r 
 
 Friends, Society of 
 Philadelphia yearly meeting. 
 
 A Declaration of the learly 
 Meeting of Friends, held in 
 Philadelphia 
 
 6X7752 
 .F9I 
 
 i 
 
V 
 
A 
 
 DECLARATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS, 
 
 HELD EN" 
 
 RESPECTING THE PROCEEDINGS OF THOSE WHO HAVE LATELY 
 SEPARATED FROM THE SOCIETY : 
 
 AND ALSO, SHEWING 
 
 THE CONTRAST 
 
 BETWEEN" THEIR DOCTRIXES AND THOSE HELD 
 
 BY FRIENDS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 PRINTED BY THOMAS KITE. 
 
 1828 
 
A DECLARATION 
 OF THE 
 
 YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS, See. 
 
 At a Yearly Meeting of Friends held in Philadelphia, by adjourn- 
 ments from the 2\st of the Fourth month, to the 28th of the same, in- 
 clusive, 1818 — 
 
 The Meeting for Sufferings having been engaged in preparing a 
 declaration of the principal causes and progress of the schism which 
 has taken place on the part of some under our name, within the limits 
 of this Yearly Meeting, and which also exhibits the doctrines of the 
 Separatists, contrasted with the principles and faith of our religious 
 Society, it was deliberately read ; and the meeting being brought into a 
 serious consideration of .he affecting evidence which it furnishes, of 
 the desolating consequerces produced by the spirit and principles of 
 unbelief and insubordination, and believing that it is due to the cause 
 of Christianity, and the reputation of our religious Society, to bear our 
 testimony to the world, agairst the antiscriptural doctrines, and disor- 
 ganizing proceedings an 1 conduct of the Separatists, fully unites with 
 this declaration and testimony, and directs it to be signed by the clerk, 
 and published on behalf of this meeting. It being as follows. 
 
 In taking a view of the situation of our Religious Society, and of the 
 various exercises and close trials, which those who love our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, have had to pass through, we believe it important to pre- 
 serve a faithful narrative of the schism which has taken place among 
 some under our name, and to trace the subtle workings of that spirit 
 of unbelief and insubordination which has been the primary cause of 
 it — a spirit which has been privily brought in among us, under the spe- 
 cious appearance of a refined spirituality, but which has blinded the 
 understandings of many, and led them, step by step, into an open de- 
 nial of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion, as they are 
 laid down by our blessed Redeemer and his apostles, in the Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 Previous to entering on the proposed narrative, it may not be im- 
 proper to notice the rise of our Religious Society, and some of the 
 troubles which befel it during its infancy. It pleased the Lord Al- 
 mighty in the dispensations of his infinite wisdom and goodness, to ga- 
 ther our worthy predecessors out of the various professions and wor- 
 ships of the world, to release them from the formalities of a ceremo- 
 nial religion, and by the immediate teachings of his Holy Spirit to 
 bring them to the knowledge of himself, as he is revealed in and 
 through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Instructed in the nature 
 of that worship which is acceptable to the Father, and yielding obedi- 
 ence to the discipline of the cross, they yrere led into purity of life and 
 conversation, evincing great tenderness of conscience, and a fear of 
 doing any thing which might bring a shade upon their holy profession. 
 Thus they became as " a city set on a hill that could not be hid," and 
 many were convinced of the truth, and joined in fellowship with them. 
 
 In the faithful maintenance of the doctrines and testimonies com- 
 mitted to them, they endured much persecution and bitter suffering, but 
 notwithstanding the various obstacles they had to contend with, the socie- 
 ty rapidly increased, and when William Pem received the grant of Penn- 
 sylvania, many of the members migrated with him, and found a peaceful 
 retreat from the persecutions which awaited them in their own land. 
 The privations which they were subjected to in a new country, being 
 favourable to that simplicity and self-denia 1 . which their profession in- 
 culcates, they became a religious body comprising many substantial 
 and divinely gifted members, in whose hands the cause of truth pros- 
 pered, and many meetings were established. But the old Adversary 
 who envies the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, and is ever 
 busily striving to lay waste the work of righteousness in the earth, 
 wrought upon the hearts of some restless and ambitious individuals, 
 who had once been favoured instruments in the Lord's hand, filling 
 their minds with envy and prejudice against ftieir brethren, and lead- 
 ing them into open opposition to those things, which in the days of 
 their fidelity, they had believed in — and finally into separation from 
 the Society. This was sorrowfully the case with John Wilkinson and 
 John Story and their party in England. The apostacy and misconduct 
 of these Separatists, brought great reproach upon the Society, and 
 subjected those who stood firm in their first love, to deeper exercises, 
 and more painful trials, than all the outward afflictions which they en- 
 dured from their cruel persecutors. It was a common outcry among 
 them, " Away with your order ; let every one be left to his liberty." 
 They made " disturbances in meetings to the breaking of the Church's 
 peace, causing divisions amongst friends ; publishing to the world 
 wicked and scandalous books against friends ; shutting and keeping 
 Friends out of their common meeting houses, in which they have a 
 just right and property, and not suffering them to meet therein ; and, 
 at length, also set up separate meetings, in opposition to the meetings 
 of God's people." See Ellwood's Journal, p. 275. 
 
 In this country, the peace and harmony of our religious Society, was 
 early interrupted by George Keith. His ambitious, aspiring disposi- 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 tion, led him to attempt introducing innovations in principle and 
 practice, and when he found that discerning friends, would not be 
 drawn into his measures, he endeavoured to divide the Society, and 
 to set up a yearly meeting, and other separate meetings, within the 
 limits of this Yearly meeting. But the Society steadily adhered to its 
 doctrines and discipline, whilst he and his party, persisting in their dis- 
 organizing attempts, were scattered from the fold of Christ, and many 
 of them were finally disowned. The revolutionary war was produc- 
 tive of new trials upon the stability of the Society. Numbers were 
 drawn aside to violate its testimony against war, but while such ex- 
 perienced much unsettlement, the sincerely exercised and faithful 
 members, were more closely united In a deep religious concern, for 
 their preservation upon the sure foundation, that they might give 
 practical evidence of the peaceable nature of the Messiah's kingdom, 
 by acting on all occasions consistently therewith. Thus, though it 
 has been assailed by severe trials, within and without, the Society con- 
 tinued as a body firmly united in faith and discipline, and through the 
 mercy and protection of our holy and divine Leader, was still enabled 
 to hold up a light to the world. 
 
 Causes, however, have been operating for several years, to pre- 
 pare the way for the introduction of opinions, repugnant to our reli- 
 gious principles and doctrines, and tending to lay waste that love and 
 Christian fellowship, which have so conspicuously distinguished the 
 Society, and given effect to its exertions in the cause of universal 
 righteousness. Lukewarmness respecting the important work of re- 
 ligion, an increasing love of the world, and an eager pursuit of its 
 riches, pleasures and fashions, disqualifying many for usefulness in the 
 church, introduced weakness, and eclipsed the brightness of our 
 Christian profession, which had shone so eminently in the example of 
 our worthy ancestors. Others, who were influenced by a restless aspir- 
 ing disposition, have at different periods opposed the administration of a 
 sound discipline, and endeavoured to throw off those salutary restraints, 
 indispensible to the existence of every well regulated society. Among 
 other causes which have contributed to its weakness, is the too easy 
 reception of papers of acknowledgment from those who had trans- 
 gressed the discipline, and the admission of persons into membership 
 who had not been sufficiently grounded in the doctrines of the Chris- 
 tian faith. But one of the most fertile sources of evil, has been me neglect 
 of many of our members, in not bestowing upon their offspring a 
 guarded religious education; labouring to imbue their susceptible 
 minds with the saving truths of the gospel, and habituating them to 
 frequent reading of the holy scriptures. For want of this godly con- 
 cern on the part of parents and teachers, many of our youth have 
 grown up in great ignorance of those all-important subjects, as well as 
 of the history and principles of our ancient Friends ; so that many 
 have fallen an easy prey to the cavils and sophistry of designing men, 
 who were seeking to lead them astray, by infusing doubts into their 
 minds respecting the truths of the Christian revelation. 
 
 In the lapse of a few years, it has pleased the Lord in his unsearch- 
 
J 
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 able wisdom, to remove from works to rewards, many eminent ser- 
 vants, who stood as faithful watchmen upon the walls of Zion, and being 
 clothed with the spirit of discernment, were enabled to detect the va- 
 rious stratagems of the enemy, and to defeat his attempts to lay waste 
 the Society. Sentiments promulgated at different periods by Elias 
 Hicks, a minister belonging to Jericho, on Long Island, occasioned 
 great uneasiness in the minds of some of those friends, and others, 
 who privately communicated their apprehensions to him. A spi- 
 rit of libertinism and independency, fostered and strengthened by 
 the neglect of proper discipline in families, prepared many to listen 
 with delight to such sentiments, which were before unknown in the 
 communications of our ministers. The disclosure of his views, how- 
 ever, was gradual, and for a long time in a very covert manner. The 
 subordination and respect due from youth, to age and experience, 
 which true religion ever enforces, were undermined by his frequent 
 suggestions, that their elder friends were " sticking in the traditions of 
 their fathers, and could not go on with the work of reformation, and 
 it was therefore necessary that the young people should come forward 
 and take the lead." The observance of the first day of the week, was 
 held up as being superstitious ; and those who did not join with him in 
 rejecting the products of slave labour, were compared with the most 
 abandoned and wicked characters, and pronounced to be unfit to take 
 any part in promoting the cause of Truth. Whilst he thus boldly de- 
 nounced those who could not adopt his views, others were flattered 
 and enlisted with his attentions ; and thus the Society was gradually, 
 and imperceptibly divided by his doctrines, and the strong contrasts 
 which he drew, between different portions of it. 
 
 Under the plausible pretext of exalting the "light within," as the 
 primary rule of faith and practice, he endeavoured to lessen the autho- 
 rity of the Holy Scriptures ; and, when he had greatly impaired the 
 sentiments of reverence justly due to their divine testimony, be pro- 
 ceeded to speak of our blessed Saviour, as being merely an example 
 or pattern to us, and denied that his death was an offering for the 
 sins of mankind, except for the legal sins of the Jews, calling him 
 the Jewish Messiah. Faithful, experienced friends, who were es- 
 tablished in the doctrines of Christ and his apostles, and who saw 
 the baneful consequences that must result from the promulgation of 
 such opinions, were brought under much painful solicitude, for the 
 preservation of the Society, as many were caught with the specious- 
 ness of his arguments, and the bold and confident manner with which 
 he advanced them. Having proceeded further in avowing his disbe- 
 lief in our Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men, publickly declar- 
 ing, that the same power that made him a Christian, must make us 
 Christians, and that the same power that saved him, must save us ; he 
 was again privately laboured with, in order to convince him of his 
 error ; and upon being told that if he persisted in preaching these doc- 
 trines, so contrary to the scriptures, and the testimony of our ancient 
 Friends, it would produce one of the greatest schisms that had ever 
 happened in the Society, he admitted that it would produce a schism. 
 
