Quakerism As Practical Christianity, Shewing the Excellency of a True Christian Worship, Walk, and Conversation. By John E. Southall.
A catechism explaining the primitive doctrines of Friends and a plea for the lost lambs to turn out from the world and inward to the true flock of Christ.
This work has not appeared online since its publication. It was found in a meetinghouse and taken an interest in. I have republished it here.
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” - John 15:14 KJV
The following treatise completes a series of three, which embrace an harmonious scope, and are each one mutually explanatory of the other.
The central subject in each case is the Kingdom of Christ, yet is should be noted that in no case does either of them profess to be an exposition of a body of Christian doctrine or a complete system of theology. They appeal rather to individual experience, then declare the ground of that experience, or its connection with other fundamental facts of Christianity.
“Quakerism as a factor in the World’s History” Illustrates the leavening tendency of the Kingdom on human affairs, and on the temporal well-being of nations.
“Quakerism as the One Universal Religion” sets forth the way to the Kingdom as open to all, and the nature of the faith which realizes its coming in the individual.
“Quakerism as Practical Christianity” deals with an effective profession of Christianity, and with Christian worship Purged from the foreign elements which obstruct the coming of the Kingdom in gathered Churches. It also notices various wrongly-rooted customs, which, though not distinctly religious in their character, minister to the prevalence of false religion, and are hindrances to the true religion which is dependent for its every motion, on fresh supplies of Grace and Light from God.
The sun and center is the kingdom of Christ himself, Not an absent king, but the head of the household, appointing to each of his servants their work and service; he who for our sakes trod the winepress alone, and to whom now, all power in heaven and earth is committed.
He came unto his own, but his own received him not. This was true nineteen hundred years ago, and is true today. Where shall we find that Christ has his rightful place, the preeminence in all things?
In the World? Is He enthroned there?
No. He lies in a manger ; and the busy crowd either overlook the place of His dwelling, or they see no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.
In the Church?
Do Christians realize what they are fain to confess, that without Him they can do nothing ; and do their teachers lead them to sit where Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, to hear the gracious words that proceed out of His mouth?
Is the professing Church in any sense the Bride of Christ, receiving the law at His mouth, and reflecting on a dark world His glorious perfections?
Alas, there are many workers, many talkers, many Marthas, who are cumbered about much serving ; yet how few there are, who are willing to sink down beneath all self-activity to the power that crucifies to the world, and renews the mind into the heavenly image; willing to come to that state where the great Potter can fashion the clay according to His own good pleasure.
O How many there are, in whom this good work has been in some measure begun, but who have been entangled in the outskirts of mystery Babylon, by a ceaseless round of praying, preaching and singing, and so have missed the experience of that praying which is truly without ceasing, and while others again who have seen clearly to the end of all perfection,” and where the Truth lay which would make them free from sin, have allowed the love of other things to come in and chill their first love to that which alone is lovely, and they, too, have fallen back into the worship of the outer court, though, perhaps, in a right form, yet without the power.
It is not for me here, to attempt to outline the benefits of association together of those who are gathered into the mystical body of Christ, and whose faith rests not on the wisdom of men, either as to doctrine or service, but in the Power of God, it rather remains to point out that no numerous Church is sufficiently gathered into that power to manifest what Christianity or true religion really is, or what it leads to.
I have to point out moreover, that such a manifestation was known in this country, and in America, two hundred years ago, but that most of those who claim to represent it now fall short of doing so in several important respects; yet would willingly omit all reference to this, were it not that, while the word Quakerism is used to denote certain principles, considerable ambiguity and confusion might arise in its application, if the reader were led to expect that an exemplification of those principles would be now met with among the Friends generally; although it must be admitted that their practice is much in advance of that of all other denominations.
To return to the question before us: where shall we find that Christ has His rightful place, the pre-eminence in all things? We see that there is neither room for Him on the highway, in the congregation, by the hearth ; that other guests take up that seat which alone belongs to the King, and that where He is professedly served, too often the reproof is applicable “Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, yet ye say wherein have we wearied Him.” - Mal. ii. 17.
Though the living principle or seed sown by the Heavenly Sower, by which men can alone come to the knowledge of God and of themselves is rejected, both in the Church and in the world, Christ still knocks at the door of each individual heart, and where it is opened there He comes in, breaks bread, and has His rightful place. He is now as He was in the days of His flesh, seeking and saving that which was lost, preaching the Gospel to the poor in Spirit, but sending the rich, and the full, and the wise empty away, because their consolation is something other than Himself. Christ the Word is still as of old, a hammer breaking the hard heart, a fire purifying the sons of spiritual Levi, and as a light enlightening the Gentiles, and all who are in the Gentile spirit, that they may see the error of their ways, and be without excuse. He is gathering a people to Himself, redeeming them by His blood, out of all nations, tongues and kindreds, and He is preparing the way for the down fall of spiritual Babylon, which has for ages usurped the throne of Christ, and deceived the nations with the cup of the wine of her fornication and of her sorceries, that He may in due time exalt His kingdom over all, and that that which is secret may be made manifest, and that which has been spoken in the ear, may be proclaimed on the house-tops.
To practice nothing as Christianity but what is of and in a living Christ using earthen vessels passive instruments to receive of His fulness, and to communicate of it to others, is the key- note of the following pages, or, as it has been put by an inspired Apostle, “by manifestation of Truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God-2 Cor. iv. 2 i.e. only acting as the Truth leads. Self activity cannot manifest anything more than a dead form of Truth to that which is of God in the conscience.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT IN WORD BUT IN POWER.
Ninth Month, Tenth, I895.
J. E. S.
Contents:
- Preface
- The Divine Gift The Spring of Good Works
- The Kingdom of God
- Practical Christianity Further Defined
- The Holy Scriptures
- Baptism
- The Lord’s Supper
- Christian Worship
- Tithes
- The Function of Civil Government
- Payment for Preaching not Allowed by the Gospel
- Nonconformity to the World
- Language
- Dress
- Will-Worship Promotes Wrong Customs
- Hat Honor
- Oaths
- Amusements The Rule to Judge them By
- Philanthropy - War
- The Work of True Religion - True and False Love
- The “Society of Friends”
- Conclusion
Question: What is Practical Christianity?
Answer: Practical Christianity is true religion manifested in outward acts.
Question: But is it not generally understood to be confined mainly to philanthropic and moral actions?
Answer: Yes, it embraces all these and more besides, but philanthropic and moral actions are not distinctive of any religious profession, although more or less enjoined by all. Their ultimate worth depends in the nature of the faith they rest upon. Every man has a faith of some sort or other. Even the infidel persuades himself that his belief, or non-belief, will turn out for the best in some way. Now in the former discourse, “Quakerism as the One Universal Religion,” it was proved that the Quaker faith in its essential ground is universal, wherever man comes to be partaker of the Divine nature. We are about to turn our attention to that faith, bringing forth fruit in good works, and an outward profession which the world calls Quakerism, but which we here designate Practical Christianity.
Question: But surely it is not correct to say that the world calls all good works Quakerism, and that none but Quakers perform good works? All works springing
Answer: No. by no means. from true faith in the Divine gift operating in the soul of man, by whomsoever they are per formed, are good, and are accepted by God, because He is no respecter of persons, and it is He alone who worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Question: But still, is that any reason why what the world calls Quakerism,” which means the faith and distinctive religious practice of a very small body of people, should be called practical Christianity, as though there were no practical Christianity outside the limits of that body?
