Happily, there is still another class of ministers, among various denominations of Christians (as I can testify from my own observation), whose views on the present subject are of a much more spiritual character. In the first place, they enter into the sacred office under very decided impressions of Christian duty, and in the humble, yet full persuasion, that they are called into this field of service by the great Head of the church. And, in the second place, when invested, according to their own apprehension, with the office in question, they exercise its important functions, not only with zeal and fidelity, but with a real feeling of dependence upon the divine Spirit. Such persons are evidently the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ; and we can scarcely fail to observe how frequently their labours are blessed to the conversion and edification of the people. Nevertheless, I conceive that even these preachers of the gospel do not consider it necessary that their ministry should be the unmixed offspring of the Lord's Spirit. The principle upon which they generally (I will not say universally) conduct their religious services, appears to be this-that, having been called to the work, and invested with the office of preachers, they are constantly to seek for the assistance of divine power in the exercise of its functions: nevertheless, that the discourses which they actually utter are not to be immediately prompted of the Lord, but, under the more general and indirect influences of the Holy Spirit, are to be the produce of their own minds, and mostly of previous study, research, and reflexion.

Little as I am inclined to cast any blame upon others, who are evidently accepted and assisted by their "own Master," I conceive it to be a duty, plainly laid upon the Society of Friends, to hold up a still higher and purer standard respecting the Christian

ministry. It is a principle generally understood and admitted by the members of that Society, that the faculty of the Christian ministry is a gift of the Spirit, which cannot be rightly exercised otherwise than under the direct and immediate influence of that Spirit. Friends are not, therefore, satisfied with any general impression that it is their duty to preach the gospel; nor do they venture, under such impression, either to employ their own intellectual exertions as a preparation for the service, or to select their own time for performing it. If it be the divine will that they should minister, they believe it will be manifested to them, by the divine Spirit, when they are to speak, whom they are to address, and what things they are to express. In the exercise of so high and sacred a function, they dare not depend, either in a greater or less degree, upon their own strength or wisdom; but they feel constrained to place their sole reliance upon him who "searcheth the reins and the hearts;" upon him who "hath the key of David;" who "openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth;" Rev. iii, 7.

The individual who, according to the apprehension of Friends, is a true minister of the Gospel, (and there may be many such persons in a single congregation,) avails himself, with strict regularity, of the opportunities provided amongst us, as in every religious society, for the purpose of divine worship. In company with his brethren and sisters, he waits, in public, upon Him who is alone the author of every good and perfect gift. His soul is humbled in true prostration before God; and, while he continues in this condition, he is often sensible, not only of a general desire for the spiritual welfare of his friends, but of a strong, yet secret, exercise of mind on their account. Now, as he patiently waits in reverent dependence upon Christ the great

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Minister of the sanctuary, this exercise of mind often assumes an explicit direction; and, when he apprehends that the secret command has gone forth towards him, vocally to address either the congregation in preaching, or the Almighty in prayer, he obeys the mandate of his Lord, and speaks as the Spirit gives him utterance. When he has been enabled to discharge himself of the burthen which has thus rested upon him, he returns to a state of silence, and is often permitted to experience a consoling feeling of relief and tranquillity. The quietude and true ease which then prevail in his mind afford him an evidence, of which he may, with humility, avail himself, that, in thus exercising his gift, he has been following, not the carnal imaginations of his own heart, but the voice of the true Shepherd.

Here I would particularly observe that, with every humble and devoted minister who acts on these principles, and who carefully maintains the watch, the internal operations of the Spirit will not only prompt to a right exercise of the gift, but will afford a constant check upon its abuse. There will be found, in those internal operations, a secret discipline, a salutary correction, for those who exceed the limits of their calling, and stretch their gift beyond its true measure. If, however, in any persons, who have received the gift of the ministry, a watchful dependence upon God is not maintained, and thus their services degenerate into the use of words without life, the spirituallyminded hearer will not fail to observe so important a change; and thus, while the members of a religious Society are "subject to one another in love," and a right Christian oversight is preserved among them, it will not, for the most part, be found a difficult matter to prevent the continuance, in any congregation, of a spurious ministry.

The use of the Christian ministry, whether in preaching or in prayer, whether in the public congregation, or even in the more private circle,—is immediately connected with the worship of God. It is universally understood to constitute a part of that worship. The sentiments of Friends, therefore, on this subject, like those on the rites of baptism and the supper, arise out of that part of the divine law, as revealed under the New Covenant, which declares that God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped, by his followers, in spirit and in truth.

They conceive that true spiritual worship consists in that communion of the soul with its Creator which is not interrupted, either by the use of ceremonial ordinances, or by any religious services originating in the invention and contrivance of man; and, therefore, they apprehend that no verbal administrations properly consist with worship, but those which spring simply and immediately from the influence of the Holy Spirit. They believe that God can be rightly praised only by his own works. Now, among those works may be reckoned the spiritual ministry of which I am speaking; for, although it may be affected by the infirmity of the instrument through which it passes, (and this may be the case in a greater or lesser degree,) it is, nevertheless, called into exercise, ordered, and directed to its right object, by the Lord himself.

Here I would observe that there appears to exist a material distinction between teaching and preaching. While, in the performance of either of these Christian duties, the dependence of the true Christian will be placed on the grace and Spirit of God, it may be freely admitted that, in teaching, a much greater liberty is given, for the use of our merely human faculties, than in the higher and more important office of prophesying or preaching. The Spirit operates through a variety of administrations: and opportunities fre

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