5. The custom of treating the rich who came to our chapels with more
respect than the poor, was as prevalent probably when I became a
minister, as it was in the days of James. I often saw the officials of
the church conducting gaily-dressed people to comfortable pews, while
they left such as were poorly clad to stand in the aisles, or to find
their way into seats themselves; and on some occasions I showed my
dissatisfaction with such proceedings.
6. It was customary to have society meetings in each place once a
quarter, and at these meetings I used to refer to what I thought amiss
in the conduct of professors, and to urge attention to such lessons of
Christ and His Apostles as seemed to be generally overlooked or
forgotten. On some occasions too on week nights, instead of preaching a
regular sermon, I used to give a kind of lecture or exhortation, in
which I presented a summary of neglected duties, and read over the
passages of Scripture in which they were enjoined, making remarks on
them. There were many matters pertaining to marriage, to the education
and government of children, and to domestic duties generally; and there
were matters pertaining to trade, to social intercourse, to mental
improvement, and the like, on which preachers, as a rule, were entirely
silent in their sermons, from the beginning of the year to the end.
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