the most cruel persecutions, tend to encourage every tender heart to greater faithfulness in suffering?

But the enquiry arises, what could induce these rulers to inflict the punishment of death upon the Martyrs? Not the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus, whose kingdom was not to be supported by carnal weapons, but whose religion is love; and who came not to destroy men's lives but to save them.

Was it not their insatiable avarice and voracious love of power, grounded in malice, which led to many crafty inventions for their own aggrandizement, and the grasping of wealth, and carnal indulgences, that led them on to those atrocious deeds? For their craft they saw was in great danger, if men of such principles, and such Christian eminence as the martyrs were, should be suffered to go at large, and to promulgate their doctrines.

In time, through the good providence of Almighty power, more men were raised up and made instrumental in bringing about a partial, though notable reformation; to the breaking down in some degree, the power of the Roman Hierarchy. And although this beam of gospel light, did not at once fully dispel the whole cloud of papal darkness, yet it did discover to the reformers, some of the greater evils.

Whether the minds of men in that day were not prepared to endure the full radiance of the gospel llght, as it shone upon the primitive believers; or whether the papal yoke was too strong to be entirely broken off by the hands of these witnesses, I will not pretend to determine: suffice it to say, that God saw mete that such advancement should then be made. And be it remembered, that even this was at the expense of

many lives of his faithful martyrs; though not to the full accomplishment of a perfect reformation.

And, however, they broke the ground by faithfully renouncing some of the grosser errors of the popish church, yet they retained and unhappily brought out with them the spirit of war, retaliation and persecution, which never existed in the primitive Christian Church, together with a deal of formality and useless ceremonials, which had been imbibed and accumulated during the dark ages of the church's apostate condition.

And in some instances, in the escaping of one great error, the reformers invariably fell into another in an opposite direction. They were right in denying the merits and works of Romish observances, of likenesses, and imagery, of holy relics, the mass, indulgences, &c., &c. But at the same time entirely overlooked the spiritual work of God to be wrought in man, and through the gift of the Holy Ghost by man, in the obedience of faith, to the regenerating of the heart: they erred in placing their trust in faith alone without regard to that work wrought by the power and spirit of Christ in the heart, to the regeneration of the soul, whereby He subdues and crucifies the old man with his deeds;—in a dependence upon a faith which stands alone, and which is not the gift of God; and, therefore, not a living faith that worketh by love; but a faith that is well pleasing to the unregenerate man. If barely believing in Christ, and that his death and sufferings alone, would save men, who would refuse so much as to believe, and to ascribe much honor to Christ for justifying and saving them through his own sufferings without them, and without the painful en

durance of the baptism of fire and Holy Ghost in themselves.

Under these and other like circumstances it was, that the protestant believers, although they had faithfully witnessed against many of the Romish superstitions, fell into a state of ease, relaxation, and the indulgences of a carnal mind; still trusting in man, and in the advancement which they had made, and so rested far short of fully attaining to the life and power of true Christianity which had been lost in the apostacy. Then the Lord was graciously pleased to stir up and to visit many minds, with the day spring from on high, for the blessed purpose, not only for salvation to those individuals, but for a further reformation, and final consummation, and establishment of true vital Christianity among men.

And by means of this visitation, many became uneasy and dissatisfied, with the lifeless formalities which yet remained in the Church, and longed in their minds to find the living and sustaining substance, of which the customary rituals and outward performances then practiced, were but a figure; and of which they took place, not to the satisfying or removal of the sins of the flesh.

Among these seeking and awakened souls, was George Fox. He, through deep meditation; waiting upon and dwelling with God in spirit, was made a chosen instrument in unfolding the religion of Jesus Christ, more perfectly agreeable to the New Testament; and was endued with a remarkable gift of discernment of the condition of men, and in the mystery of true godliness; that it stood not in form but in power. And with great meekness and Christian cour

age, was enabled to combat the sins of the age in which he lived: and more clearly to instruct and to direct those seeking souls to the teaching of Christ in the inner man, by his light and good spirit: and to bring them off from trusting in man, and from those, who like the Papists, were still making a trade of the Gospel, a thing unknown in the primitive days of the Church.

To this faith and ministry, and to the covenant of the pure Gospel of peace, many were gathered. These separated themselves from the spirit and friendship of the world, (so prevalent among the professors of that day,) for the purpose of restoring primitive Christianity in the life and power of it, to the purging of the consciences of men, through the inward operations and purgations of the Holy Ghost, to the doing away, (at least among themselves,) of war, retaliation, and oppression, as well as a hireling ministry: all of which had been introduced into the Church under its degenerated condition.

This doctrine, which inculcates the belief in Christ's teaching his people himself; and the faith that every true believer has access to God through him; as also the testimony against war and a hireling ministry, spread alarm among the clergy of that day.

Hence, as the number of the Quakers increased, the clergy began to have fearful apprehensions as to the safety of their callings, or the continued enjoyment of their salaries; and consequently, resorted to the exercise of their influence, (which was then great in England,) for the purpose of disaffecting the minds of the people against this, to them, new doctrine, of free grace, and a free ministry; and soon succeeded in raising a storm of persecution against these unresist

ing Christians. And they, the priests, successfully invoked the civil powers to their assistance; so that the spoiling of goods, imprisonment, and even death itself was often inflicted upon this unoffending people; when nothing could be laid to their charge, but obedience to the law of their God, in honestly promulgating the doctrines of Christ and his Apostles as exemplified in the New Testament, and thereby to carry out the reformation which the first reformers had begun.

Here then was seen, protestants inflicting persecution upon their fellow protestants; (similar to that which those of the Roman Church inflicted upon one another;) and only for the reason that the latter were consummating the good work that the former, or their predecessors, had begun. And the evidence to prove that the first reformation was not complete, will be found in the consideration that the former had not arrived fully to the ground of primitive Christianity, in that they yet retained the spirit of domination, war, and a hireling ministry, creating jealousy and hatred against the greater excellency-against the free teaching of the Gospel. And no greater evidence need be called for, to establish this point, than to show that they persecuted their fellow professors for well doing.

And God's permission of the deep sufferings of the many messengers whom he had sent to bear witness for him, is no evidence against the validity of their mission or calling. Their sufferings were as seed sown, and the fruit to be gathered in God's providence in after generations-by those who are accounted worthy also to suffer for the name of Him who died for them; whilst those who have lifted up their cruel hands against the Lord's humble messengers, are equally reprehensible, whether those messengers were