351 ffiISBELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. bist he scarce ever takes his eye off from his book to address him- self with life and spirit to the people; For this reason, many of his hearers fall asleep ; the rest of them sit from January to December ; regardless and unconcerned : An air of indolence reigns through the faces of his auditory, as if it were a matter of no importance, or not addressed to them, and his ministrations have little power or success. In his last sermon he had an use of reproof for some vices which were practised in a public and shameless manner in his parish, and as the apostle required Timothy to reprove such sinners before all, so lie supposed that these sins, at least, ought not to escape's public rebuke. The paragraph was well drawn up, and indeed it was animated with some just and awful severities of language; yet he had not courage enough to chide the guilty, nor to animate his voice with any just degree of zeal. However, the good man did his best, he went into the pulpit and read them a chiding. His conduct is just the same when he designs his address in bis paper to any of the softer passions ; for by the coldness of his pronunciation, and keeping his eye ever fixed on his notes, he makes very little impression on his hearers. When he should . awaken senseless and obstinate sinners, and pluck them as brands Out of the burning, he only reads to them out of his book some words of pity,' or perhaps a use of terror ; and if he would lament over their impenitence and their approaching ruin, lie can do no more than read them a chapter of Lamentation. Since there are so many of the kindred of Lectorius in our nation, it is no wonder that some of them arise to vindicate the family and their practice. Do not the English sermons, say they, exceed those of other nations, because they are composed with so much justness and accuracy, and by careful reading, they are delivered with great 'exactness to the people, without trusting one sentence to the frailty of the memory, or the warmth of sud- den imagination ? I am sure it may be replied, that if the English sermons exceed those of our neighbours, the English preachers would exceed themselves, if they would learn the art of reading by the glance of an eye, so as never to interrupt the force of their argument, nor the vivacity and pathos of their pronunciation; or if they made themselves so much masters of what they had written, and delivered it with such life and spirit, such freedom and fervency, as though it came all fresh from the head and the heart. It is by this art of pronouncing, as well as by a warm composure, that some of the French preachers reign over their assemblies, like a Cicero or a Demosthenes of old, and that with such superior dignity and power, as is seldom seen now -a -days in au English audience, whatsoever esteem may be paid to our writings.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=