Selections from the letters of Thomas B. Gould...

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THOMAS 13. GOULD,

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IX THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS;

with

MEMOIRS OF HIS LIFE.

BY

WILLIAM HODGSON.

"Let it not be a light thing in thine eyes, that He now accounteth thee worthy to suffer among His choice lambs, that lie might make thy crown weightier, and thine inheritance the fuller." — Letter from I. Penington, in Aylesbury Jail, to T. Ellwood, a prisoner at Oxford.

PHILADELPHIA :

FOR BALE BY. TIIE EDITOR, NO. 7U ARCH ST., AND BY ISRAEL UUFFINTON, FALL BIYERj MASSACHUSETTS.

PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN ft SON.

t#

At q Meeting for Sufferings of New England Yearly Meeting of nds, held at Newport, \l. I.. 3d of 8th month, I860, —

reading of the Writings and Memoirs of our dear departed rhomas B. Gonld, prepared by Win. Bodgson, Jr., of Philadelphia, which lias occupi< ral fittings of this meeting, at various times, has been now concluded. During the time in which we have i thus engaged, we have been much comforted and edified by this record of the remarkable faithfulness and devotion of our dear Friend to th e of Truth and Righteousness in the earth; and believing that usefulness would result from a more general circulation and perusal of these Writings, the Editor is left at liberty to publish the same; and the' Clerk is requested to furnish him with a copy of this minute. ied on behalf of the Meeting aforesaid.

GEORGE F. READ,

Clerk.

to 1854 — Sermon at Little Comptoo — Letters on the Pi ...... 310

Chapter VII

] B3 I — V I >hio — Gurnejr Beparation in that Yearly

M' • — \ • • i If aryland, Pennsylvania, an«l New Jersey, 338

[APTER Yl'll.

■ in L856 — Visit to Vermont and New

and Death, 406

It may be well to premise to the following work, a few general remarks, for the encouragement of a living remnant, and for the information of that portion of its readers who may not have had a char understanding of the ground, nature, and tendency of the >wful lapse which has spread over a large portion of the Society of Friends, within the past twenty-five years, through the introduction of doctrines contrary to those always held by its faithful members from the beginning.

True Friends have ever believed that this people was raised up of the great Head of the church universal, to testify to the almost forgotten truth, that the Light of Christ in the soul is the immediate divine source of all true religion ; and to bear a living wit-

- to the life-giving efficacy of the Gospel, as " the power of God unto salvation to every one that belicveth." This great truth, which lies as a corner-stone to that fabric of practical doctrine which has distinguished the Society of Friends from other professors of the Christian name, w r as announced on various occasions and in divers manners, by our blessed Lord and his apostles. They spoke of "the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world" — "the ingrafted Word, which is able to save the soul" — "the Word nigh in the heart" — the Light that "maketh manifest" — "the Grace of God, which bringeth salvation [and] hath appeared unto all men" — the "Comforter," the Holy Spirit, who should "bring all things to remembrance," and " guide into all truth" — "Christ in you the hope of glory" — even come a "second time, without sin ; unto viii PREJ a< i

Balvation" to all them that and obey his voice. Oar

wn words wen — " Abide in rae, and I [will abide] in

"— "he that is with you shaJl be in you" — " i in them, and

i in me" — and "whosoever loveth me, my Father will love

him, and wc will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

Holy a: I And who can doubt that a substantial

reality was intended by these repeated assurances?

It was tin-. i to the humbling and purifying ope-

rations of this Spirit in the bouI, and obedience to its successive

infestations, that our , asors were brought to know by

nee for themselves the blessed truths of the Gospel j and

were made quick of understanding to perc< ive the falsifications and

perversions by which the profession of Christian doctrine bad

:, beclouded, in the long and dark night of apostasy, which tbc

!i of the Reformation from Popery had then only partially

dispelled. The "dayspring from on high," which mercifully

Bhined into their souls, and to which they faithfully gave heed,

to a clear appreciation of the ''perfect day" of the

Gospel n ; and they were enabled to put away those

3 and man-made accompaniments and impediments to

Christianity, with which carnal contrivance had burdened it, and

under tin delusive influence of which, many were " ever learning,

and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

nee to this principle of Light and I trace in the soul, and

miii|. le dependence upon it- teaching, produced also a clear sight

and I, and of the ways of His providence

mankind; and tin- doctrines of the Gospel, in accordance with

Holy Scriptun — mysteries unknown to the

merely natural mind — were thereby opened to them and scaled

n their understanding that they could Bay, they h

truth, and the truth had made them free. Herein they were

wards of the mys fGod, Baw, eve to eye, the deep

thii f Bis Kingdom, spoke one language, and promulgated

an entire harmony of doctrine. It is doubtful whether any other

would be able I i present so large an amount of

rsial, didactic, and biographical, in support of

PBEFAl IX

heir own faitn, published daring an equal period, as the Societ;

Frienda produced daring the fire! thirty years of its distincl e enoe as a bodyj and all this was of one and the Bame faith with that of Bueceeding periods, notwithstanding the bold assertions to the contrary, put forth by recent authors, [ndeed it is wonderful, considering the great variety of mental character, and of the circumstances of life and education under which they had previously hum placed, how great was the uniformity of doctrine anion'.: them from the very first ; and this fact seems clearly to confirm us in the belief that the Lord himself was their Leader and their Teacher.

