* * * * *
SLEEPING IN CHURCH.
_From a Sermon by Swift._
(It may be somewhat derogatory to the genius of so great a writer
as SWIFT, to allow this extract to occupy its present place in our
arrangement--usually allotted to minor pieces. Our "Notes" are, for
the most part, from new books, and a similar object is explained in our
"Selector." We could hardly place "Sleeping in Church" under "Manners
and Customs," and sleep altogether is rather prospective, (in dreaming,)
than "Retrospective."--Yet reader, here it is--a still subject--but
fresh, vigorous, and written for all time.)
There is one moral disadvantage to which all preaching is subject; that
those who, by the wickedness of their lives, stand in greatest need,
have usually the smallest share; for either they are absent upon the
account of idleness, or spleen, or hatred to religion, or in order to
doze away the intemperance of the week; or, if they do come, they are
sure to employ their minds rather any other way, than regarding or
attending to the business of the place.
There is no excuse so trivial, that will not pass upon some men's
consciences to excuse their attendance at the public worship of God.
Some are so unfortunate as to be always indisposed on the Lord's day,
and think nothing so unwholesome as the air of a church.
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