The National Register.
London, England, 1808-08-21 00:00:00

Mg NATIONAL REGISTER.'

—.7 occupations of the christian ministry. His Lectures
lieu the Gospel according to fit. Matthew, preached by him
go crowded and very respectable aud'ences, during the
...Lent Season of 174?3, exhibit honorable proof of his zeal
tfor religion, and of the discrimination with which it was
&exerted. He has paiiiislied various other Discourses, of
'considerable value; *tile his Charges to his Clergy, many
•of which were delivered during the. most momentous times
"of the revolutionary war, hem- ample testimony to his vi-
silouce, intelligence, and fidelity. As the Bishop, in com-
mm with most of the clergy of the Church of England,
!prefers written to e4temporar,y discourses, I am inciden-
tally led to considerAZerliich mode of preaching is, on the
. !whole, best adapted to the end proposed ?
The people of th.a country, as tar as I can discover, have
midways inclined to admire the extemporising system. co
Tooted does this predilection appear to have been, that,
Jon.-e, after the reign of Puritanism had ceased, Charles 11.
Sutler, an .Order to the Universities, by which he prohibited
Ithe practice of preaching written sermons to the people,
as a lazy and ineffectual • mode of instructing them; en-
3oining the heads of colleges, at the same time, to look
snit for, and prefer, zealous and pains-taking clergymen,
and to report the dames of those ministers who neglected
to comply with the wishes of governuient. It is not prac-
ticable exactly to ascertain what effect the King's commands
produced; howlong extemporary sermons only were heard,
tr at what period our clergy resumed their custom of de-
livering written discourses. From the rise of Methodism,
Lowever, we may unquestionably date the almost complete
disuse, ior a tinie, of extemporary preaching, both among
our established clergy and thl regular dissenting ministers.
both parties were equally anxious to stand acquitted of ig-
norance and fanaticism. Methodists, notwithstanding,
have multiplied ; and, since one principal cause of this in-
crease has been attributed to the preaching of their leaders,
other pastors have become emulous of imitating their ex-
a-nple, and extemporary eloquence is found highly men-
- tial to the success of popular preachers.
Both kinds of prey ling have their advantages. If it is
li.v province of extemporary
.sermons to attract attention,
aOd interest the feelings ; it is for pre-arranged discourses
'to inform the minds and satisfy the judgment. To be use-
. ful or durable, conviction must be gradual and rational.
Violent agitations, either of pain or pleasure, arc but
transient ; and, if the end of preaching be real and
ante benefit to hearers, perhaps this is most efficaciously
accomplished by legitimate instruction. When Felix
• trembled, it was when Paul reasoned on righteousness, on
temperance, and on the judgment to come !
Is there no steering between extremes ? While some
• content themselves with the codd formality of reading, and
others conceive alt.perfection to consist in ranting, to their
• congregations; is there no medium of communication, be-
. • tween preacher and people, which combines all possible
• advantagel without any great counteracting evils? I shall
lot lose sight of this inquiry, in some subsequent disqui-
P ; but I must now resume the immediate subject of
this paper.
It is toe excellence of the Bishop of London's Eloquence,
• tilt it is suite to his style of literary compesition ; and
• tiLat the labtiliis of his closet, on the other hand, derive
• ancommon effect from the character of his &oratory.
Bis style is easy, perspicuous, flowing, and elegant ;1-
• I was ingeninnAy informed, by a Scotch Divine, who had
; ant the gift of unpremeditated speaking, and who was not per
: tented to read from his pulpit, that he was first compelled to
*rite his sermons, then learn them, as a player would his part,
•i by memory; and then, at la.t, toil to deli% er them, as if they
► - *ere purely extemporary !! !—" Ile," said this divine, "w hn
• • did 001 appear to preach in this way, forfeited all credit for
4' I 'inspiration with his hearers."
f There is a gomrionspeadium of his Lordship's writings, en-
' r Idled " The ,Truths of the Christian Religion evidenced in Me
a' 6 .Digest of tha Faith, Duties, anent Fria:lieges of a Christian,
11 14r. 4c.

