ry man for labor is at best but short, and that for many of our ministers-alas! that these should be, for the most part the most eminent and useful!-is prepared an early grave! To be squandering away the precious time which ought to be devoted to the salvation of immortal souls, in the acquisition of profound and extensive erudition; to be immured for years in the walls of a study, and confined to the precincts of a college, impairing the physical strength by midnight application, and smothering the flames of holy zeal amid the ices of metaphysics and the lumber of heathenish philosophy, whilst thousands of immortal souls are perishing, to whose eternal interest those years might be successfully devotedis certainly a conduct highly culpable, and not in the spirit of Him who said 'work whilst it is day, for the night cometh, when no man can work!' Far be it from the writer of this volume in any way to undervalue or decry that knowledge, which, in a minister of the gospel, the circumstances of the present times. render so essential. These remarks only apply to those cases in which years are expended in adding to a stock already more than sufficient for present purposes, without beginning to apply to any practi cal use that which is so largely possessed; and may affect such institutions as, having for their object the preparation of young men for the work of the minis try, suffer the zeal for God and the love of souls, which led them to its patronage, at least to lose a little of its fire by years of dry scholastic disquisition, ere they are suffered to go forth into the world and expend them on their proper object-the conversion of their dying fellow men. -- With respect to Mr. Spencer, the world will judge whether he began to preach too soon or not. I believe that Liverpool, by far the most competent to judge in this case, will without hesitation, decide in the negative. Perhaps there are, who may be. disposed to say, "this was an exception."-Granted; but in such exceptions, let a similar liberty be allowed. Where extraordinary gifts, attended by extraordinary grace, so early develope themselves, allow them a proportionably early exercise, nor rob the church of God of an useful minister, who, ere the period a cautious policy has fixed for the commencement of his labor is arrived-may be summoned to his rest. On his return to Hoxton we find Mr. Spencer preaching occasionally in the work-houses-an admirable school for young divines.. Surely this is no inconsiderable circumstance in which our dissenting colleges are superior as schools of practical divinity, to those of the establishment. There the student emerges at once from the retirement of private life to all the publicity of the sacred office; which sudden transition to a delicate mind must often be attended with considerable pain, and may lead, in the first few instances, to a confusion and embarrassment most distressing to himself, and most unfriendly to his prospects of future respectability and usefulness. On the other hand, with us the student gradually, almost imperceptibly, glides into the ministry, and by continued, but slow enlargement, of the sphere in which he is allowed to move, he rises from a few poor people in a work-house, to address the most respectable auditories. On his return to his father's house, for the Christmas vacation, Mr. Spencer preached for the first time at Hertford. It did not happen to him, as is often the case, that he had no honor in his own coun try. Numbers pressed, urged no doubt, in the first instance, by curiosity, to hear him; and those who are accustomed to mark the influence of similar circumstances upon a susceptible mind, will enter a little into his emotions, when rising to address, upon the most solemn of all subjects, a vast multitude of his fellow-townsmen, amongst whom he recognised many of his juvenile companions-the several members of his own family-and, not the least interesting object of the groupe, the venerable matron who had early instructed him in the principles of his mother tongue, and whose lot it was to observe the first faint dawnings of a talent, then fast hastening to its fullest exercise and strength. But long after the influence of novelty may be supposed to have subsided, he continued to excite the admiration of his native town. His first sermon at Hertford was preached on the evening of Sunday, December 20th, at the Rev. Mr.. Maslin's chapel, from Eph. v, 11, And have no fëllowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.' He preached again on the Wednesday evening following, and on the evening of Christmas day, on which occasion his text was Mich. v, 2, But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting.' The passages of scripture selected by Mr. Spencer, as the subjects of his earliest discourses, afford another demonstration, in addition to many others, of the general bias of his mind. They are such as one may well imagine a preacher panting for the salvation of his fellow men, would select for the commencement of his public labors. The topics which they suggest are of all others the most solemn, as they are the most simple and the most important in the whole range of inspired truth, and hence they were best adapted to the preacher's age, and the unlettered character of his auditors. It seems, that in his earliest sermons there was nothing of that parade and glare-nothing of that excessive fondness of figures and love of imagery, which too often mark the first compositions of youthful preachers-preachers who, in a more advanced state of their ministry, have not been less respectable or useful than he. Whether this is to be considered as an excellence or defect, it is probable, with some, may be a matter of debate. Dr. Blair, (or rather Quintilian, from whom he copies,*) in his remarks on the early compositions of public speakers, urges in favor of that. exuberance of imagination and excess of ornament,that time and experience will prune all this away, and in proportion as the fire of youth declines, the glare of the composition will sink into the settled lustre of maturer age. And hence he argues, for an excessive indulgence of the imagination at this period; since by the time the powers are called into full and steady exercise, they will have undergone a certain train of discipline, and have found their proper limits; but if the composition has all the judicious sobriety of that maturer age, amid the vigor and vivacity of youth, what is it likely to be in the more advanced stages of its exercise, but cold, insipid, and dull. But surely all depends upon the nature of the subject, and the source whence the public orator is to draw the energy which must give animation to his *Quintilian again quotes from Cicero, the great master of eloquence;. whose remarks on this subject are worthy his immortal pen.—Vid. Quint. Just. Orat. lib. 11, ch. 4. et Cicero de Orat. lib. 11. eh. 1, discourses. The fire of genius, the glow of imagi nation, must be the enkindling torches in the senateat the bar; but though not altogether useless in the pulpit, yet they are not the lawful sources of animation there. It is not the blaze of genius, or the glow of imagination; but the sacred flame of fervent piety, the holy kindlings of a mind moved by principles derived from heaven, and the generous efforts of a soul impelled by an intense desire for the salvation of a dying world, that must impart life and energy to the correct, but glowing statements,the warm and impassioned appeals of the ambassa-dor for Christ. Other sources of animation may be exhausted by exercise, and dried up by time; but this can never fail. It will remain the same when the head of the venerable prophet is covered with hoary hairs, and the body is sunk in the decrepitude of age. Nay, as in the case of the apostle Paul, it will rise into brighter radiance as he advances to the termination of his course;-a more ardent panting for the salvation of mankind will mark his dying hours, than that which attended his entrance on his labors; and with David, the last prayer his spirit breathes will be for the universal diffusion of that gospel, which it has been the business and the honor of his life to preach-Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.' -- We now arrive at a period in Mr. Spencer's his tory, peculiarly critical and important.-During the vacation of Christmas, 1807, the Rev. Mr. Leifchild, of Kensington, was supplying the pulpit at Hoxton chapel. One Sabbath afternoon, in January, Mr. |