( ' ) 
 
 but that it would soon be over, for he believed his doctrines must 
 and would prevail. He was so confirmed in his sentiments, that he 
 said he should persevere therein, " let the consequences be ichat they 
 might r 
 
 In the twelth month, 1322, Elias Hick3 came to Philadelphia, with 
 certificates from his Monthly and Quarterly meetings, to pay a visit 
 to some parts- of our Yearly meeting", including the families of two of 
 the Monthly meetings in this city. It was well known to many friends, 
 that he was charged with holding and propagating opinions, incompat- 
 ible with the doctrines always held by our religious Society, and some 
 of the elders being informed by two friends who were present at a 
 meeting in the Southern Quarter, that he there advocated such 
 opinions, two of them called upon him on his arrival in Philadelphia, 
 and stated the information they had received, and proposed an interview 
 between him and these two friends, which he refused to accede to. 
 Another attempt was made to procure such an interview, which he also 
 rejected. As the friends of Elias Hicks, as guardians of the ministry, 
 and of the flock over which they were placed as overseer?, the elders 
 believed it to be their duty still to seek a conference with him, that 
 "if any incorrect statement had been made, it might be speedily 
 rectified, or if true, that he should be possessed of the concern and 
 judgment of his friends thereon."' But after a time and place was 
 fixed, they failed in their brotherly attempt to obtain the proposed in- 
 terview, by his encouraging a number of his partizans to intrude them- 
 selves into the company. The elders then addressed a letter to him, 
 declaring that they " could not have religious unity with his conduct, 
 nor with the doctrines he was charged with promulgating." In a 
 subsequent communication, having the accounts of his unsoundness 
 corroborated by his publick discourses in this city, they state that they 
 were "fully and sorrowfully confirmed in the conclusion, that he holds 
 and is disseminating principles very different from those which are 
 held and maintained by our religious Society, and that as he had closed 
 the door against the brotherly care and endeavours of the elders for 
 his benefit, and for the clearing our religious profession, they think the 
 subject ought to claim the weighty attention of his Friends at home." 
 
 From this period may be dated the regular organization of a party 
 devoted to his interests. Active exertions were used by those who 
 have since stood conspicuous amongst the promoters of the present 
 separation, to enlist every one they could, in favour of him and hi3 
 opinions. Unjust and unfounded representations were industriously 
 spread throughout the Society, in order to create a prejudice against 
 those who could not conscientiously approbate his conduct, and anti- 
 christian views, especially against friends in Philadelphia, who openly 
 avowed their disunity with him. Much animosity was manifested by 
 his adherents, and the false reports and opprobrious epithets, applied 
 to those who bore a faithful testimony against his principles and min- 
 istry, gave ample proof of the origin, and disorganizing tendency of 
 such doctrines. 
 
 Under these circumstances our Yearly meeting convened in 1823. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 Amongst the subjects which had claimed the attention of the Meeting 
 for Sufferings, they believed it proper as representatives of the Yearly 
 meeting, to disclaim certain controversial essays, printed in a period- 
 ical paper at Wilmington, Delaware, appearing to be written in the 
 name of the Society, but which contained sentiments incompatible 
 with those it had always held and professed. A short minute for 
 the purpose was adopted and forwarded to the editor ; a few selections 
 from me writings of Friends were also prepared by a committee to 
 accompany the minute, shewing our faith upon those controverted 
 points of doctrine. But the meeting deciding that the minute would 
 be sufficient, it was agreed to print the selections in a pamphlet, to be 
 distributed to our members, for the purpose of reminding them of those 
 excellent Christian principles which our forefathers held, and suffered 
 for. When the minutes of the Meeting for Sufferings were read in 
 the Yearly meeting, its authority to prepare those selections, was 
 questioned by some of those who have since separated from us ; many 
 severe reflections were passed upon that body ; and much disturbance 
 created by the disaffected upon this occasion. While some professed 
 to admit, that the sentiments contained in the extracts might be cor- 
 rect, they unjustly charged the Meeting for Sufferings, with attempting 
 to impose a creed upon the Society ; others condemned the doctrines 
 themselves, as contrary to scripture, reason, and revelation, although 
 selected from works which had been repeatedly approved by the So- 
 ciety. Great noise and confusion prevailed amongst them, and the 
 meeting adjourned. At the next sitting, one of the leaders of the dis- 
 affected party, proposed that those extracts should be expunged from 
 the minutes of the Meeting for Sufferings ; but as this would have im- 
 plied a disavowal of the doctrines they contained, the meeting refused 
 to accede to it. The clamour and violence of the opposers was such, 
 that in order to obtain a state of quietude in the meeting, Friends at 
 length consented to direct the Meeting for Sufferings to suspend the 
 publication of the pamphlet, which had been printed, and placed in the 
 book-room. We have thought it right thus to rehearse the facts re- 
 lating to this subject, because they have been grossly misrepresented 
 in various places, and motives and designs attributed to Friends, which 
 were not only untrue, but absolutely unfounded. 
 
 Although the disaffected members denied the right of the Meet- 
 ing for Sufferings, to prepare and publish extracts from the writ- 
 ings of our early friends, yet afterwards they themselves assumed 
 the right of doing so, and published a pamphlet, of extracts, the 
 object of which was to support the doctrinal views of Elias Hicks, 
 hi making their selections, great injustice was done to the authors 
 from whose works they were taken, material parts of sentences 
 being omitted, and in some places words were introduced, so as 
 to change entirely the true meaning of the writer, and even to make 
 him contradict himself. In the progress of this spirit of misrepre- 
 sentation and division, much labour was privately bestowed, to con- 
 vince individuals of the unsoundness of the doctrines preached by 
 Eliaa Hicks, and by some other ministers who had adopted his opin- 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 ions, and to show the desolating effects that would be produced by 
 them upon the Society. But such was the strength of prejudice 
 against sound friends, that arguments or entreaties in most instances 
 were unavailing, and these endeavours to convince were often met 
 with unkind reflections and criminations. 
 
 From the decided opposition which they had made to the dissem- 
 ination of unsound principles, it was apparent to the advocates of the 
 " new views," that the elders, and members of the Meeting for Suf- 
 ferings, would present a great obstacle to their general adoption. Un- 
 wearied efforts were therefore used to bring them into discredit, and 
 to alienate Friends from them ; and after great exertion to accomplish 
 this object, a plan was projected for altering the discipline, so as to 
 make these appointments subject to frequent change. Accordingly, 
 in 1825, the project was introduced into one of the Quarterly meet- 
 ings, where the disaffected party predominated, and a minute made, 
 u contrary to the solid sense and judgment of many friends," proposing 
 that all important appointments should be made for a limited time. 
 On its introduction to the Yearly meeting, much discussion ensued, in 
 which the party urged their favourite measure, but the meeting decid- 
 ed, that such a rule would be unsafe, and it was dismissed. 
 
 As a further means for spreading the views of the seceding party, 
 and giving strength to their cause, they widely circulated a volume of 
 discourses, delivered by Elias Hicks, in one of his visits within this 
 Yearly meeting, which contain sentiments correspondent with those 
 he had long been charged with holding, directly repugnant to the glo- 
 rious character of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Saviour and Redeemer 
 of men, our Mediator and Advocate with the Father, and also under- 
 valuing the Holy Scriptures. A periodical paper called the Berean, 
 devoted to the same cause, was also set up, and circulated amongst our 
 members, in which was a series of essays, openly attacking the ac- 
 knowledged doctrines of Friends, and tending to subvert their faith in 
 the divinity of Christ, and his propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of man- 
 kind ; by which we believe many have been turned into the paths of 
 scepticism, and thereby lost that true peace and assurance, which 
 are only found in the faith of the gospel. The lamentable effects of 
 the principles disseminated by such publications, became more and 
 more obvious. Accustomed to hear the sacred truths of Christian 
 redemption called in question, many lost that awe which those solemn 
 subjects had heretofore inspired, and allowed themselves the liberty of 
 speaking upon them in a light and very irreverent manner. The 
 arising and spreading of the power of Truth in our assemblies for 
 divine worship, was much obstructed by the spirit of unbelief; and op- 
 position increased among the disaffected to the administration of the 
 discipline, especially when it was likely to displace any of their own 
 party. In some meetings, where they had the control, unjustifiable 
 measures were adopted to promote party purposes, thereby producing 
 great distress and exercise to Friends. Notwithstanding all their 
 efforts, they did not obtain that complete ascendency which their lead- 
 ers anxiously desired, Friends being enabled, through the merciful 
 
 B 
 
( io ) 
 
 interposition of divine assistance, to maintain their ground, with a 
 good degree of firmness, against the inroads of infidelity, and the flood 
 of reproach and false accusations, which was poured forth against 
 them ; arid the disaffected therefore determined to use some further 
 means to bring about a revolution. 
 
 Previous to the Yearly meeting in 1827, John Comly, in the station 
 of a minister, having obtained a minute from his Monthly meeting, un- 
 der profession of religious concern to pay a visit to Friends, went about 
 into different parts of the country, holding private meetings with a 
 view of promoting disaffection, and preparing the minds of such mem- 
 bers as could be entrusted with his designs, for a separation from the 
 Society, provided certain plans which were devised for carrying the 
 Yearly meeting with them, should fail. Other individuals attached to 
 the party, were busily engaged in attending different quarterly meet- 
 ings, endeavouring to foment dissatisfaction, and to procure the ap- 
 pointment of persons, as representatives to the approaching Yearly 
 meeting, who they knew would be in favour of changing the clerk, a 
 measure which they were anxiously desirous to effect. Two of the 
 quarterly meetings where the Separatists predominated, doubled the 
 number of their representatives, in the hope of effecting that change, 
 and another increased its usual number one half. Propositions were 
 sent up from those two quarterly meetings, to reconsider the discipline 
 relating to the appointment of Elders, and members of the Meeting for 
 Sufferings. By one of them it was proposed that " such appointments 
 be made for a limited time ;" and by the other, that "if it may be 
 thought right to continue said meeting [for Sufferings] the appointment 
 of its members may be exclusively confined to the Quarterly meetings 
 and subject to their removal," — and " that Monthly meetings shall be 
 authorized to remove elders, whenever it may appear their service in 
 that station has ceased to promote the best interests of society." A 
 remonstrance was also transmitted against the Meeting for Sufferings, 
 for declining to acknowledge the right of the Southern Quarterly 
 meeting to displace two of its representatives in that body, without 
 discipline, and without any charge of delinquency. 
 