Answer: So as not to be misunderstood, I will give another definition to practical Christianity, it is nothing more nor less than yielding to the Spirit of Christ, and being led by it in the service of God in the world, in whatever way he is pleased to appoint. All good people have this experience, more or less, but because their principles are, as is shewn in the previous discourse, not consistent with pure dependence on Divine teaching and leading, so their practice is not simply the practice of Christianity, and contrariwise, as the Quaker faith, is one of pure dependence, so the practice resulting from it must be nothing but the Life and Power of Christ manifesting itself in the world by human instruments, and setting up His kingdom there.
Question: Please explain more fully what is meant by the Kingdom of God and of Christ being set up in the world. Is not that kingdom an entirely spiritual one, and do not the Quakers lay stress upon its being so?
Answer: The Kingdom of God considered in itself is spiritual, just as the seed of the Kingdom is spiritual, but when that has been so heeded and obeyed, as to spring up in the soul, it rules not only the inner man and the understanding, but the outer actions also, so as to bring man in his whole being and relations, into conformity with the will of God.
If all men were to come into this state, human society would not be destroyed, but everything, both civil and religious, would be brought into its right channel, and every human action would have its proper service, both for the benefit of the individual, and in harmony with the well being of the whole world.
Everyone that prays or worships aright does his part toward bringing about the coming of this Kingdom. Everyone who prays or worships wrongly, stands in the way of its coming, no matter whether he be a heathen, or whether he have got the best form sanctioned by spiritual religion.
The publican in his day promoted the coming of Christ, and His reign on earth; because he yielded to Truth knocking at the door of his heart, while the Pharisee was altogether too wise and too full to come to the knowledge of Truth, and of himself ; consequently he remained as he was before, dark, blind, and out of the Kingdom, because his religion was a self-made one.
The heathen who so far obeys the everlasting Gospel power, as to fear God and work righteousness promotes the coming of the Kingdom, though he know not outwardly of Christ, while the Christian professor, who acts independently of the moving and guidance of Divine power, retards it.
Question: As the publican was not a Quaker in the Ordinary sense of the term, am I to understand then that the phrase, Practical Christianity, can be used in two legitimate senses?
Answer: Yes; but in senses perfectly harmonious one with another. The first includes whatever a man does, whether he be heathen or Christian, Turk or Jew, under the enlightening, saving influence of the Spirit of Christ, which, we are told, “has appeared unto all men.” The salvation of each individual depends upon his heeding his measure of it.
The second is in reality, the first in its completeness, and embraces a practice, as hinted above, wholly conformable to the nature and essence of Christianity: it is founded on individual faith in the manifestation of Divine grace; shews itself in individual life, and in Church life, by a perfect correspondence in outward life, moral actions, and religious profession.
Question: Then is it not the duty of every Quaker to urge upon others this complete correspondence, in practice with the nature and principle of spiritual religion, so as to leave nothing existing in religion, but what has at least the form of Truth about it?
Answer: Not by any means; nearly every kind of religion can require this, and seek to propagate itself in that way, but it is not so with Quakerism. The Catholic hierarchy demand adherence to the forms of their Church, the reception of certain doctrines and dogmas; the Established Church seeks to propagate itself by teaching the Catechism, inducing belief in the authority of its clergy and assent to its Articles ; the leading Protestant sects seek to propagate themselves by spreading their views as to what the letter of Scripture teaches about Church government, or what they call the ordinances, or perhaps some special doctrine they wish to bring into prominence.
They call this Practical Christianity, or the service of Christ, but the real Practical Christianity, which is Quakerism, cannot fight with these weapons ; it can only say to each individual soul,thy coming out of all Error into all Truth, depends not on thy studying this system or that system, nor even on thy trying to imitate the faith and practice of the Saints, as recorded in Holy Scripture, but it depends wholly on thy close attention to and following the Divine gift within thee-the one Spirit which can and will lead into all Truth; which means that thou wilt be brought into that state in which nothing within thee, will obstruct the clear shining of heavenly Light.
Practical Christianity is, then, not a set of barren dogmas, sensuous rites, or even a literal Scriptural profession, but it is rather the fruit of of the beneficent influence of the Dayspring from on high, giving each man a capacity to serve God, and to know His present will to guide him, for the moment an action springs from any other power or will working in the soul. that action is no part of Christianity, however wood it may be in itself, but leads to will-worship. which is idolatry, whether it be under a form of Truth or a form of Error.
Question: This appears to be plain, and would be admitted by many Christians, though they do not see where this admission carries them, but if people are to be left alone in forms of Error, and simply instructed to heed the leading of the Spirit, how is Christianity in its completeness to spread in the world ?
Answer: People are not to be left alone, but they are to be brought to know their Guide, and not go beyond Him, but to take one step at a time as He opens the way, and not to take up hastily with a profession simply because they assent to it with the understanding; yet woe unto them, if having received any rays of true Light, they refuse to go forward. Going forward in the Truth, always means opposition to error and darkness. gone so forward
Question: Has any body of people in Practical Christianity, as to be established in true principles and a true profession outwardly ?
Answer: Yes; a people was raised up in England nearly 250 years ago, whose principles and profession were simply those of Christianity, without the admixture of human wisdom, that is to say they were wholly fruits of the immediate teaching of the Spirit of Christ.
Question: But most Protestant dissenters acknowledge the Bible as their rule of faith and practice, and profess to listen to nothing which cannot be found in what they call the Word of God; how can any principles which seem to be quite in dependent of it, meet with acceptance among such?
Answer: This people, who were in scorn called Quakers, simply put the Bible in no higher position than it claims for itself, and they gave the first place to Christ, who is in all things to have the Pre-eminence, who is a Leader and Commander to His people; they learned of Him, sat under His shadow with great delight, and were led by Him in and out to find pasture. Hence they could not call the Bible, the Word of God, a title due only to Christ, and to His living calls and communications in individual souls.
The Scriptures were to them, and are to us, an inestimable gift made use of by the Spirit, as He sees fit, in opening the understanding about the things of God, and in ministering. to the Life of righteousness, but the literal knowledge or study of them in our own wills, is of little worth and may be used by the Prince of this world to keep people feeding on the husks instead of on the substance.
Besides this, Quakers were then, and their true successors are now, willing that every doctrine they hold shall be tried and tested by Scripture as a secondary rule, but not as the primary fount of spiritual knowledge, which were to deny Christ come in the flesh and present in Spirit with His followers unto the end of the world.
The Holy Scriptures are a true witness to Christ, the Saviour of the world, both as the Word made flesh, bearing the griefs and burdens, as well as the sins of humanity, and as the Light that enlighteneth every man who cometh into the world.
As we go back to the Old Testament writings, descriptions of His work, and of the experience which the sons of men must go through in order to the work of redemption being accomplished in them, are to be seen by the spiritual eye, hid away from human reason, under the shadows of the Jewish law, and outward tabernacle; while the blessings which belong to the true Church, the Divine care over her, the workings of the mystery of iniquity, and the judgments and curses which belong to the false Church, are set forth under various figures, or illustrated in the state of the chosen people, and of the surrounding nations, in the writings of the prophets, ‘and. again still further, in the awful grandeur of the Book of Revelation.
