Innocency with her Open Face, in which he says:"As for my being a Socinian, I must confess I have read of one Socinus, of (what they call) a noble family in Sene, Italy, who about the year 1574, being a young man, voluntarily did abandon the glories, pleasures, and honours of the Great Duke of Tuscany's court at Florence, that noted place for all worldly delicacies, and became a perpetual exile for his conscience, whose parts, wisdom, gravity, and just behaviour, made him the most famous with the Polonian and Transylvanian churches; but I was never baptized into his name, and therefore deny that reproachful epithet; and if in any thing I acknowledge the verity of his doctrine, it is for the truth's sake, of which, in many things, he had a clearer prospect than most of his contemporaries: but not therefore a Socinian any more than a son of the English church, whilst esteemed a Quaker, because I justify many of her principles since the Reformation against the Roman church." But we will add another paragraph, where Mr. Penn's principles are epitomised. "And to shut up my apology for religious matters, that all may see the simplicity, scripture doctrine, and phrase of my faith, in the most important matters of eternal life, I shall here subjoin a short confession:

"I sincerely own and unfeignedly believe (by virtue of the sound knowledge and experience

received from the gift of that holy unction and divine grace inspired from on high) in one holy, just, merciful, almighty, and eternal God, who is the Father of all things; that appeared to the holy patriarchs and prophets of old, at sundry times and in divers manners;—and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the everlasting Wisdom, divine Power, true Light, only Saviour, and Preserver of all; the same one holy, just, merciful, almighty, and eternal God, who in the fullness of time took and was manifest in the flesh, at which time he preached (and his disciples after him) the everlasting gospel of repentance, and promise of remission of sins, and eternal life to all that heard and obeyed; who said, he that is with you (in the flesh) shall be in you (by the spirit); and though he left them (as to the flesh), yet not comfortless, for he would come to them again (in the spirit); for a little while, and they should not see him (as to the flesh); again, a little while, and they should see him (in the spirit); for the Lord (Jesus Christ) is that spirit, a manifestation whereof is given to every one, to profit with all; -in which Holy Spirit I believe, as the same almighty and eternal God, who, as in those times, he ended all shadows, and became the infallible guide to them that walked therein, by which they were adopted heirs and co-heirs of glory; so am I a living witness, that the same holy, just,

merciful, almighty, and eternal God, is now, as then (after this tedious night of idolatry, superstition, and human inventions, that hath overspread the world) gloriously manifested, to discover and save from all iniquity, and to conduct unto the holy land of pure and endless peace; in a word, to tabernacle in men. And I also firmly believe, that without repenting and forsaking of past sins, and walking in obedience to the heavenly voice, which would guide into all truth, and establish there, remission and eternal life can never be obtained; but unto them that fear his name and keep his commandments, they, and they only, shall have a right to the tree of life; for whose name's sake, I have been made willing to relinquish and forsake all the vain fashions, enticing pleasures, alluring honours, and glittering glories of this transitory world, and readily to accept the portion of a fool from this deriding generation, and become a man of sorrow, and a perpetual reproach to my familiars; yea, and with the greatest cheerfulness, can obsignate and confirm (with no less zeal, than the loss of whatsoever this doating world accounts dear) this faithful confession; having my eye fixed upon a more enduring substance and lasting inheritance, and being most infallibly assured, that when time shall be no more, I shall (if faithful hereunto) possess the mansions of eternal life, and be received into his everlasting habitation of rest and glory."

This is an explicit declaration of the principles of Quakerism, taken from the works of William Penn; because of all their writers, he is in general the most perspicuous, and as to his character, he possesses a high respectability.

Indeed, there seems to be a much greater uniformity in their dress than in their opinions, though it is probable that the generality of them adhere to the fundamental doctrines of the gospel. As a proof of the diversity of opinion amongst them, we may refer to the late proceedings of the society against Hannah Barnard, a celebrated speaker from Hudson, New York, in North America. For her opinion concerning the Jewish Wars, Miraculous Conception, &c. she has been silenced. See an Appeal to the Friends, in three parts on which, however, some animadversions have been published by Vindex and others; but to which Verax has replied in a pamphlet, entitled A Vindication of Scriptural Unitarianism, and some other Primitive Doctrines, &c.

There are seven yearly meetings among them, by each of which all rules and advices are formed for the general government of the society in thẹ country where they are respectively established. And no member of the society is precluded from attending, or partaking in the deliberations of these assemblies, which are nevertheless strictly speaking constituted of representatives, by regular

appointment from each quarterly meeting. The following are the seven yearly meetings: 1. London, to which come representatives from Ireland; 2. New England; 3. New York; 4. Pennsylvania and New Jersey; 5. Maryland; 6. Virginia; 7. The Carolinas and Georgia. The form and colour of their clothes, together with their peculiar modes of salutation, have been thought to savour of affectation, though they certainly exhibit a striking contrast to the gaudy frippery and artificial courtesy of modern times. Voltaire, in his Letters on the English Nation, has some curious remarks on the Quakers; but in certain particulars they deem themselves calumniated by that satirical writer. At Ackworth they have a respectable school, to which (a great and good man) Dr. Fothergill left legacies, and where about one hundred and eighty boys, and one hundred and twenty girls, are educated. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, William Penn, who founded Pennsylvania, introduced and established a large and flourishing colony of them in America. His treaty with the Indians on that occasion, has formed an admirable subject for the pencil, and reflects immortal honour on his memory.

In addition to the treatises mentioned, written by the Friends, the reader is referred to the Recorder, by William Matthews of Bath, in two