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denomination . Holy and righteous employment ! But more is needed- ^ much- more . . There are , in our estimation , more errors than the doctrine of the Trinity—heresies more fatal than bigots ever imagined . The only fatal heresy is in fact the heresy of a wicked Jife . Nor is there any so difficult of cure . A man will more easily part with all his opinions than resign one evil habit . If so , then the moral part should receive the chief attention . The exposition should be followed up by the application of truth . > Truth as
it relates to the government of the conversation and the passions—that truth which is emphatically life—the life of God in the soul of man—the means of quickening all the elements of holiness within us , the means of gaining the Pivine favour , and of saving the soul ; . this kind of truth ,, embracing interests of infinite importance—yet , alas ! how neglected—this truth , the one thing needful—in comparison of which how little do all speculative questions appear ! The moral and religious lessons of the gospel should be brought home to the bosom , ; illustrated by actual instances , sanctioned by Christian motives , recommended and enforced with the earnestness which befits the address of
one dying creature speaking to another on the vast concerns of an eternal state . Much has been said about the evangelical spirit . Except we have read the New Testament to no account , the tenor of its writings is that o £ deep anxiety and deep earnestness for the immortal welfare of man , and we
cannot , therefore , but consider any work , having for its object the furtherance of Christianity , as essentially defective in which this same anxiety and earnestness are not manifest . It belongs not so much to the conductors of our periodicals , as to our body at large , to remedy the evil of which we have now complained , and which conspires to prejudice the cause oi truth in , the estimation of the orthodox .
With a like defect is the pulpit chargeable .. In that , intellect , instead of religious earnestness , too much predominates . Do not let it be supposed that , in any instance , especially ia the one now before us , we are derogating from the value of intellectual pursuits and intellectual excellence . They are both of high piiee ; yet there is for the good of man a more excellent way . Truth is but a means , piety is the end ; the one should be subordinate , the other paramount . The addresses with which we are favoured from the pulpit are excellent as expositions of duty ; hut too much is conceded to taste , to
merely literary excellence . We do not suppose that a preacher needs bo . vulgar in order to be popular ; far from it . Yet there is a difference between the chaste elegance of a collegiate essay and the earnest vigour of a pulpit address . There may easily be an undue anxiety about the accuracy of words and metaphors , the adjusting of members ,, and the balancing of sentences . The file may be used so much as to take from the composition all its strength . The feelings may be sa much restrained as to reader the
discourse frigid and dull . An essay is not a . fit composition to take into the pulpit , because it is correctly written and soundly argued . Johnson and Addison may do to read in private , but Barrow and Channing should ascend the pulpit . Accuracy ia indeed good so far as it goes , but for the pulpit it ia little more than a negative good ; and to accuracy must be added earnestness and animation , a devout address , a pointed and striking style . The attention must be arrested , roused , and sustained ; the heart must be
stirred , the conscience must be probed , the soul alarmed . A . nd where the means of these great objects exist , we confess for ourselves , we should ? not be over critical ; and alas for the preacher and his flock , who , to the fancied requirements of taste , sacrifices the higher qualities we have ' named ! How pitiable to think of a man trimming a metaphor , when he
Untitled Article
Th € Watchman . 701
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/29/
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