In the Apostolical Epistles we have the fundamentals of Christian doctrine, with precepts and exhortations adapted to various states in those and succeeding ages, as well as matter specially adapted for the time in which they were written, and we confess that all these are now profitable for doctrine, correction, and instruction in righteousness, so far as they are applied to our needs by the infallible Spirit.
Question: But if you acknowledge the authority of the Scriptures, how do you defend the omission of those two great ordinances, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are practiced in some shape or other by Christendom nearly universally? The command seems quite clear, “Teach all nations, baptizing them,” &c. ; and again, “This do, in remembrance of me.”
Answer: We will consider Baptism first. In the first place, it is wrong to say that true Quakers reject Baptism; they thoroughly believe in “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism,” in fact they consider it an essential part of Christian experience to be baptized into the death of Christ, so as to know the power of His resurrection.
Peter alludes to the baptism that saves, as the Antitype of souls being saved by water in the days of Noah, and he distinctly informs us, that it was not of an outward character, as most Christians understand baptism, but had to do with the resurrection Power of Christ in the soul, giving the answer of a good conscience toward God.
Peter makes no further allusion to water baptism in either of his Epistles, so that we are at liberty to conclude that in his younger and less experienced days, he had been more zealous about it, than he was then, and we find no command from the Master, either to him or to any other disciple, that they were to use the ceremony of baptism.
Question: How can we understand Matt. xxvii. 19, which is a positive command given by our Lord to His disciples, to teach all nations, baptizing them?
Answer: There is no mention whatever there, of outward water, and we have no ground to sup pose that any of the disciples understood it so, otherwise we can hardly doubt but that mention would have been made of it elsewhere, as a command of Christ. We have, moreover, pretty clear evidence that water baptism is not commanded, in the case of the Apostle Paul, who assures us that Christ had not sent him to baptize.
Question: If water baptism is not meant here, what then can be the meaning of the wording “baptizing?”
Answer: The command was to teach all nations, baptizing them, into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now, “into the name” &c, signifies into the Divine life, power and nature, not the bare outward recitation of the words, which can effect nothing, but build up in an empty form; and we not find that these words were ever used in any recorded case of water baptism in Apostolic times.
Question: But would it not be presumption in any human teachers or preachers to assume to them selves such a high prerogative, and would not that lead to manifest hypocrisy?
Answer: Mark the condition attached to the promise to those to whom it was immediately one. addressed, “Tarry ye at Jerusalenm, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Without the Power it would have been in vain for them to have attempted to preach, so as to baptize into the Power, but as they received qualification for each act of service, their ministry was a baptizing one
Question: But how is it, that Christians generally understand this text so differently?
Answer: One main reason is because the ministry they support is on a wrong foundation, and does not beget unto God, therefore has little or no baptizing influence.
Question: But is it not plain that the Apostles preached water baptism, and that it has been preached in the Church ever since their day?
Answer: The Apostles, who were all trained in the Jewish law of symbolic washings and sacrifices, were familiar with the watery dispensation of John the Baptist, which was to decrease, while that of Christ, who baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire, was to increase.
They were not all at once brought off from these observances, even after the new dispensation had been ushered in, and the veil of the Temple was rent in twain; yet, in every case, we may gather that water was used rather by Divine permission, than by command, and even then, very little out of Palestine, until the brightness of the Apostolic age had begun to wane.
Peter even went so far as to ask, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, (Acts x. 47), which implies some doubt arising in his mind, and is very far from asserting Divine authority to perpetuate a universal rite.
Question: To come back again to our starting point,what shall we understand by the one Baptism, which is an essential of Christianity?
Answer: The Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, to burn up the corrupt chaffy nature, and implant a new Divine life in the soul. This is what is meant by being baptized into the death of Christ, and putting on Christ, experiences which are renewed from time to time in the course of the Christian pilgrimage.
As this is in the Divine ordering, and a consequence of faith, “one Baptism” very appropriately is joined to “one Lord,” “one faith.”
Question: How can Christianity be practical without the observance of the Lord’s supper?
Answer: A partaking inwardly of the Lord’s supper is essential to Christian life, even as declared by our Lord, “except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you” (Jno. vi. 53); and again, “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. ii. 20). Here is the partaking inwardly, but no observance outwardly enjoined.
Question: Did any of the early Christians see this spiritual partaking of the Lord’s supper to be necessary?
Answer: Yes, Paul presses it upon the Corinthians. “For we being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread,” (Cor. x. 17).
Question: True, Paul must there have been speaking of a spiritual experience, without which none could be Christians, and which, as he hints, at the beginning of the chapter, was necessary even under the law of Moses; but does he not expressly recommend both in ver. 16, also in chap. xi. ver. 23-30, the observance of a typical ceremonial of drinking outward wine, and eating outward bread?
Answer: No; Consider Paul’s words, and thou wilt find that he does not do so. He finds the Corinthians in the practice of a common meal, as a memorial of the death and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus for mankind, but he distinctly in forms them that their coming together into one place, was, not to eat the Lord’s supper, which is spiritual. He does not command this observance, but declares that so long as they observed it, it must be regarded as a shewing forth of, or testimony to the Lord’s death till He come, and therefore, was to be entered on seriously and with preparation of heart.
Question: Then does not Paul use the word communion in chap. x. I6, as significant of an outward act?
Answer: There is nothing in the text to warrant us to conclude this, but rather otherwise. The ‘cup of blessing” is the [inward] communion of the blood of Christ, animating and strengthening true believer, who worships aright in the service of his risen Son.
Question: But we do not rest on the authority of Paul: what can be plainer than the words of the Lord: “This do in remembrance of me.” Is not that a plain command?
Answer: The Lord Jesus fulfilled all righteousness in the observance of the Jewish law and its ceremonies; and He who was Himself the Paschal lamb, partook of the Passover supper, before He It was then that He directed the suffered. minds of His disciples to the great event, and the great truths of Redemption, which this institution (the Passover) had been for centuries fore shadowing; to the body given for the Life of the world, not only once for all, on Calvary, but as the bread of life for the hungry soul; to the cup of the new Covenant in the blood shed for them, and for all men. It was then that He said,m This do, in Remembrance of me;” not that He commanded any fresh ceremonial observance, otherwise we can hardly suppose that only one out of the four Evangelists would have recorded the fact, but He pointed to the fulfilment in him self, and to the spiritual experience of His followers, typified by what had long ago been commanded under Moses,and of which His immediate disciples even then, scarcely understood the veiled meaning.
Both Jesus and Paul shew us the necessity of drinking the same spiritual drink, and of eating the same spiritual meat, which is one and the same living bread, and Rock of salvation to the people of God in all ages, and when that is realized, all the will of God is s realızed concerning an individual, and there is a growing up unto Him who is the head over all things to His body, the Church.
Question: But if it pleased God under the Jewish law. to institute the typical Passover supper, why may we not suppose it His will to continue a typical supper now?
Answer: Because Christ is come an High Priest of good things to come, and we are now taught to draw nigh unto God, in the Temple of the heart and to worship there in His name, who is made a Priest, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but by the Power of an endless life. Here, then, is the Holy Communion in which the Saints are one bread and one body.
