" So of prayer. We are required to make known our requests unto God; but we are not told whether we are to do it standing, kneeling, or lying prostrate on the ground. Every thing outward and ceremonial about it is entirely overlooked, as not worth a straw in comparison with the inward and the spiritual frame of the worshipper.

" But how different from this are the requirements of the Koran! and how different every false religion in the world! In all false religions the mode, the form, is in general every thing. Every ceremony is defined with as much minuteness and accuracy as though, like a medical prescription, it had some intrinsic efficacy in itself; and, instead of being regarded as means designed merely to produce a moral effect, was regarded as efficacious in proportion to the precise and punctilious exactness with which the external rite should be performed.

" So in regard to the etiquette of the royal palace. The forms of behavior are prescribed; there must be a punctilious attention to exactness; ceremony is every thing; for the Sultan looketh only on the outward appearance, and can command nothing further. But God is a Spirit who looketh on the heart, and the service He requireth is spiritual; and it may be observed in general that whenever this truth is forgotten, and the moral effect of any institution of Christ is lost sight of by men, the ceremonial part is in exact proportion magnified by them.

" I afterwards conversed with them on the importance of their doing just what John the Baptist did, when he called upon the people to repent of their sins and forsake them, that they might be ready to welcome the spiritual reign of Christ. They must do what Moses did, when he enjoined upon the people to sanctify themselves and be ready, that the Lord might come down and do wonders among them; for it was very evident to me that the darkness was fleeing and the true light beginning to shine among them, and that God was about to visit and bless them.

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