pass, and five cubits in height, standing upon twelve figures of oxen in brass nor of the lavers, the tables, and basins, nor of the candlesticks and lamps and tongs and snuffers and spoons and censers of pure gold! It seems, either that God could be worshiped (John iv. 23.) without all these-or, that our Lord, in giving us this instructive and humbling parable, left them all out of our view, on purpose to bring us to the substance of the thing as it stands in the New Covenant ! Farther-how came these two to be standing, praying and praising God in the Temple, for themselves, instead of employing a priest to offer up prayer and thanksgiving to Him in their behalf? And how came they by these their (so very dissimilar) vocal offerings? Should they not rather have proceeded in their worship according to a set form, prescribed in a Liturgy authorized by the State-saying Amen in the proper place, to each petition and act of thanksgiving or praise? It seems that, with all this cost of ceremony and magnificence, with all the slain beasts and burnt sacrifices, and offerings of lambs and kids of the flock, and pairs of turtle doves and young pigeons: amidst shouts of Hallelujah! and the sound of loud trumpets and cymbals and other instruments of musick-with all these helps, the High priest of this outward temple was not provided, in behalf of the worshipper, with that, without which no individual should pretend to worship God, the prayer of the heart! The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O GOD, thou wilt not despise!' Ps. li. 17. The great end of all public worship, as of the very creation of the worshippers, is that God may be glorified. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one that is called by my name~~for I have created him for my glory; I have formed him, yea I have made him [for my praise]. Isa. xliii. 6, 7. Again, Thou art worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created!' 6 In that outward and ceremonial dispensation, in the sight of a people as yet unprepared to worship him in spirit and in truth,' and of strangers and proselytes yet more rude and ignorant, it pleased the true God for a season, thus, to take glory to Himself. And the High priest, entering by himself once a year within the vail, made atonement for the sins of the people: each worshipper, even then, being expected to find and put up his own prayer for himself; while the sacrifice was offered for the generality of the people. But in the Gospel times, under the New Covenant, GOD will have rendered to himself, through Jesus Christ his Son, our great High Priest and Mediator, in the Holy Spirit, a more excellent glory: a worship transcending the former in worth in as great a degree, as that of the soul of man does all visible objects. The hour cometh, and now is,' said Christ in the day of his outward ministry, when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. 6 Here we have GOD-the true and living God-GOD as a spirit, for the object; the body of man for the temple; Christ in spirit the medium, and the soul of man the agent-the offering, the aspirations of a lowly and contrite spirit. ALL SPIRITUAL, the poor frail body excepted -and, hence, approaching more and more near, as the whole man is sanctified in body, soul, and spirit, to the nature and state of that future blessed spiritual world, to which all our obedience, all our prayers, praises, alms, thanksgivings, and sacrifices to God's holy requirings, tend to bring us! O blessed change! O holy priesthood, worship, sacrifice! Let me ever watch, that I swerve not from that in which, however feebly and meanly, I may yet rightly comprehend, use, and enjoy you! H. 22 ii. 1829. ART. IV. FABLES, &C. IN VERSE AND PROSE.-CONTINUED. The Dogs in Jeopardy. Æsop, xxii. Felix, quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum. An Alderman, who own'd a place, And taste the ven'son and the trout; Then home, ere northern whirlwinds blow, To sit and fast from morn to night- Sheep first, then goats, to slaughter went: The farmer's labour, one by one, In boil'd or roast, had disappear'd And now, the very dogs were scar'd: "Let's run, ," said they, "and quit the house: Communications may be addressed, POST-PAID, "For the Editor of the Yorkshireman," at the Printer's, Pontefract: at Longman and Co,'s, London; John Baines and Co.'s, Leeds; and W. Simpson's, York. CHARLES ELCOCK, PRINTER, PONTEFRACT. ART. I. Tithe Controversy: Offa; Ethelwolf. PRICE 4d. Ishall devote this number chiefly to the TITHE QUESTION-a question on which it is now become the duty of the people called Quakers to speak out, and avow, in the fullest manner, their desire (if yet, as a body, they entertain that desire, which the conduct of their predecessors in the same faith, and of many patient sufferers for conscience sake in the present day, has evinced) to be freed from every yoke of unrighteous Ecclesiastical imposition, in the things that concern our duty to God and man. Among the parties engaged on the wrong side, in this controversy, I have seen