power of God will break forth into a whole meeting, and there will be
such an inward travail, while each is seeking to overcome the evil in
themselves, that by the strong contrary workings of these opposite
powers, like the going of two contrary tides, every individual will
be strongly exercised as in a day of battle, and thereby trembling
and a motion of body will be upon most, if not upon all, which, as
the power of Truth prevails, will from pangs and groans end with a
sweet sound of thanksgiving and praise. And from this the name of
_Quakers_, i.e. _Tremblers_, was first reproachfully cast
upon us; which though it be none of our choosing, yet in this respect
we are not ashamed of it, but have rather reason to rejoice
therefore, even that we are sensible of this power that hath
oftentimes laid hold of our adversaries, and made them yield to us,
and join with us, and confess to the Truth, before they had any
distinct and discursive knowledge of our doctrines."--The Quakers,
then, according to this eminent Apologist for them, _had_, from
the first, definite doctrines, which might be distinctly and
discursively known. What were they? They hardly amounted to any
express revolution of existing Theology. In no essential respect did
any of their recognised representatives impugn any of the doctrines
of Christianity as professed by other fervid Evangelical sects. The
Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the natural sinfulness of men,
propitiation by Christ alone, sanctification by the Holy Spirit, the
inspiration and authority of the Scriptures--in these, and in other
cardinal tenets, they were at one with the main body of their
contemporary Christians. Though it was customary for a time to
confound them with the Ranters, they themselves repudiated the
connexion, and opposed the Ranters and their libertinism wherever
they met them. Wherein then lay the distinctive peculiarity of the
Quakers? It has been usual to say that it consisted in their doctrine
of the universality of the gift of the Spirit, and of the constant
inner light, and motion, and teaching of the Spirit in the soul of
each individual believer. This is not sufficient. That doctrine they
shared substantially with various other sects,--certainly with the
Boehmenists and other Continental Mystics, not to speak of the
English Antinomians and Seekers. Nay, in their first great practical
application of the doctrine they had been largely anticipated. If the
inner motion