until his time came ; for God is not the author of confusion. In 1 Cor. xiv. we have the Quaker ideal or model of a Christian assem- bly. And as the Apostles went hither and thither, not according to their own judgment, but supernaturally guided by the Spirit, so the Spirit guides all believers in the ordinary affairs of life, if they wait for the intimations of his will.
As this doctrine of the Spirit's guidance is the fundamental prin- ciple of Quakerism, it is the source of all the peculiarities by which the Society of Friends has ever been distinguished. If every man has within himself an infallible guide as to truth and duty, he does not need external teaching. If it be the office of the Spirit to re- veal truth objectively to the mind, and to indicate on all occasions the path of duty; and if his revealing and guiding influence be universal, and immediate, self-evidencing itself as divine, it must of necessity supersede all others; just as the Scriptures supersede reason in matters of religion. The Quakers, therefore, although, as has been shown, acknowledging the divine authority of the Scriptures, make far less of them than other denominations of evangelical Christians. They make very little of the Church and its ordinances ; of the Sabbath ; of a stated ministry ; and nothing of the sacraments as external ordinances and means of grace. In all these respects their influence has been hurtful to the cause of Christ, while it is cheerfully admitted that some of the best Chris- tians of our age belong to the Society of Friends.
§ 7. Objections to the Mystical Theory.
The idea on which Mysticism is founded is Scriptural and true. It is true that God has access to the human soul. It is true that He can, consistently with his own nature and with the laws of our being, supernaturally and immediately I'eveal truth objectively to the mind, and attend that revelation with evidence M'hich produces an infallible assurance of its truth and of its divine origin. It is also true that such revelations have often been made to the chil- dren of men. But these cases of immediate supernatural reve- lation belong to the category of miracles. They are rare and are to be duly authenticated.
The common doctrine of the Christian Church is, that God has at sundry times and in divers manners spoken to the children of men ; that what eye hath not seen, or ear heard, what never could have entered into the heart of man, God has revealed by his Spirit to those whom He selected to be his spokesmen to their fellow-men ; that these revelations were authenticated as divine, by their char-