 58 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." 
 Eccles. xi. 6. 
 
 We cannot do better than conclude this chapter by a quotation 
 from Dr. Kitto, whose use of the term " wait" is an excellent com- 
 mentary on the sentiments to which we have just given expression : 
 
 " ' They shall not be ashamed that wait for me.' 
 
 " Thirty years ago, before the Lord caused me to wander from my 
 father's house, and from my native place, I put my mark upon this 
 passage in Isaiah, ' I am the Lord : they shall not be ashamed that 
 wait for me.' Of the many books I now possess, the Bible that 
 bears this mark is the only one that belonged to me at that time. 
 It now lies before me ; and I find that although the hair that was 
 then dark as night, has, meanwhile, become a ' sable silvered,' the ink 
 which marked this passage has grown into intensity of blackness as 
 the time advanced, corresponding with, and, in fact, recording, the 
 growing intensity of the conviction, that they shall not be ashamed 
 that trust in Thee. I believed it then, but now I know it ; and I 
 can write probatum est with my whole heart over against the symbol 
 which that mark is to me of my ancient faith, ' They shall not be 
 ashamed that wait for me.' Looking back through the long period 
 that has passed since I set my mark to these words a portion of life 
 which forms the best and brightest, as well as the most trying and 
 conflicting, in all man's experience it is a joy to be able to say, ' I 
 have waited for Thee, and have not been ashamed.' Under many 
 perilous circumstances, in many most trying scenes, amidst fainting 
 within and fears without, and under sorrows that rend the heart, and 
 troubles that crush it down, I have waited for Thee ; and lo ! I stand 
 this day as one not ashamed."
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 59 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 DEVOTIONAL SINGING. 
 
 " To believe as I do, that some of our congregation are in an unregenerate state, 
 how must their silent meetings be past ? And for the babes in Christ I have great 
 fears, inasmuch as true, solemn, silent worship is a very high administration of 
 spiritual worship. I frequently fear for such, that more external aid is wanted, 
 though I see not how it is to be given. I also feel the want of each one openly 
 uniting in some external act of worship, for there is much in taking an absolute part 
 in what is doing, to feel a full interest in it." ELIZABETH FBT. 
 
 INTIMATELY connected with the subject of the foregoing chapter 
 is devotional singing a means which, in all ages, has been regarded 
 as important in awakening and sustaining the life of the soul, and in 
 the rejection of which we believe must be recognized another element 
 of the decline of the Friends. Not carefully discriminating between 
 the use and the abuse, they have, we think, in this instance, discarded 
 an instrumentality which, though liable to abuse, exerts, nevertheless, 
 when properly employed, so powerful and uniform a tendency for 
 good, and is recommended by such high sanctions, that the wiser 
 part would seem to be, not to reject altogether, but to endeavour to 
 control, to regulate, and to direct. 
 
 If it can be shown that the tendency of any custom is decidedly 
 and essentially bad, or that the evil resulting from it decidedly pre- 
 ponderates over the good, then its total rejection becomes the dictate 
 of sound discretion. This, we think, is far from being the case with 
 regard to devotional singing. On the contrary, it would not be 
 difficult to show, that its employment has been eminently blessed to 
 the Churches of Christ throughout the world. If this be the case, it 
 follows that no society of Christians can neglect such means without 
 a corresponding loss. That the Friends have seriously suffered from 
 this cause, many of their most conscientious and judicious members 
 now believe. It has deprived them of a valuable means of enlisting 
 and securing the attention of the young and the indifferent, of
 
 60 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 rousing the dormant zeal, and bracing up the listless souls of more 
 experienced believers and of storing the minds of all with the most 
 precious truths and sentiments, in a convenient and attractive form, 
 applicable to all the emergencies of life ; thus shutting out, on the 
 one hand, listlessness and wandering thoughts, and, on the other, 
 sentiments of injurious tendency, which are incomparably less likely 
 to find their way into the mind pre-occupied with ideas of a superior 
 character. 
 
 The objection that in congregational singing, persons often say 
 what they do not feel, and express sentiments that they do not enter- 
 tain, is one which the Friends consider in itself sufficient to condemn 
 the practice entirely. This, however, is carrying matters to a very 
 great length. On the same principle, it would be wrong for any-one 
 to read aloud any portion of Scripture a devotional portion for 
 instance, unless he was in precisely the condition and circumstances 
 which it describes. That there is a tendency to abuse in this respect, 
 the thoughtful of every denomination are fully aware, especially 
 where professional choirs are engaged, and where the music is made 
 a prominent object. But these are by no means inseparable con- 
 comitants of devotional singing. If the grand object be not display 
 and attraction, but, as it ought to be in all meetings for worship, 
 the glory of God, the expression of feelings of devotion where they 
 exist, and the awakening of them when not already there then will 
 the simple human voice, with a moderate proficiency in the art of 
 singing, where the whole congregation join heartily and equally, be 
 all that is required, and, unaccompanied by the organ, or the viol, or 
 the artistic exhibitions of the professional singer, will be far more 
 likely to promote the end in view than anything of a more artificial 
 character. 
 
 The evil complained of would thus have very little place, and 
 might be reduced to a minimum by cultivating in the minds of the 
 congregation such a sense of the importance of the occasion, and the 
 necessity for entering upon it in a right spirit, as cannot fail to recom- 
 mend itself to every rightly- minded worshipper. Then, too, it 
 should be borne in mind, that no individual is in any way required to
 
 SOCIETY OF 1'EIEKDS. 61 
 
 join in every portion that is sung ; he may at any time desist from 
 the expression of a sentiment with which he feels inability to unite. 
 This liberty is constantly exercised by persons of discrimination, and 
 it is not uncommon for the minister to put the congregation on their 
 guard in this very particular. It is possible, too, that some persons 
 may, with the best of motives, be too fastidious in this respect, for 
 want of a just appreciation of the nature of the exercise. In united 
 worship, the members are not acting for themselves exclusively, and 
 that may be perfectly true of the congregation, or of some portion 
 of it, which is not at the time applicable to each individual. The 
 sentiment, then, is expressed as the sentiment of the congregation, 
 and not necessarily of every particular individual ; and in that capa- 
 city will doubtless be regarded by that All-seeing Object of worship, 
 who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is thus that 
 the minister expresses the various conditions of his congregation in 
 prayer; it was thus that Daniel confessed sins on behalf of the 
 Jewish nation, of which, as an individual, he was altogether innocent ; 
 and it was thus that Paul in the seventh chapter of the epistle to the 
 Romans, in order to describe more graphically the carnal state from 
 which he had been delivered by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus, says, " But I am carnal, sold under sin," v. 14, and so to the 
 end of the chapter ; the opposite condition of them that are in Christ 
 Jesus being reserved for the next chapter. There is another im- 
 portant consideration in connexion with this subject, which must not 
 be overlooked. It is this that the very fact of expressing any given 
 sentiment in words has a tendency to awaken the sentiment in the 
 mind where it did not exist before, or to strengthen it where it was 
 but feebly operative. This tendency is so fully appreciated with regard 
 to improper and injurious sentiments, that the Friends have based 
 upon it one of their principal objections to music. They are, how- 
 ever, very reluctant to admit, that the same law of our nature comes 
 into operation with reference to beneficial sentiments, and that good 
 ideas are just as likely to fix themselves upon the well-disposed mind, 
 and to produce their legitimate effects on the character, as bad ones. 
 The effect actually produced is but feebly appreciated by the super-
 
 02 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 ficial thinker ; but those who know most of the lives and the death- 
 bed scenes of Christians, will know full well how much of the 
 instruction, the comfort, the warning, by which the spiritual life is 
 sustained, are derived through the songs of Zion first learned in the 
 great congregation. The effect might be shown in another way. 
 Let the minister in one of our chapels give out, by way of experi- 
 ment, a verse containing some irreverent or even common-place 
 sentiment, instead of the accustomed devotional lines ; the sensation 
 produced would soon convince the most sceptical, though an indi- 
 vidual here and there might be indifferent, how completely the 
 previous state of feeling in the congregation had been in harmony 
 with the expressions they were using. 
 
 Many are the instances in which words used on these occasions by 
 the worldly and indifferent have so fastened upon their hearts, as. to 
 be the means of awakening conviction that has never been effaced, 
 but which has proved, under the Divine blessing, the first step towards 
 a thorough conversion and an entire change of heart. It is, in fact, 
 incontrovertible, that hundreds of persons have thus dated their first 
 convictions from the singing of a line or two of some hymn ; hundreds 
 more have, under the same circumstances, first known Grod's pardon- 
 ing and reconciled love, and stepped out of the bondage of sin into 
 the glorious liberty of Grod's children. Eternity alone will declare 
 the amazing influence for good that the exalted and exalting senti- 
 ments of our holy religion have exerted, through the instrumentality 
 of congregational singing. Multitudes of believers have discovered, 
 in some single verse of a hymn, a casket for the gem of sacred truth 
 that has been made a blessing to their souls ; giving, as it were, a 
 portable form to the truths, rendering them easily producible in 
 every emergency, connecting by the law of association the time of 
 temptation, of danger, or of affliction, with the hallowed seasons of 
 social prayer and praise, and affording a ready mode of expression to 
 the feelings, whether of need, of thanksgiving, of adoration, or of 
 triumph, in the hour of victory over the Christian's latest foe. 
 
 If every Christian is to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit, 
 if he is to be " sober and vigilant," to maintain a state of constant
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 63 
 
 recollectedness at all times, so far from having to wait for fitness, he 
 will go to his place of worship in a frame of mind which fits him to 
 engage in the service of the sanctuary. The very same state of pre- 
 paredness which is allowed to be, nay, insisted on as, necessary to fit 
 the Friend for profitably entering on his silent devotions, will as 
 effectually prepare the devout of other denominations for engaging in 
 the reading of the Scriptures, the hymn, or the social prayer. Every 
 devout attender at an ordinary place of worship knows full well, by 
 happy experience, that the preliminary hymn, if rightly engaged in, 
 effectually secures that state of recollectedness and prostration of 
 soul which the Friends seek to secure by their silent waiting ; and 
 those who have tried both systems will, with very few exceptions, 
 give their testimony in favour of that service in which the congre- 
 gation have the opportunity of expressing with the voice, in concert, 
 those feelings and sentiments which every true believer must be, 
 more or less, fully able to unite in. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PREACHING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 " The same spiritual light which made a future Redeemer present to Isaiah, is 
 needful to make a past Eedeemer present to the Christian preacher. Without it, 
 the one might have had an expectation, and the other might have a belief ; but 
 neither could burn and melt as in the presence of a living, loving, redeeming Prince 
 of Peace. The spirit of prophecy illuminated the future to the one, and illuminated 
 the past to the other gave that which was a promise the force of a thing done, and 
 gives that which is a record the force of a thing now doing." AUTHOR'S " TONGUE 
 OF FIRE." 
 
 ENGLAND has always been the stronghold of religious liberty, the 
 cradle of religious truth, and the vantage-ground of evangelical pro- 
 gress. The zeal and the faithful endurance of the primitive Churches 
 in Britain the struggles of Henry II. and the constitutions of 
 Clarendon the law of mortmain passed during the reign of Edward I.,
 
 61 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 with other movements of like nature, prove tHe existence in the 
 English character of an element which renders it peculiarly averse 
 to religious domination. This very same element, which led to the 
 hearty reception of Wickliffe and his followers, and which rendered 
 the reformation under (not by) Henry VIII. possible, also prepared 
 for the reception of the teachings of George Fox, George Whitehead, 
 William Penn, and Edward Burrough. The arising of the Friends 
 was but another wave of that tide of progress toward religious free- 
 dom of action and religious purity of doctrine, for which the faithful 
 few have ever been striving. Nor has that class of mind ever 
 been wanting. It was ready to receive the teachings of Wesley and 
 Rowland Hill ; it exists now. Indeed there is reason to believe that 
 persons prepared for advanced views would now be found at least as 
 numerous as ever, if not more so. There is, amongst a large class, 
 scattered through the various sects, or conscientiously declining to 
 unite with any that exist, the same impatience of formalism and 
 priestcraft, the same longing after pure spiritual truth, the same 
 abhorrence of the grievous admixture of worldly views and habits, 
 which has become so fearfully prevalent in the various churches. The 
 tendency that prevails on the other hand, in some directions, towards 
 formalism of the most insidious and fatal character, and which, 
 indeed, is eating out what little life remained in many portions of 
 the Church, while, in the minds of the enlightened it produces a 
 reaction in favour of something more spiritual, is silently and imper- 
 ceptibly, but steadily and effectually, spreading its soporific influence 
 over the souls of the unwary, and loudly calls for a counteracting 
 influence such as the Friends are peculiarly calculated to exert ; and 
 such as their preaching, had it been systematic, copious, and faithful, 
 would most effectually have exerted. 
 
 The views of the Friends with regard to the unlawfulness of war 
 to Christians, although as unpopular as ever in certain directions, 
 would, nevertheless, if faithfully preached, be heartily embraced by 
 thousands who are now totally strangers to them. Peace societies 
 have their influence, though of late we fear that they have given way 
 to a similar lethargic spirit to that of the Friends their light shines
 
 SOCIETY OP FBIENDS. 65 
 
 neither so strongly nor so clearly as it once did. The lecture and 
 the tract, good as they are, are feeble instrumentalities, as compared 
 with the pulpit. Until some religious society not only acts out, 
 but systematically and industriously preaches, the great doctrine of 
 forgiveness of enemies, the nature of the Christian's weapons " not 
 carnal but spiritual, and mighty through God to the pulling down of 
 strongholds," and the total incompatibility of war with Christianity, 
 the labours of the Peace Society will, we fear, be, comparatively 
 speaking, in vain. 
 
 People go to a place of worship with a certain preparation of mind 
 it does not require a special announcement for the occasion they 
 attend where they have sufficient confidence in the teacher and sym- 
 pathy with his general views, to admit of their expecting benefit 
 from his teachings. Let a preacher, by his intelligent and truly 1 
 spiritual discourse, and by his consistent life and conduct, recommend 
 himself to the confidence of persons who are really seeking light and 
 advancement in their religious career, and the utterances of that man 
 come recommended by a sanction and a weight of authority which no 
 ether combination of circumstances can give to the efforts of man 
 seeking to persuade or convince his fellow. It is under teaching 
 such as this that the Holy Ghost may most reasonably be expected 
 to seal conviction on the heart, to mould and regulate the desires 
 and affections into harmony with the Spirit of Christ, and to lead the 
 earnest seeker into all truth. 
 
 Here again is seen the vast importance of having regularly acknow- 
 ledged and paid teachers who can act out the exhortation of Paul 
 to Timothy, " Thou, man of God, give thyself wholly to these 
 things." Such a provision is so absolutely essential to the develop- 
 ment and conservation and diffusion of the truth, that we may safely 
 predict the gradual and irremediable decline, and final extinction, of 
 any institution or society that neglects, for whatever reason, to make 
 such provision. 
 
 There is no reason why such an arrangement should prevent the 
 provision of opportunities for those spontaneous utterances that the 
 Friends prize so highly when " all may speak and all be edified." 
 
 F
 
 66 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 Indeed, it will be found that this kind of utterance, instead of being: 
 prevented or superseded by the stated ministry, will, if suitable oppor- 
 tunities are afforded, be more vigorous, and lively, and GKENEBAL, where 
 it is connected with and sustained by the regular preaching of the 
 Gospel. That there were meetings of this kind in the apostolic days 
 requires no proof. There were also deliberative assemblies very closely 
 resembling the Friends' meetings for discipline, when the Apostles 
 and elders, with the whole church, discussed and settled the questions 
 affecting the maintenance of Gospel order, as they arose. But there 
 is abundant evidence to prove, that on other occasions one man occu- 
 pied the chief part, and often the whole, of the time. In fact, in the 
 very nature of things this must have been so as when Paul and 
 Barnabas, or Paul and Silas, set out to preach,* often where there 
 were no prophets at all, nor any church to share with them in the 
 labour and the benefits of edifying discourse. The meetings on which 
 exclusively the Friends have founded their system, were for mutual 
 edification, instruction, and encouragement, as may be clearly seen, 
 1 Cor. xiv., where the apostle describes an assembly of the whole 
 church, and supposes the casual entrance of the unlearned or unbe- 
 lievers. He urges the advantage of prophecy over speaking with un- 
 known tongues, because it was more likely to benefit the assembly in 
 general ; but he shows that it was for the most part an assembly of 
 believers, for he adds, v. 31, " For ye may all prophesy one by one, 
 that all may learn, and all may be comforted." The present state of 
 the Friends shows as complete a departure from this model as the one- 
 man system to which they are so inveterately opposed. According to 
 this standard, every believer should be in a condition to prophesy, at 
 least occasionally ; whereas the actual state of things presents a spec- 
 tacle of the whole waiting in silence, and depending as completely on 
 the one or two " acknowledged " ministers, as other denominations 
 do on the regularly appointed preacher. A good Wesleyan love- 
 feast forms an incomparably closer approximation to the model 
 of Paul where the whole time is occupied in fervent, heartfelt, 
 
 * Paul at Athens at Ephesus till break of day at Miletus to the elders of the 
 Ephesian Church.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIIiNDS. G7 
 
 impulsive testimonies to the goodness of God, the efficacy of his par- 
 doning grace ill Christ Jesus, and the blessedness of a life of dedica- 
 tion to Him. On such occasions the difficulty often consists in finding 
 opportunity for one half that are willing although the time occupied 
 by each speaker is made as short as may be while, in the best spe- 
 cimens of the Friends' meetings in these days, a large portion of the 
 time is almost invariably spent in silence, and the communications 
 are, with very rare exceptions, limited to the acknowledged ministers. 
 
 As the Friends appear to have erred in neglecting the preaching 
 of the Gospel in favour of these prophetic utterances in the meetings 
 of the Churchy so we think that other denominations have suffered 
 from not combining with their preaching certain meetings of the 
 description now under consideration. They would afford a most sea- 
 sonable relief to the minister, would often be extremely encouraging 
 to him, as giving evidence of the fruits of his labours ; and they 
 would afford excellent opportunities for the exercise of incipient gifts 
 in any of the members, from which, by judicious encouragement, a 
 succession of ministers and unpaid evangelists might be systematically 
 brought forward. 
 
 It is clear from other portions of the writings of Paul, that he did 
 not regard the gatherings to which we have just referred, as in any 
 way superseding a provision for the systematic preaching of the 
 Gospel. On the contrary, in his Epistles to Titus and to Timothy 
 he gives express instructions for the carrying out of that object. 
 " The things that THOU hast heard of ME among many witnesses, 
 the same COMMIT THOU TO FAITHFUL MEN, who shall be able to 
 teach others also." Here was a selection by Paul of Timothy, and 
 by Timothy of faithful men. Very different this from the system 
 of the Friends, who decline, on principle, to take any part in the 
 selection, preparation, or bringing out of their ministers. Here is 
 not only selection, but preparatory instruction to fit them for their 
 work. Here are the elements of the training system which both 
 false and true churches have adopted as a means of spreading their 
 principles, TOO POWERFUL for GOOD or for EVIL to be neglected by 
 the one or the other, and on which, in short, their chief dependence, 
 
 F 2
 
 68 ESSA.Y ON THE 
 
 in so far as instrumentality is concerned, has always been placed. 
 Even the persecuting churches that call in the aid of the civil magis- 
 trate to punish the refractory and compel conformity, still sedulously 
 cultivate the influence of the recognized teacher. Much more, then, 
 must those churches that trust to the force of truth alone, under 
 God's blessing, be assiduous in cherishing all legitimate instrumen- 
 talities, and especially that of regular teachers, in order to cope with 
 all the* false teaching against which the truth has to contend, in 
 addition to the natural depravity of the human heart and the gross 
 ignorance that prevails on every hand. Those who know anything of 
 the tendencies of human nature will be fully alive to the fact, that 
 people in general are incomparably more liable to be influenced by a 
 false, and perhaps seductive, doctrine that is incessantly being pressed 
 upon their attention, than by the most sublime, and saving, and 
 delightful truths of which they rarely or never hear a word spoken. 
 
 It is in accordance with this principle that Columba, at Icolmkill, 
 and Wickliffe, first instructed, and then appointed, such as they 
 thought likely ; sending them out, or giving them appointments 
 nearer home, according to their qualifications and the pointings of 
 the Spirit ; in subordination to which not in opposition to, or inde- 
 pendence of, its influence this work must be carried on, if it succeed 
 at all. It is to the very same kind of instrumentality that the great 
 and widely-extended success of the "Wesleyan body is, under God, 
 mainly attributable ; and it is a remarkable fact, that, with all the 
 Friends have said about unpaid ministry and non-necessity for a 
 regular education, the Wesleyans are doing a work in this country 
 and throughout the world, by means of unpaid unclerical preachers, 
 in comparison with which the whole of the labours of the Friends for 
 the salvation of sinners and the spread of the Eedeemer's kingdom 
 sink completely into the shade. We know of country villages where 
 the sen-ices of the Established Church are limited to one during the 
 entire week, and where the itinerant Wesleyan minister is not heard 
 probably oftener than once in three months where the work is 
 almost entirely sustained by unpaid preachers, who, many of them, 
 have had no educational advantages, and who are immersed in the
 
 SOCIETY OF FniENDS. 69 
 
 cares and toils of business through the livelong week ; and yet in 
 each of these places there is a band of sincere, earnest, simple-hearted 
 believers many of them men who, by God's blessing on this very 
 instrumentality, have been brought from the most abandoned lives of 
 sin, but who now by their zeal, their intelligent appreciation of 
 Scripture truth, their minute acquaintance with Holy Scripture, and 
 their zeal for God's glory and the good of their race, would do honour 
 to the most highly privileged churches in our land. Such & work 
 the Friends once achieved ; but it has almost entirely died out of such 
 localities, and nothing but a similar instrumentality is likely ever to 
 restore it. We are told that the difficulties of the Friends in rural 
 districts are great and peculiar, on account of tithes, &c., &c., and 
 that many of them have emigrated on that account. This may be 
 true, but it does not meet the case. The difficulties of the Friends 
 in the time of Fox and Penn were ten thousand times greater, and yet 
 they flourished yes, in those very rural districts which their dege- 
 nerate descendants find, in these times of general favour and indul- 
 gence, too strait for them ! Alas, no ! there must be other cause than 
 this, or anything akin to it, for the dying out of such a people as the 
 Friends once were. The Wesleyans have emigrated from similar 
 districts, at least as freely as the Friends. A few years ago they 
 were diminishing in numbers in this country partly from the great 
 rush of emigration, partly from the spirit of reform but they have 
 been steadily increasing again for several years past, and genuine 
 conversions are constantly taking place in city and in country often 
 in one small place exceeding in number all that the Friends receive 
 in a whole year on the ground of convincement throughout the 
 kingdom. If it be said that there are more Friends in America, we 
 reply, the Wesleyans preponderate there just as largely as they do 
 here ; so that this kind of explanation evidently does not meet the 
 case. It is the diligent hand that maketh rich, in spiritual as well as 
 in temporal matters ; we must use the means, if we expect God to 
 vouchsafe the blessing. 
 
 The Friends are thoroughly conscious of the failure of their min- 
 istry. This palpable failure they usually attribute to the worldly
 
 70 ESSAY oy THE 
 
 spirit that has crept in, the want of individual faithfulness, or any- 
 thing that would obviate the painful necessity of suspecting the 
 correctness of their views with regard to what they consider their 
 fundamental doctrines. J. J. G-urney resorts to the idea that the 
 Lord deals with his churches as with individuals, putting them 
 through various processes to try their graces and their faith. The 
 failure of the ministry, then, after two hundred years of systematic 
 refusal to cultivate it, and equally systematic labours to inculcate the 
 sovereign efficacy and imperative obligation of their system of silent 
 waiting, is to be regarded as a dispensation from the Great Head of 
 the Church. This idea, if received and acted upon, will, of necessity, 
 have the effect of increasing the evil complained of ; for the silence 
 thus grows by what it feeds on, and will reproduce itself without 
 end unless, indeed, they should be led to seek the cause of the evil 
 deplored in the right quarter, and apply an efficient remedy. 
 
 Our heavenly Father never chastises his children but for their 
 profit. From every fresh visitation some fresh lesson is to be 
 learned. But societies, as well as individuals, will fail to discover 
 the lesson designed, unless they are willing to be utterly abased. All 
 that is of man must be brought into the dust, and the whole fabric 
 searched, to the very FOUNDATIONS, in order that whatever of man is 
 usurping the place of the Divine may be removed. The foundation 
 of Christianity remains for ever the same, it is divine ; but a society 
 is something of man's construction, and wherever the human element 
 has entrance, there suspicion may fairly be entertained, when the 
 carefully organized system fails, that man's conclusions have, in some 
 measure, taken the place of God's teachings. "We do not wonder at 
 the reluctance of the Friends to look so deep for the cause of their 
 present anomalous position. It is easy to acknowledge that we have 
 committed an inadvertent error, or been unfaithful to what we pro- 
 fessed that we have not lived up to our standard ; but to allow that 
 we have all the time been lifting up a false standard, and that there 
 has been an error of judgment with regard to that which we have 
 recommended so strongly, defended at such cost, and regarded as of 
 such vital importance nay, that in which we have supposed our
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 71 
 
 distinguished excellency to reside this involves a shaking of the 
 natural man, a violence to the laws of association and of habit, a 
 loosening of prejudice long established, to which none but the very 
 humblest and most sincere adherents of truth could submit without 
 extreme reluctance. Hence the Friends decline to suspect that the 
 doctrine of silent waiting, with all that it involves in connexion with 
 the ministry, has anything to do with their present fruitless con- 
 dition, and, with a martyr spirit worthy of a better cause, resolve to 
 live or die as a Society by this peculiar doctrine. " No man when he 
 hath tasted old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith the old 
 is better." 
 
 This devotion to the colours while the ship is sinking, though very 
 common amongst the Friends, is not, however, universally enter- 
 tained. Indeed, a very large proportion of the younger members, 
 and some of the older ones, are deeply feeling the need of more 
 spiritual instruction and care, and are looking in every direction, 
 and asking, as the people did in Wickliffe's time, for the bread of life. 
 The false teachers in those days substituted fables and false philo- 
 sophy ; the Friends inculcate silence and expectant resignation. 
 But the one remedy is no more adapted to the present age than the 
 other was to former times. The general diffusion of education and 
 of literary and scientific knowledge, and the mental culture of which 
 the young Friends are feeling the benefit, while increasing the facility 
 with which they mingle in the world around them, render them 
 painfully and increasingly sensible of the extremely meagre and 
 imperfect character of the instructions provided for them in con- 
 nexion with the solemn affairs of the Divine life in the soul, and of 
 the world to come. The very advantages that they have at the 
 schools of the Society, in the Bible culture there pursued, and in the 
 place of which there is nothing adequate presented to them on 
 leaving school, makes them more keenly sensible of their spiritual 
 destitution. On the other hand, there are devout and well-informed 
 preachers of evangelical truth, whose instructions, however deficient 
 on some of the great points of Christian morality and church polity, 
 . still afford far more of that spiritual aliment for which the young
 
 72 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 mind is hungering and thirsting, than is to be found in their own 
 silent meetings, occasional exhortations, and very rare and always 
 imperfect expositions of Christian doctrine. No wonder, then, that 
 the younger members are leaving the Society at a fearfully rapid 
 rate, and joining any section of the Church where they see a proba- 
 bility of obtaining more of that help which, as an instrument in 
 God's hand, man is designed to convey to his fellow-man in spiritual 
 matters, but which their own system nevertheless denies them. Out 
 of one family known to the writer, the immediate descendants of six 
 brothers and sisters, all of them brought up amongst the decidedly 
 orthodox, and under the best influences that the Society affords, 
 SEVENTEEN have joined the Church of England, and two the Wes- 
 leyans : several others are decidedly tending in similar directions, 
 though not old enough to decide for themselves ; while of the few 
 that remain attached to the Friends, some are for the most part 
 indifferent to the affairs of the unseen world, and those that are 
 awake on these momentous affairs, are constantly lamenting the 
 paucity and meagreness of their opportunities for obtaining spiritual 
 instruction and encouragement adequate to their need. That young 
 Friends are not adequately and effectually impressed with the dis- 
 tinguishing principles of the Society, is clear from the manner in 
 which they join other communities, just as local circumstances give 
 the bias; almost invariably giving up the spiritual views of the 
 Society with regard to water baptism and the " Lord's supper," war, 
 oaths, &c., &c. The Friends themselves have always fatally connected 
 this degeneracy with what are called the "minor peculiarities," viz., 
 of dress and manners their argument being, that want of consis- 
 tency in these particulars leads the way to disregard of more 
 important matters. We shall have to take up this subject hereafter : 
 suffice it for the present to observe, that this cannot possibly account 
 for the facts of the case. Were the young people adequately im- 
 pressed with the true nature of their high calling in reference to the 
 spirituality of their views, no deviation in such minor matters as 
 dress would be sufficient to break down the line of demarcation 
 between their own eminently spiritual and voluntary system, and
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIENDS. 73 
 
 the formalism and compulsory support of a war-sanctioning State- 
 Church, or the still more corrupt system of Eome. The great lesson 
 which these phenomena are calculated to teach, is, we believe, the 
 utter futility of hoping to conserve, much less to spread abroad, any 
 system of faith and practice, without a regularly organized and con- 
 stantly active system of teaching, especially that kind of teaching 
 which in all ages has been owned as the most approved and most 
 effectual means by which man can influence the belief and the prac- 
 tices of his fellow-man the LIVING YOICE employed in that most 
 authoritative, impressive, and persuasive of its functions, the 
 preaching of the Gospel. The Friend who, to defend his indifference 
 to this grand instrumentality, says, " I have my Bible, and I can hold 
 intercourse with my heavenly Father in outward silence, whether 
 alone or in the solemn meeting," is blind alike to the wants of a 
 perishing world, his own spiritual requirements, and the true philo- 
 sophy of the mode of operation which Grod himself has ordained for 
 the regeneration of the race, and the individual's growth in grace, in 
 knowledge, and in fruit-bearing.
 
 7fc ESSAY ON THE 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PBEACHING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 " ! that the world might taste and see 
 
 The riches of his grace ! 
 The arms of love that compass me, 
 Would all mankind embrace. 
 
 - His only righteousness I know, 
 
 His only truth proclaim : 
 "Pis all my business here below, 
 To cry ' Behold the Lamb ! ' 
 
 Happy, if with my latest breath, 
 
 I may but gasp his name ; 
 Preach Him to all, and cry in death, 
 
 ' Behold, behold the Lamb ! ' " 
 
 IT is deeply to be regretted, that the peculiar views of the Society 
 of Friends on the subject of the ministry, should have led them so far 
 to limit the operations of the Spirit, as to prevent their acknow- 
 ledging as true Gospel ministry the preaching of other denominations, 
 even where it has been eminently blessed to the producing of results 
 similar to those which they have found to accompany their own ser- 
 vices in their more lively times, and which results they themselves 
 bring forward as a satisfactory proof that theirs is the right system. 
 That it is in many respects right, we do not deny ; but that it is 
 THE right system, to the exclusion or condemnation of others, or that 
 either the one or the other is so far right as to be capable of no 
 improvement, we think is open to very serious question. On the 
 contrary, we think that a combination of some of the distinguishing 
 DOCTBINES of the Eriends with the best parts of the INSTRUMENTA- 
 LITIES of other denominations, carefully guarded from the evils of both 
 by consulting the sacred oracles in connexion with the result of past 
 experiment, would result in the formation of a Christian community 
 superior to anything that the world has ever seen since the apostolic
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIESDS. 75 
 
 age, in purity, and life, and power. Such an organization is the want 
 of the age. There is no organization existing that fully satisfies its own 
 more earnest and enlightened members. Many of the adherents of 
 other churches are as much dissatisfied with the remains of formalism 
 and priestcraft that they embody, as the Friends can be with their 
 present prostrate condition. The want of both is an organization 
 which, while divested of the priestly and man-exalting tendency of 
 which the Friends are so justly jealous, shall, at the same time, by 
 systematic PEEACHINO and TEACHING, secure the great ends of 
 organization, the conservation and diffusion of truth. 
 
 The following sentiment of J. J. Gurney, if fully acted on by the 
 Friends, would soon break down the icy barrier that now exists be- 
 tween them and other churches, and enable them to sympathize and 
 to co-operate in the great work of evangelization, without any com- 
 promise of principle on either hand : " The one thing needful is LIFE 
 in religion its vital operation is on the hearts of individuals ; and if 
 this necessary work is experienced if the leaven which quickens the 
 dead souls of responsible men does but spread, ALL QUESTIONS 
 respecting MODES of worship, and all that comes under the head of 
 religious polity, must be regarded as COMPAEATITELT UNIMPOETANT." 
 This admission ought at least to enable the Friends to recognize as 
 Christian ministry that which, however different from their own in 
 theory, is constantly producing, under God's blessing and sustaining, 
 this very life of religion. At the same time, it will be seen, that in so 
 far as modes of worship may be more or less adapted to secure or to 
 frustrate that end, they must be regarded as important. 
 
