derstood. The people endeavoured to exprefs their fentiments, moft likely at first by a look, a nod, a shake of the head, or a lifting of the hand. At length this rofe up to loud acclamations and clappings; and the preachers perceiving the abuse preached it down.

Do

Paul of Samofeta ufed to fcold at the people, when they did not fhout and applaud him. It happened often their applaufe was no praife. They applauded what they did not understand. Austin one day proposed a question to himself to anfwer in preaching. The answer might have deferved applause had he given it: but the congregation fell a fhouting at the question, before they knew whether he could anfwer it properly. Hey-day-faid he-what are you praising?. ye know what I was faying? . . I only propofed a queftion, and you go to clapping and fhouting! Jerom tells us, he once afked his tutor, Gregory Nazianzen, what S. Luke meant by delεpowpwтov. (the second fabbath after the first. Luke vi. 1.) Gregory replied, I will tell you to-morrow, when I am preaching in the church. When all the congregation are shouting and clapping their bands, you will be obliged to profess to understand what I fay, though you do not comprebend it, for if you do not clap your hands and fhout too, they will all condemn you for a fool.

Sermons in thofe days were all in the vulgar tongue. The Greeks preached in Greek, the La. tins in Latin, for the preachers meant to be underftood. They did not preach by the clock (fo to speak.) but were fhort or long as they faw occafion.

(2) Jer. ad Nep. 2. Aug. Civ. Dei. 1. iv. c. 16. 24. Chryfoft. Hom. in Act. xxxviii. In Act. iii. Ad pop. Ant. xxxviii. (3) Hieron. ad Nep. 2.

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fion. Auguftine ufed to leave off when the people's hearts feemed properly affected with the fubject. He judged of this fometimes by their fhouting, and at other times by their tears. Their fermons were ufually about an hour long: but many of them may be deliberately pronounced in (4) half an hour, and several in lefs time.

Sermons were generally both preached and heard standing but fometimes both speaker and auditors fat, especially the aged and infirm. Their methods were on fome occafions what we call expounding from feveral verfes, on others preaching from a fingle paffage. In many things they imitated the Jews, by adapting parts of scripture to particular seasons, and hence in time came the appointment of select portions for Eafter, Whitfuntide, and other feftivals. The Jews read in their fynagogues Ruth at Pentecoft, Ecclefiaftes at the feaft of Tabernacles, and Solomon's Song at the Paffover. The fathers were fond of allegory, for Origen, that everlasting allegorizer, had fet them the example. I hope they had better proofs of the canonicalnefs of Solomon's Song than I have had the pleasure of feeing. In general, their fermons were paraphraftical, regular and textual, going from pfalm to pfalm, from chapter to chap. ter, through whole books: but they made no fcruple, when occafion offered, to defer the regular fubject, and to choose a text on the spot, fuited to any cafe, that happened even after they were in the affembly, yea after they had afcended the pul(5) pit, and even after they had read the text. It fhould feem, the preacher either held the holy scripture

(4) S. Bafil. Orat. in S. Bapt. (5) Chryfoft. apud Socrat lib. vi. cap. 3. Auguft. de Civ. Dei, xxii. 8.

fcripture in his hand, or had it lying before him on the desk. Before preaching he ufually went into a veftry to pray, and afterward to speak to fuch as came to falute him. He prayed with his eyes shut in the pulpit immediately before preaching, and often in difficult parts of his fermon while he delivered it. The firft word the preacher uttered to the people when he afcended the pulpit was-Peace be with you, or The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all, to which the affembly at first added Amen, and in after times they anfwered, And with thy fpirit.

Moft of the fermons of thefe days are divifible into three general parts. The first is a short introduction, the fecond an expofition of the text, and the last a moral exhortation arifing out of the difcuffion. After fermon the speaker defcended, and prayed at the communion table, on which the good people laid their alms for the poor. Funeral fermons were frequent, and, through the imprudent ufe of rhetorical figures, hurtful in the iffue to the doctrine of pure chriftianity. Some bishops preached every day during Lent, fome twice a day, others twice a week. Some delivered evening lectures, and all preached on the Lord's day, the first day of the week.

In this period many noble places of worship were built. The old Jewish temple was the origi nal, the reft were all taken from it. We have felt the mifery of abridging all along: but here it will be lefs obfcure to omit than to abridge. Let it, then, fuffice to obferve, that a cathedral was an imitation of the temple, and a village place of worship of a fynagogue. Hence the idea of a holy VOL. II. g

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end for an altar and a circle of priests, and an unhallowed end for the common people. Hence the divifions of porches, choirs, chancels, and fo on, anfwering to the courts of the temple. The ambo, or pulpit, was in the choir. Some were portable, and very plain; others fixtures, ftretching out lengthwife, fo that the preacher might walk up and down in them; fome had feats and curtains, others were adorned with gold and filver, and resembled the thrones of princes more than fcaffolds for the convenience of chriftian ministers. So fays Eufebius, cenfuring the vanity of Paul of Samofeta. Hence came our modern cathedrals and parish churches, our choirs, and altars, and stalls, and thrones in places of worship. Many of our churches and chapels are very inconvenient to preach in. They were not erected for schools of inftruction: but for faying mafs and facrificing, and where the pulpit fhould be there stands an old table covered with finery, and called an altar. In many places, the priest preaches from the middle of a fide wall, or a pillar, to the backs and fhoulders of his audience, for the pews were placed with a view to the altar, where formerly brother Mumpfie mus used to play tricks, and not to the pulpit, where now a wife and good minifter ftands and preaches to a people, in fearch, it should seem by their looking to the old fpot, for their former guides. How long fhall we facrifice manly advantages to puerile popish baubles !

Degenerate as these days were, compared with thofe of the apoftles, they were golden ages in comparison with the times that followed. Some taught what they called pofitive theology, that is to fay, compilations of theological opinions, collected

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from scripture, and fathers, and councils. Others went into fcholaftical divinity, that is, confufed and metaphyfical reafonings, by which they pretended to explain the doctrines of religion. A third fort were all taken up with contemplations and inward feelings, and their divinity was mysticism. Even these were preferable to others, who read the categories of Ariftotle, or the life of a faint, in the church, instead of a fermon, and who turned the church, I will not fay into a theatre, but into a booth at a country fair. The pulpit became a ftage, where ludicrous priests obtained the vulgar laugh by the lowest kind of dirty wit, efpecially at the festivals of Christmas and Eafter. One of our old historians fays, The devil was so pleased with the preachers of the eleventh century, that he sent them a letter of thanks from hell for the advantages, which bis kingdom derived from their pulpits.'

Were I to attempt a history of any one christian ordinance, as of finging, prayer, preaching, baptism, and so on, I would take the old teftament hiftory of the church for my model. The true church of God is the object in contemplation, this is followed from family to family, from country to country, through Egypt, Babylon, Ifrael, and Judah. The ten tribes, called Ifrael, go off at a certain period, and are abfolutely loft to all future hiftorians. The facred writers were not compiling a history of Ifrael: but a history of the religion in Ifrael, and when Ifrael apoftatized, the hiftorians left them, and followed religion. On this principle, I fhould quit the beaten road of what is called church history, and should go into the hiftories of Paulicians, Albigenies, W..Idenies, Beghards,

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(6) Guliel, Malmefburiens. lib. iii. 9.

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