CHRISTOPHER STORY.

THIS worthy man and his friends having experienced some very rough treatment from the people of Canonsby, in consequence of a misapprehension of the doctrines of the Quakers, addressed a letter to them, in which he declares the nature of the doctrines preached by him at the meeting which had been disturbed by them. We extract the following, viz:

"That there is not another name given under Heaven by which men can be saved, but by the name of Jesus, unto whose name every knee must bow, and tongue confess, either in judgment or in mercy; and that it was the same Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem in Judea, whose life Herod sought, who, after he had wrought many miracles, suffered the contradiction of sinners, and whose precious blood was shed without the gates of Jerusalem, that tasted death for mankind, that he might be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world; who was laid in the new sepulchre, rose again the third day; who after his appearing unto his disciples, as the Scripture makes mention, was received into a cloud out of their sight, and sits at the right hand of the Father. All which testimonies, recorded in the scriptures of truth, from the time of the Virgin Mary's being overshadowed by the Holy Ghost, and the child Jesus being brought forth in Bethlehem of Judea, unto that day the cloud received him out of the disciples' sight, all christians that ever I met with agree in ; and we are of the same belief. And this being part of what was upon my mind at that time, another thing that followed was, that after Christ Jesus ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, &c. (Read the fourth chapter of the Ephesians.) 'Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, saith the Apostle. And the same Apostle writing to the Corinthians, in chapter twelfth, concerning the diversities of gifts, but the same spirit; saith, that a 'Manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal; and this makes good the words of our Lord and Saviour to his disciples, John xvi. Nevertheless, (saith he,) I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you: And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, &c., and will guide you into all truth."

"And seeing that which is to be known of God, is manifested in man, (God hath showed it unto them as in Romans chap. i.) it is our message to you and all people, wherever we come or go, to direct all to the spirit of truth that convinceth of sin, as aforesaid, and

leads into all truth. And this is the word nigh even in thy heart and thy mouth, Rom. x., which the apostle preached; and that every one that hath an ear, might hear what the spirit saith, is no new doctrine, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God,' Rom. viii. 14. Why we should be reviled and abused for exhorting people that have believed in God, and in Christ Jesus, to be led by the Holy Spirit of God, so as that thereby they may work out their own salvation, with fear and trembling; do ye judge: and though we have been unchristianly treated by you, once and again, yet we do suppose you know us not, and therefore we can pray and say in reality, Lord forgive them; they know not what they do ;' for all that have persecuted God's people in every age, such was their blindness and hardness of heart, that they knew them not, as they were really concerned on the Lord's account."-Journal, pages 82

to 84. 1701.

JOHN STODDART.

JOHN STODDART in his preface to William Edmundson's Journal, has these remarks:

"The visible dispensations of God to men, have been various, as by angels, the law from Mount Sinai, the ministry of the prophets, and John the Baptist, sent in the spirit and power of Elias, to prepare the way of the Lord: all which dispensations had a glory in them for their time, though but preparative for one more glorious, yet to be revealed. Then in the fulness of time, Christ Jesus the Seed of the woman, the Messiah and Hope of Israel, was manifested in the flesh, whose day many prophets and righteous men desired to see, and could not, only by faith, at a distance, by reason of death.

"Now was salvation brought nigh, the kingdom of heaven at hand, and the glad tidings of the gospel preached to the seed of Abraham, the glory of former dispensations began to wax dim to such as beheld His glory, that excelled, even the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; yet many of the Jews could not see it so, nor understand his voice, preaching the kingdom of God in parables, and uttering things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the world; or believe on him, concerning whom, Moses in the law, and the prophets did write; but despised and rejected him, although the mighty works, and great miracles which he wrought among them, by the power of his Father, declared him to be the Son of God.

"Howbeit the most glorious gospel day was not yet fully revealed, at least with respect to the Gentiles, whilst our Saviour was in the prepared body, sent only to the house of Israel, in the form of a servant, to fulfil the law and prophets, and things that were written concerning him; but after he had done that work which the Father

had given him to do, in that holy body, and finished the same by the offering up of himself unto God, as a Lamb without spot, a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, rose again from the dead, appeared to confirm his disciples, and ascended into glory, at the right hand of his Father: then an open door was set before both Jews and Gentiles, by Jesus Christ, who had consecrated a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and abolished the old covenant, sacrifices, ceremonies and hand writing of ordinances, taking it out of the way, and nailing it to his cross, and openly triumphed over principalities and powers.

"Now the old covenant was to pass away, and the new covenant to be established, and the priesthood changed by the great High Priest, without sir, and higher than the heavens, made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but by the power of an endless life; a Priest forever, after the order of Melchisedec; and the law now to go forth of Zion, from the great Lawgiver, and written in the heart, even the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that sets free from the law of sin and death. Now was the Spirit poured forth from on high in a more plentiful manner upon mankind, than in former dispensations, and eminently on believers; whereby many were qualified and anointed both of Jews and Gentiles, as priests and ministers of the Lord, to attend at his holy altar, in his temple not made with hands, and to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And the holy apostles commissioned and endued with power from on high, were to teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, having assurance from Christ, of his being with them to the end of time. And by their ministry, and others whom the Lord sent forth, many were converted to God and added to the church, both of Jews, Greeks, and other nations, being all baptized by one Spirit into one body, or church, which was glorious in that day, as a woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, and she brought forth a Man-child, who was to rule all nations, but he was caught up unto God, and to his Throne, from the great red dragon, that sought to devour him as soon as he was born."-Page 4 to 7.

