PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

~78 l;orllli of PI·O)'Cl'
that the attention which has been slumbering or ab ..
sent during one part of the ~ervice, may be excited
and recalled by another; and the assembly kept to ..
gether until it may reasonably be presumed, that the­
IJIOSt heedless and inadvertent have pl.:rforIl1cd some
act of devotion, and the most desultory clttention
been caught by sonIC part or otIler of· the public ~ervice.
On the other hand, the too great length of
church services is more unfavourable to piety, than
almost any fault of composition can be. It begets
in nlany all early and uncol1querab12 dislike to the
public worship of their country 01" comll1union.
1"11ey come to chllrch seldonl; and enter the doors
\Vhell tIley do come~ under tIle apprehension of a
tedious attendance, \\7hich they prepare for at first,
or ~oon after relie\Te, by composing themselves to a
drow~y forgetfulness to the place and duty, or by
sending abroad their thoughts in search of more
amusing occupation. Allhough there may be sonle
few of a disposition not to be wearied with r~ligious
exercises, yet where a ritual is prolix, and the celebration
of divine service long, no effect is in general
to be looked for, but that indolence ,\~ill find in it
all excuse, and piecf be disconcerted by impatience"
The length and repetitions, complained of in our
kturgy, are not so much the fau It of the compilers
as the effect of uniting into vIle service, what was
originally, but with very little regard to the con·
venieney of the people, distributed illto thl·ce. Notwithstanding
that dread of innovations in religion,
which seems to hav~ become the panic of the age,
fe\\~, I sl10uld Sllppose, \vould be displeased with such
omissions, abridgements, or change in the arrange-
111cllt, a.~ the conlbinatiol1 of sc})aratc sel"viccs must
11ccc~'sarii)' require, even sUppOSillg- caeIl to have
iJeen faultless in itself. If, together with these alter.
~l ti()ns, the Epistles all(l GOSI)els, (\11(1 Cl1.Ilects wl1icI1
})recede them, \vere C(Jll1pOscd antI sclectc(l witl1 more
regard to unity of subjc( t and llt:sign; and the Psalms
~ t 11 d Less 011 s, ci t 11 C r 1 eft r () tIl eel 1 () ice () f ,,11. e nl i n is t e r,
or bctt~r accommodatcu to the capacity of the audi