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It may , perhaps , be said that I take it for granted , that extempore preaching must necessarily be imperfectly done , and that written sermons , of course , are excellent . Bat this is not the case- I acknowledge , that extempore preaching may , occasionally , be well done , and thus produce a
considerable effect on those who hear it ; all that I contend for is , that if it were generally adopted , it would not be as well done , or give that satisfaction to the great majority of Unitarians , as the present mode of preaching now does : why , therefore , should it be
changed ? Noi * do I pretend to say that all written sermons are excellent * Some of these , it is well known , cannot be highly extolled . And much , perhaps , cannot be said in favour of those that are hastily put together ; especially , if done after tea-time , on a Saturday evening , which is about all the time that some serinon-writers
pretend to take for the composition of a sermon : some of these will not be nauch superior to a common extempore sermon . But , if our young ministers were advised to adhere to the
writing of sermons , rather than to attempt extempore preaching , the probability is , we should have better sermons , and such as would give more general satisfaction . Indeed , facts , as
far as they can be collected ; are in favour of written sermons ; for , where the experiment of extempore preaching has been tried among the Unitarians , it has not been generally approved . Seriously , therefore , would I
advise those young men who have been induced to attempt this mode of preaching , to return to the other , in H'hich they have merited the approbation of those that heard them , while their extempore effusions have not
given equal satisfaction . I know there are some among us who think from the great success which the Methodists in particular have obtained m making proselytes , which success has generally been attributed to their
popular mode of preaching-, that if Unitarians would adopt the same style of preaching , they would be equally us successful iii making converts to their peculiar opinions . But the cases <| re very dissimilar . When a Metho * ( goes forth to preach , he does not wrry to hid hearers what they con-
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ceive to be new or strange doctrines * They do not hear from him any doctrine contrary to what they have been taught to believe to be true , if they have received any religious instruction .
They may have heard the same general doctrines from their fathers ) and the same they know are believed and avowed by the Established Church , to which by profession they belong-There is not , therefore , any opposition of sentiment between them on doctrinal subjects . But how changed is the case respecting the Unitarian ! What opposition from ignorance and prejudice has he not to encounter and remove , before he can plant a single grain of Unitarianism , or excite any attention to it ! But we are not now
discussing the best mode of propagating our peculiar sentiments where they are not known , or the best mode of preaching for a missionary preacher , but that which will he t . h « hp . st for erbut that which will be the best for
, the instruction , edification , and prosperity of our regular congregations ; and this , 1 believe , will not be extempore preaching . PLAIN TRUTH .
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Critical Synopsis of the Monthly Repository for November , 1824 . 653
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Critical Synopsis of the Monthly Repository for November , 1824 .
fJTISTORY OF THE IRISH IX PRESBYTERIANS . An instructive and pleasing abridgement , — affording , in its manner and matter , a good illustration of some of the merits of the Monthly RepositoVy . What a beautiful instance of
liberality is exhibited in the mutual concessions of Mr . Blair and the Bishop who ordained him 1 Too happy , if we could but witness frequent examples of the same kind in the Christian , church of the present day . One could have wished that mare
description and reflection had been mixed up with this purely narrative account . I desiderate a statement of the particular character , influences , and effects of the Irish Presbyterian Establishment . What good Las it done in that afflicted land ? What
mistakes may it have committed f What lias been and still is the tone of its piety and its toleration ? Has it retained a similar character to other establishments of the same denomination ?—and so on .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1825, page 653, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2542/page/13/
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