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of dignity as well as piety, undertake to exhibit themselves for the entertainment of company; to recite low, common-place stories; and not only to repeat, but also to act their narratives, with all the circumstances of comedy and farce which belong to them; it cannot fail of giving pain to every mind of correct christian feeling, and of lowering the ministerial character.

23. Be not ready to JOIN IN NOISY LAUGHTER against any one who has inadvertently committed a blunder, either in speech or action. It gives pain; and is a mark of very coarse breeding. A dignified command of the countenance, is a talent of great value to one in a publick station, and adapted to save him from many an embarrassing and mortifying occurIt is a real infirmity, and, in a minister of the gospel an unhappy one, to be ever ready to laugh, or to be noted as a great laugher.

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24. It is a great offence against good breeding to be ever ready to TURN THE EYES OF A COMPANY ON A CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL, to whom some remark, cursorily made, is supposed to be applicable, and thus, oftentimes, deeply to embarrass him. I have often seen this rule violated in the public assembly, as well as in the parlour. A remark is made, perhaps, which is levelled at the particular denomination or party to which an individual present belongs, or at some opinion which he holds, or some conduct

with which he is known to be chargeable. In an instant, every eye is turned toward him; and perhaps some fairly turn round in their seats, to gaze with a smirk, or a sneer at the supposed delinquent. There is something so indelicate in this, that a person of truly correct feeling will by no means allow himself to practise it.

25. I have long thought that the practice of RETAILING ANECDOTES, was one by far too much indulged by many clergymen. To be able to tell a seasonable, appropriate, short and pointed anecdote, now and then, is certainly an accomplishment by no means to be despised, and very proper to be indulged by a clergyman, as well as by any other man. But to abound in them; to be continually resorting to them; to make the repetition of them a favourite amusement, and one of our characteristicks; is indeed unworthy of a christian minister. I could name clergymen who have a set of anecdotes, which they are constantly retailing; some of them very vulgar; a large portion of them old and perfectly stale; not a few relating to ludicrous citations and expositions of Scripture, and, of course, calculated to make the Scriptures ridiculous in the view of many people; and these, perhaps, repeated the hundreth time, to the loathing of many who have heard them over and over again. A man must

have a better memory, and a richer fund, th commonly fall to the lot of the retailers of anecdotes, who does not repeat the items in his list, many times over, to the same individuals. But this is not the worst. The persons in question, by the constant repetition of ludicrous stories, have insensibly cherished in their minds a habitual bias to levity, and have come, at length, to be expected to be the general jesters for their company.

26. This propensity to the incessant retailing of anecdotes becomes more highly exceptionable, when it leads, as it sometimes does, to the recital of those which include the repetition of PROFANE OR OBSCENE LANGUAGE. It is in vain to say that he who only repeats the story, is not the author of the language, and by no means expresses his approbation of it. If the ear be polluted by the words of profaneness and obscenity, it matters little who first of all uttered them. The work of mischief is accumulating by every repetition; and the desire of every christian ought to be that it be never heard again.

27. Nearly allied to the practise of constantly retailing common-place, or unseemly anecdotes, is that of habitually repeating OLD AND STALE PROVERBS. These, from the circumstance of their having been repeated so many thousand times, have ceased to interest; and many of

them are truly vulgar, so that to be continually repeating them, would be really to subject yourself to the charge of habitual vulgarity. The truth is, making yourself remarkable for the frequent repetition of any particular form of speech, or proverbial expression, is alike contrary to all good taste, and good breeding.

28. And this leads me to lay it down as another fundamental principle of conversation, that nothing in the least degree bordering on the INDELICATE, OR THE COARSE, ought ever to escape, in conversation, from the lips of a minister. If you wish to know how far I would carry this principle, I answer, if there be a thought or a word which the most delicate female would shrink from uttering in a publick company if there be an anecdote, which the most scrupulous matron would be unwilling to relate, if all the world were her hearers ; then let no clergyman venture to give utterance either to the one or the other. His delicacy ought to be quite as scrupulous and pure as that of the most refined lady.

29. It is one of the most obvious dictates of good manners, NOT TO INTERRUPT ANOTHER PERSON WHEN HE IS SPEAKING; and yet how frequently is this plain rule of decorum violated! To interrupt one in conversation, almost always carries with it an offensive character. It implies either, that we are not instructed or

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interested by what he is saying; that we have not patience to hear him to the end, and are anxious that he should come to a more speedy close; or that we are wiser than he, and more competent to give instruction on the subject on which he is speaking: neither of which is consistent with that respect and benevolence which we owe to those with whom we converse. But, while you sacredly guard against interrupting others in conversation, be not impatient of interruption yourself. Bear it with calmness, and without the least indication of irritated feeling. Set it down to the score of inadvertence, of nervous excitement, of irascible feeling, of constitutional impatience-in short of any thing rather than a design to give offence, unless you are compelled by unquestionable testimony to adopt this unfavourable construction.

30. Never allow yourselfflatly and offensively to CONTRADICT ANY ONE with whom you are conversing, provided you mean to remain on good terms with him. It is always a breach of good manners, and, to many persons, peculiarly painful and embarrassing. If you suspect, or even if you are certain, that a statement made is entirely incorrect, instead of saying bluntly, "that is false," or "that is not true;" -or, "the fact is not as you state it ;' ;"---how much more delicate and proper to say-"Do you not mistake ?". "Are you not misin

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