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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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658 Persecution of Elias Hicks by American Quakers .
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the forthcoming Creed } , it was cause of uneasiness and deep concern to them , as their sincere regard and engagement for the promotion of the
cause of truth made it very desirable that all the members of our religious society should move ^ according to our notions ]] in true harmony , under the direction of our blessed Redeemer ,
upon being informed of thy sentiments by Joseph Whitehall . "' That Jesus Christ was not the Son of God , until after the baptism of John , and the descent of the Holy Ghost , and that he was no more than a man ; that the same power that saved him , must save us /
" Many friends were much affected therewith ; and some time afterwards , several friends being together in the city , on subjects relating to our religious society , they received an account from Ezra Comfort of some of thy expressions in the public General
Meeting immediately succeeding the Southern Quarterly Meeting , lately held in the State of Delaware , which was also confirmed by his companion Isaiah Bell , —* That Jesus Christ was the first man that introduced the Cospel dispensation . [ Surely he was .
A strange charge this ! To whom do these elders look up as the author and finisher of the Christian faith ?] * The Jews being under the outward and ceremonial law or dispensation , it
was necessary that there should be some outward miracle , —[ X > o these elders doubt or deny this I ] ' as the healing of the outward infirmities of the flesh * and raising the outward dead bodies , in order to introduce the
Gospel dispensation / [ Do they deem the belief of these truths a crime ia the minister they accuse ? They ^ dd ] * He [ Christ ] had no more power
given him than ? nanJ [ was capable of receiving from God , ] * for he was no more than man ; he had nothing to do with healing of the soul , for that belongs to God only , Elislia had the same power to raise the dead . That
man being obedient to the spirit of God in him , could arrive at as great or [ a ] greater degree of righteousness than Jesus Christ . That Jesus Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God , neither do I think it robbery for man to be equal ivith God . Then endeavoured to shew that by at-
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tending to that stone cut out of the mountain without hands , or the seed in mad , it would make man equal with God , sayirig , for that stone in man was the entire God * On hearing which , [ and unwarrantably circulating these
groundless reports and calumnies with no little industry , ] it appeared to Friends a subject of such great importance , and of such deep interest to the welfare of our religious Society , £ that is , in the eyes of these Sreed - makers , ] as to require an ^ eatfly
extension of care , in order that if any incorrect statement had been made , it should as soon as possible be rectified , [ How did their subsequent conduct evince this ? J or , if true , thou might be possessed of the painful concern of Friends , and their sense
and Judgment thereon . Two-of tiie elders accordingly waited on thee , oft the evening of the day of thy arriving in the city ; and although thou denied the statement , yet tbou declined to meet these two elders , in company with . those who made it , left the mind
of Friends without relief . [ Elias claiming the right , if he met them , to adduce evidence , * thai those reports were false . They add ] Ofte of the elders who had called on thee repeated his visit on the next day but one , and again requested thee to see the two elders and the Friends who made the
above statements , which thou again declined . [ Firmly as we then believed their report . ] The elders from the different Monthly Meetings in the city were then convened , and requested h private opportunity with thee , which thou also refused ; yet the next day consented to meet them at a time and
place of thy own fixing ; but when assembled , a mixed company being collected , [ as related p . 545 , ] the elders could not in this manner enter into a business which they considered of a nature not to be investigated ia any other way than in a select , private opportunity —[ without any other
evidence than our own ] . They therefore considered that meeting a clear indication of thy continuing to decline to meet the elders as by them proposed Under these circumstances , it appearing that thou art not willing to hear and disprove the charges brought against thee , [ on mere exparte evidence , ] we feel it a duty xo declare ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1824, page 658, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2530/page/18/
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