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be more reasonable in their demands , and you will Ji £ more zealous and persevering in yoBj e # ej * i © ns , Some of your people $ vlMyuU& * dora&V be s&oiefced at so violent a change , as * tp | &- > $ but . ask them ; ope w fcwo plcf i n ^ ae&tiojis . Ask them wlietK ^ r i « is not uatunal for a i » j-
tyjsjerj to take drxyvii , from the shelf an ©) d pqrmoi ) with all Us ^ Jst , » nd errors , and ipi $ mfesti&u&thick iBipoii it , tosejve far } tl > ftt ? : part of the , i&ay , when be knows that h $ * fcatt have the ifewes t hearers ? Ask fche ; in , !] w 1 i ether , a minister will not be ? n * neh i nj ^ ue likely , to , afcstai n from using Jfne words , and to adopt a style and manner perfectly plain and adapted to the lower orders , when seated in a chair
in a rppm with nothing but the Bible before Hini , l ^ ian / he ^ is when stuck up- in a pulpit ^ atidf deckea ! out in all the para - ph em alia of office ? If your rich mem be # s object , that such a service as this wb « p , Jtiqt suit them , ask them whether tliey , inight not profitably employ the 3 un 4 ay ^ temoon in staying at home and readip ^ t '" j ^ k , them * whether . they are
, familiar witb | hepc ^ nts of the Uuitarian Icaptroveisy ? Or , whether they have 445 f epitl ^ pern $ e d sweh excellent works ^ ^ cjlbejoved ' s ^ ibJe , F ^ llowes ' s Christ ^^ HiU osaphy ,, pouglas ' 3 Criteriou of l ^ iractes , ajjtd ^ icol on Scn jiiure Sa-¦| ffS | j 9 ^ s ^ , An 4 , if UPt , whether it would ijjpt ^ ^ jmuch fetter , to set about reading
; 0 > e ^ e works , tl > an to tax their minister with :. & k ^ iua mid a degree of exertion whjch is exhausting his resources with-» n | b producing any adequate good ? Ask them these common-sense questions , and unless they return a more satisfactory > nswer to tfiem than r ^ ny that I know of , they will he " ready to go along with you in abolishing the afternoon service , and
substituting for it something of a better , tiecause a more suitable , nature . ^ 1 am not sure that the Watchman is lijgtlt ,. lri saying , that " the soouer our ministers discard written compositions the better / ' T re is a heat and impetw , s , cer ^« ly in extemporaneous speak-. J * l | fi wV ^ h , written composition seldom aiiji minister should
|) p ^ sess ^ a > a by all jaieans strive to acquire a facility in this ^ y ^ bat iet ^ him , npf ; , neglect to write . > I r . prq ^ bam . ( an exdejleut iudge on jth ? & suhjejQt , it wilj he , avowed )/ has well o ^ ejrye ^ j , ty ' hia inauguraji address to the ^ tmiwts ^ tGjlas ^ w , > hftt " the more speeches a iua ^ . jiy . r . ijj « s | , the better he will apeak , when , he is ica ^ e ^ uppn to do it without p ^ p Vfatw n ;[ ' ' ^ d / th er ^ , panjbe no douhti . tpa ^ t ) pp . \ i $ i \ % 6 r ( ^ rHj ri g improves tKMU 0 , f s ^ e ak i ^ g . . TC ^ rp ' can be a « little ; that to go liito ' a pulpit with-
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o » t haying mac ! e any special prepaiation for tfce , subject wbicii is to be treated of , is , at , once injudickus and . disrespectful to the place ; where . the ' . -.. address « iia - to by delivered , He whay would speak well must not trust to the ovet * fl ( rwiu ^ of the momen t , feut must carefully . arran ge before haud the whole malter of tiU discourse , and' leave nothing bat the words to be supplied at the tijne . B » t ^ hetfccr a minister have written hi » senaon or
not , he will never deliver it with proper effect if he has , his notes befbre-hirii . Let him at all events dispense with these when he appears before bis people ; and if he cannot trust to his pawer&for filling up his scheme at the time , let him write his sermon at lengthy and commit it to memory . TherTeEy finest pulpit addresses that I have ever heard * have
been produced confessedly in this' way ; it completely obviates the objection which some are disposed to make to the ^ extemporaneous method , on the score of its looseness and repetitions ; and so far from the adoption of such a style bringiflg " chills , impediments , and opposition / ' it would , J am conviuced , if followed up with spirit and diligence } , soon win over the conseoting voices of all for whose beueflt it was intended . This
method is also much easier than Will * be readily believed by those who have neyer tried it . Oue , who is very einiuentiiti preaching without notes % has been ht ? ar < l to say ,, that he never could imagine the difficulty of learning one ' s own composition . ; ; .
There is still one other passage iu the last number of the Watchman , oc which 1 cauuot refrain from offtriag a few remarks . It is that in which he disapproves of our public dinners , either in toto , or at least as at present conducted . He complains that they bear too much . of a political , character ; bat let me ask , whether the late and even the present
circumstances of our body * as Dissenters and Unitarians , ( Jo not justify / do ! wot even call for , such an intermixture of politics ? Whether we should be true to ourselves and to our principles were we to say less ? The Watcliinan tel \ s us , that ** in America these thiugs ( are i » anaged much better / ' p . 703 . Now to
me it appears that they are managed much worse in America ; the people of that country , however worthy , active , and intelligent they may be , are at- , the very xero of religious feeling ; they seem to have no fire , no warmth , no seutiincnt . Be that , however , as it may , 1 am quite sure that if we had no religio " dinners , we should soon lose the little
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900 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 800, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/56/
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