the darkness of pagan superstition. These opinions 

 would seem to oe somewhat freer than those ex- 

 pressed in the General Epistle of the Society pub- 

 lished in 1836, wherein they refuse to acknowledge 

 ' any principle of spiritual light, life, or holiness 

 inherent by nature in the mind of man,' and again 

 assert that they ' believe in no principle whatso- 

 ever of spiritual light, life, or holiness, except the 

 influence of the Holy Spirit of God bestowed oYi 

 mankind in various measures and degrees through 

 Jesus Christ our Lord.' But, on the other hand, in 

 a little treatise published by the Society in 1861 it 

 is affirmed that ' the Holy Spirit has always been 

 afforded in various measures to mankind ; ' while 

 stress is also laid on the statement of St Paul, 

 that 'the grace of God (understood by Friends to 

 signify the ' operation of the Divine Spirit ' ) that 

 bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.' 

 And another exponent of their views, Mr T. Evans, 

 of Philadelphia, states that 'God hath granted 

 to all men, of whatsoever nation or country, a day 

 or time of visitation, during which it is possible 

 for them to partake of the benefits of Christ's 

 death, and be saved. For this end he hath com- 

 municated to every man a measure of the light of 

 his own Son, a measure of grace or the Holy Spirit, 

 by which he invites, calls, exhorts, and strives 

 with every man, in order to save him ; which light or 

 grace, as it is received, and not resisted, works the 

 salvation of all, even of those who are ignorant of 

 Adam's fall, and of the death and sufferings of 

 Christ, both by bringing them to a sense of their 

 own misery, and to be sharers in the sufferings of 

 Christ inwardly, and by making them partakers 

 of his resurrection, in becoming holy, pure, and 

 righteous, and recovered out of their sins.' Hence 

 it may be safely asserted that they hold a broader 

 ( or, as others would say, a more latitudinarian ) view 

 of the Spirit's working than any other Christian 

 church or society. In America, about the year 

 1827, Elias Hicks, a Friend of very remarkable 

 powers, created a schism in the Society, by the 

 promulgation of opinions denying the miraculous 

 conception, divinity, and atonement of Christ, and 

 also the authenticity and divine authority of the 

 Holy Scriptures. About one-half of the Society in 

 America adopted the views of Hicks, and are known 

 as Hicksite Friends ; their opinions, of course, are 

 repudiated by the rest of the Society, who may 

 be described as Orthodox Friends. The Hicksite 

 schism thoroughly alarmed the latter, both in 

 England and America, and a movement was begun 

 in favour of education, of a doctrinal belief more 

 nearly allied to that of the so-called ' Evangelical ' 

 party, and of a relaxation in the formality and 

 discipline of the Society. The leader of this move- 

 ment was Joseph John Gurney, of Norwich. This 

 new tendency, however, excited considerable oppo- 

 sition among some of the Friends in America ; and 

 the consequence was a division among the Orthodox 

 Friends themselves, and the formation of a new 

 sect, called ' Wilburites,' after the name of their 

 founder, -John Wilbur, who are noted for the strict- 

 ness with which they maintain the traditions and 

 peculiarities of the Society. Some slight indica- 

 tions of theological differences have manifested 

 themselves in England also. 



(2) Practice. It is in the application of their lead- 

 ing doctrine of the ' internal light ' that the peculi- 

 arities of the Friends are most apparent. Believing 

 that it is the Holy Spirit, or the indwelling Christ, 

 that alone maketh wise unto salvation, illumining 

 the mind with true and spiritual knowledge of the 

 deep things of God, they do not consider 'human 

 learning ' essential to a minister of the gospel, and 

 look with distrust on the method adopted by other 

 churches for obtaining such viz. by formally train- 

 ing after a human fashion a body of youths chosen 



on no principle of inward fitness. They believe 

 that the call to this work now, as of old, is ' not of 

 men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God 

 the Father,' and that it is "bestowed irrespectively 

 of rank, talent, learning, or sex. Consequently, 

 they have no theological halls, professors of divinity, 

 or classes for 'students.' Further, as fitness for 

 the ministry is held to be a free gift of God through 

 the Holy Spirit, so, they argue, it ought to be freely 

 bestowed, in support of which they adduce the 

 precept of the Saviour ' Freely ye have received, 

 freely give ; ' hence those who minister among 

 them are not paid for their labour of love, but, on 

 the other hand, whenever such are engaged from 

 home in the work of the gospel, they are, in the 

 spirit of Christian love, freely entertained, and 

 have all their wants supplied : in short, the Friends 

 maintain the absolutely voluntary character of re- 

 ligious obligations, and that Christians should do 

 all for love, and nothing for money. It also follows 

 from their view of a call to the work of the ministry 

 that women may exhort as well as men, for the 

 ' spirit of Christ ' may move them as powerfully as 

 the other sex. The prophecy of Joel as applied by 

 Peter is cited as authority for the preaching of 

 women : ' On my servants and on my handmaidens 

 I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they 

 shall prophesy.' They also adduce the New Testa- 

 ment examples of Tryphsena, Tryphosa, the be- 

 loved Persis, and other women who appear to have 

 laboured in the gospel. Their mode of conducting 

 public worship likewise illustrates the entireness of 

 their dependence on the 'internal light.' In other 

 religious bodies the minister has a set form of 

 worship, through which he must go, whether he 

 feels devoutly disposed or not. This seems objec- 

 tionable to the Friends, who meet and remain in 

 silence until they believe themselves moved to speak 

 by the Holy Ghost. Their prayers and praises are, 

 for the most part, silent and inward. They prefer 

 to make melody in their hearts unto God, consider- 

 ing such to be more spiritual than the outward 

 service of the voice. 



The doctrine of the ' internal light ' has also led 

 the Friends to reject the ordinances of Baptism and 

 the Lord's Supper as these are observed by other 

 Christians. They believe the Christian baptism to 

 be a spiritual one, and not, like the Jewish and 

 heathen baptisms, one with water ; in support of 

 whicli they quote, among other passages, the words 

 of John the Baptist himself : ' I baptise you with 

 water, but there cometh one after me who shall 

 baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with lire.' 

 Similarly do they regard the rite of the Eucharist. 

 It is, say they, inward and spiritual, and consists 

 not in any symbolic breaking of bread and drinking 

 of wine, but in that daily communion with Christ 

 through the Holy Spirit, and through the obedience 

 of faith, by which the believer is nourished and 

 strengthened. They believe that the last words of 

 the dying Redeemer on the cross, ' It is finished,' 

 announced the entire abolition of symbolic rites, 

 that, under the new spiritual dispensation then 

 introduced, the necessity for such, as a means of 

 arriving at truth, ceased, and that their place has 

 been abundantly supplied by the Comforter, the 

 Holy Ghost, whose office it now is to lead and guide 

 men into all truth. The true Christian supper, 

 according to them, is set forth in revelation 

 ' Behold I stand at the door and knock : if any man 

 hear my voice and open the door, I will come in 

 unto him, and will sup with him and he with me.' 

 For the same reason viz. that the teaching of the 

 Spirit is inward and spiritual the Friends ignore 

 the religious observance of days and times, with 

 the exception of the Sabbath. 



The taking or administering of oaths is regarded 

 by Friends as inconsistent with the command of 



