The National Register.
London, England, 1808-08-28 00:00:00

THE, NATIPNAL REGISTER.

SbS

meats. Air. irnitingdon, however, has all this at his
"fingers' ends." Having laid ► n one •side the vciltime of
hispiration, and disdainiug the trammels of transcription, •
proceeds directly to his object ; and, excepting inci-
dental digressions, as—" rake care of your pockets !"
" Wake that snoring sinner!"—" :Hence that noisy num-
" *kat r —64 Turn out that drunken dog !"—excepting such
occasional digressions, which, like the episodes of poetry,
must, %ben skilfully introduced, be understeod to
h ighten the effect of the whole, our orator never de-
ws from the course in which he set out. lie has
other advantages over many of his pulpit competitors.
Wing of the metaphorical and allegorical school, as
well as possessing his citations by rote, there is seldom to
to be loiniu the passage, from the Book of Genesis to the
Revelation of s_.t. John, that may not have, remotely or
a+iustvely, some connection with the subject immediately
under his investigation. Hence the var:ety, as well as
o! h s etoqueure t titmice the novelty of his COM-
meniaries ; his truly aszonishing talent of reconciling texts,
else undoubted!), inctniAruouss and of discovering dissimi-
larities, and asserting difficulties, where none were believed
to exist !—" He who has ears to hear, let him hear *."
" What, preach without a Bible; and yet be able to re-
" peat the bible from beginning to end !"—Yes, this can
be done, and it is done, by Wietilm HesTisenos. The
elfect of this is still more surprising. There is, however,
something imposing in such displays of superiority ; and
try those who are capable of estimating the bias of ordi-
nary minds, consequences may easily be calculated. Add
to this, the nature of his tenets and the confidence with
which he maintains them, his manner, and his system of
interpreting and applying the Sacred Scriptures, and his
success, though enigmatical, is not inexplicable.
Such is Wrietsm fles,reveoos, S. S. Lavater, where he
alive to phys;ognomise this celebrated indivirhlal. espe-
cially with rt.terence to the awful functions which he exer-
cises, might, probably, discover some objections even to
his countenance. To the character of an orator he has no
legitimate pretensions. His style of preaching is that of
talking ; his discourses have all the air of story-telling.
His intellectual acquirements are confessedly superficial.
He owes his distinction to the absence of those qualities by
whieh other men obtain reputation.
I: Still he is a man of genius ; and, what to him has been
infinitely more important, he is a son of Providence itself !
It is the property of superior men to have either fate, or
fortune, or a providence, on their side. Mr. Iluntingdon
has been happy in this respect ; and his " Bank of Faith"
ha. drawn pretty largely •on the " Rank of England."
With great natural endowments then, and greater super-
natura assistance, what marvel that he has attained the
eminence upon which he is now fixed ; and whence, I doubt
nut, he looks down without emotion to the efforts of his
assailants I Like many exalted personages, the destinies,
it appears, are for him. • There is no contendieg against
destiny t. Os.u.sea us.
Chapter Cltrce-hortsc, Pater-Noster-rote.
• WILLIAM HUNTINGDON has his imitators. T perfectly
recollect being present, not' many years pact, at a Piptist Merl-
ing, where one of his Disciptes in Divinity happened to hold
forth. Ile chose, for the topic of his discourse, the circum-
stance of Christ riding on the Ass: hut the Asti, as web as our
Saviour, most have something typical through all ages of the
Church. Take then this Preacher's account of them.—"
" RELItTER," said he, " IS THE Ass; FA THE SAD-
" DLL ; AND ennrsc awes HIM INTO THE HEAVENLY
6' JIENUSALEN."—!.!!
+ While writing this sketch, I was considerably amused by
accidentally taking up the Morning Chronicle of August
1808, where I find the following Extraordinary Matrimonial
Paragraph.—" Married, on WedneFday, hy Special tircnee, the
Bac Wiliam Huntingdon, of t7ricklewooe, to Lady Satin-,
demon (I suppoe, San-)" &r. Ate. Another providential inter-
position I The " Bank of Faith" is really inexhaustible : but,
snore of this hereafter.
a 11. POPULAR PREACHERS, No. IV.—TuE rOUND-
Lim., bat/ its .14 Ise ; miss.
. .