my own part, I am fully satisfied that these " peculiarities" will bear the test of scriptural examination, and that it is only by a steady, sincere, and faithful adherence to the spirit of them, that the Society will ever be enabled to fulfil those gracious designs of Divine Providence, for which, I believe, they were raised up as a people. And if the faith of the Society has received a shock —if it has seemed meet to inscrutable wisdom-to permit the tempter to break in, and worry and seduce the flock, it behoves those who have been spared, "to ponder well the paths of their feet," and, in deep self-abasement and humiliation, to call aloud for help, where help only can be had. I well know, that it is not in mere forms, in “quietism," or any other form, that the life and power of Christ is to be found. I know it is in vain to " search for the living amongst the dead;" but we should be careful and not confound a principle with mere profession and form, so as to condemn the former because the latter may assume its appearance. Simplicity of dress and language, and silence when we meet together to worship the Almighty, are, when practised as mere forms, but a solemn mockery, so far as they are depended upon as a means in themselves to salvation; but they assume a very different character when we view them as external indications of Christian humility, meekness, and simplicity, or as testimonies borne against that spirit of pride and vanity which seeks its gratification in the ever-varying fashions of the world, or that dependence upon external helps— set forms of praying and preaching, instead of that utter abandonment of self, and total prostration of all human power at the feet of Him unto whom all " "power

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and glory" belongs-in that stillness from all creaturely movements, and that true silence of the mind in which no voice but the voice of the true Shepherd can be heard, teaching as man never yet taught." Viewed in this light, in this only light in which the real worth and tendency of these "peculiarities" can be seen, we shall find, that instead of engendering "a spirit of pharisaical self-estimation," they will lead us to a just sense of our own poverty and helplessness, and that if we are enabled to "take up the cross, and despise the shame,"-if we are qualified to render acceptable worship to the Most High, "in spirit and in truth,”—if we are enabled to hold fast our profession without wavering," "to use the world as not abusing it, knowing that the fashion of this world passeth away," -if we are enabled to hold our conversation in the world in all simplicity and godly sincerity,”—if, finally, we are favoured to walk "soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world," then, oh! how beautifully does that "peculiarity" of silence, before Almighty God, when met together to offer the tribute of praise and thanksgiving,-that utter relinquishment of all created power, that sole dependency upon Him who commanded the isles to "keep silence" before him, “that the people may recover their strength" -oh! how beautifully, then, does this "peculiarity" proclaim a consciousness of utter incapacity to "think even a good thought of ourselves," but that if we are enabled to do all these things, it is "through Christ, which strengtheneth us." With these views, most heartily do I concur in those interrogatories put to the Society by Joseph John Gurney, in the quotation made

from the seventh edition of his work, "On the Distinguishing Views and Practices of the Society of Friends," a work which I have not read. "What ought to be our course? Shall we turn our backs on our high Christian views of the spirituality of true worship? Shall we return to ceremonial and figurative rites? Shall we make way in our meetings for a ministry, which one man may prepare, and another appoint? Shall we cease from our testimony against all pecuniary corruption in the church? Shall we surrender our Saviour's standard of the yea and the nay; and no longer refuse an oath when expediency is supposed to demand it? Shall we, after all our peaceable professions, recur to the warfare of the world? Shall we forsake our simplicity in dress and language, and break down a hedge which so usefully protects many of our beloved young people from the vanities of the world? In short, shall we renounce that unbending adherence to the rule of right, by which our forefathers were distinguished? Shall we exchange a child-like obedience to the Shepherd's voice for the mind which is ever ready to criticise and to argue?— If such, through the wiles of Satan, should be our course, how awful and affecting must be the consequence! The gracious purposes for which we were raised up to be a people, will be frustrated through our want of faithfulness; and by forsaking our own place and sphere of duty in the fold of Christ, it is but too probable that we may, in the end, fall from Christ himself, and become wanderers in the waste of an empty profession," &c.

But the particulars enumerated in this appeal," (writes the Reviewer,) "are the badges of QUAKERISM,

rather than of CHRISTIANITY."

I do not like the term

SADGES, either as applied to QUAKERISM or Christianity. The word characteristic is not only less offensive, but more appropriate. For in every particular, enumerated in this appeal, a vital principle is involved, and there is not a single characteristic throughout, but what may be found in Christianity; if, therefore, they are the characteristics of QUAKERISM, they are so only because they are the characteristics of Christianity, for Quakerism, as it is called, professes and teaches none other than Christ, and him crucified."-Get thee to thy "ultimate appeal," (friend Reviewer,) "for the truth of every doctrine, and the propriety of every practice," and compare "the particulars enumerated in this appeal," with the things that have been therein "written for our instruction." Get thee to thine " ULTIMATE appeal," and bring with thee, one by one, these particulars, and then apply, if thou darest, the term badge to any of those important and fundamental principles of Christianity! Wilt thou have presumption enough, to call "the spirituality of true worship" a badge of QUAKERISM, rather than a characteristic (I cannot use the word here) of Christianity? Dost thou remember who it was that told the woman at the well of Samaria," God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth?”— John, chap. 4, ver. 24.-Is "the spirituality of true worship," then "a badge of Quakerism ?" or is it not the worship which "the Father seeketh?"—" Shall we return to ceremonial and figurative rites?" is another of the particulars that stands charged with being "a badge of Quakerism." What does the Apostle say in

his Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. 9, ver. 8?“ The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation; but Christ being come, an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" And again the same Apostle to the Romans, chap. 14, ver. 4, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the and he that regardeth

day, regardeth it unto the Lord; not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth