The National Register.
London, England, 1813-06-27 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

JUNE 27.

Gbe pulpit.

No 4.

(THIRD SERIES.)
Religion—richest favour of the skies !.
Stan,ls most. reward before the freeman's eyes;
No shades of superstition blot the day,
Liberty chases all that gloom away :
The soul, emancipated, unopprest,
Free to prove till things and hold fast the best,
Learn: much ; and, to a thousand listening minds,
Communicates with joy the good she finds. CoscrEg.

REV. JOSEPH" HUGHES, Ail.
MINISTER OF BATTERSEA MEETING, AND A SECRETARY
OF THE BRITISH At'D FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. •

sar I ..ilr•

Meekness well !meows the preacher. It is recorded of the
almost incomparable Massillon, that,-at the moment he entered the
pulpit, he appeared to oe deeply impressed with the importance of
the t:.Ati.s which he was about to pronounce. Proceeding to address
th,•l tory. " his air (observes his biographer) was modest, though
collected ; his cyc.z were humbly directed downwards ; his gesture
Was easy, unstudied, and accompanied with but little action ; and
hi,. eof voice was inimitably touching and unaffected." Such
were the characteristics of his santiloquence, to whom Lewis the
during his Advent Sermons at Versailles,—' My
father ! I have often had my pulpit tilled by celebrated orators
with whom I have been highly pleased, but, whenever I hear
you, i am much dispieaied with myself.'
Massillon was conjectured to have made Bonrdaloue his model ;
but his natural genius, stren.ithened by observation, prevented
Lim
ffoni becoming the copyist of that icuowued preacher. When he
first was asked what he thought of the most famous divines in Paris,
he replied—' Fhey discover great genius and abilities; but, it I
preach, I shall not preach as they do.' Massillon kept this resolu-
tion. He adopted a style of preaching that was properly his own ;
and he holds out, in this respect, an excelleut pattern to all candi-
dates for the sacred ministry.
• Though the .Rpv. JOSEPH HUGHES, A.M. cannot be ranked in
the first order of preachers, still he is found to exemplify some
of those perftsetions which have distinguished the chief lumi-
naries of the Christian church. Report states him to have been
matriculated at the Univ: rsity of Aberdeen : lie has been for several
S'eSirs the r.eistor of a Congregation of Particular Baptists, at Bat-
tersea ; but he is more extensively keown as an active aud zealous
Secretary of the 'British and Foreign Bible Society, ever since its
Institution in lae4.
This preacher has all that unaffected simplicity and unassumed
solemnity, which are so peculiarly becoming in him who humanly
vfficiates

The messenger of grace to guilty men!'
Perhaps :L.! congregation of Mr. Hughes will easily recognise, in
the follow ;lig description of a deceased clergyman,* the verisimili-
tude of their own pastor.—When lie enters the pulpit, the cow_
posed seriousness of his aspect, the mild sedateness of his de_
meatiour, impresses on his audience an involuntary feeling of rever-
ence and solemnity. His enunciation is slow, and clear. There is
both in his look and na►nuer an expression of sincerity, of deep
interest and intense solicitude, of zeal abstracted from vehemence,
•which attests his_internal conviction of the sacred truths which lie
is charged to inculcate, and which irresistahly enforces, upon all
present, a disposition to religiOns meditation.
Accustomed to revo!ve the subjects of his discourses, and gifted
with copiousness of language, Mr. Hughes experiences no difficulty
in preaching extempore. Notwithstanding 'this practice on his part,

• De. Gregory, of West Haw.•

his professional instructions are totally divested of those blemishes
•which sometimes disfigure the extemporary style; and possess much
of " the calmness, the sobriety, the good sense, and," if one might
say so, " the strength and authority of our Lout's Discourses." It
is not only an " availing," therefore, but likewise a " well-informed
Christianity," that characterises his pulpit labours. Archdeacon
1 Paley would have found little to object to such an able noncom-
formist.
The Rev. Joseph Hughes has published some single sermons ;
! amongst which, that entitled ' Christian Zeal,. preached at the
Scots' Church, London Wall, before the Correspondent Board of
the Society, in Scotland, for propagating the Gospel in the High-
-1 lands and Islands.of Scotland,' evinces superior worth. His tract
I against •Sunday Drilling, some few years since, had considerable
effect, being well-limed, and nritten with great reason and spirit.
He has latterly been joined with the Rev. George Border, in an-
perintending the imprOved quarto edition of Matthew Henry's
1
• Family Bible : being " chiefly employed in translating the (vote-
,
Lions from the learned languages ; examining the references to Scrip-
ture ; arranging the paragraphst, and all the figured divisions, in a
more conspicuous manner; expressing in the head-line the substance
of the pages, and, where practicable, the chronology; and, in short,
I rendering the whole more correct and useful.*
It is principally as one of the three Secretaries of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, that the Rev. Joseph Hughes, however
Lotherwise deservedly esteemed, wilrbo preserved in the records of.
I time. 'I do not hesitate to affirm,' declared Mr. Hughes himself-
-4
at the public meeting held for the formation of the (letter Auxili.
ary Bible Society, ' that the Institution which is daily taking root
in the affections of men on every side, associated as they are with
all the variety of human professions and pi suits. stands forth the
glory of our land, and the most striking and delightful characteristic
I • .
ocifittllie‘taigtiel itnlivlis siocchicittyl:atshbeeeetsitoatbirlishiaailitieVewbehiablourklill' tfollmdeana-
era in the christianised • world, the name of Hughes bids fair not
merely to linger somewhat longer than the recolleetion of hispreach-
-1 ing, but to be transmitted with encomiums to our •latest posterity.
1 His name is engraven on the sock. • • ONFSIMUS.
.1'

+ Meeting of the inhabitants of the County and City of Chester,
assembled as aforesaid, in the Shire lull, on the 18th day of No-
vember 1812.

PROVINCIAL THEATRICALS.

RICHMOND, JUNE 5.) 6 . —Oar elegant little Theatre, under the
management of Mr. Beverly, opened Nit night with the Tragede
of Douglas. Mrs. Beverley played Lady Randolph in a superior
manner ; and Mr. Betty, the Rosicas, who is engaged for three
nights, played Norval. The House was filled with fasluonable com-
pany, and altogether afforded a splendid " coup Weil." It has beeik
most tastefully painted and decorated, and received a wonderful
aid in the addition of a set of very elegant lustre chandeliers, by
Dorgany. .
BRIGHTON, JUNE 24.--The influx of fashionables within these
few days has been inimense, and, aided by the fineness of the wea-
ther, gives us strong hopes of a crowded seaxon ; already the diffe-
rent places of amusement are getting into preparation.
'rite Theatre, which in the interim has undergone considerable al-
terations, improvements, and tastehil decorations, opens on Tuesday
Next under the management of Mr. Joseph Grove. Mr. Betty plays
the first. night; among the Company are Mesdames, Sydney, Lad,
broke, Dalrymple Bew, Brereton, Blanchard, Lacy, and Miss Syd-
ney; and Messrs. Munro., Watson, Ward, Cushing, biddier, &c. &e.
. ..