ever be found in accordance with each other. The law written in the book, and the law written on the heart, have proceeded from the same Author: the only standard of both of them is the will of God; and therefore they can never fail to correspond. Scripture is a divinely authorised test, by which we must try not only all our sentiments on matters of doctrine; but all our notions and opinions respecting right and wrong. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." It ought, however, to be remarked, that the written law, for the most part, consists in general directions. Now, the inward manifestations of the Spirit of Christ, while they confirm the principles on which those general directions are founded, will instruct us how to apply them in our daily walk, and under all the various circumstances and exigencies of life. For example, the outward law declares, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The inward law will not only inculcate the same rule, but will point out, to the obedient followers of Christ, in what manner, and on what occasion, this love is to be brought into action.

5. It is worthy, in the last place, of particular observation, that the monitions of the Holy Spirit within us direct an exact, comprehensive, and unmixed, obedience to the will of God. How imperfect is the obedience of those persons, who acknowledge only the written law, and who, in the application of that law to the various occasions of human life, are accustomed to seek no other direction than that of their 7 Isa. viii, 20.

own reason, and to depend upon no other strength than that of their own wills! While in the secret of their hearts there dwells a spirit of rebellion against that Lord who would lead them into self-mortification; how readily can they plead excuses, and urge the doctrine of expediency, in opposition to the dictates of truth! Notwithstanding their professed regard to the Scriptures, they neglect to seek that guidance of the Holy Spirit, of which the Scriptures so plainly testify. And what is the consequence? Their moral sense degenerates, and they presently learn to “ call evil good, and good evil;" to "put darkness for light, and light for darkness;" to "put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter."8 In such unsound professors of religion there is no full coming out— no effectual emancipation-from that which is evil in the sight of God.

May not a degree of the same kind of imperfection 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 I well 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 8 Isa. v, 20.

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. 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 those of the human imagination, which lead into enthusiasm ;-that the two influences are to be distinguished, first, by the mode of their operation, and, secondly, by the fruits which they produce—that the influence of the Spirit operates in a gentle manner on the waiting and prostrate soul-that the fruits which it produces are the peaceable fruits of righteousness"-that these afford a substantial evidence of the divine origin of that guiding principle which leads to them-and, lastly,

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that this general argument is greatly strengthened, when we come to trace some particular features 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 recognise 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 public 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

97 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 already stated 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, may, indeed, 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 inward 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 among Friends into the practice of universally acknowledged Christian virtues, leads them also into

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