PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY REVIVED 65 



Christ Himself to influence the conduct of their 

 worship, nor is any time of silence allowed when His 

 Still Small Voice might be heard ♦ 



Friends alone, have the courage of their convictions, 

 and, meeting under the Headship of Christ, trust Him 

 to order the conduct of their meetings aright. 



Our meetings are held on a basis of silence, and we 

 are oft-times rewarded by finding them eloquent, not 

 only with the voices of those who speak under the direct 

 influence of the Spirit of God, but still more are they 

 eloquent with the Still Small Voice of God Himself, 

 speaking to the hearts and consciences of those that wait 

 upon Him. 



I well remember, some years ago, visiting a Friends* 

 Meeting in a lovely village in Derbyshire, and there I 

 was told that a Deacon of the Congregational Chapel 

 in the village had, out of curiosity, attended one of their 

 meetings. Now it so happened that on that particular 

 Sunday all the leading Friends of the meeting were away, 

 and no one was there who was accustomed to taking a 

 vocal share in the ministry. So the Deacon wondered 

 much what would happen. He himself was responsible, 

 in his own place of worship, for finding a substitute for 

 the minister, when from any cause he happened to be 

 away, and terrible had been the straits to which he had 

 often been put. But what was his astonishment to find 

 that the absence of the leading Friends made no difference 

 whatever. The meeting was held just as usual, and the 

 power of the Spirit was so manifest in the meeting that 

 the Deacon himself was convinced of the truth, and shortly 

 afterwards joined the society. So absolutely independent 

 are we of everything save only the Spirit of God. 



Now it was this independence of everything outward 

 and material which, more than anything else, enabled 

 the Early Friends to win the battle of religious liberty. 

 After the passing of the Act of Uniformity and 



