1801] 
not quite attained it; which is, perhaps, 
the moft unfavourable of any to ftrength 
and vivacity of expreffion, 
fpeaker whofejudgment wavers in the fe- 
leétion of his phrafes, can never produce 
an equal impreflion with him whole feel- 
ings, by long affociation, have become in- 
corporated with his words, and who 
f{peaks, without hefitation, the dictates of 
immediate conception. At this ftage of 
literary progrefs, itis natural to beftow 
More attention on the polifh of ftyle, than 
on the acquifition of. folid materials; 
a charaéter of which th€fermons of our 
more fafhionable preachers afford fome in- 
dications. Inaddition to'this, it fhould be 
ebferved, that fuch of the Scotch clergy 
as are ambitious of purity of language, 
_ and corre&tnefs of accent, in their public 
difcourfes, muft maintain a conftant guard 
againit the intrufion of the popular dialeé&. 
But no man can {peak forcibly ina ftyle 
very different from that which he is ac- 
cuftomed to ufe in daily converfaticn ; and 
till the clergy of Scotland attain a perfect fa- 
miliarity with Englifh idioms and Englifh 
pronunciation, they muft ftill be aah 
deficient in the effential articles of fluency 
of exprefiion and an impreffive utterance. 
It was a prediction of Dr. Johnfon, re- 
corded by Bofwell, that «* when the Scotch 
clergy give up their homely manner, reli 
sion will foon decay in that country.’ 
Tt did not occur to Dr. Johnfon, that when 
the period of refinement fhould arrive, the 
people might leave their eftablifhed teach- 
ers, and might hire others more conf{o- 
nant to their tafte. 
To fuggeft the proper remedy to this 
evil, would not, perhaps, be difficult ; 
but to carry it into effet would require an 
union of opinions, and a combination of 
powers, which are rarely to be expected 
from any numerous body. - No fenfible 
man, I imagine, would defire that the 
clergy fhould return to the vulgarity and 
cant of their predeceffors in the lait age. 
This would be to buy popularity at too 
higha price. The only alternative, then, 
that remains, if we would not wifh to re- 
duce the clergy to a level with the people, 
is to bring the people nearer to the clergy; 
to endeavour to raife them to that degree 
of intelligence and refinement as to relith 
rational inftruction. That the literary 
attainments_of the Scotch peafantry are 
greatly over-rated in the general opinion, 
is evident from this circumiftance, that an 
accurate obferver will find them to be to- 
tally deftitute of juft tate. As their read- 
ing is chiefly confined to books of contro- 
' yerfial divinity, and thofe of the leaft re- 
On the Unpopularity of the Scotch Clergy. 
The public 
303. 
fpectable kind, and to the rhapfodical 
compofitions ae the old Scottifh preachers, 
the only effect that can refult from fuch 
ftudies is, adegree of polemical acutenefs, 
which, however it may raife them above 
the fame clafs of men in other countries, 
contributes but little to the general im- 
provement of the mind. The great object 
therefore is, to diffufe among them a tafte 
for the beauties of compofition ; and to da- 
veh their minds of that predileétion for 
technical divinity and moyftical rant, 
which is the chief fource of difference be~ 
twixt them and the eftablifhed clergy. To 
accomplifh this purpofe, it would be ne- 
ceflary to effect a radical change in the » 
mode of education prattifed in all the 
country {chools. It is well known that in 
Scotlandthe univerfalmanualfor the infruc= 
tion of youth is the Catechifm of theWeft- - 
minfierDivines; and this abftrufe compofi- _ 
tion is even the firft book that children are 
taught toread. Inall the common edi- 
tions the alphabet is prefixed, as a help 
to the mafter in teaching the letters ; and 
the young ftudent paffes juddenly from the 
firft rudiments of learning into the depths 
of {peculative theology.. As foon as the 
children can read it: with eafe, they are 
enjoined to get a portion of it by heart as 
a daily tafk ; and this dif{cipline continues 
as long as they remain in the {chool. The 
efie&ts arifing from this fyfiem are fuch as 
might be expected. | It is obvious that it 
mult completely fail of its purpofe, which 
is, to inftruct the rifing generation in the 
principles of found divinity. Children of 
eight or ten years of age cannot ‘be fup- 
pofed to comprehend doctrines which the 
ableft heads are fometimes puzzled to ex- 
plain; and the habit which they form of 
paffing over the words without attending 
to their meaning, precludes the probabi- _ 
lity of their reading with intelligence when 
more advanced in life. I will venture to 
affert that, among the number of your 
readers who have been educated in Scot- 
land, there is not one but would acknow- 
ledge that the firft time he applied to his 
catechifm in the fpirit of curiofity, the 
meaning of each fucceffive paffage truck 
his mind with as perfect a fenfation of no- 
velty, as though\he had never before taken 
it into his hands. It is to their early ve- 
neration for this performance, that we are 
in a great meafure toa{cribe the fondnels 
of the common people in Scotland for that 
technical pbrafeclogy in-which it is writ- 
ten, but which no preacher, who is aware 
that it excites no definite ideas in the 
minds of his hearers, can employ with a 
good con{ciences, 
The 