 It would seem as though J. J. G. felt conscious of this truth, 
 though his application of it would be very different from our own ; 
 for he goes on to say, that it is best, nevertheless, to adhere to truth 
 and principle, and adds, that if this were done with regard to the 
 Christian ministry, " the result would be a far wider and deeper 
 flowing of the water of life than has hitherto been experienced since 
 the days of primitive Christianity. The sacred stream which flows 
 from under the throne of God and of the Lamb, instead of being 
 Iricked up in particular channels, and confined tvithin certain pre-
 
 76 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 cincts by the CAPRICE AND PREJUDICE of man, would diffuse itself, by 
 a divine and unrestrictive energy, on every side." Admirable senti- 
 ment ! but how differently it will be applied by equally earnest men 
 whose stand-point is different. The Friend thinks immediately, and 
 very justly, of the limitation placed upon the preaching of the Gospel 
 by those hierarchies which maintain that none can lawfully take 
 upon him the office of public preacher unless he have been " lawfully 
 called and sent," i. e. by men who have public authority given unto 
 them in the congregation, to call and send ministers into the Lord's 
 vineyard none, in short, who have not received the gift by the 
 laying on of hands in a direct line from Peter himself! ! 
 
 To thousands, however, who do not believe in priestly ordination, 
 but who consider a call from the Great Master himself as, ample 
 warrant for going forth in His name, and who believe that such a call 
 is not only sufficient, but indispensably necessary, and that the aid of 
 the Holy Ghost, and an experimental acquaintance with the truths 
 of the Gospel, are not less essential, the language just quoted would 
 seem most strikingly to describe the views and practices of the 
 Friends themselves, who, by their fanciful explanation of the MODE 
 in which the Holy Spirit's aid is to be sought, do, as effectually as 
 the other, though unintentionally, confine the sacred stream within 
 certain precincts marked out by the caprice and prejudice of man. 
 So much contracted has now become the particular channel in which 
 their share of the sacred stream is wont to flow, that the stream 
 itself has gradually dwindled from the full, broad river of two hundred 
 years ago, to a small, insignificant, intermittent stream, which pain- 
 fully threatens to be altogether lost in the sandy, or rocky, or brick 
 bed that confines it ; while the fuller effusions from the fountain ever- 
 flowing still find their way through channels somewhat less pure, it 
 may be, but not so narrow ; the nations of the earth still drink of its 
 streams, and millions of men and women have lived and died rejoicing 
 in the Christian faith, who, in all human probability, would never 
 have heard the "glad tidings," had it not been for the labours of 
 men whom the orthodox Quaker would feel compelled to regard as 
 man-made, and therefore false, ministers wolves among the flock.
 
 SOCIETY or rniENDS. 77 
 
 It ia too notorious to require any proof, that the spread and the 
 revival of religion, wherever it has taken place, has resulted, under 
 God's blessing, mainly from these two causes, the diffusion of the 
 written word, and the oral proclamation of the truths of the Gospel. 
 It is useless to stand upon the question, whether the gift is to 
 be called prophesying, preaching, or teaching ; or as to the precise 
 amount of the Spirit's influence required to constitute a sound Gospel 
 ministry. " The tree is known by its fruits." If the ministry of the 
 Friends is of that superior character that it professes to be, the result 
 should certainly correspond. If, as Barclay says, the person possessed 
 of this heavenly influence can at once detect a false quotation from 
 Scripture, or even an erroneous translation,* the individual possessed 
 of such an unerring " test and touchstone" ought surely to give 
 proofs that his prophetic utterances are of the character which he 
 claims for them. "What, we would ask, is the character of the ministry 
 of the Friends at the present day ? Does it, to any satisfactory extent, 
 fulfil the conditions or produce the fruits that we are warranted to ex- 
 pect from a system that they would fain persuade us is far superior to, 
 and more apostolic than, that of "Wickliffe or Luther, Hill or Wesley ? 
 When Peter preached, three thousand were converted in a day ; in 
 the early days of the Friends multitudes were converted ; the same 
 under Wesley and Rowland Hill. We know a locality where, during 
 one quarter of the present year, one hundred and thirty conversions 
 took place in connexion with the preaching of one society. Can the 
 Friends, we ask, bring forward anything like that, as the result of 
 the united labours of all their ministers throughout the Kingdom 
 during the past twelvemonth ? 
 
 In foreign lands, in the far-off islands of the sea, where the 
 missionary has gone, labouring amongst the most besotted and 
 benighted of mankind, idolatry has vanished; its foul orgies, in 
 which brutal lust and blind ferocity are blended with superstitious 
 fear, have given place to a tone of morality and of legislation that 
 would put to shame the most civilized states of Europe. Multitudes 
 that, forty years ago, were worshipping stocks and stones, aud images 
 * "Apology," p. 77.
 
 78 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 of their own fabrication, now engage in the worship of the true God, 
 and rejoice in the glorious liberty of the children of God, that liberty 
 which the "truth as it is in Jesus alone can communicate." The 
 wretched negro, toiling under a brutal and selfish taskmaster, 
 deprived of every social right and privilege, has learned from the 
 preaching of the despised Methodists to rise superior to the terrible 
 and degrading circumstances in which he finds himself; has stood 
 erect, a moral freeman, and learned to endure his horrid wrongs with 
 a martyr's firmness, in the anticipation of that glorious Canaan to 
 which he turns his longing eyes, and of which he sings, and dreams, 
 and talks, until he forgets his griefs and remembers his misery no 
 more. 
 
 The Friends have effectually shown their love for the African race 
 their zeal for the oppressed of every clime and every colour. The 
 appeal " Am I not a man and a brother ?" has never been made to 
 them in vain, and yet how little have they done for the direct pro- 
 mulgation of Gospel truth amongst the heathen ! Had their theory 
 of preaching been all that they have imagined, the effects should have 
 ever been widening and deepening, and the result of that dawning, 
 that day-spring that Barclay and Fox announced two hundred years 
 ago, should have been palpable to the whole world, a living epistle 
 known and read of all men. 
 
 Any one who will read the journal of George Whitehead will see 
 that in those early days, their very rising, the Friends were indeed 
 a city set on a hill that could not be hid. They found access then to 
 thrones and legislative assemblies, and they poured their appeals on 
 behalf of the oppressed, and their solemn and withering denunci- 
 ations of the sins of their day, hot and glowing, into the ears of the 
 guilty. They ran to and fro through the earth, preaching Christ 
 where He had not so much as been named ; and had* they organized a 
 ministry THEN, and kept up the kind of influence which made them 
 felt and respected by all classes, from the king upon the throne to the 
 beggar on the dunghill, Quaker doctrines might, by this time, have 
 been heard in the remotest corners of every land under the sun. 
 But in this respect they failed ; their peculiar views of the Spirit's
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 79 
 
 mode of operation were fatal to systematic organization, and their 
 preaching became intermittent, feeble, and limited in quantity ; and 
 is now scarcely felt in the world. Even when the ministers of the 
 Society have gone to preach to heathen nations of late years, they 
 have not gone to cut out a path for themselves, but have availed 
 themselves of the opening already made by the persevering, self- 
 sacrificing, faith-testing labours of men to whom the theory of the 
 Friends denies the character of Christian ministers. " Other men 
 laboured, and ye have entered into their labours." 
 
 But, in addition to its rarity, the ministry of the Friends in the 
 present day is marked by another feature, which, in all fairness, must 
 be regarded as conclusive against its claim to that superior inspira- 
 tion we have already alluded to. Short as their communications 
 generally are, and abounding as they do in exhortation rather than 
 doctrine or exposition, it is very common indeed for them to misquote 
 Scripture in such a manner as not merely to interfere with, but 
 actually to oppose, the meaning of the passage ; showing the utter 
 absence of any critical, or even careful, examination of its true bear- 
 ing. Trusting to supernatural aid for that which prayerful study 
 would have been sufficient to give, they have lost the advantage of 
 both. If the immediate teaching of the Holy Spirit is to be expected 
 and we as firmly believe this as any Friend can do it is reasonable 
 to expect it not as a substitute for, but as an aid to, our own best 
 employment of the aids already placed within our reach, and urged 
 upon our diligent attention by positive commands. That the present 
 charge may not appear to be without foundation, invidious as the 
 task may be, one or two specimens which have come under the 
 writer's own observation shall be given. An eminent minister of the 
 Society, now gone from works to rewards, rarely " appeared" in the 
 ministry without using the words, " I am a God at hand, saith the 
 Lord, and not a God afar off." Now, this expression conveyed a 
 certain truth which the minister designed to convey, but not that 
 which the prophet had to communicate not the truth. The correct 
 reading is, " Am I a God at hand, said the Lord, and not afar off?" 
 as much as to say, I am a God BOTH at han'd and afar off ; which
 
 80 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 corresponds to the question that immediately follows : " Can any 
 hide himself in secret places and I shall not see him?" Another 
 very worthy and acceptable minister quoted as the language of David 
 the following lament over that temple which was not built until after 
 David had " fallen on sleep" and been " laid with his fathers :" " 
 God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance ; thy holy temple 
 have they defiled ; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps ! ! " Another 
 minister, while " travelling with a certificate," quoted from the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews, xi. 39 : " And these all, having obtained a good re- 
 port through faith, received not the promises ;" the important word 
 not, however, was omitted, and the whole scope of the passage entirely 
 lost sight of, as indicated in the following verse : " God having pro- 
 vided some better thing FOB, trs, that they without us should NOT 
 BE MADE PEBFECT." The true sense of the passage being thus lost 
 sight of, it was, of course, employed in a sense which it could not by 
 any possibility have been designed to bear. An individual concerned 
 for the truth made free respectfully to point out this mistake to the 
 minister afterwards, and received thanks for having done so, accom- 
 panied by the acknowledgment that said minister often quoted Scrip- 
 ture incorrectly, and was always glad to be corrected. But this kind 
 of thing is quite incompatible with that immediate teaching which the 
 Friends assert to be necessary for right ministry. We may fairly 
 ask, Is the pretension of Barclay and J. J. Gurney one that cannot 
 be sustained ; or is the ministry of the present day so fearfully 
 degenerate as this discrepancy would imply ? 
 
 At a Quarterly Meeting of the Society, not four years ago, the 
 writer heard one of the most eminent ministers of the Society 
 actually apologize for the deficiency of the ministers in Scriptural 
 knowledge, and urge upon his young hearers the importance of their 
 not being scandalized by any discrepancies or imperfections which 
 their more correct knowledge of the sacred writings might enable 
 them to detect in communications from the gallery. Imagine a 
 Dissenting preacher, even a local brother among the "Wesleyans, 
 making such an appeal for the indulgence of his hearers. He would 
 very soon be reminded by some kind friend of the exhortation of
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 81 
 
 Paul to Timothy " Thou, man of God, give thyself wholly to 
 these things." And if he should reply that worldly business left 
 him not sufficient time for the study of those Scriptures by acquaint- 
 ance with which the man of Grod is to be made " perfect, throughly- 
 furnished unto all good works,"* might he not be fairly told, that 
 this confession presents one of the most powerful arguments for 
 some men being enabled and encouraged to separate themselves, as 
 Timothy had to do, entirely for the ministerial calling; and that 
 those who minister occasionally should use all diligence in seeking 
 to be prepared rightly to divide the word of truth ? 
 
 Whatever acquaintance the Friends may have with Scripture, there 
 is no doubt that they suffer much for want of that comprehensive 
 and critical knowledge of sacred truth which results from systematic 
 study carried on for a specific and definite purpose. When we reflect 
 on the great proportion of time spent by them in silence, their reluct- 
 ance to make religious subjects the topic of conversation, and their 
 aversion to theological study, or anything like preparation for the 
 preaching of the Gospel, we cannot expect it to be otherwise. The 
 most systematic and indefatigable and devout student of holy writ 
 finds himself but upon the threshold, after a long life of earnest 
 application ; and the collision of mind with mind in earnest converse 
 constitutes a means of stimulating inquiry and correcting erroneous 
 impressions, without which progress must necessarily be slow, and 
 liability to error incomparably greater than with it. Then, too, there 
 is the advantage of the definite object which stimulates the research 
 of the man who, feeling the solemn nature of the undertaking, knows 
 that at a given time it will be his duty to proclaim to others the 
 unsearchable riches of Christ, an office which, together with the 
 Holy Spirit's aid, calls into operation all the natural and acquired 
 gifts of the most gifted, and which, if entered upon without proper 
 attention to every point calculated to secure its efficiency, cannot be 
 expected to produce the full effect that is designed to result from it. 
 
 The weakness of the Friends is peculiarly apparent at this point ; 
 they admit the utility of this kind of study, and yet they pride 
 
 * 2 Tim. iii. 17.
 
 82 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 themselves on their neglect of it, and expect faith to make up to 
 them the deficiency. J. J. Gurney, says : " Whatever may be our 
 calling in the world, or station in the Church, it is unquestionable 
 that the exercise of our intellectual faculties, and the collecting of 
 useful knowledge, will enlarge our capacity for the service of the 
 Great Master ; and on this principle it is to be freely admitted, that 
 learning may produce, COLLATERALLY AND SUBORDINATELY, A HIGHLY 
 DESIRABLE EFFECT, even on the Gospel ministry."* Of course it is 
 collateral and subordinate : we never heard of any kind of Chris- 
 tians that thought otherwise. He goes on : " Not only may the 
 powers of the mind be strengthened for that and every good pur- 
 pose, by means of a liberal education, but occasions frequently occur, 
 in which information on various points may be made to subserve 
 the great object of the Christian minister." One would expect, 
 with such a conviction as this of an instrumentality capable of 
 exerting a HIGHLY DESIRABLE eifect on the Gospel ministry, 
 the Friends would be delighted in its cultivation; but no! with 
 a strange infatuation, clinging to their own peculiar theory on this 
 point, they reject, or profess to reject, this admitted advantage ; 
 and accordingly, only eleven pages further on, we find J. J. Gurney 
 describing the minister among the Friends, when on a journey for 
 the purpose of preaching the gospel," Poor and empty in himself, 
 
 TOTALLY UNPREPARED FOE HIS SUCCESSIVE LABOURS BY PEEYIOTJS 
 
 STUDY, he acts on a principle of simple faith in his Governor and 
 Guide." This declaration either implies that previous study has 
 nothing to do with the qualifications of the minister, which would be 
 a direct contradiction of the assertion (p. 226) which we have just 
 quoted; or that the minister has deliberately neglected that which, 
 in the same declaration, is recognized as a means of enlarging the 
 capacity for the service of the Great Master, and exerting a highly 
 desirable effect on the Christian ministry. Is it not, we would ask, 
 a palpable abuse of simple faith, to expect the. blessing while we 
 neglect the means ? Whatever success may attend the ministry of 
 the Friends and we have no wish whatever to under-rate it, there is 
 * " Observations," p. 226.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 83 
 
 every reason to suppose that it might, with some modifications sug- 
 gested by the present considerations, have been incomparably more 
 permanently and extensively successful than has been the case, and 
 that their neglect of this admitted source of increased usefulness must 
 have an important bearing on their present anomalous condition. 
 
 To the student of mental philosophy it is unnecessary to observe, 
 that whenever the mind is addressed to a given object with a special 
 purpose in view, and the subject pursued in a systematic manner, the 
 result will be much more distinct and complete than from the same 
 amount of labour or time occupied on the same subject without a 
 specific object in view. The very fact, then, of a subject being 
 CHOSEN for development and illustration a lesson to be impressed 
 a truth to be established a duty to be enforced pre-supposes the 
 most favourable circumstances under which to search the Scriptures. 
 Everyone who has thus selected a text, and sat down prayerfully to 
 its consideration, must have found, that as he compares passage with 
 passage, seeks to arrange his thoughts, to develope the argument, and 
 bring it to bear upon the lesson in view, light will be poured into his 
 own mind the subject is presented to him with fresh and ever- 
 increasing impressiveness and, while comparing spiritual things 
 with spiritual, the great truths he desires to impress upon the minds 
 of others will be sealed afresh and with increased power upon his own 
 heart and conscience. We do not see why the Holy Spirit, if still 
 vouchsafed in all the fulness that the Friends claim for it and we 
 do not come behind them one whit in this respect may not visit the 
 closet as well as the congregation, and guide the pen of the writer as 
 well as the tongue of the speaker. We think that a spoken dis- 
 course, spoken after ample and prayerful consideration, affords by far 
 the best opportunity for MAN'S INSTRUMENTALITY AND GOD'S IMME- 
 DIATE INFLUENCE to be brought into UNITED OPERATION ; still we 
 would not deny to the written sermon where the object has been 
 God's glory and the good of souls, rather than a desire to dazzle by 
 brilliance of thought, and charm by elegance of diction and graceful 
 delivery the prospect of being made useful in the promotion of God's 
 great work in the hearts of men. A tract has many a time been 
 
 '
 
 81 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 made the blessed means of the sinner's awakening and turning to 
 God ; how much more, then, a prayerfully-prepared discourse on 
 some great doctrine of salvation, delivered in a devout and prayerful 
 spirit, by the living voice of a holy and Christ-like minister. We 
 doubt not that thousands of conversions have been brought about by 
 God's blessing on such means, and thousands of perplexed and 
 mourning pilgrims relieved of their doubts, comforted in their 
 affliction, and encouraged to press forward with new alacrity in the 
 heavenly journey. Those who prepare their sermons and write them 
 do well ; but those who, after equally careful preparation, deliver 
 them from a full heart, unaided by written notes or committal to 
 memory, do incomparably better. Having done all that man can do, 
 the minister who acts on this plan then places himself in the hands 
 of the Great Master, under whose immediate teaching his utterances 
 may be as effectually guided and moulded as if he had made no 
 preparation at all, with this grand advantage that the intellect and 
 the judgment having done their part, and the spirit of the man being 
 prepared by previous meditation and prayer, he has not to catch at 
 suggestions as they arise, and turn them to account ; but the whole 
 is already so arranged in his mind as to admit of its being brought 
 out in the most effective manner. The best discourses of the Friends 
 are grievously deficient in this respect. Yery few of them ever 
 attempt to sustain a connected train of thought for twenty minutes ; 
 and when they do, they almost invariably lose themselves, repeat the 
 same thought again and again, and not unfrequently miss the right 
 time for sitting down, undoing most effectually in the latter portion of 
 their incoherent discourses by far the greater part of the impression 
 produced by the former. "We know that the Friends will think these 
 assertions rather severe ; but in an inquiry like the present the truth 
 must be spoken without compromise. We have been stating what 
 is the general rule. There are exceptions ; some of their effusions 
 are perfect in their kind ; but these exceptions are extremely rare, 
 and they are not at all superior in any respect to the best, and 
 infinitely more common, efforts of the most spiritually-minded 
 ministers of other denominations.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 85 
 
 If others over-rate the human element, and attach too much 
 importance to talent and learning, the Friends err as fatally in the 
 opposite extreme, in dispensing as completely as possible with all 
 that is human in the work of the ministry. The grand triumph of 
 Christianity consists in redeeming body and soul and spirit from the 
 power of sin, and enlisting in the service of Christ all the powers of 
 the whole man physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual. The 
 fishermen of Galilee, though illiterate, were made the instruments 
 of amazing good, proving that God's power is independent of great 
 learning or natural powers ; but the choice of the apostle Paul as the 
 great apostle of the Gentiles equally shows that God designs to 
 make all human advantages, gifts, and attainments subservient to 
 His great purposes in the redemption of the world from sin. 
 
 The extent to which the Friends have of late seen their error in 
 their contempt for human learning and talent is worthy of remark; 
 and could all see it and act upon it as J. J. Gurney has indicated, 
 there might very soon be a complete re-action in the Society. The 
 force of early habit, and the prejudices of education, however, prevent 
 this sentiment from producing any important change in their views 
 and practices. The concessions made by J, J. Gurney would have been 
 viewed by Robert Barclay with extreme jealousy ; and by many of his 
 contemporaries he has been regarded as a dangerous innovator. Be 
 this as it may, he has done little or nothing to bring about those 
 changes which would properly result from the altered belief; but 
 has given the whole weight of his authority on the side of a devoted 
 and unchanging adhesion to the silent system, even to the very death 
 of the Society. In the work already alluded to, we find the following 
 concession to the value of human learning : " The laws of grammar 
 and philology, and the science of exegesis, in all its branches, a*re 
 open to all mankind, and have actually led to the pouring in of so 
 much light on Scripture as very much to fix its meaning for the 
 permanent benefit of our race." How different this, as well as the 
 extract already given from the " Observations," from the coarse 
 prejudice which finds its way into the discourses of some of the more 
 eminent ministers of the old school who, even to the present day,
 
 80 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 persist in paining their intelligent hearers by describing the men 
 who have conferred this boon on the world as " man-made" ministers, 
 and their effusions as stolen from the Bible and other people's 
 writings. 
 
 There are thousands of the Friends who remain, to all appearance, 
 strict and orthodox, who will take no steps to bring about a change, 
 but who are thoroughly dissatisfied with .the present state of things. 
 They wear the badge, and endure the silent meetings, not from con- 
 viction, but solely from the force of educational prejudice, long habit, 
 and that form of ecclesiastical authority which, though emphatically 
 repudiated by the Friends, has, nevertheless, made its appearance, 
 and exerted a very considerable influence over the beliefs and prac- 
 tices of the modern Friends. The possibility of such degeneracy is in- 
 dicated in the work already referred to, " The Papal and Hierarchical 
 System." The author in his introduction says, "When I speak of 
 the Papal and Hierarchical System, I do not mean to confine either 
 my own view or that of my readers to the Church of Rome. I speak 
 rather of the system which places man under the rule of man in 
 matters of religion the laity, more particularly, under the rule of the 
 clergy so that human wisdom and authority are found in various 
 degrees to usurp the place of pure, divine truth." Again " I believe 
 Antichrist may be lurking in almost every existing sect ;" and on 
 the next page " We ought all to look to ourselves, lest anything of 
 the same leaven should be found lurking within our own borders." 
 We firmly believe that no existing sect is so free from this leaven as 
 the Society of Friends; but we are not the less firmly convinced that 
 the taint is there, and that much of the present feebleness is caused 
 by neglect of means ; which neglect has arisen, and is perpetuated, 
 by this very leaning to human authority, the opinions of the pro- 
 pounders of the theory having now authoritatively supplanted and 
 over-ruled the free action of the Society in examining into and recti' 
 fying the errors of their system. We are aware, that, while we write, 
 this remark is, in certain directions, becoming daily less applicable. 
 The willingness shown this very year in connexion with the subject 
 of disownrnent for marriage out of the Society, shows a considerable
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 87 
 
 loosening of prejudices. It must be borne in mind, however, that 
 the present object is an enquiry into the causes that have brought 
 the Society to its present condition ; and it still remains to be seen, 
 whether the present shaking will or will not be allowed to extend to 
 the opening out of such questions as " silent waiting " and the 
 ministry. If the present enquiry should be the means in any 
 degree of inducing the Friends to review these important subjects 
 in the same candid spirit with which the marriage question has been 
 approached, the writer will feel that he has not laboured in vain, and 
 will hail the event as the earnest of brighter and better days for the 
 Society, and of inestimable benefit to the world at large. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 PBEACHING THE GOSPEL WICKLIFFE AND LTTTHEE. 
 
 " Your call is not to instruct men in the doctrines and duties of Christianity merely, 
 but to convert them from sin to holiness." DK. CLAEKE. 
 
 " The word of him who has his commission from heaven, shall be as a fire and as a 
 hammer ; sinners shall be convinced and converted to God by it." " The church or 
 chapel in which the blind or lame are not healed, has no Christ in it, and is not 
 worthy of attendance." 
 
 THE incessant struggle of the reformers of bygone ages to preach, 
 and of the opponents of vital religion to put a stop to this most 
 effectual means of exposing error and promoting the spread of the 
 truth, as seen in the whole history of the Church, proves, more 
 effectually and convincingly than any argument can do, the essential 
 importance of preaching as a means of sustaining the vigour, and 
 even the very existence, of the churches. The struggle maybe traced 
 from the commencement of the apostles' labours, when, after the 
 receiving of the Holy Ghost, they set out to fulfil the design of their 
 great Master, " And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem 
 and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the
 
 88 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 earth."" They were to go and " teach all nations." They obeyed, 
 and very soon were taken before the magistrates, who, fearing lest 
 " this man's blood " should be brought upon them, " commanded 
 them not to speak at all nor preach in the name of Jesus." 
 
 It was by the preaching of the word, and the translation of the 
 Bible into the vulgar tongue, that Wickliffe so effectually turned the 
 people of England from " dead works" to the living God, and in cor- 
 responding measure roused the jealousy of the pope and the cardinals. 
 But Wickliffe did not hesitate to prepare his sermons beforehand, 
 nor to preach at stated times and yet God signally owned his 
 ministry. " A terrible pestilence, which is said to have carried off 
 half the human race, appeared in England, after successively devas- 
 tating Asia and the Continent of Europe. This visitation of the 
 Almighty sounded like the trumpet of the judgment-day in the ear 
 of Wickliffe. Alarmed at the thoughts of eternity, the young man 
 for he was then only twenty-four years old passed days and nights 
 groaning, and sighing, and calling upon God to show him the path he 
 ought to follow. He found it in the Holy Scriptures, and resolved 
 to make it known to others. He commenced with prudence ; but 
 being elected in 1361 Warden of Baliol, and in 1365 Warden of 
 Canterbury College also, he began to set forth the doctrine of faith 
 in a more energetic manner. His biblical and philosophical studies, 
 his knowledge of theology, his penetrating mind, the purity of his 
 manners, his unbending courage, rendered him the object of general 
 admiration. A profound teacher and an eloquent preacher, he 
 demonstrated to the learned during the course of the week what he in- 
 tended to preach ; and on the Sunday he preached to the people what he 
 had previously demonstrated. His disputations gave strength to his 
 sermons, and his sermons shed light on his disputations. He accused 
 the clergy of having banished the Holy Scriptures, and required that 
 the word of God should be re-established in the Church. Wickliffe 
 continued his uncompromising career, and defended the Crown from 
 the aggressions of Kome." The papacy grew alarmed. Wickliffe 
 was summoned to appear before the Convocation. He appeared be- 
 fore them but came off unscathed. He then turned his attention
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 89 
 
 more than ever to the spread of the Gospel by preaching. " To carry 
 the glad tidings into the remotest hamlets was now the great idea 
 that possessed Wickliffe. * If begging friars,' said he, ' stroll over the 
 country, preaching the legends of the saints and the history of the 
 Trojan war, we must do for God's glory what they do to fill their 
 wallets, and form a vast itinerant evangelization to convert souls to 
 Jesus Christ. Turning to the most pious of his disciples, he said to 
 them, ' Go and preach, it is the sublimest work.' " How different from 
 the Friends who, because they consider that to call and prepare 
 men for the ministry is the sole prerogative of the Head of the 
 Church, conclude that they are to do nothing, in word or deed, to 
 encourage each other to engage in this blessed work! thus leaving 
 the individual to endure alone, and unaided by divinely-directed 
 human sympathy, the solemn responsibility and the searching process 
 which every one must go through who enters in a right spirit upon 
 the work. " ' But,' " he proceeds, " 'imitate not the priests whom we 
 see after the sermon sitting in the ale-houses, or at the gaming-tables, 
 or wasting their time in hunting. After your sermon is ended, do you 
 visit the sick, the aged, the poor, the blind, and the lame, and succour 
 them according to your ability.' Such was the new practical theology 
 which Wickliffe inaugurated it was that of Christ himself." The 
 people thronged around these simple but earnest heralds of the Prince 
 of Peace, and the results were such as no system of forms or types 
 could produce. " Missions of this kind," adds D'Aubigne, to whose 
 work on the Reformation we are indebted for the above particulars, 
 "have constantly revived in England at the great epochs of the 
 Church." Very similar, indeed, were the early days of the Society of 
 Friends, before the silent system had infused its paralysing influence 
 into their operations, and leavened, as it lias gradually but effectually 
 done, the whole mass ; spreading abroad a spiritual lethargy which 
 has rendered the Society almost as indifferent to the great work with 
 which they set out, as if they really thought that the Gospel had 
 done its work, and that there were no souls perishing around them for 
 lack of that knowledge, which, if they would but shake off this illusion, 
 they are so eminently calculated, under God's blessing, to bestow.
 
 90 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 But here, again, the enemies of the truth bear witness to the power 
 of preaching by their jealousy of it. " The clergy became alarmed, 
 and a law was passed, commanding every king's officer to commit the 
 preachers and their followers to prison." But "Wickliffe did not 
 trust to this instrumentality alone. He provided the people with 
 the Bible iu their own tongue. In 1380 his translation was com- 
 pleted. This was a great event in the religious history of England, 
 who, outstripping the nations of the Continent, took her station in 
 the foremost rank in the great work of disseminating the Scriptures. 
 " The reception of the work surpassed "Wickliffe's expectations. The 
 Holy Scriptures exercised a reviving influence over men's hearts ; 
 minds were enlightened, souls converted ; the voices of the poor 
 priests had done little in comparison with this voice ; something new 
 had entered the world. Citizens, soldiers, and the lower classes, 
 welcomed this new era with acclamations; the high-born curiously 
 examined this unknown book ; and even Anne of Luxemburg, wife of 
 Richard II., having learned English, began to read the Gospels dili- 
 gently. She did more than this ; she made them known to Arundel, 
 Archbishop of York and Chancellor, and afterwards a persecutor, 
 but who now, struck at the sight of a queen and a foreign lady 
 humbly devoting her leisure to the study of such virtuous books, 
 commenced reading them himself, and rebuked the prelates who 
 neglected this holy pursuit. ' You could not meet two persons on 
 the highway,' says a contemporary writer, ' but one of them was 
 Wickliffe's disciple.' " In one respect the times now differ from 
 those just described. The Bible is now in almost every one's hand ; 
 but such is the tendency of people in general to accept just what they 
 are taught, and to accommodate their ideas of duty to their conve- 
 nience, that the practical teachings of Christ are now as much 
 ignored in many points as ever they were, and it becomes just as 
 necessary for these extraordinary messengers to arise, and startle 
 both teachers and people into a fresh inquiry into what the Bible 
 teaches, as if they had not possessed the Bible at all, or were only 
 familiar with certain limited portions of its contents. In connexion 
 with our dealings of late in India and China, it might be thought
 
 SOCIETY OF miEKDS. 91 
 
 from the tone of our pulpit teaching, whether Church or Dissent, 
 that the royal law of doing to others as we would have them to do to 
 us, had been erased from Heaven's statute-book, and that our forgive- 
 ness of our enemies was no longer made an absolute condition of our 
 receiving forgiveness from a just and holy and promise-keeping God ; 
 while iniquities of the most gross and heinous description have been 
 sanctioned in the same high quarters, and reconciled with a degene- 
 rate and fast degenerating standard of Christian duty, as God's 
 providential way of preparing for the civilization and evangelization 
 of the down-trodden and helpless victims of British cupidity and 
 ambition. The cannon-ball, we are told, is the ploughshare that 
 turns up the soil, and then the missionary follows, and sows the 
 Gospel seed ! Men guilty of tampering with the vices of the people, 
 and who are amassing large fortunes by means which spread broadcast 
 the seeds of every vice and every crime that could be mentioned ; 
 the knowing proprietors of houses in which the grossest forms of sin 
 are encouraged as a means of making money, may sit in nine-tenths 
 of our churches and chapels from one year's end to another, and never 
 hear a word that is calculated to make them feel uneasy, or doubt for 
 a moment that they are in the direct course for happiness and heaven. 
 If ever there was a time when the voice of the prophet was required 
 to proclaim, alike to rulers, priests, and people, the terrible judgments 
 of God for exalted opportunities lost, and privileges trampled under 
 foot, and means of most extended usefulness shamefully prostituted 
 to the purposes of unrelenting avarice, such a time is the present. 
 England might read the message of Jonah to that great city Nineveh 
 with vast advantage. 
 
 Not less remarkable was the revival of preaching by Martin Luther, 
 at a time when the lectures and casuistic disquisitions of schoolmen 
 had taken the place of the pure Gospel, and when faith in Christ 
 Jesus was set aside for the superstitious and stupid formalism of an 
 apostate Church. No apology is needed for transcribing the fol- 
 lowing passage entire from D'Aubigne's " Reformation," because it so 
 effectually substantiates the present argument, proving that a stated 
 ministry may be blessed, not with those occasional and scanty visita-
 
 02 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 tions merely which Barclay allows, but blessed with signal success, 
 and fraught with results the most important to the whole world 
 shewing at the same time that the learning which the Friends have 
 so seriously under-rated in connexion with the ministry, may, under 
 the regulating influence of the Holy Spirit, be made subservient to 
 most important ends, otherwise unattainable, and that a very consi- 
 derable amount of human instrumentality is sometimes employed by 
 the Great Head of the Church, both in preparing and in calling out 
 his chosen servants into their appointed field of labour. 
 