Question: But Paul seems to give the Corinthians liberty to continue in the observance of a typical Does not this justify meal, till the Lord come. us in continuing in the same?
Answer: The words of Christ at the Passover supper, when rightly understood, are a sufficient answer to this question: “I will drink no more of this fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” As if He had said, The time for types and ceremonies has now passed by; and form no part of that dispensation in which I reign over the spirits and hearts of men, and in which the worship in Spirit and Truth is known, and a feeding on sub stance,” so where the Son kas come again as the minister of the New Covenant (Mal. iii. 1), a continuing to shew forth His death typically is out of place.
If thou desire to see this subject more fully and ably handled, turn to Robert Barclay’s Apology for the True Christian Divinity,” under the heading of The Body and Blood of Christ.”
Question: After all, the discussion of the Lord’s supper, in connection with Practical Christianity, or Quakerism, brings us back to the consideration of what is involved in Christian worship. Is not this also the case with Christians generally, who observe the outward eating and drinking?
Answer: Yes, those who worship in the outer court, make the observance of the Supper a part of their public worship more or less frequently, believing it to have been a command of our Lord, when on earth; yet they do not wait to be commanded by Him in spirit now.
Question: Please explain what is meant by worship in the outer court. Is it opposed to, or a part of that worship which is accepted by God, and blessed to the worshipper?
Answer: The true temple and the true worshipper are all measured with the measuring rod of Grace (Rev. xi. 1.), or the inward Gift, within the limits of which, each individual soul who worships aright, is exercised. Everything outside this measure of Grace, in which the perfect will of God is done, is in the outer court, where the will of man can act and offer up offerings and prayers which do not reach the throne of the Majesty on high.
Question: But does this affect practical Christianity?
Answer: Yes. A people or Church worshipping in the true Temple, within the true limits, cannot appoint a man to preach to them, much less pay him a salary.
When they gather together, each individual will wait in his measure, in the silence of the fleshly part (Zech. ii. 13), for the ministration and help of the Spirit of Life.
Question: Then if the flesh must be silent before the Son, does Gospel worship exclude all speaking and praying outwardly?
Answer: By no means. That which is of God cannot limit God in any way. “It hath pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,” although this does not exclude silence: Everything depends upon the good pleasure and will of God who can save, by few or many, with words or without, by man, woman, or child, by learned or unlearned.
Question: Then if God is not limited, are those wrong who forbid women’s preaching?
Answer: Assuredly; but they are right who forbid both men and women’s preaching without inspiration. What is of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, cannot beget to God, however near it comes to Truth in the letter.
Question: That word INSPIRATION Seems an assumption of great authority; is it justified by Scripture?
Answer: “I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters’ shall prophesy.” Now, if speaking in the name of the Lord, in and from His own Spirit, is not being inspired, what is? As to women’s preaching, we find it was not uncommon in the early Church, for Philip had four daughters who did prophesy, and Paul gives instructions about women prophesying with their heads covered.
Question: But is it not often found that where a people profess only to preach by inspiration, that they at once open the door for many abuses, and for pretenders to revelation to work upon the feelings of the audience, or for ignorant and unqualified persons to take up time in religious meetings to little or no edification?
Answer: The Grace of God is sufficient for all things, and without it, nothing in religion is savoury or sweet. This means that it must be free and unrestrained to rule the Church, as well as individuals, and not that the Church should rule it. Now, with a hired or stated ministry, it cannot be free and unrestrained. A true Church must give Christian liberty, but guard against the abuse of the same.
Question: This sounds well theoretically, but how is it practically, for recollect we are dealing with Practical Christianity?
Answer: If people are only willing to come back to the foundation point of Christian practice, the touchstone of right and wrong on every occasion, to wit, the power of God as a spring of Life in the soul, in the self-evidencing Divine Light, there would be no occasion to complain, for nothing would then move or stir but Life, the other part–the self-hood being yoked down and crucified, even as was the experience of Paul, “nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
Question: This is hard to understand, and very likely harder still to put in practice, after it is understood. However that may be, how is it so few people have this standard?
Answer: Because the customary worships of the world keep people from seeing their nakedness, blindness, and ignorance, apart from a constant experience of the healing, sanctifying and enlightening virtue of Truth; hence the rock of immediate revelation not being their rule, they only have an uncertain standard to preach by, and at best gather people to a dead image of Truth, or knowledge of the letter, rather than the living substance, whereof if a man eat, he shall not die.
Christ spoke as one who had authority, and not as the scribes; his servants speak in a measure of the same authority, and any attempt to preach by revelation without this, is to preach without a standard, and tends to discredit the Truth.
Question: It would appear by what has been said. that for a man calling himself an Evangelist, to announce beforehand that he will preach at such and such a place and time without a special revelation of the Divine will, is a proceeding out of Gospel order, and an interference with the prerogative of the Holy Spirit of God. How is such a statement to be reconciled with Christ’s command, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel, &e.”? Besides this, do not some people say they are indwelt by the Spirit, and therefore can preach at any time?
Answer: Our Lord graciously gave His immediate disciples, an intimation of what was to be the nature of their life work for Him, and He promised that they should receive a special baptism from heaven for that work, after they had tarried at Jerusalem (which typifies the true waiting Place and worshipping place of the soul now) during the good pleasure of the Father. But this commission by no means implies that they would be at all times qualified to speak whenever they chose, or released them from carefully watching to know the mind of the Spirit, both as to the place and time of their service, its matter and manner, though no doubt they were specially and abundantly qualified, and carried forward by the Gospel power far beyond themselves as natural men.
We have no warrant whatever, for asserting that because believers in Christ receive a measure of His Spirit, they are to be like those whom Christ Himself addressed, your time is always ready.” In the service of such there is little weight or unction ; prodigal-like they waste the Father’s portion in a far country. Hence the barrenness of the ministry in nearly every denomination, and the call for clever college-trained men to speak to the educated classes, and various excitements to entertain the less cultured.
Question: I will ask one question more while we are on this subject. Do those who profess to preach only from the operation of the Divine gift give evidence that there is anything more substantial, more Divine, more heart-searching and heart tendering, more terrible against sin and iniquity, n their ministry than in the ordinary communications of those college-trained preachers, and others from the various pulpits of the country?
Answer: I have already indicated that some may profess to preach by revelation, who are not really commanded, sent forth and equipped by Christ for the work in which they are engaged. Such are found in various bodies where liberty of preaching is allowed, or a theory is held forth that all preaching ought to be under Divine influence ; these need not enter into comparison with the others whose spiritual senses have been so exercised by reason of use, and whose minds have been so habitually subject to the operations of the Spirit, that they have become as vessels of honour set apart for the Master’s use, through whom He is at times pleased to speak in His Own authority and power for the benefit of the Church, and the gathering of souls into the obedience of Truth.
The records left behind by many preachers in the Society of Friends where such have been gathered on the original foundation, leave no doubt, were we seeking further proof, that theirs was the Ministry of God Almighty’s own choosing, and one in which he has been pleased spiritually and powerfully to appear in a way more entirely satisfying to the hungry soul, than in any other ministry which has existed since the days of the Apostles.
