distress I cried unto the Lord: he heard my cry; he brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. Common gratitude would induce me to acknowledge this, and when every added year only serves to confirm my view of the nature of the danger in which I was placed, how can I withhold the voice of warning, that others also may be excited to cry out to the same merciful Father for help, in the name and for the sake of that gracious Saviour who gave himself for us. CHAPTER I. IS THERE GROUND FOR A BELIEF IN AN BEFORE bringing forward quotations from the writings of Friends to substantiate the positions I have laid down in my Letter, let me just examine the very first extract which is given in the appendix to the "Letter" to which I am replying; and it may then be seen whether the extract is really calculated to answer the purpose for which we must conclude it has been brought forward-that of proving the soundness of the principles of Friends: and we must suppose that, for this end, the best passages that could readily be found would be selected. Alas! for every line that has an evangelical cast in Friends' writings, I question whether a page might not be found deplorably at variance with the genuine doctrines of the gospel. And the scarcity of good paragraphs may be argued by the fact, that, in very numerous intances, the same things in different publica tions are to be found prominently put forth; for instance, the address of George Fox and some others to the Governor of Barbadoes has of late so often caught my eye, that one may almost predict, if the scriptural nature of Friends' views is to be argued, some extracts from that document will make a conspicuous figure. Accordingly, we find it taking the second place in the appendix to the "Letter." (P. 32.) But it will be needless to examine more than the first of the "doctrinal extracts;" because the same remarks must apply to all, for the grievance lies at the root. I may, however, occasionally notice some of them. On referring to page 156 of George Fox's Journal, we find the passage from which Extract 1.* is taken begins as follows: "From Worcester we went to Tewkesbury, where in the evening we had a great meeting, to which came the priest of the town with a great rabble of people. *This extract is as follows: "1. I turned the people to the Divine Light, which Christ, the heavenly and spiritual man, enlighteneth them withal; that with that light they might see their sins, and that they were in death and darkness, and without God in the world; and might also see Christ, from whom it cometh, their Saviour and Redeemer, who shed his blood, and died for them; who is the way to God, the truth and the life." The priest boasted that he would see whether he or I should have the victory." Now from this it may be inferred, that not only the people were extremely ignorant, but that the priest too was, unhappily, little qualified to teach them. On what principle, then, could George Fox "turn " these "people to the Divine Light which Christ, the heavenly and spiritual man, enlighteneth them withal?" Because it appears from his own account that "they were in death and darkness, and without God in the world." Was it then sufficient to attempt to "turn" such people to a Divine light in themselves? What evidence was there that persons in death and darkness, and without God in the world, had a Divine light to turn to? If it be said, that George Fox made use of the name of Christ, and spoke of him as their Saviour and Redeemer, who shed his blood and died for them, we must ask, was it a scriptural way of setting him forth, to speak of him as the heavenly and spiritual man, who was already enlightening them, although they were, it seems, in darkness, and without God in the world? If these ignorant people could catch any idea at all from such kind of declamation, one must suppose it would be, that every thing necessary for their salvation was to be found within themselves. This, then, was not in reality directing them to Christ, because Christ is not within those who are in death and darkness, and are without God in the world. Christ dwelleth in the hearts of believers by faith; but certainly the Holy Scriptures give no countenance whatever to the notion, that either Christ or the Holy Spirit dwells in the dark, unregenerate heart of man. Let us examine some scriptural authorities on the subject. In the 17th verse of the 14th chapter of John, we find that our Lord Jesus Christ declared to his disciples, concerning the Spirit of truth, or the Holy Spirit, that the world could not receive him, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. If the objection be raised which, if I am not mistaken, I have somewhere met with, that the world spoken of in the text means those who had rejected and cast out the light which had been in them, it is very plain that if this were granted, (which no enlightened Christian could, I think, take for granted,) the case we are considering is not at all helped by it, because these people are said to be in death and darkness, and without |