. 2 7 
252 Lenets of £26 
bank that obftruSted its: juft and natural 
courte. The confummation of  thefe 
great events is too recent and notorious 
to demand farther illuftration; their beft 
commentary is the happinefs and freedom 
which we enjoy at this day. 
The  fubjeét propofed is, therefore, 
rought ‘to its conclufion; but it is a 
fabject too dear and important to be con- 
eluded without a reflection that arifés 
‘very itro: nely cut of it 
AO TE he Enelifh eon ilitution will pr obably 
never more be attacked in front, or its 
diffolution attempted, by ftriking at the 
authority of the laws; and, if fuch attack 
fhould ever be made, their foundations 
are too deeply laid, and their fuperftruc- 
ture too firmly cement to dread the 
-event of the conteft: but the conftitution 
is not therefore t:mmortal, and the centi- 
nel muift not fleep: the ae the 
ls zws themielves may be turned again the 
irit which gave “them bii th; and the 
Englith government may be diffolved 
with all the legal folemnities: which its 
outward form preferibes for its preferva- 
tion. ‘This mode of attack is’ the more 
probable, as it affords refpect and fafety 
tothe befiegers, and infinitely more dan- 
Serons te the people, as the confciences 
or good men are eninared by it: the vir- 
tucus citizen, looking up with confidence 
to the banners of author: ity, may believe 
he is defending the confitution and th 
taws, while he is trampling down every 
principle of ‘juftice, on which both of 
them are founded. It is impoffible,there- 
oe to conclude, without expreffing a 
gervent wifh, that every member ‘of the 
tom meaty (at the fame time that he bews 
with reverence to the fupremacy of the 
ftate and the majefty of the laws) may 
2 his eyes for ever fixed on the fpirit 
of the confitution, manifefted by the 
revolution, as the pole-ftar of his political 
ecurfe; that while he pays the tribute of 
duty. and obedience to government, he 
may know when-the reciprocal dut ty is 
paid, back to the public and to himfelr. 
This concluding with is, I truft, not 
mifplaced when (aes thefe 
oS walls; the fciences ever 
fourifh in the train of liberty, the zoul of 
a flave could never have expanded itfelf 
like Newton’s over infinite fpace, and 
_ fighed_in captivity at the remoteft bar- 
riers of creation: in no other country 
under heaven, could Locke have unfolded 
with dignity the operations of an immor- 
tal foul, or recorded with truth the 
duties and privileges of fociety. - 
Duakers explained. 
To the Editor of the Moxthly Magazines 
SIR, 
T  behoves every one, who indepen 
{ to declare to the worid the religious 
faith and opinions of any fet of Chriftian 
profeflors, to qualify himfelf fo far as to 
obtain a correct knowledge ef the fub- 
ject, left he inadvertantly infil thofe er- 
rors into the minds of his readers, which 
he may have imbibed. It was, no doubt, 
from negligence, that David Hume, in 
his ‘* Moral and Political Effays,” las 
communicated fo grofs an error refpecting 
the Quakers. In his 12th Effay on Su- 
perftition and Enthufiafm, p. 111, he 
has the following paffage, “‘ The Quakers © 
are, perhaps, the only regular body of 
Deifts in the univerie, except the Lite- 
rati, and th e difciples of Confulcius, in’ 
China.” Guthri ie, in his * Geographical 
Grammar,” is far from giving a juft 
ftatement of their religious says a had 
either of thei writers taken the pains to 
cenfult the produétions of Wiiliam Penn, 
the Apology or Barclay, or fome other 
authors among this refpectable body of 
Chriftians, they might have efcaped’ the 
cenfare which they have incurred, in not 
fearching fer information on thefé points 
from thofe refources where it was moft. 
likely to he obtained. 
Now, Mr. Editor, [take the liberty of 
conveying, through the medium of your 
“ufeful’ Mifcellany (and that in-a fum- 
mary way), a true itatement of the reli 
gicus principles of this focietyy fo much 
mifreprefented, or fo little underitood. out 
of their own pale: 
They believe in one eternal God, and 
in Jefus Chrift his Son, the Mefliah, and 
Mediator of the New Covenant; they ac- 
knowledge the divinity of Chrift, who is 
the wifdom and power of God unto fal- 
vation. ‘To Chrift alone they give the 
title of the Word of Ged, and not to the 
Scriptures ; they reverence the excellent 
precepts of the Gofpel, and believe, that 
to enable mankind to put in praétice thefe 
facred precepts, every: man is endued 
with a meaiure ot the light, «graces or 
good fpirit of Chrif, by which=he is 
enabled. to diftinguith. good. from. evil, 
and to correét the difor derly paffions ‘and 
corrupt propeniities of his nature, which 
mere reejon is infufficient to. eyercome. 
They believe, that the influence. of the 
Spirit of Chrift is ‘neceflary to. enable 
themi= acceptably, to worfhip, the. Father 
of light, and of {pirits, in {pirit. and in 
truth ; and are of opinion, that.to wait 
in filence is moft favourable to their 
having 