Question: But is not this giving an unwarranted preference to Quaker preachers, as if they alone were acceptable to the Divine Spirit, and preached the Gospel?
Answer: No. It ignores no good done by means of persons of other professions; but in the case of a Church, as in the case of individuals, we see the words verified, “they that honour me, I will honour.”
If a Church feels so closely bound to walk in faith as to say, we want a ministration of Life from Thee rather than words; we will wait for the arising of Thy power, which crucifies unto the world, and brings us to sit down at meat in the Kingdom of God ; we leave unto Thee the stringing of the bow, and the guiding of the arrow, for we dare not choose our own words or works; such a faith is honoured, and has been honoured in a way that would ere this have captivated nations, had not the cross the humiliation of the creature, stood in the way.
Question: That may be one side of the Truth, but is there not another side which should at least discourage us from making such a high assumption for Quaker ministry? Is it not a fact that, go almost where we will, among the Friends, the evidence of spiritual power and unction is very small, and there is a gradual approximation to the standard of other denominations, and is it not a further fact that some of the younger sort are feeling this, and see that there is much more of man than of God, in a great part of what they hear?
Answer: Truth depends upon what it is of itself, and not upon the profession men make of it. The profession of a Quaker has no charm about it, to drive away the spirit of the world, or to cause its ministry to follow only in a pure channel; but undoubtedly the spirit of the world does tend to relax the Quaker profession, and to cause the ministry to flow in impure channels, and this tends towards holding the Truth more in word than in power. Christ is the Rock of Ages, the sure foundation,” and it is only a ministry proceeding from His Spirit we are, advocating, not the claims of a denomination.
Such a ministry has existed among the people called Quakers, and brought forth most blessed fruits, beyond those known among other professors, and where the same turning inward to serve the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, still exists among any people, they will assuredly be of the number of those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, and be separated from the worships and ministries which are carried on in man’s will and time. We cannot but believe that a living ministry will be given to such a people, and that they will take the advanced place in the Lord’s army left vacant by “Friends” of the sort thou hast alluded to. Yet we must in justice say that a spring of pure ministry is still preserved here and there, among some companies of professing Friends, though at present it is seldom met with.
Question: Then does Practical Christianity offer no outward rules for the exercise of the ministry, and must everything be left to the inward sense and discernment of individuals in the first place. and of the Church next?
Answer: Christianity does not admit of rules for the exercise of the ministry. The spiritual dispensation leads into the appointing of times and places of people to meet together outwardly, but it does not countenance the appointment of a man to speak, much less the fixing of a subject; it brings into the fullest liberty, yet it gives to the true Church the power of both binding and loosing, so that the liberty is only a liberty to what is of God, and it gathers to Him, while the false liberty scatters.
Question: This is a high standard, and a glorious one for a Church to uphold and live up to, but why should individual members who profess those principles be forbidden to support any other kind of ministry, when it appears to be doing good?
Answer: The fellowship of Christians depends wholly and solely upon their walking in the Light of Christ; to some He has given to see that all will-worship is idolatry, whether called Christian or heathen, and has brought such to worship in the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched, and not man, and where Christ alone ministers. When these allow their light to shine, as it will do, if they are faithful, there will be a call to others to come off from their will worship and human ministry, and a testimony against it. People can only do good so far as they are obedient to the Light, and from them to whom much is given, more is required.
Question: In countries where the law of the land compels payment of tithes, what is the duty of a Church of Christ?
Answer: To refuse at all times and under all circumstances to make any payment of the kind, however small, even if it be only a penny.
Question: But is this honest; for a man to take land subject to tithe, knowing the conditions, and then entirely to refuse an impost which he knows has been set apart in one form or the other by the Government for hundreds of years to maintain national preachers?
Answer: Yes, because the impost is both Anti Christian and unjust. No Government has any right to perpetually alienate a proportion of the fruits of the labours of generations to come for the benefit of a particular class of men. If it assumes to exercise the right to a fixed share of the earth’s increase one year, it can revoke it the next, but it can only give what is really and positively existent at the time of the gift. Happily, this is not a case of national or private ethics, so much as one which brings us face to face with more solemn and higher considerations to which others are subordinate, but not excluded. Such a provision as tithes, constitutes a direct interference with the rights of God, as King and Lord of the conscience, and is therefore Anti-Christian. The State has no right to force any of its subjects to maintain a form of religion, much less to bind those unborn to do so.
Question: How is it possible to maintain such an assertion as that, without denying the Scriptures we know positively that tithes were set apart under the Jewish law for the support of the Levites and priests, and that they received the Divine sanction, while those who withheld tithes were spoken of as robbing God?
Answer: Tithes had to be paid (but not by out ward compulsion) to the men of a tribe which was not allowed an inheritance among their brethren, and whose attendance was required in what the writer to the Hebrews calls a worldly sanctuary, the one, the service of which was outward. But now, since Christ has come in the flesh and fulfilled all the types, the priest hood being changed, there is of necessity a change of law (Heb. vii, 12).
Question: Granted that the priesthood no longer belongs to the tribe of Levi ; what right have we to say that it is unlawful to pay tithes to the ministers of Christ?
Answer: In the first place, we have no command or Apostolic precept to make provision for the maintenance of any class of men, as preachers of religion to the exclusion of others. In the next place the priesthood of believers is universal, the service is secret and spiritual in the chamber or temple of the heart, and the outward acts, if they have any efficacy, derive it solely from the free gift of the grace of Christ, which qualifies and calls whom He please. Because the ability for service is given freely, it must be exercised freely, other wise what is comparable to the lame and the blind are offered, instead of the firstlings of the flock. The first birth has to be slain and offered up, so that the second may reign.
Therefore it is not lawful, in the full light of the Gospel day (which has begun to shine, and will shine yet higher) to pay or receive tithes, otherwise, how would the Apostle have said that Christ, the minister of the Sanctuary, and of the true Tabernacle, hath obtained a more “excellent ministry,” and that the law had a shadow of good things to come?
Question: But there are those called Impropriate tithes, where the right to collect tithes has been sold or given to a “layman” in certain cases. If a man inherits the legal right to take a tithe rent in this way, may he not lawfully collect it, and may not another lawfully pay it, seeing the proceeds do not support a hireling ministry?
Answer: It is manifest that if tithes had their origin from the dark Anti-Christian spirit, or are a mere imitation of those, under the Jewish law, it is not lawful for those who are living under the dispensation of the Spirit and law of Life, either to pay or receive them.
Impropriate tithes having the same origin, although diverted as to their use, admit the same principles, for the sale or gift of a supposed right by an ecclesiastic or ecclesiastical body cannot alter the Anti-Christian character of the claim.
Question: But, if no one is to pay tithe, and if the present tithe-payers all pocketed what now goes to support a national clergy or the lay owners, would not great injustice accrue?
Answer: The Government of the land, misled by princes, who sought by gifts instead of obedience to acquire the favour of God, imposed this yoke upon the people, and it remains for the Government to take it off, and to seek for wisdom and equity to deal justly with all concerned.
Question: But is it not alleged that tithe is due to the Church of England, and therefore the nation has no right to take it away from that Church, and does not this argument reconcile some honest people to pay tithe who otherwise would feel uneasy with it?
