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in this place , yet 1 hope you will not suffer merely speculative disquisitions , or matters of doubtful disputation , to engage much of your time , and youjr hearers * attention ; but that you w , iU Qhiefty enlarge on those great truths and duties which are essential to their character and
hopes as Christians . And though you should not neglect to place the subjects on wjiicji you treat ^ t \ the cleares t and most impressive point of view , by calling hi the aid of every cansj ^ efatioii and motive within your reachy yet I tr ^ st you will never neglect to preach the truths of tfie gospel , as you find t £ e « 3 i m the New
Testament , without partiality or respect of person ^ , or to enforce the duties of the gospel by the motives which a # e peculiar to it : in short , to * teach thera ail things , w . ha , tso . ever He featfi commanded you . ' Always search diligently for the truth as
it is in Jesus , whose servants you are to fee ; keeping back from your people notJbing which you really find to he such . Seek to please them , indeed ; t * ut seek it by making them wiser and tetter ; this , ijuleed , will make them most heartily and permanently pleased with you . ct
And here let me remind you , that tfyo u ^ h you should not neglect to render your com portions worthy of the attention and approbation of yowr most intelligent and best-informe 4 bearers , yet as your Master preached to the poor , and usually conversed with them , so the instruction and benefit of the poor should
ever be a leading object of your attention , la pursuance of this object , consider carefu ^ y , concerning every thing which you deliver , whether they will be likely to understand it , and how they will probably be affected by it . You will have no need for this purpose to degrade your style to any thing vulgar or mean ; plainness and
perspicuity are the best ornaments of language ; and if you attend to this maxim , you will seldom find the most illiterate at any loss to understand you . Study , jboth in your public addresses and your private conversation , the particular circumstances , relations and wants of the several classes of your hearers , but
especially of your poorer hearers , that you may be always ready to suggest to them some hint of admonition , advice , caution or comfort , according as « ach may be useful to them . In tjiip way , probably , you will become more useful than in your more public ministrations ; in this way ,
Particularly , you infill best secure their affection ; aud be assured , you will always be respected by the rich in proportion as yqu are beloved by the poor .. " JBe particularly attentive , alt ^ , to the service of the young . You will find their lain ^ S inoie ope n and i-eady to receive
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impressions th&n those of your old hearers : tbek * native principles and sei / sibilities of good and evdl are not v et corrupted an | worn by an evil commerce with the maxims and examples of the world ; in them you have fresh ground to cultivate , and may reasonably hope to sow the good seed of Christian truth and
duty with better success . The young are to be the support and future ornaments of the church of Christ—a strong call upon you to endeavour , as much as is in your power , to make them ornaments and supports . The young are likely to be your companions through life : how much , then , does your future comfort in life depend upon them ! Of course how
much does even prudence require you to exert - your best endeavours to render them wise and good ! But you will have a higher motive than this—the approbation of your Master ; to whom with what delight will you present them , if happily successful , as seals of your ministry , as your joy and crown © f rejoicing in the great day of account I And I trust that
you will ever cautiously guard against that gross and shameful inconsistency , of appearing one sort of person on the first day of the week , and a very different one during the other six . You will presently know how soon men forget doctrines ,
but how lovg they remember facts . Let / our preaching on the Lord ' s-day be a doctrine according to godliness , and your conduct through the week a practical application of it . Your people will then be impressed with reverence for the principles which you teach , when vou thus
appear so deeply to reverence them yourselves . No man will then despise your youth , but you will become examples to the believers in word , in conversation , in spirit , in faith , in purity . You will , I persuade myself , be induced to maintain this constant attention to adorn the
doctrine of God , your Saviour by Jesus Christ , with purity of heart and life ; but there is one which , though not the weightiest , is not to be despised , which J should have urged , did 1 not understand that it was enforced at the Christinas Examination , b y my excellent colleague Mr . Hutton , with singular beauty and
force , viz . * that your good may not be evil spoken of / but that the charge which has of late been brought ? against Unitarian Ministers may be repelled in the most effectual manner by the purity and excellence of their lives ; ' that whereas others speak against you as evildoers , they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ . * By Dr . Pye Smith in his treatise on the Messiah .
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430 Intelligence . '—Manchester College , York .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1821, page 430, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2502/page/50/
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