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 lecture for the lecture-room, or his
sermon for the pulpit, studies the formation of his sentences, which are
to be accompanied by a modulation of the voice.
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