The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-09-05

II II 1t should not Immediately have
sanitary effect, we are not to be too muc
i discouraged; we ought to take heed tina
we become not impatient or discomposeG
G Out repeat our efforts in the spirit of low,
and forbearance. The result ofthis Chris
tian concern for our friends, is often create,
than is at the time apparent.
: In the exercise of this duty, it become:
those who have the earliest opportunity o
Knowing the faults of others, SERIOUSLY t,
consider on all occasions, whether the,
ought not to endeavor to reclaim them he
lore they disclose the matter to another
ut the same time we believe it has otter
happened, that the heightened conceal
ment of the errors of our friends from
those who were best qualified to advise
them, has been productive of serious injury
which might have been prevented by an
early, yet prudent disclosure to those OF
greater experience.
And we recommend to such of our vounp
friends as know and approve what is excel
lent, and may have been strengthened in
some small degree to practise it, not to
shrink from modestly yet faithfully coun-
selling their associates in early life, when
they may be deviating from the path of
duty n tender caution may be received
WIFE peculiar advantage, when those to
Whom 1t was given know that their coun-
sellers are still alike subject to the same
temptations to which they are exposed ::
ana when' as may sometimes happen, the
relative as well as the social tie, NAV call
Tor the extension of hand of help.
There is humility and sweetness COM
blned with a noble frmness of character
arlsing from the expansive influence of
christian love, which ought to actuate all
our endeavors for the good of others.
strive then, dear friends, that in your be-
heVoicnt eXertlons to promote the temporal,
the moral, or the religious welfare of your
IeAoW men, your whole conduct NAV be
marked by an unobtrusive christian tenn
per that, when associated with your friends
and nelghbors on these occasions, it NAV
ne manifest that your great concern is to
I'VE under the influence of that Wisdom
winch Is from above-which is pure, peace
aDle, gentle, and easy to be entreated,
without partlality, and without hypocrisy,
full OF mercy, and full of good fruits. The
pure exercise of Christian kindness brinos
with 1t It's own rewards; but to be pure, it
must have It's origin in the love of God,
which produces love to man; and the salts
faction IS never so great, the efforts are
never so steady as when we continually
1e~" an >ai'1d, Chut . -....>->:t all our
exertions to the blessings of Him wi.o,g1
providential eye is over all, and who is con-
tinually curing for the workmanship of his
holy hand.
Our friends of Ireland, and of each of
the Yearly Meetings in America, have
been brought to our remembrance with
feelings of Christian love, by the reading
of the Epistles which they have respec-
lively addressed to us. 1t has been very
acceptable to find that our brethren on the
other side of the Atlantic are in various
places alive to the enormities of Slavery
and diligent in their endeavours to expose
the iniquity of the internal Slave t..SS>ac
carried on in the southern and southwest
tern States of the Union. The desolating
and widely extended effects of this dread
tul traffic, whether we turn our attention to
Africa, to America, and the West India
Islands, or to other parts of the globe, are
indeed enormous and mournfully distress
ing. Much remains to be done before this
foul disgrace is removed from the Christian
name but we are comforted in believing
that, not only in this country but elsewhere,
the cause of the oppressed is gaining
ground and as its advocates continue to
labour with zeal and perseverance in the
spirit of the Gospel, we entertain no doubt
that they will have fresh cause to rejoice
and that, ultimately, Slavery, with the vice
resulting from it, will be unknown amongst
the subjects of those Governments where
the pure and just precepts of Christianity
are protested.
The amount Of the suferings of our
members, as reported to this meeting, in
GLIDING the charges of distraint, is upwards
of fourteen thousand six hundred pounds.
We have no cause to believe that our an
cient testimony against all ecclesiastical
demands is losing ground amongst us but
we think it right to revive in your remem-
brance those considerations which led to
its adoption, and which induced our pious
predecessors to undergo many and griev-
Gus hardships in its support. You know,
beloved friends, that it has been the uni
form belief of our Society, that our blessed
Lord and Saviour, by his coming, put an
end to that priesthood, and to the provision
for its support as we'll as TO those ceremo-
nial usages, which were before ordained A;
and that He came to introduce dispersal
ton, pure and spiritual in its nature. The
present system of Tithes, against which
|
borne testimony, was no institution of our
Holy Head and High Priest, the great
Christian Lawgiver. 1t had no existence
in the purest and earliest age of his
Church; but was gradually introduced as
superstition and apostacy spread over the
Christian world. 1t is further our belief
and it has been uniformly that Of the So
ciety, that the ministry Of the Gospel is to
be without money and without price that
as the gift is free, the exercise of it is to be
free also; that the office is to be filled BY
those only who feel themselves called Of
God through the power of the Holy Spirit
who in their preaching as well as in theil
circumspect lives and conversation, are Civ.
ing proof of this call. Impressed as We
are with these views, we feel ourselves
conscientiously restrained from the pay
ment of those demands which are made fo