LICENCED Roger L' Estrange.  
Decemb. 13. 1671.   

REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THESE TIMES; Particularly of the BAR AND PULPIT.  
LONDON, Printed for Richard Preston in Turnstile Alley in Holborn, 1672.   

THE EPISTLE TO HIS Ingenious Friend T.B.  
SIR,  
ELoquence is so natural to persons of your House, that it is difficult to form any Ideas, but what you have already conceived; or to write any thing upon this glorious Subject, that you have not perfectly considered. All the world knows, that it was this Eloquence, joined with a great Capacity, with a Probity yet more great, and with all those Virtues which Quintilian gives for its companions, which hath advanced your Father to the first preferments in the Church, and who yet attracts the admiration of of this renowned Kingdom. The chiefest glory that you have acquired in pursuing such noble paths, you have obtained from Eloquence: It is to her that you own those great praises, that you have merited in your first sally into the World. For this cause, Sir, the Reflections that I present you belong most justly to yourself; do you protect them, Sir, and it will render them more acceptable to those who read them: For who can refuse to read, or give their approbation to what appears authorized by a name so auspicious to Eloquence as yours is?  
How oft, Sir, have I admired that solid Spirit, that excellent Judgement, that vast and illuminated understanding, which you have in all things, and in which you are so very much distinguished from all those that are considerable, upon the account of their virtue and great qualities? But as you aspire not to any other reputation, but what flows, mixed with pleasure, from an honourable discharge of your sacred Function, I forbear to make a further discovery of what all the world observes in you, & which all your modesty cannot conceal: Yet how would the Public accuse me, if out of fear of wounding your modesty, I should neglect to speak of that unexampled moderation which you have witnessed in the flower of your Age, in renouncing all things, to apply yourself only to copy, even to the least Tracts, from that admirable Model which you have perpetually before your eyes.  
It is there Sir, that you find an inexhaustible fountain of bounty, of Knowledge, and of Piety, which are not to be met elsewhere. How infinitely above others are you rendered capable of all these excellences by a Study such as that is, and by an imitation of such a Father? O what a happiness is it, to have a domestic example, which alone includes all others!  
It is not Fortune alone that distributes these advantages; there is required virtue, which must be as naturalised in a Family to merit these favours of Heaven. I have said perhaps too much for a man that desires not to be known: For it is not enough to conceal my name, but I should also have concealed my Zeal, and contented myself that you know who I am, and with what passion I am, Sir,  
Your very humble and obedient Servant. N. N.   

THE Epistle TO THE READER.  
THat Eloquence which rendered the possessors of it so illustrious in the happy age of Augustus, and in that of his Immortal Predecessors Has now lost all its wont Charms, and natural Beauties. The nobleness of its end, and dignity of its use, is so little preserved in this vain and voluptuous Age, that it is no wonder to see it degenerated into a thing merely superficial. We labour in the composition of Perfumes, and our cares are only scrupulous in the disposition of Words, and an arrangment of Sentences, with a beautiful variety of Periods; we commonly hunt after glistering Metaphors, and making choice of expressions, which go to the pomp and ostentation of our Language, even sometimes to the contempt and ruin of Piety, whilst we neglect, out of a slothful impatience, what goes to the essence of it. True Eloquence consists not in the number of Syllables, nor in a musical ordering of Dactyls or Sponds to make up harmony. Of which kind was that Oration of Ovid, which Seneca calls solutum Carmen. Alas, how miserably do they mistake; who make it consist in a few fugitive words. True Eloquence is a thing that survives in the most ingrateful Memories, and makes its passage into the most secret parts of Man, descends to the bottom of his heart, and pierces even to the Centre of the soul: It is above the scrupulous Precepts of Grammarians. Priscian has no longer any Jurisdiction over us; nor are his Precepts of more force to us than the Edicts of the Great Mogul. The Compilators of common places, the Copiers of others Rhetorics, or the Translators of some Chapters of Quintilian, are not of the number of those who do successfully attach or captivate the Soul; they may have their Faction, and be satisfied with their applauses, but yet all their victories are only in Picture, their triumphs in Masquerade, and all their false miracles but a shadow. The world is so far become reasonable, as that pedantry has lost its credit, even in the Universities. Their travel is to be pitied, who are busied in the gathering and tying together of Flowers, and decking their declamations in affected Ornaments, which only surprise the Ignorant and the Vulgar. True Eloquence has the mean of an Amazon, rather than of a Wanton; She is not so curious of her Ornaments, as of her Arms, and had rather gain the soul by an entire victory, than debauch it for a few hours by a light satisfaction; all her charms are the charms of a Majestic Beauty, which only triumphs over great Souls, and dazzle not the Imprudent by a borrowed and affected lustre. It must well confided, that, besides the knowledge of all Sciences, an Orator must be acquainted with all the different avenues to the seat of Reason; he must perfectly know the strength and weakness of humane spirit, and those parts of the soul that are most pregnable. I have often blushed with indignation at the reading of some of our Late Writers; so much are also their styles vitiated and depraved: and to see so few Imitators of that vigorous and majestic stile of our illustrious Bacon, which was the legitimate offspring of his fine pregnant and powerful Imagination. As on the Stage, Farce has supplanted Comedy, so in the Press the lascivious and burlesque hath usurped upon the grave and modest. And what is most deplorable, we have seen the holy Scripture itself debased by an impudent and ambitious Jargon; and even those Authors which pass for the most polished, the most elaborate Discourses, are but nugas canoras, Six words are oftentimes cramed with twelve figures, and all their Sentences pompous and magnificent; but that Magnificence is so far removed from sobriety, and the Majesty of an Oratory stile, that the most rash and prodigal Poesy has nothing more licentious. The most of our young Orators, as well as Poets, are distempered by this wild and extravagant fury. In others we find an inequality, which renders their discourses monstrous; sometimes they are elevated with a precipitation approaching to fury; and other sometimes depressed so low, that their styles become flat and distasteful, whereas it ought to be continued in a constant equality and sweetness. Non est formosa cujus crus laudatur, aut brachium, sed illa cujus universa facies admirationem singulis partibus abstulit. The Clergy, Sir, 
Seneca.  are not wholly exempt from failings; their Eloquence is properly Pagan, which proceeds from the reading of certain Authors, which has so imbued their minds with their Ideas, that they cannot forbear them in matters the most Religious; how many thinking it better to say the Christian Persuasion than the Christian Faith, etc. Know Reader, that notwithstanding what I have said, that I am so far from despising or undervaluing Elocution, that I praise, and admire it in whomsoever I find it; and I am as much in love with elegant words and noble expressions, which may adorn our Language, as any are: But yet, with Quintilian, I would have them serve to unfold a sense yet more considerable. Curam ego verborum, rerum volo esse solicitudinem; A too great care of words, and their disposition is equally , with a too great neglect. I am very sensible, that he who appears in Print, let the cause, as to himself, be never so good, profitable, or commendable, exposes himself to censure; yet I cannot forbear to urge the general importance of the Subject in excuse of my pains. I know it cannot be unseasonable in a time when our own Clergy are still wrestling with the reproaches that have been lately cast upon them upon this account. Yet I must needs say, that had the stile of that Author been more modest and respectful, he might have escaped the confusion of being seen in the Press the second time less to his advantage. Instructions are entertained with effect, when they are not too personally addressed: We may with civility glance at, but cannot, without rudeness and ill manners, stare upon the faults or imperfections of any man: And I think every man ought to be offended with himself, who violates that religious respect which they own to the Church and Churchmen.   

