sponsibility that rested on him, from the implicit dependence which the people placed on the priesthood, and the sorrowful account those will have to give in a future day, who are encouraging the people in this reliance on themselves, instead of turning their attention to Christ within, the hope of glory.

In 1812, Thomas believed it required of him to unite with a female minister, in paying a religious visit to an organized company of desperate characters, who for nearly fifty years had infested the neighborhood of Kingswood, in England; who lived by plundering, robbing, horse-stealing, and other evil practices; and were so great a terror to the neighborhood, that it was considered dangerous to travel on the roads infested by them. In the prosecution of this trying service, which extended not only to "the Gang," as these robbers were called, but also to the families of miners and colliers living in that section of country, Thomas and his companion were often obliged to travel by night; but they were mercifully raised above apprehensions of danger, through faith in the protecting care of Him, who, they believed, had called them forth. They were favored from time to time, with memorable evidences of the sufficiency of His almighty power to subdue the strong wills, and soften the hard hearts of wicked men. While pleading with these abandoned characters respecting their evil practices, they were often made sensible that the Divine Witness in their hearts was reached; their hearers acknowledged the truth of what they had to say, and expressed their obligations for the counsel given.

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CONCLUSION.

No attempt has bet mends in these few pages. Many

O attempt has been made to embody the whole history

volumes would be requisite to describe even a small portion of the gracious dealings of the Lord with his dependent children, and the wonderful instances of divine support vouchsafed to them in the hour of need. But in the view which we have briefly taken of the principal events characterizing the rise and progress of this people, the reader may have observed, that though exceedingly various were the natural dispositions and conditions of the individuals successively brought into the service of the Truth, yet the work of the Holy Spirit has been one and the same. In every instance, the operation of divine grace has been accompanied by a great abasement of self, a deep sense of the fallen and corrupt state of man, and a looking to the Lord alone for help and strength to overcome the evil propensities of the unregenerate nature. There has been a conviction that no half work would be accepted, but that the whole heart was to be cleansed and renewed, and the whole mind and will made submissive to the manifestations of the light of Christ Jesus in the soul.

We have seen the faithfulness of many of these servants of the Lord, and observed that their devoted lives furnished conclusive evidence that they knew and felt the force of the apostolic precept: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, which are God's." We have also remarked the marvellous manner in which they were preserved and supported in the hour of trial, and the futility of all attempts to suppress the growth of the plant of the Lord's planting, by the most severe and sanguinary

persecution. We have likewise, on the other hand, had sorrowful evidence that this Society has not been without its troubles from false brethren, by whom, under various specious disguises, the great enemy of Truth has striven to divide and scatter the flock.

In this day of outward ease, that cunning adversary has changed his mode of attack; the spirit of the world, in its various transformations, is now the chief snare laid for the feet of the unwary; and many have fallen a prey to its entanglements. But it is surely not arrogating too much, to encourage the belief that the same Hand which brought this vine out of Egypt and planted it, will still watch over His own seed, will water it with the dew of heaven, and preserve its fruits to his own praise.

It ought to be borne in mind, that the enlightened men and women who were employed of the Lord in gathering our religious Society in the beginning, were fully persuaded that they were not collecting together a mere sect or division of the Christian church; but that the principles which they advocated, being no other than those of ancient pure Christianity, were designed by the Almighty, in a time to come, to extend over the whole earth. This was unquestionably their belief, and this belief animated them through all discouragements, to press forward in their endeavors to spread the glorious gospel in its own simplicity and purity. Several of the testimonies held forth by ancient Friends, have since their day found a remarkable place in the estimation of serious individuals of various names; and it remains to be seen, whether the faithfulness of a future generation shall not be made use of in the divine Hand, to spread the knowledge of the truth over the lands as the waters cover the sea.

Should this be happily the case through the medium of this highly favored people, it is scarcely needful to say, that it must be by an uncompromising adherence to the

ancient principles of the church, and a practical exemplification of their efficacy, in life and conduct. Divine truth is the same in the present day, as it was when the apostles went forth in the power of the Spirit of their Divine Master; and as it was when George Fox and his fellow-laborers, in a measure of the same spirit, boldly testified against spiritual wickedness in high places. And the same necessity exists, as ever did, for the faithful maintenance of their testimony to pure and spiritual religion, in the face of a world lying in wickedness, or lulled in the lap of error, disguised under the plausible appearance of truth.

Let then the inheritors of these precious principles examine well their position, and see that they fall not back from that holy vocation wherewith their fathers were called. Let them not desire to dwell in their ceiled houses, while the house of God lies waste: but with holy magnanimity and true devotedness of heart, and in the pure Christian zeal of the Lord's own begetting, individually seek to know their calling, and therein abide.

THE END.

NOTICE TO THE READER.

THE author, in preparing this work for a second edition, has believed it best to close the volume with the beginning of the present century; leaving to the pen of future history the delineation of the important events connected with the two great manifestations of defection from the faith of our forefathers, which have occurred in our own day.

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