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    sanctuary 5 according to the iiiaxirn of a learaed djvine , which bur Priestleys arid Wakefields Jhave so well exemplified . If , on the jcontrary , his opportunities have

    left him a mere English scholar , ( a character in our dfrys comprehending no smajl portion of taste and information ) he * will freely use that variety of assistance which the labours of learried

    Christians , through several ages , have now provided for the studious though unlearned inquirer . A preacher thus prepared for his employment ^ if he would become a popular Christian instructor- must not content

    himself with delivering a sermon , or rather an essay on some devotional or moral topic 5 which , however serious ^ correct and elegant , shall contain no elucidation of the

    scriptures , nor be indebted to the New Testament , except perhaps for a motto , called a text , or a concluding sentence . # Such sermons I have been mortified to

    hoar , inhere better things might have been expected . It seemed to rue as if the preacher , * like Cardinal B ^ mbo , one of the literary glories of ** Leo ' s golden age /' had been fearful of corrupting a Ciceronian style by quoting a book so unciassical as the bible .

    rhe popular preacher must pursue a different course . Though too many religionists have really , however unintentionally , bur * losqued a the worthy name by

    which they are called / ' in sernpons " full of Christ / ' ringing changes or his name , as if it possessed S (> me magical efficacy , he will * void the other extreme . " The

    htness of thiUgS , '' ?« the natural lotions of right and wrong , '' Sec . plough important sqbjects of

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    ethical discussion , he will forego as JUetter suited to a " Coacio . cje ^ uiW ox a lecture to academic studeats . The preacher t 6 a congregation , in which , as in th § 4

    dispensations of Providence , * the rich and the poor , '* the learned and the uninformed , " . i&eet together / ' will rather dUfeU on the pretensions , doctrine and character of Jesus of Nazareth the teacher aud exemplar of virtue , and , under God , " tUe author and finisher of faith . '

    Informing the understanding ? he wiil endeavour also to engage the . affections ; expecting , according to the often applied 'Pagan maxim , te interest others only by appearing to be interested himself . More solicitous , as Doddridge piously

    recommends , "to save a soul than to round a period / ' he will avoid as much as possible , a

    phraseology remote from common apprehension , fearing to ** speak in an unknown tongue , * an ev ? l by no means confined to the Latin service of the papal church : * he will rather iollow this excellent counsel of a Christian poet , who was also an admired preacher : Smooth be your style , and plain and

    natural , To suit ; tbc sons of Wppp i ** g 4 ^ 4 WhitehaJL , Such is the idea which X have formed of a pppalar preacher , and which I think might be embodied without going beyond the Unitarian communion . 1 could easily name $ pme among us who tliqs ** serve God in the gospel of his son , ' * working ^ like their honoured master , ' * while it is day ? because the qight cometh / ' $ ut 1 . imve soinewhere read that th # ancients rjgveT sacrificed to heroes till tbe stan was set : and I have indeed far ex-• * * ¦" ¦ ' . ¦ ' cceded the rcasoq ^ t > le limits of a

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    On Popular Prtacki&g : in qntiaer to a Modest Querist . 87

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1808, page 87, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2389/page/31/