On each Sabbath thereafter, as
the obstinate preacher would not end his sermon one minute sooner than
his habitual time, which was long after twelve, the equally stubborn
limited-time worshipper arose at noon, as he had stipulated, and stalked
noisily out of meeting.
A minister about to preach in a neighboring parish was told of a custom
which prevailed there of persons who lived at a distance rising and leaving
the house ere the sermon was ended. He determined to teach them a lesson,
and announced that he would preach the first part of his sermon to the
sinners, and the latter part to the saints, and that the sinners would of
course all leave as soon as their portion had been delivered. Every soul
remained until the end of the service.
At last, when other means of entertainment and recreation than church-going
became common, and other forms of public addresses than sermons were
frequently given, New England church-goers became so restless and
rebellious under the regime of hour-long prayers and indefinitely
protracted sermons that the long services were gradually condensed and
curtailed, to the relief of both preacher and hearers.
VIII.
The Icy Temperature of the Meeting-House.
In colonial days in New England the long and tedious services must have
been hard to endure in the unheated churches in bitter winter weather, so
bitter that, as Judge Sewall pathetically recorded, "The communion bread
was frozen pretty hard and rattled sadly into the plates.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93