 Many of the members of our religious Society, having now for a long 
 time indulged a spirit of insubordination, and their affections having 
 become estranged from the principles and doctrines of the Society, as 
 well as from those friends who stood firm in support of its order and 
 discipline, there was little probability that they would assemble at the 
 Yearly meeting in a proper state of mind for transacting the weighty 
 concerns of the Church, or with a disposition to seek after the judg- 
 ment of Truth. When the representatives met at the direction of the 
 Yearly meeting to deliberate upon a Clerk, and a friend to assist him, 
 the disaffected party proposed John Comly for clerk, and strong- 
 ly urged the nomination. It was well known that he had been 
 actively engaged in holding those clandestine meetings, for the pur- 
 pose of dividing the Society, that his partizans had pre-determined 
 upon a change, in order to get the control of the Yearly meeting, and 
 as it was evident, the representatives could not unite in a new nomi- 
 
( II ) 
 
 nation, Friends believed it right to advocate the continuance of the 
 present clerk, who had acceptably served the meeting, and been here- 
 tofore chosen without opposition. After being together nearly three 
 hours, without any prospect of agreeing, it was proposed and acceded 
 to, that a friend should inform the meeting, they were notable to unite 
 in any name for clerk. This report was accordingly made to the 
 Yearly meeting at its next sitting ; and after it was given in, an an- 
 cient friend arose and stated, that during his attendance of that meet- 
 ing, embracing a period of sixty years, it had been the custom to con- 
 tinue the old clerk, until another could be appointed in the unity, and 
 he therefore proposed that the present clerk should be continued, 
 which was accordingly done; a large number of Friends expressing 
 themselves in favour of it, and several of the opposition eventually ac- 
 ceding to it. It is proper to state these facts, in order to shew, that 
 the assertion made by the Separatists in their address, that a clerk was 
 imposed upon the meeting, is without any foundation. 
 
 Early after the meeting convened on the following morning, John 
 Comly, the assistant clerk, who stands conspicuous as a principal 
 leader among the Separatists, rose, and informed the meeting that an 
 irreconcileable difference existed in the Society, and therefore he 
 could not conscientiously act as the organ of a body under this cir- 
 cumstance, and proposed an indefinite adjournment of the meeting. 
 As there would have been no difficulty in supplying his place, had he 
 simply requested to be released, it was evidently his design to disband 
 the Yearly meeting, and thereby furnish his party with a pretext for 
 setting up a meeting of their own, with a clerk devoted to their view3 
 and purposes. Friends were sorrowfully affected with a sense of the 
 mischievous workings of a rending, disorganizing spirit, that was 
 seeking to overturn the excellent order which had been long esta- 
 blished amongst us, and to reduce the Society to a state of anarchy 
 and confusion, which had been heretofore so signally owned and pre- 
 served, by the blessed presence of the Great Head of the Church. 
 Still favoured with confidence in his mercy and all-sufficiency, they 
 remained calm and centered to the divine gift in themselves, while 
 the disaffected party were urging the meeting to adjourn. When it 
 was found that they could not succeed in breaking up the meeting, 
 but that it was enabled to maintain its dignity and authority, in refus- 
 ing to comply with the unprecedented and disorderly proposal for an 
 indefinite adjournment, the assistant clerk, notwithstanding his pre- 
 vious declaration, offered to serve the meeting. A fair opportunity 
 had thus been given to all disaffected persons, to prevent, if practicable, 
 the continuance of the meeting, or if they were so disposed, to with- 
 draw from all participation in its proceedings. It was the next sitting 
 to that in which the clerks had been reappointed, but so far from 
 withdrawing, many of those who have since seceded were earnest in 
 requesting John Comly to continue at the table, which the meeting 
 submitted to. By thus reappointing the assistant clerk on his own 
 proposal, the Separatists fully recognised the organization of the Year- 
 ly meeting, and were consequently bound by its conclusions. They 
 
( '2 ) 
 
 moreover recognised it, by uniting in its decisions on several subse- 
 quent occasions, particularly in raising a sum of money to aid our 
 brethren of North Carolina, in removing the coloured people under 
 their care. When the extracts from the minutes of the Yearly meet- 
 ing were sent down to the Quarterly meetings, they were read and 
 minuted in all of them but one ; and all the quarters raised their se- 
 veral proportions of money, as directed by the Yearly meeting, and 
 paid it into the hands of the regular treasurer, to be placed at the dispo- 
 sal of the xMeetingfor Sufferings, thereby anticipating the continued ex- 
 istence of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on its original foundation, and 
 its representative body the Meeting for Sufferings. Notwithstanding 
 which, the Separatists have been so disingenuous, as to assume its title, 
 and have unjustly attempted to make the impression on the public, that 
 their association which they have since formed, contrary to the order of 
 our Society, is the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia. 
 
 In relation to those propositions which were forwarded to the Year- 
 ly meeting from the three Quarterly meetings, it is proper to remark, 
 that a number of the Separatists held a private meeting, in which they 
 concluded to propose that they should be dismissed, which was accord- 
 ingly done at their own suggestion. After having decided in a meet- 
 ing composed exclusively of their own party, that the subjects should 
 be postponed, with what candour or justice can they allege their dis- 
 missal, as an accusation against the Yearly meeting ? 
 
 During the week of the Yearly meeting, the Separatists held several 
 other secret meetings among themselves, in violation of that harmony 
 and brotherhood which had been so conspicuous amongst Friends, in 
 order to arrange a plan for dismembering the Yearly meeting. At 
 these meetings they prepared an address to the members of our Reli- 
 gious Society, in which they say ; — 
 
 " Our attention has been turned to the present condition of this 
 Yearly meeting and its different branches, and by evidence on every 
 hand, we are constrained to declare that the unity of this body is in- 
 terrupted ; that a division exists among us, developing in its progress 
 views which appear incompatible with each other, and feelings averse 
 to a reconciliation. Doctkixes held by one part of society and which 
 we believe to be sound and edifying, are pronounced by the other part 
 to be unsound and spurious. From this has resulted a state of things 
 that has proved destructive of peace and tranquillity, and in which the 
 fruits of love and condescension have been blasted, and the comforts 
 and enjoyments even of social intercourse greatly diminished. Mea- 
 sures have been pursued which we deem oppressive and in their na- 
 ture and tendency calculated to undermine and destroy those benefits, 
 to establish and perpetuate which, should be the purpose of every re- 
 ligious association." 
 
 It must be obvious to every one who reads this narrative of the 
 facts connected with the progress of the separation, that the intro- 
 duction of antichristian opinions has been the grand cause which has 
 led to it ; and however the Separatists may have since endeavoured 
 to cover their designs and to make a different impression, in the ex- 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 tract we have just made from the first exhibit of their grievances, 
 they there fully admit that they have their origin in doctrinal differ- 
 ences. 
 
 They proceed to declare, " It is under a solemn and deliberate view 
 of this painful state of our affairs, that we feel bound to express to you, 
 under a settled conviction of mind, that the period has fully come, 
 in which we ought to look towards making a quiet retreat from this 
 scene of confusion, and we therefore recommend to you deeply to 
 weigh the momentous subject, and to adopt such a course as truth, 
 under a solid and solemn deliberation may point to," &c. It is evi- 
 ident from this address, that the minds of those who adopted it, were 
 fully prepared for a separation from our religious Society, and for the 
 establishment of an association of their own, and we might suppose 
 they were sincere in wishing to "make a quiet retreat." But, at 
 the sitting of the Yearly Meeting, directly succeeding the evening on 
 which this address was agreed upon, they again came into our meet- 
 ing and made violent opposition to a concern which was brought 
 from our women's Yearly meeting for appointing a committee to visit 
 the Quarterly and Monthly meetings. This proposal having been 
 weightily considered and united with by the women's meeting, was 
 cordially received by many brethren ; but the Separatists perceiving 
 that it would interfere with their plans for drawing away our mem- 
 bers, and with the contemplated dissolution uf the Yearly meeting, 
 raised a great outcry against it. Such was the tumult they threw 
 themselves into, that friends, who desired all their conclusions might 
 be under the calming influence of the presence of the Head of the 
 Church, doubted for a time, whether that solemn, quiet deliberation 
 could be attained, which would warrant them in making the appoint- 
 ment. At this juncture the meeting Wis informed by a friend who 
 was at the separate meeting held the preceding evening, of the con- 
 clusions then adopted, and that further measures were suggested for 
 effecting their disjunction; the inconsistency of their attempting to 
 control the decisions of the meeting after having virtually withdrawn 
 from it was so palpable, that convicted of it themselves, they then 
 proposed to leave the appointment exclusively to Friends, and when 
 their noise ceased, a covering of peaceful solemnity spread over the 
 meeting, under which the appointment was made with much unanim- 
 ity, and we believe it was a measure that originated in best wisdom. 
 
 At this sitting the meeting closed its business and adjourned to meet 
 again next year, at the usual time specified in its printed constitution. 
 It appeared to be quite as numerously attended as any other sitting du- 
 ring the week, and no opposition was made to the adjournment by a 
 single member, which was a tacit admission on the part of the disaf- 
 fected, that Philadelphia Yearly Meeting would convene at the usual 
 time and place ; and consequently the assembly of any part of it at a 
 different time, under that name, is a mere assumption, without any 
 claim whatever to its title or character. 
 
 In the 6th month following the Separatists held another meeting at 
 Green Street, and issued an epistle to our members, in which they as- 
 
( 1" ) 
 
 sert that the committee just alluded to, 44 was appointed without the 
 unity of the meeting, and contrary to the solid sense and judgment of 
 much the larger number of the members in attendance." This charge 
 is incorrect, and extremely ungenerous. Having determined as far 
 as was in their power to dissolve the bands of society, and throw it in- 
 to a state of distraction and confusion, it could not be supposed they 
 were in a state of mind, qualified to exercise any solid sense and judg- 
 ment respecting such a concern, or that they would unite with a mea* 
 sure which must in considerable degree disconcert their schemes. 
 After coming to a resolution to make a quiet retreat, it was certainly 
 highly indecorous in them to interfere in the transactions of those they 
 professed to be retreating from ; but although they did not unite with 
 the concern, many of them openly acquiesed in it. 
 
 It was not long after the rise of the Yearly meeting, before the work 
 of disorganization commenced. Notwithstanding the Separatists pro- 
 fess in their address, to have no other discipline to propose to those in 
 unity with them, but that of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, in the fol- 
 lowing week Green street Monthly meeting declared itself independent 
 of Philadelphia Quarterly meeting, to which it belonged, and after- 
 wards was received as a branch of Abington Quarter, contrary to the 
 discipline and usage of the Society, and regardless of the remonstrance 
 of Philadelphia Quarter against the measure. A considerable part of 
 Radnor Monthly meeting made a like application, and was received 
 by the same Quarter as though it was the Monthly meeting. A similar 
 course was pursued by Bucks Quarter, in receiving a part of Mount 
 Holly Monthly meeting, a branch of Burlington Quarterly meeting. 
 Members of Other Monthly meetings applied to, and were acknow- 
 ledged as members by Darby and Byberry Monthly meetings, without 
 certificate and without removing their residence, and in several in- 
 stances, while they were under care for violations of the discipline. 
 Byberry Monthly meeting and Abington Quarter, attempted to set up 
 a separate meeting, composed of persons, some of whom were dis- 
 owned, and others not their members, and to constitute it a Monthly 
 meeting, within the limits of Philadelphia Quarter. Thus the rights 
 of meetings have been invaded, the judgment of Friends expressed 
 in opposition to these proceedings totally disregarded, and the long 
 established order and usage of the Society infringed and laid waste. 
 
