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Untitled Article
to law ; and turning to some of his council standingby him , asked , * which of you would do as much for me , were I in the same condition ? ' " This generous offer was not made merely on account of the importance of their leader ' s services to the cause , for it
was by no means uncommon . Toulmin * sa \ s , " while they were exposed to hatred , con tempt and abuse from without , brotherly-kindness and unfeigned charity increased , and connected them amongst themselves . While each seemed regardless of his own liberty , they were zealous advocates for that of their brethren , and
almost incessant in their representations to those in authority of the sufferings of their friends ; going so far in their charity , as to offer themselves freely , person for person , to lie in prison instead of such as they apprehended were in danger of perishing through the length or extremity of their confinement . " The pecuniary assistance which they rendered to teach other , at times seemed almost to
amount to a community of goods . Those who were left at liberty made every possible effort to alleviate the sufferings of their brethren in confinement : and made their kindness more
effectual by the systematic manner in which it was exercised .
This union deserves attention , because its bond was not , as among all other parties , a common faith . Whatever may be their present state , they had then no creed . Their discipline ,
as Penn expressly declares , related only to conduct , to holiness and charity ; and as to imposing upon one another any practice regarding faith and worship , he says , that it " is never to be done or suffered or submitted
unto . This is true Christian Liberty . It gives that mental freedom to the individual which was withheld both by Reformers arid the leading Nonconformists . Many advocates for religious liberty think they have done nough when they have secured it for
societies . It is supposed that these have a right to make what laws , and fix what terms of membership they please . And so they have , merely as societies , but not as Christian churches . They are guilty of ecclesiastical tyranny , of persecution , when they ex-* Supplement to Neale .
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communicate a member , which must generally produce a serious dimin u * tion of his social comforts , merely for change of opinion . There was probably a great variety of opinion on doctrinal points amongst the early
Quakers , and no small admixture of heresy . That many were Unitarian may be inferred from the fact , that Peun was challenged to name a single Quaker who prayed to Christ . He replied that he had himself ; but such a challenge would not have been given unless it had been notorious that it
was not uncommon amongst them to withhold divine honours from the Son . G . Whitehead , in a public disputation with Vincent and other Presbyterians , when the latter inquired , " Whether thev owned one Godhead iu three
distinct and separate persons ? " replied that 4 * God did not use to wrap his truths in heathenish metaphysics , but deliver them in plain language : " and refused to use any but scriptural
terms . Probably the majority of them were Sabelliaiis . At any rate , they were the only Christians of that day who could change their opinions without being disowned by their party .
They could feel and exert themselves for other sufferers , as well as those of their own denomination . Their universal charity , was conspicuous on several occasions , especially in procuring from Charles an extension of the pardon granted some of
their own body , to many of other sects . Whitehead , who interested himself for this purpose , observed , " our being of different judgments arid societies did not abate my sympathy
or charity , even towards those who , in some cases , had been ouropposers . " This was a very mild way of referring to , and a very noble return for , the persecutions which they had endured from Nonconformists . From this
guilt , the Baptists were not wholly free ; but the Independents and Presbyterians were deeply culpable . They united in the infamous attempt of the divines ( an attempt graced with the names of Baxter , Nye and Goodwin ) ,
to violate one of the first principles of the Republican Constitution , by explaining the article * securing liberty of conscience to all who professed faith in God by Jesus Christ , so m to exclude Quaker * from toleration with some other sect * more deservedly
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15 ? 4 On the Conduct of the Quakers in the Reign of Charles . II .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 174, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/22/
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