Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

THE

DOCTRINES OF FRIENDS:

OR,

PRINCIPLES

OF THE

CHRISTIAN RELIGION,

AS HELD BY

The Society of FriendsS,

COMMONLY CALLED QUAKERS.

BY ELISHA BATES.

THIRD EDITION.

STEREOTYPED BY J. HOWE....PHILADELPHIA.

MOUNTPLEASANT :

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

1831.

[blocks in formation]

*****

BE IT REMEMBERED, That heretofore, to wit, on the twentyL. S.* fifth day of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-five, and in the fortyninth year of American Independence, ELISHA BATES, of said dis****** trict, deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words and figures following, to wit:

"The Doctrines of Friends: or, Principles of the Christian Religion, as held by the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. By ELISHA BATES."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to the Act entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

HARVEY D. EVANS,

Clerk of the District of Ohio.

PREFACE.

IN publishing, at the present day, a treatise of the Doctrines of Friends, it is not intended to convey an idea, that the works of this kind, already extant, are not judiciously written. Nor is it intended, by the present performance, to supersede those valuable writings. On the contrary, I would recommend them to more general attention than they now receive. Nor is it to propagate or defend new principles, that I have entered into the present engagement: but to present, in a concise, and yet explicit manner, an account of the acknowledged doctrines of the Society. For though I consider the doctrinal works, that have been published, (with the consent of the Society,) are all well adapted to the particular views of the respective writers, and to the times at which they were written; yet it may be noticed, that the writings of our primitive Friends are voluminous and scarce, while those of modern date do not notice many points of doctrine, which sometimes become interesting, from the particular course of religious inquiry.

It has long been a settled sentiment in my mind, that a work, setting forth clearly the acknowledged principles of the Society, in all material points, without being tedious or expensive, would be useful both to the members of the Society itself, and to serious inquirers, of other religious denominations. With this sentiment, I cherished, for several years, a hope that some qualified individual would undertake the task. Finding, however, this hope not realized, and feeling, more impressively, the im

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »