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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
To touch the passions let your style be plain ' j The praise of Virtue asks a higher strain : Yet sometimes tlie pathetic may receive The utmost force that eloquence can give ; As sometimes , in eulog'iums , ' tis the art , With plain simplicity to win the heart . 'Xis not enough " that what you say is true , To make us feel it , you must feel it too . Shew your self wamfd , and that will warmth impart To every hearer ' s sympathizing * heart . When honest Fester , Virtue does enforce , All give attention to the warm discourse j But who a cold , dull , lifeless drawling
keeps , One half his audience laughs , the other sleeps . In censuring" Vice he earnest and severe , In stating dubious points concise and clear 5 Anger requires stern looks and threatning " style , But paint the charms of Virtue with a smile . These different changes common sense will
teach , And we expect them from you , if you preach ; For should your manner differ from your theme , Or on quite different subjects he the same , DespisM and laugh * d at , yoa must travel down , And hide such talents in some country
town . It much concerns a preacher first to learh The genius of his audience , and their turn . Amongst the citizens he grave and slow - Before the nobles let fine periods flow 5 The Temple Church asks Sherlock ' s souse and skill ;
Beyond the Tow ' r—no matter—what 3011 will . In facts or notions fetch'd from sacred writ Be orthodox , nor cavil to shew wit : is so
Or if your daring ^ onius bold To teach newdoctrir . es , or to censure old , With care pracced you tread a dangerous paih ; Error estahli&hM , £ rows established faith . 'Tis easier much , and jnueh the safer rule , To teach in p dip it what you learnt at school 5 With zeal defend whate v er the Church
"believes , If you . o : » eci : to thrive , or wear lawn sleeves . Some loudly bluster , and consign to hell All who dare doubt one word or syllable Of what thev cai ! the faith ; and which
extends To whims and trifles without i ! se or ends : Sure ' tis much nobler , and more like divine , T ' enlarg-e the path to heaven , than to confine .
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Insist alone on useful points or plain And know , God cannot hate a virtuou s Man . If yon expect or hope that we should stay Your whole discourse , nor strive to slink away ; Some venial faults there are you must avoid To every age and circumstance allied . A pert young Student just from college brought , With many little pedantries is fraught : Reasons with syllog-ism , persuades with wit , Quotes scraps of Greek instead of sarrpfl
writ ; Or deep immers'd in politic debate , Reforms the Ckurch , and guides the tottering- State . Those trifles with maturer age forgot , Now some good lenefiee employs his
thought ; He seeks a Patron , and will soon incline To aU his notions civil or divine ; Studies his principles both night and day , And as that scripture glides , must preach and pray . Av rice and age creep on : his rev ' rend mind
Begins to grow Right-reverendly inelin'd ; Power and preferment still so sweetly call , The voice of Heaven is never heard at all : Set but attempting bishopric in view , He ' s strictly orthodox and loyal too 3 With equal zeal defends the Church and State , And infidels and rebels share his hate .
Some things are plain , we can ^ t misunderstand ; Some still obscure , tbo' thousands have ex - plain'd : Those influence more which reason cau ^ conceive , f Than such as we thro faith alone believe : > In those we judge , in these you may de-1 ceive r ^ But what too deep in mystery is thrown , The wisest preachers choose to lot alone , How Adam ' s fault affects all human k ' wtf-How Three is One , and One is Three combin d j How certain Prescience checks not fntnre will ;
And why Almighty Goodness suffers ill ; Such points as these lie far too dee ? man , Were never well explain ed « or ever can If pastors more than thrice five mm" - * preach , ,
Their sleepy flocks begin to yawn — stretch . Never presume the name of God to hnK As sacred sanction to a trifling th " * " - " Before , or after sdrmon , hymns oi pra ^ - Exalt the soul , and true devotion raise ,
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37 ft Poetry .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1815, page 378, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1761/page/50/
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