versally to enable them to distinguish be tween good and evil, was given them also, the Quakers believe, for another purpose; namely, to redeem or save them. Redemption and salvation in this sense are the same in the language of the Quakers, and mean a purification from the sins or pollutions of the world, so that a new birth may be produced and maintained in the inward man.

As the doctrine of the Quakers with respect to redemption differs from that which generally obtains, I shall allot this chapter to an explanation of the distinctions which the Quakers usually make upon this subject.

The Quakers never make use of the words Original Sin, because these are never to be found in the Sacred Writings. They consider man, however, as in a fallen or degraded state, and as inclined and liable to sin. They consider him, in short, as having the seed-of sin within him, which he inherited from his parent Adam. But though they acknowledge this, they dare not say that sin is imputed to him on account of Adam's transgression, or that he is chargeable with sin until he actually commits it,

As

As every descendant, however, of Adam has this seed within him, which, amidst the numerous temptations that beset him, he allows some time or other to germinate, so he stands in need of a Redeemer; that is, of some power that shall be able to procure pardon for past offences, and of some power that shall be able to preserve him in the way of holiness for the future. To expiate, himself, in a manner satisfactory to the Almighty for so foul a stain upon his nature as that of sin, is utterly beyond his abilities; for no good action that he can do, can do away that which has been once done. And to preserve himself in a state of virtue for the future is equally out of his own power, because this cannot be done by any effort of his reason, but only by the conversion of his heart. It has therefore pleased the Almighty to find a remedy for him in each of these cases. Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of his own body, expiates for sins that are past; and the Spirit of God, which has been afforded to him as a spiritual teacher, has the power of cleansing and purifying the heart so thoroughly, that he may be preserved from sins to come.

That

That forgiveness of past sins is procured by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is obvious from various passages in the Holy Scriptures. Thus the apostle Paul says that "Jesus Christ was set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God*.' And in his Epistle to the Colossians he says, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sinst." This redemption may be called outward; because it has been effected by outward means, or by the outward sufferings of Jesus Christ, and it is considered as putting men, in consequence of this forgiveness, into the capacity of salvation. The Quakers, however, attribute this redemption wholly to the love of God, and not to the impossibility of his forgiveness without a plenary satisfaction, or to the motive of heaping all his vengeance on the head of Jesus Christ, that he might appease his own wrath.

The other redemption, on the other hand, is called inward, because it is considered by the Quakers to be an inward redemption + Coloss. i. 14.

* Rom. iii. 25.

from

from the power of sin, or a cleansing of the heart from the pollutions of the world. This inward redemption is produced by the Spirit of God, as before stated, operating on the hearts of men, and so cleansing and purifying them as to produce a new birth in the inward man; so that the same Spirit of God, which has been given to men in various degrees since the foundation of the world, as a teacher in their spiritual concerns, which hath visited every man in his day, and which hath exhorted and reproved him for his spiritual welfare*, has the power of preserving him from future sin, and of leading him to salvation.

That this inward redemption is performed by the Spirit of God, the Quakers show from various passages in the Sacred Writings. Thus St. Paul says, " According to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." The same apostle says, again, "It is the law of the Spirit that maketh free

*The Quakers believe, however, that this Spirit was more plentifully diffused, and that greater gifts were given to men, after Jesus was glorified, than before. Eph. iv. 8. + Titus iii, 5.

from

from the law of sin and death*."".

And again, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

The Quakers say, That this inward redemption or salvation is effected by the Spirit, is obvious also from the experience of all good men, or from the manner in which many have experienced a total conversion or change of heart. For though there are undoubtedly some, who have gone on so gradually in their reformation from vice to virtue, that it may have been considered to be the effect of reason which has previously determined on the necessity of a holy life yet the change from vice to holiness has often been so rapid and decisive, as to leave no doubt whatever that it could not have been produced by any effort of reason, but solely by some Divine operation, which could only have been that of the Spirit of God.

;

Of these two kinds of redemption, the outward and the inward, of which the latter will be the subject of our consideration, it may be observed that they go hand in hand together. St. Paul has coupled them together in these. † Rom. viii. 14.

*Rom. viii. 2.

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