CI;APTEft II. 139 of hems and o's, of long breaths, affected groanings, anduseless sounds, of coughing or spitting, &c. which somehave heretofore been guilty of, and have sufficiently disgraced religion: If you cut off and lose the last syllable of your word, or mumble the last words of the sentence, and sink in your voice, so that others cannot hear, they will be ready to think, it is because you did not speak properly, and so were afraid to be heard. If on the other hand you lengthen out your sentences with ridiculous sounds, you endanger the devotion even of the wisest and best of your fellow-worshippers, and expose the worship to the pro- fane raillery of idle and corrupt fancies. While you seem to be designing to rub off the roughness of your threat, or to express greater affection by such methods, others will suspect that it is a method only to prolong your sentences, to stretch your prayers town affected length, and to recover your thoughts what to say next. Therefore when your passions happen to beelevated with some lively expression in prayer, and you are delightfully con- strained to dwell upon it ; or when you meditate to speak the next sentence with propriety ; it is far better to make a long pause, and keep a decent silence, then to 411 into such indecen- Gies of sound. II. Let every sentence he spoken loud enough to beheard, yet none so loud as to affright or offend the ear. Between these two extremes there is a great variety of degrees in sound, suffi- cient to answer all the changes of our affections, and the different, sense of every part of our prayer. lu the beginning of prayer especially, a lower voice is more becoming, both as it bespeaks humility and reverence, when we enter into the presence of God, and as it is also a great conveniency to the organs of speech not to arise too high at first ; for it is much harder to sink again afterwards, than to rise to higher accents, if need require. Some persons have got a habit of beginning their prayers, and even upon the most common family occasions, so loud as to startle the company; others begin so low in a large assembly, that it looks like secret worship, and as though they forbid those that are pre- sent to join with them. Both these extremes are to be avoided by prudence and moderation. III. Observe a due medium between excessive swiftness and slowness of speech, for both are faulty in their kind. If you are too swift, your words will be hurried on, and will (as it were) intrude upon one another, and be mingled in confusion. It is necessary therefore to observe adue distance between your words, and a much greater distance between your sentences, that so all may be pronounced distinct and intelligible. Due and proper pauses and stops will give the hearer time to conceive and reflect on what you speak, and more heartily to join with you, as well as give you leave to breathe, and make the work more easy and
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