y. Even things without life, giving sound, whether
pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it
be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except
ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be
known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, no one
knows how many voices in the world; and none of them without
signification. The voices of birds and the voices of beasts are endless
in variety; yet each has its own distinct intelligible meaning. All
creatures, though destitute of language like that of man, make
themselves properly understood by their mates, their kindred, and their
associates. They even make themselves intelligible to men. Talk of great
preachers;--why the man that cannot or will not preach so as to make
himself understood, is smaller, lower, less in the esteem of God, and
of good, sensible, Christian men and women, than the lowest animal, or
the smallest insect, on the face of the earth. Every sheep that bleats,
every ox that lows, every ass that brays, every bird that sings, and
every goose that gabbles, is more of a sage, if not more of a saint,
than the great preachers! The things so-called by a certain class of
simpletons, are about the most pitiable, if not the most blameable
creatures, in all God's universe. What then is the upshot of what I am
saying? It is this. Whether I sing, or pray, or talk, I will make myself
understood. I thank my God, I can speak with tongues more than you all;
and I _do_ speak with them when it is necessary to do so in order to
make myself understood: but in the Church, I had rather speak five words
in a tongue and a style that my hearers can understand, that by my voice
I may teach others, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue."

And so the great, good, common-sense Apostle goes on.

My wish and purpose were to carry out his principles to the farthest
possible extent. If I had tried hard, I could have preached in Latin.
With a little more effort I could have preached in Greek. I could have
preached in the ordinary, high-sounding, Frenchified, Latinized, mongrel
style, without an effort. It required an effort to keep clear of the
abomination. And I made the effort. I wanted to feel when speaking, that
I had not only myself a proper understanding of what I was talking
about, but that I was conveying correct and clear i