our most holy FAITH. Thus alone shall we be made in the end " more than conquerors through him that loved us."

In conclusion, I wish to express the hope (to which I cling) that, after all, I may have misconceived thy sentiments, as conveyed in the Beacon, respecting the doctrine of Universal Light; respecting the immediate influence and perceptible teaching of the Spirit; and respecting the nature of true worship and ministry. If so, I can only plead, in my excuse, that the volume has produced precisely the same effect on a multitude of other minds-on minds as deeply impressed as thy own respecting the immense value and importance of the Christian Revelation, of the Holy Scriptures, and of the glorious doctrine of Christ crucified. Under such circumstances, I would suggest, as the only sufficient remedy, an explicit disavowal of the sentiments imputed to thee, as open and public as the Beacon itself.

I can say truly, that this suggestion is offered to thee as to a Christian brother, by a most sincere friend, and in tender love.

Such a disclosure of Joseph John Gurney's views awakened a considerable amount of feeling amongst those who approved of the Beacon. But, happily, he had not now, for the first time, to learn the lessons of Christian truth. Long disciplined in the school of experience, he was, in mercy, prepared for a conflict in some respects more painful and severe than any which he had yet endured.

TO A FRIEND

(Who had written warmly to Joseph John Gurney on the subject of the Beacon, &c.) Norwich, 5th mo., 18th, 1835.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Thy two letters have reached me in due course, and I am sincerely obliged to thee for so freely telling me all that is in thy mind towards me. I utterly deny that I have, in the smallest degree, to the best of my knowledge, compromised the blessed truth as it is in Jesus Christ our Lord,

either in private or in public. To the best of my ability, (I well know how poorly and weakly as regards myself,) I have declared what I believe to be "the whole counsel of God," from place to place, especially during my late prolonged visit to London and Middlesex. More than this, in the public teaching of young people, I have, in the most specific manner, detailed both the evidences of the Christian religion and of the divine authority of Scripture, and the scriptural proofs of the grand doctrines of the Divinity and Atonement of Christ. I have found it my place to unfold these points by themselves, before I touched on the doctrine of the Spirit, and the views of it which are in some degree peculiar to Friends. In all this service I have never met with the slightest opposition from those among whom I was labouring; but, as far as I know, have had the full unity and kind co-operation of Friends. What possible reason then can I have for taxing Friends with infidelity?

I have fully stated my views of the Beacon to our dear friend Isaac Crewdson. While I cordially concur in his view of the Divine authority of Scripture, the Inspiration of the Apostles, the privilege and necessity of prayer, and, above all, the great and glorious doctrine of the justification of the penitent and converted sinner through faith in the blood of Jesus, I as clearly differ from what I understand to be his view of universal light and of the immediate teaching of the Holy Spirit in the church of Christ. On neither of these branches of truth have my sentiments undergone the least change since I first became a Quaker on conviction; and, until I am better informed, it is my calm and deliberate intention to adhere to them both (as ability is afforded) to my life's end.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1835. ᎬᎢ. 47-48.

66

THE YEARLY MEETING; APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE TO VISIT LANCASHIRE; LETTER TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFENCE' IN REPLY TO THE BEACON; FIRST AND SECOND VISITS TO MANCHESTER; JOURNEY IN DERBYSHIRE AND NORTH WALES; ILLNESS AND DEATH OF HIS WIFE.

In the Yearly Meeting of 1835, the difficulties consequent on the publication of the Beacon formed a prominent topic for deliberation.

"It was proposed," writes Joseph John Gurney," to appoint a committee to aid Lancashire Quarterly Meeting in the case; upon which I expressed my sentiment that there was so much fault on both sides of the controversy, that the whole affair had better be left where it was, or in other words, all proceedings quashed. This proposition was over-ruled; and, notwithstanding my earnest request to the contrary, I was appointed on the committee. Arduous, indeed, did we find the service, when we met in Lancashire, at their summer Quarterly Meeting."

Previously to going into Lancashire, Joseph John Gurney addressed the following letter to the Friend who had written the written the Defence of Immediate Revelation, in reply to the Beacon, explanatory of several particulars in which he considered the reply defective or open to objection.

Earlham, Norwich, 6th mo., 8th, 1835.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

Attached as I am on principle, to those spiritual yet simple views of religion which have always been maintained in the Society of Friends, I am prepared to unite with thee in earnest endeavours, through every day of rebuke and difficulty, steadily to uphold them. And I wish openly to repeat a declaration which I have often made, that my state of mind on this subject is not founded on any sectarian or traditional notions, but on a firm conviction that Quakerism, rightly understood, is nothing more nor less than the religion of the New Testament. I look upon it as Christianity without addition and without diminution.

Such were the views of George Fox, William Penn, Robert Barclay, and other veterans of their day. They pretended to the revelation of no new truths; they proclaimed no modern variations from the one, original, unchanging Gospel. They pleaded only for broad, unfettered, spiritual Christianity. And, with respect to the whole system of divine truth, as it is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, they sometimes expressed themselves in the words with which the apostle John concludes the book of Revelation: "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Inseparably connected with this principle was their noble testimony on the subject of human creeds. They were indeed always willing, when occasion required, publicly to declare their faith in the doctrines of Christianity; but they refused to tie themselves down, like many other Christian societies, to "articles of belief" constructed either by themselves or others. They depended on the Holy Spirit as their immediate guide and teacher; and their only written creed was the volume of inspiration.

I am induced to make these remarks by observing that in thy reply to the Beacon, thou hast not clearly defined what

is the standard by which the sentiments of its author are to be tried; for while, on the one hand, thou hast expressed thy wish that thy defence "should rest entirely on the authority of Holy Scripture," thou hast, on the other hand, checked and tested the Beacon by passages from Barclay's Apology; and one of the remarks on the subject is as follows :-" I quote the Apology of Robert Barclay, concluding that one who is now a minister, in outward fellowship in the same society with myself, can hardly be supposed to have thrown off the authority of a work so justly esteemed amongst us; for this would imply that his departure from the ground of our testimonies was greater than I am yet willing to believe it to be." (Defence, 2nd Edition, p. 23.)

I have no desire to detract from the value of the writings of Robt. Barclay. He is certainly an author of extraordinary learning, ability, and piety; and, as such, must always be entitled to a very considerable degree of influence in our religious society. Nor can there be any objection to our making use of his Apology, when occasion requires it, as an able exposition of his own sentiments, and those of his brethren.* But whatsoever a superficial view of Quakerism may dictate to us on the subject, there can, in my opinion, be no greater departure from the "ground of our testimonies," than to bring the doctrines or practices of any man to the authoritative test of any writings which do not bear the stamp of absolute inspiration; or, in other words, of any writings whatsoever but the Holy Scriptures.

I cannot believe that there is any real question between us on this point. But if such a question does exist, let me, in the present instance, give way, and refer the settlement of it to Robert Barclay himself. His verdict on the subject is short and explicit. "We do look upon them (the Holy Scriptures) as the only fit outward judge of controversies

*I am, however, inclined to the opinion, that were we compelled to select a single writer in order to ascertain the religious principles of the early Friends, we could scarcely do better than choose George Fox himself.-Note by J. J. Gurney.