time to time, crucified the innocent life of God in his own soul; and which Paul calls "the old man with his deeds," or "the man of sin and son of perdition," who hath taken God's seat in the heart, and there exalteth itself above all that is called God, or is worshipped, sitting as Judge and Supreme. Now all this life, power, and will of man, must be slain and die on the cross spiritually, as Jesus died on the cross outwardly, and this is the true atonement, which that outward atonement was a clear and full type of. This the apostle Paul sets forth in a plain manner, Romans vi. 3, 4. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead" outwardly, "by the glory of the Father, even so we,” having by the spiritual baptism witnessed a death to sin, shall know a being raised up spiritually, and so walk in newness of life.

But the primitive Christian church having soon after the apostles' days, turned away from their true and only sufficient guide, the Spirit of Truth, that Jesus commanded his disciples to wait for, and not attempt to do any thing until they had received it, but assured them that when they had received it, it would be a complete and sufficient rule, without the addition of any other thing, as it would lead them and guide them into all truth. And to its sufficiency, John, the beloved apostle, bore this noble and exalted testimony, in full accordance with his Divine Master, in this emphatic language to his fellow believers: "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you, which is truth, and is no lie."* But the believers, by too much looking to their old traditions, soon lost sight of, or neglected fully to attend, as they ought to have done, to this inward guide, and turned their attention outward to the letter, which always killeth those who lean upon it as a rule. Hence, the successors of those meek and self-denying followers of the example and commands of Jesus, apostatized

*1 John, ii. 20, 27.

from the simplicity of the gospel, by which the unity was broken, and they soon became divided into sects and parties, and persecuted each other; and invented and promulgated inconsistent and unsound doctrines, such as original sin, certifying that all Adam's offspring are condemned to eternal punishment for one mis-step of our first parents; for they do not appear to have been guilty of but one failure, and that, it appears, they made satisfaction for at the time of their first arraignment by their benevolent Creator, manifesting sorrow and repentance: which seems to be fairly implied by the sequel of the interview between them; for it is said he clothed them with coats of skins, to hide their nakedness, which is an emblem of durable clothing, and as their nakedness was not an outward one, but a nakedness of soul, not being able to conceal their sin from the All-penetrating Eye of Divine Justice, so when he had brought them, through conviction, to see their error and to repent of it, he was reconciled to them, and clothed them again with his Holy Spirit.

And inasmuch as those idle promulgators [of the doctrine] of original sin, believe they are made sinners without their consent or knowledge, which, according to the nature and reason of things, every rational mind must see is impossible; so likewise they are idle and ignorant enough to believe they are made righteous without their consent or knowledge, by the righteousness of one who lived on the earth.near two thousand years before they had an existence, and this by the cruel act of wicked men slaying an innocent and righteous one; and these are bold and daring enough to lay this cruel and unholy act to the charge of Divine Justice, as having purposely ordained it to be so: But what an outrage it is against every righteous law of God and man, as the Scriptures abundantly testify. See Exodus, xxiii. 7. "Keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay thou not, for I will not justify the wicked." Deut. xxvii. 25, "Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person ;" and much more might be produced to show the wickedness and absurdity of the doctrine, that would accuse the perfectly just, all-wise, and mer

ciful Jehovah, of so barbarous and cruel an act, as that of slaying his innocent and righteous Son, to atone for the sins and iniquities of the ungodly.

Surely, is it possible, that any rational being that has any right sense of justice or mercy, would be willing to accept forgiveness of his sins on such terms! Would he not rather go forward and offer himself wholly up to suffer all the penalties due to his crimes, rather than the innocent should suffer? Nay, was he so hardy as to acknowledge a willingness to be saved through such a medium, would it not prove that he stood in direct opposition to every principle of justice and honesty, of mercy and love, and show himself to be a poor selfish creature, unworthy of notice !*

* George Whitehead, one of the most distinguished and approved early writers in the Society of Friends, when speaking of the doctrine of satisfaction, or justification by imputative righteousness, expresses himself in the following terms, viz. "The Quakers see no need of directing men to the type for the antitype, viz. neither to the outward temple, nor yet to Jerusalem, either to Jesus Christ or his blood; knowing that neither the righteousness of faith, nor the word of it, doth so direct. (Rom. x.) And is it the Baptists' doctrine to direct men to the material temple, and Jerusalem, the type for the antitype? What nonsense and darkness is this! And where do the Scriptures say the blood was there shed for justification, and that men must be directed to Jerusalem to it? (Whereas, that blood shed is not in being.) But the true apostle directed them to the light, to walk in the light, for the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse them from all sin."- Whitehead's Light and Life of Christ, p. 34.

