rally, but was revealed immediately to a few only, chosen instruments; and, by Divine appointment, through them made known to their fellow-men.

"The other [the doctrine of Friends] teaches, that faith in the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ is not necessary to our salvation; that an outward revelation of the way of salvation is not necessary; that, although the Scriptures may be helpful, they are not necessary; that in every man,-in those who have the Scripture revelation, and in those who have not, there is placed a principle which is Divine, efficacious, and universal,—an inward monitor, a saving light, a measure of the Holy Spirit, to inform man of his duty, and to enable him to do it; that this principle, as it is carefully observed, gives us the clearest view of our respective several duties, and guides into all truth; that it is an inward, unerring guide, more safely to be depended upon than any outward instruction; that it alone is able to keep us in the practice of pure and undefiled religion, to preserve us from the pollutions of the world, to enable us to perform that which is good and acceptable to God, to make us wise unto salvation, to work the salvation of all who receive it, and do not resist it; that this same principle in man mediates and atones, and is designed to steer us, through the dangers of time, to an unfading inheritance in a blissful eternity.

"These are startling statements, and it is with grief that I write them."

Mr. Crewdson then proceeds to prove that which he has stated by quotations from the documents of the Society itself and its most approved writers. From the former of these we will select pp. 19, 20:

things, the directions of this heavenly monitor in ourselves may be carefully observed, which will give us the clearest view of our several and respective duties, and guide us into all truth. From a disregard to this heavenly and universal principle of Divine light, and disobedience to its holy guidance, proceed that ignorance and depravity which have overspread too many of the professors of Christianity. Let us, therefore, who are in an especial manner favoured with the knowledge of the truth inwardly revealed, and in some degree made experimental witnesses of its power and efficacy, beware lest any of us also fall away, and lose sight of that inward and unerring guide which alone is able to keep us stedfast and unmoveable in the practice of pure and undefiled religion, preserve us from the spots and pollutions of the world, make us wise unto salvation, and enable us to perform that which is good and acceptable in the sight of God.'

"Yearly Epistle, 1787.- Suppress not, then, dear friends, the smallest intimation from this precious gift, (the faithful witness which God hath placed in every man's conscience,) designed by its blessed Author to steer us through the dangers of time to an unfading inheritance in a blissful eternity; but stand open to its convictions, and patiently wait therein, to receive strength to subject your wills to its manifestations. So will your faith in its operation and influence be increased; and as you are obedient to its discoveries, and therein follow on to know the Lord, you will have, with his gathered flock, to acknowledge that the intelligence of this inward monitor is more safely to be depended upon than any outward instruction.""

The "Friends" must surely be considered responsible for the sentiments contained in these official documents, issued, after the most careful revision, by the Society in its collective capacity. But we believe many of its members would, with Mr. Crewdson, make

the inquiry," Is this Quakerism?" Mr. C. answers,

"Yes! for, as certainly as we have Christianity in the writings of the apostles, we have Quakerism in the writings of the early Friends, the founders of the Society.

"But is it Christianity? No; it is subversive of it, for Christianity is the religion of the Bible. We are then

brought to the conclusion, that there is an essential difference between Quakerism and Christianity."

Can it be possible that the Society does really hold and propagate such sentiments as these? Surely the leading Friends will feel it incumbent upon them to refute, if possible, this statement, since the accusation is of so grave a character as seriously to involve the question, whether the term " Christian" can, with propriety, be applied to any community not prepared to renounce sentiments so evidently subversive of the Gospel.

We should have been glad to have given further quotations, but the work is short; and to that we refer the reader for an examination of this and other collateral questions deeply interesting to the Society.

We cannot better close our observations on this work than by citing the passage with which the estimable author concludes his address :

"In conclusion, in Christian affection and concern, I commend this most important subject to your careful and candid examination; and may the Holy Spirit, whose peculiar office it is to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto us, guide you to a right judgment; and that grace and peace may be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God, and Jesus our Lord,' is the sincere desire and prayer of

"Your true friend,

"ISAAC CREWDSON."

Cephas, the Young Sailor. Ward & Co.

2nd Edition. pp. 102.

