an."

"I have not yet completed the circle of his accomplishments," said Mr.
Stanley, smiling; "besides what we call book learning, there is another
species of knowledge in which some truly good men are sadly deficient: I
mean an acquaintance with human nature. The knowledge of the world, and
of him who made it; the study of the heart of man, and of him who has
the hearts of all men in his hand, enable a minister to excel in the
art of instruction; one kind of knowledge reflecting light upon the
other. The knowledge of mankind, then, I may venture to assert, is, next
to religion, one of the first requisites of a preacher; and I can not
help ascribing the little success which has sometimes attended the
ministry of even worthy men, to their want of this grand ingredient. It
will diminish the use they might make of the great doctrines of our
religion, if they are ignorant of the various modifications of the human
character to which those doctrines are to be addressed.

"As no man ever made a true poet without this talent, one may venture to
say that few without it have ever made eminent preachers. Destitute of
this, the most elaborate addresses will be only random shot, which, if
they hit, will be more owing to chance than to skill. Without this
knowledge, warmed by Christian affection, guided by Christian judgment,
and tempered with Christian meekness, a clergyman will not be able in
the pulpit to accommodate himself to the various wants of his hearers;
without this knowledge, in his private spiritual visits he will resemble
those empirics in medicine who have but one method of treatment for all
diseases, and who apply indiscriminately the same pill and the same drop
to the various distempers of all ages, sexes, and constitutions. This
spirit of accommodation does not consist in falsifying, or abridging, or
softening, or disguising any truth; but in applying truth in every form,
communicating it in every direction, and diverting it into every
channel. Some good men seem sadly to forget that precept--_making a
difference_--for they act as if all characters were exactly alike."

"You talk," said Mr. Tyrrel, "as if you would wish clergymen to depart
from the singleness of truth, and preach two gospels."

"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley, "but though truth is single, the
human character is multiplied almost to infinity, and can not be
addressed with advantage if it be not well understood. I am ashamed of
having said so m