 " During his career at Wittemburg, Luther was called to teach 
 physics and logic an arrangement in which regard was doubtless had 
 -to the philosophical studies he had pursued at Erfurt, and the degree 
 he had obtained as Master of Arts. Thus did he find himself, while 
 hungering and thirsting for the word of God, compelled to attend 
 almost exclusively to the study of Aristotle's scholastic philosophy. 
 He needed the bread of life which God gives to the world, yet was 
 obliged to occupy himself with human subtleties. What a constraint 
 this ! and how it must have afflicted him ! ' I am well, by the grace 
 of God,' writes he, ' were it not that I have to devote my whole 
 energies to the study of philosophy. I have greatly desired, ever 
 since my coming to "Wittemburg, to exchange this branch for that of 
 theology ;' but he adds, that it might not be supposed that he meant 
 the theology of that time, ' The theology I mean is that which looks 
 for the kernel in the nut, the albumen of the wheat, and the marrow 
 of the bones. Be it as it may,' he goes on to say with a confidence 
 which was his life's very soul, ' man is almost always deceived by the 
 judgments he pronounces ; but He is our God. He will kindly con- 
 duct us evermore.' The labours in which Luther had then to engage 
 were of the utmost service to him afterwards, when he had to combat 
 , the errors of the schoolmen. 
 
 " It was impossible that he could keep to this. It behoved his heart's 
 desire to be fulfilled. That same power which some years before had 
 driven Luther from the bar to the monastic life, now drove him from 
 philosophy to the Bible. He zealously applied himself to the study 
 of the ancient tongues, chiefly Greek and Hebrew, that thus he might
 
 SOCIETY OF FJUENDS. 93 
 
 derive learning and divinity from their proper sources ; * and in such 
 labours his mental constitution enabled him to be indefatigable. Some 
 months after arriving at the University, he applied for the degree of 
 Bachelor in Theology, and obtained it about the end of March, 1509, 
 with the peculiar vocation of devoting himself to biblical theology. 
 
 " And now, every day at one o'clock, Luther had to speak upon the 
 Bible precious hour alike for the Professor and the disciples, and 
 one that enabled them to enter more and more deeply into the 
 divine sense of those revelations, so long lost to the learned and to 
 the common people. He began his lectures with an explanation of 
 the Psalms, and passed on from that to the Epistle to the Romans : 
 
 TO HIS MEDITATIONS On which he WAS CHIEFLY INDEBTED for the 
 
 light that broke upon his heart. In the retirement of his quiet cell, 
 with the Epistle of St. Paul open before him, he devoted hours of 
 study to the divine word. Having one day come to the 17th verse 
 of the first chapter, he there read the passage of the prophet 
 Habakkuk ' Thejitst shall live by his faith' He was struck by these 
 words. For the just, then, there is a different way of life from that 
 of the rest of men, and this life is bestowed by faith. This word, 
 which he received into his heart as if God had deposited it there, 
 unveiled to him the mystery of the Christian life, and gave further 
 growth to that life in himself. Long after, amid his many labours, 
 he would think that he still heard a voice saying to him, ' The just 
 shall live by his faith.' 
 
 " Luther's lectures, thus prepared, were unlike anything that had 
 been heard up to that time. It was no fine-worded rhetorician or 
 pedantic schoolman that now spoke ; it was a Christian who had 
 experienced the power of divine truths, who drew them from the 
 BIBLE, brought them forth again from the treasury of his own heart, 
 and presented them all full of life to his astonished auditors. It was 
 not man's teaching; it was the teaching of God- 
 
 " This altogether novel exposition of the truth made a noise ; the 
 noise of it spread far and wide, and attracted a crowd of young foreign 
 students to the recently-founded University. Several even of the 
 
 * The Holy Scriptures in the original tongues.
 
 94 ESSAY OJf THE 
 
 Professors attended Luther's lectures among others Mellerstadt, 
 often called the light of the world, the first rector who, at Leipsic, 
 where he had formerly been, had already combated the ridiculous 
 dogmatics of scholasticism, had denied that ' the light created on the 
 first day was theology,' and had maintained that the study of letters 
 was the basis of that science. ' This monk,' said he, ' will put to 
 rout all the doctors ; he will introduce a new doctrine, and reform 
 the whole Church ; for he takes his post on the word of Christ, and 
 no man can impugn or overthrow that word, even were he to attack 
 it with all the arms of philosophy, of the sophists, the Scotists, 
 Albertists, the Thomists, and with all the Tartaretus.' 
 
 " Staupitz, who was the HAND OF PBOYIDENCE to draw forth the 
 gifts and treasures that lay hid in Luther, now invited him TO PBEACH 
 in the church of the Augustinians. But the young Professor 
 recoiled from this proposal. He wished to confine himself to acade- 
 mical functions, and trembled to think of undertaking to preach also. 
 Staupitz urged him in vain. ' N"o, no,' he replied ; ' it is no small 
 matter to speak to men in the place of God.' How touching is this 
 humility in the great reformer of the Church ! Staupitz insisted. But 
 the ingenious Luther found fifteen arguments, pretexts, and pretences, 
 to defend himself against this call. In the end, as the chief of the 
 Augustinians continued his attack, ' Ah, Mr. Doctor,' said Luther, 
 ' in doing this you are killing me.' ' Agreed,' said the Yicar- General ; 
 ' and be it so in God's name ! for our Lord has need of devoted and 
 able men in the upper world also.' Luther had at last to yield." 
 
 How different this from the extreme view of the Friends that as 
 it is the sole prerogative of Christ to call and prepare his servants, 
 therefore they cannot take any part in "the selection, preparation, 
 and appointment of ministers of the Gospel ;" and that since " man 
 can be no adequate judge beforehand of the capacity of his brother 
 for such a work," it is the duty of his people to " wait patiently on 
 their Divine Master with prayer and supplication, until he be pleased 
 to raise up and anoint for their service those whom he has chosen." 
 Here, again, they lose sight of the important principle that the pur- 
 poses of God are worked out by the employment of means. If the
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 93 
 
 spirits of the prophets are to be " subject to the prophets" after they 
 are called, and if the believers in general are exhorted not to believe 
 every spirit, but to try the spirits whether they be of God, surely the 
 more experienced members of the Church may form some estimate 
 beforehand of a brother's probable fitness for the work ; and they 
 may become the instruments in God's hand to encourage and draw 
 out the diffident or reluctant subject of the call. If, as J. J. Gurney 
 admits, the system of the Friends has a marked tendency to encou- 
 rage a slothful and indifferent disposition in the minister who has 
 received and been accustomed to attend to the call, it must be at 
 least equally powerful in keeping back those who are called, but who 
 have not yet had the courage to answer ; and there is every reason to 
 believe that hundreds of promising young Friends have, from this 
 very want of encouragement such as man may properly hold out, 
 without in the least interfering with the work of the Great Master, 
 been lost to the Church and the world ; and, as a necessary conse- 
 quence, their own growth has been blighted, their glowing desires 
 chilled, the lusts of other things have ENTERED IN, and they have 
 brought NO fruit to perfection. 
 
 It was Jesus Christ who called Luther, but Staupitz was the 
 instrument employed to press home the call. Had Luther been left 
 to himself, and Staupitz yielded to his diffidence, the great design of 
 God with reference to Luther would have been frustrated. It is not 
 that God CANNOT do these things by his immediate influence, but that 
 he designs, he WILLS to do it through his chosen instruments ; and 
 Staupitz was as much chosen to develope the gift in Luther, as Luther 
 was chosen to oppose, by his preaching of the neglected Gospel, the 
 formalisms of Home and the dogmas of the Pope. 
 
 To return to the preaching of Luther. In the middle of Wittem- 
 burg market-place there stood an old wooden chapel, thirty feet long 
 by twenty feet broad, with its partitions propped on all sides, and 
 ready to fall into ruins. An old pulpit, made of boards, and three 
 feet high, received the preacher, and in this wretched chapel began 
 the preaching of the Reformation. God designed that what was to 
 re-establish his glory was to have the most lowly beginnings. 
 
 Luther preached, and all were struck with the new preacher ; his
 
 90 ESSAY ON TlfE 
 
 hearers were captivated with his expressive face, noble air, and clear 
 sonorous voice. Before his time, most preachers had sought rather 
 for what might amuse their auditors, than for what might convert 
 them. But the deep seriousness that predominated in Luther's 
 sermons, the joy wherewith his knowledge of the Gospel had filled 
 his heart, gave to his eloquence an authority, a fervour, and an 
 unction, which not one of his predecessors had possessed. 
 
 And yet he preached at stated times; but who will say that he did 
 not wait on his ministry, watching thereto with prayer, and medi- 
 tation, and research, always having his loins girt about and his light 
 burning, in order that when the time came he might be "found 
 ready." 
 
 " Endued with a mind remarkable for promptness and vivacity," 
 says one of his adversaries, " of a strong memory, and singularly 
 happy in the use he made of his mother tongue, Luther yielded to 
 none of his age in eloquence. Discoursing from the elevation of the 
 pulpit, like a man under the influence of some strong passion, he 
 suited his action to his words, struck the minds of his hearers in 
 the most extraordinary manner, and hurried them like a torrent 
 whithersoever he would. So much force, so much grace and elo- 
 quence, are seldom found among the northern nations." " He had 
 an eloquence," says Bossuet, " full of life and impetuosity, which drew 
 along with it, and ravished the people." 
 
 Soon the little chapel was found too small to contain the hearers 
 that pressed into it in crowds. TJpon this, the town-council of 
 Wittemburg chose Luther as their preacher, and invited him to 
 preach in the town church. He made a still greater impression 
 there. The force of his genius, the eloquence of his diction, and the 
 excellence of the doctrines he announced, alike astonished his hearers. 
 His fame became widely diffused, and Frederick the Wise himself, on 
 one occasion, came to Wittemburg to hear him. Is this, then, the 
 kind of preaching that Barclay would describe as the blowing casually 
 upon the dry bones to raise some feeble breathings after God till the 
 day dawn ? Let the mighty results decide. Here were natural 
 talents, gifts, and graces, human learning and Bible knowledge, all 
 enlisted in the great cause. But what would all these have been,
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. C7 
 
 without the preparing aud accompanying work of the Holy Spirit ? 
 Did Luther depend on the aid of the Spirit, or did he not ? Was he 
 open to the charge of Barclay, that he neither expected nor waited for 
 it ?. Let Luther's own words determine. B/ebuking his followers for 
 their ill-judged use of violence in putting an end to the mass, he dis- 
 tinctly attributes all the efficacy of his preaching to God. He re- 
 garded himself, as he truly was, simply as an instrument in God's hand. 
 He spread the truth, but it was the Holy Spirit that gave it efficacy. 
 " The mass," he said, " is a bad thing; God is its enemy; it ought 
 to be abolished ; and I would that throughout the whole world it were 
 superseded by the Supper of the Gospel. But let none tear any from 
 it with violence. The matter ought to be committed to God. It is 
 his word that ought to act, and not we. I would preach, I would 
 write, bul; I would lay constraint upon no one, for faith is a voluntary 
 thing. See what I have done ! I rose in opposition to the Pope, 
 the indulgences, and the papists ; but I did so without tumult and 
 violence. I pressed before all things the WORD OF GOD ; I preached, 
 I wrote ; I did nothing else. And while I was asleep, or seated 
 familiarly at table with Amsdorff and Melancthon, as we sat and 
 conversed at our ease over our Wittemburg beer, THAT WOBD THAT I 
 HAD BEEN PREACHING subverted the Popedom in such wise, that 
 never was it -so damaged by prince or emperor. I DID NOTHING. 
 ALL was done by the WORD. Had I wished to appeal to force, 
 Germany might possibly have been soaked with blood. But then what 
 would have been the result ? Nothing short of ruin and desolation 
 for soul and body. I therefore kept myself quiet, and left the word 
 to make its course through the world. Know you what the devil 
 thinks, when he sees people employ force in disseminating the Gospel 
 among men? Seated with his hands crossed, behind hell fire, he says, 
 with a malignant look and frightful leer, ' Ah ! but these fools are 
 sages indeed, thus to do my work for me ! ' But when he sees the 
 WORD go forth and engage ALONE on the field of battle, he then feels 
 ill at ease, his knees smite each other ; he shudders and swoons away 
 with fright."* Luther speaks here of the word of God, and not of 
 * D'Aubigne, vol. xi., p. 37. 
 
 H
 
 98 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 the Spirit; but be is here contrasting it with human means, the 
 violence that he has been condemning. That he recognized the need 
 for the influence of the Holy Spirit in giving efficacy to the word, 
 may be clearly implied from his writings on other occasions. His 
 hymn to the Holy Spirit has the following : 
 
 " Oh, kindle in each, breast the flame of love, 
 
 The fire of zeal, the light of hallowed joy ; 
 Thus our weak flesh thy holy aid shall prove, 
 
 Thy strength, thy grace, which nothing can destroy. 
 
 The finger, Thou; of God, on his right hand, 
 
 In uncreated majesty arrayed ; 
 Whilst soon the Father's word through every land, 
 
 In every tongue, BY THEE shall be conveyed." 
 
 To show how extreme are the views of Barclay, and how much 
 room there is for a middle course, avoiding the evils that he con- 
 demns, and securing the advantages he appreciates, without adopting 
 the peculiar views of the Friends as to WAITING for the promptings 
 of the Spirit, we shall here give his description of what he terms 
 " the ministers and ministry our adversaries plead for." 
 
 " 1. They are such as have no immediate call from Christ, to 
 whom the motion of the Spirit is not reckoned necessary; but who 
 are called, sent forth, and ordained by wicked men. 
 
 " 2. They are such to whom the grace of God is no needful quali- 
 fication ; and so may be true ministers according to them, though 
 they be ungodly, unholy, and profligate men. 
 
 " 3. They are such as wait not for, nor expect, nor need the Spirit 
 of G-od to actuate and move them in the work of the ministry ; but 
 what they do, they do from their own mere natural strength and 
 ability, and what they have stolen from the letter of Scripture and 
 other men's books. 
 
 " 4. They are such as strive and contend for superiority, and claim 
 precedency over one another. 
 
 " 5. They are such as, not having freely received, will not freely 
 give ; but are covetous, doing that which they ought not for filthy 
 lucre's sake. They, judging the life, grace, and Spirit no essential
 
 SOCIETY OF FHIENDS. 99 
 
 part of their ministry, are therefore for the upholding of a human, 
 carnal, dry, barren, fruitless, and dead ministry ; of which, alas ! we 
 have seen the fruits in the most parts of their churches." 
 
 "We readily admit that in the State-authorized formalism and dog- 
 matism of the Eoman and Anglican Churches, there has been, and 
 remains to be, much to warrant the above sweeping censures. The 
 notoriously immoral lives of the clergy in general in Barclay's time, 
 and of too many of them at the present day, and some of the teach- 
 ings of the Prayer-book, especially Articles XXII. and XXVI., to- 
 gether witli the whole system of preferments, pluralities, compulsory 
 support of the ministry and churches, and enormous salaries, cer- 
 tainly form a striking contrast to the Grospel standard. We admit, 
 too, that even in our Dissenting communities there is much that 
 savours undesirably of the Judaizing tendency that so early showed 
 itself in the Christian Church. The Friends have done a noble work 
 in their testimony against the distinction of clergy and laity the 
 heresy of a human priesthood the " sacraments " of " water bap- 
 tism," and the " Supper," in which the Christian minister assumes 
 the priestly character, and from which, as the ever prolific germ of 
 formalism, Popery took its rise, and in which the puissant germ of 
 popery will ever remain conserved, ready in degenerate times, as with 
 the Tractarians, to merge into Popery, until enlightened spiritual 
 views come to be entertained on these two important topics. 
 
 We contend, however, that there is a middle course between all 
 this and the silently expectant system into which, as the opposite 
 extreme, the Friends have rushed ; a middle course, in which the 
 solid advantages of a regular stated ministry may be secured, free 
 from the evils that have been alluded to a ministry not entered 
 upon in man's wisdom or will, but in the fear of God, at the call of 
 Christ, in which shall be secured all the advantages of human culti- 
 vation, and learning, and talent, sanctified by, and subordinated to, 
 the Holy Spirit, and depending on its guidance alone for direction and 
 
 power. IN THE WANT OF PROVISION FOE SUCH A MINISTRY, more 
 
 than by all other circumstances combined, we believe that the weak- 
 ness of the Friends consists. 
 
 H2
 
 100 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 PAYMENT OF MINISTERS. 
 
 " Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of 
 the temple ? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar ? Even so 
 hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 
 1 COB. ix. 13, 14. 
 
 IT cannot be denied that too many of the professed ministers of 
 Christ are devoid of the true qualifications for their important 
 office. Actuated by worldly motives, total strangers to the expe- 
 rience that led the great apostle to exclaim, " The love of Christ 
 constraineth us," they answer rather to the character of the wolf 
 that entereth but to steal and to destroy, than to that of the Good 
 Shepherd that giveth his life for the sheep. 
 
 It is equally obvious, that to such characters the distinction between 
 clergy and laity has peculiar charms. The preaching of such men 
 must, of necessity, be cold and formal, and it would be preposterous 
 to expect from it the genuine fruits of the Gospel. In connexion 
 with such ministry, salvation by forms is a necessary concomitant 
 the unregenerate minister being no more capable of promoting the 
 work of vital religion in his hearers, than a man deaf from his birth 
 would be qualified to teach music, or a blind man the art of painting. 
 The enormous emoluments, the deference, the worldly influence con- 
 nected with the priestly office in State-churches, are eminently calcu- 
 lated to induce men from inferior motives to undertake the " cure of 
 souls." The same evil is to be found in some of the Dissenting com- 
 munities, though in a much more limited degree. The extent to 
 which this influence prevails, it is not our province now to determine. 
 Suffice it to say, that it is obvious enough to account for the strong 
 stand that the Friends have made against a hireling ministry. 
 
 But here, again, we are compelled to inquire, whether their zeal has 
 not urged them into the opposite extreme, in inducing them to
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 101 
 
 condemn all regular payment of ministers, and all devotion of the lives 
 of individuals to the exclusive work of the ministry. They go so far 
 as to admit, that while a minister is engaged amongst a given people, 
 so as to have no time to labour for his own maintenance, the Gospel 
 requires that they should support him. Let it, then, be supposed 
 that, like Timothy, some one is called to give up his whole life to the 
 service, then must he be entitled to maintenance for his whole life. 
 Here we are met by the argument, that the support was to be a free- 
 will offering, and not a stipulated sum ; and that when a fixed amount 
 is paid, it is " purchasing the gift of God." Against all compulsory 
 payments for the support of the ministry or any of the arrangements 
 of the Christian religion, we would here enter our strongest protest ; 
 but we confess that we cannot see how the principle at issue is 
 involved in the payment of a moderate salary, barely sufficient, it 
 may be, to supply the most ordinary wants of the minister, instead 
 of leaving the sum open from year to year. This difficulty may, how- 
 ever, be met by the minister not stipulating for a given sum, but 
 consenting to live upon the free-will offerings of his flock, leaving 
 the amount to their individual generosity and conscience a method 
 that has been tried again and again with complete success, and 
 which, if the qualifications and call of the individual are such as 
 to fit him for the work, only requires faith to admit of its general 
 adoption. 
 
 Here, as in other extremes, the system of the Friends defeats its 
 own object. Their ministers not being required to give themselves 
 wholly to the work, are generally engaged in some branch of trade 
 or commerce, or in one of the professions. If, by this means, the 
 ministers are preserved from the temptation to undertake the office 
 from worldly motives, they are just in proportion in danger of being 
 tempted to NEGLECT the oversight of the flock for the pursuit of 
 gain of allowing themselves to be so far absorbed in the affairs of 
 business, and so leavened by the spirit of the world, as to lessen very 
 much their inclination and their opportunities for feeding the flock 
 over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers, or for preaching 
 the Gospel to a perishing world. The Friends see and lament the
 
 102 ESSAY OK THE 
 
 worldly spirit that is sapping their strength and cooling their zeal ; 
 but they will not see how the system in which they take such pride 
 engenders the very evils that it is intended to counteract or to 
 exclude. Worldly-mindedness is a cause of spiritual dearth ; but 
 there is a cause for the cause. We put it to the candid reader, 
 whether the paid minister with his stipend of 150 or 200 per 
 annum, without the prospect, more or less remote, of having hundreds 
 changed into thousands, or being raised to exalted worldly position 
 as the occupant of some deanery or bishopric or the Friend who 
 has become a minister of Christ, whether he be a poor man struggling 
 through long and toilsome business-hours for the means of subsis- 
 tence, or a wealthy Friend who still remains connected with com- 
 mercial affairs, mixed up, it may be, with the concerns of factories, 
 railway directorships, or joint-stock companies is more likely to be 
 distracted and cooled down by intercourse with the world, or deterred 
 by the influence of filthy lucre from the full and systematic discharge 
 of his ministerial duties. It should here be borne in mind, that, in 
 addition to the fearfully low moral atmosphere of the commercial 
 world generally, to which the Friend is thus exposed, he is altogether 
 free from that strong motive to be instant in season and out of 
 season, which the regularly recurring duties of the other constantly 
 present ; but, on the other hand, is furnished by his system with a 
 ready excuse when prevented by the cold and worldly spirit from 
 exercising his gift that the Spirit does not move him. Supposing, 
 however, that the individual is enabled through grace to rise superior 
 to the worldly spirit, and to keep the things of God constantly upper- 
 most while attending to the affairs of the world, still it is impossible 
 that his mind can be to the same extent impressed and informed with 
 regard to the wants of his flock, and of the perishing world around 
 him, as would be the case if, in the faithful discharge of his pastoral 
 duties, he occupied a considerable portion of every day in visiting the 
 members of his flock, and those children of sorrow and affliction that 
 abound in the world, and on whose behalf the great Master claims 
 the attention and sympathy of every disciple, but especially that of 
 his ambassadors.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 103 
 
 The instructions of Paul to Titus prove that the payment of minis- 
 ters was a recognized practice in the apostolic days. It has its liability 
 to abuse ; and abuse soon crept in favoured, as it appears, by the 
 absence of system in the appointment of ministers. " For there be 
 many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the 
 circumcision ; whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole 
 houses, teaching things they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake." The 
 Friends quote this expression " for filthy lucre's sake," to show that 
 the ministry is to be entirely unpaid ; but a careful inspection of the 
 two or three passages where it occurs, will show that it rather indi- 
 cates that they were paid, and that the apostle was guarding against 
 the abuse, of undertaking these duties FOB, THE SAKE of the remune- 
 ration. The order of things was not established at once upon a com- 
 plete and permanent basis ; but, as emergencies arose, arrangements 
 were made to meet them, and as abuses crept in, they were met by 
 regulations suited to the occasion. Thus it is that we find Paul 
 speaking of " letters of commendation " from one church to another ; 
 thus it was that the seven men were chosen to preside over the 
 daily ministration of the temporalities of the Church ; and thus it was 
 that Paul left Titus at Crete, expressly that, says he, " thou shouldst 
 set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every 
 city, as I had appointed thee." Then follow the qualities to be pos- 
 sessed by the elected elder or bishop, where, amongst other things it 
 is prescribed, that he should hold " fast the faithful word as he hath 
 been TAUGHT; that he may be able by sound doctrine both to 
 exhort and to convince the gainsayers." 
 
 . It was in this rational manner that Paul the apostle proposed to 
 remedy the abuse to which allusion has been made, and to stop the 
 unruly, the vain talkers, and the deceivers : viz., by the regular 
 appointment of some of the older and more experienced brethren 
 (elders) as overseers and teachers in the church men qualified by 
 genuine tried disinterestedness, by true Christian temper and graces, 
 and by suitable instruction, to take such a prominent and recognized 
 place, as teachers and rulers in the Church, as should lead the people 
 to withdraw their confidence from the unprincipled and designing
 
 104 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 men whom he describes, (v. 10,) with whom the love of gain was the 
 ruling motive. 
 
 The principles on which the churches of Christ are to be consti- 
 tuted will be found in the New Testament and the broad outline of 
 the resultant practice is traced in the narrative of the Acts of the 
 Apostles and in the Epistles of Paul ; but the filling in, the minute 
 details, are left to be worked out by enlightened judgment, in the 
 Spirit of Christ, acting on the experience obtained from the various 
 experiments that have from time to time been made. 
 
 The PRINCIPLE of paid ministers is laid down by the great Master 
 himself, when, not satisfied with the instructions given to the Seventy 
 for the special occasion on which he was sending them, he gives it a 
 universal application, by saying, " For the labourer is worthy of his 
 hire." The great Apostle to the Gentiles enunciates the same prin- 
 ciple, bringing the law of Moses to bear typically on the question,* 
 and concluding, " Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they that 
 preach the gospel should live by the gospel." The Friends allow the 
 force of this argument to be neutralised by the fact, that Paul, while 
 asserting the right, declines to make use of it, saying, " But I have 
 used none of these things ; neither have I written these things, that 
 it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, 
 than that any man should make my glorying void." " What is my 
 reward then ? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make 
 the gospel without charge, that I abuse not my power in the 
 gospel." 1 Cor. ix. 15, et seq. All honour to those who, like Paul, 
 have the pre-eminently disinterested zeal that led him thus to write 
 to the Corinthians. But let not the system which the Lord 
 hath ordained, be set aside or called in question, because one of his 
 exalted servants chose to decline to use the power that the Gospel 
 gave him. 
 
 But there was a special reason why Paul acted thus towards the 
 Corinthians. Contention and unwarrantable partiality had divided 
 
 * 1 Cor. ix. 9 : "For it is written, Thou sLalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox. 
 Doth God take cars for oxen ? or saith he it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes 
 no doubt this was written," &c.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 105 
 
 the infant church into hostile factions. Gross immorality had crept 
 in, and the believers had not been faithful in dealing with the 
 offenders. So far were they from being made perfect in love, that 
 brother went to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. In 
 all these things they proved that they were still carnal, and required 
 to be fed with milk, and not with meat. But to bring this painful 
 state of things more closely home to Paul, they had disputed his 
 very apostleship, and made it necessary for him to discharge that most 
 painful of all duties to the generous and disinterested, to stand up 
 in vindication of his own apostleship and authority. " Am I not an 
 apostle?" he enquires indignantly; " am I not free? Have I not 
 se'en Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?" 
 What wonder, then, that the apostle, filled with righteous zeal and 
 indignation, should refuse to eat of the milk of such a flock, or 
 to partake of their carnal things ? But the sequel proves, that 
 though labouring, when he could, for his own maintenance, and 
 refusing altogether to receive anything from the ungracious Corin- 
 thians, he did receive support from others, in such a way as to 
 confirm by his own example the principle that he enunciated. In 
 his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, where, with mingled feelings, 
 he rejoices on the one hand over the good effect which had been 
 produced by his former letter, and regrets on the other hand the 
 remains of that hard feeling towards himself which had before roused 
 his indignation, he justifies the course that he has taken, (xi. 7-10) : 
 " Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be 
 exalted, because I have preached the gospel of God freely? I robbed 
 other churches, TAKING- WAGES OF THEM to do you service. And 
 when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no 
 man ; for that which was lacking to me the brethren from Macedonia 
 supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burden- 
 some unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth is in me, no 
 man shall stop me of this boasting in this region of Achaia.'' 
 Glorious example ! Worthy follower of the great Master ! One day 
 showing to the Ephesian believers, how that so labouring they ought 
 also to support the weak; at another time " robbing " the Macedonian
 
 106 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 churches, who acknowledged his apostleship, " abasing " himself, in 
 order that he might be in a position most effectually to rebuke the 
 special faults of the Achaians. But what of the argument against 
 the payment of ministers ? It has vanished ; the exception has most 
 triumphantly proved the rule. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 A MODEL PASTOB. 
 
 " Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men ; but we are made 
 manifest unto God ; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For 
 we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our 
 behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance and 
 not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves it is unto God : or whether we be 
 sober, it is for your cause." 2 COB. v. 11-13. 
 
 IN order to show by a recent example the way in which a minister 
 may be paid, and yet take the oversight of the flock, " not for filthy 
 lucre's sake, but of a ready mind," and how he may be devoted 
 exclusively to the work of the ministry, without lording it over 
 God's heritage or entailing upon his charge the evils arising from 
 the distinction between the clergy and laity, let us take a glance at 
 the indefatigable and self-forgetting Oberlin, who, in his remote and 
 isolated district of the Ban de la Roche, proved most triumphantly 
 how much God designs to do, and will do, through rightly-directed 
 human instrumentality, and how extensively and effectually the 
 Eriends, in their cry of " Cease ye from man," have overlooked the 
 very means by which God carries out his plans. 
 
 Oberlin had, in the first place, the requisite qualifications of heart 
 and mind. Naturally generous, impulsive, and full of indignation 
 against injustice, and sympathy with the oppressed and the needy, he 
 was, in early life, the subject of Divine visitations, and at the age of 
 twenty solemnly dedicated himself to the Lord. Confessing his sins, 
 relying solely for justification on the merits of a crucified and risen
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 107 
 
 Saviour, renouncing all worldly pleasures and all the dominion of sin, 
 in order that his God might be all and in all to him, he consecrated 
 himself to the service of that God his soul, his body, his all of 
 earthly good desiring, if compatible with the will of God, to be 
 employed in the thrice blessed and exalted work of winning souls to 
 Christ. Burning with zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of 
 souls, he asks to be employed in the blessed work, and to be endued 
 with courage openly to declare himself on the Lord's side. He 
 devoted himself entirely to the work of the ministry, and pursued the 
 prescribed course of studies. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that a man may not become a successful 
 preacher without having pursued a course of preparatory study. 
 Grant, with the Friends, that it is non-essential the question still 
 remains, whether it is desirable or not. We have already quoted 
 a passage from J. J. Gurney, in which he acknowledges, that 
 intellectual culture is calculated to have a highly desirable effect, 
 even on the Gospel ministry. What, then, can be the advantage of 
 neglecting any of those means which are so distinctly recognised as 
 beneficial in their results. That there are many abuses connected 
 with college education is too obvious. Where worldly-minded and 
 ambitious young men congregate, without any proper sense of the 
 solemn nature of the calling which, it may be, from purely worldly 
 motives, they purpose to adopt, regarding it merely as the road to 
 emolument and distinction the result may fairly be anticipated. 
 But when a suitable course of study is undertaken in order to confer 
 a certain limited portion of the qualification required for a career of 
 the most extended usefulness, by individuals whose leading motive, 
 like that of Oberlin, is a burning zeal for God's glory and the salva- 
 tion of souls, then the results will be of a very different character ; 
 and where, in the men chosen to preside over and conduct such 
 establishments, eminent piety and consistency of character are made 
 the primary qualifications, there is every reason to expect that, in the 
 great majority of instances, the studies pursued and the preliminary 
 exercises undergone, as a gradual introduction to the work of the 
 ministry, will be eminently blessed by the great Head of the Church. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that a very large proportion of the great
 
 108 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 revivals of vital Christianity have, in great measure, had their origin 
 in academic halls. It was the lectures of the pious Bradwardine, of 
 Merton College, that gave its bias to the mind of Wickliffe ; and it 
 was in connexion with a university life, that he received the truths 
 which made him what he was. It was in similar circumstances that 
 Luther was called to, and fitted for, the great work of the Reforma- 
 tion in Germany. It was in the halls of learning that the true 
 Reformation arose in England, so erroneously ascribed to Henry 
 VIII., but really effected by men of an entirely different stamp, and 
 of whom he took but little cognizance, his part being chiefly to take 
 advantage of the re-action against Popery, in order to carry his own 
 selfish ends and obtain power and wealth at the expense of the 
 falling Romanists. It was at Oxford, while pursuing his studies, 
 that William Tyndale, whose indefatigable labours together with 
 those of Bilney, at Cambridge, and John Frith sowed the seeds of 
 the English Reformation. Tyndale found in the Bible a revelation 
 long mislaid and neglected. The younger members of the university 
 gathered round him and read the Gospels with him. The monks, as 
 usual, took alarm. Bilney was not inactive at Cambridge. Not 
 long had the sublime lesson of Jesus Christ filled him with joy, before 
 he fell on his knees and exclaimed " O ! Thou who art the Truth, 
 give me strength that I may teach it, and convert the ungodly by 
 means of one who has been ungodly himself." After this prayer his 
 eyes gleamed with new fire ; he had assembled his friends, and, open- 
 ing Erasmus's Testament, had placed his finger on the words that 
 had reached his soul ; and these had reached many."* John Fryth, 
 a young man of eighteen, the son of an innkeeper of Sevenoaks, in 
 Kent, was distinguished among the students of King's College by 
 the promptitude of his understanding and the integrity of his life. 
 In the Holy Scriptures he recognized a learning of a new kind. 
 " Mere study," he said, " is sufficient to impress the theories of 
 mathematics on our minds ; but this science of God meets with a 
 resistance in man that necessitates the intervention of a divine power. 
 Christianity is a regeneration." 
 
