But this is not the case, the Quakers say, with any oral worship. "For how," says Barclay, alluding to his own times, "can the Papists say their mass, if there be any there to disturb and interrupt them? Do but take away the mass-book, the chalice, the host, or the priests' garments; yea, do but spill the water, or the wine, or blow out the candles (a thing quickly to be done), and the whole business is marred, and no sacrifice can be offered. Take from the Lutherans and Episcopalians their liturgy, or common prayer-book, and no service can be said. Remove from the Calvinists, Arminians, Socinians, Independents, or Anabaptists, the pulpit, the bible, and the hour-glass, or make but such a noise as the voice of the preacher cannot be heard, or disturb him but so before he come, or strip him of his bible, or his books, and he must be dumb: for they all think it a heresy to wait to speak, as the Spirit of God giveth utterance; and thus easily their whole worship may be marred."

SECTION III.

Quakers reject every thing ostentatious and spiritless from their worship-Ground on which their meeting-houses stand, not consecrated-the latter plain-Women sit apart from the men—no pews -nor priests' garments—nor psalmody—no one day thought more holy than another-but as public worship is necessary, days have been fixed upon for that purpose.

JESUS CHRIST, as he was sitting at Jacob's Well, and talking with the woman of Samaria, made use of the following among other expressions in his discourse. "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers. shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth."

These expressions the Quakers generally render thus. I tell you that a new dispensation is at hand. Men will no longer worship at Jerusalem, more acceptably than in any other place. Neither will it be expected of them, that they shall worship in temples, like the temple there. Neither the glory, nor the ornaments of gold and silver, and precious stones, nor the splendid garments of the high-priest, will be any parts of the new worship that is approaching. All ceremonies will be done way, and men's religion will be reduced simply to the worshipping

of God in Spirit and in truth. In short, they believe, that when Jesus Christ came, he ended the temple, its ornaments, its music, its Levitical priesthood, its tithes, its new moons and sabbaths, and the various ceremonial ordinances, that had been engrafted into the religion of the Jews.

The Quakers reject every thing that appears to them to be superstitious, or formal, or ceremonious, or ostentatious, or spiritless from their worship.

They believe that no ground can be made holy; and therefore they do not allow the places, on which their meeting-houses are built, to be consecrated by any human forms.

Their meeting-houses are singularly plain. There is nothing of decoration in the interior of them. They consist of a number of plain long benches with backs to them. There is one elevated seat at the end of these. This seat is for their ministers. is elevated for no other reason, than that their ministers many be the better heard.

It

The women occupy one half of these benches, and sit apart from the men,

The benches are not intersected by partitions. Hence there are no distinct pews for the families of the rich, or of such as can afford to pay for them; for, in the first place, the Quakers pay nothing for their seats in their meeting-houses: and in the second, they pay no respect to the outward condition of one another. If they consider themselves when out of doors as all equal to one another in point of privileges, much more do they abolish all distinctions, when professedly in a place of worship. They

sit therefore in their meeting-houses undistinguished with respect to their outward circumstances,* as the children of the same great Parent, who stand equally in need of his assistance, and as in the sight of Him, who is no respecter of persons, but who made of one blood all the nations of men, who dwell on all the face of the earth.

The Quaker-ministers are not distinguishable when in their places of worship by their dress. They wear neither black clothes, nor surplices, nor gowns, nor bands. Jesus Christ, when he preached to the multitude, is not recorded to have put on a dress different from that, which he wore on other occasions. Neither do the Quakers believe that ministers of the Church ought, under the new dispensation, to be a separate people, as the Levites were, or to be distinguished on account of their office from other men.

The members of this Society differ from other Christians in the rejection of psalmody, as a service of the Church. If persons feel themselves so influenced in their private devotions," that they can sing," as the apostle says, "with the Spirit and the understanding," or can "sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord;" + the Quakers have no objection to this as an act of worship.-But they conceive that music and psalmody, though they might have been adapted to the ceremonial religion

*

Spiritual officers, such as Elders and Overseers, sit at the upper end of the meeting-house.

† 1 Cor. xiv, 15,

Ephes. v, 19.

of the Jews, are not congenial with the new dispensation that has followed; because this dispenation requires, that all worship should be performed in Spirit and in Truth. It requires that no act of religion should take place, unless the Spirit influences an utterance, and that no words should be used, except they are in unison with the heart. Now this coincidence of spiritual impulse and feeling with this act is not likely to happen, in the opinion of the Society, with public psalmody. It is not likely, that all in the congregation will be impelled, in the same moment, to a spiritual song, or that all will be in the state of mind or spirit, which the words of the Psalm describe. Thus, how few will be able to sing truly with David, if the following verse should be brought before them: "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God!" To this it may be added, that where men think about musical harmony, or vocal tunes, in their worship, the amusement of the creature will be so mixed with it, that it cannot be a pure oblation of the Spirit; and that those, who think they can please the Divine Being by musical instruments, or the varied modulations of their own voices, must look upon him as a being with corporeal organs, sensible, like a man, of fleshly delights, -and not as a Spirit, who can only be pleased with the worship that is in Spirit and in Truth.

They reject also the consecration and solemnization of particular days and times. As the Jews; when they became Christains, were enjoined by the apostle Paul not to put too great a value upon