The National Register.
London, England, 1811-06-16 00:00:00

Qtbz pulpit.

No. X I .V.

No bigot &T r] onr tio!.., rite• profanes,
The I►ic:.d of mart) rs now ::o longer stains;
I'onscienre now free, we fear the fire nn more ;
rut, each their way, tLe ethnuific Power adore!
ANON.

REV. JOHN CLAYTON, SEN.

OF THE

WEIGH-HOUSE MEETING, EAST-CHEAP.

SOMETHING like the levitical cast distinguishes the family of
this preacher. Treading in his steps, Mr. Clayton has three
sons, who, like himself, are in the pulpit. Two of those having
been clerically noticed by me, not without praise, I shall fairly
estimate the preaching of their sire.

The Rev. Joust CLAYTON, Sen. received his professional
education at the late Lady Huntingdon's College, at Trevecca ;
quitting which, his pulpit talents were such as brought him
eventually acquainted with the celebrated Mr. Benjamin Flower,
whose sister he married many years ago. Mr. Clayton has now
been upwards of twenty years Minister of the Weigh-House
Independent Meeting, East-Cheap. His religious opinions are
understood as substantially Calvinistic ; nor does he rank with
those modern preachers, who, while they hold these opinions
" by faith," nevertheless " withhold some of them from their
bearers," though " upon what good ground" they so refrain,
continues an observer,," I know mot." " Let some Evangelical
Minister conscientiously mark thii ! Preachers are commanded
to declare " the whole Counsel of God,"—as they shall answer
for their preaching at his bar !—Whether men will hear or for-
bear.. Doctrinal dissimulation is clearly the worst species of
clerical dissimulation. Shall he w.ho holds the lamp to our feet
shut up the light it was meant to yield ? The blind leading the
blind is quite harmless to this. Doctrine seems not now, how-
ever, the one thing needful. Evangelical professors, once so
eminently distinguished for their adherence to the distinguishing
peculiarities of faith, are now found to exclude from their "plan
for the relief of aged Ministers, and for an Asylum for
the maintenance and education of their children," proposed
by the Rev. J. Townsend, " all Ministers, and their children,
generally known by the name of Calvinistic Methodists."
Comment is not required on this subject. Certain facts speak
Volumes. Would we a inwardly digest" such facts? Let us
lay them to heart. The eye of faith may dearly discern these
signs of the times.

Mr. Clayton is a divine of great worth —excelling in reading,
in praying, and in preaching. His knowledge is scriptural, his
experience matured, his language at once classical and unaffected,
and bis deportment uniformly becoming the awful station which
he so ably fills. Felicity of selection, perspicuity of distribution,
conclusive reasoning, readiness and aptness of illustration, are
eminently characteristic of his discourses. He has nothing of
abruptness, no forced similies, no unnatural transitions, no
aberrations of mind. His style is free, yet chaste; his views
are deep, yet clear.

Easiness peculiarly distinguishes his discourses. He has an
equability of eloquence which seems exclusively his own. It is
that species of eloquence which, it it does not often surprise,
always delights; which is the same, untiring as unchanging,
yesterday and to•day. eris the eloquence that wins,—'tis the
eloquence that charms. 'Tis that which warns, yet does not
burn.
Completeness, too, peculiarly distinguishes his discourses.—
He ranks with the few divines who compass the subjects which
they take in hand. Mr. Clayton does not leave behind this and
that restless doubt. Nothing left us to question and desire, his
sermons are finished as well as clostd. •