ERRATA.  
PPage 6. Line 12. for fine active Spirits, read fine and active Spirits: and l. 15. f. this r. it is. P. 13. l. 15. f. as a skilful Painter knows, r. as a skilful Painter who knows. P. 14. l. 20. f. that the extremity and heat, r. that in these extremities the beat. P. 15. l. the last. f. Escheres r. Eschenes. P. 24. l. 16. f. his Spirit r. our Spirit. P. 63. l. 23. f. dicerenter r. dicerentur. P. 80. l. 17. f. amongst us r. among them. P. 88 l. 4. f. some tincture r. some tinqueure of Antiquity. P. 116. l. 19 f. pains r. pain. P. 131. f. minds r. means. l. 14.   

REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THESE TIMES.  
THough true Eloquence hath a power more absolute than Authority, or Violence, to which we do not usually submit ourselves more than in Ceremony and with constraint; yet its powers are subject to revolutions and declinations, as all other things are: For we have much pain in these times to find any remainder of that Empire which it exercised upon the Spirits of men, and whereof there appeared so many glorious marks in those Ages and States where she hath ruled. We must not now expect such miracles of Elocution, nor such excellent works of Discourse, as have received birth in Athens and Rome, when Eloquence was there the Mistress universally adored.  
Let us not boast ourselves upon the pretended Glory of our Age, which we prefer to all others, without a due deliberation; for at this day, who is the Orator that can be Master of the resolution of those to whom he speaks, and force them to divest their preoccupations, and renounce their Sentiments? We have heretofore seen Eloquence in a short moment restore a Calm in the most violent agitations of a people moved and mutinous: We have seen it in the confused deliberations of a tumultuous Assembly, to make impressions unhoped for upon their Spirits, and to appease their Seditions by inspiring the most fearful with Courage, and disarming the insolent and revolted, and constraining both to follow blindly her Counsels: We have seen her also in Arms, in the shape of Pallas, fly from Rank to Rank, and restore heart to fainting and flying Soldiers; and in fine, to triumph amidst the Armies of those whom she hath vanquished by her Reasons.  
But to speak truly, at the present, we have only remaining a vain Phantom of that victorious Eloquence, which we now possess not but in Idaea. 
Ingenii ipsius lumen eloquentia. Cic. O●o●.  Let us examine then from whence comes this Disorder in a time wherein we have so much Spirit.  

