Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1820-05-23
TUESDAY, MAY %. 1890.
MR.. RAvENscRoFT.

Nxpn
p.,, shonld himself direct me. would trace
His master strokes, and draw from DIS oesign.
would express him simple, grave, sincere;
3 10 doctrine uncorrupt; IN language Piaih,
And plainin manner; decent, solemn, cnas'e'
II;,nsalf as conscious of his awful charge,
Ard anx;ous mainly that the flock ne feeds
NV feel il too affsctionate in look,
And tender in address, as well becomes
a messenger of grace to guilty mel.
He IS scholar. and ripe and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair spoken and persuadmg;
K. Henry 8.
Though no. just definition Of eloquence
viii include the sermons OF Mr.. Ravenscroft,
It's difficult to Disseminate their effect from
that which eloquence only can produce. de
Is 10 be classed neither among the speakers
who subdue resistance by impetuosity, nor
among those who captivate 1t by stfatagem
Re is neither the torrent that over" helms nor
the stream that saps; he arrays no gorgeous
images to dazzle the fancy, nor steals win
seductive pa:hos into the heart; no graces OF
elocution soften the rgour oil his reasoning,
and no luxury OF diction recommends Inc
rusticity of his address. Yet such IS the
forcefuI plainness ofhis orations that every
faculty. of the hearer wakens into attention,
and skeptcism grows convinced. scarcely
conscious that it ever doubted propositions
co clearly framed and so earnestly announced
,s ~ seem the expression of instructive truth
MIR. Rayenscroft came late to the pulpit,
and thus his fame has none OF that mantle
nance which the sympathy OF mankind iur-
pisbes to the young adyenturer. The mis-
takes OF inexperience age is expected 10 a.
mend; study to supply the deficiencies OF
knowledge rejection to restrain the exuoe
rance OF imagination, and inquiry TO correct
the heresies of doctrine. Mr. RavenscroH
has passed the period when this probation
could be beneficial or even possible, out ne
haze commenced his labours with advantages
greater even than those which he has iost'
Bringing to the most important OF the scien-
ces mind vigorous by nature, rpenea oy
time and enriched by learning, he isnot ooii-
cet TO seek in defamation a substitute Tor
argument nor 10 Gil up the chasms OF thought
by menace and whine. Familiar, as 10 hui
man exigency seems useful, with the scheme
ofCaristianity, he explains its design and op-
GRAFTON without attempting TO penetrate lis
mysteries, orta uncover what the wisdom OF
God has hidden from audacious curiosity.
Disdaining the technical articles by which
ignorance is alfrighted but not instructed, he
exhibits the Almighty not as a being whom
vengeance pleases, but as making man IN
goodness, fitting him for happiness, and after
his sinful fall redeeming him in mercy. The
meek Saviour he portrays, not like vulgar ar
lists, as the minister of ruin and oil wrath,
but as the advocate of man with Creative
justice, the voluntary deseTter of a heavenly
throne, who assumed the responsibility OF
sinners and died death of wo aud ignomi-
ny thai they night live. By demonstrating
these portentous positions he exhibits Chris
tianiy as a rational system, and endeavorS
not to seduce from sentiment the acquies-
cence which reason should afford. Affecting
only an iutellIgible explanation of religion
and an ardent enforcement of its doctrines,
he essays no arn6ce Of sophistry nor pomp
If phraseology, nor lays his premises at an
inSommodious distance from the conclusion
for these are the expcaients OF a doubtful
cause Rejecting the devices that decoy
!. the assent which would not follow if it saw
whittier it was going, he rather advances
with rapid confidence, meets opposition at
the threshhold and challenges conviction in
the tone Of an advocate too conscious OF truth
to iaIter and TOO contemptuous ofresistance
to be violent. Aware that 10 coniound is
not TO prove, be exhibits no eyolutions OF
metaphysical divinity, nor perplexes his au-
dence by distinguishing between ideas
which are not spprehensible by the narrow
intellect of man. Deeming i; insufficient
coldly to expound the theory of his creed
and to display its truth to the understanding,
be invites the hearer to contemplate the aw
fitness of It's issues Viewing the constitu
ton OF his species as compounded of reason
and feeling and knowing that the agency of
these principles is so contrariant that judg
mept may be convinced and practice remain
,i,arad he admits the aid of the passions