The National Register. — London, England, 1814-01-09 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL itt:GISTER._ MEMOIR OF THIS ~'~jit•tv:t'D Vcarci OF THE LIFE OF W B. C*L*Y*ll D. D OTRIIRWISE DISTINGCISIIED AS TUE ANGELICAL DOCTOR ! (Concluded . 11 OM nur last.) Perfection is not expected even in preachers. " Can any blame be attached to him," demands his friend Candidus, speaking of our Doctor, " because the most lovely part of the creation attend his preadring?" Unquestionably, some blame may happen to attach to the Christian Minister on this score; not, indeed, that the most lovely part of the creation are the frequent attendants on his labours ; but he is to lie blamed, atid severely too, whenever he descends from the holy dignity of his station, to win their smiles and charm their hearts, and, worse still, to meet tile ad s:am:es of those females who make it their Lusiness to beset metropolitan vestry-rooms, in order to congratulate their Teigning favourite. That the preacher should lie required to " scarify his-visage," in order to coonteract the fascina tion of his countenance, or be constrained to !weak through "6 hoarse tube," in order to subtract from the natural me lody of his voice, a e conditions as ridiculous to supr!est, nn the other hand, as they wool l bf.• tyrannical to itopc:c on inm. Should the preacher be favoured with prellosse-sLing ttess of phisiopoonv. however, there can exist ro neces sity for the superadditions of at t; and if his voice be also c:onsitutionally plaintive, it is not whirring that will increale its attraction. The estimate which the present writer foNt formed of the reverend preacher now before us, about flve vears ago, has since been acknowledged as deserving the epithets of " ac cwate, and candid, and just*." The writer sees no reason which should here induce him to alter it. Excepting as to the amendment which has at length taken place in the. Doc• tor's manner of praying the Lord's prayer, he tenaciously adheres to those pulpit peculiarities which originally charac terised his line of preaching. Something more impressive, more consi , ;tent, more worthy of the minister and of the man, is still wanti: n in him, but to which he does not ap pear soon likely to attain. Deep and broad as he may have laid the foundation of a classical education—" elegant, and philosophical, and scripttlral"—and gifted with ta:ents " of Ito common sort," still the deficiency is felt, and there seems " death in the pot." Lovers of ekgance may be gra silica.; but there is " 'leanness of soul withal." Sinners are rot converted —believers arc not edified. People may ad- 4 14 Whea 'read your clerical sti lc t nres on this vaung man," declares one %vim apoears to he a Guspel 3linistcr, '' I was struck mith "burin isr, and fiiled wide ituliguation, t . .) hear of an individual, ussuming the character of a Christian Teacher, int roduciog into the I,3rl's I):•ayer —certainly the uto-t perfect form of sound words that believurs Christ possus<— hi< own unwarrantable alteratiJos, by which its seose %vas materially impaired, and its fair image cousidet ably °craved ; to brat of welt au innovation, did, I must (IV. I, awakt o in my mind a strong' feviiit::: of ha:iv:nation. I (-von doubted ti at melt things could be—that Onesimas was comet. )Iportiii.i tics, however, preSrlit el themselves for my heal pc ; and ut)sch . of them I went to his Ai( eting I ‘taittil i'; suspeuce the anxious moineut —it arrived; and I wa< tipetned to hear, from the lips of nun tal man, an alteration in that twin of graver which the Lord Je:ots himself ordained for individual and . :euttill use! 1 really aut no enemy to Dr. C. 1 think lie k a vow... man of talent and information ; and, on the whole, I. was in. tcuestcti in his favour. However, I had reason to find that your ii•turcs on the el trader of his preaching, and the peculiarit} . of 1.. Limier, mere accurate, candid, and just. JAN. 9. mite, the Gospel Minister has said, but. repent they will not.t Christien pulpits now call for weighty'preachers. There is no deficiency, indeed, as to preaching boys, spouting Acatlentics, and tip-top ministers ; for of stub reverend teachers WO hare enough, and to srare. Teachers of the opposite description are not multiplied. Tkis circumstance it is that occasions so much utisettledness amongst hearers, and Fo many divisions in the evangelical world. ." A new name is annouuccd on the cover of a nrigneine, or from the pulpit of some celebrated chapel, and thither," accordingly, " the unstable multitude di act their steps. Tkev slt in so'emn judgment on the preacher's manner—his appear ance—his action, and his voice. If these should he 'uniting striking in his manner —nothing melodious in his voce - nothing sinsular in his a ppesitsace—nothing - peculisr in his system—and nothing particularly favourable in the sir ; cumstances ef his introduction to the pulpits of the metro• }elk there he may continue his app inted pet iod s and, when it has expired, return to the peaceful village, or the quiet WWII, it is his lot to labour, " The WWl(' cOrleltill2—By the world totem." Whilst one evangelical ntinis;er thus describes the rest- It/SS hearers of one day, and thus censures their taste, he is not aware how much preaehets ate in fact accountable for the varsrency of heaters, who, starving; amidst plenty, are nataraliv initialled to wander in quest of some one empow ered to dirt! ihute to them the bread of life, according to capacite:: ;red tastes. Whenever the preaching of a popular minister has en dured, without injury to his reputation, the ordeal of a ten or twenty years' trial, he may he safely regarded," declares tl•e Rev. T. Raffles, " as possessing an excellence Faye' for to any thing his manner could exhibit." According to this test, the g angelical Doctor,' whose preaching has stood the ordeal of more than this teen years, must have evinced " sterling worth," however attendant circumstances might in the first instance have contributed to render him popular. Truth is certainly the daughter of time. Though the Doctor's popularity has apparently stood an ordeal of some thing more than tea years, vet, reflecting that his career has been so far attended by those circumstances which first contributed to render him popular, the permanence of stied' popularity is not altogether matter of course. Respectie-g the doctrine of a ten or twenty years' lease of this kind, eventually insuring possession, even the author of the doc trine, anticipating objection, adds—with a but'—" I feel the delicacy of the topic I have thus ventured to introduce." This topic is not a trivial one. Fotegoing the investigation. of it, however, upon general grounds, and coming to a case before us, there are some considerations in bar to an appli cation of the preacher's doctrine of popularity. Let us examine the exemptioes in point. Beauty in men, for instance, as well as in women, is but frail; for verily man, at his best estate, is vanity. Now, when it so happens that the preacher is handsome, and as such admired by the sex, he will find, as his personal attrac tion falls off, that ladies admire less, and follow less; since, whatever nay be the opinion of Candidus, should his face grow mere ordinary, though really not " exceedingly ugly," the preacher will assuredly discover " the crowd" not to " be the same l" Whenever he has reached to this period of •life, then the most lovely pact of the creation, though they have souls, and are of the same species,' will no longer clus- t Dr. C• 4 **e* continue,4 to he the Dr. C. whom I heard, he may preach tilt eternity, but he will uer•rr alarm the conscience, nor convert the sinner. People may admire, but repent they will JIM r —corrorondence with onesimus.