 In the sixth month epistle they say, " We therefore, (fee. have agreed 
 to propose for your consideration, the propriety and expediency of 
 holding a yearly meeting for Friends in unity with us, residing within 
 the limits of those Quarterly meetings, heretofore represented in the 
 Yearly meeting held in Philadelphia ; for which purpose it is recom- 
 mended that Quarterly and Monthly meetings, which may be prepared 
 for such a measure, should appoint representatives to meet in Phila- 
 delphia, on the third second-day in the tenth month next, at 10 o'clock 
 in the morning, in company with other members favourable to our 
 views, there to hold a Yearly meeting of men and women friends," 
 •fee. To prepare the members for this measure, the principal leaders 
 have been busily engaged, in holding meetings " heretofore unknown 
 
( l« ) 
 
 to the Society ;" and in attending Quarterly and Monthly meetings, 
 for the purpose of detaching them from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. 
 In effecting their disjunction from Friends, many of them conducted 
 on various occasions, with great clamour and indecorum, employing 
 terms of abuse against those, whom they charged with domination and 
 arhitrary proceedings, by which our religious meetings were conveited 
 into scenes of uproar and confusion. Instead of quietly withdrawing 
 from our communion, according to their public professions, individuals 
 w 7 ho had been disowned, or whose cases were upon the minutes of 
 their Monthly meetings, repeatedly came into meetings to which they 
 had never belonged, and by their presence, or rude interference, pre- 
 vented Friends from transacting the business, and obliged them to ad- 
 journ, when they and their party kept the house to serve their own pur- 
 poses. They have changed the time of holding mid-week meetings 
 in some instances, and when Friends have come to the house on the 
 usual day, they have found it locked and they debarred an entrance. 
 Wherever it has been in their power, though they pretend to retreat 
 from us, they have obtained possession and control of the meeting- 
 houses, so that Friends in many parts of the country, notwithstanding 
 they adhere to the principles, and discipline, and worship of the Society, 
 have been obliged to provide themselves with accommodations else- 
 where. As they depend very much upon the influence of numbers, 
 indefatigable exertions have been used, and various schemes resorted 
 to, in order to induce persons to join their ranks. Not only has division 
 been thus brought into meetings which had heretofore harmonized, 
 but domestic peace and comfort has been in many instances affectingly 
 broken up, by the baneful influences of this restless, unhappy spirit, 
 which has passed like a flood through our borders, carrying away in 
 its course many who had appeared to be in good measure settled upon 
 the immutable foundation. But, alas ! for want of abiding in a state 
 of humble watchfulness in the fear of the Lord, which would have pre- 
 served them from the snares of death, they have been deceived in an 
 evil hour ; and confiding in their own righteousness, and in their own 
 strength, not being able to discern the nature of this spirit, they have 
 thus fallen a prey to its insidious presentations. The unsoundness in 
 principle of many of the leading Separatists, has been often denied, 
 notwithstanding the plainest proofs of it have been repeatedly adduced ; 
 and lest it should prevent some fearful, timid persons from joining 
 them, their real sentiments have, on many occasions, been concealed 
 or glossed over. Thus, by various artifices and unwearied labours, a 
 considerable part of the members in some of the branches of this 
 meeting, have become separated from the Society of Friends, and in 
 the tenth month last held a meeting, under the assumed title of Phila- 
 delphia Yearly meeting, which adjourned to meet again on the second 
 second-day in the fourth month, 1828. 
 
 Having endeavoured to give a faithful narrative of some of the pro- 
 minent events which have marked the course of the present schism, 
 of which it is alleged that the promulgation of doctrines subversive of 
 the faith of our religious Society, has been the primary cause, it re- 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 mains to exhibit these doctrines from works acknowledged by the Se- 
 paratists, and which they have widely circulated for the purpose of 
 disseminating their views ; and also to contrast these doctrines, with 
 those which have been always held and professed by the Society of 
 Friends from its rise to the present day. It should be distinctly recol- 
 lected, that, in the first official document which they issued, and in 
 which they declare the grounds of their dissatisfaction with Friends, 
 the Separatists assert, that " doctrines held by one part of Society, 
 and which we believe to be sound and edifying, are pronounced by the 
 other part to be unsound and spurious. From this has resulted a 
 state of things, that has proved destructive of peace and tranquillity, 
 and in which the fruits of love and condescension have been blasted, 
 and the comforts and enjoyments, even of social intercourse greatly 
 diminished." The address containing this declaration is signed by di- 
 rection and on behalf of the meeting held on the 19th, 20th, and 21st 
 of the 4th month 1827, by John Comly and nine other persons from 
 different parts of our Yearly meeting, and we regard it as a candid 
 acknowledgment, that from those doctrines, which Friends pronounce 
 "to be unsound and spurious,'''' but which they "believe to be sound 
 and edifying," have resulted the difficulties in which the Society has 
 been involved. 
 
 In their epistle issued in the 6th month following, they further al- 
 lege, that " faithful friends in the ministry were unjustly charged with 
 preaching infidel doctrines, denying the divinity of Christ, and under- 
 valuing the Scriptures." We know of no faithful friends against 
 whom these charges have been advanced. But there are those, who 
 not keeping in a state of humility and subjection to the Cross of Christ, 
 which would have preserved them in the unity of the faith, and in a 
 willingness to endure suffering for the gospel's sake, have listened to 
 the voice of the stranger, and being deceived by his transformations, 
 as the appearance of an angel of light, they have by degrees lost their 
 habitation in the blessed truth, and made shipwreck of faith and of a 
 good conscience. Some of these continuing to exercise the office of 
 ministers, which they once acceptably occupied among us, have been 
 led, step by step, to broach doctrines which are subversive of the 
 Christian faith, and contrary to the doctrines and principles of our re- 
 ligious Society. This defection, however, is not confined to those 
 who were ministers, but there are many others, who hold, and are en- 
 gaged in propagating, the same unsound sentiments. Their various 
 plans have been arranged and directed, to procure the adoption of 
 these sentiments, as the faith of the Society ; but disappointed at last 
 by their failure, and perceiving that Friends were increasingly alive to 
 the importance of preserving the Society, from the dangerous effects 
 of such doctrines, the only alternative, in their view, was a complete 
 severance from its communion. 
 
 We shall not attempt to trace their unsoundness through all its 
 ramifications, but we shall adduce evidence from their own works, 
 which we believe must conclusively prove, that they deny the divinity 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the Redeemer and Saviour of men, 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 our Propitiation and Mediator with the Father, and also that they un- 
 dervalue the Holy Scriptures. The selections are chiefly taken from 
 the discourses of Elias Hicks. Most of their ministers inculcate the 
 Bame opinions, but we have confined ourselves to a few of those dis- 
 courses which are before the public in print. Extracts are also made 
 from the Berean, a periodical publication which the Separatists have 
 circulated for several years, as a standard work on the faith of the So- 
 ciety, but which we believe has had a very pernicious effect in leading 
 astray many sincere-hearted people, who were not aware of the poison 
 that is insidiously conveyed through its pages. This work, speaking 
 of the volume of Elias Hicks's discourses, already noticed, says, " it 
 will make the traditional outside christian startle, and the dreamers, 
 high priests, the scribes and phaiisees of every denomination to gnash 
 their teeth ; but the great body of the society on this continent, of 
 which this venerable minister is a member, together with many other 
 unshackled minds will set their seals to the doctrines which it contains." 
 Vol. I. p. 398. 
 
 In accordance with this declaration, several monthly meetings in 
 which his adherents had the rule, and who have since joined the new 
 sect, prepared and issued minutes expressive of their satisfaction with 
 him and his doctrines. But the attendance of Elias Hicks at the Ge- 
 neral Association of the Separatists, held in this month at Green street, 
 establishes beyond all doubt, his unity with them in breaking their con- 
 nection with the Society of Friends ; and by placing a record on their 
 minutes of his presence, and their satisfaction with his company, the 
 Separatists, as a body, have formally identified themselves w r ith him and 
 his antichristian doctrines, a declaration of which he openly made in ve- 
 ry palpable terms, in one of their largest meetings on the preceding day. 
 
 We shall proceed with the extracts, commencing with their opinions 
 respecting the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 Elias Hicks says, " If the scriptures were absolutely necessary, he 
 had power to communicate them to all the nations of the earth, for he 
 has his way as a path in the clouds : he knows how to deal out to 
 all his rational children. But they were not necessary, and perhaps 
 not suited to any otlier people, than they to whom they were written." 
 Philadelphia Sermons, page 119. 
 
 " One would suppose that to a rational mind, the hearing and read- 
 ing of the instructive parables of Jesus would have a tendency to re- 
 form and turn men about to truth and lead them on in it. But they 
 have no such effect. Ibid. p. 129. 
 
 " They have been so bound up in the letter, that they think they 
 must attend to it, to the exclusion of every thing else. Here is an 
 abominable idol worship, of a thing without any life at all, a dead 
 monument. Ibid. p. 139. 
 
 " The great and only thing needful then is, to turn inward, and 
 turn our back upon the letter, for it is all shadow.'''' Ibid. p. 225. 
 
 " Now the book we read in says, * Search the scriptures,' but this 
 is incorrect, we must all see it is incorrect ; because we have all reason 
 to believe they read the scriptures, and hence they accused Jesus of 
 being an impostor.'* Ibid. p. 314. 
 
 C 
 
( 18 ) 
 
 " He [Jesus] does not move us in the least degree to any book, or 
 ivriting whatever, but leaves every thing outward entirely behind as 
 having passed by, for he abolisJied all external evidence, as not being 
 capable of bringing about salvation to the soul." See Quaker; E 
 Hick's sermon, vol. II. 264. 
 
 " No experience will ever be worth any thing to us, which is not our 
 own experience, begotten through the influence of the blessed spirit 
 of God." N. York sermons, p. 123. 
 
 Thomas Wetherald, at an irregular meeting held at Green street, says, 
 " And I want us therefore, in our investigation of spiritual things, to 
 bring spiritual evidence to prove spiritual truths. Let us attend to 
 spiritual reflections, and not be looking to the Scriptures, and to the 
 systems of men, and to the words of preachers ; for all these being of 
 an external character, can only form an ignis fatuus, which 4 leads to 
 bewilder and dazzles to blind.' " Quaker, vol. II. p. 217. 
 
