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Untitled Article
* ' Knew how to preach old sermons next , Vamp'd in the preface and the text . " When a minister has once arrived at this , he no longer feels himself under the necessity of applying to studies of any kind , iti order to discharge his duty t if he engages in any ^ he must be merely a volunteer in them 5 and therefore they will
probably be of an entertaining kind rather than theological . But he who preaches from plans , finding that he can preach best and with the greatest ease when he is in the habit of theological stud y ^ will probably be more or less a student of theology as long as he lives . Now this constant application to serious
studies is likely to produce a better effect on his piety and good morals ^ than the idleness or amusement of the other . But this is nftt all . In the next generation the young minister will be likely to avail himself of his father ' s stock of sermons which falls into his hands at his death ; thereby to save himself the labour of composing . To overcome any scruples which might arise in his mind as to this practice , the plea of
modesty and respect to his parent will readily suggest itself ; and when inclination leads the way , he will admit readily that his father was both a wiser and a better man than he , and of course that his sermons are likely to be ' mote edifying than his own ; ' and as his father will probably have left off writing
before he comes to an age to notice his employments , he will himself feel the less reluctance to pass through the duty of a clergyman without writing . Other clergymen who are not the sons of ministers , and are not happy enough to inherit a 6 tock of sermons , seeing 'the leisure which their acquaintances are hereby enabled to enjoy , will naturally set their invention to
work tq discover a method of placing themselves as nearly on a level with them as possible ; and the number of printed sermons which may be easily purchased will present them with a means of doing it . A very little ingenuity will be sufficient to shorten and modernise those of-former times / and so to alter their appearance as to prevent their being discovered . This practice will , indeed ., in time become known ; but probably
not before the numbers who have adopted it will be sufficient to keep each other in countenance . At length , even sermoils lately published will be preached with little or no disguise , and with scarcely any fear of shame upon detection ; the authority of the Spectator being always at hand to be alleged in excuse . Thus the life of a clergyman will become an idle Iife 5 and the
leisure which it affords will naturally be filled up with amusements of various kinds , according to the situation or taste ? of each individual . That this is not likely to be as favourable to piety and good morals , as even a life of moderate application to
Untitled Article
Essay on the Delivery of a Sermon * Si $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1806, page 573, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1730/page/13/
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