CHAPTER VIII.

His talent for extempore preaching-Authority and expediency of this mode considered-Family letters— Commencement of the editor's acquaintance with him -Public institutions-Vindication of their character, necessity, and usefulness.

THE principles on which Mr. Richmond formed his ministry have been laid before the reader in the preceding chapter; in which were stated, both the scriptural nature of his doctrines, and the impressive manner of his delivery. He never failed to attract a crowded congregation, and seldom preached without the most decided proofs of a divine power accompanying his ministrations. He also possessed many natural endowments, which in no small degree contributed to his success. He was an eloquent speaker; but his eloquence was not laboured and artificial,-it was the simple and glowing expression of a mind deeply impressed with the importance of his subject, full of affection, and intent on imparting the same feelings to those who heard him.

He used to refer his friends, who conversed with him on the subject of preaching, to the advice of his college tutor : "Don't use terms of science. The people have no abstract ideas, they cannot understand comparisons and allusions remote from all their habits. Take words of Saxon derivation, and not such as are derived from Latin and Greek. Talk of riches, not affluence,-of trust, not confidence. Present the same idea in a varied form, and take care that you understand the subject yourself. If you be intelligent, you will be intelligible."

Mr. Richmond's successful application of these useful rules is well known to all who had opportunity of hearing his sermons. Though never offensively colloquial, he was well understood by the most illiterate of his congregation; nor was he satisfied till he had explained an idea in every possible variety and point of view. On this account he sometimes seemed, to persons unacquainted with his design, to employ a needless number of words. It was once pleasantly said, by one who heard him-" An excellent sermon, but with too many various readings.'

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He was also singularly felicitous in imparting interest to what, in familiar phraseology, is called a dry subject. He was once known to preach an hour and three quarters,' on the incidental

1 This sermon was one of a course of lectures on the evidences of Christianity, preached at Olney, by the neighbouring

evidences of Christianity.

On this occasion it

was said, by a sensible man who heard him,— "This is indeed a magnificent sermon! I always thought Mr. Richmond a good man, but I now know him to be a great man."

Mr. Richmond, as we have before noticed, possessed a fine taste and an almost enthusiastic admiration of the beauties of nature. From these he often selected illustrations, and embellished his subject with allusions to them. He used to say, "There are three books to be studied,—the book of creation, the book of providence, and the book of grace. They confirm and illustrate each other."

These natural talents were consecrated to the service of religion, and gave an interest to his preaching, equalled by few, and excelled by none.

The editor would not be supposed, by these remarks, to lose sight of the influence of the Holy Spirit, without whom "nothing is strong, nothing is holy." He knows that "the Gospel is a mighty engine, but only mighty when God has the working of it." 1 Yet is it most evident,

clergy. Mr. Richmond took his plan from the "Horæ Paulinæ," and applied Dr. Paley's principle to every book of Holy Scripture, with great ingenuity and success. It is much to be regretted that nothing remains of the sermon, except a few short heads of discourse, used by Mr. Richmond at the time of preaching.

1 Adams's Private Thoughts.

that God is pleased to make human agency, the natural endowments and temperaments, as well as the graces of his servants, subserve his purposes; and in the selection of instruments, there is always a peculiar fitness for the work in which he employs them.

The effect of Mr. Richmond's ministry was also considerably heightened by the fluency of his addresses. He adopted a method of preaching usually called extempore; without premeditation, as to the words of a sermon, but not to the exclusion of much previous prayer, and labour in the arrangement of its materials. "It is a singular circumstance," observes a friend of his early life, "that his first attempt to preach extempore, in the very small church of Yaverland, in the Isle of Wight, was a total failure. He was so ashamed of it, that he declared he would not repeat the attempt; and it was only in consequence of the urgent solicitations of our common friend, the Rev. Charles Hoyle, that he was induced to make a second trial, when he succeeded beyond his hopes, and never afterwards found any difficulty."

As a proof of the eminence to which he afterwards attained, we venture to introduce another anecdote.

The late Mr. Whitbread went to hear him preach at St. Paul's, Bedford, in the year 1807, accompanied by a friend, who had expressed an earnest wish to be present. The church was remarkably crowded,-the preacher animated,

and the interest of the congregation strongly excited. The gentleman above alluded to at length observed: "He has now preached with incredible fluency, both as to matter and language, for three quarters of an hour, and he does not seem even yet to be exhausted, or to be drawing to a close." "Exhausted!" replied Mr. Whitbread: "he can hold on, in the same way, if necessary, for two or three hours longer."

We avail ourselves of this occasion to offer a few remarks on the subject of extempore preaching.

This mode of address, which has considerably prevailed during the last twenty or thirty years, however acceptable to some, is known to excite strong prejudices in the minds of others. It is considered as an irregular and unauthorized practice; incapable of that well-digested arrangement, which ought to characterize a discourse from the pulpit; and as derogating from the dignity of the ministers of the Established Church. But this objection regards the execution rather than the principle itself; and it is the legitimacy, suitableness, and efficiency of this practice, rightly and fully improved, which forms the proper subject for consideration. Its legitimacy will most probably be thought by many to be the vulnerable part of the question; while the absence of the practice amongst the constituted guardians of our church, who are supposed to be the proper standards for our imitation, will no doubt be appealed to, as furnishing conclusive evidence against it.