 These three young scholars set to work with enthusiasm. They 
 * D AubignS.
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 109 
 
 declared that neither priestly absolution nor any other religious rite 
 could give remission of sins ; that the assurance of pardon is obtained 
 by faith alone, and that faith purifies the heart. They then addressed 
 to all men this saying of Christ's, at which the monks were so much 
 offended, and which is now so offensive to all formalists : " Repent 
 and be converted /" Ideas so new produced a great clamour. They 
 were declaimed persecution followed but the light had broken, 
 and it has never since been obscured as it had previously been. The 
 words of Bilney are being fulfilled when, after praying for the out- 
 pouring of the Holy Spirit, and calling upon God to come to the 
 assistance of his Church, he exclaimed : " A new time is beginning : 
 the Christian assembly is about to be renewed ; some one is coming 
 unto us. I see him, I hear him, it is Jesus Christ He is the King, 
 and it is He who will call the true ministers commissioned to evan- 
 gelise the people." Thus the English Reformation began, indepen- 
 dently of Luther and Zwingle deriving its origin from God alone. 
 "The principle of the Eeforination at Oxford, Cambridge, and 
 London was the new Greek Testament published by Erasmus." 
 
 The men in whom, the fire was first kindled, were young college 
 students. The influence on Avhich they relied for the efficiency of 
 their labours, was the Holy Spirit, which Barclay declares they 
 neither waited for nor expected. The means they employed was the 
 preaching of the Gospel in a manner and under circumstances that 
 Barclay in his eighth proposition condemns as " superstition, will- 
 worship, and abominable idolatry." The results have been, and 
 remain to be, such as to prove that God's signal blessing rested upon 
 the whole ; and had it not been for the too general leaven of Popery 
 and worldly-mindedness infusing itself into the glorious movement, 
 and marring the work, the truths then so distinctly perceived and 
 nobly proclaimed by this band of enlightened men, might, ere now, 
 have been universally acknowledged. 
 
 2. THE CHABACTEE of Oberlin was such as to fit him for his 
 arduous and solemn responsibilities. " His manner was grave, but 
 affectionate ; condescending, but in the highest degree gentlemanly. 
 His courtesy towards his parishioners was constantly testified. He
 
 110 ESSAY 0^ THE 
 
 did not pass those amongst them who were grown up, without pulling 
 off his hat, and speaking a few words of kindness, nor any of the 
 children without shaking them by the hand, or showing them some 
 little act of attention." His servants were treated in every respect 
 as members of his own family taking their meals at the same table, 
 and serving him with the most fervent and disinterested devotedness. 
 He entered with the utmost delicacy into all the feelings of his 
 parishioners, and would not have the feelings of the humblest or the 
 roughest injured, without endeavouring to repair the mischief. This 
 is the kind of influence to disarm ruffianism and coward brutality. 
 If the desperate class were uniformly treated in such a spirit in this 
 country, it would do more to reclaim the outcasts and suppress 
 violent crimes, than all the prisons, penitentiaries, and reformatories 
 in our land. Such an influence the Friends, however much disposed, 
 do not allow themselves the opportunity to exert, except in the 
 capacity of private individuals. How much its influence must be 
 enhanced, when found in connexion with the duties and office of the 
 Christian minister, will be seen at once. 
 
 3. Oberlin's habits were very orderly. He was thoroughly syste- 
 matic in his studies, and, in short, in everything that he did. In his 
 conversation he was fluent and very unreserved, willing to communi- 
 cate all he knew, and seizing every opportunity for acquiring informa- 
 tion. His activity was as astonishing as his zeal. He would climb 
 the steepest summits of the Vosges, or penetrate through the path- 
 less snows, regardless of cold or danger, in order to visit the sick or 
 administer religious consolation to the dying. Often, too, after all the 
 varied and arduous duties of the day, would he travel to Strasburg in 
 the night, to procure medicine or to obtain assistance or information 
 from his friends in the city, that not a day might be lost to the 
 interests of his beloved Steinthal. 
 
 The superiority of his intellectual powers appeared in all he said, 
 and in all he did ; and he possessed a great influence over others, 
 everybody loving and obeying him absolutely, though without ser- 
 vility beautifully exemplifying the meaning of Christ when he said 
 to his ambitious disciples, " "Whosoever will be great among you, let
 
 80CIETY OF FBIENDS. Ill 
 
 him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him 
 be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be minis- 
 tered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." 
 Matt. xx. 26. 
 
 4. Oberlin was distinguished by his devotion as a minister, and his 
 earnestness in seeking the salvation of his parishioners. Fruits are 
 made by the great Master the test of faith and graces ; and there is 
 no fruit more satisfactory as an evidence of capacity and of faithful- 
 ness, than successful effort to bring sinners to Christ. It is not 
 necessary for the cultivation of this grace, that everyone should be a 
 minister. Every living member of the Church of Christ is a preacher 
 of salvation, and will find his duty, his pleasure, and one chief 
 means of growing in grace and true holiness, in labouring, according 
 to his opportunity, for this exalted object. If such be the duty of 
 every believer, it is emphatically that of the minister. Oberlin 
 proved himself in this particular a workman that needed not to be 
 ashamed, and though a paid minister, who, according to J. J. Grurney, 
 had sold the gift of the Spirit, he vindicated himself most thoroughly 
 from the charge of being a mere hireling, by his untiring zeal and 
 self-sacrificing labours for the welfare of his charge. 
 
 Having once settled amongst them, as he believed, under the 
 direction of the great Master, he was unwilling to change on any 
 account. A much better living being offered him, " No," said he, " I 
 have been ten years learning every head in my parish, and obtaining 
 an inventory of their moral, intellectual, and domestic wants ; I have 
 laid my plan : I must have ten years to carry it into execution, and 
 the ten following years to correct their faults and vices." Such ex- 
 treme devotedness to the interests of his flock, combined with his 
 peculiarly endearing and affectionate manner, necessarily caused 
 Oberlin to be revered and loved as a father. Every lip became elo- 
 quent in his praise every voice pronounced his name with grateful 
 benedictions and the stranger who visited the pine covered hills and 
 verdant dales of the once forsaken Ban de la Eoche, found there, 
 instead of a set of rude, ignorant savages, an industrious, decent, 
 orderly, and well-informed peasantry, many of whom had been so far
 
 112 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 initiated into both the doctrine and the spirit of the New Testament, 
 as to live in the exercise of that love which is said to be " the fulfilling 
 of the law," and in connexion with which, the apostle says, " He who 
 loveth God must love his brother also." His great concern was, that 
 all should be true Christians in heart, and not merely in form. His 
 preaching was earnest, affectionate, solemn. He was accustomed to 
 preach very alarmingly on the judgment to come, and the punishment 
 of the wicked ; though, at the same time, he held out the fatherly 
 love of Q-od to every returning sinner, who would seek Him through 
 Jesus Christ. . 
 
 His sermons were almost always composed with the greatest care ; 
 and when unable, for want of time, to write them out at length, he at 
 least made a tolerably full outline. In general he committed them 
 scrupulously to memory ; but in the pulpit he did not confine himself 
 to the precise words, and would, indeed, sometimes change the subject 
 altogether, if he saw that another was apparently better suited to the 
 circumstances of his auditory. The character of the man, the results 
 of his ministry, the testimony of those who knew him to the truly 
 spiritual character of his labours, all combine to rebuke that whole- 
 sale condemnation of paid ministry and stated services which results 
 from the views of the Friends on this subjeet. The following extract 
 from a letter from Dr. Steinkopff might have been perused with 
 advantage and instruction by Robert Barclay and his followers. " I 
 cannot describe the veneration I felt on approaching Mr. Oberlin, 
 that servant of God and benefactor of man, who, in his eightieth 
 year, is still full of health, vigour, and activity, and gladly spends his 
 remaining strength in doing good. Serenity and cheerfulness are 
 depicted in his countenance ; and he delights in communicating to his 
 Christian friends something of that peace of God which possesses his 
 own soul." One of the favourite passages of the Friends against a 
 paid ministry is, " freely ye have received, freely give." But there is 
 a higher sense in which it may be taken and in which perhaps no 
 man more fully than Oberlin carried out the injunction while the 
 Friends, with their literal view of the subject, have so limited their 
 own supplies, and hedged themselves round with artificial hindrances,
 
 SOCIETY OF FUIENDS. lid 
 
 that they seem to have little left to give and to give what they have 
 with a very sparing hand. 
 
 5. But there was another feature of Oberlin's character to which 
 we wish to draw attention, because it shows the advantage that may 
 result from the plan of some persons being set apart for the work of 
 the ministry, in accordance with the exhortation of Paul to Timothy, 
 " Thou, O man of God, give thyself wholly to these things." 
 The immense abuse of the system by the men who take charge of the 
 flock only for the sake of the fleece, and who live in lordly grandeur 
 and luxury among their parishioners, without any bond of mutual in- 
 terest or affection, is no sufficient argument against the system itself. 
 It is not the connexion of the Church with the State that we are 
 contending for, nor yet the compulsory rates for the payment of 
 ministers. With the Friends we believe that these arrangements are 
 essentially at variance with the spirit of Christianity, and necessarily 
 injurious in their influence, though admitting of exceptional cases. 
 What we wish to show is, the vast amount of good that may result 
 both to the souls and the bodies of the people of any locality, from 
 their having a man like Oberlin amongst them, a man really concerned 
 for their welfare, not too proud to make himself one of them, not 
 living in a distinct social atmosphere of his own, with a round of 
 fashionable acquaintances, who look down upon mankind in general 
 with haughty indifference, or with an affected condescension still 
 more repulsive ; but one who, like Oberlin, actuated by the self- 
 sacrificing, self-forgetting spirit of his great Master, lives for his 
 people lives to do them good. 
 
 The world has yet to learn, from the devoted Oberlin, a most 
 important lesson. We have already just hinted at his zeal for the 
 temporal welfare of his charge. In this respect he was truly exem- 
 plary, and the change which his sole labours effected in that remote 
 and wild district have been the wonder of all. Whatever affected the 
 comfort and welfare of his people was his business. He urged them 
 to make roads, and he led the way. With, his pickaxe on his 
 shoulder he went out, to share and to direct their labours. He saw 
 what advantage fruit-trees would be in the neighbourhood. He 
 
 I
 
 114 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 himself planted and grafted ; he excited the emulation of the people, 
 and the whole district adopted the suggestion, and reaped the benefit. 
 He found the potato deteriorated, the quality and the yield being 
 fearfully reduced. He pointed out the cause, obtained fresh seed 
 from distant localities, and rendered the labours of his people many 
 times more profitable ; and, eventually, the locality became famous 
 for the abundance and superiority of this crop. He encouraged 
 economy in articles capable of being turned into manure, paying the 
 children for tearing up old rags, also the collecting of leaves of trees, 
 stalks of rushes, &c., &c. He introduced flax, which [answered well, 
 a ad considerably augmented the resources of the inhabitants. He 
 encouraged the people to convert their least productive pastures into 
 arable land, and to adopt the plan of feeding their cattle in stalls, 
 always recommending his innovations by first trying them for him- 
 self; success disarmed prejudice, and his efforts prospered beyond 
 his most sanguine expectations. He actually formed an agricultural 
 society, and delivered a weekly lecture on scientific subjects, con- 
 nected with the employment of the people. " Not a year rolled away 
 in which some astonishing improvement was not effected in the con- 
 dition or morals of his people ; and the surrounding districts beheld 
 with admiration the rapid progress that civilization was continually 
 making in the once neglected and apparently forsaken Steinthal. 
 Let the Friends, if they will, cry out in view of such wonders 
 wrought out, under God's blessing, by the energy and self-sacrifice 
 of one man, " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, 
 for wherein is he to be accounted of;" and let the indolent and 
 selfish State-Churchman, or the designing promoter of centralization, 
 and political influence secured by State Churches and State education, 
 cry out that voluntaryism is a failure. "We would rather exclaim, 
 " What hath God wrought ! " not without means, nor by those who 
 wait for a fresh impulse every time before they obey God's plain 
 commands, or exercise the gifts that He has committed to their keep- 
 ing ; not by those who are such utter strangers to the burning, 
 self-forgetting love to God and man which true vital Christianity 
 engenders, that they seek to supplement their lack of faith by the 
 aid of legislation ; but BY MEANS OP ONE single-hearted, earnest,
 
 SOCIETY OF FfilENDS. 115 
 
 self-denying, loving, Christ-like man, who, though receiving a stated 
 sum for his services, still was NO HIBELING, and of whom most em- 
 phatically it can be said, that he took the oversight of the flock, not 
 for filthy lucre's sake, but of a ready mind, going to the full extent 
 of his means setting an example of the strictest frugality, in order 
 that he might have the more " freely to give," and performing labours 
 without fee or reward, which, if estimated by a commercial standard, 
 would have been worth many a thousand times more than all that 
 he received. 
 
 The labours of Oberlin were acknowledged by M. le Comte 
 Franpois de Neuchateau, in an address to the Royal and Central Agri- 
 cultural Society of Paris, in 1818, in the following glowing, but not 
 exaggerated, language, when proposing the vote of a gold medal to 
 the worthy pastor, in commemoration of the services which he had 
 rendered during more than half a century to the cause of agriculture 
 and of humanity : " If you would behold an instance of what may 
 be effected in any country for the advancement of agriculture and 
 the interests of humanity, quit, for a moment, the banks of the Seine, 
 and ascend one of the steepest summits of the Vosges mountains. 
 Friends of the plough and of human happiness, come and behold the 
 Ban de la Roche. Climb with me the rocks so sublimely piled upon 
 each other, which separate this canton from the rest of the world ; 
 and though the country and the climate may at first sight appear 
 forbidding, I will venture to promise you an ample recompense for 
 the fatigue of your excursion." After stating that at the age of 
 seventy-eight he was still carrying on the interesting reformation 
 first suggested by his piety and zeal, and that he had by his extra- 
 ordinary efforts and exertions averted from his parishioners in the 
 years 1812, 1816, and 1817, the horrors of approaching famine, he 
 goes on : " Such a benefactor of mankind deserves the veneration 
 and the gratitude of all good men ; and it gives me peculiar pleasure 
 to present you with the opportunity of acknowledging, in the person 
 of Mr. Oberlin, not a single act, but a whole life devoted to agricul- 
 tural improvements, and to the diffusion of useful knowledge amongst 
 the inhabitants of a wild and uncultivated district. "We have ascer- 
 
 i 2
 
 HO ESSAY 0> T THE 
 
 tained that there is hi France uncultivated land sufficient for the 
 formation of five thousand villages. When we wish to organise these 
 colonies, Waldbach will present a perfect model ; and in the thirty 
 or forty rural hamlets which already exist, there is not one, even 
 amongst the most flourishing, in which social economy is carried to 
 a higher degree of perfection, or in which the annals of the Ban de 
 la Roche may not be studied with advantage." 
 
 "Without derogating from the high merit due to this truly great 
 
 man, we maintain that he was nothing more than a Christian pastor 
 
 ought to be. We do not suppose that every pastor could be an 
 
 Oberlin, if he were disposed to be so ; but we do maintain that, with 
 
 suitable modifications according to the differing circumstances of 
 
 different localities, the spreading over the world of a network of 
 
 Christian Churches, with an efficient staff of ministers regulated and 
 
 actuated by the spirit of Oberlin, trained and educated to the duties 
 
 of their high calling, and taking what he achieved as their model, 
 
 might reasonably be expected to do for the whole world what Oberlin 
 
 did for the Ban de la Roche. Similar results have attended the 
 
 labours of our missionaries in various parts of the world ; and we 
 
 could point to a remote and unfrequented locality in one of the 
 
 wildest parts of our own loved isle, where, to a very great extent, a 
 
 similar result has followed the self-forgetting labours of an humble 
 
 minister of Christ. There are doubtless many more ; but why, we 
 
 ask, are they the exception and not the rule ? Such ministers are 
 
 emphatically the want of the age. There is no existing organization 
 
 whose church government, social policy, and spirit of true Christian 
 
 philanthropy so pre-eminently qualify them for the work as the Society 
 
 of Friends. But all these grand results have been brought about by 
 
 means of a stated ministry regularly paid ; and it is obvious, from the 
 
 very nature of the case, that men cannot exert such an influence as 
 
 Oberlin did, unless they are placed in a similar position. It requires 
 
 not only leisure, but zeal, and a definite call to the work. A man 
 
 may have the disposition, and far more ample means at command 
 
 than Oberlin had, and still he shall not be able to secure that kind of 
 
 influence which arose out of his office of pastor, carried out as it was, 
 
 in the spirit of love and ardent zeal for the true welfare of the people.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRtEXDS. 117 
 
 Let the priestly character of the Christian minister be entirely done 
 away by the absence of the ".sacraments," and the possibility of his 
 lording it over God's heritage reduced to a minimum by destroying 
 the distinction between clergy and laity giving the minister no power 
 in the church government except as an individual member, but, as 
 with the Friends, having all the power to rest with the members in 
 their collective capacity and let a previous course of instruction and 
 training prepare the young men whom Christ has first called to the 
 work, and the result would be a much nearer approximation to the 
 true Gospel standard than the world has yet seen, except in indi- 
 vidual and exceptional cases, with a correspondingly increased and 
 ever increasing harvest of immortal spirits, to the glory of the Great 
 Husbandman and the eternal salvation of millions who now with too 
 much justice may exclaim, " No man careth for my soul." 
 
 With such a ministry, supported entirely by voluntary contribution, 
 what might the Friends not have effected, and what might they not 
 yet effect ! Theirs is a system whose pre-eminently simple and scrip- 
 tural doctrines are combined, to an extent elsewhere unparalleled, 
 with the exalted self-denying, self-sacrificing morality of the New 
 Testament both in reference to their own members and to their 
 dealings with the world at large. The extent to which they have in- 
 fluenced the community is sufficient proof of this though for a long 
 period doing very little to make any direct advances upon the igno- 
 rance and superstition that abound in the world. Their truthfulness, 
 depending on the simple yea and nay their refusal to swear, 
 though often at the cost of property, or even of life their early and 
 consistent advocacy of the cause of the slave their consistent testi- 
 mony against war their refusal to share in its spoils, or participate 
 in its supposed protection their strict justice in the discharge of 
 their debts, even though released by assignment or otherwise from 
 legal obligation, all these eminently Christian points of morality, 
 totally ignored as they are by a large proportion of the Christian 
 world, have earned for them a position in public estimation, of 
 which, had it been supported by the diligent inculcation of theuvdoc- 
 trines, it is impossible to conceive the influence.
 
 118 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 It is, then, with profound and solemn regret, that the sincere well- 
 wisher of his race, and the believer in the kingdom of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, is compelled to acknowledge that AS the 
 Friends have now ceased, for the most part, to preach and to teach 
 their own great principles, so has the standard of morality and Chris- 
 tian faithfulness degenerated amongst their own members. An indif- 
 ference to the salvation of the world, and a suspension of vigorous 
 efforts for this end, has brought leanness into their own souls ; and 
 the worldliness and keenness in the pursuit of wealth, and the repose 
 in external things so complained of by their own living members, 
 must, we believe, be traced, in a great measure, to this source. We 
 find that very few of the members are acquainted, except in a very 
 superficial manner, with their own principles having little or no 
 instruction, and few or no duties devolving upon them of a directly 
 religious character. Being taught from the first, to wait in expectation 
 of some extraordinary impulse to speak and labour in the Lord's vine- 
 yard, instead of being encouraged to act upon the measure of impulse 
 already felt good impressions fade and warm desires are extin- 
 guished, and they either become addicted to vice, or to commerce, or 
 to worldly pursuits, and seldom rise beyond the condition of steady- 
 going moralists having, it may be, the form of godliness, but, alas ! 
 too little of the power ; priding themselves, it may be, on their plain- 
 ness of speech, as shown in addressing titled gentlemen as plain 
 George or William, at the same time that they have not the courage 
 to speak a word to a perishing sinner in the name of Christ, or to 
 break off some habit of self-indulgence which, if pressed home, they 
 are still compelled to confess to be wrong. There are many noble 
 exceptions, we are well aware some of the most exalted and thorough 
 Christian characters in the land amongst the number ; but we are 
 dealing with things as they are, and we are sure that those who know 
 the true state of the case will admit that the above description, after 
 a fair exception has been allowed for, is substantially correct ; nor, 
 we believe, will it be possible to find a satisfactory explanation of this 
 anomalous state of affairs, other than the one that we have given.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 119 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 TEACHING AND PREACHING. 
 
 " Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself except by the instrumentality 
 of the tong-ue of fire. Only where some men, more or less imbued with this primitive 
 power, have spoken the words of the Lord, not with 'the words which man's wisdom 
 teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,' have sinners been converted, and saints 
 prompted to a saintlier life." ARTHUR'S " TONGUE OP FIRE." 
 
 THE analogy which, the Friends suppose to exist between their 
 preaching and praying, and the utterances of the prophets whose 
 inspired writings form so important a portion of the Holy Scriptures, 
 is, we think, without any proper foundation. To preach and pray 
 acceptably, the Holy Spirit's aid is undoubtedly required but not, 
 we believe, in a way to supersede, to the extent that they assert, the 
 co-operation of the intellectual faculties of man. The words prophesy 
 and preach both mean to proclaim ; and while we would not for a 
 moment limit the degree in which the Holy Spirit may inspire indi- 
 viduals now, there is, we think, no warrant for depending so exclu- 
 sively as the Friends do, on those more immediate and extraordinary 
 impulses, resulting in oracular utterances which may more properly 
 be designated prophesy, to the exclusion of that declaration of Gospel 
 truth which, to a certain extent they acknowledge ; though, from 
 their peculiar views on the subject, they neglect to avail themselves 
 of it. J. J. Grurney, after giving his views of the Christian ministry, 
 says, " There appears to exist a material distinction between teaching 
 and preaching. While in the performance of either of these Christian 
 duties, the dependence of the true Christian will be placed on the 
 grace and Spirit of God, it may be freely admitted that, in teaching, a 
 much greater liberty is given, for the use of our merely human 
 faculties, than in the higher and more important office of prophecy or 
 preaching. The Spirit operates through a variety of administrations ; 
 and opportunities frequently occur, when commenting on the Scrip-
 
 ]20 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 tares,* or when the use of other means of Christian instruction is not 
 only allowable but desirable." 
 
 How mild ! Means of Christian instruction allowable ! and desirable ! 
 There is a faintness in this recognition of Christian instruction that 
 well corresponds with the position assigned to the Scripture by the 
 Friends. What becomes of all the exhortations to diligence ? to 
 being instant in season and out of season ? If the thing is desirable, 
 why trust to opportunities that may occur and not rather systema- 
 tically make opportunities, and institute a regular provision for the 
 religious instruction of the members and the world, to which we are 
 so imperatively enjoined ? Paul directs Timothy, " The things that 
 thou hast heard of me before many witnesses, the same commit thou 
 to faithful men, that they may be able to teach others also." Here 
 is an evident appointment of men, and provision for a succession of 
 them ; and if the men are appointed, they will doubtless have times 
 and places appointed for them. In this one direction we have the 
 germ of a regular system of religious instruction and training, such, in 
 the main, as others have adopted, but which the Friends, for fear of 
 interfering with the headship of Christ and the work of the Spirit, 
 decline to adopt, and for want of which, their system must sooner or 
 later die out, unless the defect be promptly and efficiently remedied. 
 But the distinction which J. J. Gurney draws between teaching 
 and preaching, is too finely drawn to stand the test of examination, 
 or to form the basis of such an arrangement as that of the Friends. 
 Many of the Friends admit the want of teaching, but their ideas as to 
 what it consists in are extremely vague. They confound prophecy 
 with preaching, and practically ignore teaching altogether. The 
 results of teaching and preaching are the same the spreading of the 
 knowledge of salvation through Christ, and of the duties of Christians 
 and the edification of the Church. As J. J. Gurney himself main- 
 tains, the teaching requires to be done in dependence on the " grace 
 and Spirit of God." "Who, then, shall say where the line is to be 
 drawn ? If the sincere and humble-minded Christian teacher ascends 
 
 * Such opportunities are extremely rare amongst the Friends but why not make 
 them a regular part of the system ?
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 121 
 
 the pulpit or the platform, aud in dependence on "the grace and 
 Spirit of God" reads a portion of Scripture, and then proceeds to 
 explain it, who shall say to what extent he shall be aided by the Spirit ? 
 or that, on such occasions, his teaching shall not assume the prophetic 
 character, in the highest sense for which the Friends contend ? That 
 such is the case, in the experience of the churches who have teachers 
 appointed to give them no higher name is well known to those 
 who, with unprejudiced minds, have had the opportunity to judge 
 for themselves. Nay more, it is the uniform experience, when the 
 minister is a man of the right stamp full of faith and of the Holy 
 Ghost, as many of them are, and all ought to be and might be, so far 
 as the system is concerned. The proof is in the result a spirit of 
 devotion pervades the assembly, mourners are comforted, the weak 
 find their strength renewed, sinners are awakened, and the name of 
 God is glorified all that can possibly result from the best Friends' 
 meeting is experienced on these occasions. The Holy Ghost, the 
 Guide, the Comforter, the Great Teacher, suits a blessing to every 
 heart, and the rightly exercised members enjoy fellowship with the 
 Father and with the Son, and with each other, as fully as the Friends 
 can do in their most lively meetings. 
 
 The system of the Friends does not always secure the same 
 amount of Divine influence, and sometimes the utterances in their 
 meetings are almost, if not altogether, devoid of unction as their 
 own members often remark ; so that while they lose the advantage of 
 the teaching, they do not more effectually secure the attainment of 
 their own high standard. J. J. Gurney, having made the concession 
 we have referred to above, on the subject of teaching, as if afraid that 
 he had gone too far, immediately adds that " such an allowance by no 
 means affects the principles of the Friends ; that with occasions so 
 solemn as the congregational worship of the Deity, no ministry can 
 be in true harmony but such as proceeds from the direct influence of 
 the Holy Spirit. It is then in a peculiar manner that the Almighty 
 Saviour of men is present with his people. The sacred canopy of their 
 Heavenly Father's love is spread over them ; nor can they worship 
 Him aright, unless the reasonings and imaginations of their own minds
 
 122 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 are brought into subjection." Are we to infer, then, that the teaching 
 which, as he has already admitted, can only be rendered effective by 
 the grace and Spirit of God is the result of the reasonings and ima- 
 ginations of the teacher's own mind ? that there is no other exercise 
 of man's intellect and understanding except Ms own reasonings and 
 imaginings ? or that there is no alternative between the spontaneous 
 utterances of the prophet, and outward silence in the meetings for 
 the worship of Q-od ? " At such times," he goes on, " the mandate is 
 proclaimed to the spiritual worshipper, ' Be silent, O all flesh, before 
 the Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.' If incense 
 is then to be offered to Him, it must arise from no strange fire. If 
 the ark of the covenant is to be uplifted among the people, none may 
 touch it to whom the command is not given. If the pure temple of 
 the Lord is to be built up, He must himself prepare the materials, 
 and ' neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron ' nothing of the 
 unauthorised instrumentality of men must be heard in the house." * 
 Had we not known whence this quotation comes, one might be at a 
 loss to guess whether it was one of the house of Aaron, or a vindicator 
 of apostolic succession, that was writing. How extremes meet again. 
 If every believer is to " live in the Spirit, and to walk in the Spirit," 
 and to be a " temple of the living God," always bound to " watch and 
 pray," and to live continually with his loins girt about and his light 
 burning, if the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh, as the Friends 
 above all others contend, and the time come when all may know the 
 Lord, surely there can be no need for such a distinction as this. No 
 believer who fulfils these conditions could offer strange fire, any more 
 than an honest man can practice fraud, or a truly loving Christ-like 
 man commit murder. Such limitations do away altogether with the 
 " coming boldly to the throne of grace," the " breaking down of the 
 middle wall of partition," and in effect create a distinction more 
 subtle it is true; but precisely similar in its operation, to the distinc- 
 tion of clergy and laity which the Friends so heartily repudiate ; and 
 the effect is, that the Friends IN GENERAL no more think of opening 
 their mouths for the simple utterance of Gospel truth, or the expres- 
 * "Observations."
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 123 
 
 sion of praise, than a layman in the Church of England would think 
 of donning the surplice some Sabbath morning, and taking the place 
 of the consecrated priest. 
 
 UNAUTHORISED instrumentality would, doubtless, be out of place. 
 But what is unauthorised instrumentality ? Not, surely, that teaching 
 which depends upon " the grace and Spirit of God ! " We confess our 
 inability to discover the line. It appears to be a distinction where 
 there is no difference ; and it is clear that the teaching of a sincere, 
 earnest man of God especially with the aids of previous study, and 
 preparation,' and prayer, though made at stated times are just as 
 likely to be profitable, and to fulfil the conditions of true Gospel 
 ministry, as the occasional and unpremeditated effusions of the 
 Friends ; nor can we see anything in this kind of arrangement to pre- 
 vent the teaching of the Spirit from being as immediate, and as direct, 
 in any proper sense of the terms, as that which the Friends seek to 
 secure by their method. But a reference to the passage quoted, as 
 it stands in the sacred writings, will show that there is absolutely 
 nothing to warrant its application to the subject in hand that its 
 introduction here is, in short, purely arbitrary. Only three verses 
 before there is an exhortation to SING, which might just as properly be 
 taken out of the connexion in which it is found, and brought forward- 
 as a command or instruction to Christian congregations in their assem- 
 blies for worship. Zech, ii. 10-13. " SING and rejoice, daughter 
 of Zion : for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith 
 the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day^ 
 and shall be my people : And I will dwell in the midst of thee, and 
 thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 
 And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and 
 shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord ; 
 for he is raised up out of his holy habitation." 
 
 The prophet was foretelling the restoration of the Jews to their 
 own land the injunction to all flesh to be silent was a warning to 
 the Gentiles who had executed his wrath on the Jews in their exile, 
 to desist from further oppression, because the set time for their deli- 
 verance was come. Supposing that the passage will bear a figurative
 
 124 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 application, still it would just as much apply to the condition of mind 
 suitable for the Christian on all occasions and under all circum- 
 stances, as it would to meetings for worship. The flesh, in the New 
 Testament, represents all those carnal tempers wrath, anger, pride, 
 malice, self-sufficiency, lust which are hostile to the Spirit of God ; 
 and the Friends ought to know, if any one should, that the silence of 
 all these is as compatible with the exercise of the living voice in 
 preaching or prayer, and even with the exercise of the duties of daily 
 life, as it is with outward silence. 
 
 But the arrangement of ordinary congregational wors*hip where 
 one man conducts the service, prays, preaches, reads the Bible, gives 
 out the hymns does not necessarily preclude the provision of other 
 opportunities, when the members can all prophesy, according to the 
 method of early days. 
 
 There is every reason to believe, as we have already observed, that 
 these were meetings of believers, and not the occasions for preaching 
 the Gospel to mixed assemblies, or to the world. And some of the 
 Christian churches have such meetings at the present day. 
 
 The "Wesleyan love-feast and band meeting are occasions of this 
 description very similar to the Friends' meeting, except that they 
 begin with singing and prayer, instead of silent waiting, and are con- 
 ducted by a minister or a brother of experience. Here the speaking 
 is spontaneous, and it very much resembles in character the speaking 
 of the Friends, except that there is generally more of praise and 
 thanksgiving, and expression of individual experience of Gfod's good- 
 ness, and less of exhortation or doctrine. Another characteristic dif- 
 ference, however, is worthy of notice. It is, that in the Wesleyan love- 
 feast, so far from there being long intervals of silence, the whole time 
 is taken up with lively utterances, and thus a near approach is made 
 to the attainment of the object proposed by the apostle when he says, 
 " that all may speak, and all be edified ; " whereas with the Friends 
 whose application of this principle to all their meetings for worship 
 has shut them out from the benefits of a stated ministry, and the 
 world from the knowledge of their admirable views the speaking is 
 almost invariably confined to the same two or three individuals, and
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIENDS. 125 
 
 the sound of a new voice in the course of a long series of years, is re- 
 garded as something quite extraordinary. We have no hesitation in 
 affirming that a good love-feast will bear comparison with the best 
 meetings of the Friends for the degree of unction present, sensible 
 spiritual communion of all present, and truly spiritual and Christian 
 character of the utterances as a whole ; while, on the most ordinary 
 of such occasions, there is a degree of spiritual life and warmth that 
 far surpasses the cold and lifeless formality of silent meetings as they 
 exist NOW, whatever they may have been in the days of Pox and 
 Barclay. 
 
