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
support andr ^ namjenance . .. We are elect-^ WtHe Jfee ctioice of those who dele-^ te t 6 ' tjrai Jhe o ' ffice of conducting their public deVotkmal exercises . It is impossible , therefore ^ that at the
commencement of oar ministerial labours we should not be regarded , at least by those who call us to the exercise of this function , with respect and esteem . In the incidents of life it may , and it sometimes ¦ does happen , that individuals of questionable , and even of despicable character ,
may by special influence be inducted into some of the numerous livings appertaining to the Established Church ; but it is next to impossible that any one who has so misconducted himself , or has so rnispent his time , as to be held in contempt by the wise and good , should obtain a situation as a minister among the
Protestant Dissenters * " From this ' fact is to be drawn an obvious conclusion well worthy of the attention of the aspirants after this office , namely , that it is their wisdom , as
well as their duty , ( wisdom indeed and duty are always strictly and inseparably united , ) to be solicitous above all things to maintain in its purity the recommendation of a blameless character . It did
not escape the notice of that most sagacious of all observers of human conduct , the illustrious Dr . Franklin , that the particular circumstances of Nonconformist ministers strongly urge them to
virtuous behaviour . In every country the sects which separate themselves from the communion of the Established Religion , are watched with a vigilant , I am afraid I may say , with a jealous eye . The public instructors of those sects are of course objects of particular attention . A
consciousness of this should naturally lead them to guarded circumspection of conduct . We well know that in the estimation of thte community at large we shall meet with little indulgence for our fail-Mg $ > that our errors will be magnified , a "d that transgressions of propriety which in others would be characterized
s venial , in us will be regarded by the sharpened criticism of the public as senous offences . The sittings , too , of that tribunal before which we stand for judgment arc permanent . We are constantly V A — — — ^— *~ w v - ^^^ ^^ r ^ r ^ ^^^ ^ ft ^ ' ^ M ^* ^ v ^ . rf ^ B ^^^ V B ^ ^ f ^^ w aid directl
y amenable to public opinion . n that opinion our very existence , as ^ misters , mainly depends , If the verict of that opinion is given against us , w usefulness is gone , and our function ^ P virtu ally , if not formally , at an end . "r - o— -10 .
uJ i - flierulI y ra ^ tor further urges P ° n his auditors their particular sys-
Untitled Article
tem of options a § a ^ o ^ vp . $ }\ dischar ^ of all the itefies , ^^ r ^ l ^ ousness and t , rae hpliae $ & . Hie ff ane * gyrlzes the Dissenting ' divines now settled in various parts of the
kingdom , who received the whole or a parL of their academical education at York . Their character , he Vsserts > speaks volumes as to the good discipline of the institution in which they were bred - , and he exhorts the present race of students to be " modest
in their demeanour , obedient to the prescriptions of law , courteous to their tutors , and exemplary for the general regularity of their conduct . " Looking to such of the students &s were about to quit " the Collegiate walls for ever / ' and especially to those that were about to devote themselves
to the Christian ministry , Mr . Shepherd enforces " a guarded circumspection of behaviour , a decorum of manners , a simplicity and sincerity of conversation , and a general propriety
of demeanour / ' becoming the teachers of Christian truth and righteousness . On this subject he adds , in language somevvhat out of the routine of pulpitphraseology ,
" I am the more induced to touch upon this topic , because in the experience of life , I have now and then observed some , young men trained and in training for the Christian ministry , who in their intercourse with society at large , hare occasionally affected to throw off the
divine , and to assume the manners of men of the world . But , believe me , this is a dangerous experiment . It is no part of wisdom to approach to the verge of those confines where propriety ends and impropriety begins . They who act thus put
themselves into what is called , and very expressively called , * a false position . ' They heedlessly throw themselves into the way of temptation , and run an extreme hazard of falling into evil . At all events they expose themselves to censures which it were wise in them to
avoid . They appear as a kind of mongrels in society , who can have no just claim to reverence or esteem . Nothing is more contemptible than affectation . And ia what does affectation consist ? It consists in a man ' s wishing for a while
to appear what he is not ; and whether * an individual sustains the part of thct Bourgeois Gentit / iommc , or of the worldly--mannered divine , he cuts an awkwardl figure upon the stage of life , and will be 2 despised by every one who makes a ( Jiffei
Untitled Article
% o Bei $ ffi ^ $ fafi / iJfm f ^« fft !** f & ¦ ™ & Stude / tte&f Mw $$ BjffiSbfl 4 g 4 \ 5 $
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1826, page 555, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2552/page/47/
-