"And now the Man-child, the Lord from heaven, is again revealed in many of his saints, who by the breath of his mouth, and brightness of his coming, shall destroy the man of sin, that hath wrought with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, by signs and lying wonders in them that perish. And the true church is returning out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved; and shall again appear in her comeliness and beauty, as a bride adorned for her husband: to her light shall the Gentiles come, and kings to the brightness of her rising, for the glory of the Lord shall arise upon her, and his light shine therein forever. The glorious prophecies of the holy prophets and servants of the Lord, concerning the latter days, must be fulfilled. The knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. The abundance of the sea, or multitudes of people shall be converted to Sion, the nations shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, and be gathered to Jerusalem, that is from above, to worship

the great king, the Lord of Hosts upon his holy mountain, that shall be established on the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, and no hurt or destruction shall be there. The Lamb shall lead his people, and feed them in the pastures of life, and bring them to living fountains of water. The Heir of all things shall inherit his right and possess the gates of his enemies, who, in due time, shall all be put under his feet. He shall judge among the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and spears into pruning hooks, and come under the peaceable government of the Lainb. For He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. And blessed be the Lord, many in this day have in measure, witnessed the fulfilling of many of these prophecies, (as they relate to particulars) and do know that the Son of God is come, who hath given them an understanding, whereby they know him that is true, and that they are in him that is true, even JESUS CHRIST the true God, and eternal life, in whom all the promises of God, are and shall be fulfilled in their season."-Pages 10, 11. 1714.

SAMUEL FULLER,

In his "Serious Reply," to some abusive queries proposed to the Society of Friends, written in 1728, page 27, says

"We believe the Holy doctrines of the Old and New Testament, to be given by Divine inspiration; and therefore of Divine authority, and preferable to all other writings extant; though we cannot think it any affront or undervaluing of those heavenly oracles, that rare gift, to prefer the mouth and giver whence they came, and which alone can certainly expound, bless, and make them profitable to those great and good ends, which the Almighty, in his mercy and favour, to the Christian Church, above others, has been graciously pleased to vouchsafe and appoint those sacred oracles.

"Forasmuch as the penmen of the Holy Scriptures, particularly of the New Testament, were entrusted to transmit to posterity the transactions, with relation to the birth, miracles, sufferings, resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord, with the precepts, exhortations, and gracious sayings, that proceeded from his mouth whilst here on earth; as also those excellent and evangelical truths, revealed to them by the light of the glorious gospel, which they were commissioned to preach to the nations; in these respects, and as being prime ministers in God's house, and persons qualified by a much greater measure of the same divine spirit, to be the first witnesses and dispensers of that glorious dispensation; their writings challenge, and justly ought to have the first and chief place, as a rule of faith and practice, next [to] the holy spirit by which they

were inspired and which leads us into a high esteem of those excellent writings, as being so valuable an effect of so great a cause. "We also believe, the Holy Scriptures contain a clear testimony to all the essentials of the Christian faith; that they are the only fit outward judge of controversy among Christians; that whatever doctrine is contrary unto their testimony, may therefore be justly rejected as false; and that whatsoever any do, pretending to the spirit, which is contrary to the Scriptures, ought to be accounted a delusion of the devil; for 'tis impossible, that the spirit of God, which we believe all Christians should be led by, should contradict itself, or any of its former revelations in the Holy Scriptures: hence we are far from equalling, much less preferring, our suppositions, speeches, pretences, writings, acts or facts, to the sacred writings, that we submit all to them, as the only fit outward judge of controversy."

On page 82, he says, "We, sincerely believing the divine inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures, cannot deny any thing therein recorded concerning our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, his blood, ascension, and coming again to judgment.

"We do, we bless God, religiously believe and confess to the glory of God the Father, and the honour of his dear and beloved Son; that Jesus Christ took our nature upon him, and was like us in all things, Sin excepted; being wonderfully conceived by the Holy Ghost, his Divinity and Manhood wonderfully united, for in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily; he was born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem, about 1700 years ago, wrought many wonderful miracles in the land of Judea, lived a life of sanctity and perfect obedience, died the shameful death of the cross under Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, whereby he became an offering of atonement, propitiation and full satisfaction for the sins of all men, on condition of faith and repentance; was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, rose again on the third day, and afterwards ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God, our Mediator, and great Intercessor, and there remains, that heavenly Glorified Man; who will descend (in like manner as he ascended) to be judge both of quick and dead, just and unjust, at that great, general, and final day of judgment. All which we confirm by the authority of the Holy Evangelists.

To the charge that the Quakers deny any locality to heaven or hell, and that therefore they must in effect deny the eternal rewards and punishments of the life to come, he says

"No-were that our faith, I would deny the consequence; but we deny both the premises and the consequences aforenamed for we believe that heaven is both a place and state of inexpressible and endless joy for the godly; and hell, a place and state of inexpressible and endless misery for the wicked, and such as forget God; an earnest of each may be witnessed in this life, but the fulness in the world to come."-Page 128.

Among other authories which he cites in proof of this being the belief of Friends, are the following, viz:

"We do not confine all our expected attainments of heaven and glory, to within us, in this life, but the way to attain more thereof

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