208 THE JOURNEYMAN. 



natural talent polished by learning. Pew men under- 

 stand better what subjects are susceptible of that elo- 

 quence which at once engages the understandings, ima- 

 ginations, and hearts of men. His views of a subject are 

 generally clear, and his style, though apparently un- 

 studied, is pure and expressive. But, on the other hand, 

 he is an unequal, ofttimes a careless preacher. His ser- 

 mons were such as I have described only for the first 

 ten or twelve months after he received the presentation 

 to this parish. At particular seasons, such as the time 

 of a sacrament, he still exerts himself, and I am cheered 

 by flashes of that spirit the blaze of which once delighted 

 me ; but his common, every-day discourses are dry and 

 doctrinal. They address themselves to the understand- 

 ing, but not to the heart. The knowledge they display 

 of human nature is often vague and general, and such as 

 is to be taught by books. Of that particular and striking 

 kind which is to be acquired by the study of our own 

 hearts or of the characters of others, there is to be found 

 in them but few instances. That cold reserve of charac- 

 ter, which has now become so disgusting to Mr Stewart's 

 parishioners, is surely an unfortunate thing in a minister 

 of the gospel. In a private individual, though often 

 feared and reviled, it has its apology ; but it has none 

 in the man who is bound down both by the command of 

 God and every principle of honesty recognized among 

 men, to devote his whole life to the gaining of souls from 

 Satan. What is merely a singularity in the parishioner 

 is a crime in the minister/ 



Of the seriousness of Miller's mood at this time we 

 have traces in his correspondence with his other friend. 

 He has, he tells William Ross, but two friends, and can 

 as ill afford to lose one of them as he could to lose 

 * an eye or an arm.' ' Alas ! Willie/ he says in a let- 



