this singular load, and then, as if
accustomed to his general agency, were again bent on the priest, in close, and
curious attention.
    The long experience of Mr. Grant admirably qualified him to perform his
present duty. He well understood the character of his listeners, who were mostly
a primitive people in their habits; and who, being a good deal addicted to
subtleties and nice distinctions in their religious opinions, viewed the
introduction of any such temporal assistance as form, into their spiritual
worship, not only with jealousy, but frequently with disgust. He had acquired
much of his knowledge, from studying the great book of human nature, as it lay
open in the world; and, knowing how dangerous it was to contend with ignorance,
uniformly endeavoured to avoid dictating, where his better reason taught him it
was the most prudent to attempt to lead. His orthodoxy had no dependence on his
cassock; he could pray, with fervour and with faith, if circumstances required
it, without the assistance of his clerk; and he had even been known to preach a
most evangelical sermon, in the winning manner of native eloquence, without the
aid of a cambric handkerchief!
    In the present instance he yielded, in many places, to the prejudices of his
congregation; and when he had ended, there was not one of his new hearers, who
did not think the ceremonies less papal and offensive, and more conformant to
his or her own notions of devout worship, than they had been led to expect from
a service of forms. Richard found in the divine, during the evening, a most
powerful co-operator in his religious schemes. In preaching, Mr. Grant
endeavoured to steer a middle course, between the mystical doctrines of those
sublimated creeds, which daily involve their professors in the most absurd
contradictions, and those fluent rules of moral government, which would reduce
the Saviour to a level with the teacher of a school of ethics. Doctrine it was
necessary to preach, for nothing less would have satisfied the disputatious
people who were his listeners, and who would have interpreted silence on his
part, into a tacit acknowledgment of the superficial nature of his creed. We
have already said that, amongst the endless variety of religious instructors,
the settlers were accustomed to hear every denomination urge its own distinctive
precepts; and to have found one indifferent to this interesting subject, would
have been destructive to his influence. But Mr. Grant so happily blended the
universally received opinions of the Christian faith, with the dogmas of his own
church, that, although none were entirely exempt from the influence