 In accordance with the above sentiments concerning the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, the Berean says, " In vain does any man quote the Scriptures 
 as authority for his opinions ; for if they have not been immediately 
 revealed to his own mind by the Holy Spirit, they deserve no better 
 name as it respects him, than speculations." Vol. II. p. 211. 
 
 " Those revelations were for other times and other states, and not 
 for us. They belong to those to whom they were immediately re- 
 vealed. And that, and only that, which is immediately revealed to us, 
 belongs in like manner to us and to us only." Ibid. p. 212. 
 
 " Now the revelations respecting the nature of God, which were 
 made to the Israelites, are true when viewed as in connection with, 
 and as having relation to their spiritual condition ; but to any other 
 state, they are not true ; therefore such revelations abstractedly taken, 
 are not true in themselves — are not the truth of god." Ibid, 
 vol. I. p. 403. 
 
 We could select many other passages derogatory to the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, but these are sufficient to show the contemptuous manner in 
 which they are spoken of by the Separatists and their ministers. They 
 assert that they are not necessary, and perhaps not suited to any other 
 people, than those to whom they were written ; they are a thing with- 
 out any life at all, a dead monument, all shadow, upon which we 
 should turn our backs ; that the direction of our Lord to search them 
 is not correct ; that his parables have no such effect as a tendency to 
 reform and turn men about to truth ; that in vain does any man quote 
 the Scriptures as authority for his opinions ; that without immediate 
 revelation they are no better than speculations ; that they only form 
 an ignis fatuus which leads to bewilder, and dazzles to blind ; that no 
 experience will ever be worth any thing to us which is not our own 
 experience, and that that only belongs to us, which is immediately re- 
 vealed to us ; and that the revelations which were made to the Israel- 
 ites respecting the nature of God, ard not true in themselves ; are 
 
 NOT THE TRUTH OF GOD. 
 
 We are not surprised that persons holding the opinions which they 
 do, relating to the great truths of Christian redemption, should under- 
 value and endeavour to destroy the authority of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 For so long as they are admitted to be a test of doctrine, all their pre- 
 tended revelations which contradict the testimony of the Sacred Re- 
 cord, are properly condemned as " unsound and spurious." But we 
 could not have supposed that at this enlightened day, w T hen their divine 
 authority has been so abundantly confirmed, by the accomplishment of 
 the ancient prophecies, and in the experience of the true Christian, 
 that any of the professed believers of the "light within" would dare 
 to assert, that those divine revelations respecting the nature of God, 
 are not true in themselves, are not the truth of God. It is an affect- 
 ing proof of the dreadful consequences of a spirit of scepticism and 
 unbelief, that they should become so darkened as to speak in this irre- 
 verent manner of those weighty truths revealed to the Lord's servants, 
 to whom he condescended to speak as face to face. 
 
 The Society of Friends have always fully believed in the authenti- 
 city and divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, and acknowledge them 
 to be the only fit outward test of doctrines, having been dictated by 
 the Holy Spirit of God, which cannot err. They are profitable for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 
 that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
 good works ; and are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith 
 which is in Christ Jesus ; and whatever any teach or do contrary 
 thereto, they reject as a delusion. Under a profession of exalting the 
 light of Christ as the immediate means of salvation, which is a doc- 
 trine most fully believed by us, some have undervalued the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, as being unnecessary to the Christian. It is contrary to the 
 practice of the Society to speak of them in any such terms. We es- 
 teem them a great blessing to the Church, and desire to cultivate feel- 
 ings of gratitude to the Great Disposer of events, for preserving them 
 through various revolutions and vicissitudes, being fully persuaded that 
 the more we become obedient to the manifestations of the light of 
 Christ in the heart, the more precious and valuable are those inestim- 
 able writings to us. 
 
 In proof that these have been the sentiments of the Society from the 
 beginning, we shall adduce the testimony of Robert Barclay and Wil- 
 liam Penn. In his Apology for the principles and doctrines of the 
 people called Quakers, which we have always owned as a declaration 
 of our faith, Robert Barclay says, " In this respect above mentioned 
 then, we have shewn what service and use the Holy Scriptures, as 
 managed in and by the Spirit, are of to the church of God ; wherefore 
 we do account them a secondary rule. Moreover because they are 
 commonly acknowledged by all to have been written by the dictates 
 of the Holy Spirit, and that the errors which may be supposed by the 
 injury of times to have slipped in, are not such but that there is a suffi- 
 cient clear testimony left to all the essentials of the Christian faith ; we 
 do look upon them as the only fit outward judge of controversies among 
 Christians ; and that whatsoever doctrine is contrary unto their testimo- 
 ny, may therefore justly be rejected as false. And for our parts we are 
 very willing that all our doctrines and practices be tried by them ; 
 which we never refused, nor ever shall, in all controversies with our 
 adversaries, as the judge and test. We shall also be very willing to 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 admit it as a positive certain maxim, that whatsoever any do, pretend- 
 ing to the Spirit, which is contrary to the Scriptures, be accounted and 
 reckoned a delusion of the devil." p. 99. 
 
 William Penn, in his " Testimony to the Truth," after stating some 
 groundless charges made against Friends, respecting their belief in the 
 Holy Scriptures, says, " Whereas we in truth and sincerity believe 
 them to be of divine authority, given by the inspiration of God through 
 holy men, they speaking or writing them, as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost ; that they are a declaration of those things most surely 
 believed by the primitive Christians, and that as they contain the mind 
 and will of God, and are his commands to us, so they in that respect 
 are his declaratory word ; and therefore are obligatory on us, and are 
 profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righ- 
 teousness, that the man of God may be perfect, and thoroughly 
 furnished to every good work. Nay after all, so unjust is the charge 
 [preferring our own books, &c] and so remote from our belief con- 
 cerning the Holy Scriptures, that we both love, honour, and prefer 
 them, before all books in the world ; ever choosing to express our be- 
 lief of the Christian faith and doctrine, in the terms thereof, and reject- 
 ing all principles or doctrines whatsoever, that are repugnant there- 
 unto. Nevertheless we are well persuaded, that notwithstanding there 
 is such an excellency in the Holy Scriptures, as we have above declared, 
 yet the unstable, and unlearned in Christ's school, too often wrest 
 them to their own destruction. And upon our reflection on their 
 carnal constructions of them, we are made undervalues of Scripture 
 itself. But certain it is, that as the Lord hath been pleased to give us, 
 the experience of the fulfilling of them in measure, so it is altogether 
 contrary to our faith and practice, to put any manner of slight or 
 contempt upon them, much more of being guilty of what maliciously 
 is suggested against us ; since no society of professed Christians in 
 the world, can have a more reverent and honourable esteem for them 
 than we have. John iv. 24. xvi. 8. Rom. i. 19. Luke LI. 2. Tim. 
 iii. 16, 17. 2 Pet. iii. 16." Vol. II. p. 878. 
 
 The Separatists would appear to be great advocates for divine reve- 
 lation, at the same time they declare that the revelations made to the 
 Lord's prophets respecting the divine nature are not true. In refer- 
 ence to all such pretensions, William Penn says, " That we renounce 
 all fantastical, and whimsical intoxications, or any pretence to the reve- 
 lation of new matter in opposition to the ancient gospel, declared by 
 Christ Jesus and his apostles ; and therefore not the revelation of new 
 things, but the renewed revelation of the eternal way of truth. That 
 this revelation is the life, virtue, condition and very soul of the Gospel 
 and second covenant." Vol. II. p. 48. 
 
 In the same essay : " If ye are led by the spirit of God, then are ye 
 sons of God ; let this suffice to vindicate our sense of a true and un- 
 erring rule, which we assert, not in a way of derogation from those 
 Holy Writings, which with reverence we read, believe and desire al- 
 ways to obey the mind and will of God therein contained ; and let 
 
 THAT DOCTRINE EE ACCURSED THAT WOULD OVERTURN THEM." Ibid, 
 p. 62. 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 It must be evident to every candid mind, that the sentiments of the 
 Separatists which we have quoted from their own works, are at per- 
 fect variance with the doctrines of our early Friends respecting the 
 Holy Scriptures, however they may endeavour to make the impression 
 upon the public mind, that they are one in faith with them. 
 
 In the next place we shall shew that they deny the miraculous con- 
 ception of our Lord. 
 
 Elias Hicks says, ""Who was his father ? He was begotten of God. 
 We cannot suppose that it was the outward body of flesh and blood 
 thai was begotten of God, but a birth of the spiritual life in the soul. 
 We must apply it internally and spiritually. For nothing can be a Son 
 of God but that which is spirit, and nothing but the soul of man is a 
 recipient for the light and spirit of God. Therefore nothing can be a 
 Son of God but that which is immortal and invisible. Nothing visible 
 can be a Son of God. Every visible thing must come to an end, and 
 we must know the mortality of it. Flesh and blood cannot enter into 
 heaven. By the analogy of reason, spirit cannot beget a material 
 body, because the thing begotten, must be of the same nature with its 
 father. Spirit cannot beget any thing but spirit ; it cannot beget flesh 
 and blood. No my friends it is impossible." Philadelphia sermons, p. 10. 
 
 " Xow in his creed [the bishop of Rome] to which he made all the 
 nations of Europe bow by the dint of the sword, was this of the mirac- 
 ulous births therefore all children for several hundred years, were 
 brought up, and educated in this belief, without any examination in re- 
 gard to its correctness. Finding this to be the case, I examined the 
 accounts given on this subject by the four evangelists, and according 
 to my best judgment on the occasion, I was led to think there was con- 
 siderable more scripture evidence for his being the son of Joseph, than 
 otherwise," &c. Elias Hicks to T. Willis. 
 
 The Berean says, " The flesh was made, not begotten, for the Word 
 which is spiritual to appear in. A body hast thou prepared me. This 
 does not convey to my mind, the most distant idea of the body of 
 Christ being begotten of God." Vol. II. p. 27. 
 
 In these passages the miraculous conception of the body of Jesus 
 Christ, by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, is plainly denied ; as 
 such unworthy sentiments are contrary to the declaration of Holy 
 Scripture, we regard them as the "spurious" doctrines of infidelity or 
 unbelief. 
 
 The succeeding extracts from the public printed discourses of the 
 Separatists, clearly prove their denial of the divinity of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, his propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of mankind, and degrade 
 him to a level with his creature man, liable to be lost, and standing in 
 need of salvation as he does. 
 
 Elias Hicks says, " For he [Jesus Christ] had read the law and un- 
 derstood it, because he was faithful to the manifestation of light ; and 
 it was dispensed to him, in proportion to his necessity to understand 
 the law. For he had not more given him than would enable him to ful- 
 fil it, the same as the other Israelites; for if he had more, he could not 
 be an example to them." Wilmington sermon ; Quaker, vol. L pM93. 
 
