of life and soundness in the body at large, when the stronger sex withdraws from the battles of the Lord, and leaves them to be fought by those whose physical weakness and delicacy have an obvious tendency to render them less fit for the combat. Were we, of that stronger sex, less devoted than we now are to secular objects were we less prone to a worldly spirit, and more diligent in seeking "first the kingdom of God and his righteousness"-there can be little doubt that we should be called forth in greater numbers into the arduous duties of the ministry of the Gospel; nor would the burthen of the word be found to rest, in so large a proportion as it now does, on our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters.

CHAPTER IX.

ON SILENT WORSHIP.

SINCE Friends allow of no audible administrations in connexion with publick worship, except such as arise out of the immediate impressions of the Holy Spirit, it is evident that, when those impressions are withheld or withdrawn, and at all times except during the actual utterance of ministry, their assemblies must continue in a state of silence. When they meet together, for the solemn purpose of worshipping their common Lord and Father, they dare not rush into his sacred presence with offerings of confession, prayer, and praise, prepared beforehand, or extemporaneously invented. They sit down, therefore, in reverent stillness before him; and whenever it happens that no one present possesses a gift in the ministry, or that the individuals who possess such a gift are not called into the exercise of it, the consequence (if the principles of the Society are properly maintained) is necessarily this that the silence, with which the meeting commences, continues uninterrupted until the time arrives for its separation.

During the earlier periods of the Society's history, the number of its ministers was very large; and I cannot but think it probable that, in the present day, were our religious body in a more lively, healthy, and

vigorous condition, the gifts of the Holy Spirit would be more abundantly poured forth upon us, and would be exercised more generally in our assemblies for worship, to the edification of the people, and to the glory of the Great Giver. But, although this allowance may, I believe, be safely made, it is certain that those who have imbibed the religious principles of Friends will ever place a high value on the opportunities, so often afforded them in that Society, for the publick yet silent worship of God. While much of silence in our religious meetings is the necessary consequence of our sentiments respecting the ministry of the Gospel, it is a consequence which we are far indeed from regarding as a hardship or disadvantage. On the contrary, such silent worship is in complete harmony with the whole tenour of our principles; and we believe that, to those who rightly avail themselves of it, it seldom fails to become the means of very great usefulness.

Our profession and our desire, when we meet together to worship the Father, is to perform this sacred duty in spirit and in truth. To this end we conceive that a condition of outward silence is preeminently adapted. For worship in spirit and in truth consists neither in the practices of typical ordinances, nor in the forced or formal use of words, which may or may not be accordant with the feelings of those who utter them, or in whose behalf they are spoken ; but in the communion of the soul with God, in inward prostration before him, and in those heartfelt offerings of supplication and thanksgiving which, in order to enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, need not the intervention of any vocal utterance.

In order to unfold this interesting subject with some degree of clearness, it will be desirable to advert to a few of its principal particulars.

I. Were the inquiry addressed to me, What is the

first and most essential qualification for a right and spiritual worship of the Almighty-for such a worship as would at once edify the creature and glorify the Creator?--I should feel but little hesitation in replying, A deep humiliation and subjection of soul before the divine Majesty. True worship may often be properly expressed by the services of the lip; but it is, in itself, the homage which the soul offers to its Maker; it is the reverential communion of man with his God. Now, this homage can never be acceptably offered--this communion can never take place in a right or perfect manner-until the mind of the worshipper is made in some degree sensible of the real relative situation of the two parties concerned-of himself and his God. The worshipper is the creature; the object of his worship is the Creator; the-former is finite, ignorant, weak, and helpless; the latter is omniscient, eternal, and omnipotent: the former, without grace, is fallen, sinful, and corrupt; the latter is of "purer eyes than to behold iniquity;" the former is capable of receiving either wrath or mercy; the latter is able either to punish or to forgive. "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity;" Ps. lxii, 9. "All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity;" Isa. xl, 17. In order, therefore, to make acceptable approaches in spirit to the Almighty, it is abundantly evident that men ought to be humbled, prostrate, and in a mental condition of profound reverence and awe; under a sense of their own vileness and of his perfections-of their own unworthiness and of his power-of their own nothingness and of his infinity. Nor will such a state of true humiliation fail to procure for them the gracious regards of their heavenly Father. "The heaven is my

throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For, all these things hath mine hand made, and all these things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word;" Isa. lxvi, 1, 2.

The frame of mind which I have now attempted to describe is, indeed, in some measure, at all times, inherent in the true Christian: but, on occasions appointed for the high and especial purpose of communion with the Almighty, such a frame is, in a preeminent degree, necessary; and is required to be formed in a much more perfect and uninterrupted manner, than during the active pursuits and mixed avocations of common life. Now, in order to this end-in order to the production of this entire humiliation, in those who are met together for divine worship-there is, perhaps, no outward condition nearly so well adapted as one of silence. The soul of man, however it may frequently be fraught with honest and pious intentions, is laden with many infirmities; and, on these solemn occasions, it appears to require the opportunity which silence so naturally affords, before it can find its own true level; before it can be brought to entertain, with a sufficient degree of completeness, a just sense of itself and of its Creator. There is reason to fear that such a sense is often very imperfectly formed, and that it is sometimes materially interrupted, by the use of words which form prescribes, or which human imagination invents. Even sincerely religious people may draw nigh unto God with their lips, while their souls are far from being sufficiently humbled before him; and, if it be so, they worship their Creator superficially, and their religious exercises will ever be found unprofitable, in proportion as they are shallow. It is