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Bromley , Oct . 10 , 1815 . Sir , fTlHE following extract from a
jL work entitled , <* Travels in some parts of North America in the years 1804 , 1805 and 1806 , by Robert Sutcliff , " seems , to me to contain a curious and genuine specimen of the dangerous manner in which those who
imagine they have the gift of " discerning spirits , " are apt to deceive themselves and to impose upon their brethren , to the manifest encouragement of fanaticism and pharisaic uncharitableness . The first edition was printed in 1811 , for William Alexander , of York , the editor , and an elder in the
Society of Friends , that is , one of those appointed to have the oversight of their ministers . A second edition has been lately published for the same person , and it is said in the preface , * ' with improvements , " I presume by the editor , as the author had been some time deceased . Whether these
improvements consist entirely o \ omis - sions I have not examined , but I find the whole of the following extract from p . 122 of the 1 st edition omitted in the 2 nd . Had some suitable apology for its insertion in the 1 st been made , and the reasons which induced the editor to omit it in the last
edition been candidly stated , I should not have troubled you with this communication . The editor ' s testimonial in favour of the " strict veracity" and "judicious" character of the narrative in the preface to both editions is peculiarly strong , and his obligation to
correct any injurious impression , it may be calculated to make , proportion ably powerful . He will , I trust , feel the obligation of doing this , through the medium of your pages
in justice to Hannah Barnard , to the author of the " little history'' of her , and the other elders of Hudson Meeting . I beg leave to annex a few explanatory notes to the text , and re-Vqiaiu very respectfully yours , THOMAS FOSTER .
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" 1805 , 10 Mo . SI . This daylcattre to Hudson Meeting , in com pany with as many of H . M—' s family as could ride in their coachee , a handsome carriage drawn by two horses . After Meeting I dined at the house of a worthy elder *
In conversation he gave me a little history of H , B . [ Hannah Barnard ] whose near neighbour and friend he had been for many years ; even for some time before she appeared as a minister . Her first appearances , he observed , were very acceptable , and in b
a good degree of humility . About that time he accompanied 1 . T . on a visit to her , who expressed his belief that she was rightly called , and encouraged her in the exercise of her gift . This circumstance tended to open her way more fully in the minds of friends , and her communications became more frequent and were enlarged . Notwithstanding this the
a The person here , described as c < a worthy elder" was John Alsop , whose conduct towards Hannah Barnard , as a Disciplinarian of Hudson Monthly Meeting , which disowned her- is recorded in a
Narrative of the Proceeding's in America of the Society called Quakers , in her case , at pp . 26—29 , 33 , 34 , 39 , 41—46 , 6 fc —64 , 68 , 69 , 73—75 , and in the preface p . vii . He sent a detailed account in MS . of those proceeding-s to the late Joseph Gurney Be van , which I happened to see , and soon after , in 1804 , invited him to publish , which it is no wonder he declined , for it confirms the accuracy of the
abovementioned narrative " in all the most material circumstances , ' and gave such arepresentation of that Meeting ' s proceedings , as J . G . Bevan confessed " he could not venture to defend . " k
b John Alsop was not , as here stated , a " near neighbour" of Hannah Barnardi " for some time before she [ first ] appeared as a minister , " which was , she inform * me , " before the settlement of Hudson , when she resided fifty miles south of that spot , and he " at Maroneck , sixty miks south of that : " and if he knew any thin ? minis
about her " first appearances" as a - ter , it must have been " by hear-say , ' a » she only knew him " personally at that time . " He was , however , rig htly informed that her ministry was then " very acceptable . " For his own testimony concerning it , in concert with that ot * ' * brethren , after having- ample opportunity of estimating its value , see Note c The person who thus expressed m * approval of Hannah Barnaul as a minister * and " encouraged her in tho e % er ^ y l her gift " aad to whose j udgment by u *
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& 32 Extract from Sutcliff ' s Travels relating to Hannah Barnard .
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readers were friends of the Doctor , they may perhaps know whether there be an v truth in this tale , or whether it be hawked about to serve a purpose . It is known that he made many converts from Calvinism , and in that view it cannot be true . AMICUS .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 632, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/32/
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