as rational to suppose, that the bare history of the revelation he gave to his disciples, apostles, and their fol lowers, and recorded in the scriptures, independently of the immediate influence of the Spirit upon their minds, could be a complete or sufficient revelation to us, as it would be to suppose, that giving a man a plan of an estate would give him a perfect knowledge of it. And I presume that this has been the experience of all that have come to a real saving knowledge of him.

Yet it is meant by no means to deny but that the scriptures are used by the Creator as a means of enlightening the human mind in the knowledge of himself and of his son Christ Jesus, whom to know is life eter nal, according to scripture testimony: as there is no where any assurance of attaining to any of the promises, but through faith and obedience, and taking up the daily cross and following Christ, in that meek, lowly and self-denying life, which precludes the doing of violence, or the rendering of evil for evil, and following that guide which he promised should lead his fol lowers into all truth, and which according to the scriptures is Christ within man. See Col. i. 26, 27. Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of glory.

All which Rand seems not to admit, and if so can have no saving knowledge of God, or the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And this I state from his own declaration in the second part of his general view of the Quaker system, page 50. And this he states as against the Quaker light within, after repeating many things

that if examined would be found to have no foundation

of truth in them.

He says, "But what substitute have they found? (meaning for what he deems defects in their system) Why the light within, the seed, the new law, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Then he says, "which is in fact nothing more than natural conscience, an unenlightened conscience." And says, "Where this will lead to, without the scripture, I shall show in the second part."

How far this is consistent with scripture testimony may be judged from the following declaration of the apostle Paul: "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 2. Now, after Rand's declaration in contradiction of plain scripture, it will not be thought very strange, that he can find nothing that appears consistent in the Quaker writers; and that he considers them mistaken in their construction of scripture, though they agree with the apostle, since his ideas are so far at variance with him. For I do not apprehend that it will be contended by many, except Rand, that this law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has lost all its efficacy, and dwindled into an unenlightened conscience, since the apostle's day.

2. After these remarks, I shall say but little on his 28 division, in which he says, "I can find no account of any rule or law by which God governs the world. It is solemnly true that I can find scarcely an allusion to the law of ten commands, or any other of a similar nature."

The only reason he did not find a recognition of the law in Barclay, which he had before him, was because

he did not choose to look at it, as may be abundantly And if he seen in his Apology, and in other authors. (Rand) intends any of his remarks, by way of illustration of the law by which God governs the world, I would say to him, I do not think much has been done in this respect by those whom the world call divines; as (Rev. Dr. Smith of Cambridge observed) they too often entomb rather than enshrine. And if such illustration is necessary, Rand certainly has done little toward supplying it. I do not know what more he wants of the Quakers, unless he would have them copy the outward law and ten commandments into their writings on every occasion; but his intimation that according to them God has never given a law, and mankind have not See transgressed, is only an imagination of his own, Barclay's fourth proposition on the condition of man in the fall. As to our being under the curse of the Levitical law, I presume we are not, if Christ answered the end of his coming, which I think few besides Rand will deny; for he came to redeem us from the curse of the law, that we might come under grace. Gal. iii. 13, 14. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree; that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And he says,

3. "I can find no recognition of that guilt and ruin which the scriptures describe, into which we have fallen." I answer, when there is no transgression there is no falling into guilt or ruin, because it is only the soul that sinneth that shall die, and the law is only transgressed by sin, and the Christian's law is with him

even written in his heart, and printed on his thoughts. He then asks, "When do Quakers apply to Christ as self-ruined sinners ?"

I answer, When they are made sensible that they are so by the Spirit of truth, which was to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment-(sce John xvi. 8.) But we have no reason to believe that the Lord can be well pleased with those who are always confessing and not forsaking their sins; or that such are acceptable in his sight, or become heirs with him. For what sort of Christians must those be, that have sinned all their days, and have never loved God, or had one right desire for the knowledge of his ways? Such indeed it may be well expected will know the terrors of the Lord.

But it would be to me an idea very extraordinary to suppose that Christians must be always acknowledging such things, when they had an evidence of his approbation, and could say, they knew the Lord liveth, and because he liveth, they live also. And I am persuaded that no one, of any tolerable degre

of real religious experience, would question in this manner.

4. His fourth is already replied to.

5. In his fifth, Rand says, "I can find no description of repentance, little statement of our need of it, and little allusion of any kind to the subject."

I know of nothing which describes repentance better than amendment. It is not strange to me that he cannot find any great allusion to any thing consistent with truth or rationality, in all he reads in their authors; for I believe in the adage, "None so blind as those that will not see." But I am satisfied that an unprejudiced reader would find no defect where he says he sees all

defective. I very much doubt whether any writings can be found that urge the necessity of faith and repentance, more than the writings of friends, or whether any persons can be instanced that preached it with more energy than Fox, Penn and their preachers do; of which any candid reader would be satisfied, were he to make himself acquainted with them.

For instance says Wm. Penn-" Before I leave this particular I must again declare that we are led by the light and spirit of Christ with holy reverence to confess unto the blood of Christ shed at Jerusalem, as that by which a propitiation was held forth to the remission of sins that were past, through the forbearance of God unto all that believed: and we do embrace it as such, and do firmly believe, that thereby God declares his great love unto the world, for by it is the consciousness of sin declared to be taken away, or remission sealed to all who have known true repentance, and faith in his appearance. But because of the condition, I mean faith and repentance, therefore do we exhort all to turn their minds to the light and spirit of Christ within, that by seeing their conditions, and being by the same brought both into true contrition and holy confidence in God's mercy, they may come to receive the benefits thereof, for without that necessary condition it will be impossible to obtain remission of sins, though it be so generally promulgated thereby." (See vol. 2, page 411, Penn's works.)

6. He continues his complaint of what he cannot find, and observes, "A Quaker's sins seem to have. been forgiven him before he was born, even when Christ died."

But that this is a great per version of the doctrines of