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intendenee of Dr . Aiken . Of Pr . Aiken he used to speak in the warmest terms of respect and admiration ; and the writer of this has frequentlyheard him attribute to the judicious developement , and careful
management of his tutor , whatever qualities h ^~^ iol ? e ^ s ^ d 7 to ^ whTch ~ he- ~ att : aehed most value . He made his first essay as a preacher at the early age of nineteen , at Risley , a few miles distant from the place where he lived ; and he was accustomed to describe ,
in a most entertaining manner , the consternation that came over him just as he was ascending the pulpit , on descrying a large troop of his friends and relations , who had arrived from Warrington to witness his maiden exhibition , and from whom he had effectually concealed , as he flattered himself , the knowledge of
the ordeal , he was going to pass through . In 1781 , he was chosen minister to . the Independent Congregation at Lancaster , in which situation he remained about fifteen years ; and during his residence at this place , he married Alice , sister of the Rev . Robert Housman , the present iircumbent of St . Anne ' s Chapel , in the same town . On the death of the
Rev . Caleb Rotherham , the son of Dr . Rotherham , who taught an academy , which has sent out many respectable preachers , he was unanimously invited to Kendal in 1796 ; to this invitation he acceded , and , along with his predecessor , who had officiated forty years , completed a ministry at that place of a period of nearly eighty years , a circum ^ stance , it is presumed , almost unparalleled in the history of Dissenting
congregations . The prevailing feature in Mr , Harrison ' s intellectual character was clearness and strength , and , at the same time , extent of perception ; the main points and bearings of any subject upon which lie had to be employed , he could in a moment seize upon ; and presenting them to his jhearers in lucid and perspicuous
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language , m was often enabled to produce conviction , when more elaborate efforts would have failed . His sermons , without perhaps ever rising ta eloquence , in the ordinary acceptation of the term , or containing passages of great power or splend o urvvvere—dis tin gui shed—by ~~ a _ si ww plicity and precision of style , and by
a Weight of matter , which rivetted the attention , and to his stated hearers brought far more delight and improvement , than the most striking displays of oratory would have done . The effect of his pulpit services was , in no small degree , enhanced by his venerable and patriarchal
appearance . Gifted , too , by nature with a voice of uncommon power and sweetness ,.. and enforcing the solemn and awakening truths of the gospel with the modesty of an inquirer rather than the authority of a master , he acquired a personal influence oyer the minds of his hearers that no
talent j Ho we ver " exalted , could command . Never was there a man with equal pretension to guide the belief of others less . disposed to exercise dominion over faith ; and , as was natural , that deference which he disclaimed was in a more ample portion
awarded to him . Few ministers who were equally acceptable in their public services have so seldom quitted their pulpit ; absence of personal vanity and a retiring disposition were striking peculiaritiies in the character of the excellent individual to whose
memory this imperfect tribute is addressed . Applause for his outward gifts was what he least courted ; he was content to do his duty at home quietly and unostentatiously , regarding the final end of-his ministry , the salvation of souls , rather than gratifying an unholy taste for novelty in others , and pandering to his own self-complacency , A man of such a cast of mind as
this could not entertain any sectarian or confined views of the office of a Christian minister ; and , accordingly * the efforts of M *\ Harrison in » d-
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• 2-22 ¦ iri&&li& ^ g ^ aniv
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1833, page 222, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2617/page/30/
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