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    Critical SgnopsU qf the Mbn 4 &i & Repository far June , 1824 . 327 :

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    as he hud- promfeea 4 ; o ck > in the first sentence quote * above . It is not from a spirit of hyper-criticism that I make this remark , but from an idea that Capt * ( 3 . mil yet have naeany occasions to step forward successfully in defence of the best of causes , and that therefore a little attention to style will reader bis endeavours more

    prosperous . Review . Toller ' s Sermons . A very admirable piece of criticism . But may I not be surprised , that the Reviewer is so scanty and recherchant in his list of favourite sermon-writers ?

    In another place he objects to Mr * Hall ' s views respecting * the length required for a complete sermon , and the degree to which arguments and topics may be repeated in the same discourse . I rather incline to the

    sentiments of the biographer on this subject , if properly guarded and modified , nor erected into universal , exceptionless rules . Being a thorough convert to the fine maxim of Mr . Hall ' s philosophy , respecting the good effect produced by keeping the

    attention of an audience fixed on a subject for a considerable time , particularly if accompanied by a correspondent train of vivid feeling , I am unwilling to discourage the composition and delivery of long sermons . I should say , preach to your hearers as long as they can well bear it . But to this effect ,

    your own capacities must be studied as well as their habits watched . If the homilies of Chrysostottt and the discourses of Sherlock were very short , the sermons of Massilon , Bourdaloue , Bossuet , Saurin , Tillotson , and the harangues of Whitfield were very long .

    It is absurd to lay down the sa * ne Procrustean rule for speakers of various qualifications , to say nothing erf the different lengths of time wlrich different subjects require . Shall we allow half an hour to the cold , didactic , abstract treatment of religious

    topies , which is peculiar to some preachers , and shall we , simply because half an hour is enough for that purpose , confine to the same space of time , the orator , whose lively

    imagination , copious stores of illustration , animated manner , and flexible , pleasin appropriate , varied elocution , can command the attention of a mixed audience more closely for an hour *» an another can for ten minutes t

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    Surely he who is gifted with , the Imp-, py faculty 1 of detaining : ia . the house of God his fellow-mortals , without weariness on their part , or a wish to * retreat , must be acknowledged , at tliej very least , to exert . an innocent power . And does he not deserve higher praise ? : Is he not rescuing tliem , for the time being , from the temptation of idle and

    injurious pursuits ? Is he not givingv them a taste fur superior enjoy men tsr& Is he not imparting finei ; habitudes © £ character and feeling , which are likely to be permanent , as well as beneficial ^ Wesley , it is true , as our Reviewer urges , recommended short discourses *

    But he might have had some , valid reasons for so doing , which wiH not apply to other denominations . The Methodists principally aim at pro-, ducing conversions by clamorous * im * passioned prayer / and often by prayer * singing , exhortation , shouting , * sttpm plosio , laughing and crying , all to *

    gether . Kegular , iormal preaching is the most inefficient instrument they make use of ; and Wesley was undoubtedly conscious of it . But on our side of the kingdom of heaven the Sermon is the great engine of instruction , impression , and general religious edification . f A

    correspond-* At a camp-meetingin our new state of Alabama , this year , a man under conviction , rose from before the altar , where the ministers were praying for him , and rushed through the assembly , exclaiming , Independence , my God I Independence , my God !

    + ¦ " In proportion as the ceremonies of public worship , its shows , and exte * r ior observances , were retrenched by the Reformers , the people were inclined tQ contract a stronger attachment to sermons . " Hume , Hist . Eng . ch . xxxiv . The Methodists did not , indeed , return to the exterior observances of the Romish church .

    but they substituted for them other bodily actions and excitements of the senses and imagination , which rendered preaching equally subordinate as formerly . Jn the following passage , Hume treats the

    institution of preaching quite scurvily and unjustly , though mingling up some truth in his remarks . A different , and I . hope a truer account of it'has been given in the text . " It is observable , " he says , " that the Church of Rome and that of

    England being both of them lovers of form and ceremony and order , are more friends to prayer than preaching ; while the puritanical sectaries , who find that

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1825, page 327, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2537/page/7/