but be that as it will, whenever it is once fettled, let the Minifter, be fure, keep fo exactly to it, that the Parish may not have the least Reafon to complain of any Uncertainty about it.

There are, alas! but too many to be met with, in moft Parishes, that feldom fail of coming in, till after the general Confeffion: But were not thefe, to the Disturbance of the rest of the Congregation, brought into the Neglect of fo principal a Part of their Duty, by their having been forced to wait longer than the ufual Time, upon fome fpecial Request or other?

Whereas, if every officiating Perfon would but ftrictly keep to the Time appointed, fuch who had lefs while to fpare, would more likely be at the Beginning of the Service, than others, who fhould fet them better Examples.

As there is but too much Reason for these Obfervations, we can the more fatisfactorily mention fome very recommendable ones of Perfons, who have been most defervedly promoted to the highest Offices in the Law; one of them to the very highest of all; and the other to the very next to it: Who, though they live at the greatest Distance from the Church, yet never fail of being there before the ufual Time; whilft others are feen dropping in late, for all they live very nearly to it.

Before

Before we enter upon our publick Prayers, or expect that the Almighty fhould hear us fpeaking to him; our Church has reasonably ordered, firft, to hear him, fpeaking to us, in fuch Sentences, as will encourage and incite us, to a due Performance of the rest of our Duty.

After the Minifter has therefore ftaid fuch a difcretionary while, 'till the Noife of the People's coming in, and the Clattering of the Pew-Doors are pretty well over; and the Congregation ready for the Difcharge of it, he fhall begin, and ufe one or more of these Sentences, as he shall judge most proper for the Seafon.

The 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, are fo, for the Ember Weeks; for Lent; for the Rogation Days, or other Days of Fafting or Abstinence; as they were felected to bring Sinners to Repentance: We may learn thence too, that the Kingdom of Chrift is fet up in our Hearts ; and meet there, with Acceptance for the Contrite; and Encouragement for the Sorrowful. And any of the others, at other Seasons, as shall seem most meet to him.

The first of all, is a very comfortable Instruction to the Ignorant ; and the rest of them, we find yielding Pardon and Forgiveness to the Rebellious and Difobedient: Setting forth to us, that we all ftand in need of a merciful

Cor

Correction; and that a frank Acknowledgment of our Vileness and Difobedience, is required from us, as the most certain Means to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness.

It is expreffed too, that he shall say them with a loud Voice; i. e. with a clear, distinct; and audible one: The Word, loud, not fignifying there, that it should be any way strain'd, or kept up beyond its Strength, but that it fhould be raised and adapted to fuch an extended Elevation, above the ordinary Course of Reading, as he fhall feel to be moft agreeable to himself, in order to make it the more edifying to his Congregation.

In the Common Prayer Book, printed in the Year 1660, the Rubrick, before the Te Deum, runs thus: And to the End that People may the better hear, in fuch Places where they do fing, there shall the Leffons be fung in a plain Tune, after the Manner of diftinct Reading, and likewife the Epifile and Gospel. By fuch a melodious, even, tuneable Performance, every Word meets with its due proper Sound; as fuch a lively Method is found too, of greater Force, in exciting the People to a Fervor, and keeping up their Spirits to their height of Devotion, as having every Advantage of exerting itself, much beyond the plain Manner of common Reading.

If

If fuch Care is taken then, that every one Thould be able to hear the Service read, with what more than ordinary Concern must it be obferv'd, that in the Churches of Worcester and Lincoln, the Choir Manner fhould be degraded into the Parochial, and instead of its being gloriously perform'd by Perfons that have been bred up at the Universities, and have, as it were, appropriated themselves to chanting, that thofe that read there, can't be beard by balf the Congregation; whereas if they were to officiate, as other Minifters do in other Cathedrals, they would then raise their Voices to fuch an exalted, harmonious Pitch, as in rehearing the whole Service differently, thro' its different Offices, it would cause them to be heard at the greatest Distance.

And here it can't but be obferv'd too, that instead of the Choir Way being ordered to dwindle into the Parochial, it would be highly useful and much more seviceable to Minifter and People, for the Parochial Way, efpecially in the great Churches, to be raised up, in fome Measure, to the Choir.

The Right Reverend the Bishop fays in his Directions again, Page 7.

That "It is much to be wifh'd, that greater Regard were had in making Choice of Perfons for the facred Function, and particu

larly that in the Education of those who are defign'd for the Ministry, the Right forming of the Voice were made one special "Care from the Beginning in our Schools, as "well as Univerfities;" the Alteration or Variation of it being required in fo many Places.

If fuch Care was taken, 'twould no doubt prevent many a County Tone or Twang, that feldom or never leaves the Perfon, that ever car ries it with him, from School.

There is a Free Singing-school establish'd in Chrift's-Hofpital for the better Education of the poor Chrildren there. The Statutes of the greatest Foundations in Oxford require too, that the Candidates for their Benefactions shall 'be able to fing in plano cantu ; and at CorpusChrifti-College, they are still tried fo to do.

The Sentences, the Exhortation, and the AbJolution, which are directed and fpoken to the People, fhould be uttered differently from that, which becomes the Confeffion, the Lord's Prayer, and those other Parts of the Liturgy, which are directed and spoken to God. The fame Cadence is not to be used, thro' the Whole Gonfeffion, because fome Parts of it are far from being a full and complete Sentence: Thofe therefore which are not, fhould be read with the Voice kept up, as the Suffrages are required

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