ligion, whofe very Worfhip appears fo prophane, and whofe Votaries mock the God they pretend to ferve.

50. YET how fevere foever the charge may lye against fome, I am far from including all under it. I know there are many Ladies whofe Examples are reproaches to the other Sex, that help to fill our Congregations, when Gentlemen defert them, and to whom sometimes we alone owe, that our Churches are not furnish'd like the Feaft in the Parable, Luke 14. 21. merely out of high ways and hedges, with the poor and the maim'd, the halt and the blind; yet fome even of these may be lyable to fome irregularity, which may be the effect of inadver tency or mif-perfwafion, tho' not of contempt or prophaneness.

: 51. AND firft, 'tis obfervable in fome who come conftantly, that yet they come not early, fo that a confiderable part of Prayers is paft e're they enter the Church. This firft caufes fome disturbance to others, the fucceffive entry of new comers, keeping the Congregation in a continual Motion and Agitation, which how unagreeable it is to Devotion, Numa a Heathen Prince may teach us, who, as Plutarch tells us, took a particular care, that in the time of Divine Worlhip, no knocking, clapping, or other noife fhould be heard; as well knowing how much the Operations of the Intellect are obftructed, by any thing that importunes the

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Senfes.

Senfes. What would he have faid, fhould he have come into one of our City-congregations, where often during the whole time of Prayer, the clapping of Pew-doors do's outnoife the Reader?

52. BUT befides the indecency of the thing, and the interruption it gives to others, 'tis very injurious to themselves; a kind of partial Excommunication of their own inflicting, which excludes them from a part of the Divine offices, and from that part too which is of the most universal concern, I mean the Confeffion of Sins, which the wisdom of our Church has fitly plac'd in the beginning of her Service, as the neceflary introduction to all the rest. For, confidering how obnoxious we are all to the Wrath and Vengeance of God, our first bufinefs is to deprecate that, by an humble Confeffion of our Guilts. Would any Malefactour that had forfeited his Life to Ju ftice, come boldly to his Prince, and without taking notice of his Crimes, importune Him to bestow the greateft Favours and Digni ties upon him? Yet 'tis the very fame abrupt impudence in us, to fupplicate the Divine Majefty, before we attempt to atone him; to ask good things from Him, before we have acknowledg'd the ill we have done against Him. And to fuch God may juftly make fuch a re turn, as Auguftus did to one that had entertain'd him much below his Greatnefs:

PART I. knew not before that we were fuch familiars.

53. IT will much better become them to anticipate the time, to wait at the posts of his doors, Prov. 8. 34. and contrive to be there before the Service begins, that fo by previous recollection, they may put their Minds in a fit posture of addrefs at the publick Audience: which (by the way) fpeaks it to be no very laudable cuftom, which almost univerfally prevails, that thofe few who do come early, fpend the interval before Service, in talking with one another, by which they do not only loose the advantage of that time for preparation; but convert it into the quite contrary, and do thereby actually unfit and indifpofe themfelves. God knows, our Hearts, even in the most compos'd Temper, are too apt to create Diversions; we need not start Game for them to Chafe, and by prefacing our Prayers with fecular difcourfe, make a gap for the fame thoughts to return upon us in them. Befides, in relation to the place, it has a fpice of prophaneness, 'tis the bringing the Moabite and the Ammonite into the Temple, Deut. 23. 3. a kind of Invasion on God's propriety, by introducing our Worldly concerns,, as Divertisements into the House which is call'd by his Name, folemnly Dedicated to Him, and therefore Dedicated that it might be his peculiar. So that with a little we may to fuch apply the expoftulatory reproof of the Apoftle to the Co

variation

,

rinthians,

rinthians, 1 Cor. 11. 12. What, have ye not houses to talk and converfe in, or defpife ye the Church of God? But this is, I confefs, a reproof that will not reach to many, there being fo few of the better fort that come early enough to talk before Service; and as for thofe who talk at it, we have already rank'd them under another Claffis. Yet give me leave to add, that those fall not much short of that degree of prophaneness, who come late only because they are loth to rife, or to abate any thing of the curiofity of their drefs. For fhe that prefers her floth or her vanity before God's Service, is like (how decently foever she behave her felf) to give but an infignificant attendance at it.

54. BUT I guess this may in many proceed from another caufe, which, tho lefs in their intention, is not fo in refpect either of it's unreasonableness, or it's effects; and that is an unequal eftimate they make of the parts of God's Service. This laft Age has brought in fuch a partiality for Preaching, that Prayer feems comparatively (like Sarah to Hagar) defpicable in their Eyes: fo that if they can but come time enough to the Sermon, they think they have difcharg'd their weightier part of the Law, and of their own Duty. This mifperfwafion, tho' it have too generally diffus'd it felf through both Sexes, yet it seems to have been very especially imbib'd by the Fema

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And befides the evidence that Sunday gives, the week-days afford no lefs. Let there be a Lecture, tho' at the remoteft part of the Town, what hurrying is there to it? But let the Bell Toll never fo loud, for the Canonical hours of Common-Prayer, 'twill not call the nearest of the Neighbourhood. I fpeak not of those who are at defiance with our Service, and have lifted themselves in feparate Congregations; (for I intend not to trace them through their wild mazes) but of those who yet own our Church, and object not at it's Offices, but only have fuffer'd their value for them, to be infenfibly undermin'd by their greater zeal for Preaching. God fure intends an harmony in all Sacred Ordinances, and would not have them fet up a party against each other, but mutually affift each other's operation upon us. Thus Prayer difpofes us to receive benefit by Preaching, and Preaching teaches us how to Pray aright; and God grant we may long enjoy the publick opportunities of both. Yet fince this Age has brought them to a competition, I muft take leave to fay, that if we come impartially to weigh Prayer and Preaching, the balance will incline another way than it feems with many to do, and we fhall find Prayer the moft effential part of Religion.

55. THE end of Preaching is two-fold, either to teach us what we know not, or to excite us to practice what we already know:

now