272 DAVID BARCLAY CHAP. 



grandson of the Apologist regarded as the essence of 

 Quakerism. 



As the duty we all owe to the Supreme Being should ever 

 be esteemed our principal and most essential object, I would 

 have that first in remembrance. And here it may be necessary 

 to remark on the profession I have been educated in, which is 

 now the religion of my judgment ; not that I mean to reflect 

 on any other Society, or is an attempt to make converts my 

 motive. Our religion is neither confined to person, time nor 

 place ; our belief is, that every one born into the world has a 

 Monitor in his own mind, which you may term, either a 

 manifestation of the Spirit of God, or the Light of Christ in 

 our own Consciences, or that Grace and Truth, which is so 

 often repeated in the Scriptures ; which Monitor, if fervently 

 sought after and attended to, will point out to every individual, 

 every duty, spiritual and temporal. The former duty respects 

 the worship of God, in its own spiritual nature, as enforced by 

 Scripture ; and this leads us to believe silent worship accept- 

 able to the Creator. The latter we comprise in the following : 



Doing to others as we would be done by, 

 Loving our neighbour as ourselves, 

 Returning good for evil, 

 And taking up a daily Cross. 



The first may be easily attained, but the others are so difficult 

 to accomplish that they must not be esteemed the test of 

 every Quaker. 



It is from these sources arises the whole system of the 

 Friends' religion. And altho' universal charity leads me to 

 be persuaded, that numbers who think it right to steer other 

 courses will meet at last in the same haven of rest ; yet 

 as I think this path most agreeable to Scripture and Reason, 

 I am anxious for my children to pursue it in preference to 

 any other ; for altho' I am far from being zealous about 

 many externals, in which some amongst us think it their 

 duty to dissent from the world, I have it not less at heart 

 that the principles of our religion should be implanted in the 

 minds of my daughters. I expect you to encourage the careful 

 perusal of the Scriptures, which my daughters have been 

 deeply engaged in from infancy, and by example from their 

 dear Mamma, it is now become their daily pleasure, as it was 

 hers : especially those parts of Scripture which contain the 

 most clear and determinate rules for a Christian life. Further 



