The National Register. — London, England, 1813-12-19 00:00:00

DEC : 19. . THE NATIONAL REGISTER. MEMOiR OF THE , felt Zbirte:tbo Veal It cannot be thong it surprising, therefore, considering how many villages were „already indebted to his preaching for their celebrity, that even the polished village of Peckham should become anxious to possess a divine of such superior worth: This was, indeed the case. December the 17th 1801, our still youthful preacher, then but twenty years old. • was settled as " Pastor over the Church of Christ at Peck ham, without imposition of hands ;" though, in other points, " the service was conducted with due solemnity, and sonic present appeared much affected." This scene of action was most favourable as to locality ; since, by its proximity to, town, it enabled " the young Minister of the day," when- , ever be so pleased, to avail himself of the enlivening breath of popularity and the sympathising smiles of the fair. Popularity cannot remain stationary. Wherever the em. hryo Doctor now deigned to preach, far or near, there the multitude congregated to him ; so that he quickly became known as one of the most popular of pycachers.— ' 0 popular applause ! what heart of man Is pi oaf against thy swcct seducing charms?' " It had been better for the cause of Christianity.," re. marks an observer, " if such a thins as popularity, in its Ministers, had never crept into it. Fieen if that popularity were justly bestowed (a circumstance, however, which wilt never take place till our wives hate chAnge, and our daugh ters despise superficiality !) still I should censure it as iu jut ions to true devotion : what must I say, then, when 1 sec the suffiage of the million awarded to the substitution of rhetoric for doctrine, poetry for argument, and affectation for zer! During one of my visits to the metropolis," con tinues our observer, " I was vehemently pressed, by one of those misguided religieuse whose only business it is ,to run after the last new dear man; to hear a young preacher of orthodox tenets, whese popularity, .1 was told, had ac tually lasted more than a year. Totally unaWe to resist such an unprecedented duration of popularity, I accom panied my fair guide to a meeting-hove an hour before the commencement of divine service; and art ived just in time to find a crowd at the doors, that had been decently got un der by the interference of some censtabla. Being first te;- sured that the place 'was not a theatre, I ventured into it. and made shift to secure a pretty comfortable stand, in a side aisle ; where, as every person was jammed as close to his neighbour as possible, we were not at all annoyed by those who wished to pass up to their pews. After we had thus rested ourselves for about half an hour, we were sec, denly disconcerted by a cry of make way !' with an uni versal commotion in the principal aisle, which was suocee::,. ed by an exclamation, in a feminine voice, of Pray let nig come by—l must get up to the pulpit It is some unhappy, mad woman, thought I, who has fallen . in love with th 4., yfrung idol Of the public, and who wishes to get As 'way him, 41 possible. No ; it was the Minister himself Every coin- pressure was instantly made, by his enthusiastic followers; who seemed more than compensated for their toil, by soon; seeing him safely lodged in the rostrum. Ilene, then, my reverend Younker stood up, during the time of sioging,t looking round him with all the cumiilacency of an actor . whose turn is not yet come ; and when the congregation at length rose up to listen to his prayer, he lolled upon the cushion to pray, hanging his bands ovev the bible. (laving in' this style gone through many common-place phrases of . prayer, always preferring metaphor to plain petition, he sat iiglit t Certainly this was rather out of character. Possiiily it might have been smug exhibition of this kind, that mea-iinied the ptiblic.i. Lion of an ' Address to Protestant Dissenters, recomincittli;ll the practice of Sittin,g• while Singing the Praises of Ciod in Pttblie Wor, ship.' llihriiters ii tilett blL.uld IN OM:AWL% OF THE LIFE OF NV. -B. C*L*Y*R, D. D. OTHERWISE DISTINGUISHED AS . THE ANGELICAL DOCTOR. Seldom are the labours of the biographer now gratified with a subject like the present. Since the days when the splendour of catholicism was at its height,--when the loveliest of our species, subdued by the appeals of the preacher, were amongst the most ardent vo:aries of faith, — no era has, in this respect, equalled tliLi in which we have the hon►►ur to live. Every where is the young minister of our day hailed 4 In. language soft as adoration breathes, Pone(' forth by Beauty f , plendid and polite!' The distinguished personage here selected as the subject of contemporary bi(igraphy, has long been pre-eminently es timated by the fairest and to % elieit portion of the religious world. Not only has he stood well with this sex, however, but he has also attracted, in no ordinary degree, the consideration of men; who must be accordingly interested in the following sketch. Respecting this angelical Doctor,' then, it appears that: he drew his first breath near " Deptford Broadway," some- - where about the year 78 1 . His parents were poor ; and he was, adopting the language of poetry, a low-born youth.' Acquirinng friends, however, at the age of eight years he entered a public school at Lewisham, in Kent, where, says one of his frie - nds, " he laid, deep and broad, the foundation of a classical education." He was afterwards, about the age Of thirteen, consigned, as a private pupil, to the super intendance of the Rev. John Pell ; till, at the age of sixteen, he was entered as a student at the Old College, Homerton, where he remained the prescribed term of four years. This detail is now pronounced to be of importance in the Doctor's life. Rumour at one time misreFoiled him to have been evangelically educated at Iloxton, instead of Homerton ; though, it would seem, those who " know any thing of the interior of Homerton and I loxton, must he aware that the difference is essential," Ilomerton Old College being, as its imports, "a truly venerable institution !" During the latter years of his residence at Ilomerton Old College, the subject of this meatoir in fact entered on his public career, with such (chat as presently entitled him to the distinction of the Angelical Doctor! ' Referring to this event, it has been pointedly obs , arved, by the. Rev. Thomas Raffles, the Doctor's friend, that the villages of Haltivay, Street, and Lez:•:shain, in Kent, *ill derive some ce letrity, in the religious world, from having been the scenes of ministerial foliour, when a youth, to a preacher who, fc ‘ r these twelve years, hos held the delighted audituries of the Metro polis the willing captives q This Eloquence ! " Surely that preacher has acquired some right to distinctive comm,..nda tion, who, for the long term of twelve yeins,—throgh all the seasons, " the smiling Spring, the latighing Summer, ti7e sober Autumn, and the frowning Winter,"—has continued to fascinate the refined auditories of our metropolis and its environs. • " Venerable Institutiou "—I/octors will, notwithstanding, stilt disagree. Spencer, according to him Let ter-, ptiblished since his tleccae, e•idently peseii•ired lioxton to liumerton, notwith standing the iiitcsitor stiteriority of the hitter College. Ile p;:ttly makes this electioti; as to limxton Academy, tir'st 6 ; oil the arcoont. of its pleasantne.s ;" an d next, principally, on account of the thu ivx views uf jta Siiiipoi tens.'----ice Itatiles*6 Life viSpcilver. .•