ADVERTISEMENT. L ST. It is proper to inform the reader, that if there should appear in the present Publication, any deviation in word or doctrine from the Truths of the Gospel as held by the Society of Friends, from its commencement to the present period, that this Society is not responsible for such deviation; and that nothing of the kind should exist, has been the sincere intention of the writer. She would also wish to state, that although she has often considered it a point of wisdom in the writings of Friends, to exercise great caution in bringing forward and subjecting to discussion, many of those important though mysterious Truths, which are best collected from the express testimony of Sacred Scripture, and can be apprehended only through the illuminating Influences of the Holy Spirit; yet she also believes, that changes in times and outward circumstances, both in the Christian Church at large, and in any particular Denomination of it, may call for that express avowal and communication of sentiment, respecting such Truths, which at past seasons might have been superfluous. That a time is arrived when such an avowal may seem called for, appears to be evinced by the tenour of much ministerial labour among us, both oral and epistolary. The very comprehensive and satisfactory illustration of doctrinal Truth, furnished in the work entitled "Essays on Christianity by J. J. Gurney," might indeed entirely supersede the occasion of the ensuing Lectures and Observations, did not the reason obtain in favour of them, which appears in the Prefacethat of presenting the same Truths in a somewhat different mode, or of conveying them in a more limited and less learned form to the generality of readers; especially as the greater part of what is here offered, was written previously to the Author's acquaintance with that work. In addition to the preceding remarks the Editor may observe, that though most of the Chapters or Lectures had been carefully revised by the Author, yet some of them were left at her decease, in a less finished state than her subsequent revision might have rendered them; and this circumstance has occasioned considerable delay in putting the work to the press. It is now presented to the Reader under an apprehension, that it will afford an agreeable, and in many respects a clear illustration of doctrines, which the Author estimated as the Principles of Truth, revealed in the Holy Scriptures. |