quently occur, when the composition of treatises on religious subjects, when commenting on the Scriptures, or when the use of other means of Christian instruction, is not only allowable, but desirable. But, such an allowance by no means affects the principle of Friends, that, with occasions so solemn as those of the congregational worship of the Deity, no ministry can be in true harmony, but such as proceeds from the direct influences of the Holy Spirit. It is then that, in a peculiar and preeminent manner, the Almighty Saviour of men is present with his people. The sacred canopy of their heavenly Father's love is spread over them; nor can they worship him aright, unless the reasonings and imaginations of their own minds are brought into subjection. At such times the mandate is proclaimed to the spiritual worshipper: "Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord; for he is raised up out of his holy habitation;" Zech. ii, 13. If incense is then to be offered unto him, its sweet savour must arise out of no "strange fire;" Levit. x, 1. If the ark of the covenant is to be uplifted among the people, none may touch it to whom the command is not given; II Sam. vi, 6. If the pure temple of the Lord is to be built up, he himself must prepare the materials, "and neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron”nothing of the unauthorized instrumentality of manmust be "heard in the house;" I Kings vi, 7.

In offering the description now given of the nature and operation of that which we deem to be true ministry; in adverting to its divine origin, and in marking its coincidence with the pure spirituality of Christian worship,-I have not forgotten our own infirmities and deficiencies; and it has been very far indeed from my intention to convey the idea that we are found universally to maintain in practice this high, yet simple, standard. I am remarking, only, that this is our prin

ciple, and that it is a principle which evidently arises out of the divine law, and accords with its holiness and perfection.

There is another point of view, in which the present subject requires to be considered.

Although the object for which Christians meet in congregations is the worship of the Deity, and although it is by means of a direct communion between God and the soul that the worshipper is chiefly edified, the "Master of assemblies" is pleased to appoint the outward ministration of preaching, in immediate connexion with the service thus offered to himself, for the purposes of conversion, edification, and consolation. It is obvious that, in an assembly of persons, there is always a great variety of internal condition; and the mental state, even of a single individual, is varied, from time to time, by circumstances known only to himself and to his Creator. In order, then, to be useful to its fullest extent, the ministers of the Gospel ought to consist, not only in a statement of scriptural truths, but in a right experimental application of those truths, as occasion offers, to all this variety of internal condition. Now, although the preacher, from his own observation, may form some opinion respecting the states of his hearers, he cannot penetrate the secrets of the heart; and his judgment never fails to be obscure, uncertain, and imperfect. Thus his administrations may or may not be fitted to those persons for whom they are intended. But the Minister of ministers searches the hearts of men; and, under the immediate influence of his Spirit, the preacher of the Gospel is enabled to unfold the condition of individuals, and rightly to apply to their several wants the word of consolation, reproof, or instruction. Such was the character of that prophesying or preaching of which we read in the epistles of Paul. "If all prophesy," says he, "and

there come in one who believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth," I Cor. xiv, 24, 25.

So, also, in publick prayer, the minister prays as the representative of the congregation, and the minds of the hearers are supposed to accompany the words of the speaker. If he utter the written prayer, and the congregation follow him in the same words, it is sufficiently obvious that the expression of the lip and the feeling of the heart will often be in total dissonance. The obdurate sinner may be found addressing an omnipresent Deity in the language of contritionthe sorrowful and desponding spirit, in the voice of praise and thanksgiving-the happy and rejoicing believer, in the words of mourning and wo! Nor can it be considered that a less inconsistency prevails, when the prayer of the minister is extemporaneous, and proceeds, not from the Spirit of the Lord, but from his own powers of invention and composition. The words which, under such circumstances, he may express, however satisfactory to his own mind, may often be in absolute discordance with the feelings and real condition of his hearers. Were we, in our publick assemblies for worship, to use addresses either to the people or to the Almighty, not prompted by his Spirit, but either previously written or extemporaneously composed, we should, with our views of the subject, consider ourselves, not as honouring the God of our fathers, but as making an unauthorized and improper use of his holy name. And we are persuaded, from long experience, that, under that dispensation of religion into which we have been led, such a mode of conducting the administrations of the gospel would greatly injure the life, and as

greatly

lessen the true efficacy, of our Christian worship.

In confirmation of the principles which have now been stated, and as a further proof that they legitimately arise out of divine institution, I have now to appeal to the numerous and plain examples of inspired ministry recorded in the Bible.

Various instances are on record, in that sacred volume, of ministry uttered either publickly or on private occasions of importance; and the prayers, praises, and discourses, thus spoken, bear the character, not of compositions prepared beforehand through the exertions of human intellect, but of effusions flowing spontaneously from that divine Spirit who animated and impelled the speakers. When Joseph interpreted the dream of Pharaoh; when the dying Jacob pronounced his blessing on his children and grandchildren; when Moses sang aloud his song of rejoicing, and when he recited to the people the marvellous dealings of God with them; when Joshua also recounted the mercies of the Lord, and exhorted the Israelites to obedience; when Deborah and Barak uttered their triumphant hymn; when Hannah, in the temple, poured forth her thanksgiving aloud; when Samuel communicated the word of the Lord to Eli, and, on another occasion, pleaded the cause of God with the people; when David sang his psalms of penitence, prophecy, and praise; and when his successor uttered his proverbs of wisdom and his thousand songs, (I Kings iv, 32); when Solomon, when Hezekiah, and when Ezra,

8

From various statements, contained in the recorded history of David, it may be collected that he sometimes uttered his prayers and psalms, before they were committed to writing; see II Sam. vii, 18—29; xxii, xxiii, 2. Nor can we doubt that the Spirit often led him, in the first instance, to write that sacred poetry which was afterwards sung both by himself and by others. While, however, it is evident that psalmody prevailed among the ancient Hebrews to a great extent, it is to be remembered that the songs which

lifted up their voices, in audible supplication, before the assembled multitudes; when Elizabeth addressed, with a loud voice, the mother of her Lord, and when Mary responded with the voice of thanksgiving; when Zacharias praised the Lord, who had "visited and redeemed his people;" when John the Baptist proclaimed the personal presence and approaching reign of the Messiah; when all these and many other individuals thus exercised the gift of ministry (as it would now be denominated); there is every reason to believe (and, in some of the instances alluded to, it is expressly declared), that they spake as they were immediately moved by the Holy Ghost.

Among the ancient Israelites, the duty which properly corresponds with that of the Christian minister was not exercised by the Priests and Levites, whose office it was to perform the service practised in the temple, and to offer the sacrifices appointed by the law. It rather appertained to the Prophets, who, at various periods of the Israelitish history, were a numerous body of men; and were distinguished from their countrymen, not by hereditary dignity or official appointment, but, simply, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These persons, as we find from a multitude of passages in their written works, were by no means exclusively engaged in predicting events to come, but were often sent forth to proclaim the judgments and

they introduced into their worship, were the songs of prophets, and originated in direct inspiration.

The psalms to which the earliest Christians were accustomed, I conceive to have been often uttered without premeditation, and under the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost. In two of his epistles, Paul describes them as "spiritual songs," Eph. v, 19; Col. iii, 16); and, on another occasion, he numbers the "psalm" among those inspired administrations which distinguished the public wor ship of primitive times; I Cor. xiv, 26.