Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

32

THE DIVINE RECORDS.

be as

apostles, and read his Bible, and yet his heart may distant from the will of God as the poles are opposite each other, but he cannot thus follow after the devil and obtain spiritual life and growth; for though, in theory, he may serve God and mammon, yet, in practice, in reality, he "cannot serve God and mammon."*

For those whose religion is theoretical rather than practical; who satisfy their consciences with faith in the head, in contradistinction to faith and works in all that we are, and all that we possess; those who worship the scriptures as the only medium, means, or accompaniment, whereby we can become acceptable to God; it might be of great advantage to such to remember, that Moses thought so much more of fidelity in the heart than he did of records, that, on coming down from the Mount with the commandments engraved on two stones by God himself, he braket even those records to pieces, on finding the people had turned away from, and become unfaithful to, the spiritual law, written by the same gracious God on the fleshly tables of their hearts.

I would recommend those Friends who wish for evidences of the correctness of the principles of the early members of the society to remember, that the Redeemer gave this rule as the proof by which persons, and, in some degree, principles also, were to be judged; "Ye shall know them by their fruits; do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?" And, if we examine the histories of religious persecutions in the last few centuries, and the relative practice of the different religious societies while in power, and while the victims of power; I suppose we shall find that the Friends were nearly, or quite, the only society, who, having had political power,

* Mat. vi. 24. † Exodus xxxii. 19. ‡ Mat. vii. 16.

FRUITS OF GENUINE QUAKERISM.

33

refrained from the forcible exercise thereof in the promotion of proselytism. Also, that though worldly power succeeded in terrifying from their public religious meetings, every other religious community on which it tried its virulence, yet that they never have succeeded in terrifying or dissuading the Friends from theirs; but, though every other persecuted sect met secretly with fastened doors, and not in their usual places of public meeting, Friends always met* at their usual times and places in a public manner, though frequently informed beforehand, that an armed force would come to the meeting to disperse, ill use, and probably imprison them: that, although, in very many instances, a large proportion of Friends had been seized and sent to prison, yet the remainder met regularly, though that remainder, in some cases, consisted entirely of children, all the adults being in prison; and, although, in some instances, they no longer had benches to sit down upon, because they had been carried out and burned by the persecutors; and sometimes they had not the house to cover them, for their own meeting houses were often locked up from them, in which case their practice was to meet in the street or court, as near to the door as they could; and if, as in some instances, the meeting-house had been pulled down, they met on the heap of materials of which it had been composed.

But, friends, what have we of all this singleness of heart to the Lord? How few of us, in this our day,

* There may have been instances to the contrary, for aught I know; but not recollecting any deviations in the records of Friends, I presume it was their general, if not universal practice, thus to walk in the path of duty; trusting to God, either for protection, or for ability to bear whatever suffering he might permit they should be afflicted with.

c 3

34

LAMENTABLE CHANGE IN THE SOCIETY.

would do, and suffer, and fight, as these our honourable predecessors have done; and suffered, and fought with the sword of the Spirit, and under the banner of truth. Has not a fatal change taken possession even of some of our leading members, who, to this day, have great influence in our assemblies? I confess, that reflecting on the unfaithfulness of some whose ministry has been blessed to my soul, and whom I tenderly loved when they spoke in that authority which their influence has more recently tended to bear down and set at nought; and, pondering on these things, I have been reminded of, and could adopt, the lamentation of Jeremiah, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people: Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them: :"* for "they have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."†

Oh, that there were such an heart is us that we would fear the Lord, and keep all His commandments always, that it might be well with us, and with our children for ever: that we might, even in this stage of our existence, come to the consolatory assurance, that our souls were really made up into the bundle of life, in which the beggarly elements" have no place.

[ocr errors]

And can we deem this too high an attainment to aim at, when we "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."§ When we consider, that "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that

* Jer. ix. 1, 2. † Jer. vi. 14. Deut. v. 29. § 1 John iii. 1.

TALKING OF OTHERS, NOT DOING OUR OWN BUSINESS. 35

we might live through Him."* When we reflect that this Love is of His power, not of ours, and is His own blessed work, praised and magnified be His name for ever. "Herein is Love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Indeed, the Bible is full of the love of God to man, though He hateth our iniquities. How can we reasonably doubt His kind intentions towards us, if we honestly endeavour to walk before Him in that perfection, which is not of us nor begotten in our will, but is known in that love of God which admits no rival; in that trust of Him which admits no doubts; in that obedience to His Light in the conscience which allows neither stipulations, nor delay, nor diminution; in that allegiance in which the heart looks up to, adores, and magnifies His Holy Name; and all the feelings within us that we cherish and value, respond thereto.

And you, dear Friends, who yet hold fast your confidence in the Light of Life; you, who have too much dread of entering into temptation, to dare to exchange the endeavour after constant watchfulness, for sake of all the theories of even divine Truth; you, who in simple, yet attentive allegiance, love and gratitude to Christ, dare not exchange the performance of your duties to Him, for the habit of talking about and pretending to understand how He performed His duties to His Father; you, who have hitherto found the only way of realizing, to the sanctification of your own souls, an actual, and peaceful, and humble, reliance on the benefits of His obedience, to be inseparably connected with the endeavour to follow His holy example in the strength that He affords; you, who honestly trust His word, that if

* 1 John iv. 9. † 1 John iv. 10.

you act according to His will, He will certainly be with you even to the end, and eventually present you to His Father; you, who would feel any symptoms of doubt of these his precious promises, as blasphemy towards Him; you, however few your number now remains, who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed his image, or, in other words, whose souls do still love God better than the world and the things of the world; and you, who dare not worship even good men, by relying upon even them, good as you may rejoicingly believe them to be; but who still endeavour to bring all your deeds to the Light of Christ in your hearts, to be judged there, whether for consolation, or whether for suffering; to you, who have thus bought the truth, oh, sell it not; I conjure you, sell it not! And although you may take up a lamentation and say, "How are the mighty fallen;" yet, you may remember, that God is able even of the stones of the street to raise up children unto Abraham.* Yea, and if in our high places there are those among us, who, by supporting each other in preference to, and in no slight degree, in the neglect of, carrying every subject to the Judgment Seat of Christ, actually glorify each other more than they glorify God: it may be, that the children will yet be enabled to cry, Hosannah ! and out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, God may yet have perfected praise, even in our small church.t

And, however much religious controversalists may scoff at the doctrine of the light in the conscience, and you for professing it; and thereby prepare their souls for the sentence which, in that same light, will be addressed to them in the last day, "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Yet, dear

* Matt. iii. 9. + Matt. xxi. 16.

Matt. vii. 23.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »