49-1. When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having before prepared their hearts thereunto) ought all to come and join therein; not absenting themselves from the public ordinances through negligence, or upon pretence of private meetings.

DIGEST: BCO 26-2 having been temporarily suspended in 1973 (then numbered as 27-2), many changes to the BCO were later proposed by the Constitutional Documents Committee. The current text of this paragraph dates to those changes adopted in 1975. (M3GA, 3-15, p. 56).

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISON :
PCA 1975, M3GA, 3-15, p. 56.
When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having before prepared their hearts thereunto) ought all to come and join therein; not absenting themselves from the public ordinances through negligence, or upon pretence of private meetings.

1. PCA 1973, Adopted text, 2-1 [M1GA, Appendix, p. 155]
2. Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, Proposed text, 2-1, p. 63
3. PCUS 1933, II, §307.
4. PCUS Revision of 1929, II, § 307.
Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time, that all being present at the beginning they may unite with one heart in all the parts of public worship, and let none unnecessarily depart until after the blessing be pronounced.

PCUS 1894, II
II.-I. When the time appointed for public worship is come, let the people enter the church, and having taken their seats in a decent, grave, and reverent manner, engage in silent prayer for a blessing upon themselves, the minister, and all present, as well as upon others who are detained from the house of God.

COMMENTARY
Morton H. Smith, Commentary on the Book of Church Order, 6th edition, 2007, p. 409.
Here is a general statement of the duty of the congregation regarding all occasions of public worship. The principle is that all should be in attendance. It would be well if this were set forth to all those being received into the membership of congregations, and that each new member understood that he was thus committing himself to the worship services of the congregation. An allowance could be made for special services, otherwise a person should so order his affairs as to be present at the worship services of the congregation. The benefits would be two-fold. First, there would be the general encouragement to the minister and elders in the fiill attendance of the congregation. Second, there would be the spiritual feeding that would take place with the additional occasions of the ministry of the Word to the whole congregation. All members of the Church would thus benefit and grow spiritually.

The parenthetical clause is one that needs to be emphasized to the people. If the members of a congregation truly prepared for worship prior to coming to worship, there could be a remarkable impact upon the service of worship. For one thing, the entrance into the house of worship would be with an attitude of worship and of expectancy to meet God. All too often people spend the time just prior to the beginning of the service of worship with socializing, with little thought to what they are about. Also, if this preparation included prayer for the ministry of the Word, that it be accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, we could expect greater blessings from the preaching of the Word. This, of course, holds true for each of the acts of worship.

Of particular interest is the statement against the pretense of private meetings as an excuse for absenting oneself from the worship services of the congregation. The Session should not allow the scheduling of other meetings at the time of congregational worship.