The various Christian testimonies which they were thus led to promulgate to the world, were parts of one great divine law, — fruit of one tiv. — branches of the one stem, — even of the principle of Light and Life in the hearts of the faithful. They found that a close adherence to this holy law written in the heart brought them into a true unity and fellowship with Christ and one with another; and they saw that all departures from the unity of this faith had their beginning in a departure from this law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, by which an entrance was allowed to the Tempter to beguile and lead astray; so that none who had once known the truth could depart from and oppose any part of this fabric of doctrines, but they who had first departed in heart from that which was the corner-stone thereof. Thus their endeavors to restore transgressors and those who had fallen away from any of the testimonies of their profession, were principally or primarily directed towards awakening again a sincere and humble dedication of heart to the Lord in his inward manifestations; knowing that if the Witness for truth could be raised again into dominion in that heart, the branches which had withered would soon recover their vitality and health. Yet they ceased not, for all this, to point out the errors which such were in, and faithfully and openly to testify against them.

Clear and sound they were in the faith, that lie who was the eternal Word and Son of God, was manifested in the flesh, and u bore our sins in his own body on the tree," as an atonement for

PRI

irorldj \ it justification,

'a hand of the Father as our Int- re< sa >r

• nt with this was their belief,

. once for all, without the

mailable to mankind indi-

ait in heart and mind to the cleansing and

tions "l" Bis visiti G and indwelling Spirit,

.kin^l' • ; ; . leadings oi the light thereof. So

j to the soul's welfare,

if Christ into the soul, — to enlighten

it by J [saving Light t i Bee the nature and depth

Saviour to deliver it from sin; to refine and

purify it l'v the washing of n bion, and the renewing of the

host ; to lead and guide it into all truth, mid qualify and

th< n it, according to His will, for every good thought, word,

deed, — than it was, I i discard and deny Bis miraculous c

in the flesh, for that perfect example, and great offering for Bin,

I all that Hi- did for us, without us, in that prepared body in

ich Be was men." They knew, that while "no man

oe to the Father but by Christ," yet no man can availingly

j, Lord, but by the Boly Ghost;" and that therefore,

lation of Christ to the bouI being that which

aloi Is to every individual any true and solid foundation for

: Ihrist, an attempt to invalidate this great funda-

;t:d truth, must ho nt least equally offensive in the Divine

118 to the BOttls of men, as the denial of the

Bini who was made flesh and offered Himself

an . til for tie- Bins of the whole world — awful and ever to

ich denial but They could Bay from living

•• V\ ■ that the Son of I lod is coin.-, and hath

'i us an understanding that we may know Him that is true;"

and th.y were well assured, that they who have received this

mai Mid abide true to it. never can deny that which He

ntwardl] r man in tint aoce] table offering ; for th

i th.- ne ible of its efiioacy and blessed sweet-

in">s to thrir

I'Rl-T.V \t

It can scarcely hm ped the notice of candid persons con-

ii the writing ar forefathers, h ln< ntly

sensitive tl. • to any misrepresentations of their faith or

docti md how ready they always appeared to defend the

truth and to disprove the allegations of it- opponents. They held that pure divine truth was more to be cherished than any other ;i with which it had pleased Divine Wisdom to intrusl them, for the best welfare of mankind. Many were the occasions on which, either through the enmity of their persecutors, or the envy and malice of false and apostatized brethren, their zeal \ aroused in defence of the doctrines of the Gospel. G< >rge i himself set an example, in stepping Forward with his pen to the

ike of gainsayers and the clearing of the church from | version or reproach. And on the occasion of that extensive and trial to Friends by the apdstasy of Wilkinson, Story, and Rogers, many eminent members were engaged in controverting their errors and opposing their schism, both orally and in printed Of written communications. The most prominent ministers and elders in the Society were often, and for a long time together, laboriously engaged in this work; and this they did promptly and openly, for the preservation of the flock, and the clearing away of reproach from the precious cause which they espoused. And greatly blessed was their labor of love and true zeal, to the confirmation of many, and to the conviction and restoration of

ie that had erred. But where this was not the result — even where error succeeded in drawing away disciples after it — the faithful servant having done what he could was clear; and the church was clear by issuing and maintaining its testimony against such errors, and against those engaged or led away therein. And they who stood to the original acknowledged faith of the body, were always accepted as the true members of the Society, without question from friends or foes.

Robert Barclay, in his u Apology for the true Christian Divinity," in mentioning the characteristics of a true and living church of Christ, gives this as a distinguishing one, that it consists of those who are not only gathered into a belief of the true