Answer: The Church of England, so called, is any thing the nation chooses to make it. Tithes were once used by the national authority to support the Mass, then the Common Prayer Book, then the Presbyterian Directory, then Independency, then the Common Prayer Book again, so that there is nothing in the English Constitution to prevent the nation altering the forms of the national Church as much as it wishes, or declining to have a national form of worship at all, and using the tithes for other purposes.
Question: But supposing a perfectly true form of faith and worship were brought forth before the nation, would it not be right for a national contribution to be made, either in the form of tithe or a tax to support it?
Answer: No. If such a form were brought forth by the Life of Christ moving in the hearts of His servants, and were to be generally followed in the nation, it would need the same Life moving in the hearts of those who receive it to support it in word and deed, and if necessary by pecuniary A forced contribution would cause it to become a dead image of goodness, with the form but without the Power. The function of Civil Government lies in the protection of property and morals, and not in meddling with forms of religion, or supporting one in preference to the other.
Question: Does the Testimony of Truth require any thing further from those who follow it than refusal to pay tithes?
Answer: Yes. No follower of Truth can pay or hire anyone for religious service of any description, when the nature of spiritual religion is clearly revealed to him.
Question: What Scripture warrant have we for this?
Answer: When our Lord sent forth His disciples, He said, “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Question: But where a man has spent years at college to qualify himself for his profession as a preacher, and where he devotes his whole time to the duties of his office, should he not be paid just as a physician or lawyer in their respective spheres?
Answer: Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is Christ has received gifts for no variableness. those men, in whom their captivity to the spirit of the world, the Prince:of the power of the air has been led captive by Him, and He dispenses them, as He will, to every man according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now the ministry of the Gospel in Life and Power comes solely as a free gift which can by no means be made chargeable, and is not at man’s command, though many there are who pretend to preach it, yet have received no command.
The gift cannot be bought, nor can it be acquired by study. If these college-trained preachers have received the gift, they should dispense it freely; if they speak that which has not been first given to them to hand forth, they are not ministers of Christ-the Word, but are ministers of the letter which kills.
Question: Why is the practice of Christendom generally so entirely opposed to this view ? Is not the ministry of the Gospel looked upon as an honourable employment by young men seeking a good social position?
Answer: The time is coming when it will be looked upon as no more honourable than was Gehazi in fleecing Naaman, the Syrian. He wore the livery of a true prophet of God, and used it to his own ends. What was the result ? Leprosy ; and shall those who follow in his spirit now escape spiritual leprosy ? n o Besides, what is called the ministry of the Gospel, is generally words about the Gospel, and is not a direct ministration of Life from God. Where people reject the Divine gift, and look to human qualifications, expecting to be fed with words, whether the preacher has a message or no, it is natural they should also expect to pay for the labour to acquire these natural qualifications, as in physic or the law.
Question: Will it not, however, be admitted that many godly, self-denying and devoted men have become paid preachers?
Answer: God can work through whom He will, and how He will, and can meet people under the law of shadows and outward observances with measure of His own satisfying Life as He did with the godly Jews under the old Covenant, bit notwithstanding this, any system which arranges for fixed acts of worship, independently of Immediate revelation at the time, is not a part of the Gospel dispensation, and it is one which faithful servants have had in the past, and will have again to cry out against.
How can the labours of such men, though they be devoted and self denying, build people up into entire dependence upon Divine grace, when they are obliged to preach and pray vocally, whether commanded to do so or not.
Question: But is it not said, “The law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,” and may not some of these men be doing a good work?
Answer: Yes, if they keep to the measure of pure faith-i.e. if they keep to their measure of Life from God, and resist not any further appearance or arising of that Life, which may bring either themselves or their congregations into a strait place, and to a necessity of either leaving some practice they have hitherto been used to, or of denying their Master, and so withering as to any spiritual greenness they may have experienced.
Questions: But did not Paul say that “they which preached the Gospel, should live of the Gospel”?
Answer: Undoubtedly those who are called by God to travel about largely in His service, and temporarily to leave their means of maintenance, have a right to look for maintenance during such period from the Church, if their circumstances require it. This, however, is very different from arranging with a man to preach, or take charge of a congregation at so much a year.
It by no means follows, that a person who is called to undertake Spiritual service freely, is also called to spend his outward substance in answering such a call, although many have found it right, even to do that.
Besides this, Paul’s words need not exclusively receive an outward interpretation. Those who, under the call and commission of Christ, hand forth words of Life and instruction to people, are are themselves fed and built up in the same Life and so may be said to “live of the Gospel.”
Question: It is very clear from the principles laid down that as regards worship and ministry, there is a wide difference between Practical Christianity, and the practice of nearly every denomination of professors. In regard to outward walk in the world, language, behaviour, dress, many professing Christians differ very little, if at all, from the world at large. Does Christianity sanction the prevailing customs and conversation of the world?
Answer: No. Christendom has apostatized from the great Object of worship, and now, like the Samaritan of old, worships she knows not what because the measure of the gift of Grace is not the rule and standard she worships by. If she walks by a wrong standard in the greater actions. it follows that she must do so in the lesser.
That being the case, we cannot expect other. wise, but that in every relation of life the Divine harmony should be broken into, and that Customs should have arisen which must be given un when a thorough reformation takes place.
Question: To be more particular, what customs rooted in evil, or marks of degeneracy, are there now existing in apostate Christendom which prevent the full extension of the Kingdom of God?
Answer: There are many, for it is the case now, as it was with the Chosen people, that the whole. head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”Is. i. 5). I will only indicate some of the most prominent ones, which the Spirit of God testified against in the despised people called Quakers, and still does among some few bearing that name, who have not gone with the multitude. First of all, we will consider
The dark, unrighteous spirit moving in fallen man, made him wish to gain the favour of others by flattery, hence a single person began to be called you instead of thou ; a mode of address which at first was used only to the rich or great, till it gradually spread all through society.
The same dark, lying spirit brought in the custom of calling persons Mr. and Mrs. So and so, who were not in the relations of Master or Mistress, and the custom became so established, that proud flesh could hardly bear to be addressed plain; in like manner the legal meaning of esquire became lost, and it is now with little exception used as a flattering title.
Question: But supposing all that be granted, are we not obliged to admit that the meaning of a custom in the Seventeenth century may afford no indication for its meaning in the Nineteenth or Twentieth? Is it not a fact that thou was then generally used to inferiors, and that Mr. and Mrs. as well as you, were not, as now, general among all classes of society, but implied a respect of persons, which it was right to testify against, and that now the need for this peculiar testimony has ceased?
Answer: You was more general at the end of the Seventeenth century than may be supposed, but even if it were less so, the fact of its having become more universal, does not in the slightest degree make it lawful as an expression of practical Christianity. The Spirit of Truth testified against its use to single individuals in the Seventeenth century, and He has done so in every generation since, and the testimony remains to-day fresh and living, although only a very few feel the weight of it. Is not the foolishness of God wiser than men, and the weakness of God stronger than men?
As to Mr. and Mrs., although there may be no intention of untruthfulness in their every-day use by the world, they are terms not reconcilable with Christian simplicity. They are worldly in their origin, and they tend to introduce the spirit of the world in any Christian community that allows their use.
