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professors of religion there is no full coming outno effectual emancipation-from that which is evil in the sight of God.

It may, moreover, be questioned whether something of the same kind of imperfection may not be detected in the experience even of seriously-minded Christians ; who, while their dependence is mainly placed on the grace of God, are not fully believing in the light of Christ, as it is inwardly revealed to the soul. I am, in some measure, aware of the depth of human iniquity, and know how difficult it is to escape from its secret influence; but, I believe that Christians would not be so much perplexed as they often are, with a sense of imperfection and sin in the performance of their various religious duties, were that performance less of themselves, and more of God; were it less dictated by the activity of their own minds, and derived with greater simplicity from the Fountain of all good. Great as is our own infirmity; deep as is our natural defilement; it is certain that the inward Guide, of whom we are speaking, is entirely holy, and he still upholds to his followers the very highest standard of action-" Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." He commands them to be of clean hands, and to refrain completely from every thing which his own light has made manifest to be evil. He admits of no excuses; he sacrifices his law to no apparent expediency; he is satisfied with no mixed obedience; and when he calls us into active duties, and more especially into religious services, he is ever ready to assist us in our humble endeavour to offer unto the Lord an "offering in righteousness"-even a pure offering.

Such are the tests, and such are the fruits, of the perceptible guidance of the Holy Spirit in the soul. In reverting to the course of argument adopted in

the present disquisition, the reader will recollect, that the doctrine of such perceptible guidance rests upon the authority of Scripture; being clearly declared by the prophet Jeremiah, by the apostles John and Paul, and by our Lord himself that the dictates of the Spirit, which lead into truth, are totally distinct from the dictates of the human imagination, which lead into enthusiasm ;-that the two principles are to be distinguished, first, by the mode of their operation, and, secondly, by the fruits which they produce that the dictates of the Spirit operate in a gentle manner on the waiting and prostrate soul--that the fruits of the Spirit are the "peaceable fruits of righteousness-that these fruits afford a substantial evidence of the divine origin of that guiding principle which leads to the production of them-and, lastly, that this general argument is greatly strengthened, when we come to trace some particular characteristicks in the practical operation of the principle in question; for, as it is closely followed, it is ever found to lead to the humiliation of men, and to the exaltation of Christ; to the denial of self, and to the bearing of the cross; to the increase of moral and spiritual light; to the confirmation and right application of the divine law, as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and to a very exact fulfilment of that law.

Before I dismiss the subject of the perceptible guidance of the Spirit, it is necessary for me, somewhat more distinctly than I have hitherto done, to advert to the outward religious points which distinguish the Society of Friends. The principal of them may be enumerated as follows:-their disuse of all typical observances in the worship of God: their refusal to recognize any ministry in connexion with divine

worship, which they do not conceive to be dictated by the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit: their acceptance of the publick ministry of females: their objection to human ordination, and also to the paying or hiring of preachers: their practice of silent worship: their abstaining from all warfare, and from the use of oaths: their plainness in speech, behaviour, and apparel. In the preceding chapter, has been advanced the sentiment (which I believe to be held by many persons without, as well as within, the pale of the Society) that these peculiarities are of an edifying tendency, and that the maintenance of them by Friends is calculated to promote the spiritual welfare of the church at large. It has also been observed, that this can be true, only in so much as they arise out of the principles of the divine law and I have stated that it was my intention, in the future discussion of them, to direct my remarks chiefly to the proof of this very point -that they arise out of the principles of the divine law.

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Now, the first argument to be adduced, in support of this position, is immediately connected with the doctrine unfolded in the present chapter. If the question be addressed to us, why we consider it to be our duty to adopt our several religious peculiarities, we may answer, because we believe we have been led into them by the Spirit of Truth. The casual observer, indeed, may attribute our maintenance of them to the mere force of habit and education; and, certainly, there is much reason to apprehend that, with too many amongst us, they rest upon no better foundation. Nevertheless, you whom I am now addressing can scarcely fail to be aware, that, with real Friends, the adoption and punctual observance of such a line of conduct are not only matters of honest principle, but are truly the consequences of obedience to their in

ward Guide. It is a fact which the world can scarcely be expected to notice, but which is well known to every experienced Quaker, and will not be denied by any persons who possess an intimate knowledge of the Society, that the very same guiding and governing principle, which leads the sincere-hearted and serious amongst Friends into the practice of universally-acknowledged Christian virtues, leads them also into these peculiarities. I am not asserting that such would necessarily be the experience of all persons who endeavour to follow the guidance of the Spirit; nor would I, in any respect, venture to set limits to the sovereignty, freedom, scope, and variety, of divine operation. I assert only that this is our own experience. Such, therefore, being our experience, we cannot but derive from it a strong and satisfactory conviction, that our religious peculiarities appertain to the law of God; for it is certain, that the Spirit of Truth, by whose influence alone men are made truly righteous, and brought into conformity with the divine will, will never lead any of the followers of Jesus into a course of conduct which is not founded on the principles of that law. The inward manifestations of the Spirit are, in themselves, the law of God written on the heart.

I may now proceed to confirm this general argument by more particular observations on the several peculiarities already enumerated; and, in endeavouring to trace the connexion of each of them with the law of God, I shall appeal to the principles of that law, as they are unfolded in the New Testament. For, I consider that it is only under the new and more spiritual dispensation, that the divine law is revealed to us in all its purity and in all its completeness.

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE DISUSE OF ALL TYPICAL RITES IN THE WORSHIP
OF GOD.

ALTHOUGH it is almost universally allowed among Christians, that, when the New Covenant was established in the world, by the death of Christ, the ceremonial observances of the Jewish law were abolished, there are two religious rites of a very similar description, the maintenance of which is still very generally insisted upon, as necessary to the edification, and true order, of the church of Christ. These rites are baptism with water, and that participation of bread and wine, which is usually denominated the sacrament of the Lord's supper. So great is the virtue and efficacy attributed to these ceremonies, that they are considered, by very many Christians, to be especial means of grace, or mediums through which grace is conveyed to the soul; and not a few theologians, both ancient and modern, appear to have entertained the extraordinary opinion, that the rite of baptism, more especially, is of indispensable necessity in order to man's salvation.

On the other hand, I am informed that, in some parts of the continent of Europe, there are small societies of pious Christians, by whom water-baptism and the ceremony of the Lord's supper are entirely disused ;9

9 This is the case, as I understand, with the Inspirés in Germany, and with the Malakans in South Russia.

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