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God; so neither can it be obtained, nor rightly comprehended by man but as he layeth down his own wisdom and will, so as to be content, to be thoroughly subject to God. Therefore it was not preached, nor can it be so practised, but by such as find no outward ceremony, no observations, no words, yea not the best and purest, even the words of Scripture, able to satisfy their weary and afflicted souls. Because where all these may be, the life, power and virtue which make such things effectual may be wanting. Such I say were necessitated to cease from all externals and to be silent before the Lord, and being directed to that inward principle of life, and light in themselves, as the most excellent teacher, which can never be removed into a corner; came thereby to be taught to wait upon God in the measure of life and grace received from him, and to cease from their own forward words and actions, in the natural willing and comprehension, and feel after this inward seed of life, that as it moveth, they may move with it, and be actuated by its power, and influenced whether to pray, preach or sing. And so from this principle of man's being silent and not acting in the things of God of himself, until thus ac

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tuated by God's light and grace in the heart, did naturally spring, that manner of sitting together in silence." (Apology, p. 353,) “Yet I, do not so much commend and speak of silence, as if we had bound ourselves by any law, to exclude praying or preaching, or tied ourselves thereunto, not at all; for as our worship consisteth not in words, so neither in silence, but in an holy dependence of the mind upon God, from which dependence, silence necessarily follows in the first place until words can be brought forth, which are from God's spirit.” (Apology, p. 360.) The reader will from the foregoing have some idea of our reasons for assembling in silence; but they only can be competent to judge in this weighty matter who have come to the light of Christ in themselves, and are sensible of those joys, which spring from an inward and spiritual knowledge of his. presence. Friends believe that all true worshippers in spirit and in truth, must walk in, the spirit, and not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Neither are we alone in our belief, that divine worship is a spiritual act and to be known and performed in silence. "Devotion considered in itself, is an intercourse between God and us, between the Supreme, Self Existent, Incon

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ceivable Spirit; which formed and preserves the universe, and that particular Spirit, with which, for awful reasons, he has animated a portion of matter on earth, that we call man. It is a silent act in which the soul divests itself of outward things, flies into heaven and pours forth all its wants, wishes, hopes, fears, guilt or pleasure, into the bosom of an Almighty Friend. True devotion doubtless requires a considerable degree of abstraction from the world; that we hear little of it is not wonderful. It makes no noise in the circle of the learned, or of the elegant. Under a heap of worldly care; we smother the lovely infant, and will not let it breathe. Vanity, ambition, avarice quench the celestial fire, and these alas, are too much the god of mortals. Writers have been amusing us only with shadows of this piety, instead of giving us its soul and sub-1 stance. Superstition has placed it in opinions," ceremonies, austerities, pilgrimages, an august temple, or splendid imagery, which has little connection with sentiment or spirit. Enthusiasm has swelled with unnatural conceptions, and obtruded a spurious offspring on the world instead of this engaging child of reason and truth; whilst the lukewarm have rested in a

few outward duties which have had no vigour, and as they spring not from the heart, never entered the temple of the Most High. Real piety is of a very different, and of a much more animated nature; it looks up to God; sees, hears, feels him in every event: in every vicissitude, in all places, in all seasons, and upon all occasions. It is theory verified by experience, it is faith substantiated by mental enjoyment, it is heaven transplanted into the human bosom: it is the radiance of the Divinity, warming and encircling man. It is a spiritual sense gratified by spiritual sensations; without this, all ceremonies are inefficacious, books, prayers, sacraments, and meditations, are but a body without a soul, or a statue without animation. That man is capable of such an intercourse with his Maker, there are many living witnesses to prove. It may be proved to spring from natural and philosophical causes; God is a spirit, so is the mind; bodies can have intercourse, so can souls. When minds are in an assimilating state of purity, they have union with their Maker. This was the bliss of Paradise, sin interrupted, and holiness must restore it; to a soul thus disposed, the Creator communicates himself in a manner, which is as

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insensible to the natural eye, as the falling of dews; but no less refreshing to its secret pow ers than that is to vegetation. The primitive saints are described thus, when they speak of their transports. David felt it when he longed for God, as the hart panteth after the water brooks. St. Paul, when he gloried in his tribulations. It was embodied in him when he was carried up to the third heaven, and heard things impossible to be uttered. St. Stephen was filled with it, when he saw the heavens open, and prayed for his murderers. By it martyrs were supported when they were stoned, and sawed asunder, and till we feel it in ourselves, we shall never fully know how glorious the Lord is." London Review, December 1791. "It follows, (says the learned Howe,) that having formed this his more excellent creature, according to his more express likeness, stampt it with the more glorious character of his living image, given it a nature suitable to his own, and thereby made it capable of rational and intelligent converse with him, he hath it even in his power to maintain a continual converse with this creature by agreeable communications, by letting in upon it the vital beams and influence of his own light and love, and

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