LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 3i 



by any less worthy aims. That Dr. Sharp was 

 so popular a preacher, was no doubt principally 

 to be ascribed to the piety of the man, to 

 which he owed, in great measure, (what his 

 lordship stiles a peculiar talent, viz.) the reading 

 of his Sermons with life and zeal. For it 

 was impossible for him to speak of the things 

 that concerned God or Religion without being 

 affected himself, and without endeavouring, as 

 far as his natural powers would enable him, to 

 affect others also. 



It may seem, indeed, to them who knew 

 Bishop Burnet's faculty of preaching ea:tempore, 

 wherein he undoubtedly excelled, as if he men- 

 tioned Dr. Sharp's reading his Sermons as no 

 part of his laudable character ; and, surely, it 

 was very natural for his lordship, who was con- 

 scious of his own readiness upon all occasions, 

 and very reasonable to allow him who had been 

 bred up in this extemporary way, to be of 

 opinion, that it was no commendable thing for 

 a man to read a precomposed form, though ever 

 so peculiarly well. But yet, others are more 

 at liberty, and it may be, rather inclined to think 

 differently ; as they have been used to dis- 

 courses, penned with care and meditation, and 

 have observed it to be the choice, and almost 

 universal practice of the English Divines, of that 

 and the present age, who have been thought as 



