The National Register. — London, England, 1813-12-05 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGI 79 tube pulpit. Ile, with resistless eloquence, S.: ft viercing words, and more than manly YellSe, MOIthIS them to good, recalls them when they stray, •And guides direct in virtue's glorious way. —WESLEY. REV. JOHN ANGELL JAMVT, OF BIRMINGHAM. 'Pulpit eloquence is now cultivated with an unusual assi duity. The preacher who cannot now boast some power of language, who cannot both allure and impress the human ;bind: finds but few hearers, and no followers. Ile may, in deed, endeavour to lift up . his voice, but unless it be lifted up like a trumpet, it will literally be as the voice of one cry ing in the wldernet.s, and crying in vain. Preachers are now expected to command attention ; and, especially in the metroi - oli, to ho!d " delighted auditorics the willing cap tives of theil eloquence. 10' All this is well, when it ends well. It was doubtless the cninntendation of Apollos: that he was an eloquent man, as wel! as migh'y in the Set lout cs of t, uth ; and yet we know, te)twithstanding such commendation, that many of the early ehristians, captived by his eloquence, looked too little to Him, who, though Paul phtW, and Apollos water, t ould alone succted the labours of both ! Gifts arc certainly desh able, as well as grace, in the ministets of the sanctuary; but t 1 e generality of wolshippers, too apt to idolize the p eacher in the man, teqiiire to be continually cautioned on this head, and tethinded of that source whence all good gifts do most unquestionably prececd, and to which the chief of ministers Must coufess himself to be indebted for all that he is, and all that he hopes. Tl:e Rev. Jon N S GET. LJAM ES, who has been fi'rsome time minioer of Ca1 . 1 . -:i-lane Meeting, Birmingha', is ends! nently diAinguisivil for that oratorical eNeellence which !, ac ems so much prized in the preachers of our a.4e. Ilis per-1 son is pleasing, lUs countenance prepost,essing;and his action both easy and graceful; while his voice melodi ous, and his enuneiation at once emphatir and clear. His appca-ance is attractke, at d his delivery in the highest de- ! gree captivating. 'There seems an absolute fascination in his speech. Lukewarmness to religion" has by himself been stigma tised as " a practi al heresy, more injurious to the souls of men than any speculative en cr ;" and " the person who can live in this age without a degree of public spirit," re garding religion, as " a -14ce•of religious antiquity." Death in the pulpit is indeed de:lth to all. While the present preacher, therefore, far from incurring this guilt, is not even chargeable with the lukewarnmess he condemns in others, it must he regretted (Lit his pulpit efforts still want that his tinctive animation whose province it is to render preaching efficacious to the great ends for the accomplishment of which the cirri, '-an ministry is established. The late Rev. Thomak Spencer, in the Letter:. accompanying the Memoirs of his Life, expre!scs his pL.culiar regard for i,ealous and earnest preachers," addit., that !'e liked " to see animation and life in the pulpit ," a nd though very few are, what he was, born for the pulpit, " all toe powers of their souls formed for it," vet every preacher ought evidently to be inspired with a kind, of superhuman eamiestriess in the dispensation of that gt,:rel vhich it forms " the busine's and the honour * Sue L.e. 1k ir. Raffie.'s ()IP lug friend Ow Rev. Dr. .:droi!: ! ! enough introduced, in his Mcninirs of the Lite and 111inistry of :ite. late Rev. Thomas Spenetr, of Liverpool. trick is mei ;lune. i , • 5. of his life to preach ! It is not the blaze of genius, or the glow of imagination," justly observes a living preacher, " but the sacred flame of fervent piety, the holy kindlings of a mind moved by principles derived from Heaven, and the generong efforts of a soul impelled by an intense desire for the salvation of a dying woad, that must impart life and energy to !he correct, hot glowing statements,—the wawa and impassioned appeals" of the Embassador of Chris tian v. If placidity of mien, sweetness of voice, cle*anee of ad dress, with a fluency and felicity of style, were found avail able to the conviction and conversion of souls, there have existed few Area( hers whoye incits, humanly balanced, could be put advantageously in comparison with those of the minister now before us. Truth must here award him the palm. his statements, also, are grounded ; and his reason- • ipg is sound ; while his discourses are embellished with , a richness of imagary, spontaneously cooceived and brilliantly exhibited, that almost dazzles the mental eye, overpowered, even while transported, with • excess of light There is the possibility of satiating, however, without satisfying; and of delighting, without impressing the mind. !" It was," ex claims the he4ier, returning from a sermon of this desctip tion, ." a concert—not a feast ; it was all for the e. ° r, no thing for the palate ; much mu lc, no provision ; a dtal heard, he but little felt.'' Divinity is thus but too seriously sacrificed at the shrine of oratory. Here it should be observed, nevertheless, that the present preacher is really correct in regard to what is modestly considered as orthodoxy ; that be can allure, if he does not alarm ; and that his discourses—judiciousl y composcd, and elegantly delivered—may inform and im move the al hewer, and more particularly the young. Perhaps s' me admirers of sutilorplenee will not be ungratifi ed to learn, in this place, that a Portrait of the Rev. Mr..lames has been prefixed to the Evangelical Magazine for May last, and is esteemed a tolerable ON ESI NI US. ENV ATCIIM AN It he reNunted next : Nnu-rcsiatstec Cltrgynitn. BIBLE ASSOCIATIONS. TO TEIE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER:. • SIR—No. 3of the NV a'chman in this day's paper), con tains many vet v judicious and well-timed remarks on a subs ject that citlls for dispa•sonate enquiry ; viz. the present abundance of Bible Associations, come under whatever de nomination they may. To a proper and bountiful distribu tion of the worth of God no man of common sense or any re litiious feeling can possibly object, but, on the contrary, assist with all his power: but does the pre:,ent mode answer that description Th 2. proposal to the poor to assist the /4(4 in a pc:al:jar!, way to provide for their souls, is whimsical, to say no worse. The poor are to. have the gospul preached to them for nothing, let its law then be provided t4.em ow the same terms. There arc many very sincere Christians con ! nected with the various Fiible Societies without doubt, but I many designing ones also, and, I have little hesitation in Isnpposing, many int crested booksellers, who make a profit of this procedure. The observation of the Watchman - relative to the great quantity of new preachers the Bible Chits, as he terms them, will give rise to,, is much in point ; and. if preachers go on etteteasing as they have hitherto, in a few years we shall have mote than congregations can be possibly found fur; and each church will be almost literally 4. two tin cc lathe; cd togethel . ." Preaching now is certainly