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is simple and happy piety.

"There is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh: for the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 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. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart." Under God, my confidence is in the display of his truth, as that chosen instrumentality by which eminently he works. I have endeavored to explain several very important passages of scripture, in their true and native meaning-and am sure that if in these I have succeeded as an interpreter, I have carried the point as a polemic. The reason is-the strength of the word of God! Till these scriptures, to which I now refer, are just shown to be falsely expounded, I shall calmly view the victory as won; and give all the glory to HIM to whom I resign the arbitration of events, with pure satisfaction in his government. To the exposition of these texts mainly would I invoke the attention of the inquisitive reader; for, after all, what God has spoken, and what he means, are the decisive matters.

The word of the Lord endureth for ever. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel, against the Lord." And hence it is that "a false

witness shall perish; but the man that heareth, speaketh constantly;" i. e. he speaks with decision and uniform steadfastness, because he listens and learns of God. I will here request the serious reader

To keep his Bible at hand, and peruse carefully THE PASSAGE AND ITS CONNECTION, in every case where the allusion is important or the explanation attempted at length. He will thus be better qualified to judge of what is truth; and to see "if those things are so," which he will find declared: and if they are, and he be really a serious reader, he will be too wise to blame so poor a worm as I am, who had no agency in the matter, for what the scriptures teach! He must then settle the controversy with God-till which be seen and felt, tenderly and deeply, by a man, he will ordinarily play the fool in sacred concerns, both in his censure and his praise, his cavilling and his commendation. "And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord." I add that in the scriptural positions is all the ultimate strength of this treatise. If these are valid-so is the cause which they support. Till these are refuted, it is impossible to do any thing effectual in opposition to the publication. Till they are refuted nothing is done for Friends and their cause. Hence a man is scarcely competent to condemn this work, whatever his general sense, or fame, or station, unless he possesses probably the following qualifications: 1. He must have a correct and thorough knowledge of scriptural truth; 2. He must know in full comparison what Quakerism is; 3. He must be prepared to JUDGE

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RELIGIOUSLY, and not from any worldly motives, tween christianity and Quakerism as here displayed. Friends can find worldly-wise men, superficial and interested persons, venal and capricious editors, plenty of them, and perhaps some persons ILLUSTRIOUS in the world" in form and gesture proudly eminent," and even some weak and facile religionists of different denominations, to side with them, and condemn any publication that honors the supremacy of truth and vindicates the scriptures impartially as "the word of God." But all this will avail them nothing, so long as the expounded. quotations of scripture are obviously against them. For the rest-I trust in God; leaving all in his hand, feeling my own weakness and deep unworthiness in his sight; and praying that he would deign to make useful what I have written!

A class of thinkers there is, some of them of considerable consequence in life, to whom, anticipating their estimate of this work, I would venture a respectful caution. They are men of manners and of mind, of influence and reading, of great social respectability and general soundness of intelligence, of professional eminence or retired dignity, of experience in the things of the world and of large observation in human affairs: in short, they are men for whose opinion on almost any subject, the public would be willing to yield their confidence in anticipation. But are they equally competent to judge and to pronounce on the subject of religion? on that etherial theme of themes, that is of its own class, its own eminence, its own criterion? Here is

the blunder exactly that some great men make:→→ religion is the only subject, we may say, which they do not understand; which they have never patiently and impartially and thoroughly examined: the only subject concerning which they venture to pronounce presumptuously! And is it the only subject that is worthy of their neglect? It is here too, and here alone comparatively, that they are wayward and intractable; suspecting the motives, and overlooking the demonstrations, of those who kindly wish to help them in the paramount concern, and who (even on the humble principle-ne sutor ultra crepidem) are quite competent to the task. They are, it may be, speculative believers; semi-converts; and willing to pass in religion for considerably more than they are worth! BY WHAT STANDARD DO THEY JUDGE? Demonstrably by a false one; one condemned by the law of God, and preparing for the scorn of demons in the day of judgment! "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world!" With all their glorious intellection and envied superiority, they never can comprehend the nature of evangelical humility, or the way of "life" and the only way revealed "as it is in Jesus," or the principles of vital piety ascendant. They are described, if they did but recognise their own like

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ness, in many places of the scriptures; as "heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; EVER LEARNING AND NEVER ABLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.' Of them is the order of God to his ministers, and his people too; "From such turn away!" that is, as I understand it, keep away from their influence; mark them as such and let your estimate of them be independent of popular appraisement; keep distant from their power and their society, as aware of their seductive qualities, unless when and where you may possibly do them good; as the physician frequents the places of infection, not that he may catch the disease, but if possible assist or administer the cure. But in the supreme concern, how great the fatuity of these intellectual nobles! How they elaborate their own confusion and rush to the catastrophe of all their greatness! How they dupe their own understandings in religion, expecting God to defer to them and provide some special conveyance for their dignified transmission to heaven! the vulgar way-would be shocking and intolerable to think of! Yes, here in this country of no stereotyped nobility, or hereditary grandeur, or names of heraldic eminence, it is becoming more and more a desideratum with this class, to have A RELIGION FOR GENTLEMEN; one fit for scholars and dignitaries; one that can be sustained without all vulgarizing or mingling with the herd; one that will be competent to opulence and philosophy-and that shall intoxicate also the pretension, the pe

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