Question: But is it not exceedingly inconvenient, when the full name is unknown, to address a man or woman without the Mr. and Mrs. and is not offence sometimes taken in this way; it surely cannot be wrong to use a title of common respect; besides this, we are commanded to be courteous?
Answer: Christian courtesy consists in consideration for the wants or feelings of others, in the true denial of self, and not in the compromise of a religious testimony. It is true, that inconvenience sometimes arises this way, but he that putteth his hand to the plough must not look back, if he would be fit for the Kingdom. Elihu was afraid to give flattering titles (Job xxxii. 22), and shall not we keep clear of their use, who are favoured with a further dispensation of the Gospel than he Was?
Question: Is it not a bitter cross to carry out these principles consistently?
Answer: Yes. It is a cross which is bitter to begin with, and bitter to go on with, yet great is the recompense of reward attached to it. The bearing of the cross of Christ in one particular is made easier by the bearing of it in another.
Question: Many serious Christians who make no profession of being Friends, acknowledge that plain dress is very desirable and right, and they see the folly of following the fashion, but is it not altogether opposed to the essence of Christianity for a set of people to take upon themselves to dress in a peculiar uniform, different from the rest of the world?
Answer: When Christianity is lived out, or rather when the Power of godliness is lived in, the religion 1s peculiar, the language is peculiar, the manner of life is peculiar in order that a perfect accordance with the will of God, and a perfect redemption from evil, may be witnessed.
The spirit of the world influences people with regard to their dress, and seeks to establish and propagate itself by this as well as other ways, and the Spirit of the Lord of all, influences his true servants and followers with regard to their dress; so that this, as well as everything else, in which there is room for self-denial, may be instrumental in propagating a knowledge of the Truth among their fellow men, and may be outwardly as a hedge to keep them from too great familiarity with the world.
Question: Is it not absurd to speak of dress, as though it tended to propagate the Truth, which is spiritual?
Answer: Everything which rebukes pride and human exaltation, smites at that spirit of darkness which keeps the world from the knowledge of the Truth. The mere externals of dress cannot do this by themselves, but subjection to the power and wisdom of God, though in a trifling matter to the eye of man, does. In this there is a mystery which the carnal mind cannot receive.
Question: By this peculiar dress, is it not meant that there is an arbitrary uniform giving a peculiar appearance such as is adopted by the Salvation Army, the Police force, and by University graduates when in their robes?
Answer: Not exactly so, for that would at once destroy its meaning and consistency. The peculiarity which true Friends have been led into, is based on a rejection of the superfluous, the adoption of that which is modest and unassuming plain, and of a character not calculated to engage the attention by a multiplicity of colours, shapes and ornaments, which the changeful spirit of the world delights in.
Question: But surely the dress adopted by Friends is not the only plain dress?
Answer: There is no one pattern solely adopted by Friends, otherwise it could be said they have a uniform, which is not true, but there is sufficient distinction in their dress to mark them as Friends, and this distinction is justified by what has been said above, and in the remarkable way in which individuals have been led to forego their previous ideas on the subject, and so become fools in the eyes of the world.
Distinctive peculiarity then, is nothing which they choose, but something which is chosen for them by Divine wisdom, without uniformity in all points. Even now some serious and tender persons dress very plainly, though not so markedly so as Quakers, but the great majority of professing Christians do not, and their departure from simplicity in this respect makes room for vanity, and many other evils.
Question: But is it not true that there was no peculiar dress in the times of George Fox, and the early Quakers?
Answer: There was even in early days a testimony against the world in the dress of a Quaker, which we have reason to believe amounted to peculiarity. and ever since that time it has been the exercise of faithful Friends to call attention to the teaching of that Spirit which brings out from a following of the world’s fashions and into the avoidance of superfluity.
Question: Then in substance, it comes after all to knowing the will of God, receiving grace from Him to refuse the evil, and to choose what is good and acceptable in His sight, even though it be peculiar. Is not this our ultimatum?
Answer: Yes, higher than this we cannot go, while at the same time we recognize that it is His right to rule His Church in these matters as well as individuals. The Church truly gathered in His name has the right to judge and condemn in its individual members anything which mars the purity of its profession, and tends to lead back again into Egypt.
Question: Is it not a great mistake for people to go out of their way to differ from others on such comparative trifles as dress and language, while they can join with the world in a grasping, covetous spirit, or else hide as much pride under a plain appearance as is manifested openly by those who dress in the height of fashion ?
Answer: If thou saw things as they really are, thou wouldst see that nothing is a trifle in the Divine Sight.
What tends to mortify the natural will, is beneficial to man, what tends to gratify it, under whatever spurious pretense, is hurtful. Now simplicity and plainness, whether in dress or language, are in their nature mortifying, though they may be, and often have been, assumed by unmortified persons who may seek to cover their corruption by a profession of Truth, instead of coming to the cross, which is the Power of Cod (working in the soul) unto salvation. By that cross, all self-indulgence is forbidden, whether in yielding to a grasping, covetous spirit, or in dress or language beyond the limits allowed by the Spirit of Grace.
Question: Does practical Christianity lead to any further peculiarities in outward life, which are distinctive from the general customs of the world?
Answer: Yes, assuredly it does. There are many customs in the world which have sprung from a Wrong root, and which hinder the free spread of the Kingdom of Christ. Practical Christianity cannot follow these customs and vain ways, there fore it leads to peculiarity.
Will-worship, or a worship which can be carried on in man’s time and way, without a direct communication with the Divine will and influence to each individual soul, upholds or gives a false justification to these customs, because it does not bring people to the true Light, which makes manifest the hidden works of darkness; when false worship falls, those customs will fall, and be cast with the idols of the civilized and uncivilized world, to the moles and the bats.
Question: Name one of those falsely-rooted customs?
Answer: That of taking off the hat to mortal man or woman. The Spirit of Truth testifies against this custom, as a vain one. The spirit of the world says, it is a mark of respect which is due from men to others, by virtue of their office as representing the law or otherwise; the spirit of the world says it is merely a mark of politeness in recognizing women or men, but the Spirit of Truth testifies that it feeds the wrong nature.
Closely allied to this is that testimony which forbids a man to lift his hat because of being in a supposed holy place, either an Episcopal meeting house, commonly called a Church, or in a Roman Catholic mass house.
Question: What is the outward ground of this refusal?
Answer: That the uncovering of the head as an honour is due to God only, as in public prayer, and that giving this honour to frail, mortal man, or to any place made by man’s hands, is an infringement of His prerogative.
Question: A few professing Christians abstain from judicial oaths. Can they make good their position to the satisfaction of unprejudiced persons who believe the Scriptures?
Answer: We know that swearing of all sorts is contrary to the Christian religion, which leads its followers to attach the full weight of truth to a simple affirmation; then we have the plain testimony of our Lord in the sermon on the mount against it; though many teachers of the Letter, who do not come to the right place for the key to unlock the Scriptures, teach the contrary.
Question: Granted that swearing is clearly forbidden in the New Testament Scriptures, is it not the case that some people professing religion, deny themselves many amusements, such as music, concerts, theatres, dancing, which others believe to be quite allowable recreations, and which are not forbidden in the New Testament?
