so that the mind cannot easily carry the first words, and join them to the intermediate, and connect them with the last. As they proceed, they communicate their impressions in a brisker manner; till, at length, getting beyond the quickness of ordinary delivery, they may be said to utter them rapidly. At this time some of them appear to be much affected, and even agitated by their subject. This method of a very slow and deliberate pronunciation at first, and of an accelerated one afterwards, appears to me, as far as I have seen or heard, to be universal: for though undoubtedly some may make less pauses between the introductory words and sentences than others, yet all begin slower than they afterwards proceed.

This singular custom may be probably accounted for in the following manner. The Quakers certainly believe that the Spirit of God furnishes them with impressions on these occasions, but that the description of these is left to themselves. Hence a faithful watch must be kept, that these may be delivered to their hearers conformably to what is delivered to them. But if so, it may perhaps be necessary to be more watchful at

the outset, in order to ascertain the dimensions as it were of these impressions, and of their several tendencies and bearings, than afterwards, when such a knowledge of them has been obtained. Or it may be that ministers, who go wholly unprepared to preach, have but a small view of the subject at first. Hence they speak slowly. But as their views are enlarged, their speech becomes quickened, and their feelings become interested with it. These, for any thing I know, may be solutions upon Quaker-principles, of this extraordinary practice.

Against the preaching of the Quakers an objection is usually made by the world; namely, that their ministers generally deliver their doctrines with an unpleasant tone. But it may be observed that this, which is considered to be a defect, is by no means confined to the Quakers. Persons, of other religious denominations, who exert themselves in the ministry, are liable to the same charge. It may be observed also, that the difference between the accent of the Quakers, and that of the speakers of the world, may arise in the difference between art and nature. The person, who prepares his lec

ture

ture for the lecture-room, or his sermon for the pulpit, studies the formation of his sentences, which are to be accompanied by a certain modulation of the voice. This modulation is artificial, for it is usually taught. The Quakers, on the other hand, neither prepare their discourses, nor vary their voices purposely according to the rules of art. The tone which comes out, and which appears disagreeable to those who are not used to it, is nevertheless not unnatural. It is rather the mode of speaking which nature imposes in any violent exertion of the voice, to save the lungs. Hence persons who have their wares to cry, and this almost every other minute in the streets, are obliged to adopt a tonc. Hence persons, with disordered lungs, can sing words with more ease to themselves than they can utter them with a similar pitch of the voice. Hence Quaker-women, when they preach, have generally more of this tone than the Quaker-men, for the lungs of the female are generally weaker than those of the other

sex.

Against the sermons of the Quakers two objections are usually made; the first of

which is, that they contain but little variety of subject. Among dissenters, it is said, but more particularly in the establishment, that you may hear fifty sermons following each other, where the subject of each is different. Hence a man, ignorant of letters, may collect all his moral and religious duties from the pulpit in the course of the year. But this variety, it is contended; is not to be found in the Quaker-church.

That there is less variety in the Quakersermons than in those of others there can be no doubt. But such variety is not so necessary to Quakers, on account of their peculiar tencts and the universality of their education as to others. For it is believed, as I have explained before, that the Spirit of God, if duly attended to, is a spiritual guide to man, and that it leads him into all truth; that it redeems him, and that it qualifies him therefore for happiness in a future state. Thus an injunction to attend to the teachings of the Spirit supersedes, in some mcasure, the necessity of detailing the moral and religious obligations of individuals. And this necessity is still further superseded by the consideration, that, as all the mem

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bers of the Quaker-society can read, they can collect their Christian duty from the Scriptures, independently of their own ministers; or that they can collect those duties for themselves, which others, who are illiterate, are obliged to collect from the church.

The second objection is, that the Quakerdiscourses have generally less in them, and are occasionally less connected or more confused than those of others.

It must be obvious, when we consider that the Quaker-ministers are often persons of but little erudition, and that their principles forbid them to premeditate on these occasions, that we can hardly expect to find the same logical division of the subject, or the same logical provings of given points, as in the sermons of those who spend hours or even days together in composing them.

With respect to the apparent barrenness, or the little matter sometimes discoverable in their sermons, they would reply, that God has not given to every man a similar or equal gift. To some he has given largely; to others in a less degree. Upon some he has bestowed gifts that may edify the learned, upon others such as may edify the

illiterate.