This person is soon discovered by the rest on account of his particular
silence and gravity. From this moment the Quakers in company cease to
converse. They become habitually silent, and continue so, both old and
young, to give the apparently meditating person an opportunity of
pursuing uninterruptedly the train of his own thoughts. Perhaps, in the
course of his meditations, the subject, that impressed his mind,
gradually dies away, and expires in silence. In this case you find him
resuming his natural position, and returning to conversation with the
company as before. It sometimes happens, however, that, in the midst of
his meditations, he feels an impulse to communicate to those present the
subject of his thoughts, and breaks forth, seriously explaining,
exhorting, and advising, as the nature of it permits and suggests. When
he has finished his observations, the company remain silent for a short
time, after which they converse again as before.
Such a pause, whenever it occurs in the company of the Quakers, may be
considered as a devotional act. For the subject, which occasions it, is
always of a serious or religious nature. The workings in the mind of the
meditating person are considered either as the offspring of a solemn
reflection upon that subject, suddenly and almost involuntarily as it
were produced by duty, or as the immediate offspring of the agency of
the spirit.
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