Answer: The work of the New Testament writers for the most part was to lay down general principles of faith and conduct, not to prescribe details for religious meetings, or for a Christian walk in the world in all ages. It has pleased God clearly to prohibit swearing, but the absence of any instructions to avoid the things mentioned is no justification to indulge in them, It is the Spirit of Truth alone that can lead, step by step, into all truth, and if we neglect that, we are in error, and left to grope our way in darkness, and perhaps call darkness light, and light darkness.
When the general principles of faith and conduct are livingly applied by the Spirit, they become to us a rule outwardly in like manner as the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ is a law inwardly.
By the light of the Spirit of Christ it is seen that all that does not tend to gather into the heavenly Life, or is not in the service of the all wise Creator, is harmful, and must be put away, and the same Light has shewn many that the spirit which delights in these entertainments is not of the Kingdom, and that they lead to waste of precious time and opportunities, bring dark ness over the mind, and quench desires after good.
Question: What has been said about practical Christianity applies mostly to the attitude of the individual soul in worship, and to refraining from wrong customs; what can be said about its application to the works of benevolence, and the general welfare of mankind?
Answer: It is the very nature of Christianity to act as a leaven, and where it is lived in, to influence all capable of being reached by it. This makes every practical Christian a living missionary, subject to the Divine will, which means the highest service to humanity that he or she can possibly render. In this state, the spirit of war, slaughter, and enmity is quenched, and he who lives in it, is willing rather to suffer wrong than to do wrong, so that universal peace would be another fruit of practical Christianity, and this to be enduring, must be based on individual conviction.
Question: We know that peace is generally admitted to be very desirable in the abstract, but is it not lawful for an individual or a nation to defend their own in the case of unjust aggression?
Answer: We have to do here with what concerns the individual conscience, and the carrying out the Gospel dispensation, not what concerns a nation whose faith is in outward defense, and not in the power and goodwill of God.
The weapons of the spiritual man are not carnal but spiritual, and it is by them, and not by cannon and sword that the Kingdom of God is to be set up in the earth, and the strongholds of Satan to be pulled down. It is the business of the Spiritual man continually to serve in and extend the heavenly kingdom, even though outward enemies may be permitted to take his property and his life.
The prevalence of false religion in the nations is at present the greatest block against their coming to that state in which nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Question: Then it would appear by what has been said, that the work of true religion is, first of all to restore harmony between the soul and God by the death and crucifixion of that which is opposed to Him there, and by the springing up and dominion of a new and Divine life in its place the fruit of the sacrificial work of Christ: and, in the second place, to restore harmony in the outer world, so that man may be once more as he was before sin entered-the vicegerent or repsesentative of the Creator, fulfilling His will and good pleasure in all his actions, and in the use of the outward creation, as a preparation for service beyond the grave, when time shall be no more. To attain this requires spiritual labour and pain, conflict and self-denial ; but do we not often hear that the end of all laws and commandments is Love, and if a man loves his neighbour, and engages in works of charity, he need not be very scrupulous about external profession, and abstaining from worldly customs?
Answer: The end of the commandment is Love, yet not that which is frequently called so, and which the natural man may possess in common with the spiritual.
There are two loves as well as two faiths: the love of the first birth, and the love of the second, the faith of the first birth, which can offer sacrifices of the fruits of the earth to God like Cain, and the faith of the second, which offers living sacrifices accepted on God’s altar. The one love and faith permits a man to take up his rest in that which is polluted, and it does not purify the soul ; the other love and faith is mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, and makes war in righteousness against iniquity, within and without, under the great Captain of Salvation this is Quakerism whether recognized by that name or not, and it will go on conquering, and to conquer.
Question: Does not the word Quakerism, signify the faith of that “highly respectable” body, the Society of Friends, in our day?
Answer: No, Quakerism is both a faith in and a manifestation of the UNCHANGEABLE Truth; the faith of the Society of Friends, taking them as a body, has changed, and is changing now, so has their practice changed, for things which were once deemed reprovable by enlightened consciences, are now passed as allowable, without a clearness of spiritual judgment.
The Church of their forefathers was undoubtedly a true Church of Christ, inasmuch as they were powerfully drawn together not by a coincidence of sentiment, but through deep convincement by the power of God, and were led into an entirely harmonious practice.
Question: Must we then conclude that these principles, as an harmonious whole, are no longer lived in and professed by any religious body?
Answer: No, that does not follow; there are still communities of Friends who live in the faith of them, and who in measure livingly testify to their worth, but if thou art an honest enquirer after Truth, it makes very little difference to thee whether few or many profess it; only be careful that thou dost not mistake profession for possession.
There were 7,000 in the days of Elijah who had not bowed the knee to Baal, when he seemed to be the only one left, so there is now a remnant of spiritual worshippers in the world reserved by Divine goodness, as a seed that shall spring up and become manifest in His own time when and make His name known more powerfully He is pleased to overthrow Spiritual Babylon, among the nations.
This is written, not to draw thee into a sect, but to gather thee into a Life, and to inform thy understanding of the reasonableness of the testimonies which spring from it, that thou mayest build not on any new-fangled notion or freaks of fancy, nor even make to thyself an image of what nught to be, but mayest dig deep, and build on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, which is “CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY”
If thou hast the true and living faith, works of righteousness will be required of thee, corresponding to that faith, otherwise thy faith will be dead; and though thou mayest talk of upholding the dispensation of the Spirit, thou wilt be rejected, if thou art unfaithful to those requiring.
Question: Alas, is it not difficult, amid so many differing voices and forms of religion, to decide which is right; and, again, is it not difficult to stand alone when the path to follow is made known?
Answer: Yes. It is difficult, if thou consults with flesh and blood, but if thou followest Paul’s example, after he had been met in the way, and his prepossessions and prejudices had been over thrown, after his objections against a faith which ran clean contrary to his previous notions, and those of the wise, religious professors with who he associated, had been answered, thou wilt not do so, but wilt, like him, be obedient to the heavenly vision, and be able to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”
When thou meets with any who are gathered into that faith which the Spirit has shewn thee as the true one, and into a practice of pubiic worship dependent on that faith (the gift of God). thou shouldst own such as brethren, though it be much in the Cross for thee to do so.
Now, friendly reader, we must part, yet with a caution; if thy understanding has been convinced that practical Christianity is a much narrower way than thou hast expected, shrink not back because of the Cross, for thou wilt on the other hand find it a much more blessed way than yet thy mind has conceived; yet do not attempt to build up a form beyond what the Life leads into; let that be thy warrant for going forward, and not thy head notions.
As this is thy concern, thy progress toward Zion, the city of the Saints’ solemnities, will be sure, and though thou meet with none to understand thy exercise, nor any thou canst unite with in public worship, without feeding on the manna of yesterday, a corrupt food, thou wilt as thou endeavourest to get into the “silence of all flesh,” be ministered unto immediately, by the arising of the Son of Righteousness, with healing in His wings, and thou wilt gradually experience a victory over thy own thoughts, willings, and runnings, until everything is brought into the “obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. x. 5).
In this state thou wilt abhor thy former first birth religion as filthy rags, and wilt see that any true tenderness thou experienced when thou practiced it, arose, not from that, but from this living Principle, which will be in dominion in thee, leading thee in and out to find pasture, and enabling thee in thy walk before men, to do thy little part toward bringing about the time when the kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of God and of His Christ.
This is the aim, and this is the work of Quakerism as PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.