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    Untitled Article

    It is a safe prediction that the leaders of Dissent will either stifle or abuse this book . Most likely the latter ; for there is so much of it that comes home to the business and bosoms' of Dissenters themselves ; so many readers of other classes will enjoy its quaint style ,, and the novelty and piquancy of its delineations ; and the Church party will make so much of its exhibition of the Voluntary

    Principle , ' that the smothering system can scarcely succeed . It is , we think , sure to be read , although the author shows his accustomed sagacity in the remark that ' by many it will be treated as fiction ; for they who do not know it to be true will think it fiction , and they who do know it to be true will call it fiction . Substantial truth it certainly is ; nothing but the truth ; whether it be the whole truth is another question , of which anon .

    This volume is a good companion for that exquisite specimen of bonhommie , the Annals of the Parish ; ' a work which in many respects it resembles , although the portraiture be executed with a somewhat harder touch , and the subject is far less pleasing . The prevailing difference is that which discriminates between humour and satire , a difference which , even without allowing for the diversity of character in the authors ., was in some degree

    unavoidable . Your twaddling sectarian in a country town cannot be so good-humoured a personage , nor keep such a comfortable smile on the reader ' s face , as your twaddling incumbent of a rural parish in the Presbyterian Establishment . Still there is no malignity in his gossip , nor personality . At least we can avouch that his indi-(viduals , with all their individuality , are the representatives of very numerous classes . We know them as well as he that made

    them ; ' and through many a score of congregations will ' thou art the man be the text for the day , when this book shall come amongst them . The soi-disant author and subject of this memoir feels his vocation to the preaching office at an early age , and has fortunately sat under a popular minister , who can easily procure him ,

    gratuitously , the preparatory ( Dissenting ) College training . ilis destination is to one of these institutions which is in most repute for learning . The course of instruction is for five years ., and a previous acquaintance is required with Horace and the Greek g rammar , which must be ascertained by private examination , and certified by the pastor of the candidate . The sore tribulation and happy deliverance ot both parties are described in the following

    extract : ' The day for my examination arrived , and I went with a swelling but trembling heart to my pastor ' s house to drink tea , with Smart ' s Horace in one pocket , and a Greek grammar in the other . In my eagerness and haste not to be too late , I was a little before my time , and I was shown into the study where I found myself with no other company than the books . Curious enough it was , that among the books which were lying on the table , I should find Smart ' s Horace and Duncan ' s Virgil . I

    Untitled Article

    The Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister . 869

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1834, page 869, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2640/page/51/