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child s , but there is R reat breadth in the temples , and hi 8 forehead , over which he wears his hair long and carelessly , is of the finest form and amplitude . On the whole , we think the common impression after seeing Dr . Chauuinu : would be that
of a mind , a mere intellect , wrapped id the slightest drapery of flesh that will coufiue—a coil of mortality so loosely worn , that whenever its errand was complete , the inhabiting spirit would release itself by the simplest heavenward volitiot ) .
Dr . Channing's delivery is not at all oratorical or passionate . It may have beea so in the earlier days of his ministry , for he is naturally of a kindling aud enthusiastic temperament , and it is a source of natural wonder to tho » e who
hear him after haviug read his fervent composition , that he should yield so little to the sway of feeliug . His manner is earnest and absorbed , but , unless excited by a favourite or opposed opinion , perfectly union passioned . You may not doubt for a moment that the whole truth of his soul
is breathing ou his lips , bat he seems to you under the influence of an inward power which is too holy for human excitement , and which chastens aud subdues his whole spirit like a mighty spell . We know nothing more strangely aud deeply impressive than this almost uuuatural suppressiou of enthusiasm . He is gifted by uature with a voice of singular depth and sweetness , which debility
seems ouly to have made more low aud musical , and from the calm serenity , nay , majesty of his manner , and the high order of his thoughts , it has sometimes seemed to us a very spirit tone—the voice of a being without passions , breathed into utterance by the pure inspiration of truth . The vigorous beauty of his style is too well known and admired to be more than alluded to , but a mere reader can have little idea of its effect wheu heard
from the writer ' s own lips , Hm emphasis and cadence are very peculiar . Hu tones seem the most simple effort of articulation ; but he ha * a way t > f lingering on what we can only express by calling it the crisis of a sentence , and of giving a depth aud richuess to the forcible wprd , which yield au . exquisite
satisfaction to ibe ear , not easily described . You sit and liatent , as it might be to music . The sense is for the time captive , and if the melody in which it comes clothed does not wholly disguise the neutfmeat , it , at least , gives it a winning per » ua » ion , most dangerous to the charm * ed judgment of the fearer . It can scarcely be conceived bow well all this
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harmonizes with the character of the preacher's mind , and his mode of religions inculcatiou . His system is purely intellectual . It is one of his great points that the mind , and that alone , is the seat of regeneration , and all his collateral
opinions are in the same sublimated aud glitteriug sphere . His illustrations , too , are taken from the most pure aud simple objects—childhood , nature , the relations of beauty and propriety . He seems to have no consciousness of the gross and the common in life . He has surrounded
himself with tbe materials suited to his taste , and he weaves from it his web of similitude , and clothes his coming thoughts in a drapery which commends them powerfully to spirits like his own , though , iu its beautiful simplicity , it may be less calculated than a coarser dress to arrest the eye of the undiscerning . There is nothing about him \ % hich does not thus add to the effect he desires
to produce . The warm benevolence of his uature , breaking out constantly iu his sermons like am irrepressible impulsehis severe staudard of tbe Christian character—his owu precarious tenure of life , and , with its increasing weakness , his increasing ardour in the support of his peculiar tenets—the remarkable elevation and breadth of his views upon
other subjects—and , above all , his owu high example in the practice of religionthese are circumstances which , thrown as they always are into the scale of argument , plead powerfully with the wavering mind for the truth and heavenly origin of his opiuions . We cannot picture to ourselves a champion for a cause more completely furnished for success . He would succeed if truth were not
greater than genius . He would , long ere this , hare sown his native land , iu all its extended breadth , with his opinions , had it been in human power t <> sow error , aud give it 9 elf ** the increase . " As it is , we know not who can hear him—listen to his lofty morality , aud » ee the gleam of his sublimed spirit through the frail body it in habit *—bee him standing on the verge of et « ruity , when long sickness and a mind strong and thirsting after truth must almost have lifted the
veil , aud with all the light it sheds ujon him , still clinging to bis belief—we say , we know not who can subject him . elf to all this , and not doubt his own senses , if he has not ho read his Bible . For our owu part , false and delusive as , in o > ur humble judgment , we must believe his opinions to be , we never listen to the silvery tones of his voice , pleading eh > - quently against what we have bera
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MivceUuncou * Correspondence . 409
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vol . iv . 2 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1830, page 409, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2585/page/49/
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