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This is the frame of mind in which man should approach his brother. * * * And we will be willing to apply the same rule of common sense and just criticism to the Writings we have received from our Fathers, that we apply to the Scriptures of the Hindoos, or the Wisdom of Confucius. The golden rule will be ours-we will mete out unto others that which we would have them measure to us.

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As Dr. Arnold says, "Faith without reason is not properly faith, but mere power-worship; and power-worship may be devil-worship, for it is reason which entertains the idea of God, an idea essentially made up of truth and goodness no less than power."

This was the great thought of Jesus; and yet to-day how much of that which is taught in his name is but mere powerworship! The truthful mind, therefore, has no other alternative but to accept the language of Dr. Arnold, and "to pronounce it not to be God's voice; for no sign of power, in confirmation of it, can alone prove it to be of God.”

Dogma cannot establish the immortality of our nature to the satisfaction of a single mind. It is the soul that speaks, and the reason which listens to the knowledge which God himself conveys. Providence has granted to all men this voice. The avenues or channels through which divine information flows to the soul can be closed or obstructed by sin or superstition; and spiritual darkness thus intervenes. The only means by which the obstruction can be removed is by removing the cause.

Popular Christianity holds up the idea of belief or dogma as the constituent or first principle in religion; hence the degraded condition of the Christian world, and hence the assertion that all communication from God is confined to a book written many hundreds of years ago. * *

Evangelical Christianity is to-day seeking to engraft upon the Constitution of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, its narrow, unphilosophical, untenable, and uncharitable creed. To correct this tendency of the Church let enlightened views be disseminated in men's minds; and the time may come, in

the Providence of God, when we can adopt the language of the poet-laureate of England,

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring out the false, ring in the true."

Will this lead us to undervalue the books of the olden time? Not so! The conceptions that ancient people have formed will become more valuable and dearer to us, because we appreciate them in the light of reason and truth.-David Newport, Pa. (Member of Society of Friends-"Hicksite.")

THE GOD-GIVEN POWER TO SEE OR RECEIVE A TRUTH, IS GOD'S COMMAND TO IMPART IT.

I regard all truth as coming from God, and hence eternal, universal, always good, and from its nature incapable, when rightly used, of being anything but good, to any person, at any time or place. There is, and can be, no new truth. Every truth, however recently discovered, has existed through all time; every philosophical or mathematical principle, every property of material bodies, is eternal. No matter when or by whom it was discovered, it pre-existed in the Divine Mind, and is the embodiment of a Divine thought.

When Dr. Herschel and Leverier discovered a "new planet," they were but favored to see what had always cxisted; the discovery was new, not the object discovered; and so of each principle or property in physical science. The same holds of spiritual truths, which are as much realities as physical truths. They are from the same eternal source, and communicated in like manner whenever a mind or soul is prepared—that is, sufficiently enlightened, expanded or purified to receive them, Every such revelation, spiritual or physical, is for good to mankind; as witness the happy influences of the many physical discoveries and devices within the past century upon the comfort, convenience and interests of humanity.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of Light, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning ;"

but these "good gifts" existing from creation have not been imparted to man, many of them, until the past half century. There must be a cause for this, something has changed, I think it is man. So far from man being a fallen being, and his highest condition past, the human family has advanced so that man occupies a higher plane than was before. He has come nearer to God, and been enabled to partake more of His image, both in the creative faculty, so to call it, and in the diffusion of blessings to his fellow-creatures. But this preparation must be by man; he must put inquiries to nature; and attentively and patiently await her answers.

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Not that the highest degree is yet attained; great blessings, no doubt, are still in the Divine Treasury, waiting until some one is sufficiently advanced or elevated to receive them, and add them to the long list of "good gifts."

