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
stranger there . He seemed to inherit from his venerable father the gift of prayer . His acts of adoration discovered a mind penetrated by-the majesty and purity of God j but his sublime conceptions of these attributes were always tempered and softened
by a sense of the divine benignity . The paternal character of God was not only Ins belief , but had become a part of his mind . He never forgot , that he * worshiped the Father * His firm conviction of the strict and proper unity of the divine nature taught him to unite and concentrate in his
conception of the Father , all that is lovely aud attractive * as well as all that is solemn and venerable ; and the general effect of his prayers was to diffuse a devout calmness , a filial confidence , over the minds of his pious hearers .
' * His understanding was of a high order ; active , vigorous and patient 5 capable of exerting itself with success on every subject ; collecting materials and illustrations from every scene ; and stored with a rich and various knowledge , which few have
accumulated at so early an age . His understanding , however , was in harmony with his whole character . It was not so much distinguished by boldness , rapidity and ardour , as by composed energv , judiciousness and expansiveness . You have an emblem
of it-in the full , transparent and equable stream spreading around it fruitfulness and delight . His views were often original and often profound , but were especially marked by justness , clearness , and compass of thought . I have never known a man , so young ,
of riper judgment , of more deliberate investigation , and of more comprehensive views of all the bearings and connexions of a subject , on which he was called to decide . He was singularly free from the error into which
young preachers most readily fall , of overstating arguments , and exaggerating and straining the particular topics which they wish to enforce . But in avoiding extravagance , he did not fall into tameness . There was a
force and freshness in his conceptions ; and even when he communicated the thoughts of others , he first grafted theni on his own mind , so that they had the raciness of a . native growth . His opinions were the results of much
Untitled Article
mental action , of many comparisons , of large and liberal thinking , of looking at a subject on every side ; and they were expressed with those limitations which long experience suggests to others . He read with pleasure
the bold and brilliant speculations of more adventurous minds ; but he reserved his belief for evidence , for truth ; and if the most valuable gift of t"he understanding be an enlarged , discriminating judgment , then his was a most highly-gifted mind .
' * From a mind so balanced , and a taste so refined , we could hardly expect that fervid eloquence which electrifies an assembly , and makes the speaker for a moment an absolute sovereign over the souls of men . His influence , like that of the great powers in the natural world , was mild and
noiseless , but penetratiug and enduring . That oratory , which overwhelms and bears us away like a torrent , almost always partakes of exaggeration and extravagance , and was
therefore incompatible with the distinguishing properties of his mind . His imagination was fruitful and creative y but , in accordance with his whole character , it derived its
illustrations more frequently from ' regions of beauty than of grandeur , and it imparted a colouring , at once rich and soft , and a peculiar grace to every subject susceptible oC ornament . His
command over language was great . PI is style was various , vigorous , unborrowed ; abounding in felicities of expression , and singularly free from that triteness and that monotonous
structure , which the habit of rapid composition on familiar subjects almost forces on the preacher , and which so often enervate the most powerful and heart-stirring truths . His character as a preacher needs no other testimony than the impression left on
his constant and most enlightened hearers . To his people , wfio could best judge of his intellectual resources aud of his devotion to his work , his public services were more and more interesting . They tell us of the
affluence of his thoughts , of the beauty of his imagery , of the tenderness and earnestness of his persuasions , of the union of judgment and sensibility ia his discourses , and of the wisdom with which he displayed at the . same moment the sublimity and practica-
Untitled Article
a ' Obituary . —Rev . S . C * Thacher . 719
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1818, page 719, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2482/page/55/
-