Friendly

Having the temper and disposition of a friend; kind; favorable; benevolent; disposition to pro mote the good of another. - Disposed to peace; amicable; social; not hostile; nighborly; as, on friendly terms.- Favorable; propitious; salutary; promoting the good of; as, a friendly breeze. Friend'ly (or TONGA) Islands, a group in the S. Pacific Ocean, forming an archipelago of very considerable extent, and consisting of more than 150 islands, the greater part of which are either mere rocks or shoals, or desert spots. Most of them are of coral formation; but some of them are volcanic in their origin, and in Tofua there is an active volcano. Lat. between 13o and 25° S., Lon. between 1720 and 177° W. The principal member of the group is Tongatabu or Sacred Tonga, which contains abt. 7,500 inhabitants. The F. Islands were discovered by Tasman in 1643, but were named by Captain Cook, from the firm alliance that seemed to subsist among the natives, and from their courteous behavior to strangers. Among the products of the islands are yams, plantains, cocoa-nuts, hogs, fowls, fish, and all sorts of shell-fish. The F. I. were first visited by mi ionaries in 1797. In 1827 the Wesley an Methodists succeeded in the work of evangelization, and their labors were finally crowned with such succe that most of the inhabitants are now Christians. Nearly all the islands are under the rule of one Christian chief called King George. Pop. abt. 25,000. Friends, or "Quakers." The Religious Society of Friends, from its rise under George Fox (q. v.) in the 17th cent., has always maintained its belief in the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, acknowledging them to be the only fit outward test of Christian doctrines. They do not call them the Word of God, because this appellation, they believe, is applied by the writers of the Scriptures to that eternal power by which the worlds were made.- Immediate Revelation . The highest privilege granted to man is that of holding communion with the Author of his being; there can be no saving knowledge of Christ but from immediate revelation. In the approved writings of Friends there is a clear distinction observed between the Divine Light, which is the medium, and the conscience, which is the organ of spiritual perception. It is the doctrine of Friends that the light of Divine truth, or Spirit of Christ, appears to all men; to the wicked he comes as a reprover for sin, but to the obedient as a comforter in righteousne . The Original and Present State of Man. It is a Scriptural doctrine, among Friends, that neither righteousne nor unrighteousne can be transmitted by inheritance, but every man will be judged "according to his deeds."The Divine Being . The unity, omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence of God, the only fountain of wisdom and goodne , are fully set forth in the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament.. "I, even I, an the Lord, and besides me there is no saviour." In the Sermon on the Mount we are taught to addre the Most High by the endearing appellation of our Father in Heaven, and to place our trust in him alone who feeds the fowls of the air and clothes the lilies of the field. That spiritual influence by which the Most High communicates his will to man is called His Word. The term Christ is applied by the apostles to the Spirit of God as manifested in man. It is written that "when the fulne of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." ( Gal . iv. 4.) The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are the same, as further appears by the following text: "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ , he is none of his." ( Rom . viii. 9.) The most full and glorious manifestation of the Divine Word, or Logos, was in Jesus Christ, the immaculate Son of God, who, according to the Scriptures, was miraculously conceived and born of a virgin. In him the manhood was entirely subject to the Divinity. "He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham." There was in him no corruption, and the spirit of evil had no power over him. Being "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin," ( Heb . iv. 15.) "a man approved of God by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did by him." ( Acts ii. 22.) His powerful preaching, his wonderful miracles, his patience under suffering, and his triumphant resurrection, are to be attributed to the Divine Word, or "Spirit of the Lord," which dwelt in him, for He said, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." ( John xiv. 10.) The Divinity of Christ is his life and light the indwelling of Divine power-the Word or Spirit which was and is manifested in him, and which through him gives life to all his members, for "it pleased the Father that in him should all fulne dwell," and " of his fulne have we all received, and grace for grace." The life is often called, in the Scriptures, the blood, for "the blood is the life," or "the life is in the blood," and as in the natural body the blood conveys nourishment to every part and sustains life in it, so in the spiritual body, every living member is sustained by the life or blood of the Son of God. "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Cor . viii. 6.) As Moses was a mediator, to ordain the legal dispensation ( Gal . iii. 19), so Jesus Christ was and is the mediator of the New Covenant: first, to proclaim and exemplify it in the day of his outward advent, and 2dly, through all time in the ministrations of his spirit. - Salvation by Christ . The great work of the Me iah for the salvation of the world is beautifully portrayed in the pa age which he read from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of t'ic Lord." "And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." ( Luke iv. 18-21.) He came to establish a spiritual kingdom of Truth and Love in the hearts of mankind, and thereby to put end to the kingdom of evil. Then was laid the foundation on which succeeding generations have built, and no moral reform of value or permanency can take place unle it be founded on Christian principles. It is the life of God, or "Spirit of Truth," revealed in the soul, that purifies and saves from sin. When Jesus told the people, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you," he did not allude to the flesh and blood of his outward body, but to the life and power of God which dwelt in him and spake through him. - Regeneration . It was declared by our Lord, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." ( John iii. 3.) This new birth is the development of the spiritual nature in man through the operation of the Coly Spirit, and it is subsequent to that of the carnal nature, for "that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which i spiritual." (1 Cor . xv. 46.) - There is implanted in every soul a germ of divine life, compared by the ble ed Jesus to a grain of mustard-seed, which is among the smallest of seeds. By yielding obedience to the gentle intimations of Divine grace, or to those stronger convictions, called "the reproofs of instruction which are the way of life," a vital change takes place.Christian Perfection is neither more nor le than unreserved obedience to the divine will, through perfect love to God, which preserves the soul from the practice of sinning. Baptism . It appears to have been the great work of George Fox and the early Friends, to draw the attention of mankind from a reliance upon the outward form, to an experience of the inward power of religion. They believed that the kingdom of Christ is the reign of God established in the soul, and that his baptism and supper are not material, but spiritual; being the substance typified by the "divers washings" under the law, the water-baptism of John, and the Jewish pa over. The principal testimonies of Friends are the following, viz.: A pure spiritual worship. A free gospel ministry. Religious liberty. A testimony against war; oaths; slavery; the use, as a beverage, of spirituous liquors; and against vain fashions, corrupting amusements, and flattering titles. S. M. J.- Extracts from Rules of Dis cipline . If any in membership with us shall blaspheme or speak profanely of Almighty God, Christ Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, he or she ought early to be tenderly treated with. But should any persist in their error, or deny the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the immediate revelation of the Holy Spirit, or the authenticity of the Scriptures, it is manifest they are not one in faith with us... (p. 27.) We earnestly advise... the reading of the Scriptures, which set forth the miraculous conception, birth, holy life, wonderful works, ble ed resurrection, ascension, and mediation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that Friends educate their children in the belief of those important truths, as well as of the inward manifestation and operation of the Holy Spirit, (p. 100.) - For further exposition of the doctrines of Friends, the reader is referred to the following: George For's Works, 8 vols.; Bar clay's Apology; Barclay's Catechism; William Penn's Works; Isaac Pening ton's Works; Bownas on the Ministry; Friends' Miscellany, by J. & I. Comly, 12 vols. Thos . Story's Conversations, by N. Richardson; History of Friends , by S. M. Janney, 4 vols.; Life of George Fox , by S. M. Janney; Life of Wm. Penn, by S. M. Janney; Discipline of Friends; Conversations on Religious Subjects , by S. M. Janney. IMG:content-0263.png:[ocr errors]