BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Price 3s., CHRISTIAN BAPTISM "A careful review, or rather digest, of the subject, in all its Scripture bearings, written with great moderation and great candour; and evidently with the one only desire, to arrive at and set forth the truth."The Friend "It is distinguished by force of argument, logical acumen, and lucid illustration."-The British Friend. "Gives evidence of great thought and deliberation, as well as of extensive biblical erudition."-North British Daily Mail. EDINBURGH PATON & RITCHIE, 81 PRINCES STREET. : Price 1s., THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH; OR, REST IN JESUS. "We hasten to commend this little treatise on The Sabbath' to the attentive perusal of our readers, as one that should be in the hands of all our members, and to which those, whose circumstances will admit, would do well to give the widest circulation in their power."-The British Friend. LONDON: TRBÜNER & Co., 60 PATERNOSTER Row. THE DECLINE OF QUAKERISM: AN ENQUIRY INTO THE CAUSES WHICH HAVE LED TO THE PRESENT MORAL OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. BY ROBERT MACNAIR, M.A., 66 AUTHOR OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM SPIRITUAL, NOT RITUAL." "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."-1 THESS. v. 21. LONDON: ALFRED W. BENNETT, 5 BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT. MDCCCLX. 110.d. 192. PREFACE. In the month of April 1858, I observed an advertisement in the News of the Churches, and also in The Friend, offering a prize of One Hundred Guineas for the best, and one of Fifty Guineas for the second best, Essay on the causes which have led to the decline, in numbers and influence, of the Society of Friends in Great Britain. The essays were required to be given in by the 1st October of the same year, the adjudicators being the Rev. F. D. Maurice, Lincoln's Inn, Rev. E. S. Pryce, Gravesend, and (the late) Professor J. P. Nicholl, Glasgow. The following was one of a large number of essays written in answer to this advertisement. The decision of the adjudicators was announced in August 1859, and the successful essays were published two or three months later. * The circumstance that the adjudicators recommended the publication of some of the unsuccessful essays as well, and the fact that a note from one of their number which accompanied this essay on its being returned to the author, characterised it as 66 one of the ablest" of these, might have been deemed warrant sufficient for laying it before the public at an earlier date. But I was unwilling to take any * QUAKERISM, PAST AND PRESENT: Being an Enquiry into the Causes of its Decline in Great Britain and Ireland. By J. S. ROWNTREE. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. THE PECULIUM: An Endeavour to throw Light on some of the Causes of the Decline of the Society of Friends, especially in regard to its original claim of being the peculiar people of God. By THOMAS HANCOCK. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. |