APPENDIX, CONTAINING A COMPARISON OF SOME OF THE DOCTRINAL VIEWS OF J.J. GURNEY, WITH THOSE OF SEVERAL STANDARD WRITERS AMONG THE EARLY FRIENDS, AND SEVERAL TESTIMONIES AND LETTERS RELATIVE TO THE DOCTRINES AND CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

[23: RALPH WARDLAW'S OPINION OF JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY, PAGES 350-352]
John Wilbur

Wilbur, John. A Narrative and Exposition of the Late Proceedings of New England Yearly Meeting, With Some of its Subordinate Meetings & Their committees, in Relation to the Doctrinal Controversy Now Existing in the Society of Friends: Prefaced by a Concise View of the Church, Showing the Occasion of its Apostacy, both Under the Former and Present Dispensations, With an Appendix. Edited from Record Kept, From Time to Time, of Those Proceedings, and Interspersed With Occasional Remarks and Observations. Addressed to the Members of the Said Yearly Meeting. New York: Piercy & Reed, Printers, 1854, pages 277-325.(All italics added by J.W. for emphasis. All words supplied in [Square Brackets] by J.W.
Page numbers from original publication by -pds in {Set Brackets.}

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Ralph Wardlaw, a Presbyterian priest of Scotland, called D. D. in letters which he has published, addressed to the Society of Friends, on some of their distinguishing principles, says: "I have given in copious extracts the views of J.J. Gurney, on the doctrine of justification. They are clear, simple, Scriptural--but are they Qaukerism? Let none be startled by the question; it is not a hasty, inconsidcrate one. I shall show you there is room for it. There are large portions of the writings of this highly intelligent and devoted Friend, in which we entirely lose sight of the peculiarities of Quaker sentiments, and Quaker phraseology. He seems to lay aside his garb, or rather to divest the system of thc costume in which before, it had invariably appeared. But for the occurrence of here and there a word, or phrase, which to those familiar with the language of the body, conveys more than others might at all think of, we go through entire sections with unmingled pleasure; losing the Friend in the Christian--almost forgetting even the inward light. I presume I speak according to truth, when I represent them as the first Quaker writings, at least of any eminence professing this character. He stands per se and (if I am not greatly mistaken) with no inconsiderable proportion of the more rigid Friends, who belong to the old school, and hold by the ancient Fathers of Quakerism, he has on this very account been losing caste." Page 195.
 "The terms in which Mr. Curney invariably speaks of the Holy Scriptures, and which it is my delight to see him using, are such as to convert those employed by him respecting the independent influence {P. 351} and guidance of the Holy Spirit, into little more than words without meaning." Page351.
"My judgment and my feelings being in thorough accordance with those of Mr. Gurney, in all that he says of the paramount authority of the word of God as contained in the volume of Revelation, I cannot see how he can be in harmony with himself, till he has thrown aside the remnant of Quaker doctrine to which he still tenaciously clings. I mean this immediate revelation, under the modified designation by which he has chosen to qualify and recommend it. I cannot but fancy to myself the surprise and indignation with which some of the old Fathers of Quakerism would be stirred, by the attempts to explain away to so great an extent their most favorite dogmas, and to fritter down the meaning of their phraseology; till there is hardly left a shred of distinction between them and the Christian world at large." Page 358.
"It would be unseemly presumption in me to dispute the accuracy of Mr. Gurney's statement respecting the views entertained by his own body: but really it is impossible to read the writings of the older Quakers--the Fathers of the family, without being sensible that there is a prodigious softening down on the part of this writer of their opinions and language." Page 305.
"Mr. Gurney conceives that every true Quaker is prepared cordially to acknowledge that the Holy Scriptures, and they alone, are a divinely authorized record of all the doctrines which we are required to believe, and of all the moral principles that are to regulate our actions, not to mention the luminous declaration which they contain of our relative and particular duties.
"And indeed on this, and various other points, it cannot fail to strike the most superficial reader, what aperfect discordance there is between the writings of Mr. Gurney and those of the early Friends. I {p. 352} am very far from wishing Mr. Gurney to take a single step out of Quakerism, in pionts where Quakerism is true. In other points, however, he has already taken several steps, and those, too, even larger strides than any thatn now remain for him to take. May the Divine Spirit be graciously pleased, by means of that complete revelation, which he has given to lead not him only but you, my friends, and myself, and every fellow-Christian and fellow-man around us into all truth. P. 367.