,~

1

k

{~.
~T

while his enunciation is clear and equable, his eniphasis dis-
criminating and forcible, his whole appearance peculiarly
interesting, and his manner earnest and impressive. Though
he is in highth rather under the middle stature, this de-
ficiency is, scarcely perceptible when he is iu the pulpit;
such is the unaffected dignity of his deportment, and the
becoming awfulness of his address. It is, indeed, impos-
sible to describe the sublime emotion with which I have
heard him deliver such passages as the folks* Mg, while
scarcely a breath of interruption escaped from the numer-
ous auditory that surrounded him.— Watch ye, stand
" fast in the faith, quit yourselves like men; be strung,
‘4 be rt solute, be patient. Look frequently up to the prize
i e• that is set before you, lest ve be wearied, and faint in
your minds. The condict will soon be over, a few years
" wilh put an entire end to it; and you will then, to your
unspeakable comfort, be enabled to cry out with saint
" Paul, ' I have fought a good fight, 1 have finished my
" cause, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid
" up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
" righteous Judge,_ shall give me at that day "—These
are the moments of public devotion, this is the triumph of
the christian teacher, when. imbued with one spirit of
piety, his hearers are full of immortality ; and when they
forget the man, in the divine. There are persons, how-
ever, who consider Bishop Porteus wanting in the quality
of energy, as a public speaker ; and who pronounce his
style to be unnecessarily familiar. I could point oat sen•
ral of those trifling_ inaccuracies, in his literary composi-
tions, which ryatifv the pedantry of criticism; but the
task would neither he grateful to myself, nor heneficisl to
others. His eloquence then, let it be observed, has a cha-
racter of its own. What in others is called energy, is in
him impressiveness. Considering his years, the extent of
his duties and exertions, and the delicacy of his bodily
health, very few men will be found to equal the oratorical
qualifications of Bishop Porteus. He has displayed, in as
eminent degree, the purity of Pulpit Eloquence.
As his Lordship is firmly attached to the principles of our
ecclesiastical polity, so is he a faithful preacher of the fun-
damental articles of our faith. Were 1 to hint what I con-
ceive in him rather incompatible with the station he oc-
cupiir, it would be, that he seems to have a leaning
towards our evangelizing ichismatics.—l shall have ecc.a-
sion to resume this topic. ONBSIMVS.

-•.,■•••-..

*** I shill find ample cane! to descant on Estempernnefout-
Eloquence in my next paper, when I propose to ser'tznize
Pretensions of the notable WILLIAM HUNTINGDON.
S. S.—!! The -the, progress, and establishment, of this sal
Popular Preacher, offers one of the most curious enquiries to he
met with in the history of Modern Churches. When I have di--
missed this self-elected Teacher of Divinity, I shall endeavour
to call the attention of the British Public to our Se,rnsv
THEATRES—I mean, the Foundling, Magdalen, Asylum, Lc. &C.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.
TORRAY, AVG. 16.—This morning, in consequence of the
wind getting into the N. N. W. the signal guns were tired, and.
the Channel Fleet prepared to get under weigh, but the wind.;
baffling, they lay fast; but now, the post departing, they are
getting under weigh with brigs, cutters, Bic..—Wiud at N. by W.
and flue weather.
121. v mourn, Art:. 18.—Came in this morning from Barba-
does, the Subtle armed schooner, after a short passage, having
on board Lieut. Senlionse, the bearer of dispatches, said to he
of importance, from the Hon. Vice-Admiral Cochrane. with
which he landed, and set of for London, for the Admiralty,
iu
a post-chaise. Nothing has yet transpired with respect to their
contents; but they are reported to he of a very favourable
nature. Sailed last night, the Eurydice, 24 guns, and Prienrorc,
18, with 22 sail of transports, having on hoard 850 horses and
men of that fine regiment the 18th bight Dragoons.
for Bonaparte's Imperial Horse Guards. They are humid
Portugal or Spain, to assist the patriotic cause- a tit match
Le

tly

-.NM.