 " We must turn our back upon them, and come home to the light 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 of God in us ; for it is the same spirit and life that was in Jesus Christ 
 the Son of God. We need not say that it is his spirit, but only that 
 it is the same spirit, a portion of which was in him ; because as rea- 
 sonable beings, we must always take things rationally." Ibid. p. 197. 
 
 " And what encouragement my friends we receive through this me- 
 dium, when we are brought by the light into a feeling of unity with 
 our great pattern, Jesus Christ, and with God our Creator, O see 
 how we come up into an equality with him." Darby, ibid. p. 13. 
 
 " And we derive a portion of the same [spirit] which is able to save 
 the soul if properly obeyed. Here now he was put upon a level " 
 &c. Ibid. p. 17. 
 
 "Here we find that the Son of God saw no alternative ; for if he 
 gave up his testimony in order to save his natural life, he could not be 
 saved with God's salvation : hence he surrendered to the divine will 
 rather than to lose his standing and favour with his Almighty Father : 
 and what a blessed example it was." Ibid. p. 16. 
 
 " He was tempted in all points as we are. Now how could he be 
 tempted, if he had been fixed in a state of perfection in which he could 
 not turn aside. Can you suppose as rational beings, that such a being 
 could be tempted ? No, not any more than God Almighty could be 
 tempted. Perfection is perfection, and cannot be tempted. It is im- 
 possible. Philadelphia sermons, p. 253. 
 
 It would follow from this argument that Elias Hicks does not be- 
 lieve that our blessed Lord was perfect. 
 
 " Every Christian must come up under the influence of the same 
 light that guided Jesus Christ — that Christ that was his saviour, and 
 preserver ; and that power which enabled him to do his work, will 
 enable us to come on in the same path. Quaker, vol. I. p. 44. 
 
 " I do'nt want to express a great many words, but I want you to be 
 called home to the substance. For the Scriptures and all the books in 
 the world can do no more. Jesus could do no more than to recom- 
 mend to this comforter, which was this light in him." Ibid. p. 40. 
 
 " He never directed to himself but all he wanted was to lead their 
 minds to the spirit of Truth, to the light within, and when he had done 
 this, he had done his office." Ibid. p. 47. 
 
 " If we believe that God is equal and righteous in all his ways, that 
 he has made of one blood all the families that dwell upon the earth, 
 it is impossible that he should be partial, and therefore he has been as 
 willing to reveal his will to every creature, as he was to our first pa- 
 rents, to Moses and the prophets, to Jesus Christ and his apostles. 
 He never can set any of these above us, because if he did he would 
 be partial." Philadelphia sermons, p. 292. 
 
 " From what Jesus himself said, he was not god." N. York ser- 
 mons, p. 96. 
 
 " He was only an outward Saviour, that healed their outward dis- 
 eases, and gave them strength of body to enjoy that outward good 
 land. This was a figure of the great Comforter, which he would pray 
 the Father to send them ; an inward one, that would heal all the dis- 
 eases of their souls, and cleanse them from all their inward pollutions, 
 that thing of God, that thing of eternal life. It was the soul that 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 wanted salvation, but this no outward Saviour could do. no external 
 Saviour could have any hand in it." Philadelphia sermons, p. 50. 
 
 " The apostle had allusion to that perfect righteousness which is 
 the immediate saviour in the soul, Christ within the hope of glory ; 
 but it was not that outward Jesus Christ that was the hope of glory." 
 Quaker, vol. I. p. 164. 
 
 " It [the light] is truly God in man ; for as he fills all things, he 
 cannot be located in any thing which is capable of being located, 
 because to suppose that all the f ulness of God was in Christ, is to 
 take him out of every other part of the world." Ibid. p. 166. 
 
 " Oh dearly beloved friends, young and old, may you gather deeper 
 and deeper to that which is within the veil, where we may have ac- 
 cess to our God without any mediator." Quaker, vol. II. p. 277. 
 
 The preceding selections have all been taken from the discourses 
 of Elias Hicks. 
 
 Edward Hicks, at the Green street meeting, says, " I ask then the 
 question, how did he [Jesus Christ] leave the bosom of his Father ? 
 Can we form no other idea than that of a corporeal being, leaving a 
 located place, somewhere above the clouds, and coming down to this 
 earth ? Is this the coming into the world that is meant ? I want us 
 to go deeper — to come to the spirituality of these things, and to re- 
 cognise a spiritual saviour, rather than an outward and corporeal one. 
 Because it is only a spiritual one that can save us from sin. That 
 animal body that appeared at Jerusalem, had its use and day, but the 
 spirit that was clothed upon by the fulness of divine power, this was 
 the Saviour — this is the Saviour to whom I look for salvation, and not 
 by any means to any thing outward or corporeal." Quaker, vol. II. 
 p. 151. 
 
 This declaration corresponds with others which we have quoted, 
 and is a virtual denial that Jesus Christ who appeared at Jerusalem, 
 is the Saviour of men. The term animal body, used to designate our 
 Lord, is irreverent, and unbecoming a creature dependent upon him 
 for salvation. 
 
 The Berean says, " We read that the Word was in the beginning 
 with God, and was God ; and respecting the Son we read, this day 
 have I begotten thee ; before this day then the Son could not have ex- 
 isted. How therefore is the Son from everlasting ?" Vol. I. p. 296. 
 
 " In what manner then, or by what means was he made more than 
 man ? I answer by the same means, and in the same manner, that 
 every other righteous undefiled man is raised above the mere human 
 character ; that is to say by the power and spirit of God the Father." 
 Vol. II. p. 258. 
 
 " Will it be presumed, that God whom the heaven of heavens can- 
 not contain, whose presence fills the whole universe, abode in his ful- 
 ness literally in the man Jesus ? Can it be supposed, that he of whom 
 it is declared, that he was limited in knowledge, power, and action, 
 possessed absolutely the spirit of God without measure ? I believe 
 not." Ibid. p. 259. 
 
 " He was but an instrument and servant of God, but more dignified 
 and glorious than any other that had ever appeared in the world." Ibid. 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 " The Christ then which it concerns us to have an interest in, is not 
 that outward manifestation which was limited in its operations to a 
 small province — a single nation, and to this day knoivn only by history 
 to a few," &c. Ibid. vol. II. p. 21. 
 
 " But the manifestation to us is inward, and they [primitive friends] 
 believe that it is the Christ within, and not the Christ without, on 
 which is founded their hope of glory." Vol. II. p. 84. 
 
 In his attack upon the " Doctrines of Friends," the Berean says, 
 " The doctrine therefore contained in the chapter under review, as- 
 cribing a proper divinity to Jesus Christ, making him f the foundation 
 of every Christian doctrine,'' asserting that ' the divine nature essentially 
 belonged to him,'' and constituting him a distinct* object of faith and 
 worship, is not only antiscriptural, but opposed to the simplest princi- 
 ples of reason ; and is in short among the darkest doctrines that 
 
 HAS EVER BEEN INTRODUCED INTO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH." Vol. 
 
 II. p. 259. 
 
 We are not left to conjecture the opinions of those who have sepa- 
 rated from us, respecting our Lord Jesus Christ, nor to draw our con- 
 clusions from a few isolated expressions ; their views upon the subject 
 are delivered in unequivocal terms, and are diffused through most of * 
 their discourses and writings. By the extracts we have made from 
 the discourses of Elias Hicks, and the doctrinal publications of the 
 Separatists, it is plain that they directly assert, That it is impossible for 
 spirit to beget a material body — that they cannot suppose that the body 
 of Jesus Christ was begotten of God — that before the day in which it 
 was declared, I have begotten thee, the Son of God could not have ex- 
 isted — that nothing visible can be a Son of God — that he had no more 
 light given him than would enable him to fulfil the law, the same as 
 the other Israelites — that he was but an instrument and servant of 
 God — that he was raised above the mere human character by the same 
 means, and in the same manner, that every other righteous man is — 
 that he was put upon a level with us — that God who is equal and 
 righteous in all his ways, never can set him above us, because if he 
 did he would be partial — that Christ was the Saviour of Jesus Christ 
 — that we need not say that it is his spirit, but only that it is the same 
 spirit, a portion of which was in him — that we come up into an equal- 
 ity with him — that Jesus could do no more than to recommend to the 
 Comforter — that when he had done this, he had done his office — that 
 he never directed to himself — that he was only an outward Saviour, a 
 figure of the Comforter — it was the soul that wanted salvation, but 
 this no outward Saviour could do, no external Saviour could have any 
 hand in it — that Jesus Christ was not the hope of glory — that it is not 
 that outward manifestation which it concerns us to have an interest in 
 — that to suppose that all the fulness of God was in Christ, is to take 
 hiin out of every other part of the world — that it is declared he was 
 limited in knowledge, power, and action — that they believe not that 
 he possessed the spirit of God without measure — that he was not God 
 
 * Note. — " The reader is requested to take notice that the word distinct is 
 not used by me in the case to which it is here, and in several other places, ap- 
 plied by the Berean." E. Bates's Reply. 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 — that we may have access to God without any mediator — and lastly, 
 that ascribing a proper divinity to Jesus Christ, making him the foun- 
 dation of every Christian doctrine, and asserting that the divine na- 
 ture esssentiaily belonged to him, is among the darkest doctrines that 
 have ever been introduced into the Christian church. 
 
 On the offering of our Lord upon the cross as a sacrifice for sin, 
 Elias Hicks remarks : " But I do not consider that the crucifixion of 
 the outward body of flesh and blood of Jesus on the cross, was an atone- 
 ment for any sins but the legal sins of the Jews," &c. — " Surely is it pos- 
 sible that any rational being that has any right sense of justice or mercy, 
 that would be willing to accept forgiveness of his sins on such terms !! 
 Would he not rather go forward and offer himself wholly up to suffer 
 all the penalties due to his crimes, rather than the innocent should 
 suffer i Nay — was he so hardy as to acknowledge a willingness to 
 be saved through such a medium, would it not prove that he stood in 
 direct opposition to every principle of justice and honesty, of mercy 
 and love, and show himself to be a poor selfish creature, and unwor- 
 thy of notice."!!! Elias Hick's letter to N. Shoemaker. 
 
 He further says : " Did Jesus Christ the Saviour ever have any ma- 
 terial blood ? Not a drop of it, my friends, not a drop of it. That blood 
 which cleanseth from all sin, was the life of the soul of Jesus." Qua- 
 ker, vol. I. p. 41. 
 
 " And there is nothing but a surrender of our own will, that can 
 make atonement for our sins."' Ibid. p. 196. 
 
 Nothing can atone for sin but that which induced us to sin.''' Vol. 
 II. p. 271. 
 
 " And what are we to do ? We are to give up this life [our will] 
 to suffer and die upon the cross ; for this is the atonement for all our 
 sins." Ibid. p. 272. 
 
