[Footnote 26:  Rom. 6. 23.]

[Footnote 27:  Rom. 3. 25.]

[Footnote 28:  Heb. 2. 9.]

[Footnote 29:  4. 25.]

[Footnote 30:  Heb. 12. 2.]

[Footnote 31:  Heb. 7. 25.]

[Footnote 32:  Rom. 10. 4.]

They believe, again, that, in consequence of these various revelations, as contained in the scriptures, they have inestimable advantages over the Heathen nations, or over those, where the gospel-sun has never yet shone; and that, as their advantages are greater, so more will be required of them, or their condemnation will be greater, if they fail to attend to those things which are clearly revealed.

They maintain, again, that their discipline is founded on the rules of the gospel; and that in consequence of giving an interpretation different from that of many others, to some of the expressions of Jesus Christ, by which they conceive they make his kingdom more pure and heavenly, they undergo persecution from the world—­so that they confirm their attachment to the scriptures by the best of all credible testimonies, the seal of their own sufferings.

CHAP.  VI.

This spirit of God, which has been thus given to men as an infallible guide in their spiritual concerns, has been given them universally—­To the patriarchs and Israelites, from the creation to the time of Moses—­To the Israelites or Jews, from Moses to Jesus Christ—­To the Gentile world from all antiquity to modern times—­To all those who have ever heard the gospel—­And it continues its office to the latter even at the present day.

The Quakers are of opinion that the spirit of God, of which a portion has been given to men as a primary and infallible guide in their spiritual concerns, has been given them universally; or has been given to all of the human race, without any exceptions, for the same purpose.

This proposition of the Quakers I shall divide, in order that the reader may see it more clearly, into four cases.  The first of these will comprehend the Patriarchs and the Israelites from the creation to the time of Moses.  The second, the Israelites or Jews from the time of Moses to the coming of Jesus Christ.  The third, the Gentiles or Heathens.  And the fourth, all those who have heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ, from the time of his own ministry to the present day.

The first case includes a portion of time of above two thousand years.  Now the Quakers believe, that during all this time men were generally enlightened as to their duty by the spirit of God; for there was no scripture or written law of God during all this period.  “It was about two thousand four hundred years, says Thomas Beaven, an approved writer among the Quakers, after the creation of the world, before mankind had any external written law for the rule and conduct of their lives, so far as appears by either sacred or profane history; in all which time mankind, generally speaking, had only for their rule of faith and manners the external creation as a monitor to their outward senses, for evidence of the reality and certainty of the existence of the Supreme Being; and the internal impressions God by his divine spirit made upon the capacities and powers of their souls or inward man, and perhaps some of them oral traditions delivered from father to son.”