Having now noticed the points wherein I consider the peculiar tenets of the Quakers to be erroneous, I shall conclude with the more agreeable part of my task, and prove by extracts from one of their writers how much of true Christian feeling exists among them. The following is from a little book given me by a Quaker, from the pen of J. Gurney, entitled “An Essay on Love to God.”
“Still more completely than the provisions of nature fall in with our bodily state, and supply our temporal wants; still more properly than the air agrees with the functions of the lungs, and the light with those of the eye, does the gospel of our Redeemer suit the spiritual condition of man. We are a fallen race, alienated from God by our sins, justly liable to his wrath: in the gospel we have pardon, peace and restoration. ‘Christ made all things new,’ says Grotius, ‘and the latter creation is _more divine_ than the former.’ If then the first creation of mankind and all the bounties of nature are the result of Love, that attribute is far more gloriously displayed in the scheme of redemption and in the works of grace.—The love of God the Father is ever represented in Scripture as the origin of all our hopes,—as the eternal, unfathomable spring of the waters of life and salvation, and this love is plainly described as extending to the whole world. ‘God so loved the world, &c. { 30a} God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself’ { 30b}—‘God would have all men to be saved, &c.’ { 30c} Do we ask for an overwhelming evidence of the love of God? Let the Apostle satisfy our inquiry. ‘In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live by him. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’ { 31a} Do we ask whether God thus loved the whole or only a part of the world?—Let the same Apostle answer: ‘He tasted death for _every man_—He gave himself a ransom for _all_, &c.’ Even the Gentiles, who were without the benefit of an outward revelation, were by no means destitute of an inward knowledge of the law of God, and some of them showed ‘the work of the law written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness.’ { 31b} ‘Christ is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ { 31c} Hence we may reasonably infer that as God appointed the death of Christ to be a sacrifice for the sins of the _whole_ world, so _all_ men receive through Christ a measure of moral and spiritual light, and all have their day of gracious visitation. If the light in numberless instances be extremely faint, if the darkness fail to comprehend it, we may rest in the conviction that God is not only just but equitable, and that those ‘who know not their Master’s will and do it not shall be beaten with few stripes.’ { 32} The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, is intended for the benefit of the whole world: it is adapted to men of every condition, clime, and character: all are invited to avail themselves of its benefits: all who _will_ come _may_ come, and ‘take the water of life freely.’”