Random recollections of Albany, from 1800 to 1808 . arian ; and in this respect, he bore,and still bears I think, but little resemblance tomany of his clerical brethren. In mind^ as wellas in manner, he stood alone. The narrow dogmas,and common place oratory of the church, werebeneath him. His ambition was to make menwiser and heiier, rather than to promote the sec-tarian interests and speculative tenets of thechurch. The eloquent enforcement of that singleinjunction to do unto others as you would haveothers do unto you, would to an unsophisticatedmind be of more efficacy than a dozen dry dis-


Random recollections of Albany, from 1800 to 1808 . arian ; and in this respect, he bore,and still bears I think, but little resemblance tomany of his clerical brethren. In mind^ as wellas in manner, he stood alone. The narrow dogmas,and common place oratory of the church, werebeneath him. His ambition was to make menwiser and heiier, rather than to promote the sec-tarian interests and speculative tenets of thechurch. The eloquent enforcement of that singleinjunction to do unto others as you would haveothers do unto you, would to an unsophisticatedmind be of more efficacy than a dozen dry dis-courses upon evidence, which no novice requires, orupon those knotty points in theology, which nointellect can comprehend. But it is not mybusiness to preach, nor am I disposed to criticisethe preaching of others. All I mean to say is,that Doctor I^ott was by far the most eloquent andeiiective preacher of the period to which I refer;that he drew together the largest congregation —made the deepest impression, and commanded theprofoundest MUTo mmn mm ililm. Recollections of Albany. 77 His church was filled to overflowing. His ap-pearance in the pulpit, his style of eloquence, hisvery look, Drew audience and attention still as night,Or summers noontide air His elocution was admirable, and his manner alto-gether better, because more impressive, than thatof any other preacher of the day: yet he could not,I think, have been over twenty-eight or thirty yearsof age when I first heard him, which was in afterwards I had the pleasure of becomingpersonally acquainted with him, and soon found hepossessed powers and qualities of which his congre-gation little dreamed. His talents were by no meansconfined to pulpit eloquence, nor even to thewider range of clerical duties. His informationextended to almost every department of life; andwith the whole fabric of human society he was per-fectly familiar. He understood the animal man,not only in the abstract, but


Size: 1431px × 1747px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectalbanynydescriptiona