The National Register. — London, England, 1811-12-22 00:00:00

THE NA' I :9ulpit. No. LI!. Sense-conquering Faith is now grown blind and cold, And basely craveuld; that, is times of old, Did conquer Heaven itself, do what tii' Almighty could! QUARLES. W. GEORGE TOIVNSENDi OF RAMSGATE. RAPIDLY as the number of its evangelical professors are seen to augment, the fundamental and distinguishing principles of Christianity seem by no means either so thoroughly understood or so forcibly promulgated as formerly. This trait is charac teristic of our age. There is a sort of fashionable orthodoxy now in use, amongst •even some able preachers, which wonderfully accommodates itself to the supposed refinement of the times, but which is decidedly injurious to the: cause of truth. Religion has, commonly with philosophy, been modernised ! Imaginary believers abound in the evangelical world, whose instructors seem careful to shape their discourses so as not to offend their customary audiences. Hence vital and searching preachers are rarely found. Our preachers, like our poets, have also lament ably departed from that nervous diction which so eminently distinguished the writers and speakers of the preceding age. Reflecting on the pulpit labours of our day, it seems somewhat surprising that evangelical ministers should have deviated so widely from the stepssof those celebrated clergymen to whom society is indebted for diet revival of religion which toil place about the middle of the last century. This difference is an im portant one. We have the same Gospel still preached to us, but not the same kind of Preachers who unfold its truths to us. Truth is still the same as it was; but those who teach it to us change. Change is not always for the best. Most of us might do well, perhaps, to lay this change to heart. It of infi . nitely more importance than some religionists would imagine it to be ! Of the numerous sermons which are read, preached, or issued from the press, how few appear to be stamped with those features of Scriptural Originality which particularised the discourses, of old! Much is spoken, much is heard, little is felt. Interesting singularity has altogether disappeaacd. Preachers think, write, speak alike. Seldom is any thing left freely to nature. One mode of thinking, one tone, one look ,'pervades the whole caste. Genius has here lost all its identity.. When shall one breathe upon these dry hones ?—May they rise, and have life! Otherwise these may yet be supplanted, in the opinion of the majority of men, by an order of preachers whom they strangely affect still to hold in derision. Huntingtons may else _yet triumph over their foes the Evangelicalians. The Rev. GEORGE TOWNSEND, who is stationed at Ramsgate, but has been fur some weeks past preaching at Spa-fields Chapel, belonging to what is called the Countess of Huntington's con nection, may be contemplated as no inferior specimen of the or thodox ministers of the old school. Students for the pulpit might profit by such preachers. Nor can he who bas attended such ministers be misemployed in endeavouring to delineate their worth ; since Passion's wild break, and frown that awes the sense, And every charm of gentler eloquence, All perishable !—like th' electric fire But strike the frame, and, es they strike, expire; Incense too pure a bodied flame to bear, Its fragrance charms the sense, and blends with air.' Even of those preachers whose sermons have been handed down to us through the medium of the press, we can form no personal conceptions; whilst of those characters who have flou ished as the extemporary ministers of truth, succeeding genera- REGISTER. tions cannot,'owing to the nature of their labours, form the most distant kind of idea. Hence detcription is occupied in psi- Retuating them. Mr. George Townsend must be allowed to be eminent in the pulpit,—if the great end of all preaching be to nuke a powerful, animating, and not evanescent, impression on the minds and coa sciences of men. There is nothing of indecision, compromise, or accommodation, in his preaching. He states the truth, and the whole truth. Unfolding the deep truths of the religion of redemption, acd the peculiar doctrines contained in them, he ex plains both with that decision which cannot be mistaken, and insists upon them with an energy that cannot be resisted. He is master of both. His orthodoxy is sound, and his experience deep. Preaching like this must prevail. Whilst men are what they are, such are the preachers they will want, and whose words they must feel. Mere moral lectures, however gracefully delivered, scarcely affect men. They may extort money for the plate, but they never convert the heart. Fashionable religion never pro- duced salvation. The personal requisites of the present preacher must have been considerable in the earlier stages of his life. His voice is silt deep and full, although somewhat impeded : his whole appear. ance is fine ; his action is truly natural, and highly impressift; nor have his eyes lost their tire. Perhaps his speech, never theless, is too hurried. But the prominent characteristic of Mr. Townsend's preach• ing, and that which more clearly denotes those of his school, consists in the individual pointedness of his remarks. His ob servations strike. He thinks for himself, and speaks like him. self. How shall description paint him ?—What he says is said in his own way. Observations like his are, ther . efore, not to be ob 'iterated. This was one fine feature of the divines .of the old school. With all their quaintness, and their conceits of style, they invariably produced something great—something out of the beaten track of thought, and which snore than compensated fur their faults. Modern preachers are seldom guilty of pithy remarks. Seldom do we now find, whether in speakers or wri ters, hat whisk, as Pope calls it, though often thought, wasp ne . er so well exprest.' Animadversions such as the foregoing - must nevertheless not be construed as tending to encourage practices of another de scription. Eccentricity is by no means to be recommended. Genius of the first rate is, indeed, most free from this odd defect. Yet of evils there is mostly a choice. Eccentricity is indi.s- • putals;y preferable to insipidity. This is not the epoch of close reading, deep thinking, and great speaking, even amongst the few splendid men of our times. RiAng preachers may greatly improve. We can talk of recurring to the first principles of the state; and may act well in recurring to the first luminaries of the clAurch. Lut us still look to those who were once the lights of the world! ONESIMUS. DRAMATIC REGISTER. COVENT GARDEN. " Coriolanits" has been revived at this Theatre, with more than common splendour. Mr. ICEMBLE, in the principal cha racter„ is very great. His conce;tion of dip part of the dignified Roman is classically correct, and his performance is hardly se cond to his conceptions. Mrs. SIDDOtis, in Vdttssnia, gives a fine idea of the. high spirited matron; and altogether; this play affords one of the greatest treats that a lover of the Drama cam wish to enjoy. G. It is estimated that from the writs of enquiry now executing, with regard to the Brewers, in various parts of the kingdom, G overnm ent will resover from st million to 1,2000,0001. pr duties, fraudulently withheld iu the course of the tart sigv.ea years. 1 ... ~.___,~'~~ qw• ~ ;01.; II