A similar allotment of service did not devolve on Rachel Price. As a minister, she was not so much expected to take an active part in disciplinary duties; and as such she had felt bound to be watchful for her own preservation and usefulness; and to keep her mind and feelings disengaged from those matters of controversy which divided the members of the society. She dwelt in the Gospel love that had so much distinguished Friends in prior times, and her heart yearned towards all, that they might dwell in humility at the feet of the Saviour and it was in the assemblies of the youth; : her own descendants; and of a few undivided meetings, that she most freely poured forth her feelings in Gospel ministration, and experienced the sweetest relief and consolation, declaring unto them, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye have love one for another."

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The division in the society carried their children and remoter descendants into different religious associations. This was a source of deep trial to the most affectionate of parents, and to the children by whom they were beloved. They were separated in the performance of man's highest duty, in their religious worship,-with which the domestic affections delight to commingle; yet the parental and filial attachment withstood this severest of trials. The language often repeated in her religious communications was now spoken with an especial signifi

cance and deeply impressive effect: the maternal appeal. was made in the words of the Divine Master-that their fellowship should bear His test of discipleship, and that they should experimentally know that "God is Love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." In proportion to the laceration was this balm graciously dispensed to heal the wound. The parents' love endured with life. The filial and fraternal affection of their descendants survives the grave; and that it may survive to all when time shall be no more to them, is their fervent prayer.

In reference to the former condition of the society within her recollection, and afterwards as she saw it when torn by divisions and scattered asunder, I find the following expression of the feelings of our beloved mother; uttered not in censure of any, but in lamentation of visible results, restrictive of her own exercises in the Gospel ministry. "When I consider those days of favour to our once happy society, and compare them with the present, my mind is clothed with mourning, and according to my small measure, I can adopt the language of the prophet Joel, when he says-'Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet: Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say-Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they

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say among the people, Where is their God?' May the Lord be jealous of His name and pity the people.” "Of latter times, I have felt my way very much closed from frequent communication in the exercise of my gift, or in travelling to visit friends in their meetings, from causes over which I had no control. I desire to wait in patience and resignation, endeavouring to know the Divine Will, and to do it according to my ability, having no will of my own, but leaving it to Him that hath the key of David: He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man rightly openeth. If it should be His will that my way should yet be closed, and my harp hung on the willow, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, yet may I remember Zion, and prefer Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. This language is often the companion of my mind-Be still, and know that I am God.""

Each division has since felt the value of the lesson of 1827, in its bitter consequences, and a forbearance has been exercised by each under subsequent difficulties, that if then mutually observed, it is believed, would have averted the rent of that period. Individuals might have been disowned, but the integrity of the body have been preserved. To the truth and wisdom of the following passages in the Address of the Yearly Meeting, held in the Fourth month, 1847, nothing can be added. "The enemy of truth and of the soul's salvation, has succeeded by various

stratagems in marring the beauty and peace of Zion, and it behooves all those who are desirous of seeing the waste places built up, and the former paths restored, to put shoulder to shoulder, and walking by the same rule, and minding the same thing, rally to first principles, and labour harmoniously in the great work of our duty." "Against these dangers which threaten the Church, there is but one defence,-a hearty and practical return to First Principles. The light of Christ which shineth in every man, which is the swift reprover of sin, and shines more and more in the humble and obedient soul, unto the perpect day, will, if we follow its guidance in all things as it makes them manifest, lead us into all truth and unto all humility and holiness." "This humble, consistent walking, a godly zeal, the love of each other in that fellowship which is in the ever-blessed and unchangeable Truth, would again distinguish us as a people, and it would again be said of us as of old, 'See, how these Quakers love one another !'"

The "Appeal for the Ancient Doctrines of Friends," from which the preceding extracts are made, was prepared and issued by those who had twenty years before combated what they believed to be errors of heretical tendency, but now, turning to the other extreme of the doctrinal platform, exerted the same ability and research to exculpate the Society of Friends from the imputation of opinions nearly allied to those of the churches from

which ancient Friends had separated. Thus prepared with the care and wariness induced by the recollection of the recent history of the society on the one hand, and, on the other, in refutation of writings assimilated in doctrine to the views of the persecutors of the founders of their religious community, the "Appeal" is based in neither extreme, and is a close and careful exposition of the doctrines of the society, distinctly recognising "the more sure word of prophecy" to be "the Word nigh in the heart”—from which the Scriptures came, and in and by which the Scriptures are to be interpreted.

It becomes the writer to speak with the greatest diffidence upon the subject of doctrines, but he would be derelict to the duty he has ventured to assume, were he to leave unstated a summary of the faith of his parents. Their faith was Orthodox, in the sense that the Society of Friends had always been orthodox. Theirs was not a

dead faith, unproductive of good works. It was a faith, believing in the authenticity and Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, but understanding them with the light of the Holy Spirit that inspired their penmen; a faith believing in the “miraculous conception, birth, miracles, doctrines, crucifixion, and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;"* but ever waiting on His spiritual appearance in the heart, who "brought life and immortality to light;" a faith believing in a reconciliation, for

Letter of P. Price.