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the Examiners to estimate both more accurately , without exposing the tnodest , though well-iuformed , to the mortification of making a less respectable appearance than their actual proficiency could have led us to expect . At the same time , . though accurate recollection , and nuickness of expressing the ideas « upon
the spur of the occasion' with the pen , are very desirable qualifications , and perhaps more certain proofs of the solidity of knowledge acquired ; yet presence of mind ana * readiness of expression with the tongue , are also very desirable . I am
glad , therefore , to understand , that you continue to be daily examined vivd voce by your Tutors in their several classes ; and perhaps a mixture of methods on these occasions , might give exercise and display to a greater variety of
talent " . I trust that you have made a due advantage of the opportunities of improvement in Elocution , which have this year been again afforded you ; and 1 hope you do not content yourselves with giving your attention to this accomplishment , of
such importance to a public speaker , during the mere residence of your Teacher among you ; but that a due sense of its importance , and a wish to be prepared for receiving his instructions with advantage , has led you to make it an object , through the whole of the session , to
exercise yourselves in a just and natural delivery . I hope you have always made a point of reading correctly , both in public and in private ; thar you have never allowed yourselves to mumble your ordinary college-orations , ( as I have heard
such exercises delivered , ) as if the great business were to get over the periodical season for their delivery as quickly as possible ; more especially , that you have been careful to read the Scriptures , and conduct the devotional services of the
tohegc with a due sense of the solemnity and importance of the duty you were discharg ing . This College has often been charged with mannerism in public speak" » R , and ' the York Tone has been made a frequent subject of sarcasm ; in most cases , I persuade myself , without sufficient ground : but I would hope , my young "'lends , that it may never be charged w » th the mannerism of carelessness and negligence . On the other hand , I should w son y to see its public speakers run-Ml » g into an artificial , theatrical manner , ^ Peaking always by rule , and raising'or ^ nking the voice according to specific sections . And if you , my young friends , coll " 6 l ° re 8 olve > U P ° » your return to tio eb usine 88 > to P ay Particular attenanH f to an ea 8 y aad natural , but a just a torc * bte uttatfancfos war own exer-
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tions , aad mutual criticism and correction , would do more to qualify you for becoming useful , acceptable , irnpressiv ^ preachers , so far as delivery is concerned , than any systematic instructions ; which , however , I would by no means be thought to undervalue . And surely you must
be sensible that it is an object of great moment , that you should not only feel , yourselves , the supreme importance of the truths and duties of religion , but also that you should not neglect any means within your power to qualify you for communicating similar impressions , with full practical efficiency , to the minds of
those whose highest interests it will be the duty , and I trust the pleasure , of your future lives to promote . For what will signify your utmost proficiency in private studies , though you should understand all mysteries and all knowledge , if you possess not the ability to
communicate their result ? And how will you be able to excuse it , to your friends or to your own minds , if through some strange perverseness you should slight the proper season and measures for acquiring this ability ?
" I promise myself , that I shall another year ( if we be spared to meet again ) observe much improvement in this , and in many other important respects , from the exertions which 1 understand that several of you have this year been making to render yourselves useful to the best interests of the inhabitants of some
neighbouring places by a course of missionary preaching . As this labour of love has been undertaken of your own voluntary choice , I persuade myself that you will discharge the duties of it with diligence and affection ; and that it will be
a happy means of leading you to cultivate the religion of the heart as well as of the head , and contribute to your gradually acquiring such a system , of preaching , as , while it shall inform the understandings , will , at the same time , warm the hearts and animate the lives of those who shall
be the objects of your instruction . And when you shall proceed from these preparatory services , and from this place of education , and you shall devote your time and your acquirements to more stated and settled services , may the prayer for himself and his flock , of a young and ardent fellow-labourer in the
northern part of our island , * be applicable to each of you , and to all those whom you may be called to serve . —* May the See an Introductory Address to an Unitarian Church in Dundee , by David Logan , p . 8 , well worthy of the notice of our Tract Societies .
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intelligence . —Manchester College , York . 417
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vo «* xvm . 3 H
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1823, page 417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1786/page/49/
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