HARVEY AND DARTON, GRACECHURCH STREET; 1827. TO LADY P MY DEAR FRIEND, HAVING in the composition of my mind little that is poetic, and less that is epigrammatic, I will take the liberty of conversing with thee, though it be through the medium of an Album, in the form of a letter; and being, as thou knowest, a plain man-not to say, a plain quaker-I will venture to throw out a few observations to one who, I am sure, will not misinterpret me, on the present state of the "religious world." It must, I think, be allowed by the spiritual reader of Scripture, that the church of Christ is principally addressed in the following animated language of ancient inspiration—" Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." Isa. lii, 1, 2. And well would it be, my dear friend, were the universal society of God's people, I mean of those who really love the Lord Jesus Christ, more clothed in their strength-more arrayed in their beautiful garments—more shaken from the dust of the earth- and more entirely loosed from the bands which have been imposed upon them by the inventions and systems of man! It seems strange that so imperfect a person as myself should cry out for a more evident advance towards perfection in others; but, strange as it may appear, I will now take the liberty of dropping a few hints to a friend whom I highly esteem, respecting the present defects, and the probable future improvement, of the religious world. To begin, then, I may venture to confess my opinion, that religious persons, in the present day, are not quite enough alive to the consideration, that, under the glorious Gospel dispensation, the worship of God is to be spiritual; not in word, so much as in power; not in the form, but in the reality; not in the shadow, but in the substance; not in the type, but in the antitype. The system of worship under the Law was indeed one of forms, shadows, and types; but that which was introduced to the attention of mankind by the Gospel appears to me, in this respect, to be radically different, The first is like the body; the second is like the soul; the first is external, the second inward and spiritual. No person of serious reflection would, I presume, object to those outward institutions-such as the Sabbath day, appointed hours and places of meeting, &c.-which are essential, in the order of Providence, to the congregational worship of the Deity; but, whether that worship ought not, under the full light of the Gospel of Christ, to be conducted on more spiritual principles than is now generally the case, is a question well worthy of the consideration of every Christian. It has long appeared to me that the “religious world," in the worship of our heavenly Father, is prone to place too much dependence on ceremonies, on ministers, and on words. Allow me to make a very few observations on each of these points; and believe me that my remarks are not suggested by any ex parte feelings as a quaker, but by an impartial desire to behold the day, when Zion shall array herself in all her strength, her loveliness, and her beauty. The Society of Friends have always considered it right to disuse the outward ceremonials of baptism and the supper. Far be it from me to attempt to persuade any brother or sister, who may be truly edified through the medium of these ordinances, to follow this example. But I may be permitted to remark that these ceremonies have been found in various ages of the church-more perhaps than any other thing-the occasions of B 2 |