 "When the theory of silent meetings was propounded, there was 
 such, an exuberance of life and zeal in the Society, that there was no 
 danger of their being long silent ; and the true tendency of the system 
 was not felt, until it had become so far recognised, that its abandon- 
 ment would have been like an abandonment of first principles calling 
 in question the judgment or divine guidance of the founders. It has 
 now become the birthright of a community who, by training from 
 their earliest childhood, and by sedulous exclusion from any oppor- 
 tunities of fair comparison with other systems, have contracted a 
 habitual'prejudice in favour of the system, more invincible, if possible, 
 than conviction. There is, it is true, a shaking in certain directions ; 
 but whether the spirit of innovation will ever be allowed a sufficient 
 footing to effect any adequate change, time alone can determine. 
 Should this be done, there is, we believe, nothing to prevent the Society 
 from springing again into its pristine freshness and vigour having 
 judges as at the first, and counsellors as at the beginning ; and instead 
 of their being content to see some signs of a collateral influence ex- 
 erted on other communities, take the lead once more in the great and 
 godlike work of the world's evangelization presenting to the world a 
 purer and more thorough-going exposition of Christian precept, faith 
 and practice, on a wiser and more permanent basis, than any that 
 has hitherto been witnessed in any section of the universal Church. 
 
 But as the identity that the Friends maintain to exist between 
 preaching and prophesying does not appear to be borne out by Scrip- 
 ture, so the difference between teaching and preaching is not so
 
 123 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 great as they attempt to show. There is, indeed, nothing to warrant 
 their conclusion that preaching requires a higher kind of inspiration. 
 The same individuals in apostolic days exercised both gifts ; and while 
 there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that the one requires more 
 inspiration than the other, or of a different kind, it would appear that 
 teaching required other qualifications of knowledge and experience, in 
 addition to that which is required for preaching. The examples of 
 Christ and of John the Baptist throw light upon the subject. " In 
 those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of 
 Judea, and saying, Eepent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
 Matt. iii. 1. In process of time John was cast into prison, and " from 
 that time JESUS BEGAN TO PBEACH and say, Eepent for. the kingdom 
 of heaven is at hand." Matt. iv. 17. Then (verse 23) He " went about 
 all Galilee TEACHING in their synagogues, and PREACHING the Gospel 
 of the kingdom." We have seen the nature of the preaching ; it was 
 calling to repentance, and announcing the glad tidings of his approach- 
 ing kingdom. This was addressed to the multitudes to all, indis- 
 criminately ; all were called on to repent, and for the same reason, 
 that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. But He TAUGHT in the 
 synagogue (iv. 23.) Who would undertake to say, that when preach- 
 ing " Eepent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," the great 
 Master spoke with a higher authority, or a more immediate inspira- 
 tion, than when he taught those marvellous lessons of wisdom con- 
 tained in the sermon on the mount ? These were for his disciples 
 not addressed to them in secret, but for the especial benefit of those 
 that had ears to hear. " And seeing the multitudes, he went up into 
 a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him : and 
 he opened his mouth, and TAUGHT them." And what were his 
 teachings ? Why, things diametrically opposed to the spirit and the 
 maxims of the world so utterly repugnant to the carnal man, that 
 he " seeth them not, neither knoweth them." Blessings on meekness, 
 and poverty, and hunger, and thirst ! on the peacemaker, whom the 
 world still curses on the victim of priestly rage, and legalised 
 oppression and cruelty perpetrated in the sacred name of Eeligiou, 
 and under the impression that it was doing God service ! Or those
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIENDS. 127 
 
 authoritative teachings ushered in by the portentous announcement, 
 " Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, BUT I 
 SAT unto you " claiming for these teachings an authority greater 
 than that of all the teachers prophets included that had gone before. 
 The inspiration was the same : it was that described Isaiah Ixi. 1 : 
 " The Spirit of the Lord G od is upon me ; because the Lord hath 
 anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to 
 bind up the broken-hearted ; to proclaim liberty tojthe captives," &c. ; 
 and appropriated by Christ, Luke iv. 21, when He said, " This day is 
 this scripture fulfilled in your ears, And " all bare Him witness and 
 wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth." 
 The preaching was for the unawakened multitude the teaching for 
 the disciples, who, having obeyed the call, placed themselves as 
 learners at the feet of Jesus, that He might teach them the things 
 relating to himself and that heavenly kingdom that He came to esta- 
 blish, that divine life which it was his mission to bring to light 
 through the G-ospel. 
 
 The apostles had an authority given them as apostles ; they enun- 
 ciated doctrines and laid down rules, developing the broad fundamental 
 teachings of Christ. Men like Timothy and Titus received these 
 teachings from the apostles, and in their turn committed them to 
 faithful men, who should be able to teach others also. Thus a system 
 of oral instruction, with more or less of divine inspiration, but always 
 some, was provided. The Scriptures, in process of time, were com- 
 pleted ; and they now present to the diligent and sincere seeker, a 
 test of the genuineness of oral teaching, which is essential to guard 
 against abuses in the substitution of the traditions of men for the 
 commandments of God. This was the great crime of the Jewish 
 teachers in the time of Christ this is the stronghold of the Papacy, 
 and of every false and degenerate church. But the absence of teach- 
 ing is not the remedy. The only antidote is the faithful preaching 
 and teaching of Gospel truth, combined with the extensive diffusion 
 of the Scriptures, affording to the taught the opportunity, like the 
 Bereans of old, of testing by the Spirit's light on the written word, 
 the utterances of the living teacher. The systematic and well regu-
 
 123 ESSAY ON TUB 
 
 lated ministry of the word, with the free circulation of the Scriptures, 
 and the encouragement of the exercise of private judgment, are, then, 
 under God, the bulwark of the Church, and the grand instrumentality 
 in God's hand for the conversion of the world. 
 
 In his observations on the ministry of women, (p. 273) J. J. Gurney 
 gives his idea of the teaching of early days. He says that it differed 
 from the prophetic gift in three particulars : 1, That " it was dictated 
 rather by the general impressions of Christian love and duty, than by 
 immediate inspiration ; " 2, That it " was not employed as the minis- 
 try of the word in the assemblies for worship ; " and 3, That it 
 involved the assumption of personal authority.* To the first of these 
 points we reply that the terms immediate and general*axQ heoe used 
 in a sense which infuses an element of instability into the whole argu- 
 ment and we feel assured, from extensive observation and consider- 
 able experience, that the impressions under which the Friend rises to 
 speak, are of a much more general character than those of the devoted 
 preacher who has studied and prayerfully prepared his subject ; while, 
 in any legitimate sense, the teachings of the Spirit, if experienced at 
 all, must be immediate, and may just as much accompany the discourse 
 entered upon at a stated time, as that commenced under the impulse? 
 whether divine or not, of the moment. The second particular we 
 have anticipated, by showing that the assemblies in which those im- 
 pulsive utterances are described, were assemblies of believers and 
 not for the preaching of the word. The third decidedly favours our 
 position, by showing that there were persons who were authorised to 
 hold forth the word of life ; and to their duties commencing at a 
 given time, the Friends themselves make no objection. But is it not 
 strange, that while so distinctly recognising such a gift in their 
 writings, they have made no provision for its exercise ? Allowing all 
 that they demand with regard to meetings for worship, why, we 
 would ask, have they not their meetings for teaching, when these 
 authorised persons, acting under these "general impressions of 
 Christian love and duty" might do their part in keeping up the 
 knowledge, at least, of the truth ? Alas ! no, it is distinction without 
 
 * " Observations," p. 273.
 
 SOCIETY OF Fill ENDS. 1129 
 
 a difference but whichever way we take it, there is clearly indicated 
 a want of religious teaching, such as the Scriptures clearly recognize 
 and the omission to provide for which will at once be seen to 
 account for the anomalous state of things which forms the subject of 
 the present enquiry. 
 
 If the results of the ordinary mode of conducting religious services 
 be advanced as a proof of their being in accordance with the mind ot 
 the Spirit, it is immediately objected by the Friends, that a great 
 deal of this influence arises from excitement, and that it is, conse- 
 quently, of a transitory character ; the subjects of it often returning 
 to the world, or exhibiting only a very low standard of Christian 
 principle in their lives and characters. We have referred to this 
 subject elsewhere. We refer to it here, to show how inconsistent it 
 is, if not with modern Quakerism, certainly with that of two hundred 
 years ago. In the days of their evangelising efforts, they exulted in 
 similar scenes, and brought them forward as a triumphant proof of 
 the efficacy of their own system. Thus Barclay * describes the effect 
 of the united travail of the believers in their meetings for worship : 
 " And if, from this inward travail, while the darkness seeks to obscure 
 the light, and the light breaks through the darkness, which it always 
 will do if the soul give not its strength to the darkness, there will be 
 such a painful travail found in the soul, that will even work upon the 
 outward man, so that oftentimes, through the workings thereof, the 
 body will be greatly shaken, and many groans, and sighs, and tears, 
 even as the pangs of a woman in travail, will lay hold upon it ; yea, 
 and this is not only as to one, but when the enemy, who, when the 
 children of God assemble, is not wanting to be present, to see if he 
 can let their comfort, hath prevailed in any measure in a whole meet- 
 ing, and strongly worketh against it by spreading and propagating 
 his dark power, and by drawing out the minds of such as are met, 
 from the life in them ; as they become sensible of this power of his 
 that works against them, and wrestle with it by the acpour of light, 
 sometimes the power of God will break forth into a whole meeting, 
 and there will be such an inward travail while each is seeking to over- 
 * "Apology." p. 339. 
 
 K
 
 130 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 come the evil in themselves, that by the strong contrary workings of 
 these opposite powers, like the goings of two contrary tides, every 
 individual will be strongly exercised as in a day of battle, and thereby 
 a trembling and a motion of body will be upon most, if not upon all, 
 which, as the power of truth prevails, will, from PANGS and GROANS 
 end with a SWEET SOUND of THANKSGIVING and PRAISE. And from 
 this the name of Quakers, i. e. tremblers, was first reproachfully cast 
 upon us: which, though it be none of our choosing, yet in this 
 respect we are not ashamed of it, but have rather reason to rejoice, 
 therefore, even that we are sensible of this .power that hath often- 
 times laid hold of our adversaries, and made them yield unto us, 
 and join us, and confess the truth, before they had any distinct or 
 discursive knowledge of our doctrines, so that sometimes many at 
 one meeting have been thus convinced : and this power would some- 
 times also reach to and wonderfully work even in little children, to 
 the admiration and astonishment of many." If such be the legitimate 
 results of silent meetings, it must be admitted that there is a strange 
 degeneracy at the present day. Where are such things ever wit- 
 nessed now ? How startled the order-loving Quakers would be, if 
 something of the kind were to take place in one of their meetings 
 some fine Sabbath morning ! Perhaps nothing will more clearly show 
 the change from life to formalism amongst them, than the way in 
 which they regard this kind of influence. If they hear of such an 
 influence being exerted at other places of worship, the most carnally- 
 minded man of the world could not be more sceptical as to the 
 genuineness of the work than the modern Quaker. The air of 
 startled curiosity with which they hear of well authenticated cases of 
 the kind, such as are happening every day in some part of the country 
 or other, is truly remarkable. But such things are a verity now, aa 
 much as they were in the early meetings of the Quakers ; and they 
 happen more constantly, and on an incomparably larger scale, in con- 
 nexion with the preaching and the prayer-meetings of other denomi- 
 nations than ever was the case amongst the Friends.* Take the 
 
 * This was written before the extraordinary revivals in America, Scotland, Wales, 
 Ireland, and the North of England had called general attention to the subject 
 strikingly confirming, as they do, the sentiment here advocated.
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 131 
 
 following 'description from the autobiography of Peter Cartwright, 
 one of the pioneer "Wesleyan preachers in America, whose zeal and 
 originality would have made him a worthy companion for Fox and 
 "Whitehead, and whose work of faith and labour of love had infinitely 
 more in common with the burning zeal of the early Friends for the 
 salvation of souls, than modern Quakerism would suspect, or than is 
 possessed by the generality of the Friends themselves. It was at a 
 camp meeting in the State of Ohio. " There were two young ladies 
 sisters, lately from Baltimore, or somewhere down East. They had 
 been provided for on the ground, in the tent of a very religious sister 
 of theirs. They were very fashionably dressed ; I think they must 
 have had, in rings, earrings, bracelets, gold chains, lockets, &c., at 
 least one or two hundred dollars' worth of jewellery about their per- 
 sons. The altar was crowded to overflowing with mourners ; and these 
 young ladies were very solemn. They met me at the stand, and 
 asked permission to sit down inside of it. I told them that if they 
 would promise to pray to Grod for religion, they might take a seat 
 there. They were too deeply affected to be idle lookers on ; and when 
 I got them seated in the stand, I called on them and urged them to 
 pray ; and I called others to my aid. They became deeply engaged ; 
 and about midnight they were both powerfully converted. They 
 rose to their feet, and gave some very triumphant shouts, and then 
 very deliberately took off their gold chains, earrings, lockets, &c., and 
 handed them to me saying, ' We have no more need of these idols. 
 If religion is the glorious good thing you have represented it to be, it 
 throws these into the shade.' " How similar the process and the result, 
 to that described by Barclay ! the body greatly shaken, with many 
 groans, and sighs and tears, ending with a " sweet sound of thanks- 
 giving and praise" If it be objected, that these impressions wear off, 
 and the subjects of them return to their former condition there is 
 abundant evidence that such is not the case. As shown in the parable 
 of the sower, there will be abortive cases ; but there are thousands 
 with whom such occasions have been the turning point of a whole 
 life and from such seasons they have dated the change from worldly, 
 pharisaical, or profligate and abandoned sinners, to men of faith 
 
 K2
 
 132 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 meekness, and sincerity, whose lives have been a triumphant witness 
 to the power of the truth to deliver from the power as well as the 
 guilt of sin, and who have died with glowing and radiant hopes of a 
 blissful immortality. 
 
 On another occasion, after a desperate attempt on the part of the 
 "Kowdies," to break up a meeting, the whole having been thrown 
 into confusion, so that none of the other preachers felt sufficiently 
 calm to engage in preaching, the same writer goes on, " The encamp- 
 ment was lighted up, the trumpet was blown, I rose to the stand, 
 and required every soul to leave the tents, and come to the congre- 
 gation. There was a general rush to the stand. I requested the 
 brethren, if ever they prayed in their lives, to pray now ; my voice was 
 strong and clear, and my preaching was more of an exhortation and 
 encouragement than anything else. My text was, ' The gates of hell 
 shall not prevail.' In about thirty minutes, the power of God fell 
 on the congregation in such a manner as is seldom seen ; the people 
 fell in every direction, right and left, -front and rear. It was supposed 
 that not less than three hundred fell like dead men in mighty battle 
 [Barclay's own figure], and there was no need of calling mourners, 
 for they were strewed all over the camp ground ; loud wailings went 
 up to heaven from sinners for mercy, and a general shout from 
 Christians, so that the noise was heard afar off. Our meeting lasted 
 all night, and Monday and Monday night ; and when we closed on 
 Tuesday, there were two hundred who had professed religion, and 
 about that number joined the church." It should here be explained 
 that the new converts are not at once admitted as members, but that 
 they are taken on trial for six months ; during which time they attend 
 a class, and partake of the privileges of members. If, however, at 
 the end of that time, they have failed to prove, by a consistent and 
 earnest Christian life, the reality of their profession, they are no longer 
 regarded as members. We think that there is a weak point here in 
 the Wesleyan system, and that it is partly the cause of those nume- 
 rous declensions and low-standard members, that scandalize the world 
 and other denominations. They do not take sufficient care to have 
 their new converts thoroughly instructed in the duties, the dangers,
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIEXUS. 133 
 
 and the trials, peculiar to the Christian walk, and incident especially 
 to its first stages hence discouragement the sweet sense of forgive- 
 ness and reconciliation having unexpectedly given place to a conflict 
 with the world, and the fiery darts of the wicked one, they give up 
 the struggle in despair or imagining that, in the new birth, all is 
 done that will ever be required, they settle down again into their 
 previous habits of life, and never grow to the "measure of the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ." 
 
 The same writer mentions a locality in which the discipline had 
 degenerated very much, and to which he was appointed in the hope 
 that he might be made instrumental in bringing about a reformation. 
 Slave-trading and dram-drinking those millstones on the neck of mo- 
 dern Christianity were the plague spot. " There was a four weeks' 
 circuit, and I had no helpers ; and on examination of the papers, I 
 found over one hundred and fifty delinquent members; some, yea 
 many of them, had not been in a class meeting for one, two, or three 
 years. I determined with a mild and firm hand to pull the reins of 
 our discipline ; and by the aid of the leaders, and by my personally 
 visiting the delinquents, we managed to see every one of them, and 
 talk to them. 
 
 " Through the blessing of Gk>d upon our labours, we saved to the 
 church about sixty of them ; the others were dropped, laid aside, or 
 expelled. This was awful work, to turn out or drop ninety persons 
 in nine months ; it bowed me down in spirit greatly ; it looked as if 
 a tornado had fearfully swept over the church ; but there was a stop 
 put to trading in slaves, and the dram-drinkers became very few, and 
 many of them threw off their jewellery and superfluous dressing ; 
 prayer meetings sprang up, class meetings were generally attended, 
 our congregations increased, our fasts were kept. Towards the last 
 quarter of the year I beat up for a general rally. "We had a large 
 camp ground, seats for a thousand prepared, a large shed built over 
 the altar and pulpit, that would shelter more than a thousand people. 
 The square of our camp ground was well filled. The camp meeting 
 lasted eight days and nights ; the preachers preached, the power of 
 God attended, sinners by the score fell ; the altar, though very large,
 
 134 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 was filled, to overflowing ; and while many managed and laboured in 
 the altar with the mourners, we erected another stand at the opposite 
 end of the encampment, and there the faithful minister proclaimed 
 the word of life. The power of God came there as the sound of a 
 rushing mighty wind ; and such was the effect, that crowds of 
 mourners came forward and kneeled at the benches prepared, and 
 indeed the work spread over all the encampment, and in almost every 
 tent. There were two hundred and fifty who professed religion, and 
 one hundred and seventy joined the church, besides about forty 
 coloured people. Glory to God ! Zion travailed and brought forth 
 many sons and daughters to God." 
 
 How idle, with such results as these in view, so similar to those 
 described by Barclay, constantly attending on the labours of the early 
 Friends, and now on those of the "Wesleyans and others, to stand 
 upon the distinction between prophecy and teaching, or to maintain 
 that the preaching, or teaching, or call it what we will, that produces, 
 under God's blessings, such results as these, is a denial of Christ ! 
 
 The same preacher was on one occasion reluctantly present at a 
 ball held at an inn where he was staying the ball room being the 
 only room in the house for the entertainment of guests. During an 
 nterval in the proceedings, a handsome young lady stepped up to the 
 preacher, and invited him to dance with her. Acting on the impulse 
 of the moment, he took her hand, and stepped into the middle of the 
 floor. All eyes were turned upon them. He then said that he had 
 not done anything of importance for many years without first asking 
 the blessing of God, and that he desired to ask that blessing on the 
 beautiful young lady and the whole company who had shown such an 
 act of politeness to a total stranger. He instantly knelt down, and 
 began praying with all the power that he could command. " The 
 young lady," he proceeds, " tried to get loose from me, but I held her 
 tight. Presently she fell on her knees. Some of the company fled 
 some sac still all looked curious. The fiddler ran off into the 
 kitchen, saying ' Lord a marcy, what de matter ? what is dis mean ? ' 
 "While I prayed, some wept out aloud, and some cried out for 
 mercy. I rose from my knees and commenced an exhortation, after
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 135 
 
 which I sang an hymn. The young lady who invited me on the floor 
 lay prostrate, crying earnestly for mercy. I exhorted again : I sang 
 and prayed nearly all night. About fifteen of that company professed 
 religion, and our meeting lasted next day and next night, and as 
 many more were powerfully converted. I organized a society, took 
 thirty-two into the church, and sent them a preacher. My landlord 
 was appointed leader, which post he held for many years. This was 
 the commencement of a great and glorious revival of religion in that 
 region of country, and several of the young men converted at this 
 Methodist preacher's dance became useful ministers of Jesus Christ." 
 What, we may ask, might not the Friends have done, had they 
 kept up the clear light and the burning zeal of their early days, by 
 means of a systematic ministry ? The fields are still white to the 
 harvest. The seed is never freely sown without some fruit to eternal 
 life. And what, on the other hand, we may ask, would have been the 
 state of the world now, if other and more systematic evangelists had 
 not arisen and entered the field abandoned by the Friends ? who now, 
 finding themselves cut off, by the gradual but sure operation of their 
 silent system, from the great work with which they set out, are con- 
 tent to exert a kind of collateral influence on the world at large ; shut 
 out to a great extent from religious intercourse with others, and 
 finding their appointed work in bearing a silent testimony " against a 
 variety of particular practices, affecting partly the worship of God 
 and partly his moral law, which are still prevalent, not only among 
 unregenerate men, but among sincere Christians." * Alas ! could 
 Fox, and Whitehead and Burrough have supposed that their dawning 
 of the dayspring would have degenerated into a negative affair of this 
 description, they surely would have seen the necessity of adopting 
 some systematic arrangement for the perpetuation of a living ministry, 
 and of that perpetually incumbent duty of seeking and saving the 
 lost going into the highways and hedges to compel them to come in ; 
 a work so faithfully and zealously and successfully executed in the 
 early days of the Society, but which has now been complacently relin- 
 quished, to be taken up by others who, however their mode of opera- 
 * J. J. Gurney's " Observations," p. 433.
 
 13tf ESSAY ON TUE 
 
 tion may differ, certainly are encouraged by results precisely identical 
 with those that attended the best days of the Friends. 
 
 One more instance we shall give from the same writer. On one 
 occasion, two young gentlemen were present at a large camp-meeting 
 under very peculiar circumstances. " They were both paying their 
 addresses to a very wealthy young lady. Some jealousy about rival- 
 ship sprang up between them ; they were mutually jealous of each 
 other, and it spread like an eating cancer. They quarrelled, and 
 finally fought ; both armed themselves, and each bound himself with 
 a solemn oath to kill the other. Thus sworn, and armed with pistols 
 and dirks, they attended the camp-meeting. I was acquainted with 
 them, and apprised of the circumstances of this disagreeable affair. 
 On Sunday, when I was addressing a large congregation, and was 
 trying to enforce the terrors of the violated law of God, there was a 
 visible power, more than human, resting on the congregation ; many 
 fell under the preaching of the word. In closing my discourse, I 
 called for mourners to come to the altar. Both these young men 
 were in the congregation, and the Holy Spirit had convicted each of 
 them ; their murderous hearts yielded under the mighty power of 
 God, and with dreadful feelings they made for the altar. One entered 
 on the right, the other on the left. Each was perfectly ignorant of 
 the other being there. I went deliberately to each of them, and took 
 their deadly weapons from their bosoms, and carried them into the 
 preachers' tent, and then returned and laboured faithfully with them 
 and others for the altar was full nearly all the afternoon and 
 night. These young men had a sore struggle ; but the great deep of 
 their hearts was broken up, and they cried hard for mercy; and 
 while I was kneeling by one of them, just before break of day, the 
 Lord spoke peace to his wounded soul. He rose in triumph, and 
 gave some thrilling shouts. I hastened to the other young man, at 
 the other side of the altar, and in less than fifteen minutes God 
 powerfully blessed his soul, and he rose and shouted victory ; and as 
 these young men faced about % they saw each other, and starting 
 simultaneously, met about midway of the altar, and instantly clasped 
 each other in their arms. "What a shout went up to heaven from
 
 SOCIE'iT OF FJilEXDS. 137 
 
 these two young men, and almost the whole assembly that were 
 present ! There were a great many more who were converted that 
 night ; and, indeed, it was a night long to be remembered for the 
 clear conversion of souls. One of these young men made an able 
 itinerant preacher : he travelled a few years, had a brilliant career, 
 and spread a holy fire wherever he went ; he then fell sick, lingered 
 a little while, and died triumphantly. There was a remarkable 
 instance of the power of religion in the change of these two young 
 men. A few hours before, they were sworn enemies, thirsting for 
 each other's blood ; but now, all these murderous feelings were 
 removed from them, and, behold ! their hearts were filled with love. 
 Old things were done away, and all things become new." * 
 
 Let those who will, be sceptical as to the genuineness of results 
 like these, because they are connected with excitement. They come 
 to us as fully authenticated as any of the results of the Friends' 
 early labours they are taking place every day and though there 
 are abortive cases, still the number of genuine conversions, resulting 
 in holy and useful lives, and peaceful and often triumphant deaths, 
 will bear the test of the Great Master, " By their fruits ye shall 
 know them," and stamp this method of winning souls with the 
 eminent approval of God. 
 
 * Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher.
 
 138 ESSAY OK TUB 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CONVERSION AN ESSENTIAL PRELUDE TO THE MINISTRY. 
 
 Why should the children of a King 
 
 Go mourning all their days ? 
 Great Comforter, descend and bring 
 
 The tokens of thy grace. 
 
 Dost thou not dwell in all thy saints, 
 
 And seal the heirs of heaven ? 
 When wilt thou banish my complaints, 
 
 And show my sins forgiven ? 
 
 Assure my conscience of its part 
 
 In the Redeemer's blood ; 
 And bear thy witness with my heart, 
 
 That I am born of God. 
 
 WESLEYAN HYMN-BOOK. 
 
 BY neglecting to labour for the conversion of souls in a systematic 
 and earnest manner, the Friends lose the best possible opportunity 
 for diffusing their truly evangelical doctrines with regard to the 
 spirituality of the present dispensation, the unlawfulness of war, 
 &c., &c. When Divine grace has visited the heart, and thorough 
 conviction for sin has been followed by sincere repentance, and 
 acceptance of mercy in Christ Jesus, accompanied by a distinct and 
 lively consciousness of forgiveness and reconciliation, the soul is left 
 in an humble teachable state, in which the great doctrine of forgive- 
 ness of enemies striking, as it effectually does, at the root of war, 
 and conditional as it is of the sinner's forgiveness by God would, if 
 taught, be accepted with readiness, unless previous mis-teaching had 
 prejudiced the mind against it. We have seen this result sponta- 
 neously arising in the case of the rival lovers : it is the same with 
 the heathens, whose minds have been, before, a tabula rasa, ready to
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 139 
 
 receive any impressions, and to follow the leadings of the truth to 
 their fullest development. Thus it was with Titus Africanus and 
 Jan Ortman, as mentioned by James Backhouse in his Journal. 
 They were two chiefs of hostile tribes. Fresh from recent conflict 
 the conquered still burning for revenge they were both converted 
 under the preaching of the word at different missionary stations. 
 They subsequently met at one of the stations. They looked at each 
 other for a moment, then rushed forward and embraced each other, 
 and, forgetting all their former animosity, sat down to tell each other 
 of the great things that God had done for them. Such is the legiti- 
 mate result of true conversion ; but when, instead of this, a low 
 standard of Christian duty is maintained and taught, and the newly- 
 awakened soul is either trained or permitted to believe that war and 
 revenge can, in any sense, be compatible with that spirit of forgive- 
 ness of which Tie is just experiencing the benefit from his HEAVENLY 
 FATHER, and the exercise of which to his fellow-men is made the 
 absolute condition of his own forgiveness, his standard of Christian 
 duty is immediately lowered, and his fervency of spirit cooled down 
 to a fearful extent, and he remains, through life, unless subsequently 
 enlightened, an imperfectly-awakened child of God, incapable of 
 bringing forth fruit as he might have done, and unprepared to make 
 those sacrifices which the cause of Christ is continually demanding, 
 and ready to acquiesce in a correspondingly low and selfish standard 
 of duty in other particulars. Hence it is, that we find the great bulk 
 of Christians, at the present day, lending their sanctions to war, with 
 its inseparable iniquities and horrors, under the plea that though 
 war and Christianity are incompatible, still " the world is not pre- 
 pared" for carrying out this principle; as if the condition of the 
 world could, by any possibility, affect the responsibility of the Chris- 
 tian to his great Lawgiver. But few there are who are willing to 
 bear the cross and to confess Christ among men. The great mass of 
 Christians, in these degenerate times, propose to themselves to wear 
 the crown without having first borne the cross. It is, in fact, not the 
 world, but the CHUECH that is NOT PREPARED : and never will the 
 world be prepared until the CHURCH shows her allegiance to Christ,
 
 110 ESSAY ON TIE 
 
 by faithfully acting out his commands to the letter, rejoicing to do 
 all, suffer all, and, if needs be, lose all, for his sake. 
 
 The great injunction of Christ, " Lay not up for yourselves trea- 
 sures on earth," is just as much neglected. This very thing, forbidden 
 as it is in the most plain and peremptory manner, is the one idea 
 with the great mass of our Christian people the sum and centre of 
 their hopes. It is intimately connected with the point just referred 
 to. Any person who will act in the spirit of early days when the 
 believers " took joyfully the spoiling of their goods," and rejoiced to 
 be counted worthy to suffer with Christ, if so be they might also 
 reign with Him will be safe to-morrow, without a standing army, or 
 deadly weapons of any kind. 
 
 Intimately connected with the two points referred to, is the right 
 use of property, in alleviating distress, and helping to spread abroad 
 the truth. If the Churches were up to the New Testament standard 
 in this respect, if they would decline to show any respect of persons 
 in their places of worship, not invite the man with gold chains and 
 costly apparel to the best seats, while the poor shabbily-dressed 
 worshipper is thrust into some obscure corner ; if they would dili- 
 gently seek out cases of true suffering, and freely distribute to the 
 necessities of the poor, according to the full extent of the means that 
 God has given them for that very purpose, and not rest satisfied with 
 general expressions of sympathy, unattended with any exertions, or 
 any sacrifice, for the alleviation of distress, there would be little 
 surplus wealth to protect, and little disposition to commit depre- 
 dations, and the Church would be delivered from one of the most 
 fatal snares. "Wealth no longer being regarded as the ultimatum 
 the one thing to be desired the keen and dishonest competition that 
 now prevails, even amongst high professors, would be at an end ; the 
 disposition to add field to field, and house to house, and shop to shop, 
 until there is no room to dwell, would receive a wholesome check ; 
 and men, having realized a moderate competency, would gladly retire 
 from business, and, leaving the field open for their younger brethren, 
 devote their own leisure to the Christ-like employment of going 
 about doing good to the bodies and souls of men.
 
 SOCIETY OF FHIENDS. ]41 
 
 So obviously does the necessity for the Christian to consecrate his 
 whole life, and strength, and substance, to the cause of his Lord and 
 Master, appear to arise out of the very nature and condition of our 
 salvation through Christ, that we cannot conceive it possible for the 
 position of that Church, or that individual, to be a right one, which 
 admits of a condition of rest or ease in this present life. We feel 
 assured that those who can rest satisfied with a state of inaction 
 and of ease, of merely negative or collateral influence in the great 
 work of winning souls to Christ, of snatching sinners as brands from 
 the burning, of obeying the injunction of the Lord of the feast, " Go 
 ye into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in," are 
 falling far short of their high calling. Not compel, in the sense of 
 brute force, or penalties for refusal, but of urgent importunate request, 
 such urgency as should compel the forlorn wanderer to feel that he is 
 an object of earnest solicitude, instead of having to exclaim, " No 
 man careth for my soul;" such urgency as is manifested by the 
 great Apostle of the Gentiles, when he exclaims, " Now, then, we are 
 ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we 
 pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Sinners are 
 dying in their sins every moment, who might be reclaimed and brought 
 into the folds of Christ. The humblest and feeblest labourers who, in 
 the love of Christ, go to these forlorn ones, prayerfully, believingly, 
 have their labours crowned with success ; no one need stand idle, all 
 are called, all who are themselves converted may be instrumental in 
 turning others from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
 to God. It is to be feared, that many who lay claim to the heavenly 
 inheritance, and at the same time do not forsake all to follow Christ 
 in the way of the cross, will find themselves grievously mistaken at 
 last. Those who are truly alive in Christ Jesus, can find no line of 
 demarcation excusing them from some of the labours and the crosses 
 that are to be the portion of all that would work out the design of 
 their Creator and Eedeemer. It will not be merely as a matter of 
 duty, however, or as a necessary condition, that they will fulfil this 
 allotted work of faith and labour of love ; but because, in proportion 
 as they are renewed in the spirit of their mind,- and have imbibed
 
 142 ESSAT ON THE 
 
 Christ's spirit of love and self- sacrifice, their zeal will burn with a 
 lively flame they will find in such an employment their native ele- 
 ment, their daily bread. 
 
