commendation differed: prayer meetings were the English practice whereas laying on of hands was Jewish. Beverley also was critical of the practice in

When silence was broken, it was with a prayer that embodied the desires, and expressed the breathings of all present; or a hymn in which all could with fulness of heart unite; or a word which came to our hearts with power. And though several might be used in such hymns, and prayers, and ministrations, it was evidently one Spirit who guided and arranged the whole, as though a plan of it had been made before-hand, and each one had his part assigned. No human wisdom could have made such a plan. The harmony was divine. It was the Holy Ghost acting by the several members, in their several places, to express the worship, or to meet the need of all present.73