The National Register.
London, England, 1813-09-05 00:00:00

I. 5.

VIE

MEMOIR,
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL,
oF TH E

REVEREND HUGH WORTHINGTON,

LATE

MINISTER OF 84LTE'RS' HALL MEETING
(concluded frost our lust.)

Where is the lifted arm,
The strength of action, and force of words ;
The well toin%4 period, and the well tined voice,
With all the lesser ornaments of phrase?—
Ah, fled f.r ever!

None mov!.

RECOLLECTION may enable me tq add some 4:w touches
to the Ministerial portraiture that.' originally drew of Mr.
Worthington.

Adverting to that sketch of his pulpit talents, it ought
again to he observed, properly to appreciate the labours
of the subject of this memoir, that the duties of the Dissenting
Minister are comprehensive as they are arduous. He
generally combines the offices of priest and preacher: his
prayers are perfectly extemporary, and originate purely in
biinse.f; and he has to read and expound, as well as to
teach. He commonly discharges at once, and without
inteunission or relief, the services of the altar, the desk,
and the pull:it. He ought, therefore, to be endowed with
qualities. and to possess qualitications, of no ordinary
description. If he wi.u!d competently acquit himself.—if
he really is a workman who need not id be ashamed,—he
must show himself able, conscienti(As, fervent, intelligent,
indefatigable ; fearing God, deet-;ts solicitous for the success
of his instructions, hating co,vetousness, and eschewing evil.
individual we!faie, ermfort as well as credit, depends on
the ietewity of his co,Kluct, and the energy of his exertions.
His hearers arc at ,mce his jurors and his judges.
It was in cleaner, indeed, in his sablimely affecting
addresses to ljeity, delivered during the fir't stages of public
wol•kin, That the Rev. Hugh Worthington seemed more
than ;.cat. Whether one considered the impressive dignity
of deportment, or his scrupulous selection of phraseology,
'Shether one dwelt on the devotional magnificence of his
sentiment, the liherality of his opinions, or the fervency of
his feelings,—the mind was divided between an involuntary
admiration of the preacher, and the profoundest veneration
for the character he sustained. All his prayers were his
own, and they all bespoke his soul. He was earnest in
prayer; approaching the throne of grace with due reverence,
but at the same time with boldness ; carrying his hearers
with him. It was a distinction worthy of such a minister,
as Dr. Collycr finely remarked, that he should die-arttt the
act in which he so much excelled dtping his life.
Cheerfulness was the characteristic of his religion. Con-
ceiving, to use his own words, that we never honour
religion or God more than when we are virtuously
and innocently cheerful," his was the religion of gratitude;
of thanksgiving, not less than of supplication. Never did
be fail to thank God for all his benefits ! Were the prayers
of some preachers to be taken as samples of our national
piety, it would seem as if complaining were far more in
use than gratitude ; as though we were in the habit of for-
getting, instead of remembering, the goodness of God !
Unobservant of that beneficence by which we live and move,
we are.not, there is reason to think, sufficiently sensible of
the various blessings with which we are surrounded. •
Mr. Worthington's way of reading the scriptures bad
peculiar charm. It was usual with him, before his sermon.

571

to read the chapter out of which by designed to preach;
elucidating dubious or obscure p4.sSages, as 'he went On.
Laudable in itself, this ptactice proved, in his hands,' nic4st
beneficial to others. Persons whose attention would uot
have been attracted by hearing portions of holy writ
commonly proposed to them; felt, nevertheless, their
curiosity interested in the striking conviien:s cf an 'able
reader, till their minds bepspe gradually riyptted to his
wish.

Mr. Worthington's system of preaching, for system it
clea, ly was, proved the only eligible one. Preineditated yet
spontaneous, written partly but mostly *spokcqi, while his
discourses possessed the regularity of premed composures,
they evinced all the fluency of harangues regarded as ex-
temporaneou•. While he enlightened and, convinced the
understanding, therefore, he attached and led captive the
affections. Reasoning, exhorting, coosoling; animating,
it might be said of him, as of another ghat man, that
• his intellect was all feeling, and his teeing was alt
intellect.' Thus, while he seized the strong bolds of the
head, he found the passes to the heart. Both were within
his grasp. He could make the head 14. is road, to the heart,
or the heart his road to the head.

His topics were never light. With a cormpanding judg-
ment, and a just acquaintance with humanity, he delighted
in edifying and practical subjects; but •to these, however
familiar, be imparted an inetfable grace;giving to old points,
by a kind of 'mental touch,' the interesting attractiveness
of new. He brought out things, from his stores, both new
and old. He avoided curious specutations, however toge-
ther with unprofitable discussions. Heieftiiich controversies
with the disputers of this world.
His subjects were not only judiciously selected, but also
logically divided, and rhetorically irliist.rated. He excelled
in antithesis; and the closing of his sermons,: distinguished
as perorations, was unusually fine. It was 'here that his
strength lay. Seldom did he finish • the Sermon that his
hearers did not wish he was then about to begi.o.
His delivery was wonderfully impressixe. 'His look, his
action, his enunciation, his pauses, all conspired to interest
and fix the hearer; who found no leisure for wandering, no
chasm for listlessness. His glance was most penewing, and
not to he escaped ; while his action embellished and enforced
his speech.

Feeling was the main spring of his action. Whether his
hand were la.d to his heart, or his arm lifted up, or his anger
pointed to the word, it was the effect of nAture, and it
affected nature.

Emphasis was one of his chief excellencies. His instruc-
tions owed much of their. efficacy to this excellence; yet it
seemed sometimes to be pushed by him beyond its natural
and just limitations.

His pauses were also too much protracted, as if the preacher
had been watching to ascertain their force. ; ceasionally he
had the misfortune to sink the concluding parts of his best
sentences; a deficiency, however, that has beer& lamented
in ortaors who were otherwise most accomplished.
Judgment was the ascendant in his eloquence. Triumph-
ing as he did in the sensibilities of his-hearers, yet this influ-
ence was not acquired at tl►e expense of their undei stand-
ings. Whenever they felt themselves a• it were electrified,
they likewise found that they had been. benefitted and en-
lightened'. • •
His 'style was clear, sententious, polished, strong. Ills
premiSes were perspicuous, his reasoning was luminous, and

fficiently sensible of preinfses were perspicuous, his reasoning was luminous, and
iurrouuded, • his conclusions were demonstative; whence his auditors
he scriptures had a faind no difficulty in retaining, and treasuring ur, what they
before his sermon, had heard.