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may be ; but God is there , giving water from the rock and meat from heaven ; and who , then , will faint at the prospect ? In perils and straits it may be ; but God is in the midst with the cloudy pillar of his providence and grace ; and who , then , will shrink from the way ? Amongst enemies , in fearful and banded array , it may be ; but who will tremble at their
power , that is protected by the shield of faith , and armed by the sword of the spirit , and led toward the promised land by the captain of his salvation ? Let the believing pilgrim then go on ; without halting , without looking back , without distrust ; onward , onward , — till the way-worn feet stand on the borders of the Jordan , and the bright
inheritance is seen at hand . Then , as it is writteu , ' the feet of them that bear the ark shall stand still ; ' then the children of God may rest from their watch - ings and toils ; and having passed the dark river , in whose swelling waters the grace of God shall bear them up , they shall go , every one to the place prepared for him from the foundation of the
world . " Thus are we instructed , from every quarter , that perpetual progress is essential to our safety , acceptance , and glory ; that our path must be * as the rising light , shining brighter and brighter unto the perfect day . ' A solemn , an exciting , an admonitory truth ! God titters it in our ears from all the voices of his works .
Scripture proclaims it to our souls in all its doctrines , commamlmeuts , and promises . A voice from the unseen world declares it to all who aspire after future glory . Out understandings and consciences within speak assent to the declaration . And on the winds of the dying year , *
which are now sighing around us with their departing breath , the truth is sent home to our hearts in accents of fearful solemnity ; warning us that we look back , before the light of another year shall open upon us , and see what improvement has been made of this . "—Pp .
10—13 . The connexion between the duties of the Pulpit and the Pastoral office is very forcibly displayed in the second of the publications before us ; and far be it from us to question the general truth of the representation . Yet it may be allowed na to suggest that there is a medium between preaching abstract , useless sermons , from ambitious desires , or
** # This discourse was preached on the last night of the year . "
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through an indolent carelessness about the state of humanity , and preaching with a special view to the condition of individuals among the hearers . The feelings which are to be appealed to from the pulpit are common to all ; the principles which are to be offered thence are
designed for all ; the duties which are thence to be enforced are obligatory upon all ; and an intimate knowledge of the universal wants , infirmities , and tendencies of humanity , with the utmost possible disregard of peculiar cases , appears to us the best preparation for a safe and efficacious administration of pulpit instruction . Let a minister have his observation ever alive when among men ; let him enrich bis services with the fruits of
his experience ; but let him ever remember , that unless he knew more than he can ever know of the processes of any individual mind , any special adaptation of his general offices to a peculiar case is dangerous to himself and to the object of his appeal . There is great evil in the application being obvious to himself ; there is danger of its being obvious to
the hearer he has in view ; ( in which case certain injury is the result ;) and if it should become obvious to others also , it is plain that all the purposes of pulpit instruction are defeated . We do not speak theoretically . We have witnessed such fearful consequences from a ministry of individual appeals , prosecuted with the
best intentions , —we hare seen so much of the vanity and priestly assumption thus excited unawares in the minister , so much of the dismay or disgust occasioned in some hearers , of the restive spirit roused in others , and the fatal subservience induced in a third class , that we would almost as soon see the practice of confession restored as this mode of
ministration extended . While preachers appeal to mind and not to a mind , they and their hearers are safe . While they arouse emotions , chasten desires , and supply wants which , being universal , are strictly individual , they may be sure of not mixing harm with the good they do ; they may be sure of not failing in the objects of their ministry . This mode of proceeding avoids the folly of
inapplicable instruction on the one hand , and the danger of private regards on the other . As for the comparative value of the results , look at the success of the preacher who is felt to understand the things of the snirit while the simplicity and universality of his views are unquestionable , and see whether there is any thing to compare with it in the ministry of one who is perpetually suspected of having a
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342 Critical Notices . —Theological .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 342, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/54/
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