Thus how few will
be able to sing truly with David, if the following verse should be
brought before them: "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so
panteth my soul after thee, O God." To this it may be added, that where
men think about musical harmony or vocal tunes in their worship, the
amusement of the creature will be so mixed with it, that it cannot be a
pure oblation of the Spirit, and that those who think they can please
the Divine Being by musical instruments, or the varied modulations of
their own voices, must look upon him as a Being with corporeal organs,
sensible, like a man, of fleshly delights, and not as a Spirit, who can
only be pleased with the worship that is in spirit and in truth.
[Footnote 139: 1 Cor. 14. 15.]
[Footnote 140: Ephes. 5. 19.]
The Quakers reject also the consecration and solemnization of particular
days and times. As the Jews, when they became Christians, were enjoined
by the Apostle Paul, not to put too great a value upon "days,[141] and
months, and times, and years;" so the Quakers think it their duty as
Christians to attend to the same injunction. They never meet upon saints
days, as such, that is, as days demanding the religious assemblings of
men, more than others; first, because they conceive this would be giving
into popish superstition; and secondly, because these days were
originally the appointment of men and not of God, and no human
appointment, they believe, can make one day holier than another.
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