People have received the ordinances in question from
their ancestors. They have been brought up to the use of them. They have
seen them sanctioned by the world. Finding their authority disputed by a
body of men, who are insignificant as to numbers, when compared with
others, they have let loose their censure upon them, and this without
any inquiry concerning the grounds of their dissent. They know perhaps
nothing of the obstinate contentious; nothing of the difficulties which
have occurred; and nothing of those which may still be started on these
subjects. I shall state therefore a few considerations by way of
preface, during which the reader will see, that objections both fair and
forcible may be raised by the best disposed Christians, on the other
side of the question; that the path is not so plain and easy as he may
have imagined it to be; and that if the Quakers have taken a road
different from himself on this occasion, they are entitled to a fair
hearing of all they have to say in their defence, and to expect the same
candour and indulgence which he himself would have claimed, if, with the
best intentions, he had not been able to come to the same conclusion, on
any given point of importance, as had been adopted by others.
Let me then ask, in the first place, what is the great characteristic of
the religion we profess?
If we look to divines for an answer to this question, we may easily
obtain it.
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