 Those who seek to reconcile a life of ease with a prospect of 
 heaven, know little of that process of refining and purification by 
 which, if they are ever to pass the gates of pearl, a meetness must be 
 brought about for the heavenly kingdom. The world has smiled 
 upon them : they haver never known the terrors of the Lord for sin, 
 or his forgiving, reconciling grace : having had little or nothing for- 
 given, their love is proportionably cold. Brought up, it may be, in a 
 system of educational and external propriety, spoken well of by men, 
 and surrounded by the good things of this life, a routine of dry 
 barren forms, whose truths faintly touch the understanding, but fail 
 to reach the heart, is all that their carnal souls can appreciate ; and the 
 zeal and impetuous earnestness of the true minister of Christ, and 
 the outcries of the awakened sinner, trembling on the verge of eternal 
 wrath, are to them little else than sheer extravagance and affectation. 
 
 These dwellers at ease in Zion, these enterers into other men's 
 labours and sufferings, would do well to contemplate the description 
 of the happy multitude before the Throne : " These are they that 
 have come through MUCH tribulation, and have washed their robes 
 and made them white in the blood of the lamb ; THEBEFORE are they 
 before the throne of God, and serve him day and night continually " 
 or as described in Hebrews xi. 37 " They were stoned, they were 
 sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword : they wan- 
 dered about in sheep skins and goatskins ; being destitute, afflicted, 
 tormented." Or with profound instruction they might contemplate 
 the Man of Sorrows, whose visage, for their sakes was " so marred 
 more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." Let 
 them hear Him saying, " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the 
 air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." 
 Let them think of the martyrs of their own and other lands torn in 
 pieces by wild beasts thrown headlong over steep rocks racked by 
 slow tortures of fire and water and steel, in which all the elements of 
 nature and all the ingenuity of man, and all the malice of devils have
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 143 
 
 been exhausted in making the fires of persecution hotter, and the 
 lingering torment fiercer, to wear out, if possible, the saints of the 
 Most High. Let them think of their own forefathers in the truth, 
 who, but two hundred years ago, rotted in damp dungeons, or 
 perished by fever in overcrowded and pestilential gaols, winging their 
 way from a martyr's life of suffering and a martyr's death to wear a 
 martyr's crown. And then let them ask themselves, in their compla- 
 cent pursuit of wealth, or science, or natural history, or creature 
 good, and creature comfort, and creature enjoyment, how much they 
 have in common with such spirits ? how far they are prepared just 
 now to give up their cherished idols in favour of the Redeemer's 
 cause ? how far they are fin ding their life in the things of time, evan- 
 escent and unsatisfying as they are, instead of the things of eternity ? 
 what proof they are NOW EVEET DAT giving of their oneness with 
 the Father and the Son, and their meetness for the heavenly kingdom, 
 in the diligent performance of THOSE WOEKS by WHICH FAITH is 
 
 MADE PEBFECT ? 
 
 The messages of the Spirit to the churches of Asia may be studied 
 with great instruction, in connexion with this subject. It is truly 
 remarkable, that not one of those churches is charged with doing 
 TOO MUCH with over- wrought zeal ; but with doing too little not 
 bringing forth fruit to perfection. In strict harmony with this, we 
 find Christ urging his disciples to bring forth fruit, and showing 
 them, in a thousand varied ways, the necessity of labouring and 
 struggling without intermission, of maintaining a continual warfare 
 against sin in themselves and in the world not as the ground of 
 their acceptance, but as their proper element and high privilege at 
 once the proof of their faith and love, and the means of strengthening 
 all their graces. He never once warns them against the danger of 
 doing too much, or of sacrificing too much for his cause. Misguided 
 zeal is possible excess of zeal never. 
 
 The church of Ephesus had left her first love, and she was coun- 
 selled thus: "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, 
 and do thy FIEST WOEKS." 
 
 To the church of Smyrna the Spirit says, approvingly, " I know
 
 1 lit F.S?AY ON TUR 
 
 thy WORKS, and thy TRIBULATION, and thy POVERTY : but thou art 
 EICH." 
 
 To Pergamog, " I know thy WOBKS." 
 
 To Thyatira, " I know thy works, and charity, and service, and thy 
 WOEKS ; and THE LAST TO BE MOEE THAN THE FIRST." This church 
 is not counselled to repent, " But," saith the Spirit, " that which ye 
 have already, HOLD PAST till I come." 
 
 In the address to the church at Sardis the Friends may see their 
 condition graphically pourtrayed : " I know thy works, that thou hast 
 a name that thou livest, and art dead." Not absolutely, irrecoverably 
 dead ; but benumbed cold lifeless : else why the injunction which 
 the Friends will do well to ponder" Be watchful and strengthen the 
 things that remain, that are ready to die ; for I have not found thy 
 WOEKS PERFECT before God." 
 
 To Philadelphia the encouraging language is addressed, "I know 
 thy WORKS " followed by the injunction, " HOLD FAST that thou 
 hast, that no man take thy crown." 
 
 The lukewarm state of the Laodiceans appears to have been pecu- 
 liarly ofiensive to the Spirit, and still the works are referred to : 
 " I know THY WORKS, that thou art neither cold nor hot, I would 
 thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and 
 neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." And this 
 was the Church which said, " I am rich, and increased in goods, and 
 have need of nothing." The Friends sometimes boast, when announc- 
 ing the annual balance of their " National Stock," that they are the 
 only society in the Kingdom that has a considerable surplus. "When 
 the whole amount, however, that they are spending and doing for 
 the spread of the kingdom of Christ is considered, we fear there will 
 be little room for complacency. We have heard a very zealous and 
 orthodox Quaker say, that he thought little of that religion which 
 is not equally profitable for both worlds, and that honour and 
 worldly comfort are the legitimate concomitants of true religion. 
 We do not say that they are never found together ; but we maintain 
 that thorough adherence to Christian principle, in all its bearings 
 on the affairs of life will, as an INEVITABLE consequence, involve
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 145 
 
 the individual who exercises it in loss, persecution, and contempt. 
 '' In the world ye shall have tribulation." The man who thus tries 
 to reconcile both worlds, shuts himself out from the highest bless- 
 ings aud most glorious privileges of the believer. He can have 
 110 conception of that exalted inner life, which is THE LIFE of the 
 believer that intimate union with God, and assimilation to HIS 
 nature, which constitutes having " the mind of Christ." It is 
 necessary to this high and blessed attainment, that he should be 
 thoroughly emptied of self, and that he should present himself as " a 
 living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God." The blessings enumerated 
 in Matt. v. 1, will then be his happy experience. Creature comforts 
 and worldly honours will have lost their attractions for him ; he will 
 count it all joy when he falls into divers temptations, i. e. trials> 
 knowing that the trying of his faith worketh patience ; he will 
 rejoice in tribulation, and instead of shrinking from every little sacri- 
 fice, and dreading every abridgment of his comforts, he will rejoice to 
 be counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ, and to 
 endure hardness as one of his good soldiers. Such an one, so far 
 from being taken up with the enjoyments of time, even if he have 
 them at command, will be filled with mourning, on account of his own 
 short-comings and imperfections, in the first place, and then for the 
 sins and sorrows of a lost, guilty, fallen world. This very mourning 
 is blessed pre-eminently blessed ; but it is totally incompatible with 
 creature comfort and ease, or with the kind of pleasure derived from 
 worldly success or honour. The hungering and thirsting after righte- 
 ousness, on which the blessing is pronounced, is intimately connected 
 with the mourning. It is a longing which nothing earthly can ever 
 satisfy, but which may be effectually DEADENED and BLUNTED by 
 even the lawful and " harmless" pursuits of commerce or of plea- 
 sure. The Great Master spake not in vain, when He said, " If any 
 man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and 
 children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he can- 
 not be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and 
 come after me, cannot be my disciple," Luke xiv. 25, 26 a hatred 
 not incompatible with the highest and fullest exercise of all the holy 
 
 L
 
 146 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 affections of our nature, or militating against the faithful discharge 
 of all the duties of life ; but implying a supreme love for Christ and 
 his cause, in comparison of which, all other objects must be placed in 
 a degree of subordination, which to the unregenerate and uninitiated 
 would seem to indicate actual hatred. Not less exalted is the bless- 
 ing to the peacemaker to the man who, in the spirit of Christ, 
 restores peace and love, where anger and revenge were brooding, and 
 brings about the reconciliation of long parted friends. Christ is 
 pre-eminently the peacemaker, his is the ministration of reconcilia- 
 tion ; and those who, in His spirit, yearning over lost souls, bring 
 the forlorn and despairing wanderer to the foot of the cross, pro- 
 claiming God's love in Christ to a rebellious and unhappy world, 
 enjoy a measure of that joy which Christ had set before Him, when 
 He endured the cross, despising the shame. " They that be wise shall 
 shine as the light ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the 
 stars, for ever and ever." He that gives to a disciple a cup of cold 
 water only, shall not lose his reward ; and Grod shall render to every 
 man according to his work. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 CARE OP INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS. 
 
 " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such 
 an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 
 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." GAL. vi. 1, 2. 
 
 " And let us consider ONE ANOTHER, to provoke unto love and good works : not 
 forsaking the assembling of OURSELVES together, as the manner of some is ; but 
 exhorting one another : and so much the more as ye see the day approaching." 
 HEB. x. 24, 25. 
 
 ANOTHER particular intimately connected with the topics already 
 referred to, in which the system of the Friends appears peculiarly de- 
 fective, is the provision of efficient means for ascertaining the spiritual
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 147 
 
 condition of individual members at short intervals, and cherishing 
 in them a steady and earnest attention to the things of the unseen 
 world. The office of the overseer has degenerated into that of an 
 inspector or policeman, who is supposed not to have any part to 
 perform until actual misdemeanour renders it necessary to take 
 cognizance of a brother or sister as a delinquent. But this is only 
 half meeting the exigencies of the case. Infinitely more may be 
 done by direct efforts to encourage good tendencies, than by the 
 discouragement of bad ones. Not that we would have the latter 
 neglected, by any means ; but one thing we are sure of that the 
 negative duty of repression will never be so faithfully and vigorously 
 executed, as when the positive duty of encouraging the good is dis- 
 charged to the full. " These ought ye to have done, and not to leave 
 the other undone." The man who sows no good seeds may weed his 
 ground as he will, but he cannot expect a crop ; while he who ploughs 
 and sows with all diligence will find much of his labour frustrated 
 and his hopes blighted, if he neglect to clear the ground and keep 
 under the encroaching weeds. Discipline is essential to the health 
 and welfare of the Church ; but it would come with a better grace, 
 if the delinquent had not been left almost entirely to himself, and 
 without, perhaps, a single direct intimation that any one felt a kindly 
 interest in his spiritual welfare. 
 
 The manner in which the ranks of the Friends are filled up by 
 birthright membership, while it has a tendency to lessen the feeling 
 of the necessity for this kind of care, is, if possible, an additional 
 reason for its sedulous exercise. No Church can be complete or 
 permanently efficient, that does not make systematic provision for 
 the immediate and constant oversight of its young converts and less 
 experienced members. Constant and immediate personal intercourse 
 with the experienced and loving members of the Church the men 
 full of the Holy Ghost is, perhaps, of all means that could be 
 mentioned, next to watching and prayer, the most efficacious in 
 counteracting the chilling influence of the world and the insidious 
 machinations of the soul's enemy. The influence of constant inter- 
 course among the bad, and in connexion with false systems, is too 
 
 L2
 
 1-48 ESSAY OK THE 
 
 well understood. " Evil communications corrupt good manners ;" 
 and good communications as effectually encourage and promote good 
 manners. John Wesley very soon found the advantage of affording 
 an .opportunity for the seekers after salvation and the young converts, 
 to express their doubts and difficulties to some one of greater expe- 
 rience and knowledge than themselves; and out of these opportunities 
 arose the Wesleyan class-meeting an arrangement very much mis- 
 understood by the world at large, having nothing in common with 
 the Romish confessional, as some have imagined, but constituting 
 a means of strengthening and encouraging the young or tempted 
 believer, and drawing closer the bonds of religious fellowship, which 
 those who have once learned to appreciate will be very reluctant to 
 forego. Whitfield, the contemporary of "Wesley, lived to see and 
 acknowledge the vast importance of some such arrangement. He 
 lived to see the fruits of his own labours scattered, in a great measure, 
 while those of Wesley were becoming more and m'ore established ; 
 and to his own omission to establish some organization analogous to 
 the class-meetings, Whitfield attributed the scattering that he had 
 to lament. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the Friends have suffered from the 
 same cause. The preaching of the Gospel, however efficiently, will 
 fail to a great extent, unless followed up by personal appeals, showing 
 an interest felt by individuals in the spiritual welfare of their neigh- 
 bours as individuals. It is probable, that but for the prayer-meetings 
 following the preaching of the Gospel, and the concern shown on 
 behalf of awakened sinners, not one-tenth of the conversions would 
 take place that now crown the labours of the Churches. How much 
 more needful, then, must this kind of care be amongst the Friends, 
 whose utterances from the gallery are so few, and so incomplete, 
 and where the prayer-meeting is altogether wanting! Intimately 
 connected with this state of things is the absence amongst them of 
 anything like a direct encouragement of the work of conversion. The 
 necessity for it is admitted ; but here, again, seeing that it can only 
 be accomplished by the influence of the Holy Spirit, they overlook 
 the part that man has to perform, instrument ally, in bringing to
 
 SOCIETY OF FKIEXDS. 149 
 
 bear upon his fellow-man that influence of the Spirit. Little, 
 comparatively, is heard amongst them of conversion. So long as a 
 member is " consistent " with regard to the peculiarities, and free 
 from any known breach of the moral law, he is left to himself; he may 
 live to advanced age, and even hold office in the Society, and take a 
 part in its discipline, and still be an entire stranger to that filial trust 
 in a reconciled G-od, which results from the hearty reception of Christ 
 as the alone Saviour, which ia essential to true conversion, and 
 which forms the only sound basis for good works or true morality. 
 The Friends in general have a decided aversion to any conversation 
 on such subjects, and regard as pharisaical, or presumptuous, any 
 expression of experience in regard to this important work. Members 
 with full privilege by birth, any attempt to distinguish between the 
 converted and the unconverted, the sheep and the goats, the children 
 of the Kingdom and the children of the wicked one, would be ex- 
 tremely invidious. The very fact of being a member of such a 
 Society, must in itself, like infant baptism, have a tendency to lessen 
 the feeling of responsibility and of the necessity for a change of heart, 
 and a regeneration into the invisible Church of Christ, whose Head is 
 in heaven, and whose members are scattered over the face of the 
 wide earth, even all those who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, 
 whatever their name, or creed, or colour, or clime. In the early 
 days of the Society, none of the young people were admitted to the 
 meetings for discipline, unless, from their evident interest in Divine 
 things, they were invited to sit with their brethren on whom the 
 care of the Churches rested. 
 
 In the absence of the genuine test which true conversion, followed 
 by a consistent life and conversation, affords, the Friends have 
 exalted " consistency" in a technical sense to a position which it 
 has no right to occupy. The great question, in all questions of con- 
 duct not universally condemned as immoral, now is, not are they 
 right or wrong, are they expedient or inexpedient, but are they con- 
 sistent ? that is, consistent with Quakerism a* it is. ' If the young 
 Friend is exhorted not to attend the theatre or the concert or not to 
 practice music, the sole reason supposed to be necessary is, that they
 
 150 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 are " not consistent." This is, no doubt, a ready mode of settling 
 many a knotty question ; but it is one which, in the long run, is 
 calculated to effect much mischief. It tak es the place of training and 
 instruction, and bases its influence on the authority of the Church ; 
 and however satisfactory it may be to the orthodox adviser, whose 
 reasons may be of the best character, would he but be at the pains 
 kindly and intelligently to unfold them, it cannot possibly carry con- 
 viction, or give satisfaction, to the young and ardent devotee of pleasure, 
 who can see " no harm " in this and the other indulgence, and is not 
 likely to do, unless instructed by some more diligent teachers than 
 he finds in his own Church, until bitter experience tells him that 
 " the way of transgressors is hard." "While forming an ineffectual 
 barrier against evil, this test of" consistency " operates, at the same 
 time, in a powerful manner against many things that are of the most 
 beneficial character ; and which, though objected to at first, as " in- 
 consistent for Friends," are afterwards vigorously adopted, first by 
 individual members, and then by the Society at large. It was thus 
 with the temperance movement. The first Friends that took a part 
 in that magnificent and Divinely sanctioned movement, designed and 
 calculated as it is to remove one of the greatest curses that ever 
 afflicted the Church or the world, were solemnly warned by the 
 orthodox, that they were very " inconsistent" in taking part in such 
 organizations. They persevered, however, and now there is not, 
 perhaps, a religious community in which the principle has a more 
 decided support, or by whom, though some of the old school of ob- 
 jectors are likely long to protest, it is likely sooner to be recognized 
 as an essential part of Church polity. 
 
 In one particular after another, however, this equivocal standard of 
 consistency is being set aside ; and with regard to music, dress and 
 address, the occasional attendance of other places of worship, right or 
 wrong, consistent or inconsistent, the magic cord is coming to be 
 broken with increasing frequency and diminished sense of impro- 
 priety. This loosening of long standing prejudices we hail, in some 
 respects, as a harbinger of good ; but it carries with it a serious ad- 
 mixture of evil. The fictitious standard being gone, there is no real
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 151 
 
 one to take its place, and thus the young Friend, having once shaken 
 off the control of " consistency," is left almost without rudder or 
 compass, to pick his way amid the terrible snares of a bewitching 
 world and the bewildering teachings of false systems of religion 
 ending, as has too often been the case, in a total wreck of all that is 
 good and noble in character, in the paths of vice and folly, or an 
 ardent adoption of some false and soul-seducing system of religion 
 often as diametrically at variance with the true teachings of the 
 society he has left, as light is to darkness. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE MINOR PECULIARITIES. 
 
 " Are ye so foolish ? Having begun in the Spirit, do ye seek to be made perfect 
 in the flesh ? Have ye suffered so many things in vain ? if it be yet in vain." 
 GAL. iii. 3, 4. 
 
 " Stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be 
 not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." GAL. v. 1. 
 
 NEXT, perhaps, to the neglect of a provision for the systematic 
 preaching of the Gospel, and for the direct encouragement of the 
 spiritual life in the individual members, what are called the minor 
 peculiarities of the Friends have exerted a prejudicial influence on 
 the vitality of the Society, cramped its energy, and materially dimi- 
 nished its usefulness in the world at large. Regarding these " minor 
 peculiarities" of dress, address, &c., as the results of the Holy 
 Spirit's teaching, they have been unwilling to suppose that their 
 influence could be any other than beneficial and the injuries arising 
 from this source have been diligently attributed to other causes. 
 Nay, further, regarding the whole system as a " chain graciously con- 
 structed for important and desirable purposes " which " may be 
 severed by the lapse of its smallest, as well as by that of its largest 
 link," * they have given to their peculiarities of dress and manners 
 
 * J. J. Gurney's " Observations," p. 439.
 
 152 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 an importance, practically, so far as the life of the Society is concerned, 
 equal to that of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. 
 
 Here, again, is apparent, the injurious effect of confounding man's 
 conclusions with, reference to the teachings of the Spirit, with the 
 Spirit, and giving to the deductions of Fox, Barclay, and others, from 
 the Scriptures, an authority equal to that of Christ himself. Such 
 being the exalted opinion entertained of the origin of the " minor 
 peculiarities," it will not be surprising if the Friends discover in 
 them great and peculiar advantages. Accordingly it is a common 
 observation with weighty Friends and J. J. Gurney has expressed it 
 (p. 432) that " when any persons amongst us allow themselves to 
 disuse the customary language, deportment, and dress of Friends, the 
 effect very often produced is this, that they become negligent of our 
 other testimonies, gradually depart from religious communion with 
 us, and finally join themselves with Christian societies of less strict- 
 ness, or merge in the irreligious world." * He adds that the same 
 result is likely to follow from the sacrifice of those " protecting pecu- 
 liarities ; " and that if they were generally given up, the change would 
 " naturally introduce a relaxation respecting those major ones which 
 arise out of the SAME HOOT ; and the line of demarcation by which we 
 are so providentially surrounded being removed, there would be little 
 to prevent our leing completely mixed up with general society." This, 
 he apprehends, would go so far as to involve the loss of " the high 
 and conspicuous standard which it is now the privilege of the Society 
 to uphold, respecting the Christian law of peace, and respecting the 
 complete spirituality of the Gospel dispensation." And is it come to 
 this, that the Society that two hundred years ago braved the fiercest 
 persecution, and made itself conspicuous by its firm, persevering, and 
 undaunted preaching of the Gospel, in the midst of the most dis- 
 couraging circumstances, and whose members were most effectually 
 distinguished from the rest of the world by their extraordinary zeal, 
 and the pre-eminent holiness and integrity of their lives, now require 
 a'broad-brimmed hat, a straight collar, and an indescribable bonnet, 
 with a blanket shawl, in order to enable them to maintain their high 
 * " Observations," p. 434.
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. ]53 
 
 principles, or to avoid merging in general society ? As to the standard 
 held up to the world at 'the present day, we fear that the writer here 
 reckons without his host. Alas ! it is too notorious, that the once 
 bright light of the Friends, who were as a city set on an hill, is now 
 for the most part concealed under a bushel, and the rest of the world, 
 for whose benefit they complacently imagine they are holding up a 
 conspicuous standard, scarcely take cognizance of them at all, except 
 as a very peculiar and totally incomprehensible, though very well 
 meaning people. 
 
 If such be the necessary connexion between the " minor pecu- 
 liarities," these quaint and antiquated modes of dress and manners, 
 aud the great fundamental truths of the Gospel, it is rather surprising, 
 that amongst the various modes of escaping the contaminations of 
 the world and preserving religious life, this peculiar form of dress 
 was not prescribed by Christ himself. Alas ! no, here the Friends, 
 once so earnest in their protest against mere forms, have become the 
 veriest of formalists. Say what they will, they do actually attach a 
 virtue to a peculiar form of dress ; and we fear that the importance 
 which the Friends have allowed to gather round this part of their 
 system, instead of being the safeguard that they imagine, is one chief 
 cause of their weakness. The figure of the chain is. a peculiarly 
 unhappy one. Were it all of Divine fabrication, and the material 
 Divinely provided, then we admit that no one link might be severed 
 with impunity. He that shall break the least of Christ's command- 
 ments, and teach men so, shall be counted least in the kingdom of 
 heaven. But it is not here that the weakness lies : it is in the human 
 element. This the Friends are extremely reluctant to admit, be- 
 cause they maintain that the founders of the Society were Divinely 
 led in its formation, and that these peculiarities of dress and manners 
 are the teachings of the Holy Spirit. But here, as in the case of the 
 ministry, it is possible that a certain measure of human deduction 
 may have mixed itself up with the Divine teaching and that the 
 Christian duty of plainness, like that of waiting, may have received, 
 with the Friends, a technical application which converts, in process 
 of time, a living principle into a mere formality.
 
 154 ESSA.T ON THE 
 
 Little as the peculiarities as they now exist at least \\ith regard to 
 dress were contemplated by the Friends, yet, having grown into 
 their present form, they are now, as we have seen, regarded as an 
 integral and essential portion of the system. It is very common to 
 hear them compared to a " hedge," or " external bulwark, by which 
 Friends, considered as a religious community, are separated from the 
 world, and in some degree defended from its influence." We fear 
 that much more importance has been attached to this external 
 bulwark than it really merits ; indeed, it is too obvious, that in pro- 
 portion as it is a hedge, it is also a snare. It does not prevent the 
 unprincipled and the hypocrite from frequenting scenes of dissipation 
 and worldly gaiety ; they change their costume for the occasion. It is 
 not needed by the truly sincere and devoted Christian he would be 
 altogether out of his element in such scenes and by far the greater 
 proportion of such characters, in every age, have had no such hedge 
 to protect them ; and yet, without its aid, millions have, through 
 Divine grace, successfully combated the temptations of the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil. It is, then, to the partially awakened, the 
 weak in faith, or the young and inexperienced believer, that it is to 
 be useful, if at all. But to this class it can only be rendered useful 
 by the exercise of an amount of faithfulness and self-denial, which 
 without its aid would be equally efficacious. So far, however, from 
 exerting any beneficial influence, we believe that it operates in a 
 directly injurious manner, placing the class just referred to, in common 
 with all the members, under an incessant temptation to insincerity, 
 which is notoriously too strong to be resisted, even by many of the 
 highly approved officers, and even ministers, of the Society. 
 
 If it be objected, that the Friend is in a different position from 
 other Christians, because he has been educated in the practice of these 
 peculiarities, and that they thus have a claim on his conscientious 
 regard which they have not upon others that to Mm they are bind- 
 ing on this account then we answer, that is the very strongest argu- 
 ment that could possibly be brought to show their injurious tendency. 
 It they are part and parcel of the Christian's duty as laid down by 
 Christ, they are as much binding on the rest of the world as on the
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIEXDS. 155 
 
 Friends ; and if they are not part of that duty, then is their im- 
 position an unnecessary, and therefore unwarranted, addition to the 
 cross, which, though light in comparison with that of sin, is already 
 heavy enough an arbitrary narrowing of the way, already strait 
 enough, that leadeth unto life. The forms of temptation are nume- 
 rous enough, without our thus artificially increasing their number. 
 As well might people argue, that because a quantity of rock or earth 
 had fallen from a cliff above, and blocked up a road already narrow, 
 no effort should be made to clear the road, because the impediment 
 had come there in the ordering of Providence. 
 
 We have already observed that a coat of peculiar cut is not an 
 essential requisite to the maintenance of Christian purity and inte- 
 grity. But, it will be replied, the Friends do not contend for a 
 different CUT it is for Gospel plainness only that they contend. 
 This ground, however, cannot be maintained. If it be so, why is the 
 different cut perpetuated ? why are the young men warned against 
 office-coats and summer-coats as leading to unfaithfulness ? why are 
 members who adopt the rolling collar told that they are thus unfitted 
 to take office in the schools of the Society, or to be acknowledged as 
 ministers ? and applicants for membership, though dressed as plainly 
 as any of the orthodox, required to adopt the "plain coat" before 
 they can be admitted ? All these things are done ; and whatever 
 loosening of prejudice there may be in some directions, every indica- 
 tion of a more liberal disposition is mourned over, and watched with 
 an anxious eye, by the far greater portion of those who give its 
 weight and character to the Society. 
 
 Plainness of dress is most undoubtedly a Christian duty, and 
 extravagance and gaiety in dress one of the most common and suc- 
 cessful of the baits of Satan ; and what J. J. Gurney remarks is true 
 of Christian plainness viz., that it requires much less time, and 
 engrosses less thought and attention, than fashionable attire. But 
 this remark will not at all apply to the quaint and obsolete costume 
 of the Friends. It is notorious that the "plain" coat and bonnet 
 require an extraordinary amount of care and skill in their manufac- 
 ture, in order to suit modern ideas of neatness, which renders it
 
 156 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 often an affair of considerable difficulty to get suited. The fabrica- 
 tion of the bonnet is a business in itself sui generis and the ladies 
 have sometimes to send for them two or three hundred miles. Every 
 one acquainted with the advertising sheet of the Friend some years 
 ago, must have been made aware, from the announcement of Sayce 
 and Co., of the extreme merit that attaches to the making of a 
 Friend's coat of approved style and fit. The great design, then, of Chris- 
 tian plainness and simplicity in dress, is defeated by this very peculiarity . 
 More thought is, in consequence, given to these matters, by many 
 Friends, than by any except the most fastidious of the world at large. 
 It is a common subject of remark with shopkeepers and fabricators of 
 clothing, that the Friends are the most difficult to please of any 
 customers they have. An eighth of an inch too much in the breadth 
 of a brim or the height of a crown, is enough to cause the article to 
 be thrown upon the hands of the unfortunate tradesman, who must 
 order, perhaps, two or three to be made specially for the punctilious 
 Quaker before satisfaction can be given. 
 
 But there is a further evil attending this peculiarity of dress and 
 manners. It gives an air of assumed sanctity to the wearer, which is 
 as opposite to the true spirit of Quakerism as light is to darkness 
 giving to the whole Society the character of a distinct class, just as 
 the priesthood of Rome and other establishments distinguish them- 
 selves by their peculiar costumes. Here, again, extremes meet. To 
 such an extent does this resemblance exist, that some of the more 
 venerable Quakers pride themselves on account of their having been 
 taken for dignitaries of the Established Church. 
 
 But J. J. Grurney himself points out a still more formidable 
 tendency of the system, and one which has done its work to an 
 extent which, conscious as he was of the danger, he would have felt 
 little disposed to acknowledge. Having first alluded to the dangers 
 of latitudinarianism, he adds, "We ought by no means to forget those 
 which are equally inseparable from the formalist. Such is the weak- 
 ness, such the deceitfulness of our hearts, that our very abstinence 
 from forms may sometimes become formal, and our several religious 
 peculiarities may be maintained in the spirit of the Scribes and
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 157 
 
 Pharisees, who paid ' tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and 
 omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment, mercy, and 
 faith.' " Such, precisely, has been the effect of the peculiarities of 
 the Friends. They have been rested in, to the neglect of much more 
 important matters ; and infinitely more pains have been taken to 
 check the deviations of young people in these respects, than to ascer- 
 tain their actual religious condition, to fortify them against tempta- 
 tion by sedulously and systematically imbuing their minds with lofty 
 principles, and to induce them, by Avords of tender and affectionate 
 encouragement, to give themselves unreservedly to the Lord. So 
 completely is the peculiar dress identified with all that is implied in 
 being a member of the Society, that when a young man adopts a coat 
 with a rolling collar, though there may be no other index to any 
 change in his sentiments and feelings, it is immediately said that 
 " he has thrown off the Friend." There is melancholy evidence in 
 all this, of the extent to which those whose concern it is to watch over 
 the spiritual welfare of the young and the weak in faith, have allowed 
 themselves to be duped by this external conformity. They little 
 know how the barren soul has been pining and shrinking in its 
 narrow prison, finding no adequate supply for its feelings after 
 immortality and the life of God in the soul : they mistake for the 
 cause, that which is in reality the result of spiritual deadness little 
 imagining that the true cause lies in their failure to Supply the 
 material and the motive, so far as human agency is designed to do, of 
 growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 J. J. Gurney was probably very little aware of the extent to which 
 his caution was required, or of the immense influence that this one 
 cause has had in lessening the influence of the Society and diminishing 
 its vitality, when he wrote, " All of us who are attached by the force 
 of long-continued habit to the practices of Friends, have great need of 
 watchfulness, lest we fall into the snare of the enemy ; lest, while he 
 leaves us the figure or shell, he rob us of the kernel." This state of 
 things has been realized to a fearful extent : and, indeed, it is pre- 
 cisely what was to be expected from the circumstances of the case ;
 
 158 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 for it must be obvious, upon the slightest reflection, that whatever 
 non-essential is set up as a duty whatever obligation is imposed 
 upon believers which the law of Christ does not require lays the 
 conscience under artificial and unnecessary obligation, and thus, 
 sooner or later, becomes a source of confusion to the moral sense, 
 and hence a hindrance and a snare. The new law gives rise to a new 
 form of temptation to which certain individuals find themselves 
 exposed, over and above those which they have to combat in com- 
 mon with the world at large a temptation arising, not out of 
 any of the natural impulses of the depraved heart, nor any of God's 
 commands to mankind in general, but out of the artificial circum- 
 stances, the arbitrary regulations amidst and under which the Friend 
 finds himself placed. In childhood, and in an unrenewed state, the 
 reasons for these restrictions cannot be appreciated, and the yoke is 
 therefore most felt when there is least of conviction or of principle 
 to sustain it. The vast importance attached to its being borne, gives 
 to unfaithfulness in this respect a character of sinfulness so nearly 
 on a par with infractions of the moral law, that there is no alternative 
 left for the unsophisticated mind between either submission on the 
 ground of human authority alone, or, as is too frequently the case, a 
 general aversion to the whole system of duty to God and man, of 
 which it is made to pass for an integral part. No wonder, then, if 
 the individual who, unsustained by Christian principle, ventures to 
 throw oft* these peculiarities, rushes into other liberties or that 
 those whom parental or Church authority keeps within the prescribed 
 limits, rest in outward forms, never become awakened to the high 
 privileges or the solemn responsibilities of the Christian calling, and 
 remain through life unprofitable and unfruitful servants having the 
 form of godliness, but, by the whole tenor of their selfish lives, 
 denying the power, and never putting forth a single effort to promote 
 the glory of their God, or save a perishing brother. 
 
 That any young person can go through the ordeal that this pecu- 
 liarity of dress and manners imposes, without a material influence on 
 his character, it is impossible to suppose. J. J. Gurney himself says, 
 that there are few things which, "in_many tender minds, occasion a
 
 SOCIETY OF FBTENDS. 159 
 
 greater struggle." We may fairly ask, then, whether, unless these 
 peculiarities be essential to salvation, it is wise to require all the 
 members to pass through such an ordeal ; and whether the effect of 
 it on the world at large is not likely to be, that many will be deterred 
 from making that acquaintance with the views of the Society on the 
 great and all-important truths of salvation and of Christian morality, 
 in which they might hold up such an important standard to the 
 world. A hedge, if it keeps in those that are on one side, will as 
 effectually keep out those who are at the other. Instead, therefore, 
 of the removal of this artificial barrier to free intercourse with man- 
 kind preventing them from upholding their principles of peace and 
 spiritual worship, it would, especially in connexion with a systematic 
 ministry, and a healthy tone of earnestness in the members generally, 
 afford them opportunities of usefulness on a more extensive scale 
 than any they have ever yet enjoyed ; and there would be some 
 prospect of the world being effectually leavened by their views : 
 whereas, according to recent symptoms, the course hitherto pursued 
 was likely to end, at no distant period, in their light being totally 
 extinguished. 
 
 J. J. Gurney attributes the declension of those Friends who give 
 up the " peculiarities," to want of Christian boldness : " Not daring 
 to be Christians according to that peculiar line of duty which the 
 Lord has cast up for them, they appear almost to cease from being 
 Christians at all."* But the question may fairly be asked, Is this 
 peculiar line of duty one that the Lord has cast up for them, or is 
 there something of man's contrivance in it ? a portion of the deve- 
 lopment of a system, arranged, doubtless, by men divinely raised up, 
 and under a measure of the Holy Spirit's influence but not in such 
 a manner as to exclude the possibility of some dross being mixed 
 amongst the silver, and some of the human element mixing itself 
 with the Divine. That many who deviate in these particulars do 
 cease to entertain or to practise the other principles of the Friends, 
 is perfectly true and that they become mixed with the irreligious 
 world. But firstly, it must here be borne in mind, that the retention 
 * " Observations," p. 441.
 
 160 ESSAT Otf THE 
 
 of the peculiarities is no guarantee for that which is right in other 
 respects and hundreds who have been rigid in the maintenance of 
 these peculiarities, have, at the same time, been guilty of gross viola- 
 tions of the moral laws ; and secondly of the class to whom J. J. 
 Gurney refers, nothing better could be expected, whether they con- 
 form in these particulars or not. He describes them as persons who 
 " are secretly unfaithful to their convictions, and pusillanimously 
 forsake the peculiarities rather than take up the cross." If they are 
 convinced that the peculiarities are indeed the cross that they are in 
 duty bound to take up, then they are very likely to " be left in a 
 state of dwarfishness and sterility, destitute at once both of the form 
 and of the substance of religion." But this is no argument in favour 
 of the system pusillanimity shrinks from the cross in whatever form 
 and further, it often requires more courage by far, to throw off 
 than to retain the peculiarities. There are thousands who do retain 
 them simply because it is more conducive to their worldly interests 
 to do so. Such persons remain in a state of equal sterility in the 
 Society the only difference being that though destitute of the sub- 
 stance, they cling pertinaciously to the form. It is not an uncommon 
 remark for young men in the Society, that they cannot afford to be 
 anything else but Quakers. 
 
 It would be well for the Friends, however, to consider in how far 
 the indifference to religious matters exhibited by many of those who 
 " throw off the Friend," is to be attributed to that lack of religious 
 instruction and religious care to which we have elsewhere alluded. 
 If the Friends secured the early and hearty reception of the great 
 truths of religion in their young members, there would be some- 
 thing to bind them to the Society they would be more open to 
 arguments in favour of the " minor peculiarities," if there really be 
 anything in them, and would have more inducement to bear them', if 
 they did not altogether approve them ; while, if they failed to regard 
 them as binding, a thorough acquaintance with the great doctrines of 
 the Society would be incomparably more likely to exert a permanent 
 influence over their future lives and characters, than the peculiarities 
 could possibly do under any circumstances.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 161 
 
 There are, however, a very large and an increasing number of 
 Friends, really earnest and well-meaning, who are dissatisfied with 
 these " minor peculiarities," on very different grounds from those 
 already referred to, but whom the orthodox find it very difficult to 
 regard as sincere in their convictions. They conscientiously believe 
 that these peculiarities, so far from being essential to the welfare of 
 the Society, are positively injurious ; and for that reason they give 
 them up. If the Friends who trace the history of the reprobates, 
 and triumphantly bring them forward as a proof of the danger of 
 throwing off the peculiarities, would be equally diligent in following 
 out the history of those who leave them on higher grounds, they 
 would find that a vast number of them become consistent, devout, and 
 eminently useful members of other religious communities. If, in many 
 cases, they give up their peculiar views with regard to the eminent 
 spirituality of the Gospel, it cannot, perhaps, be wondered at, when 
 we take into account the small amount of religious teaching of which 
 they have had the benefit, and the influence that the regular instruc- 
 tions of the appointed minister may be expected to exert on the 
 comparatively blank mind of his proselyte. 
 
 It must be clear to every reflecting mind, that whatever may be 
 advanced as to not insisting on a peculiar form of dress, but merely 
 on Christian plainness, it is, in reality, and emphatically, the peculiar 
 form to which importance is attached. Though there remain multi- 
 tudes of fops and belles in the world, butterflies and peacocks in 
 human form, and pride in dress still presents one of the most for- 
 midable barriers to vital godliness, still there are vast numbers of 
 persons out of the Society of Friends, who are as exemplary in their 
 Christian simplicity as the Friends can possibly be. Plainness is 
 now no longer singular ; and mere plainness would not, in any degree, 
 have the effect of keeping the Friends distinct from other sincere 
 Christians. It would form no " hedge," no " external bulwark," and 
 to it, therefore, the argument of the links in the chain, the providential 
 protection, the necessity of keeping visibly distinct from the world, 
 and making intercourse with it artificially difficult, as a necessary 
 condition to the maintenance of the major peculiarities, would all 
 
 M
 
 162 ' ESSAY ON THE 
 
 fall to the ground. Let the plain fact, then, be no longer kept out 
 of sight, that the Friends consider a distinguishing badge in dress 
 and manners essential to the maintenance of their system to its 
 very existence in the world ; and then let it be asked, whether Chris- 
 tianity requires such a badge ? If not and we maintain that there 
 is NO authority for it in Scripture then it is clear that Quakerism is 
 Christianity, and something more something of man's invention, 
 and which must, in the long run, prove prejudicial to the true 
 interests of the Society. That it has grown up providentially, in 
 any proper sense of the term, may be fairly questioned. The same 
 might be said of every custom or arrangement which arises in any 
 church out of the workings of the principles with which that church 
 set out. But still the question remains, whether such custom or 
 arrangement is the sound result of a sound principle, or whether it 
 is something of a different character, overlooked in its tendencies 
 while undeveloped, but, in reality, nothing more than a caricature 
 or an abuse of some great principle. This is a question of vital im- 
 portance ; for it is the nature of all abuses to produce an increasingly 
 injurious influence, in proportion as they become interwoven and 
 identified with that which is good rendering their detection and 
 removal of ever-increasing difficulty and danger to the organization 
 of which they form an element. The only true policy, however, is 
 to look the evil in the face while time allows. The refusal to reform 
 faulty particulars, for fear of disturbing the whole fabric, can only 
 end in a more confirmed and desperate morbific condition, consum- 
 mated by a correspondingly disastrous and sweeping catastrophe. 
 
 That the " minor peculiarities " are an abuse, we think the fore- 
 going observations have sufficiently proved. They are, indeed, the 
 valuable nay, essentially Christian testimony against superfluity 
 and ostentation, degenerated into a religious badge, a distinguishing 
 mark, " an external and visible sign," not of " an inward grace," it 
 may be, but of the wearer's being united in religious fellowship 
 with a society that entertains certain peculiar views, distinguishing 
 and separating them not more from a world that lieth in sin, than 
 from other sections of the Christian Church. It is the shell, which,
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 163 
 
 as J. J. G-urney justly intimates, is in great danger of being rested 
 in, when the kernel is no longer there. Could any figure more aptly 
 describe the existing state of things in the Society of Friends ? It 
 may be safely laid down as a maxim, that whenever, in any Christian 
 community, anything is insisted on over and above what is written, 
 any restrictions imposed that do not arise immediately out of the 
 universally binding requirements of the Gospel towards God and 
 man, a corresponding laxity will, in process of time, supervene in 
 the carrying out of the real duty of which the restriction in question 
 is a counterfeit : " Ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs, 
 and pass over judgment and the love of God." There is less of this, 
 we admit, amongst the Friends than in some other directions ; but 
 it should not be matter of surprise, if, with an amount of sound good 
 sense, admirable arrangements, and high principle, rarely found in 
 combination, some imperfections should insinuate themselves to mar 
 the great work. It is earnestly to be desired, that, rather than give 
 themselves up to expire of inanition, consoling themselves with the 
 idea that their work is done, they would examine, in all candour and 
 good faith, their whole admirable system, remedy its defects, correct 
 its abuses, and go forth again in the strength of the Lord, with their 
 youth renewed, to do battle with sin and Satan, and win fresh 
 trophies for the Prince of Peace. Let the Society of -Friends be 
 assured they have still a great work to accomplish in the world. 
 Their spirit is right, their foundation is sound. The good old ship 
 is still seaworthy, but the tackle is somewhat quaint and unservice- 
 able, and some of the timbers are worm-eaten. Let the rotten 
 timbers be removed, and the sails and tackle remodelled in such a 
 way as their own experience and that of others may suggest, and 
 they will once more fill a most important place in the world, and 
 exert an influence for good, such as, perhaps, no other existing 
 organization has the power to do. If we are asked our opinion, 
 however, as to the probability of their having the candour and the 
 courage to make these changes, we should reply by two of the de- 
 clarations of Christ : 
 
 " New wine must be put into new bottles." 
 
 M 2
 
 16 i ESSAI ON THE 
 
 " No man having tasted old wine, straightway desireth new, for he 
 saith the old is better." 
 
 A word to the wise is sufficient. 
 
 Let the quaint style of dress and manners be dispensed with let 
 the hymn be sung, and the Scriptures read, and the grand and simple 
 views of the Friends propounded Sabbath after Sabbatli by a com- 
 petent ministry, and their neat and commodious meeting-houses, 
 now so silent and deserted, would soon be the resort of eager listening 
 multitudes, who, unattracted by any of the existing forms of Chris- 
 tianity, would be ready and anxious to hear some, it may be, from 
 curiosity, but far more from a desire to know more fully the mystery 
 of godliness as unfolded in the Christian Scriptures that going on 
 to perfection to which the Apostle alludes in the first verse of the 
 sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to the elucidation of 
 which he devotes the greater portion of that truly magnificent epistle, 
 and which perfection, consisting, as it does, in the entire superseding 
 of the ministration of condemnation, with all its " washings and 
 sprinklings and carnal ordinances, by the eminently spiritual" minis- 
 tration of reconciliation, the Friends have more fully recognized than 
 any people that have hitherto been raised up. 
 
 In the mean time, it must be admitted, that while the badge fails, 
 on the one hand, to prevent the worldly-minded and the pleasure- 
 seeker from gratifying their carnal inclinations, it becomes, on the 
 other hand, an unnecessary cross, and therefore a snare to the con- 
 science gives to the world a very erroneous idea of the true character 
 of the Friends, and closes the door to their extended usefulness. 
 Neither does the badge prevent the entrance of considerable latitude 
 with regard to true Christian plainness, if, in any degree, it secures 
 the end in view. The young Friend may be a consummate fop or 
 belle, and yet be " consistent ;" and it is notorious, that a very large 
 display of vanity, with the badge, would be regarded with much more 
 lenity than perfect plainness and simplicity, if not recommended by 
 conformity. It is not less notorious, that the Friends whose means 
 will admit of it, make up, to a great extent, for plainness of colour 
 and of shape, by richness of material ; while, amongst the more
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. 165 
 
 wealthy, their houses, their furniture, the supply of their tables, and 
 their trains of attendants, rival in sumptuousness the most worldly 
 people of the land. The modern Quaker, to use the expression of a 
 native of Somerset, has "a desperate hard hold of both worlds." He 
 answers, in too many instances, to the description of a certain man 
 who, so far as we can learn, was of unimpeachable moral character, 
 but who, instead of finding his highest good in glorifying his God, 
 and using his wealth, as God's steward, for the benefit of a suffering 
 world, was absorbed in his creature-comforts and creature-enjoy- 
 ments. He was " clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared 
 sumptuously every day." 
 
 This type of modern Quakerism glories in the peculiarities 
 thinks that the Society, AS IT is, is eminently adapted for a certain 
 class of minds, and that the sole duty of the Society is, not to engage 
 actively in seeking the conversion of sinners, and the extensive 
 diffusion of its views, but to extend a kind of collateral influence on 
 the world, bearing a species of silent, negative testimony to certain 
 great truths, and against certain great evils not seeking to enlarge 
 their own borders with numbers changed by their instrumentality 
 from darkness to light, but content to exert just enough influence in 
 awakening sinners, to make one here and there more susceptible of 
 the influence exerted by their neighbour Churches ; their province 
 being to wait in dignified reserve, until the world, at an infinite cost 
 of searching out for which search, by the way, no motive is assigned 
 discovers them in the very retired position that they have taken 
 up, and becomes, by some mysterious process, alive to the existence 
 and the excellency of certain great truths that they never have heard 
 propounded, and of whose very existence they are not likely ever to 
 dream, unless the Friends will condescendingly break the silence of 
 a century, and once more freely give that which once they freely 
 received. 
 
 A leading sentiment with the class we now refer to is, that true reli- 
 gion is not merely profitable, but that it is equally profitable for both 
 worlds that it secures to its possessor a prospect of heaven, together 
 with the largest possible amount of this world's enjoyment, comfort 
 and honour. Alas ! thus has the offence of the cross ceased thus it
 
 166 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 is that men neutralize all their piety and their zeal by the vain 
 attempt to serve both God and mammon. But Christ has declared 
 this to be impossible. The very circumstance that the Friend has 
 now little or no cross to bear that his very peculiarities are tole- 
 rated, like ivy on thejwalls of a ruined abbey, should make him 
 seriously ask the question, whether he is really doing all that is re- 
 quired in the Great Master's service. "We are told, on the highest 
 authority, that all who will live godly must suffer persecution. Such 
 a doctrine as we have referred to above, would have sounded very 
 strange to the earnest spirits who won for the Friends the position 
 they have occupied for the last two hundred years. "What of the 
 browbeating before magistrates the infliction of heavy fines and 
 imprisonment, for. no other crime than keeping a conscience void of 
 offence before God and man their being classed as traitors and 
 felons, and confined in .the same dungeons with such characters, for 
 no other reason than their refusal to break the command of Christ, 
 " Swear not at all " their persecution by the gaolers, and by the 
 felons whose imprisonment they shared the loss of health and life 
 itself from the damp and unwholesome character of the dungeons 
 where they were immured ? Alas ! how unlike are the refined, ease- 
 loving, money-making Quakers of the present day, to the suffering, 
 toiling men, who gave their backs to the smiter, and their cbeeks to 
 them that plucked off the hair, and their bodies to be walked over as 
 the streets ! Little of worldly honour or sympathy did these men 
 receive, while they nobly suffered in order that they might preserve 
 intact their high principles and their rights as Christian citizens, and 
 hand them down intact to a posterity alas ! how unworthy ! men 
 whose voices were to be heard in the markets, at the roadside, pro- 
 claiming, often amid the scoffs and jeers of the godless multitude and 
 the brutal violence of an infuriated soldiery, the truth as it is in 
 Jesus. May the day soon come, when, instead of being trammelled 
 by a formalism of their own, the Friends will return to their primitive 
 testimony against all formalism ; dare again the frown of the state- 
 protected ecclesiastic, and the scoff of an ungodly world, and come 
 up to the help of the Lord, to " the help of the Lord against the 
 mighty.'"
 
 SOCIETY OF TRIENDS. 167 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE WOBLD. 
 
 " He becometh poor that dealeth[with a slack hand : but the hand of the diligent 
 maketh rich." PROV. x. 4. 
 
 " Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise 
 Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." LUKE xvi. 25. 
 
 " By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be oalled the son of 
 Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than 
 to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the BEPROACH of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompence of re- 
 ward." HEB. xi. 24-26. 
 
 THERE can be no doubt that the Society of Friends, in common 
 with all the Churches of Christendom, suffers severely from the 
 worldly spirit the lust of gain, and ambition of worldly ease, enjoy- 
 ment, and distinction. The regular and strictly temperate life of the 
 true Christian, his uniform integrity and steady application to his 
 daily calling, bring a blessing upon him, and he increases in wealth. 
 We say a blessing, for, if used in strict accordance with the law of 
 Christ, wealth is a blessing not to keep, not to hoard, not to spend 
 in ministering to low and unworthy appetites and desires, nor to lay 
 up for the generation to come but to use as Grod's stewards in 
 doing good, by relieving the wants of our neighbours, and promoting 
 the benevolent enterprises which, in the Spirit of Christ, are set on 
 foot for lessening the suffering that abounds in the world, removing 
 stumbling-blocks out of the way of the truth, and promoting the 
 spread of the glad tidings of "peace on earth and good-will to men." 
 But there is a snare in the very possession of wealth. If retained in 
 possession, it produces, by an inevitable tendency, which nothing 
 but God's grace can possibly counteract, a certain benumbing in-
 
 168 ESSA.Y ON THE 
 
 fluence upon the possessor, which shuts up his bowels of compassion, 
 and makes him clutch his gold with tighter grasp, in a proportion 
 directly corresponding with the quantity possessed ; so that, as a 
 general rule, the more men have, the less willing they are to part 
 with it, unless for the express purpose of bringing in still more. John 
 Wesley has three maxims in connexion with this subject, two of which 
 are most industriously put in practice : " Get all you can, save all 
 you can ; " but the third, " GIVE all you can," which alone reconciles 
 the other two with the exalted, self-sacrificing, world-renouncing 
 spirit of the Gospel, is, alas! almost entirely forgotten. Did the 
 disciples of Christ thus literally fulfil the command of their Lord, 
 " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth," how altered would 
 the aspect of the Churches at once become ! how would all the 
 Christian graces be quickened ! Faith, love, zeal, and holy ardour, 
 would glow and abound ; and instead of the word being choked, and 
 becoming unfruitful, fruit would be brought forth, not thirty, nor 
 sixty, but an hundred-fold. - 
 
 It will probably be admitted by all, that the spirit of trade, the 
 lust of gain, is an easily besetting sin of the modern Quaker. Indeed, 
 so notorious is the fact, that this very worldly-mindedness is the 
 reason most commonly advanced to account for the degeneracy and 
 lifelessness that now prevail. This, in part, may be true it is the 
 case with all Churches, more or less ; but it is by no means the 
 principal cause. The same absence of means to keep alive their 
 principles, by the living voice to which we have already attributed so 
 much, has done its work as effectually here. The writings of the 
 early Friends abound with the most beautiful and instructive homilies 
 on the danger and the undesirableness of wealth, and the duty of re- 
 garding it, as we have already intimated, as a trust to be employed for 
 the glory of the Giver. Such, however, is the change that has come 
 over the whole Society, that any one advancing precisely the same 
 views as are to be found in their own standard works, would be 
 regarded by the great majority of the Society as nothing better than 
 a dreamer and enthusiast. Some noble exceptions the Society has 
 always presented, of men who felt it to be their high privilege to
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 169 
 
 deny themselves, and live in the most simple arid unostentatious 
 manner, in order that all the surplus they could command might be 
 lovingly and gratefully devoted to the cause of Christ. All honour 
 to such men, wherever found ! their number, alas ! is painfully small ; 
 while the order of the day appears to be, to strive, if possible, to 
 reconcile the essentially heterogeneous services of God and mammon. 
 "We cannot, however, avoid the suspicion, that, though a cause, the 
 spirit of the world is by no means the chief cause, of the state of 
 things which forms the subject of the present inquiry. 
 
 It has been remarked, that the Friend, having declined the theatre, 
 the ball-room, and the place of popular amusement, is at liberty to 
 engross his mind more with the affairs of business. There is, doubt- 
 less, truth in this ; but this is a tendency which the Friends would 
 not have felt injuriously, had they occupied themselves industriously 
 in works of mercy and in the diffusion of truth. The man who lives 
 and walks in the spirit of Christ, and takes means to bring himself 
 into immediate acquaintance with the world of misery and depravity 
 which lies at his very door, will have no occasion for the fascinations 
 of the gay world, or the attractions of the counting-house, to fill the 
 blank in his mind. In such a mind there will be no blank ; and if 
 " eternity's too short to utter all God's praise," surely time will be 
 too short to exhibit Christ's spirit in snatching, as brands from the 
 burning, a few of those who are perishing by myriads every hour we 
 live. The complaint, too, is often made, that there are comparatively 
 few of the men Friends engaged in the work of the ministry, and that 
 the work is left, for the most part, to the women. This, too, is gene- 
 rally attributed to the mercantile habits of the men. Here, we think, 
 the Friends do themselves an injustice. The spirit of mammon- 
 worship is not half so deep or so inveterate as this supposition would 
 imply ; nor can we believe that it is deeper amongst them than it is 
 amongst other societies .where the same anomalies are not found in 
 connexion with it. Shall we not rather find the silence of the men 
 accounted for in the fact already referred to, that no means are taken 
 to employ, encourage, or call out the gifts that they may possess ? 
 They are left entirely to themselves, without direct religious sym-
 
 170 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 pathy, or minor opportunities for calling their gifts into exercise, 
 until, from some strong impulse, under which reason often has been 
 known to reel, they feel themselves constrained to speak in the 
 solemn assemblies of God's people. The artificial difficulties that the 
 Friends have thus thrown in the way of the relief of the full heart in 
 speaking of God's goodness, thus seriously limit the operations of 
 the Spirit ; and there have, doubtless, been thousands of Friends who, 
 if they had been suitably encouraged, would, from small beginnings, 
 gradually have gone on to become young men, and strong men and 
 fathers in Christ apt to teach and to preach too, and to take the 
 oversight of God's heritage ; but who, for want of this encourage- 
 ment, have allowed their early convictions and the zeal of their first 
 love to cool down in inaction, and never taken any active steps in 
 the Church or in the world, for the glory of God or the spiritual 
 welfare of man. No wonder if, under these circumstances, the young 
 Friend seeks employment in commerce, or in science or natural 
 history, and gradually becomes almost totally indifferent to Zion's 
 welfare or the salvation of sinners. We fear that thousands who 
 might have been exemplary and eminent in usefulness, have, from 
 this cause, degenerated into mere formalists who frequent the silent 
 meeting, not because of any amount of good that they get there, but 
 because they are led to do so by educational prejudice, habitual inac- 
 tion in the affairs of religion, and the approval of those with whose 
 good opinion their worldly interests are intimately associated. It is 
 thus that their negative system has produced coldness and worldly- 
 mindedness ; and the worldly mind, reacting on the spiritual state, 
 has lessened still further the fitness and the inclination for the self- 
 denying, flesh-mortifying, pride-abasing sendee of the cross. Let 
 earnest care be exercised to secure the true conversion of every 
 member, and to find employment for each in the affairs of the Church, 
 suited to his stage of growth and feeling, and calculated to bring into 
 productive exercise his measure of grace, whether larger or smaller ; 
 growth in grace would be the necessary result, with an increasing 
 interest in the things of God, which would leave no room in the 
 heart for the love of wealth, ease, or honour ; being filled with the
 
 SOCIETY OF FfilENDS. 171 
 
 Spirit of God, the spirit of the world would be effectually excluded. 
 A negative religion is no religion at all. Unless the creature finds 
 his highest good in entire conformity to the will of the Creator, and 
 Las most exalted pleasure in labouring for the cause of Christ and the 
 good of man, nothing will prevent the "lust of other things" from 
 entering, with all its deadening influence. It is by WOBKS that 
 
 FAITH is MADE PERFECT. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 MARBIAGE BE GTTLATIONS ANT) BIBTHEIGHT MEMBEBSHIP. 
 
 " I am the door ; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in 
 and out, and find pasture.'' JOHN x. 9. 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep- 
 fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." JOHN x. 1, 
 
 THERE is no doubt that the regulations of the Friends with refer- 
 ence to marriage have had a material effect on the present condition 
 of the Society. The object of preventing marriage with any but 
 members is a very good one ; but it may be secured at too great a 
 cost. The effect of the regulation seems to be, to cause many whose 
 good sense leads them to sacrifice the privilege of membership with a 
 small section of the Church of Christ, by the violation of one of their 
 arbitrary rules, rather than do violence to the sacred obligations of a 
 pure and exalted affection ; while to those who conscientiously adhere 
 to the rule because it is the rule of the Society, it materially limits 
 the sphere for choice preventing, in thousands of instances, attach- 
 ments in every other respect most eligible, and causing, where the 
 attachment has been formed, a blasting of the highest and purest 
 earthly hopes, for which something more than mere human law 
 should be required. The effect of this arrangement in diminishing 
 the numbers of the Society is threefold : 1. Many members leave 
 the Society altogether, who, but for this regulation, would, in all pro-
 
 172 ESSAf ON THE 
 
 bability have remained permanently connected with it. From careful 
 statistics recently drawn up, it appears that out of every three mem- 
 bers of the Society who marry, one member is lost to the Society by 
 becoming united to some one not a member a circumstance in itself 
 enough to explain much of the state of affairs with regard to dimi- 
 nished numbers ; but a circumstance which must itself have a cause, 
 and which, we think, is by no means fully accounted for by the regu- 
 lations with regard to marriage. 2. The expulsion of the delinquent 
 lessens very much the probability of the partner being induced to 
 join the Society of which, if there were in it all the life and all the 
 supply for spiritual necessities which there ought to be, the probabi- 
 lity would be very considerable ; whereas the present dull and inactive 
 state of things is as little calculated to attract the devout believer 
 who has been accustomed to the more lively fellowship and more 
 copious teachings of some other community, as it is likely to arouse 
 the godless or the indifferent. 3. It materially lessens the number 
 of marriages in the Society itself dooming to life-long celibacy 
 hundreds of persons of both sexes, who, if they had a wider sphere of 
 choice, would, almost to a certainty, change a single for a married life. 
 The practice of the Friends in making the restoration of the delin- 
 quent so easy as they do, to some extent nullifies the process of dis- 
 ownment while their making it an act of delinquency at all, as with 
 the peculiar dress, confuses the sense of right and wrong, and gives 
 to a merely human arrangement, of very questionable propriety, 
 much of the authority and sanction of an actual Christian duty. In 
 this light, indeed, it is viewed and the whole course of the discipline 
 and the advice extended on such occasions go on the assumption, 
 that, in " marrying out of the Society," a member is violating his 
 duty to God, and perils his soul's eternal welfare by the deed. 
 Inconsistency of this kind may be taken as unfailing proof of some- 
 thing faulty in the system. The Friends, we believe, have erred here, 
 as in other matters, in attaching more importance to conformity than 
 to unity. " Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers," 
 they make to apply to non-members and they look more to con- 
 formity in the mode of worship, than to the heart being right with
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 173 
 
 God. Persons may be met with out of the Society of equal piety 
 and intelligence with any within its borders. If, then, a young and 
 eligible member becomes acquainted with an individual of the opposite 
 sex pious, sensible, well trained, of suitable age and position, fitting 
 them in every respect to become partners for life, save the sole cir- 
 cumstance that they belong to different sections of the same universal 
 Church of Christ, and that one of those sections has made it a rule 
 that its members shall marry none but their fellow-members, no law 
 of God will be broken if they realize their fondest hopes by becoming 
 man and wife. An arbitrary law of man's forming, and of very ques- 
 tionable propriety, will have been violated, and nothing more ; while, 
 to break off such a connexion when once formed, involves conse- 
 quences of so serious a character, that nothing short of the most im- 
 perative necessity, or absolute sense of duty, should allow the idea to 
 be entertained. 
 
 The Friends appear to have had their eyes opened during the 
 present year to the injurious influence of their marriage regulations, 
 and it is probable that they will, before long, undergo a considerable 
 modification. The change proposed is, to permit those who attend 
 their meetings, and in other respects conform to their views, though 
 not members, to be married to members, without involving a breach 
 of the rules. This is, doubtless, a step in the right direction ; but it 
 is a very small one ; and, sanguine as some of the more thoughtful 
 are as to the beneficial working of the contemplated change, we feel 
 certain, that, so far as any fundamental or extensive improvement in 
 the state of things is concerned, it will prove almost inoperative. 
 There is in this, as in other parts of their system, a sacrificing of 
 unity to conformity a preferring Quakerism to Christianity a 
 resting satisfied with conviction instead of conversion, all arising, 
 as we conceive, out of the fundamental error discussed in the earlier 
 portions of this work, which, so long as it is permitted to remain, 
 will render totally abortive every attempt to restore animation to the 
 languid organism, until the fundamental error is thoroughly rectified. 
 Let that be done let systematic means be employed to supply the 
 needful instruction to the members, and to proclaim freely the doc-
 
 174 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 trines of the Society, and let proper care be taken that none but 
 suitable matches be encouraged, without restricting any to members 
 of their own denomination or those who worship with them, and 
 new life and animation would at once be infused. If, under these 
 circumstances, a member was lost now and then by being drawn over 
 to other societies, the tendency in that direction would be incom- 
 parably less than under the present silent system ; while the pro- 
 bability would be incomparably greater than at present, of those who 
 were brought amongst them by this means becoming permanently 
 attached to the Society. 
 
 There could not, perhaps, be a stronger proof of the injurious 
 working of the present regulations than the practice of match-making 
 which some of the older members undertake on behalf of the younger. 
 Having fixed upon certain parties that they consider suitable for 
 each other, they take opportunities for hinting the subject to each of 
 them separately ; and then, if the suggestion is at all favourably 
 received, they assist in obtaining opportunities for interviews, and 
 promote, through its various stages, the consummation which, in 
 their more than paternal solicitude, they have thought desirable. 
 We do not affirm that connexions brought about in this way may 
 never be blessed to the parties, though we think the probability is 
 very much against a favourable result. Certain we are, however, that 
 a state of things which renders this kind of interference desirable, or 
 even possible, in connexion with the most delicate and most important 
 of all the relations of life, must be very anomalous and very unsatis- 
 factory, and in itself a strong objection to that exclusive regimen 
 which has rendered it possible. 
 
 The, subject of Birthright Membership, as it exists amongst the 
 Friends, is one which has long claimed the attention of the thoughtful 
 amongst them, and been regarded as one of the causes of the Society's 
 decay. There can be very little doubt as to the correctness of this 
 impression. The tendency of this arrangement considerably resembles 
 that of infant baptism in the Church of England, which introduces 
 all, alike, without reference to moral or spiritual fitness, into the 
 privileges and responsibilities of the Church. -This influence is felt
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. 175 
 
 in a fourfold manner, on parents, on their offspring, on the Church 
 and its officers, and on the world at large. There cannot be a 
 moment's doubt as to the obligation that is laid on Christian parents, 
 of training and instructing their children in the great truths and 
 duties of our holy religion ; and it may, at first sight, appear that the 
 practice of regarding children from the birth as members is calculated 
 to favour the faithful discharge of this sacred trust. It appears, 
 however, that while the practice does not afford additional facilities 
 or motives for the promotion of this object, it has the effect of 
 lessening, on the part of the parent, the sense of responsibility that 
 would otherwise be felt. The very idea of the child being born into 
 a society whose views and practices we approve, seems to present a 
 guarantee for its being surrounded by the influences that we should 
 desire for it ; and the tendency to rest satisfied, to a certain extent, 
 with this provision, is too extensively felt and acknowledged by the 
 more thoughtful members to require any proof. The external pecu- 
 liarities have been allowed, in a peculiar manner, to add to this sense 
 of security. They are, as we have seen, regarded as a hedge, keeping 
 the tender lambs from evil influences, and evil influences from the 
 tender lambs. The feeling of responsibility on the part of the parentis 
 thus weakened. Regarding his child as "providentially" cut off, in a 
 great measure, from the snares and temptations of the world at large, 
 he is less urgently impressed with the importance of prayerfully 
 inculcating right principles, pursuing a system of judicious training, 
 and seeking for the early and sound conversion of his children, and 
 their decided and deliberate entrance on the narrow way that leadeth 
 unto life, and to which the narrow way marked out by external 
 badges and educational or ecclesiastical restrictions bears a certain 
 
 O 
 
 resemblance a delusive one, however, and one which, as we have 
 already seen, operates on the unawakened mind only to occasion a 
 feeling of prejudice against the whole system of which they form 
 a part, to the truly awakened as a constant source of unnecessary 
 and discouraging temptation, and to the world at large as a means of 
 deterring the seeking mind from becoming acquainted with their 
 views on more important matters.
 
