Around the door , from which the drummer still sent forth his thundering summons , was drawn up a formidable phalanx , including several of the oldest members of the congregation , many of the middle-aged and nearly all the younger males . Pearson found it difficult to sustain their united and disapproving gaze , but Dorothy , whose mind was differently circumstanced , merely drew the boy closer to her and faltered not in her approach . As they entered the door they overheard the muttered sentiments of the assemblage ; and when the reviling voices of the little children smote Ilbrahim 's ear , he wept . The interior aspect of the meeting-house was rude . The low ceiling , the unplastered walls , the naked woodwork and the undraperied pulpit offered nothing to excite the devotion which without such external aids often remains latent in the heart . The floor of the building was occupied by rows of long cushionless benches , supplying the place of pews , and the broad aisle formed a sexual division impassable except by children beneath a certain age . Pearson and Dorothy separated at the door of the meeting-house , and Ilbrahim , being within the years of infancy , was retained under the care of the latter . The wrinkled beldams involved themselves in their rusty cloaks as he passed by ; even the mild-featured maidens seemed to dread contamination ; and many a stern old man arose and turned his repulsive and unheavenly countenance upon the gentle boy , as if the sanctuary were polluted by his presence . He was a sweet infant of the skies that had strayed away from his home , and all the inhabitants of this miserable world closed up their impure hearts against him , drew back their earth-soiled garments from his touch and said , `` We are holier than thou . '' Ilbrahim , seated by the side of his adopted mother and retaining fast hold of her hand , assumed a grave and decorous demeanor such as might befit a person of matured taste and understanding who should find himself in a temple dedicated to some worship which he did not recognize , but felt himself bound to respect . The exercises had not yet commenced , however , when the boy 's attention was arrested by an event apparently of trifling interest . A woman having her face muffled in a hood and a cloak drawn completely about her form advanced slowly up the broad aisle and took place upon the foremost bench . Ilbrahim 's faint color varied , his nerves fluttered ; he was unable to turn his eyes from the muffled female . When the preliminary prayer and hymn were over , the minister arose , and , having turned the hour-glass which stood by the great Bible , commenced his discourse . He was now well stricken in years , a man of pale , thin countenance , and his gray hairs were closely covered by a black velvet skull-cap . In his younger days he had practically learned the meaning of persecution from Archbishop Laud , and he was not now disposed to forget the lesson against which he had murmured then . Introducing the often-discussed subject of the Quakers , he gave a history of that sect and a description of their tenets in which error predominated and prejudice distorted the aspect of what was true . He adverted to the recent measures in the province , and cautioned his hearers of weaker parts against calling in question the just severity which God-fearing magistrates had at length been compelled to exercise . He spoke of the danger of pity -- in some cases a commendable and Christian virtue , but inapplicable to this pernicious sect . He observed that such was their devilish obstinacy in error that even the little children , the sucking babes , were hardened and desperate heretics .
He affirmed that no man XXXXX Heaven 's especial warrant should attempt their conversion lest while he lent his hand to draw them from the slough he should himself be precipitated into its lowest depths .
In about against as at of than that to without