If any shall interpose the objection that what we are saying is too high to be practical, it may be well to confirm our position by the witness of experience. We are not speaking of pulpit prayers especially, in what we have said. The universal priesthood of believers, which the Scriptures so plainly teach, constitutes the ground for common intercession, for "the praying one for another" which is the distinctive feature of the Spirit's dispensation The prayer meeting, therefore, in which the whole body of believers participate, probably comes nearer the pattern of primitive Christian {152} worship than any other service which we hold. To apply our principle here, then, what method is found most satisfactory? Shall the service be arranged beforehand, this one selected to pray, and that one to exhort; and during the progress of the worship, shall such a one be called up to lead the devotions, and such a one to follow? In a word, shall the service be mapped out in advance and manipulated according to the dictates of propriety and fitness as it goes on? One, after many years of experience, can bear emphatic testimony to the value of another way--that of magnifying the office of the Holy Spirit as the conductor of the service, and of so withholding the pressure of human hands in the assembly that the Spirit shall have the utmost freedom to move this one to pray and that one to witness, this one to sing and that one "to say amen at our giving of thanks," according to his own sovereign will. Here we speak not theoretically but experimentally. The fervor and spirituality and sweet naturalness of the latter method has been demonstrated beyond a peradventure, and that too, after an extended trial of both ways, the first in ignorance of a better way, with constant labor and worry and fret, and the last with inexpressible ease and comfort and spiritual refreshment. Honor the Holy Ghost as Master of assemblies; study much the secret of surrender to him; cultivate a quick ear for hearing his inward voice and a ready tongue {153} for speaking his audible witness; be submissive to keep silence when he forbids as well as to speak when he commands, and we shall learn how much better is God's way of conducting the worship of his house than man's way.[5]