You may say that you never intended to inculcate such doctrines as I have alluded to, and you can produce various instances in which you have described the Almighty as the supreme governor of the universe; and if these facts are a justification of the course you have pursued, you may continue your career completely sheltered from censure or reproach; for I cannot observe a single novelty in your opinions, or deviation from the established doctrines of the Christian church, which have not been contradicted by yourself. But such an excuse cannot be availing; you declare that you dare not speak at random, otherwise you would show that you departed from _God's illuminating spirit_; and although those who have had an opportunity to read and compare your different sermons, can contemplate that solemn declaration with no other than feelings of astonishment and regret at the strange delusion, with others it may have a different effect. You are a travelling preacher, scattering one doctrine here, and another there; and interlarding your discourses with bold assertions, which are remembered, when the prolix and visionary distinctions by which you attempt to qualify them are forgotten. I remember hearing an individual who had attended at a meeting in the vicinity of Philadelphia, at which you preached, when asked what was the subject of your discourse, reply, that you preached very comfortable doctrine for some of the company, for you had assured them there was no devil. I am not so uncharitable as to believe that you are intentionally instrumental in removing the salutary restraints upon the vices of man; and yet I am surprised that you do not perceive the inevitable and pernicious consequences of such declarations; and that, if you do not believe in the authority of the Scriptures yourself, you do not avoid assertions which, while they can have no tendency to strengthen and encourage the pious mind, must necessarily diminish those feelings of future responsibility which, awful as they are, unhappily are not sufficient to restrain the wickedness of man.[65] Footnote 65: If the reader wishes to know what Elias Hicks says on this subject, let him peruse the Sermons, pages 37, 163, 166, 170, 182, and 293, and he will there have a fair specimen of the darkness which surrounds him--a cloud of words unilluminated by a ray of light. Many to whom you preach are illiterate, and without capacity to investigate your doctrines and their tendency. They have been accustomed to listen to the simple truths of our religion, enforced in language which they can understand; and they often found in their attendance at places of worship, consolation, instruction, and encouragement. They have been taught to believe in the revelations unfolded in the sacred volume, and to look forward with the cheering hope, of a Mediator and Redeemer, "who ever liveth to make intercession for them."[66] Footnote 66: Hebrews, chap. vii.