 At the Green street meeting Edward Hicks says : " His work, he 
 [Jesus Christ] declared to be finished previous to his being crucified 
 in that outward body. Therefore what must we suppose will become 
 of the doctrine, so generally received in the Christian world, that one 
 of the main purposes of his mission, was for him to suffer in that out- 
 ward body without the gates of Jerusalem, as a propitiatory sacrifice 
 for the sins of the whole world ? Here is a difficulty : for he positively 
 declares that he had glorified his Father, and finished the work that the 
 Father had given him to do. Now it must follow as a rational and 
 clear conclusion, to every intelligent mind, that he must have told the 
 truth or an untruth. If he told the truth, then he had finished the 
 work which his heavenly Father had given him to do ; and if he told 
 an untruth, the work must have been yet to do. But I am not dis- 
 posed to believe this. I do believe in the truth of the emphatic testi- 
 mony of the Saviour himself, I have finished the work, and therefore 
 that his sufferings in the outward body, were never incorporated in the 
 original design of the blessed Saviour s coming into the world." Qua- 
 ker, vol. II. p. 162. 
 
 " But my friends, the inward suffering of the immortal soul is infi- 
 nitely superior to all outward sufferings. And if sin is atoned for in 
 our souls, it will require a sacrifice proportionable to that which is to 
 
 D 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 be benefitted by it. So that I apprehend, under this spiritual dispen- 
 sation and day of light, there must be a spiritual and inward sacrifice 
 for our sins.''' Ibid. p. 163. 
 
 The Berean says : " Whatever redemption therefore was efFected by 
 the outward flesh and blood of Christ, it could not in the nature of 
 things be any thing else than an outward redemption." Vol. II. p. 52. 
 
 " And have we not reason to hope that the day is not far distant when 
 the absurd and pernicious idea, that the imputed righteousness of ano- 
 ther, is the ground of our acceptance with God, will be found but in 
 the pages of the historian, when tracing the fruits of that lamented 
 apo'stacy which early overtook Christendom." Ibid. p. 333. 
 
 By these extracts we may perceive, that Elias Hicks and his adhe- 
 rents deny the propitiatory sacrifice of our blessed Saviour upon the 
 cross for the sins of the whole world, and consider that a willingness 
 to be saved through such a medium, is in direct opposition to every 
 principle of justice and honesty, of mercy and love, and betrays a poor 
 selfish disposition, unworthy of notice. They believe that his suffer- 
 ings in the outward body, were never incorporated in the original design 
 of his coming into the world — that whatever redemption was effected 
 by those sufferings, it was only an outward redemption, and confined 
 exclusively to the legal sins of the Jews ; and in their opinion the sa- 
 crifice of the will is the only atonement for all the sins now committed 
 — that nothing can atone for sin, but that which induced us to sin. 
 This doctrine, as it is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, so it is not, and 
 never was the faith of the Society of Friends. We believe that noth- 
 ing man can do, or suffer, will atone for, or cancel his sins. They 
 are remitted by the mercy of God, through Christ Jesus our Lord, 
 for the sake of the sufferings and death of Christ, and it is the power 
 and efficacy of that propitiatory offering, upon faith and repentance, 
 that justifies both Jews and Gentiles from the sins that are past ; and it 
 is the power of Christ's spirit in our hearts, that purifies and makes us 
 acceptable before God. " Being justified freely by his grace, through 
 the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ; whom God hath set forth to be 
 a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness 
 for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ; 
 to declare I say at this time his righteousness ; that he might be just 
 and the justifierof him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. iii. 24 to 26. 
 u But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet 
 sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then being now justified by 
 his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we 
 were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much 
 more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only 
 so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom 
 we have now received the atonement." Rom. v. 8 to 11. 
 
 Not only do the Separatists deny the universal efficacy of the offer- 
 ing of our Lord, and term the imputation of his righteousness as the 
 ground of our acceptance, a pernicious and absurd idea, but they ap- 
 pear to rejoice in the hope, that the doctrine will be discarded, as the 
 fruit of the apostacy from the Christian faith. Believing as we do, 
 that it is only a s we come to be divested of our own righteousness, and 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 of all confidence in it, and through divine mercy clothed upon with 
 the righteousness of Christ, that any can have a firm ground whereon 
 to rest their hope of salvation, we sincerely deplore the delusion of 
 those, who thus wantonly deprive themselves of that hope, which mak- 
 eth not ashamed, and entereth within the veil. 
 
 We think that every candid dispassionate enquirer after truth, who 
 sincerely believes the testimony of the Sacred Records, must be con- 
 vinced that many of the passages which we have quoted from the dis- 
 courses of Elias Hicks, and the periodical works of the Separatists, 
 inculcate doctrines of infidelity — that they do deny the divinity of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the universal efficacy of his most 
 satisfactory sacrifice for sin without the gates of Jerusalem, and also un- 
 dervalue and tend to destroy all confidence in the authority of the Holy 
 Scriptures. Such doctrines, we feel it an incumbent duty, to pro- 
 nounce to be unsound and antichristian, and contrary to the faith 
 which we have always held and promulgated to the world, ever since 
 we have been a people. 
 
 For we have always professed and sincerely believed, that our Lord 
 Jesus Christ was miraculously conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born 
 of the Virgin Mary — that God gave not the spirit by measure unto 
 him, but that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily, and 
 of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace — that he was 
 given for God's salvation to the ends of the earth, for Gentiles as well 
 as Jews, and that no man cometh unto the Father but by him — that 
 he was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, the prince of 
 this world having no part in him — that he wrought many mighty mira- 
 cles — that he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree, that we be- 
 ing dead to sin, might live unto righteousness — that he laid down his 
 life for the sheep, that he by the grace of God, should taste death for 
 every man ; and he is therefore the propitiation for our sins, and not 
 for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world — that he was buried 
 in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea, rose again from the dead the 
 third day, and his body saw no corruption — that he discovered himself 
 to his disciples for the space of forty days, ascended up on high, and 
 now sitteth at the right hand of God, our glorious Mediator, Interces- 
 sor, and Advocate with the Father. He is that living, eternal Word 
 that was in the beginning with God, and was Ged ; by him were all 
 things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and in- 
 visible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or 
 powers, all things were created by him and for him ; and he is before 
 all things, and by him all things consist. He is now come in spirit, 
 and by his divine light with which he enlightens every man that cometh 
 into the world, he manifests and reproves for sin, and as he is obeyed, 
 purifies the heart, and completes the work of sanctification and justifi- 
 cation ; and thus prepares the soul to receive that crown of everlast- 
 ing glory, which he will give to all them that love and serve him in 
 sincerity and truth. 
 
 This has been our religious belief from the rise of the Society to the 
 present day, in confirmation of which we shall adduce some testimo- 
 nies from the writings of Friends, given forth at different periods. 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 George Fox, in a paper which he wrote, says : " Christ took upon 
 him the seed of Abraham, he doth not say the corrupt seed of the Gen- 
 tiles; so according to the flesh, he was of the holy seed of Abraham 
 and David ; and his holy body and blood was an offering and a sacri- 
 fice for the sins of the whole world, as a lamb without blemish, whose 
 flesh saw no corruption. By the one offering of himself, in the new 
 testament or new covenant, he has put an end to all the offerings 
 and sacrifices amongst the Jews in the old testament. Christ the holy 
 Seed, was crucified, dead, and buried, according to the flesh, and 
 raised again the third day, and his flesh saw no corruption. Though 
 he was crucified in the flesh, yet quickened again by the Spirit, and is 
 alive and liveth forevermore, and hath all power in heaven and in 
 earth given to him, and reigneth over all, and is the one Mediator 
 between God and man, even the man Christ Jesus." Vol. II. p. 384. 
 
 In an essay entitled the royal Law of God revived, he also says, " And 
 further saith the apostle in 1 John i. 1, 2. 1 We have an advocate with 
 the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and he is the propitiation for 
 our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.' 
 Now mark, this is a large word for all people to take notice of, that 
 Jesus Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. There- 
 fore every one of you in your own particulars, know this, that Christ 
 Jesus who is crowned with glory and honour, did taste death for every 
 man ; mark, for every man ; and whosoever denies this doctrine is 
 
 AN ANTICHRIST ; AND PREACHES ANOTHER, IS A FALSE PREACHER AND 
 SEDUCER, AND BRINGS PEOPLE TO TROUBLE AND LOSS FROM THAT WHICH 
 IS RIGHT AND THEIR DUE, IN WHICH IS THEIR SATISFACTION. So these 
 
 are universal things to all mankind, whereby all mankind might come 
 out of the earthly old Adam, in the fall and transgression, to "Him that 
 hath died for them all, and purchased them all, and tasted death for all, 
 and enlighteneth them all, and gave his grace to them all ; and he 
 willeth that all might be saved, and come to the knowledge of the 
 truth of Christ, who doth this. And whoever teacheth another doc- 
 trine, brings people into sects and confusions, to destroy one another, 
 where they have not natural affections, and will do that to another, 
 which they would not have others do unto them, who break the bonds 
 thereby of civil commerce amongst mankind; and the religions, ways, 
 and worships of all such, are no worships, religions, nor ways to God, 
 but set up by a dark peevish spirit, by which they destroy one ano- 
 ther, which are God's creatures, about them : all which come from him 
 who is out of the truth, whom Christ came to destroy." p. 19. 
 
 In his answer to all such as falsely say, the Quakers are no Chris- 
 tians, he has this declaration : " We believe concerning God the Fa- 
 ther, Son and Spirit, according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, 
 which we receive and embrace as the most authentic and perfect de- 
 claration of Christian faith, being indited by the holy Spirit of God, 
 that never errs; 1st, that there is one God and Father, of whom are 
 all things ; 2ndly, that there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all 
 things were made, John i. and xvii. Rom. ix. who was glorified with 
 the Father before the world began, who is God over all, blessed for- 
 ever, John xiv. That there is one Holy Spirit, the promise of the 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 Father and the Son, and leader and sanctifier and comforter of his 
 people, 1 John v. And we further believe, as the Holy Scriptures 
 soundly and sufficiently express, that these three are one, even the 
 Father, the Word and Spirit." p. 27. 
 
 Robert Barclay, in his Apology, says : " For the infinite and most 
 wise God, who is the foundation, root and spring of all operation, hath 
 wrought all things by his eternal Word and Son. This is that Word 
 that was in the beginning with God and was God, by whom all things 
 were made, and without whom was not any thing made that was 
 made. This is that Jesus Christ, by whom God created all things, by 
 whom and for whom all things were created that are in heaven and in 
 earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or 
 principalities or powers, Col. i. 16, who therefore is called the First 
 born of every creature, ver. 15. As then that infinite and incompre- 
 hensible Fountain of life and motion operateth in the creatures by his 
 own eternal word and power, so no creature has access again unto 
 him, but in and by the Son, according to his own express words, no 
 man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will 
 reveal him, Matt. xi. 27. Luke x. 22. And again he himself saith, I 
 am the way, the truth and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father 
 but by me, John xiv. 6. Hence he is fitly called the Mediator betwixt 
 God and man : for having been with God from all eternity, eeixg him- 
 self god, and also in time partaking of the nature of man, through 
 him is the goodness and love of God conveyed to mankind, and by him 
 again man receiveth and partaketh of these mercies." Apology, p. 41. 
 