with much regret the respected name of my friend Professor Lee, late of Cambridge, now Vicar of Banwell. It appears that a Bristol Friend had presented to him a document published by the last Yearly Meeting of Friends, in Vindication of their Testimony; to which he has thought best to reply in print; and has thus subjected himself to the further trouble of a Rejoinder by the Friend who gave him the piece. As the latter is a fugitive sheet, and may be in the hands of but few of my readers-as it contains, moreover, a serious and important argument in the Society's behalf on the subject, I shall here, first, give it entire. A Brief Statement of the reasons why the religious Society of Friends object to the payment of Tithes, and other demands of an Ecclesiastical nature: issued by the Yearly Meeting of the said Society, held in London, in the Fifth Month, 1832. The Religious Society of Friends has now existed in this country for nearly two centuries as a distinct Christian community. Amongst other circumstances by which we have been distinguished from our fellow-professors of the Christian name, has been an objection, founded on a scruple of conscience, to the payment of Tithes, and other demands of an Ecclesiastical character. Apprehending that the motives of our conduct herein are not generally well understood, and anxiously desiring also that our own members may be encouraged and strengthened to act consistently with our Christian profession, we think it right, at the present time briefly to set forth the reasons for our testimony on this important subject. We have uniformly entertained the belief, on the authority of Holy Scripture, that when, in the fulness of time, according to the allwise purposes of God, our blessed Lord and Saviour appeared personally upon earth, He introduced a dispensation pure and spiritual in its character. He taught by his own holy example and divine precepts that the ministry of the Gospel is to be without pecuniary remuneration. As the gift is free, the exercise of it is to be free also: the office is to be filled by those only who are called of God by the power of the Holy Spirit; who, in their preaching, as well as in their circumspect lives and conversation, are giving proof of this call. The forced maintenance of the ministers of Religion is in our view, a violation of those great privileges which God in his wisdom and goodness, bestowed upon the human race, when He sent his Son to redeem the world, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to lead and guide mankind into all truth. Our blessed Lord put an end to that priesthood, and to all those ceremonial usages connected therewith, which were before divinely ordained under the Law of Moses. The present system of Tithes was not in any way instituted by Him, our Holy Head, and High Priest, the great Christian Law-giver. It had no existence in the purest and earliest ages of his Church, but was gradually introduced, as superstition and apostacy spread over professing Christendom, and was subsequently enforced by legal authority. And it further appears to us, that in thus enforcing as due to God and Holy Church," a tithe upon the produce of the earth, and upon the increase of the herds of the field, an attempt was made to uphold and perpetuate a Divine institution, appointed only for a time, but which was abrogated by the coming in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. The vesting of power by the laws of the land in the king, assisted by his council, whereby articles of belief have been framed for the adoption of his subjects, and under which the support of the teachers of these articles is enforced, is, in our judgment, a procedure at variance with the whole scope and design of the Gospel; and as it violates the rights of private judgment, so it interferes with that responsibility by which man is bound to his Creator. In accordance with what has been already stated, we of course conscientiously object also to all demands made upon us in lieu of tithes. We likewise object to what are termed Easter-dues, demands originally made by the priests of the Church of Rome, but continued in the Protestant Church of England, for services which we cannot receive. We also object to Mortuaries, sums applied for and still enforced in some places, as due to the incumbent of a parish on the death of the head of a family. Neither do we find, in the example or precepts of our blessed Lord and his Apostles, any authority for these claims, or others of a kindred nature, which all had their origin in times of the darkness and corruption of the Christian church. And we further consider, that to be compelled to unite in the support of buildings, where a mode of religious worship is observed in which we cannot conscientiously unite, and in paying for appurtenances attached to that mode of worship from which we alike dissent, is subversive of that freedom which the Gospel of Christ has conferred upon all. Deeply impressed with a conviction of the truth of these considerations, we have felt it to be a religious duty to refuse active compliance with all Ecclesiastical demands which have been made upon us; or to be parties to any compromise whereby the payment of them is to be insured. That this conduct has not arisen from a contumacious spirit, we trust the general character of our proceedings will amply testify. And we trust also that it will be readily admitted, that political considerations have not governed our religious Society, but that we have been actuated by a sincere desire to maintain, in the sight of God and man, a conscientious testimony to the freedom and spirituality of the Gospel of Christ, and thus to promote the enlargement of his kingdom upon earth. 