4929. About their Churches and how they are seated
I was also in churches several times, where a great number were seen. It was said that where they are seen to be sitting depends on what suits them. Those who simply want to be where it is holy and have no desire to be instructed sit by themselves on one side. Those who desire to be instructed, however, sit on the other side and are recognized by the priest who is preaching, for heartfelt thoughts are shared. There are those, however, who come there with the intention of hearing whether the things that are preached there are true, not with the intention of being instructed but with the intention of seeing what doesn't seem true to them. When these come into the church, they impede the preacher's ability to preach, and therefore he admonishes them to leave. It is on this account that different preachers can rarely be together because they notice such things. For this reason those who are there hide themselves in a certain way lest they take away the preacher's spirit of holiness.
4929. CONCERNING THEIR TEMPLES AND HOW [THE WORSHIPPERS] ARE SEATED.
I was also several times in the temples, to which great numbers resort. It was said that they appear to sit, there, according to delights. Those who love to be merely in sanctity and do not desire to be instructed, sit apart on one side; but those who desire to be instructed, sit on the other side. They are also distinguished by the priest who is preaching; for the thoughts of the minds of those present are communicated. But they who come with the purpose of hearing whether the things that he preaches are true, thus not for the purpose of being instructed but for the purpose of picking out those things which do not seem to them to be true - when these enter the temple, they embarrass the preacher so that he cannot preach. He, therefore, admonishes them to go away. Hence it is that other preachers can rarely be in the same place, because they observe such things; wherefore, those of them who are there, hide themselves in a particular manner, lest they should take away from the preacher the spirit of holiness.
4929. De Templis eorum, et quomodo sedent
Fui etiam aliquoties in templis, ubi apparet multitudo, dictum quod appareant ibi sedere secundum jucunda, qui amant solum in sancto esse, et non desiderant informari, sedent seorsim ab uno latere, qui autem desiderant informari, sedent ab alio latere, dignoscuntur etiam a sacerdote, qui praedicat, nam cogitationes animi eorum communicantur: qui autem illuc veniunt animo ut audiant num vera sint quae praedicat, non ita animo se informandi, sed animo discernendi illa quae eis non videntur vera esse, illi cum in templum veniunt, impediunt ne praedicator possit praedicare, quapropter ille monet eos ut exeant; inde est, quod praedicatores alii raro possint una esse, quia talia observant, quapropter qui eorum ibi sunt, se certo modo abscondunt, ne auferant praedicatori spiritum sancti.