 William Penn, in " A serious apology for the principles and prac- 
 tices of the Quakers," has this concise confession of Faith : " We do 
 believe in one only Holy God Almighty, who is an eternal Spirit, the 
 Creator of all things. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, his only Son, 
 and express image of his substance ; who took upon him flesh and 
 was in the world, and in life, doctrine, miracles, death, resurrection, 
 ascension and mediation, perfectly did, and does continue to do, the 
 will of god ; to whose holy life, power, mediation, and blood, we only 
 ascribe our sanctification, justification, redemption, and perfect salva- 
 tion. And we believe in one holy Spirit, that proceeds and breathes 
 from the Father and the Son, as the life and virtue of both the Father and 
 the Son ; a measure of which is given to all to profit with ; and he that has 
 one has all, for those three are one, who is the Alpha and Omega, the 
 first and the last, God over all, blessed forever, amen." Vol. II. p. 66. 
 
 In his "Primitive Christianity revived," William Penn declares — 
 " We do believe that Jesus Christ was our holy sacrifice, atonement 
 and propitiation ; that he bore our iniquities, and that by his stripes we 
 were healed of the wounds Adam gave us in his fall ; and that God is 
 just in forgiving true penitents upon the credit of that holy offering 
 Christ made of himself to God for us ; and that what he did and suf- 
 fered, satisfied and pleased God, and was for the sake of fallen man, 
 that had displeased God : and that through the offering up of himself 
 once for all, through the Eternal Spirit, he hath forever perfected those 
 (in all times) that were sanctified, who walked not after the flesh but 
 after the Spirit. Rom. viii 1. Mark that." Vol. II. p. 867. 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 Richard Claridge on justification, says ; " In a word, if justification 
 be considered in its full and just latitude, neither Christ's work without 
 us, in the prepared body, nor his work within us, by his Holy Spirit, 
 are to be excluded ; for both have their place and service in our com- 
 plete and absolute justification. By the propitiatory sacrifice of 
 Christ without us, we, truly repenting and believing, are through the 
 mercy of God, justified from the imputations of sins and transgressions 
 that are past, as though they had never been committed ; and by the 
 mighty work of Christ within us, the power, nature, and habits of sin 
 are destroyed ; that as sin once reigned unto death, even so now grace 
 reigneth, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. And all this is effected, not by a bare or naked act of faith, 
 separate from obedience, but in the obedience of faith ; Christ being 
 the author of eternal salvation to none but those that obey him." p. 79. 
 
 The Society of Friends published a declaration of its faith in the year 
 1 693, from which we extract the following. " We sincerely profess faith 
 in God, by his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, as being our light and life, 
 our only way to the Father, and also our only Mediator, and Advocate 
 with the Father. That God created all things, he made the worlds, by his 
 Son Jesus Christ, he being that powerful and living Word of God, by 
 whom all things were made; and that the Father, the Word and Holy Spi- 
 rit are one, in divine being inseparable, one true, living and eternal God, 
 blessed forever. Yet that this Word, or Son of God, in the fulness of 
 time, took flesh, became perfect man, according to the flesh, descend- 
 ed and came of the seed of Abraham and David, but was miraculously 
 conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary ; and also 
 further declared powerfully to be the Son of God, according to the spi- 
 rit of sanctification by the resurrection from the dead." 
 
 " That in the Word, or Son of God, was life, and the same life was 
 the light of men ; and that he was that true light which enlightens 
 every man coming into the world ; and therefore that men are to be- 
 lieve in the light, that they may become the children of the light. 
 Hereby we believe in Christ the Son of God, as he is the light and 
 life within us ; and wherein we must needs have sincere respect, and 
 honour to, and belief in, Christ, as in his own unapproachable and in- 
 comprehensible glory and fulness, as he is the fountain of life and 
 light and giver thereof unto us ; Christ as in himself, and as in us be- 
 ing not divided." 
 
 " That as man, Christ died for our sins, rose again and was receiv- 
 ed up into glory in the heavens ; he having in his dying for all, been 
 that one great, universal offering and sacrifice for peace, atonement, 
 and reconciliation between God and man, and he is the propitiation, 
 not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. We were 
 reconciled by his death, but saved by his life." 
 
 " That Jesus Christ who sitteth at the right hand of the throne of 
 the Majesty in the heavens, yet he is our king, high priest and pro- 
 phet in his church, a minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true 
 tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. He is inter- 
 cessor and advocate with the Father in heaven, and there appearing 
 in the presence of God for us, being touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities, sufferings and sorrows. And also by his spirit in our 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 hearts, he maketh intercession according to the will of God, crying 
 Abba, Father." 
 
 " That the gospel of the grace of God should be preached in the 
 name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, being one in power, wis- 
 dom and goodness, and indivisible, or not to be divided in the great 
 work of man's salvation." 
 
 " We sincerely confess and believe in Jesus Christ, both as he is 
 true God, and perfect man ; and that he is the author of our living 
 faith in the power and goodness of God, as manifested in his son Je- 
 sus Christ, and by his own blessed spirit or divine unction revealed in 
 us, whereby we inwardly feel and taste of his goodness, life and vir- 
 tue ; so as our souls live and prosper by and in him ; and the inward 
 sense of this divine power of Christ, and faith in the same, and this 
 inward experience, is absolutely necessary to make a true, sincere, and 
 perfect Christian in spirit and life." 
 
 " That divine honour and worship is due to the Son of God ; and 
 that he is in true faith to be prayed unto, and the name of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, called upon, as the primitive Christians did, because of 
 the glorious union or oneness of the Father and the Son ; and that we 
 cannot acceptably offer up prayers and praises to God, nor receive 
 a gracious answer, or blessing from God, but in and through his dear 
 Son Christ." See Sewell's History, vol. II. p. 499. 
 
 Besides the palpable errors we have enumerated, Elias Hicks and 
 his adherents deny that mankind sustain any loss through the fall of 
 Adam,* asserting that children come into the world precisely in the 
 condition he did.*They also deny the existence of any evil spirit by 
 which man is tempted, distinct from his own propensities.! "Heaven" 
 they say, "is a state, and not a place by any means. "J "Belief," 
 with them, ".is no virtue, and unbelief no crime: "j| and however at 
 times they may make high pretensions to the divine light, it is evident 
 that the guide which they follow is their own benighted reason. 
 
 Elias Hicks says ; " In those things which relate to our moral con- 
 duct, we all have understandings alike, as reasonable beings ; and we 
 know when we do wrong to our fellow creatures ; we know it by our 
 rational understanding — we want xo other inspiration than rea- 
 sox and justice." Again : " If we transgress against God or even 
 against our fellow creatures, the act hath its adequate reward, and it 
 will make us sorry for what we have done — that is we shall be losers 
 by it and gain nothing, for no man shall gain by doing evil." "He 
 [the Almighty] has set good and evil before us, and left us to elect 
 for ourselves." Quaker, vol. II. p. 258. 9. 
 
 As regards morality, they want no other revelation than reason and 
 justice, and when we transgress against God, the act will make us 
 sorry for what we have done, that is we shall be losers and gain noth- 
 ing. While they speak much of the necessity of divine revelation, 
 reason is held up as the "balancing and comparing principle," by 
 which we are to test those revelations, and decide whether they are 
 "imprudent," or " counterfeit. "II A simple and child-like reliance 
 
 * See Quaker 1 vol. p. 183. and Phil. Ser. p. 66. i Phil. Ser. p. 163. 166. 257.258. 
 X New York Ser. p. 93. || Quaker 1 vol. 146. 1T N. Y. and Phil. Ser. p. 90. 13. 208. 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 upon that faith which is of the operation of the Holy Spirit of God 
 is thus disregarded, and the proud reason of man exalted into the seat 
 of judgment. We need not therefore be surprised at the unsound 
 opinions which they entertain, the contemptuous manner in which 
 they treat the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, contained in the scrip- 
 tures of Truth, and the very irreverent and unworthy sentiments re- 
 specting the blessed Saviour and Redeemer of men, with which their 
 discourses and writings abound, as if it were a chief object, to decry 
 the Holy Scriptures, and to degrade the Lord of life and glory. 
 
 The contrast between the Christian principles of our religious Soci- 
 ety, and those held by the Separatists, w T ho have adopted the anti- 
 scriptural sentiments of Elias Hicks, must be strikingly obvious to ev- 
 ery unprejudiced mind. The sorrowful effects of these principles in 
 deranging the order and subordination necessary to the well-being of 
 our religious Society, the disunity and discord produced by them in 
 meetings and in families, have been very fully developed in the last 
 five years, not only within the limits of this Yearly meeting, but also 
 in many other parts. We believe it right to bear our decided testi- 
 mony against such principles, as tending to destroy all faith in the fun- 
 damental doctrines of the Christian religion, and to break asunder the 
 bands of civil and religious society. And we further declare, that as 
 such who entertain and propagate them, have departed from the teach- 
 ings of the Holy Spirit, which would have preserved them in the doc- 
 trines of Christ Jesus and his apostles, we cannot unite with them in 
 church fellowship, nor own them to be of our communion ; neither can 
 we correspond with any meetings or associations, holding those prin- 
 ciples, and set up in violation of the excellent order, which has been 
 instituted among us in the unfoldings of Divine wisdom. While we 
 believe it to be a religious duty, thus to stand forth in the defence of 
 the gospel of Christ, against the spirit and principles of libertinism and 
 infidelity, we have no doubt, that many who have joined in the present 
 schism, have been led into it, by the influence of misrepresentation 
 and unfounded prejudice against their brethren, and without a full 
 knowledge of the principles of their leaders. For such as these, we 
 feel deep regret and tender solicitude : and it is our fervent desire for 
 them, and for all others who have departed from the right way of the 
 Lord, that he may be pleased to renew the visitations of his love and 
 light to their souls, and in his own time, gather them to the fold of 
 Christ's sheep, where they may go in and out, and find pasture. 
 
 In contemplating the merciful extension of divine help with which 
 Friends have been favoured from time to time, enabling them to endure 
 many close conflicts, and to stand fast in the support of our Christian 
 principles and discipline, we desire to commemorate the Lord's good- 
 ness, and to place our confidence in him alone, firmly believing, that as 
 this becomes the living concern of the members of our religious Socie- 
 ty generally, he will more and more exalt and glorify the name of his 
 beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in and amongst us ; 
 to whom with the Father be ascribed all honour and praise now and 
 forever. Amen. 
 
 Signed by direction and on behalf of the Yearly Meeting. 
 
 SAMUEL BETTLE, Clerk.