THIS little book has recently come under our notice. It is well described in the title-page, "A Warning to Youth, and an Incentive to the Faith of pious but discouraged Parents." We have seldom seen an instance of more recklessness of mind, and of greater hostility to every thing good, than is unfolded in the character of this youth,

nor perhaps of a more signal instance of the triumph of Divine grace over the depravity and waywardness of the natural mind. We hope it may be the means of doing much good, by a wide circulation among the thoughtless and unconcerned, and also afford encouragement to turn with confidence to the words of our blessed Saviour, "That men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

LETTER ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

[THE following letter from SCRUTATOR is written in so Christian a spirit, and embraces so many points of interesting moment at the present time, that we readily fall in with the desire of our correspondent, in giving it an early insertion in our periodical anxiously hoping it may claim the impartial consideration of many in the Society of Friends.]

My dear Friend,-Thou art not unacquainted with the deep interest which, in common with many of my neighbours and friends, I have felt on the subject of Negro Apprenticeship; nor with the anxiety with which I have watched the results of the general expression of public opinion, and the simultaneous national movement on their behalf, with a view to their immediate emancipation; thou canst, therefore, form a better estimate of the intensity of those grateful emotions which warm my heart at the prospect now opening of a successful termination of our labours.

How unexpectedly does one train of thought sometimes awaken another! Yet, surely, it is no unnatural transition to turn from contemplating the outward bondage which the ambition or avarice of man inflicts upon his fellow-creatures, to the consideration of that deeper" abyss of servitude" into which thousands, yea, millions of the human race are plunged, by a tyranny which rivets its fetters, not upon the bodies, but the minds of victims, who present the moral phenomenon of passive acquiescence in their own degradation. Nay, do we not often see them hugging their chains, and glorying in their bondage, forbidding, and even

resenting all attempts at their enfranchisement?

Let us extend the comparison between these two classes of slaves a little farther. And first the poor negro, who is hardly allowed time to cultivate the small provision-ground which is his sole dependence: behold him pining with hunger, while luxuriant crops are springing and ripening around him ; but, however tempting the prospect, there is a line of demarcation between it and him which he dares not pass. And in the moral world there are boundaries equally insuperable, because the slaves of prejudice cannot, or dare not, exert those energies which God has given, but which custom has paralysed. As one generation succeeds another, and grows up under the benumbing influence of prejudice, small communities, and even nations, acquire peculiarities of character, resulting from the circumstances in which they are placed. This is exemplified on a large scale among the Hindoos, who are remarkably circumscribed in all attempts at improvement; hence, as a nation, they appear to be" abjectly superstitious, firmly attached to ancient customs and opinions, passively yielding to authority, and apparently incapable of exerting any free agency." Their intellectual faculties are described as presenting similar features: They have little invention, but great power of imitation ; and though void of active energy, much persevering energy." This negative character is not, however, so complete a barrier to improvement as the distribution of society into the hereditary divisions called castes, and the immutable custom which requires each individual to tread in the steps of his fathers, by limiting the exercise of his faculties to the same kind of employment. Thus

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he is compelled to pace through life in one dull, uniform circle. But, though precluded from the possibility of raising himself above the prescribed level, the poor Hindoo may fall below it: by the loss of caste he may be degraded to a condition resembling that of an excommunicated person, be cut off from society, and regarded as an outcast an impure and detestable animal.

From the corporal bondage of the negro, and the mental vassalage of the Hindoo, let us advert to our own situation, to that of our friends, and thousands of our countrymen.

"He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,

And all are slaves beside."

Alas! how few attain this noble elevation! How few are delivered from "the fear of man that bringeth a snare," from the tyranny of custom, from the often unsuspected influence of habit and early prepossession! With the perfect law of liberty in their hands, how few fix their attention upon it so effectually as to experience deliverance from long-cherished prejudices! We may look down upon the poor Hindoos;

their devotion to hideous, grotesque idols, to abject superstitions, and cruel ceremonies, appears to us unworthy of rational beings; but perhaps it never occurred to us to reflect whether there are not some points of resemblance between ourselves and this very peoplewhether the tyranny of custom has not forged chains for us also, which we not only passively endure, but jealously guard with as unreasonable an attach

ment.

In our own little Society we assign peculiar importance to temperance, simplicity, and self-denial; but, in practice, do we excel, are we even comparable to, the Hindoos in these virtues? Were we to make a fair comparison, even in those particulars where our advantages are most striking, we might be startled by unexpected resemblances, which would show us that the nature of fallen man is every where the same, and manifests its identity by displaying the same tendencies. Hence his per

severing attempts to propitiate his offended deities, or to save his soul by his own efforts,―to attain a fancied perfection by a state of complete mental quiescence, or by voluntary continuance in protracted suffering, by which he hopes to obtain an union of soul with, or ultimate absorption into, the Divine nature.