27 Henry viii. c. 20. In their support of these views, our pious predecessors underwent many and grievous sufferings, which they bore with Christian meekness and patience. Their loss of property was often excessive; they were subjected to cruel and vexatious prosecutions; they endured long and painful imprisonments; and not a few, who were thus deprived of their liberty, manifested the sincerity of their faith by patiently suffering this imprisonment unto death. Soon after the accession of William III. to the throne of this kingdon, more lenient laws were made by the government for the recovery of these demands, imprisonment became less frequent, and the execution of the law less severe. Subsequent legislative enactments, under the mild sway of the present reigning family, have still further mitigated its force. We are sensible that our grateful acknowledgments are due for these things, and we thus publicly express them. At the same time, we feel that there are laws still unrepealed, by which we might, in the support of these our Christian principles, be subjected to great loss of property, and to imprisonment for life; and in the execution of the law, as it now exists, much pecuniary suffering, and many oppressive proceedings, may be and are inflicted. And here we would observe, that each individual amongst us wholly sustains the amount of the distraint made upon him, and of all the consequent expenses: we have no fund out of which a reimbursement takes place, as some have erroneously supposed. Seeing that we have as a Religious Society invariably made, on this subject, an open confession before men, we earnestly desire that we may all steadfastly adhere to the original grounds of our testimony; not allow ourselves to be led away by any feelings of a party spirit, or suffer any motives of an inferior character to take the place of those which are purely Christian. May none amongst us shrink from the faithful and upright support of our Christian belief, but through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. seek after that meek disposition, in which our Society has uniformly thought it right to maintain this testimony, and which we desire may ever characterize us as a body. It becomes us all, when thus conscientiously refusing a compliance with the law of the land, to do it in that peaceable spirit of which our Lord has left us so blessed an example. May we all be concerned, in accordance with the advice of this Meeting, given forth in the year 1759, 'to demonstrate, by our whole conduct and conversation, that we really suffer for conscience-sake, and keep close to the guidance of that good Spirit, which will preserve in meekness and quiet resignation under every trial. For if resentment arise against those whom we may look upon as the instruments of our sufferings, it will deprive us of the reward of faithfulness, give just occasion of offence, and bring dishonour to the cause of Truth, Cavilling or casting reflections upon any because of our sufferings, doth not become the servants of Christ, whose holy example and footsteps we ought in all things faithfully to follow.' It is the duty of the Christian, in patience and meekness, and innocent boldness, to follow the convictions of religious duty, openly to avow his views, and humbly to confide in the ever blessed Head of the church. And we are persuaded that nothing will so effectually promote the increase of genuine Christianity, as for all who profess faith in Christ, to manifest by their humble and peaceable demeanour, and by the accordance of their whole lives with the precepts of the Gospel, that their trust is in God, and that they are seeking to imitate Him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. We desire that the existing evils may, under the Divine blessing, be remedied by the increase of Christian light and knowledge, and that it may please our Heavenly Father in the ordering of his Providence, so to influence all the legislative proceedings of our Government, on this deeply important subject, as that they may tend to the furtherance of the Church of Christ, and the increase of Godliness in the Nation. And it is our firm conviction, that in proportion as the heavenly precepts, and the blessed example of the Son of God, who is given of the Father to be Lord of all, spread and prevail, and effectually rule in the hearts |