LETTERS TO A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. BY A CLERGYMAN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. No. I. ON THE PRINCIPLES OF QUAKERISM, AND THEIR CONNECTION WITH THOSE PROFESSED BY OTHER SECTS AND BY THE CHURCH, LONDON: W. DARTON AND SON, HOLBORN HILL. ERRATA. Page 5, line 12.-For learning read leaving. 36, 7 lines from the bottom.-Read, So I believe it is needful for, &c. 63, line 4.-For its read their. ADVERTISEMENT. AS THESE Letters may fall into the hands of persons who are not members of the Society to which they directly refer, it may be necessary to mention, that a sect has for some time existed in America, which maintains the doctrines of the early Quakers, respecting the Indwelling Word, and the Universal Saving Light and denies the doctrines of the Atonement and of the Trinity, in the sense in which they are generally received among Christians. These persons, called Hicksites, are disowned by the Quaker body. Nevertheless a considerable number of the English Quakers affirm that the Society is not sufficiently explicit in its acknowledgment of what they consider the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, especially that of Justification by Faith, or in its belief in the supremacy of Scripture over all spiritual communications and revelations. They contend that the Hicksites had good grounds for claiming the early Quakers as supporters of their tenets. They plainly signify their intention of renouncing fellowship with the Society, unless it formally disclaim those passages in the writings of their teachers which are capable of this interpretation.* The Society is now nearly divided into those who hold these opinions-those who assert Quakerism to be the highest and purest Christianity, because it maintains spiritual life and teaching against forms, doctrines, and and the mere letter of Scripture-and those who wish * A few of this class have already ceased to be Quakers. to keep the Society together, by combining the views of the early Quakers, somewhat explained and modified, with those which are so strongly asserted by the discontented members. The reader may suppose that these letters are addressed to a person who has adopted the views of any one of these parties, or is hesitating to which he should belong, or is equally dissatisfied with all. The following list of books will give some notion of the activity with which this controversy has been carried on : The Beacon, by Isaac Crewdson. The Beacon Controversy between the Society of Friends and A Lamp for the Beacon. Holy Scripture the Test of Truth, by Richard Ball. The Truth Vindicated. Strictures on the Truth Vindicated, by J. J. Gurney. A Letter by John Wilkinson, on his resigning his Membership A Letter to John Wilkinson, by the Author of the Truth A Letter to John Wilkinson, by Samuel Tuke. Defence, &c., in Reply to the Beacon, by Dr. Hancock. A Remonstrance to the Society of Friends, by B. Newton. Address on the Subject of Christian Baptism, by Elisha Bates. Sermons, by Elisha Bates. The Repository, a Periodical Publication, by Elisha Bates. Report of the Proceedings of the Yearly Meeting, 1835. Ditto Ditto 1836. The Doctrine of the Inward Light considered, by J. E. Howard. Three Essays, by William Boulton. Declarations by the Yearly Meetings of America. Letters, by Philo and others, in the Christian Advocate and Philo answered, by the Author of the Truth Vindicated. Extracts from the Writings of the Early Friends, Published in Numbers,&c. &c. LETTERS TO A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. No. I. MY DEAR FRIEND, If the books and pamphlets which you so kindly forwarded to me had been all written by members of your Society, I should not have offered a word of comment upon the subjects discussed in them. As a private Christian, and as a student of ecclesiastical history, I must have been deeply interested in the controversy; but I should have feared to take part in it, lest I might excite your alarm, and render your own inquiries less manly and less effectual. But I find that I should not be the first intruder. The Christian Observer and Eclectic Review have volunteered their advice and encouragement to your disaffected members. Dr. Wardlaw of Glasgow, and Mr. Newton of Plymouth, have made a formal attempt to detach them from your communion. If I had agreed with them, I would have left you in their hands. B |