ich will be denominated superstition by the world.

As I am now on the subject of superstition, as capable of arising from
the three causes that have been mentioned, I shall dwell for a short
time on some of the evils which may arise from one of them, or from a
misunderstanding of the doctrine of the agency of the Spirit.

I believe it possible, in the first place, for those who receive this
doctrine without the proper limitations, that is, for those who
attribute every thing exclusively to the Spirit of God, and who draw no
line between revelation and the suggestions of their own will, to be
guilty of evil actions and to make the Divine Being the author of them
all.

I have no doubt, for example, that many of those, who engaged in the
crusades, considered themselves as led into them by the Spirit of God.
But what true Quaker, in these days, would wish to make the Almighty the
author of all the bloodshed in the wars that were undertaken on this
account?

The same may be said with respect to martyrdoms. For there is reason to
believe, that many who were instrumental in shedding the blood of their
fellow-creatures, because they happened to differ from them in religious
opinion, conceived that they were actuated by the divine Spirit, and
that they were doing God service, and aiding the cause of religion by
their conduct on such occasions. But what true Quaker would believe that
the Father of justice and mercy was the author of these bloody
persecutions, or that, if men were now to feel an impulse in their own
minds to any particular action, they ought to obey it, if it were to
lead them to do evil that good might come?

The same may be said with respect to many of the bad laws, which are to
be found in the codes of the different nations of the world. Legislators
no doubt have often thought themselves spiritually guided when they made
them. And judges, who have been remarkable for appealing to the divine
Spirit in the course of their lives, have made no hesitation to execute
them. This was particularly the case with Sir Matthew Hale. If there be
any one, whose writings speak a more than ordinary belief in the agency
of the Spirit of God, it is this great and estimable man. This spirit he
consulted not only in the spiritual, but in the temporal concerns, of
his life. And yet he sentenced to death a number of persons, because
they were reputed to be witches. But what true Quaker believes in
witchcraft? or does he not rat