Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/37

Rh in their understanding of and application of this principle. The Puritans had made the Scriptures their guide and rule. The Friends made the Spirit the interpreter of the Scriptures. The Puritans had given the congregation a right to select their own ministers. The Friends would not have any priests at all. Every human being, man or woman, was a priest, and had the right to preach to others if the Spirit moved them, and the inner voice admonished them to give utterance to any truths. For the inner light was sent to all.

The Puritans had given the right of vote to every man in the community, and all questions of law or judgment were to be decided by a majority of voices. The Friends, believing in the power of the inner light, and the final unanimity of the inner light in all, allowed in their councils any questions under discussion to be dealt with again and again, until all became voluntarily and unanimously agreed.

The Puritans had built their churches without ornaments or pictures.

The Friends built no churches. They assembled in halls or houses, called meeting-rooms, and sate there together in silence, listening to the revelation of the inner voice, and speaking merely when this admonished them to say anything.

The Puritans regarded woman as the helper of man, and his companion in the house and on the private path of life.

The Friends regarded woman as man's helper also in his life as a citizen, as his helper in the business of his public as well as his private life, and acknowledged the right of woman to speak, as well in the senate, as the church. The Female Assemblies of Council were of as much weight as those of the men, and the inspiration of woman was listened to with reverence when she stood forth, at the call of the Spirit, in their meeting-houses.