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Now let it be observed emphatically, that these revelations, as I term them, or the knowledge of these truths and laws that have proved of such incalculable benefit to man, have not been made to or obtained by the idle and thoughtless, but they are the reward of the industrious, patient, devoted worker, the close observer, the man who questions nature with an unshaken confidence in the uniformity of her laws, which are the laws of God, and partake of His unchangeable wisdom and goodness.

All this, in my confident belief, is equally true of spiritual realities and the revelations of spiritual truths, which make up the heart or condition of humanity. Every added one expands the mind or soul, and increases its enlightenment. Their being successively imparted is interesting evidence of the progress of humanity. They are not revealed to the idle and thoughtless, bat to the industrious and devoted seeker into the depths of his spiritual nature, watchfully observing the changes in his own moral consciousness, inquiring into the causes by which these changes are produced, and by the aid of that Light which is freely furnished, discovering spiritual truths never before revealed. By this means he becomes deeply instructed in spiritual things, learns the nature and power of spiritual influ

ences and forces, and that they are as real and invariable as those that govern material bodies. When not restrained by considerations of policy arising from Society organizations, there is the same noble impulse to impart what has been discovered, to share with others the treasure found, and place it in the stock of common knowledge.

In every department of science, whose votaries make known every discovery, or what was believed to be such, as soon as it was made, there has been a great and steady advance. discovery prepared the way for another.

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In the spiritual department, if so it may be termed, the case has been very different. The field has been largely occupied, but the advance, if whatever change has been produced can be called an advance, has been comparatively very slow. For this there must be some cause, and this must be with man, not God. He would surely reveal truths connected with man's higher life and eternal interests as freely and fully as He has revealed those in other departments.

The hindering cause or causes are principally two. A conviction has obtained that all revelation has ceased, that the whole mind and will of God respecting man is contained in the Bible; that every spiritual discovery or illumination must conform to what is therein recorded, thus regarding any advance as unhoped for and impossible, and that the only means of progress in a knowledge of spiritual truths is to study this Book.

The second impediment is a prevailing belief that a knowedge of spiritual truths is not obtained through devotedness, inquiry and observation directed to the influences of our consciousness, but that God reveals these truths, not naturally, but supernaturally, to a favored few, and also that there must be a great discrimination when and to whom these truths are imparted; so that those who have been enabled to see more advanced and elevated truths, are restrained from disseminating them lest they should thereby disturb the harmony of the religious organization of which they are members. In this respect, Society organization, though possessed of so many advantages,

has been a bond and restraint, preventing its development and growth.

With these views, which I honestly entertain, it will be seen why I regard the God-given power to receive a Truth, to be God's command to communicate it; believing it to be for the benefit of the race and not of the individual alone. Doubts have a right place in the mental and spiritual economy. They lead to a deeper and more careful examination of the subject in search of evidence to establish the Truth. Plant Truth, propagate and cultivate Truth, and then in accordance with the theory of "natural selection" that the strongest will prevail, Truth being stronger than all opposing principles, and possessed of greater vitality and power, will flourish and spread. -Benjamin Hallowell, Maryland (Member of Society of Friends-"Hicksite.")

THE LESSON OF QUAKERISM-THE INWARD Light.

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The distinctive doctrine of Quakerism is the affirmation of "the immediate teaching and influence of the Holy Spirit" in the human soul. It has no elaborately wrought creed, or articles of faith. Among Friends there is a general unity of belief concerning the immediate teaching of the spirit; but a diversity of opinion in relation to other points of doctrine. is not my aim to plead for sect, either Orthodox or Hicksite. The estimate of human nature which the doctrine of the "Inner Light" necessitates is an exalted one. Logically it subordinates everything else. "The witness within" sits in judgment upon every message, verbal or written, upon every action as well. There is no room left for a Bible of absolute authority, none for the functions of an exclusive Mediator and Saviour. All are children of the Father, and joint heirs in his divinely-human household. We do not need to seek to drag Jesus down, or to lessen his legitimate scope of influence. It should be our business, as it was his, to lift all humanity up to the same level of

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