Note 172 — Chapter XX

The worthy doctor was not without his singularities. He would never preach in any pulpit but his own, not even when nominated expressly by his diocesan to preach in another church, and it was very rarely that his most intimate friends could engage him to lead in family worship at their homes. A continual hurry and flutter of spirits, to which he was unaccountably subject, thus contracted his usefulness. The sight even of a stranger in his church would disconcert him, especially if he thought him a minister. He used to say to Mr. Thornton, “If you expect any blessing under my ministry, I beg you will not bring so many black coats with you.”