The National Register. — London, England, 1814-01-30 00:00:00

JAN. 30. ebe puiptt. 10. Shoot up the bosom shafts of thy desire, Foather'd with faith, and ilonbit-fork'd with fire, And thus they'll hit : fear not, where Heay'il bids eointl) Heaven's never drat=—but where luau's heart is dumb! QUARLES. )EV. IIbBERT CROSBY, A. %?. CHAPLAIN TO THE ItErUGE THE DESTITUTE. STEF r.r has an intelligible allusion to the state of metro politan preaching in bis . days. A Hippocrates being sent for," says be, .4 to a patient in the city, Mid liaVing felt his pulse, enquired into the symptoms of his distemper; and finding that it proceeded, in ereat measure, Mini want of sleep, ad vi,ed his patient, with an air of gravity, to be cartled to church to hear a sermon, not doubting but that it Would dis pose him for the rest he wanted." Nkiw ;hit representation was not more sarcastieal than just. Burnet, we know, al though himself an anglican prelate, when referring to about the same period, in the history of his life and times, describes the body of the clergy as dead and lifeless, and, instead of aui mating one another, as seeming to lay one another asleep! Matters w•ere not much Mended, even so late as the age of Churchill; who, indeed, has himself remitted the melancholy fact of the sluggishness with which he perrormed the import ant duties of the . pulpit, and the consiquent apathy with which be infected his iteartrs.— Oldrited, alas ! to ki ep, Wrong!! need nqt choice, 'nose shvep which never bend their Plavphlerti's voice, Whilst, sacred deness ever in his view, Sleep, at his bidding, crept from pew to pew! Seeing the general indifierence that thus appeared to per- Vale the clet gy at the national elm; eh, it was at least ill- jud Yed to ceuswe Bishop Burnet for endeavouring to give addi!ional energy tt preaching. Was it not laudable in him, who had " limented, dot ing his whole lire, that he saw to little true zeal among out Clergy," to exhibit in his own preach • ing an example of that zeal? 6' Mentor," however, being the name by which this prelate is understood to bb shadowed forth b' The Tatler,' though allowed by his critic to be a de di. vine of the first order," and 44 otherwisb a great man," was adimmished a that, " as harsh and irregu!ar sound is not har mony, so neither is banging a cushion, oratory ;" and inform cd, at the same time, that " his sermons won'd be more per suasive. if he gave his auditory less disturbante." The REY ROBERT ertosny, A. M. is at present in nodan ger of being involved in the critical remarks that his vontem pora! ies adminis•ered to the di.qingnished prelate we have just adverted to; andwhose pulpit labkurs were; in some re spects, ab. , ve all praise Whatever of reproof he may incur on the score of harshness or irreeulat ity of sound, the pre sew preacher has not subjected himself to the accusations of batwing the cushion, being " loud and noisy," and having " some design in his vociferations." It may be presumed; indeed, that no eplstonahan clergyman will hereafter have to plead guilty to the offence of banging his cushion, by even inadvertently relapsing into the vice of that reprobated era— When pulpit, dratir ecclesiastic, Wa, beat with fist, instead of a stick. Popularity is still the wish of preacher.;. It is evident that the pulpit, to use the report...d language of an advocate eminent at the bar, bnt who is finally seared on the bench, is in many points regarded as " the stepping-store of ambition ;" and as the , a-a.y riot only to honor, or fame, but also to wealth. Viewing things in this light; it is no disparagement to the THE NATIONAL REGITEIt. •I a present preacher, that he seems satisfied with his station in society. and determined, if possible. to excel in the vocation unto whic hhe ha- ht.en balled. There is something to bp. respected in those who labour to obtain an eminent degree Gf estimation ammcg " the excellent of the ealth," even tl mu 'N h they should appear to f a il of secui ihg the obj ec t t o w hi c h the: r attention is directed. • While such commendation is conceded to him, however, truth will not permit the impartial observer to Ow Rev. Mr. Crosby with the assurance of his acquiring that clerical reputation which he evidently is ambitious to found. Seripturality out of the question, he appears to be wanting in some of the essential requisites towards any thing like perfec tion in the greatest act of his professing. It i 6 not difficult • for regular-brcd ministers to acquit themselves ‘viih decent credit in the pulpit; hut if such characters will aim to he great, witlunt natural talents, they must inevitably fail short. Figure is in f.tk'our of Mr. Crosby.. With a manly form, he has also a manly face: Altitude empowers him to give effect to attitude; and his fcatutes are nut of that description by which the speaker is sometimes disqualified fur cominu- , nitating the impulses of the soul, through the expression of the countenance. Such is the pe'rsonability of the clergyman now in view. That it essentially aids the impression of the preacher, no person at all acquainteawith the nature of public speaking can doulq. Were his voice more modulated, therefore< and his delivery on the whole less theatricals Mr. Crosby might claim the merit of being a ‘'ery respectable charity preache: . ; es teemed as he is and deserves to bo, for the promptitude with which he is ever found prepared to plead the eati,e of the afflicted and distressed, of the diseased and the destitute. After this admission in favour of the clergyman now be fore us, -the regard doe to critical justice calls for F owe. specification of his defects; since defects he certainly has, both in matter and manner, His voice, then, physically in= harmonious, is rendered still mote unpleasing by being in judiciously strained ; while his de'ivery would in some in stances expose him to the suspicion of being theatricised, his most.expressive gestures seeming the enct of art, instead of being involuntat ily suggested, as all pulpit action should lie, by the spontaneous impulses of nature. Ile seems as if he were Al*ap ailing his utmost, and qu!te satisfied that he has done it. Yet he ranks not high in the scale of mind. He evinces no profundity of thought ; his style is meagre and poor : and his reading, for his sermons arc read, is oc casionally deformed by lapses and repetitions,—lapses that perplex, and repetitions that annoy, the attentive hearer, who really aims to profit by the instruction of the preacher. These defects are partly caused, however, by the preacher's own anxiety for display, who cannot always eye his sermon and reconnoitre his auditory, at the same moment. The Rev. Mr. Crosby (fOrinerly Curate and Evening Lec turer of St. Magnus at London Bridge,) is now. Chaplain t 4, the Refuge fur the Destitute, in Hackney Read ; Afternoon Lecturer of St. Leopard's, Shot editch; and Evening Lec. ertur of St. Lavirence Jcwry, Guildllall. Oikt est:nes. His Royal Highness the Du fie of - . ..ttssrx, on his birth day, had prw• posed to have acted as Chairman with t espeet to a pidelic rueetit alleviate the Sufferings of the Distressed Inhabitants of Leipsic, &C being prevented by sudden indisposition, he sent a purse of l 611 . 111e:is. 1 bk.' amiable riiiNce seems ti) have made the it; vs his mod( I, heing ever laborious in good. We con: rat the Vioprietms of tile MAL:a •sar Oil on the singular honour Collfe upon that inestimable Dibeovery by the zealous PAT r of Rov,i a, that of Ilex Itoval Highness Plwicit WALE and his Semite iii3hriess tlic Du t 1: a Dltv:cost VI a Vile . c. but Fifty liata! luluto . errt liti til •