1 846-1 858.] 



HIS PREACHING. 



163 



as perhaps few ministers there, or anywhere else in Warrington, 

 had ever worked before or since \ " but he did not fulfil, nor 

 did he aim to fulfil, the common ideal of an assiduous minister. 

 As a pastor, he grudged neither time, money, nor effort when 

 he felt the claim of distress : he and his friends of a kindred 

 spirit did not spare themselves in cases of illness, and he 

 strove earnestly for some who specially needed his services ; 

 but he disliked to make calls on those who neither gave nor 

 seemed to want sympathy or help. If he had kept a record of 

 his visits, as he did at Stand, it is probable, that the number 

 would have fallen short. As a preacher, he did not devote the 

 time which many ministers think requisite to render the Sunday 

 services effective. He had little inclination for pulpit compo- 

 sition, and only cared to write when he felt strongly. Though 

 occasionally he gave considerable attention to the preparation 

 of lectures and courses of sermons, he was far from deeming it 

 necessary to think over a subject once a week, and write an 

 elaborate discourse. His hearers might have felt the want of 

 variety more, if he had not acted on their permission to preach 

 the sermons of others, as he had done at Stand. His preaching 

 was the effluence of his life. He did not work himself up into a 

 Sunday religion : those who appreciated his life felt the power 

 of his preaching. Both had their phases. Sometimes they 

 displayed an intense spirituality, a lowliness and sadness of 

 heart, a depth of sympathy with Jesus, and a perception of the 

 beauty of His earthly ministry • and sometimes that vehement 

 rebuke of wrong, and that sternness and elevation of conscience, 

 which made him speak like an ancient prophet. At other times 

 his weariness and deadness of soul could not be quite over- 

 come, even in the pulpit. He did not attract a large stated 

 congregation ; but whenever it was known that he was about to 

 speak on any passing event or public wrong, there was a crowd 

 to listen to his word in season. Conventional proprieties might 

 sometimes be shocked ; but no one doubted that he would 

 speak the truth, as it was in him, with directness and power. 

 Such preaching, except in length, answered to Bishop Latimer's 

 description of Jonah's (" Sermon before King Edward," 1550): 



