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so truly eloquent, that they arrested and enchained the most profound and delighted attention.
We shall never forget his patriarchal appearance in the pulpit.
Another writer at the same time says,--
Dr. Osgood's singular excellence was in the energetic, impassioned expression of religious sentiment.
When urging an important practical truth, his mind seemed all on fire with his theme.
His tones, his gesture, his enthusiasm,--his inspiration, I had almost; said,--were peculiarly his own. Hence, if he did not always satisfy by an argument, he seldom failed to overpower by an appeal.
During the latter part of his life, his aim seemed rather to touch their hearts with a warm piety, and to lead them trustingly to a divine Saviour.
This change, however, in him was gradual.
He found the noonday sun shining upon him at a different angle from the morning ray. He believed with Augustine,
Nulla falsa doctrina est, quae non aliquid veri permisceat.
He kept up his studies in Hebrew, and gave frequent expositions of the Old Testament: but he did not touch the harp of the prophet with that unholy violence which snaps its chords.
He continued his reading of the Greek and Latin classics, and often enriched his sermons from them; thus making heathen plants bear fruit on Christian soil.
He was a fearless preacher.
Hating hypocrisy with his whole heart, he could drag into light the secret, double-faced pretender with awful power; and he loved to make the bold, successful demagogue tremble before him. He was not one of those who are always hacking at the branches of evil: his mode was to strike at its root.
In mild persuasion he did not excel; but in righteous rebuke he had no equal.
His appearance in the sacred desk was singularly imposing, especially after age had whitened his locks.
He had a well-developed frame, a strongly-marked face, a powerful voice, and sometimes a very animated delivery.
Most of the sermons, in the volume published after his death, were delivered
memoriter; and, as these added graces cannot be found in the printed page, those sermons will not justify to after-generations the eulogy we have passed upon him as a preacher.
Opinions.--His opinions were not stereotyped.
His constant study and patient reflection extended his views of God and of
Christ, of man and of truth.
At the time of his settlement, the doctrines of
Arminius, Calvin, and
Hopkins unequally divided this community.
He inclined, with deepest conviction, to the school of the learned
Genevan.
