n! "People do not sneeze or cough here in public assemblies," says one
writer, triumphantly, "so much as in England." The warning caution, "Be
short," which the minister has inscribed above his study-door, claims no
authority over his pulpit. He may pray his hour, unpausing, and no one
thinks it long; for, indeed, at prayer-meetings four persons will
sometimes pray an hour each,--one with confession, one with private
petitions, a third with petitions for church and kingdom, and a fourth
with thanksgiving,--neither part of the quartette being for an instant
confused with the other. Then he may preach his hour, and, turning his
hour-glass, may say,--but that he will not anticipate the levity to be
born in a later century with Mather Byles,--"Now, my hearers, we will
take another glass."

In short, this is the pomp and circumstance of glorious preaching. Woe
to any one who shall disturb its proprieties! It is written in the
statute, "If any one interrupt or oppose a preacher in season of
worship, they shall be reproved by the magistrate, and on repetition
shall pay L5, or stand two hours on a block four feet high, with this
inscription in capitals, 'A Wanton Gospeller.'" Nor this alone, but the
law stands by the minister's doctrine even out of the meeting-house. It
is but a few days since Nathaniel Hadlock was sentenced to be severely
whipped for declaring that he could receive no profit from Mr. H----'s
preaching,--since Thomas Maule was mauled to the extent of ten stripes
for declaring that Mr. H---- preached lies, and that his instruction was
the doctrine of devils,--since even the wife of Nicholas Phelps was
sentenced to pay five pounds or be whipped, for asserting that this same
Mr. H---- sent abroad his wolves and bloodhounds among the sheep and
lambs. Truly, it is a perilous thing to attend public worship in such
reverential days. However, it is equally dangerous to stay at home;
there are tithing-men to look after the absentees, and any one
unnecessarily absent must pay five shillings. He may be put in the
stocks or in the wooden cage, if delinquent for a month together.

But we must give our attention to the sermon. It is what the
congregation will pronounce "a large, nervous, and golden discourse," a
Scriptural discourse,--like the skeleton of the sea-serpent, all
backbone and a great deal of that. It may be some very special and
famous effort. Perhaps Increase Mather is preaching on "The Morning
Star," or on "S