on a fair Ballance of Profit and Lofs, it SERM. will appear, that the few Inconveniences, IX. pretended to have arifen from hence, are not to be compar'd with the many and mighty Advantages, that have certainly fprung from it; and that if one good Man has been thrown back in his Devotions, Hundreds and Thousands have been extremely forwarded by it. III. And this is what I fhould now more particularly endeavour to prove under my third general Head, wherein I propos'd to fhew, that the Way of performing divine Service in the Church of England is better fitted to fix our Attentions, and raise our Affections, than any other Form of Devotions now practifed in the Chriftian World *. That it enjoys this Advantage, as in several other Refpects, fo particularly in relation to a folemn and decent Use of Church Mufick. But the greatest Part of the Matter that would arife on this * See the preceding Difcourfe on this Subject. VOL. II. S Head SERM. Head is foreign to the Design of the IX. Day, and what is not fo, has in Part been prevented already; and neither of them can now be infifted upon, without depriving you too long of a better and more fenfible Conviction of the Power of Church Mufick, than any I can fupply you with. I fhall therefore take this whole Point for granted; and from thence, in the IV. Fourth and laft Place, very briefly, but earnestly exhort you to make your Devotion exemplary in Proportion to thofe Advantages, which you above all others enjoy. In vain will it be for us to boat, that we have extraordinary Helps to inward Piety, if our outward Behaviour plainly declares, that we do not make a due Use of them. In vain fhall we hope to convince those that differ from us, of the Decency and Expedience of this Part of our Worfhip, and of its great Tendency to spiritual Edification; if they fee that it does not really produce thofe good Effects Effects in us, which we afcribe to it ;SERM. let us Reason never fo well in this IX. Case, they will think they have anfwer'd our Arguments, if they can but confront them with our Practices. Let us take away the Strength of this Ob- ` jection, as well as we can that of all the reft; and then, I am fure, our Devotions will be altogether blameless. O let all of us, that have any regard for the Honour of that Church to which we belong, any Zeal for the true Interests of Piety, any real Concern of Heart on the Account of those little Niceties, and endless Scruples that thus unhappily divide us: O let all of us, I fay, that are thus affected and difpofed (as all of us, I am fure, fhould be) refolve, from this Moment, fo to order our external Deportment in the House of God, as may best enable it to reach those excellent Ends! Let no Light and vain Motions, no loofe and unseemly Gestures be feen upon any of us, when we appear in this great Prefence! Let our Ears then liften to SERM. nothing, but to the folemn Offerings IX. of Prayer and Praise that are then put up, and liften to them with no other Design, but to affect our Souls with a deep Sense of them. Let not our Eyes lead the Way to our naughty Hearts, and teach them to wander! But let us be all compos'd throughout into Attention, and awed into a religious Respect and Silence. To the Sound of Words, and the Significancy of Gestures, let us join all along the sweet Melody of our Hearts; compleating the holy Confort, we assist at, by a divine Agreement of Mind and Body in the fame Acts of Adoration, and by making all our Worship both inward and outward exactly harmonious, and of a Piece! So fhall we take away every Reproach that shall be caft upon our Communion: So fhall we win the Hearts, and convince the Judgments, of those that differ from us: So fhall we thoroughly recommend our WorShip to God, and ourselves by the Means of it! In a Word, fo fhall we make the |