"You blasphemously charge Divine justice with punishing your sins to the full in Christ, or punishing him, that was ever innocent, to the full for your sins; so that you account it against justice to punish your sins again in you, though you live and die in them. And yet you think it an excellent piece of justice, to punish the innocent to the full, for the guilty. But your mistake in this is gross, as will further appear, and you will not hereby be acquitted, nor cleared. This will not prove you invested with Christ's everlasting righteousness, nor will this cover your own filthy rags, or hide your shame.

"And while you think that you are secured in your sins, from the stroke of justice, as having been fully executed, and that by way of revenge, upon the innocent Son of God, in punishing your sins to the full upon him; I say, while you state this as the nature of the satisfaction by Christ's suffering in your stead, the whole world may as well acquit itself thereby from punishment as you; for he died for all, and is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.' And therefore if this must be looked upon as the full punishment of sin, that it was laid upon Christ, and that the sin cannot be again punished after such satisfaction,' this may make a merry world in sin-once punished to the full in Christ, never to be punished agam upon the offender, which the law directly takes hold of. Oh, soothing doe

Having given thee a sketch of my views on the subject of thy queries, how far thou may consider them correct, I must leave to thy judgment and consideration; and may now recommend thee to shake off all traditional views that thou hast imbibed from external evidence, and turn thy mind to the light within, as thy only true teacher: wait patiently for its instruction, and it will teach thee more than men or books can do; and lead thee to a clearer sight and sense of what thou desirest to know, than I have words clearly to convey it to thee in. That this may be thy experience, is my sincere desire; and with love to thyself and family, I conclude, thy affectionate friend.

ELIAS HICKS.

TO WILLIAM POOLE, WILMINGTON.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

New York, 5th mo. 23d, 1823.

Thy affectionate remembrance of the 24th ult. is now before me, having perused it several times, and not without feeling near sympathy with thee and thy dear companion, under your present bodily affliction. But these seemingly unfavourable tidings, were nevertheless accompanied with a comfortable hope, that through the patient and quiet acquiescence of thy beloved companion to the present dispensation of a wise and gracious providence, as noted in thy letter, and thy intention. to copy after such an excellent example, will, I trust, as you continue to persevere therein, bring you to witness the truth of the apostolic declaration, "that all things work together for

trine to sinners! the plain effect of which is, to make the wicked world rejoice in a sinful state, and say, 'O, admirable Justice, that was pleased thus to revenge thyself upon an innocent man, that never sinned, and to punish our sin to the full upon him! O transcendent mercy! that hast found out this expedient, that we might be fully acquitted, pardoned, and discharged from the penalty that is just and due to us for all our sins, past, present, and to come! O! what glad tidings are these to the hypocrites and drunkards.”—G. Whitehead, Christian Quaker, pp. 404, 405.

good, to them that love God." And should you be permitted to finish your course in this toilsome probationary state, a few years sooner than some of your ancient brethren and sisters, whose lot it has been to bear the burden and heat of the day; yet this would be no cause of regret to you, but rather of joy and rejoicing, in the fruition of that sweet peace that this world, with all its best accommodations, can never give, neither can the want of them ever take away, nor the remembrance of them tend, in the least, to sully that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

I am quite in sentiment with thee respecting the case of trial, and test of our religious principles, in the late Yearly meeting in Philadelphia;* and had there not been light and strength enough vouchsafed by the head of the church, to condemn and put to silence that mass of incongruous matter, brought forward by a party in the Meeting for sufferings, as a creed, or test of the faith of the members of our Society, it would, I believe, have convinced every sensible enlightened member, that the glory of the Divine presence had entirely departed from us, or at least as much so as from any of the formal professors of Christianity. I think we might as well have gone back and submitted to the Episcopalian, or Presbyterian creed, as to have adopted the one brought forward by that meeting.

Please to remember me affectionately to thy wife and children, and with a large share to thyself, I rest thy assured friend.

ELIAS HICKS.

* An attempt by the opposers of Elias Hicks to obtain the sanction of the Yearly Meeting to a document called, Extracts from the Writings of Primitive Friends, &c., and intended to operate as a creed or test of faith; but which was rejected by the meeting.