thence arising of the operation of motives of mingled and dubious rectitude in the maintenance of it. There is, I admit, a regard to character, such as, both in individuals and in societies, is not only justifiable, but incumbent. Usefulness and influence are dependent upon it. The possession of it is not merely agreeable to ourselves; it is profitable as a means of doing good. But in our sinful world, and our state of imperfection, there is no good that does not border upon evil. The bordering evil, in the present case, is pride of character; a self-complacency, which finds cover and apology under principles of unquestionable propriety. May not the inquiry be deserving of a place, in the process of self-examination, to what extent the morality of Quakerism may be indebted to the reflexion, we must keep up the character of the body? Which of the two considerations most frequently and most readily presents itself to the mind, respecting any action of doubtful correctness-This would be inconsistent with my character as a Friend,-or, this would be inconsistent with my character as a Christian ?—And when deviations from the line of duty have occurred, of a public and discreditable nature, whether is the shock that is felt more imputable to the injury sustained from it by the reputation of the Society, the blot cast upon the fair fame of Friends,-or to the dishonour accruing to the name of Christ, and the wrong done to

the interests of true religion in general?-I throw out these things, not as the insinuations of a spiteful malice, or even of an uncharitable suspiciousness, but as friendly hints for your ingenuous consideration. And, since I am throwing out such suggestions, may I be allowed to add another, namely, that even in the midst of all the external indications of lowliness, there is imminent danger of the very character to which I have alluded, and for which, considered in itself, the Friends are justly esteemed and commended, engendering a spirit that is, more than any other, at variance with the very genius of the Gospel, in its primary and elementary principles, the spirit I mean of self-righteous confidence towards God. I know well, that there are those amongst Friends, who will disown this temper of mind, and confess themselves, with the truest humility, debtors to mercy alone, through the merits, the sacrifice, and the intercession of the Redeemer. But such, I am inclined to think, will go along with me in lamenting the prevalence of it, to no inconsiderable extent, in the body to which they belong. It is far, very far, from being peculiar to Friends. It has its seat in human nature, and the propensity to it is common to them with all others. It is well to bear in remembrance, that, if this state of mind be cherished, our Christian profession, according to the unequivocal and frequent testimony of the Scriptures, is vain.

The heart is not right with God; nor is any outward obedience, springing from such a state of heart, acceptable in God's sight. There is not a little truth in the saying, quoted by Dr Cox as that of an ancient father, that "there is no heresy in which, taken 66 as a whole, there is not more of truth than error. "So there might be more of food than poison in a "fatal dish, in which, but for the food, the poison "would never be tasted: still, the poison is more "than sufficient to kill; and is the food then an advantage?" If there be one thing which, more than

66

*Cox's Quakerism not Christianity, &c.," page 149.

For

my general opinion of the voluminous Work to which I have thus referred, I may direct the reader to a Review of the Beacon in the Scottish Congregational Magazine for March, 1835. I thus avow myself the writer of that article. It has been since reprinted in a Pamphlet, consisting of "Extracts from Periodical Works on the Controversy amongst the Society of Friends;" and its contents have come under the censorship of an anonymous writer, in a publication entitled "Truth vindicated, being an Appeal to the Light of Christ within, and to the Testimony of Holy Scripture, by way of answer to said Pamphlet."-It is no more than justice to the writer of that little Work, to say, that he is, in his principles, a consistent Quaker, standing up decidedly for the "good old way" of Fox, and Penn, and Barclay, and for the paramount authority of the "inward light" as the fundamental article of the system; and denouncing "the Beacon," with all who adopt its sentiments, and I should violate my conscience were I to say without reason,—as abandoning the original and distinctive principles of Quakerism.-I may have occasion to notice this publication, perhaps, again. At present I have only to advert for a moment to a charge which the author is pleased to bring against me,-the charge of great inconsistency,

any other, according to the Scriptures, mars whatever has the appearance and reputation of goodness, it is the spirit of self-righteousness. Till that is effectually eradicated, all is wrong. It is not the spirit

and imprudence, and "mistaken kindness," in having, "with my "own hand," contributed to foster that "spirit of Pharisaical self"estimation" by an unsolicited testimony to "their high average "character, as a body, for truth and integrity, for simplicity "and humanity;"-for having "by any adulatory remarks, min"istered to that spirit which makes them more solicitous to "maintain their reputation in the world, than humbly to approve "themselves to their Divine Master." Page 17.-He considers the bestowment of such commendation very much at variance with the "wakeful and solicitous apprehension" expressed by me for their (the Friends') spiritual danger,—and with my avowal of being alive to their spiritual interests, and regretting the errors of their religious system."-I can only now plead Not guilty to the charge. I deny that commendation and adulation are synonymous terms. I deny that it is inconsistent with the solicitude professed to commend, however much it may be so to flatter. If the commendation be deserved, the bestowment of it is no more than what is necessary to impart weight to any accompanying reprehension or censure, by giving a right impression of the spirit by which it is dictated. I am borne out in this by the example of the Apostle of the Gentiles; by whom, on various occasions, due commendation is mingled with merited reproof. I ask this staunch and apparently honest Friend, whether he would have thought me acting fairly and generously, were I to have withheld all commendation for really existing good, and to have administered nothing but unmingled censure? I cannot, in most instances, commend his own logic; nor can I, in all instances, commend his temper; but I do commend his honesty, and his manly and unblenching avowal of his principles,-even although I conceive them to be as ill-supported by him, as they are in themselves unscriptural. I should think it wrong in me, to say

of a sinner; nor can it, in a sinner, be tolerated by the God with whom he has to do. A sinner must be a debtor to mercy; and an humble sense of obligation to mercy through a divine Mediator is the primary and germinating principle of the renewed character,—of the life of evangelical obedience.

When I had formed the resolution to address you, and set myself, with that view, to a more studious examination of the principles of your Society, I experienced an increase rather than a diminution of a difficulty which, in common with others, I had previously felt, the difficulty, namely, of ascertaining, with any definitiveness, what these principles are.— I do not complain of your having no Creed, no Confession of Faith, no Thirty-nine Articles. There are other bodies of professing Christians who have none, besides you. My own is one of them. But in these bodies, there exists no such difficulty as the one I have mentioned; or, if it must be admitted to exist,

the one of these things, and not the other.-And, as to the commendation, for which he censures me, contributing to the very evil which I profess to deplore,-I have only to put it to himself, whether it would have been possible for me to state the danger, without stating the fact in which it originated. The danger arose, in a great degree, from the very possession of the character; and the only course I could follow, consistently with truth and candour, and all right feeling, was to state the truth, and to admonish of the danger,-to commend in kindness, and to warn in faithfulness.