Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-06-02

For rhe .alerandria Gazette.

Slr-lhe efforts OF crltlclSm, Wnen not
intended to operate some par'iculargood,
or when the object Of animadvs ton is
knswn to be incorrisible, are not entitled
to public attention. But il friendly sug.
gestion can enliyen theological instruc-
tiOn, give grace and energ, to forensic
discussion, or confne within proper
bounds the daring flights Of irregular fan
ey, no one rejecting on the goodit bring,
ought to feel sorry that it was made. o.
deprecate the animosity it sometimes ere
ates. In this spirit, ] beg you Mr.. Edi
tor. to make public few reflections
which forced themselves on my mind,
during short residence in your place.
1t is not my intention to set up for dicta-
tor in taste, and commend a chang in
the manner of pulpit delivery; but sinply
to state what | con ceive to be the prin.
c;ples of nature on that subject. My
criticism is rather the result of irresistible
feeling, than the conclusion OF profound
and repeated meditation. Nothing struck
me more forcibly than the respectable
provision which Alexandria has made
for the support Of the gospel ministry,
and the little influence the ministers sp-
pear to have upon the moral taste of the
town. Eloquence in the pulpit is capa-
Bile of directing reading public to al
most any end. While / remained with
you heard in polite society no senti
ment repeated with pleasure, which had
been delivered from the sacred desk. No
beautiful picture Of elegant piety: No
do believe, in all the sermons heard,
that one example Of suffering and tri.
umphant virtue was painted for imitation.
1t is not enough to say, that the great
au,hsr Of religion was continually exhi-
bited-we are neither prophets nor foun-
ders Of sects. The sun shines upon us
every day, and surely it is he noblest
work of GoI's visible creation yet on
the brightest morning it e1cites not thu
fiftiefh part of that curiosity which q
meteor would create, as large as thirty
two Pounde-. The perpetual exhibition
has destroyed the effect; and men can
be pleased OF instructed only by exciting
the mind to attention or exertion. No
velty in the manner Of intoxicating any
truth is necessary to produce power
ful continued effect. 1t appears to me
that an unvarying whine, or solemn mo-
notony, is not the most proper of all pos
sible manners, Of enunciating the impor-
tant and interesting truths of religion.
Peprs' direction, for our moral conduct
in general, would, with little alteration,
be an admirable Precept for the guidance
Of those upon whom the task Of religious
instruction is endowed.
'FolloW nature ands;ng. song habits lenrs.'
When we hear circumstances narrated
which are spoken Of merely to make US
understand the better a doctrine in
tended more particularly to be dweIt on,
10 the same tone, in which we are be-
sought to commiserate calamity, and re
prehsnd treachery, and all the blacklist
crimes of which human nature is capable,
we are forcibly reminded of the mock
argument Of the celebrated dean Of St.
Patrick, in which he undertakes to prove,
that Christianity ought not to be abolish
many would be deprived OF
a most comfortable place to sleep in. The
sublime and spirited composition which
the grea, reformers Of religion in England
gave the church of that denomination for
a morning service, in the mouths Of some,
instead Of rousins devotion, and fixing
the attention Of the audience upon the
great benefacticus Of God to men, ope.
rates like an opiate upon ourselves. WHY
should an exclamation Of joy be uttered
in tone Of lamentatiop Or sprightly
exhortation, to he performance of the
most pleasing of duties, be delivered in
a style suitable only fer the solemn in
terment of the dead. 1t seems to me
that morality does not exclusively consist
I I r l