Excerpt from A Testimony for the Truth, as Always Held and Promulgated by the Religious Society of Friends, and Against the Departures From the Principles of the Society: Which Have Appeared of Latter TimeWhen the Society of Friends first appeared, and the preaching of George Fox was first heard, it was a time of great departure from primitive simplicity and purity in the professed Christian Church, as much so, perhaps, as any be fore or since: It was a day when corruption in the profession of religion, and apostasy from true Christian doctrine and practice prevailed, when the Spiritual character of the Gospel dispensation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, appeared to be much lost sight of and denied, and the nominal profes sion of Christianity consisted of outward forms and rules, and divers rites and ceremonies and bodily performances, into which the people were led by a hired and mercenary priest hood, who fed themselves and not the ¿ock, making a trade of religion, perverting the truths of the gospel, and teaching men to believe their carnal construction and explanation of the doctrines Of Christianity. They preached a faith which allowed and embraced many of the evil practices and sins of the heathen world, expounding the doctrines of the New Tes tament to admit of professed Christians being engaged in war, slavery, the use of oaths, a hireling ministry, and many other practices which were rejected and denied by the early Chris tians, and which are opposed to the Spirit and plain teaching of the faith 1' once delivered unto the saints.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.