The Cecil Whig., 1877-12-15


whose life
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof
That he is honest in the sacred cause.
Would l describe preacher, such as Paul,
Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and
own,
Paul should himself direct me. would
His master strokes, and draw from his de-
sign.
| would express him simple, grave, sincere;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner; decent, solemn,
chaste;
And natural in gesture; much impressed
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it, too; affectionate in look,
And tender in address, as we'll becomes
A messenger of grace to guilty men.
Behold the picture. Is it like-like whom :
The things that mount the rostrum with a
And then skip down again; pronounce a
Cry-hem; and, reading what they never
wrote,
Just fifteen minutes, hudde up their work,
And with well bred whisper close the
scene.
In man or woman, but far most in man,
And most of all in man that ministers,
And serves the altar, in my soul loathe
AL atfectation. 'Tis my perfect scorn;
Object of my implacable disgust.
What.-will a man play tricks-will he in
dulge
A silly fond conceit Of his fair form,
And just proportion, fashionable mien,
And pretty face, in presence of his God?
Or will he seek to dazzle me with tropes,
AS with the diamond on his lily hand,
And play his brilliant parts before my eyes,
When | am hungry for the bread of Life ?
y
| seek divine simplicity in him
Who handles things divine; and all besides
Though learn'd with labor, and though
much admired
By curious eyes and judgments ill-inform d,
To me is odious as the nasal twang
Heard at conventicle, where worthy men,
Misled by custom, strain celestial themes
Through the press'd nostril, spectacle be-
strid.
Some decent in demeauor while they preach,
That task perform d relapse into them
selves;
And, having spoken wisely, at the close
Grow wanton, and give proof to every eye
Forth comes the pocket-mirror. First we
stroke
An eye brow; next compose a struggling
lock,
Then with an air most gracefully perform'd d,
Fall back into our seat, extend an arm,
And lay it at its ease with gentle care,
With handkerchief in hand depending low;
The better hand more busy gives the nose
Its bergamont, or aids the indebted eye
With opera glass, to watch the moving scene
And recognize the slow retiring fair
Now this is fulsome, and offends me more
Than in a churchman, slovenly neglect
And rustic coarseness would. A heavenly
mind
May be Indifferent to her house Of clay,
And slight the hOvel as beneath her care;
But how a body so fantastic, trim,
And quaint in its department and attire
Can lodge heavenly mind-demands a
doubt.
: 4
And thus it is. The pastor, either vain
By nature, or by flattering made so, taught
To gaze at his own splendor and to eXalt
Absurdly, not his office, but himself;
Or unenlighten'd and too proud to learn:
Or vicious, and not therefore apt to teach
Perverting often by the stress of lewd
And loose example, whom he should in
struct;
Exposes, and holds up to broad disgrace,
The noblest function, and discredits much
The brightest truth that man has ever seen.
Is Christ the abler teacher; or the schools >
If Christ, why then resort at ever turn
To Athens or to Rome, for wisdom short
OF mans occasions, when in him reside
Grace, knowledge, comfort-an unfathom'd
store?
How oft, when Paul has served us with IA
text,
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully, preach'd.
Men that, if now alive, would sit content
And humble learners of Saviour's worth,
Preach it who might. Such was their love
of truth,
Their thirst of knowledge, and their candor,