They think that people who
are in the habit of repeating a determined form of words, may cease to
feel, as they pronounce them, in which case the grace becomes an
oblation from the tongue, but not from the heart. They think also that,
if grace is to be repeated regularly, just as the victuals come, or as
regularly and as often as they come upon the table, it may be repeated
unseasonably, that is unseasonably with the state of the heart of him,
who is to pronounce it; that the heart of man is not to-day as it was
yesterday, nor at this hour what it was at a former, nor on any given
hour alike disposed; and that if this grace is to be said when the heart
is gay, or light, or volatile, it ceases to be a devotional act, and
becomes at least a superflous and unmeaning, if not a censurable form.
The Quakers then to avoid the unprofitableness of such artificial
graces on the one hand, and, on the other, to give an opportunity to the
heart to accord with the tongue, whenever it is used in praise of the
Creator, observe the following custom. When they are all seated at
table, they sit in solemn silence, and in a thoughtful position, for
some time. If the master of the family, during this silence, should feel
any religious impression on his mind, whether of praise or thankfulness
on the occasion, he gives utterance to his feelings.
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