 17fi ESSAY ON THE 
 
 The same kind of influence operates no less powerfully on the 
 officers of the Society, who, from the circumstance that the great 
 bulk of the Society grow up in their midst, and that their official care 
 of the members does not commence until some delinquency gives 
 occasion for their interference, have no motive to concern themselves 
 with the spiritual condition of the young people, except that of a 
 general Christian regard ; a motive which, while it is essential as the 
 basis of all spiritual oversight, will be found practically inadequate, 
 unless called into systematic operation by the established regulations 
 of the Society. Every living member of the Church will take a 
 kindly interest in the best welfare of the others ; and every one who 
 in reality travails for Zion's welfare, will seek occasions for encourag- 
 ing the feeble, counselling the simple, and rebuking the offending ; 
 all the faithfulness of the members thus spontaneously exercised, 
 will never supersede the necessity of having suitable persons ap- 
 pointed, with suitable occasions for securing these objects. So far 
 does the fear of man, and the slothful disposition to avoid duties of 
 almost every kind, operate on all, that, to the generality of persons, 
 some such motive is absolutely necessary ; while, to those whose love 
 and zeal afford a sufficient impulse, the exercise of kindly intentions 
 will be materially facilitated, and the way opened, by prescribed occa- 
 sions. As it is, no one having an immediate feeling of responsibility 
 in the matter, all, with very few exceptions, shrink from the duty : 
 when undertaken, it is generally with a great deal of hesitancy and 
 fear whether it may prove acceptable ; and so uncommon has any- 
 thing of the kind become in the Society, that when any one, actuated 
 by a little more than ordinary zeal, steps out of the way to engage in 
 such labours, his efforts are regarded by the educationally and birth- 
 right-privileged, but indifferent members, as nothing better than a 
 sheer impertinence. 
 
 The influence of these arrangements on the members them- 
 selves is correspondingly injurious. Installed, without any regard 
 to moral or spiritual fitness, in all the privileges and preroga- 
 tives of full members, possessing an equal legislative authority 
 with the oldest, most experienced of the community, accustomed
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 177 
 
 from childhood to a garb and mode of address that shuts him out 
 from the world at large, and conveys an impression of superior 
 sanctity what wonder if the young Friend who does not become 
 impatient of the yoke, should grow up pharisaically trusting in his 
 goodly heritage, his guarded education, his external conformity to 
 the neglect of that change of heart, that growth in grace, and con- 
 sistent, self-denying life, spent in labouring for the cause of Christ, 
 which belong to the Divine life, and constitute the necessary qualifi- 
 cations for membership in the Church of Christ, and heirship to the 
 kingdom of heaven. It is often remarked by persons of other 
 religious persuasions, that the young people of the Society of Friends 
 exhibit a disposition to treat with levity everything connected with 
 religion, in a manner not to be met with in the young people similarly 
 connected with the earnest members of other denominations. We 
 fear that there is too much truth in this observation though there 
 certainly are, to some extent, indications of a change for the better. 
 We believe that this observation, so far as it is correct, is mainly to 
 be accounted for by the joint influence of birthright membership, the 
 " minor peculiarities," and silent meetings, and the absence of 
 systematic religious care over the individual members. They are 
 made educationally singular, before they can possibly appreciate the 
 reasons for which they are sent into the world with a dress and 
 address that make them a laughing-stock to their fellows ; they 
 become impatient of the religious influence with which this arbitrary 
 restriction is connected ; and many of them resolve, long beforehand, 
 that they will seize the first opportunity to throw oif a restraint 
 which cannot fail to be irksome, which J, J. Gurney himself charac- 
 terizes as one of the severest ordeals to which the Christian can be 
 subjected, but for the endurance of which the young Friend has never 
 had any satisfactory reasons presented to his mind, and which he sees 
 incessantly violated by those to whom he has to look up for example. 
 When, at the public schools of the Society, the teachers endeavour to 
 enforce attention to these matters, the constant reply is, " Please, 
 they don't do so at home." 
 
 If it be said, that filial duty ought to present a sufficient motive to 
 
 5
 
 178 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 the young, we reply, that there is in human nature, at best, so much 
 to put parental authority and filial duty to the test, that it is unwise, 
 to say the least of it, to increase the difficulties in the way of a 
 thorough parental discipline, and to lessen the moral influence of the 
 parent, by awakening prejudice and disgust, in connexion with that 
 which involves the breach of no moral law, and which, however it 
 may recommend itself to the truly-awakened believer, can have no 
 weight with the unregenerate youth. 
 
 If the badge is kept up at all, its adoption should be the result of 
 conviction. We know the objection that will be made to this sug- 
 gestion that if left thus, it would never be adopted at all, except in 
 a few isolated cases. " It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his 
 youth," say the Friends : doubtless the yoke of judicious restraint 
 and discriminating discipline, which will tax to the utmost the wisest 
 parental skill and the yoke of Christ, which no parental authority 
 can impose, but to which the young and susceptible mind may be 
 imperceptibly led; and let parental authority reserve its strength 
 unimpaired for those legitimate occasions which, if justice is to be 
 done to its solemn responsibilities, will try its strength to the utmost, 
 without any artificial means being used to bring the young and 
 vigorous spirit into painful collision with necessary control, or to 
 lessen the profound respect that children ought to entertain for their 
 parents, and from which, in a great measure, their first ideas of duty 
 to the God that made them, will, in the first instance, have to be 
 derived. 
 
 The young Friends of the present day may be divided into four 
 classes : 1, Those who throw off the restraints of education and of 
 moral principle, and become abandoned characters; 2, Those who 
 become the subjects of converting and sanctifying grace, and who 
 adhere to the views, practices, and communion of the Society ; 
 
 3, Those who, equally the subjects of saving grace, leave the Friends, 
 and become valuable and active members of other communities; and, 
 
 4, Those who, while they remain connected with the Society and 
 take a part in the affairs of the Church, have, nevertheless, never 
 been influenced by converting grace, are totally ignorant of the
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 179 
 
 divine life, and are either rank hypocrites or mere worldlings 
 purely indifferent to everything that concerns the true welfare of 
 the body. 
 
 It must he seen at once, that the infusion of the two latter 
 elements the hypocrite and the worldling amongst the regenerate 
 and living members of the Church, and of their worldly principles 
 and maxims into the deliberations of the body, must exert a serious 
 deadening influence upon the whole community, and materially lower 
 the standard of duty which the Church maintains. It is impossible, 
 in the very nature of things, that a Church thus constituted can 
 either feel or exert that lively interest in divine things that glowing 
 zeal for God's glory and man's salvation that indifference to the 
 laugh or the frown of the world, or to its honeyed and gilded baits, 
 which might reasonably be expected in a Church composed only of 
 the regenerate. 
 
 The necessary result of this state of things, in connexion with the 
 deficient teaching of their doctrines, is to convert the Society, from an 
 evangelical community, into a society, for the most part, of mere 
 moralists. This tendency is painfully felt by many of the more 
 earnest members, who would gladly hail any measure that was likely 
 to infuse amongst them a larger proportion of the spirit of the Gospel. 
 
 There is no object gained by birthright membership that might not 
 be secured without it. The religious education of the young might 
 be as effectually attended to; they might, after leaving school, become 
 members of Bible classes, in which the great truths of the Gospel as 
 held by the Society might be regularly inculcated, doubts and diffi- 
 culties expressed and removed, and suitable opportunities seized for 
 pressing home upon each and all the vast importance of seeking first 
 i^he kingdom of heaven and its righteousness. They might then, after 
 a satisfactory evidence of their living interest in divine things, be 
 recognized as members, and gradually encouraged to employ them- 
 selves in the affairs of the Church, the exercises of the sanctuary, and 
 works of mercy. Opportunities would be presented in the distribu- 
 tion of tracts, teaching in the Sabbath- school, visiting the sick. In 
 the Church, opportunities for spontaneous utterance, in thanksgiving, 
 
 K2
 
 180 ESSAY OX THE 
 
 prayer, or exhortation, being afforded, it would soon be seen to whom 
 gifts were communicated which, under the watchful and judicious 
 care of the more experienced members, might gradually be brought 
 forward into healthy exercise, to the benefit of the individual, the 
 Church, and the world. As, in the early days of the Society, the 
 meetings for discipline were not open to all the young people, but 
 only to those who, on account of their sedate and becoming walk as 
 Christians, were invited to sit down with their brethren, so, now, 
 only the truly-awakened would be admissible to them. What was 
 thus lost in numbers would be gained in strength, the united spiritual 
 exercise of the living members not being checked or interfered with 
 by the admixture of the indifferent. If it be objected, that this would 
 keep the younger branches of Friends' families from growing up in 
 familiarity with the nature of the discipline, and learning to take an 
 interest in its welfare, we reply, from most extensive acquaintance 
 with the facts of the case, that, next to the " peculiarities," there is 
 nothing which so prejudices the minds of the young against the 
 Society as their being required to attend meetings for discipline. 
 This is the point at which a settled aversion to the Society often 
 commences. Nothing would be lost, and very much gained, by keeping 
 the unawakened out of the meetings for discipline. 
 
 So far from the Friends exerting the influence that they ought to 
 do, in spreading their principles abroad in the world, they are, from 
 the joint operation of birthright membership and the absence of 
 efficient religious teaching, becoming dead to those very views them- 
 selves. With regard to war, for instance, Christian feeling has been 
 retrograding both in the world at large and in the Society of Friends. 
 We have conversed with numbers of them who, while actively engaged 
 in the affairs of the Society, justify war ; while mammon-worship an$ 
 the desire of high standing in the world are exerting an ever-intensi- 
 fying influence directly hostile to the self-denying and humble spirit 
 of the Gospel. The more wealthy members are more and more 
 assimilating in spirit and habits to the world the pleasures of the 
 table, handsome houses and furniture, and stylish equipages, with 
 parties, excursions, concerts, entertainments, and everything calcu-
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIEKBS. 181 
 
 lated to gratify " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
 pride of life," taking the greater share of time and attention, weaning 
 the heart from the things of God's salvation, and steadily eating out 
 the life of the Church. "While one-half of the members are engaged 
 in seeking the pleasures that wealth commands, another very large 
 section are earning their daily bread by occupations that would not 
 have their existence if there were no sinful tastes to be gratified 
 pandering to, and stimulating into extraordinary activity, the vicious 
 appetites of their fellows literally, in many instances, living by the 
 vice and the folly of their fellow-men. At a time like the present, when 
 the whole nation is taking upon itself the responsibility of aggression 
 and grasping violence in foreign lands, and converting into a grand 
 national crime that which has hitherto been the crime of a company, 
 and the comparatively small number more or less directly connected 
 with the governing class a stern, uncompromising voice like that 
 which the Friends might have raised with all the authority of the 
 Gospel ministry, seconded by a steady refusal to enter into any com- 
 promise with the wide-sweeping iniquity, would, under the Divine 
 blessing, have exerted a most important influence, and might have 
 been an adequate instrument in the hands of the Omnipotent for 
 awakening this great nation to the true character of the mad career 
 of oppression and selfish aggrandizement, at the expense of the 
 weaker peoples of the East, into which we are now rushing with 
 infatuated and headlong precipitancy, and which, in the very nature 
 of things, must eventually, if persisted in, destroy the very life of 
 religion in this land of religious freedom and Gospel light and 
 liberty.
 
 182 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 SUPPORT OF THE POOE. 
 
 " Blessed is he that considereth the poor : the Lord will deliver him in time of 
 trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive ; and he shall be blessed 
 upon the earth : and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The 
 Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing : thou wilt make all his bed in 
 his sickness." PSALM xli. 1-3. 
 
 " But to do good and communicate forget not : for with such sacrifices God is well 
 pleased." HEB. xiii. 16. 
 
 IT is doubtless an imperative Christian duty, to employ superfluous 
 wealth for the benefit of the needy ; and few will deny, that while the 
 claims of suffering humanity will never fail to awaken sympathy in 
 the child of God, the needy members of the Church of Christ have 
 an especial claim on the individual believer and on the Church. The 
 manner in which Oberlin urged upon his flock the duty of caring for 
 their poorer neighbours, was truly exemplary. Amongst the ques- 
 tions that he addressed to them in writing, and to which he expected 
 satisfactory answers, were the following: 
 
 " Do you never pass a Sunday without employing yourself in 
 some work of charity ? " 
 
 " Do those who are provided with necessary clothes employ a 
 regular part of their income to procure them for their destitute 
 neighbours, or to relieve their other necessities ? " 
 
 In the same spirit he himself was most particular in devoting a 
 certain share of his own income to the alleviation of others' wants, 
 and in accustoming himself to the STRICTEST SELF-DENIAL, in order 
 to increase his means of doing good. He used his utmost endeavours 
 to persuade others to imitate his example, and to avoid any super- 
 fluity in their clothes or in their manner of living, that they might 
 have the more to spare for the exalted purpose of doing good. 
 
 The regulation of the Friends, by which they undertake to support 
 their own poor, is a fine embodiment of the same spirit. In the
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. 183 
 
 early days of the Society, indeed, the spirit of love and self-sacrifice 
 for each other so prevailed, that the Friends then presented an ex- 
 ample which has rarely been equalled certainly never excelled since 
 the apostles' days. They were -willing to spend and be spent for 
 each other they bore one another's burdens, and hazarded their 
 own safety in the hope of assisting each other, and undertook incre- 
 dible labours in order to lessen each other's sufferings, and obtain 
 some mitigation of the terrible fires of persecution by which they 
 were tried. The richly dressed, snugly housed and sumptuously 
 entertained Friends of the present day, have as little in common 
 with their forefathers in the truth, in this respect, as in their cold 
 and formal silent meetings, when compared with the fervent zeal and 
 the ready utterance of living truth that marked their early days. The 
 disposition that led them then to part with all for Christ and their 
 suffering brethren, is now represented by an arrangement which, 
 good as it is, can only be regarded as the shadow of that fervent 
 charity which, alas ! however exhibited in individuals, has long ceased 
 to distinguish the great bulk of the community. 
 
 It is, at the same time, open to question, whether in undertaking 
 the actual support of the poorer members, the Friends have not gone 
 a little beyond the happy medium in which true safety and perma- 
 nent utility reside. As with the badges, a certain amount of com- 
 placency is produced in some orders of mind by the very fact. It is 
 a great thing to be able to say, we provide for all our poor members. 
 It is quite possible, however, that like other matters of routine, it 
 may come to be done without that fervent love existing which gives 
 its true value to every work of mercy. It may exist as part of a 
 system, and be kept up with pride by men who never felt a touch 
 of true generosity, and never made a real sacrifice for the sake of 
 a suffering neighbour. 
 
 The immediate object, however, of noticing the subject here, is to 
 point out its bearing on the diminishing numbers. It is to be feared 
 that the feeling of complacency to which we have already alluded, 
 induces many of the members, and, to a certain extent, the Society as 
 a whole, to feel less 'responsibility in connexion with the indigent
 
 184 ESSAT ON THE 
 
 and the suffering in the world at large. It is very natural for them 
 to say, " If all did as we do, the poor would be efficiently looked 
 after ; " but then all do not do so. It is to be feared that no exist- 
 ing religious community approaches anywhere near the standard esta- 
 blished by Christ with reference to the poor. He has left them 
 under the guardianship of his followers assuring them, that what- 
 ever is done for them He will consider as done for Himself; and yet 
 how little the generality of the Friends know of the suffering and 
 sorrow, the abject misery and absolute starvation, that is incessantly 
 going on within a few paces of their own dwellings and places of 
 business ! The indifference to the spiritual welfare of the perishing 
 finds its counterpart in this disregard of their bodily welfare. We 
 do not here lose sight of the many noble exceptions that exist nor 
 are we comparing the Friends injuriously with all the other denomi- 
 nations. We could mention some that are much more faithful in 
 this respect than others and it is capable of demonstration, that 
 those churches that are the most exemplary .in this respect secure 
 the strongest hold on the affections of the people, and see their 
 labours crowned with the greatest number of souls added to the 
 number of the saved. It is this kind of agency which gives the 
 Wesleyans, in spite of their arbitrary and tyrannical Conference, 
 such a strong hold on the affections of the people. Let the tract 
 distributors, the visitors of the sick, and the conductors of cottage 
 prayer-meetings desist from their unostentatious labours, and the 
 Conference would soon find itself left without the sinews of war, 
 with empty coffers and empty chapels. Let the members of any 
 community be diligent in the kind of work we have been describing 
 only let it be done in a spirit of love, and they will not fail to 
 secure the sympathies and the willing ears of the people. 
 
 But in addition to the complacency engendered by the system of 
 the Friends, and the consequent neglect of the poor that are out of 
 their pale, the very fact that they are pledged to the 'support of all 
 their needy members, operates powerfully as a check to their disposi- 
 tion to seek for proselytes in the humbler walks of life. It becomes, 
 in short, an element in the consideration of an application for mem-
 
 SOCIETY OF FBIENDS. 185 
 
 bership, what degree of probability there is of the individual becoming, 
 at some not very distant period, a burden to the Society. We are 
 not here giving an opinion as to the desirableness or otherwise of the 
 regulation in question. We think it possible, that by proper watch- 
 fulness and counteracting influences, the evil tendencies to which we 
 have referred might be counterbalanced ; but we certainly think that 
 this regulation is a cause, amongst others, and in the way that we 
 have indicated, of the Society not keeping up, or advancing its num- 
 bers. When it is borne in mind that the same order of things pre- 
 vails now as gave rise to the declaration, " Not many noble, not many 
 mighty are called," it may be seen at a glance, that in any society 
 which fails to win trophies from the kingdom of Satan by going to 
 those " poor of this world " that God has chosen " rich in faith " and 
 " heirs of the kingdom," the probability of growth, or even of per- 
 manence, is immensely lessened. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 * This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." MATT. xvii. 21. 
 
 " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is willing, 
 but the flesh is weak." MATT. xxvi. 41. 
 
 " As they ministered unto the Lord , and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate 
 me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when 
 they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." 
 ACTS xiii. 2, 3. 
 
 As our inquiry draws to a close, we feel, as we have done during 
 its progress, that though its design is good, and our motive, we be- 
 lieve, thoroughly sincere, our task has, nevertheless, something of an 
 invidious character about it. The office of fault-finder the duty of 
 searching out and exposing defects is one which, to every generous 
 mind, must be unpleasant ; and it is scarcely possible to be faithful 
 so faithful as to effect any really desirable result without giving
 
 186 ESSAY ON TUB 
 
 pain, and seeming especially to those who have not deeply examined 
 the subject needlessly severe. "We can, however, with the faithful 
 surgeon, say, "We wound but to heal; " and we trust that enough 
 has been said in passing, to show our respect, not only for the Society 
 itself, but also for the greater proportion of its views and principles. 
 Even where we have felt compelled to condemn, we have not do: so 
 without a feeling of profound respect, under a conviction that even 
 the errors of the Society are in very close relationship to most im- 
 portant, and, alas ! generally neglected truths. 
 
 The return to the simple thee and thou of primitive times, the 
 disuse of complimentary titles, the importance attached to plainness 
 of dress and manners, all are embodiments exaggerated, or in some 
 measure warped, it may be but still embodiments of a great prin- 
 ciple. We have already shown bow, in reference to these principles, 
 extremes meet, and living testimonies degenerate into badges and 
 lifeless forms ; and while we repudiate these semblances of Christian 
 principle, we should hail with unmixed joy every sign of a disposition, 
 on the part of the Friends, to return to their own noble standard of 
 two hundred years ago. 
 
 The same remarks apply to their system of worship. While 
 objecting to that which has supervened upon their early views and 
 practices, we should be sorry indeed if anything that we have written 
 should convey the impression that we undervalue those views of the 
 extremely solemn nature of Christian worship, or the immense 
 advantage to the spiritual life of that introversion of soul, that re- 
 collectedness of mind, which it was one of their grand objects to 
 recommend and to attain. To the present day, there is a degree of 
 weightiness about the character and the life and actions of a genuine, 
 spiritually-minded, earnest, liberal-hearted Quaker, which is very 
 rare in other communities. We should say, that if the changes we 
 have suggested could not be attained but by the sacrifice of this high 
 integrity, this collected and weighty spirit, they would be dearly 
 purchased. Sure we are that the religious professors of other per- 
 suasions have as much to learn from the Friends as the Friends from 
 them. The Spirit's work is the same, and it effects the same results
 
 SOCIETY OF FEIENDS. 187 
 
 when yielded to and cherished, irrespective of creed or system ; and 
 there is far more in common between the most spiritually-minded of 
 the different sections of Christ's Church, than there is between the 
 spiritual of any given community and the worldly or frivolous of the 
 same community. George Fox, and John Wesley, and John Fletcher, 
 Baxter, and Eowland Hill, and Charles Simeon, had far more in com- 
 mon with each other than the wine-drinking, cigar-smoking, money- 
 making, concert-going gentlemen that now occupy prominent places 
 in the several sections of the several churches to which they belonged, 
 have with any of those worthies. Mrs. Fletcher, Elizabeth Fry, the 
 widow Fell, Sarah Grubb, Madame Guyon, and, in short, the women 
 who, in whatever section of the Church, answer to the apostle's de- 
 scription, and possess the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, com- 
 bined with true filial love to God, and earnest self-sacrificing love to 
 man, and untiring energy on behalf of the suffering and the erring, 
 have infinitely more -in common with each other than the gay, the 
 giddy, and the vain, who, forgetting alike the claims of the poor and 
 those of their own precious offspring, spend their lives in one un- 
 changing round of exciting reading, shopping, dressing, and visiting, 
 and still remain attached to the several churches which were once 
 adorned by the pious and devoted lives of the worthies we have men- 
 tioned above. 
 
 While, then, we should deeply regret the occurrence of anything 
 that was in the least degree calculated to lessen the value attached 
 by the Friends, even in these degenerate days, to the deep and solid 
 work of religion, we would record our settled conviction, that the 
 changes we have suggested so far from being likely to produce this 
 result, guarded as their introduction would be by the present strong 
 bias of the Friends in the opposite direction would be likely rather 
 to promote this desirable object. The result would be a system 
 combining in a greater degree than any at present existing, the deep 
 and exalted spirituality of the Friends with that kind and degree of 
 SYSTEMATIC INSTBUMENTAL AGENCY which, as we have shown, is 
 necessary to the carrying out of the great design for which the 
 Church of Christ exists.
 
 18S ESSAY ON THE 
 
 That there was in the Apostolic days some process to a certain 
 extent analogous to the silent waiting of the Friends in object at 
 least, if not in method may be gathered from the frequent allusions 
 to fasting in connexion with prayer. "We believe that the churches 
 of the present day suffer immensely from the neglect of this important 
 accompaniment to prayer. It does not imply merely protracted 
 abstinence from food, but a continuous application to the one sole 
 object in hand a complete withdrawal of the thoughts and affections 
 from all the affairs and objects of time, that they may be centred 
 steadily upon the great object of worship. But this does not imply, 
 of necessity, outward silence; nor, supposing that it did, does it 
 warrant our making silence the essential preliminary to all the ser- 
 vices of the sanctuary, whether in praise or prayer, reading the 
 Scriptures, or preaching the Word. 
 
 "We have already alluded to the injunction of Christ to tarry at 
 Jerusalem, and " wait for the promise of the Father." We have 
 shown how Eobert Barclay brings in that passage to support the 
 theory of silent waiting ; but a reference to the facts of the case will 
 show how different was the mode in which the time was spent, from 
 that which is implied by his quotation of the passage in support of 
 his favourite theory. The period that elapsed between the injunction 
 to wait being given and the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of 
 Pentecost, was ten days a rather unusually lengthy period for a 
 silent meeting. But we are not left to conjecture as to the manner 
 in which the time was spent. We are told, (Acts xi. 14,) that " these 
 all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication" not with 
 " silent waiting." They were waiting, nevertheless waiting at 
 Jerusalem waiting in united exercise ; and, as Luke informs us, 
 (xxiv. 52, 53,) when Jesus had ascended to heaven, "they worshipped 
 him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy ; and were continually 
 in the temple, praising and blessing God." Sometimes in the temple, 
 sometimes in the " upper room, where abode both Peter, James, and 
 John," and others not silently waiting, but full of joy at the proofs 
 they had received of their Lord and Master being all that He had led 
 them to expect they praised and blessed God; and, full of expecta-
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 189 
 
 tion of the promised Comforter, they " continued with one accord in 
 prayer and supplication." But these delightful exercises did not 
 fill up all the time. There was discipline to exercise in the infant 
 Church. Judas had fallen, and some one must be appointed to take 
 his office. "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the 
 disciples," who then numbered about one hundred and twenty, and, 
 having stated the facts of the case, proposed that of those men that 
 had associated with them during the whole period of Christ's minis- 
 try, suffering, and resurrection and ascension, one should be ordained 
 to be a witness with them " of his resurrection." " And they 
 appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, 
 and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest 
 the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen, 
 that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which 
 Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And 
 they gave forth their lots : and the lot fell upon Matthias ; and he 
 was numbered with the eleven apostles." Acts i. 23-26. 
 
 Here, then, we have, in addition to the praises and prayers and 
 supplications already referred to, an address, vocal prayer on a special 
 occasion, the very words of which are given, and the election of an 
 apostle by lot, and all in the interval consigned by Robert Barclay 
 to silent waiting. There are occasions mentioned in the Old Testa- 
 ment which far more resemble the silent waiting of the Friends than 
 anything that they adduce in support of it ; but then these were on 
 especial occasions, in great national or other emergencies, the spon- 
 taneous result of strong emotion too great for utterance, not the 
 occasions for the deliberate worship of the Almighty, or the systematic 
 teaching of the law. 
 
 When Israel were defeated at Ai in connexion with the trespass of 
 Achan, " Joshua rent his clothes, and he fell to the earth upon his 
 face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders 
 of Israel." He then prayed; and the answer to his prayer was to 
 urge him to action : " Get thee up ; wherefore liest thou thus upon 
 thy face ? Israel hath sinned." He was to sanctify the people, that 
 the accursed thing might be removed. Is there not, we would ask, a
 
 190 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 lesson for the Friends in this ? Over-activity is an evil, but it appears 
 possible to err in the opposite direction. " Wherefore liest thou thus 
 upon thy face ? Israel hath sinned." Similar instances may be met 
 with : Judges xx. 26, when the rest of Israel contended -with the 
 tribe of Benjamin ; 1 Samuel vii. 6, when Samuel gathered the people 
 together to Mizpeh on account of their idolatry, saying, " I will pray 
 to the Lord for you." " And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and 
 drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that 
 day, and said, We have sinned against the Lord." We pass by many 
 instances of a similar character, to notice that of Ezra, who, over- 
 whelmed by a sense of the iniquity of his people in connexion with 
 their intermarriage with strangers, tells us, " And I sat astonied until 
 the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice, I arose up from 
 my heaviness ; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell 
 upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, 
 and said, O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face 
 to tbee, my God : for our iniquities are increased over our head, 
 and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens." * Ezra was joined 
 in this exercise by " every one that trembled at the words of the 
 God of Israel ;"f and at the conclusion of his prayer and confes- 
 sion, " there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congrega- 
 tion of men and women and children : for the people wept very sore." 
 Still Ezra continued mourning and fasting ; and the result of this 
 extraordinary exercise was, that the people encouraged him to proceed 
 in the matter a general assembly of the people was summoned, and 
 they rested not until they had put away this grievous sin from them. 
 But this occasion may no more ba taken as a model for all meetings 
 for worship, than the description by Paul of the meetings where all 
 might speak and all be edified. We find in Nehemiah viii. 1, that 
 " the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street 
 that was before the water-gate ; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe 
 to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had com- 
 manded to Israel." He read to them, accordingly, " from morning 
 until mid-day." He is then described as standing upon a pulpit of 
 * Ezra ix. 4-6. + ver. 4.
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 191 
 
 wood not a box like the pulpits of modern days, but a platform 
 rather, for thirteen of his brethren stood beside him upon it. " And 
 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, (for he was above 
 all the people ;) and, when he opened it, all the people stood up : and 
 Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God : and all the people answered, 
 Amen, amen, with lifting up their hands ; and they bowed their 
 heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground." 
 Immediately afterwards are given the names of others who explained 
 the law, and " caused the people to understand the law : and the 
 people stood in their place." So they read in the book of the law 
 distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the 
 reading. If, then, the reading and expounding of the law was not 
 incompatible with the solemn worship of the Almighty, why should 
 the reading of the Bible be now ? If the Friends can find a precedent 
 for their silent waitings in one part of Scripture, why reject that 
 reading and expounding which are equally distinctly described, and 
 which are far more insisted on and alluded to as a systematic and 
 permanent arrangement ; while the occasions of lying on their faces 
 and sitting " astonied " were, as we have already observed, the 
 expressions of strong emotion resulting from some extraordinary and 
 peculiar combination of circumstances. The extent to which the 
 Jewish mode of worship is to be regarded as a precedent for that of 
 Christians is open to question : certain, however, it is, that if it 
 favours silent waiting on the one hand, it favours, to at least an 
 equal extent, the systematic reading and expounding of the Scrip- 
 tures at set times, and without waiting for any special impulse in the 
 sense implied by the Friends. 
 
 Enough, we trust, has now been said, to show that we have no 
 desire in the least degree to lower the high standard that the Friends 
 have sought to maintain with regard to the eminent spirituality of 
 the Christian dispensation the reality of the Holy Spirit's work in 
 the hearts of believers, and especially in fitting for and calling to the 
 ministry of the Gospel. We shall feel that our labour has not been 
 in vain, if the view we have taken of the subject should, in God's 
 good providence and grace, be permitted to quicken the Society to a
 
 192 ESSAY ON THE 
 
 fresh appreciation of the very exalted privileges with which they are 
 invested, and the solemn responsibilities resting upon them with refe- 
 rence not only to their own members, but to the perishing world by 
 which they are surrounded. Could they be induced to make the 
 changes we have indicated, we feel assured that they might awaken to 
 the life and vigour and influence of their early days, and again con- 
 stitute a burning and a shining light again take their place in the 
 van amongst the hosts of those armies of the saints, who even now are 
 wrestling against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness 
 in high places not with carnal weapons, but with those spiritual 
 weapons that are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong 
 holds. Such an influence as the Friends would thus exert, is empha- 
 tically the want of the times. Their peace principles, based on the 
 utter incompatibility of war with the Gospel, will alone counteract 
 the present tendency in favour of war ; their thorough-going integrity 
 is wanted to cleanse the commercial horizon; their pure and simple 
 views on baptism and the supper will alone present an effectual barrier 
 to the encroachments of Popery, whether openly avowed, or stealthily 
 under cover of the half- reformed ceremonies of the Anglican Church. 
 Should the Friends, however, fail to make these necessary changes, 
 illustrating the declaration of Christ, " No man having tasted old 
 wine straightway desireth new, for he saith the old is better," we 
 feel assured that a people will be raised in the Lord's own time and 
 that before many years have rolled away who, going back to the law 
 and the testimony, with the fear of God before their eyes, and not 
 disdaining to learn from the successes or the failures of all the exist- 
 ing churches, will combine the doctrines and much of the church 
 policy of the Friends with the activity and method of the Wesleyans, 
 and thus give the initiative to an organization approaching more 
 nearly to the true Gospel standard in faith and practice than any- 
 thing that the world has seen since the apostolic days. To have 
 been instrumental in the slightest degree in God's hands, in bring- 
 ing about such a consummation, whether in the remodelling of the 
 existing, or the establishment of the new organization, would be re- 
 garded by the writer as an object worthy of all the energies he could
 
 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 193 
 
 put forth, and all the sacrifices that he could make an object, in 
 short, worth living and dying for. That this little work may in 
 some measure be blessed to this important result, is his earnest 
 prayer. 
 
 "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The 
 time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. 
 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is 
 it time for you, ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house 
 lie waste ? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts ; Consider 
 your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little ; ye eat, but ye 
 have not enough ; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe 
 you, but there is none warm ; and he that earueth wages earneth 
 wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 
 Consider your ways. G-o up to the mountain, and bring wood, and 
 build the house ; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, 
 saith the Lord. Te looked for much, and, lo, it came to little ; and 
 when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why ? saith the 
 Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run 
 every man to his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed 
 from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for 
 a drought upon the land, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine* 
 and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth 
 and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the 
 hands." Haggai i. 2-11. 
 
 " Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and 
 twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foun- 
 dation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in 
 the barn ? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, 
 and the olive tree, hath not brought forth : FBOM THIS DAY FOETH I 
 WILL BLESS YOU." Haggai ii. 18, 19.
 
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