On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
quence of the French divines , if they more carefully imitate the variety and solidity of the English . "
Fourth note to the same sermon . cc Several of the divines of New England have excited the astonishment of their countrymen b y the number of their sermons . The most remarkable instance is
that of Mr . Joshua Moodey , of Portsmouth , who in the year l (> 88 had written 4 O 7 O discourses . As he lived nine years after that period , he probably added several hundreds to the number . The
lateDr . Cbaiincey who , during many years of his life , spent fifteen hours a day in his study , was a diligent writer of sermons . But in liis old age he wris frequently h&trd to lament that he had compitfted so niany ; for he believed that he should have been a more
usefal preacher , if instead of being filled with the foolish vanity of contemplating a high nutaber at the top of a discourse , he had sp ^ nt more time in meditating an
iimportant subject , in correcting afrd consolidating his composition , and finally in committing it to rtileitibfy . Among other pieces of excellent &tfvf c £ which he Dvafc ac *
etiitbmed tb give to young cltergy ^ ttien , this was otfe , th&t they should think much and write little * T \ vo hundred stermons , e&fcli ohfe of which had a distihet , important , and interesting subject , ivisre , he said , a sufficient work
{ of a long life . For the human miibd , hie observed , exhausts its idfeas itiucli faVter tliiah it can rfe . ceiVi neW ohfes . Befcidfe which , ri £ itfcfer tfte doWrinei nor duties < rf
i ^ Bgioh slH v € ry numerous , ftlhny pbople , he iacKfetf , will cla ^ ittWtf Wtf # ft tfe ^ r ih iftWt ^ fftrth
Untitled Article
old sermons ; for they think that ft is as easy to write a discourse & $ to hoe a rood of corn ; &nd ihkf will loudly complain when they have to pay twice for the s&ttt 6 article . But do not regard Such
absurd opposition : ptfeach well * plainly , and profitably ; Which you cannot do , unless you employ a great deal of time in composing and revising your sermon ^
u may perhaps be urged ill opposition to the advice of the judicious Chautrcey , that a discourse laboured with so much care wilt not be more profitable to commoft Christians , than adifecoUrse \ vhich
drops hastily from thtt pen oft Saturday night , anfci whteh majr be ' said to be written € ixtempo ^; for though it disdains accuracy , yet it comes warm from the heart . But this it is believed is an
terraneous opinion * It cannot be denied that a man whose soul by meditation has beet ) previously crowded with ideas , may beablfc in a few hours to arrange those ideas in the form of discourse .
which will display strength pi frl > gument , or energy of exhprfetiwj . But what will that man do , who hat no new ideas in his mind , who possesses . no other poorer than that of moving his pen with rapidity * and who finds it easier to write
again what he has written in substance a hundred times before , than dili g ently to expJo ^ fe a iie vr region of thoughtf His t ^ ct jrnay be new 5 butev&ry thing elsfe in hi * sermon will be old : to fei ^ hear ^ i % it will appear trite , £ ad it will make little impression *
•• Othttr things being etjOttJ , tkb most Useful discourse ii that which is most iatelligiW ^ ^ but td ^ ritt iiitdl igibly i » a V ^ ry diffictt ^ hrt . Several re ^ ons pro v ^ \\ m
Untitled Article
402 Atnettedn Divtnei .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1814, page 402, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2442/page/18/
-