not fo ftupifying to many perfons as an afternoon fermon. Perpetual cuftom hath fo brought it about, that the words, of whatever preacher, become only a fort of uniform found at a distance, than which nothing is more effectual to lull the fenfes. For, that it is the very found of the fermon which bindeth up their faculties, is manifest from hence, because they all awake fo very regularly as foon as it ceaseth, and with much devotion receive the bleffing, dozed and befotted with indecencies I am afhamed to repeat.

I proceed, Secondly, to reckon up fome of the ufual quarrels men have against preaching, and to fhew the unreasonablenefs of them.

Such unwarrantable demeanor as I have described, among chriftians, in the house of God, in a folemn assembly, while their faith and duty are explained and delivered, have put those who are guilty upon inventing fome excufes to extenuate their fault: This they do by turning the blame either upon the particular preacher, or upon preaching in general. Firft, they object

object against the particular preacher; his manner, his delivery, his voice are difagreeable, his ftyle and expreffion are flat and low; fometimes improper and abfurd; the matter is heavy, trivial and infipid; fometimes defpicable, and perfectly ridiculous; or elfe, on the other fide, he runs up into unintelligible fpeculation, empty notions, and abftracted flights, all clad in words above usual understandings.

Secondly, They object against preaching in general; it is a perfect road of talk; they know already whatever can be faid; they have heard the fame an hundred times over. They quarrel that preachers do not relieve an old beaten fubject with wit and invention; and that now the art is loft of moving men's paffions, fo common among the ancient orators of Greece and Rome. Thefe, and the like objections, are frequently in the mouths of men who defpife the foolishness of preaching. But let us examine the reasonableness of them.

The doctrine delivered by all preachers is the fame: So we preach, and fo ye believe: But the manner of delivering is fuited to the fkill and abilities of each, F 3 which

which differ in preachers just as in the rest of mankind. However, in perfonal diflikes of a particular preacher, are these men fure they are always in the right? Do they confider how mixed a thing is every audience, whose taste and judgment differ, perhaps, every day, not only from each other, but themfelves? And how to calculate a difcourfe, that fhall exactly fuit them all, is beyond the force and reach of human reafon, knowledge, or invention. Wit and eloquence are shining qualities, that God hath imparted, in great degrees, to very few, nor any more to be expected, in the generality of any rank among men, than riches and honour. But further: If preaching in general be all old and beaten, and that they are already fo well acquainted with it, more hame and guilt to them who fo little edify by it. But, these men, whose ears are fo delicate as not to endure a plain difcourfe of religion, who expect a constant supply of wit and eloquence on a fubject handled fo many thousand times; what will they fay when we turn the objection upon themselves, who with all the

lewd

lewd and prophane liberty of difcourfe they take, upon fo many thousand fubjects, are so dull as to furnish nothing but tedious repetitions, and little paultry, naufeous common-places, fo vulgar, fo worn, or so obvious, as, upon any other occafion, but that of advancing vice, would be hooted off the ftage? nor, laftly, are preachers juftly blamed for neglecting human oratory to move the paffions, which is not the business of a christian orator, whose office it is only to work upon faith and reafon. All other eloquence hath been a perfect cheat, to stir up men's paffions against truth and justice, for the fervice of a faction, to put falfe colours upon things, and by an amusement of agreeable words, make the worse reafon appear to be the better. This is certainly not to be allowed in christian eloquence, and, therefore, St. Paul took quite the other courfe; he came not with excellency of words, or enticing Speech of men's wisdom, but in plain evidence of the Spirit and power. And perhaps it was for that reafon the young man Eutychus, used

to the Grecian eloquence, grew tired and fell fo faft afleep.

I go on, Thirdly, to fet forth the great evil of this neglect and fcorn of preaching, and to difcover the real caufes from whence it proceedeth.

I think it is obvious to believe, that this neglect of preaching hath very much occafioned the great decay of religion among us. To this may be imputed no small part of that contempt fome men bestow on the clergy; for, whoever talketh without being regarded, is fure to be despised. To this we owe, in a great measure, the spreading of atheism and infidelity among us; for, religion, like all other things, is fooneft put out of countenance by being ridiculed. The fcorn of preaching might perhaps have been at first introduced by men of nice cars and refined tafte; but, it is now become a spreading evil, through all degrees, and both fexes; for, fince fleeping, talking, and laughing are qualities fufficient to furnish out a critic, the meanest and moft ignorant have set up a title, and fucceeded in it as well as their

betters.