Great indeed are our advantages over the Hindoos, for we possess the Oracles of God; but do we acknowledge them as "the primary rule of faith and practice ?" Have we not our

Vedas, presenting other views of Divine truths? and which do we regard as the true representation ?

We reject a hireling ministry, but are there not various modes of compensation beside compulsory payments ? and have we not our Brahmins, to whose authority we bow? The Hindoos and

ourselves agree in believing that man is a fallen creature, but do either their Vedas, or our own, always give the scriptural view of his fallen state? When once the "sure word" is deserted we may wander widely, and who shall decide whether it is more rational to teach man to look into his own dark mind for spiritual illumination, or to believe that his errors will be corrected by passing through successive states of probation, till, rising by degrees in the scale of being, he is ultimately absorbed in the Divine essence?

Again; has nothing like the tyranny of caste obtained place amongst us? Have we not lost sight of conversionof the necessity of being "born again," to qualify us for a right entrance into the church of Christ; and, by adopting the unscriptural rule of birthright membership, shut up our children to a tacit acquiescence in the opinions of their ancestors? Where are they taught to look for the foundation of their faith? Are they not daily, hourly required, by various overt acts, to bear a personal testimony to scruples which probably they never felt, to dogmas they never examined; and which, perhaps, might not bear the test of Scripture? What can be the result of such an education,

such a gratuitous profession of an unfelt principle, but to produce a lifeless image of consistency? No wonder that "religion is in a low state amongst us," no wonder that conviction, repentance, and conversion are so much thrown into the back-ground, and that " obedience to manifested duty" is often substituted for dependence on the great atonement for sin, thus leading to selfcomplacency, instead of the peace of conscience arising from justification by faith.

When we reflect how jealously every avenue to clearer knowledge is guarded by eviting the present controversy, or by exclusively presenting certain conventional constructions of Scripture, how perseveringly the spirit of inquiry is checked, not by declared opposition, but by the expressive disapprobation of silence; or, if this fails to quench the kindling spark, by the denunciation of impending loss of caste,-of dismission from a sphere of usefulness which our earliest associations led us to regard as honourable among men, and acceptable to God;-is it strange that young persons so educated should, as they grow up, be afraid to examine for themselves, lest truth should present herself under the interdicted form? or is it any wonder that persons advanced in years, whose associations are consequently more fixed, and who have long and usefully filled influential stations, should feel that the stroke of such a separation must be terrible?

Thou wilt say, my friend, that I colour this description too highly,—that numbers, both young and old, have cheerfully borne this loss of caste, this disruption of ties which I represent as almost indissoluble. I grant it, and doubt not that many of them have received that" hundred fold in the present time” which was graciously promised to such renunciation: but when I consider the natural effect of this combination of circumstances, I must say, advisedly, that if the subtlety of Satanic influence had been employed to invent something of power to counteract the doctrine of the natural depravity

of the human heart,-of the necessity of regeneration, of the blessed assurance of justification by faith; I know not that any thing more effectual could have been devised than to instil the persuasion that unregenerate, unconcerned persons, have a birth-right inheritance in the church of Christ, and have within themselves "a seed of light and life," a guide to duty and to peace, which renders them independent of the Scriptures and of outward instruction. Haply many of these are of amiable tempers; a guarded education may have preserved them from open sin, and habit confirmed them as respectable moral characters, while yet their notions remain so vague and undefined that they are insensible of the wide distinction between devotional feelings occasionally experienced, and the knowledge of the Gospel, which, practically received, works an abiding change, a self-dedication never to be forgotten.

Unhappily for us, our laws and customs as effectually prevent a growth in the truth,” a progress in the knowledge and practice of some parts of Christian doctrine and duty, as can be presented by the institutions of the Hindoos; because, when questions are started-even questions of personal obligation-they are not tried by "the perfect law of liberty," but, if not silently quashed, they are referred to our Vedas, and the constructions of our Brahmins. Thus we forsake "the living waters," whose freshness is unimpaired, for cisterns of men's hewing, broken and dilapidated, incapable of supplying our necessities. Alas! are we sensible of our spiritual wants? Of all" the signs of the times," none strikes me as of darker omen than the undisguised acknowledgment, not only by young persons, but by Friends high in office, of the deplorable state of the ministry, accompanied as it sometimes, and I fear increasingly, is, with such an exaltation of the privilege and advantage of silent meetings, as implies that things would be on a better footing if we were fairly rid of the ministry we have.