PREFACE. To bear witness by practice, as well as by profession, to righteousness and true holiness, as necessary fruits of faith in our Lord and Saviour, is one of the great duties of the Christian Church. This important truth our religious Society has, from an early period of its history, earnestly endeavoured to uphold; evidence of which will be found in the ensuing pages, consisting of statements of Christian doctrine and counsel, as well as of regulations for the maintenance of good order, adopted from time to time by the Yearly Meeting, as the representative body of the Society. From the year 1672, down to 1781, the Minutes of the Yearly Meeting, in relation to these subjects, were preserved and circulated in manuscript-each Monthly or Quarterly Meeting being expected to make provision for the supply of copies for the use of its own members. In the year 1781, the Meeting for Sufferings, by direction of the Yearly Meeting, prepared a digest of the regulations and advices issued up to that period. This was afterwards carefully revised, and "compared with the original records," by a large committee appointed by the Yearly Meeting to unite with the Meeting for Sufferings in the service; and, having been submitted to the Yearly Meeting of 1782, was soon afterwards published, as approved by that meeting, under the title of "Extracts from the Minutes and Advices of the Yearly Meeting of Friends held in London from its first institution." The first edition had been in circulation about eighteen years, when the Yearly Meeting recommended the Quarterly Meetings to send representatives to London to join the Meeting for Sufferings in revising the whole, and preparing a new edition. In proceeding with this work, "it was found expedient to omit several advices which stood in the first edition; chiefly because there were others under the same head of equal or superior pertinency; or because, in few instances, it seemed eligible to exchange them for others issued since the printing of the Book of Extracts; and there was a considerable abridgment of some of those which remained." Some change was also made in the general arrangement of the contents. The volume, thus revised, was adopted by the Yearly Meeting of 1801, and published in 1802. A third and enlarged edition, after undergoing a similar course of revision, was issued by direction of the Yearly Meeting in the year 1834, under the title of "Rules of Discipline of the religious Society of Friends, with Advices, being Extracts from the Minutes and Epistles of their Yearly Meeting, held in London from its first institution." A supplement to this volume appeared in 1849. This edition being nearly exhausted, and various alterations having been made in some of our disciplinary regulations within the last few years, another edition became necessary, the preparation of which was, as on previous occasions, referred by the Yearly Meeting of 1860 to the Meeting for Sufferings, in conjunction with representatives from the several Quarterly or General Meetings. The results of the care and patient attention bestowed upon this important service were presented to our last Yearly Meeting, and, with a few alterations then agreed to, form the contents of the present volume. As on former occasions, considerable omissions have been made, and new matter has been added. Under the conviction that all sound Christian practice must be based upon the unchangeable truth of the Gospel of our Holy Redeemer, it has been thought right to commence the work with a chapter on "Christian Doctrine," consisting of extracts from documents issued at different periods on behalf of the Society. The other materials are comprised in two chapters, bearing the titles of "Christian Practice," and "Christian Discipline." These have been subdivided into sections, according to the various subjects to which they relate. This arrangement of the work renders it more convenient for reference, and, at the same time, tends to increase its usefulness, by presenting in a clearer and more intelligible form than heretofore the important subjects on which it treats. The variety and excellence of the matter offered to the reader invite an attentive and serious perusal. There will be found instruction for the inexperienced, as well as that which may confirm the faith of the more advanced Christian. The inquirer after truth may here see that the maintenance of Christian discipline is altogether compatible with the just claims of Christian liberty; and that, without the intervention of a human priesthood, and without any provision either for the appointment or for the payment of a stated ministry, the regular performance of public worship, and the free exercise of spiritual gifts, may be secured in a manner which long experience has proved to be in harmony with the apostolic injunction, "Let all things be done decently and in order." To the members of our own Society we commend the ensuing pages, in the earnest desire that the blessing of the Lord may rest upon their publication. May it ever be borne in mind that rules, however wisely devised or carefully digested, if acted on with a mere rigid adherence to the letter, will tend only to formalism. It is a marked feature of this volume, that whilst exhibiting the form of our discipline, it bears abundant testimony to the spirit in which it should be conducted-to that wisdom, patience, forbearance and love, which ought ever to prevail in the hearts of those engaged in its administration. MEETING FOR SUFFERINGS, LONDON, Eleventh Month, 15th, 1861. NOTICE TO THE READER. In this compilation are included documents of various dates. The figures appended to the extracts indicate the respective years in which they were issued. Where two or more dates are appended to one paragraph, it is intended to show either that some change has been made in the original at the time of the second or other later date, or that two or more paragraphs, issued at different times, have been combined. The letters P. E. added to the date denote that the paragraph was taken from a printed epistle of the Yearly Meeting; whilst all paragraphs to which these letters are not affixed were taken either from special addresses, or from minutes issued by that meeting. (6) |