§. 1.  
ARistotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Longinus, which have left us Treatises of Rhetoric, the most accomplished of Antiquity, remark that that Eloquence which they had seen sometimes in Athens and in Rome, before that these Republics had lost their liberty, could not rule then amongst a People free and Independent: She is a fierce and haughty Mistress, who cannot be made subject to Vassalage or Flattery: She seems to bear in her Character that of a Monarchy, which cannot submit without destroying itself: And Aristotle observes that she had not any success in Sicily, during that the Tyrants were their Masters, when all other Arts continued there and flourished. This was the opinion of these great men, who were very able to judge of the truth, though they licenced themselves to speak something in favour of the Government wherein they had been advanced.   

§. 2.  
As the Honours that Greece rendered to Eloquence, made it considerable amongst other Nations, and the success it had at Rome was by the great rewards which were proposed; so her Credit ceased there, when her Recompenses were taken away. We must not then be astonished, (the Fruit which we gain from this Art, being now so disproportionate to the travel and application that it demands) if we find so few Orators so courageous as to sustain the Fatigue, 
Sibi persuaserunt neminem sine eloquentiae, aut assequi posse in Civitate, aut tueri conspicuum & eminentem locum: De cause. corrup. Eloq.  especially when it is not attended by any hopes which smile either on their Interest or Ambition. Eloquence was the means to attain to the greatest Honours in those Estates in which she had Dominion; but in these times there is little or nothing to be obtained by the same way: This alone is capable to extinguish that generous ardeur and study which is necessary to Eloquence, and to rebate the most fine active Spirits.   

§. 3.  
That greatness of Genius which Eloquence requires, and which we search after, is now no more to be found: This is a gift of Heaven, and a work of many Ages; for besides a happy birth for the pronunciation, the sole Assembly of Natural Qualities required to succeed in this Art of Speech, is extremely rare; there is required an extraordinary elevation of Spirit, a great judgement form by a natural solidity, to which the usage of the world, and a profound knowledge of Letters, must give perfection: There is also required a vast Memory, and an extended Imagination, an easy Comprehension, a Voice clear and distinct, a Visage that hath nothing of forbidding, a Pronunciation fine and animated, joined with an Air of Authority; and many other Qualities, which being usually incompatible of themselves, are very difficultly found all together assembled: 
Cernimus vix singulis aetatibus binos Oratores laudabiles extitisse. De Orat.  'Tis this that gave cause to Cicero to complain, in his time, when Eloquence was so flourishing, that he could not without great trouble find in that Age, two Orators that merited esteem; yet this is no reason but that they may be found not was well as at other times; for Nature is as liberal of her gifts in these last times, as she was in the first; but ordinarily we have not so much light, to know in ourselves those qualities, when they are there; or sufficient care or application to cultivate them; so that they are there, as if they were not at all.   

§. 4.  
Besides this natural disposition, there is required to be eloquent, a great capacity, and a great application. These were the three things which rendered the Eloquence of Brutus, 
Erat in Bruto natura admirabilis exquisita doctrina, & industria singularis. De clar. Orat.  which Cicero praised so much, so very accomplished: There must be a great Attachment to study, and an extraordinary diligence at the Cabinet to replenish the Spirit with knowledges necessary to Eloquence. It is good to draw from the Sources, to study to the bottom the Ancients, principally those which are original; and in fine, to make a Subject of our perpetual Meditation the Rhetoric of Aristotle, who hath taken the care to expose so exactly all the particular motions of man's heart. The Orator ought to make the chief end of his Study to move the Souls of his Auditors by the movement of his Affections, which are the true resorts of this Machine, which is so difficult to inflame, when we bestow no time in the study of them.  
Without this knowledge an Orator is in a condition to determine nothing, nor to obtain the attention of an Oracle, which he must ordinarily be esteemed; nor can his spirit be capable of any reasonable production, according to the opinion of the judicious Critic, Neque concipere, neque edere partum mens potest, nisi ingenti flumine literarum undata. By what means can he enlighten others, if he himself be not enlightened? or how can he persuade, if himself be not persuaded? And who is there now who can sustain the travel of a study so opiniastre, and of a perseverance so great, as must be that of the Orator, who must be ignorant of nothing?   

§. 5.  
The true Eloquence being so difficult to acquire, we think at least to recompense it by the appearances of a false Eloquence, which had its first course amongst the Greeks and Latins, in the declinings of their Republics, which never had any subsistence or entertainment than in the servitude of these Nations. The Sophists, whose Lives Philostratus and Eunapius have described, established in their public places, this false eloquence, which gives all to the exterior part by airy and wand'ring Discourse, and hath no other tendency, than to amuse the people: but as this Eloquence has nothing of natural, the Figures themselves and the Ornaments serve only to render it more weak.  
All its Movements are false; it touches not at all the heart, nor enters in any manner into the Spirit; all that it gives, is a pleasure superficial, and is no more than a simple pastime for the foolish and idle. But as it is easy to mistake universally the false for the true; for the former quickly offers itself to the Spirit; but the latter is not found than with study and with care: the first is immense by the multiplicity of its appearances, which serve to disguise it; whereas the other has none, and consists in some kind in a point indivisible: We ought not to be astonished if we take Appearance for Truth in Eloquence, as in other things; but when we arrive to true discernment, we find that there is little of true Eloquence or perfect Oratory; and that the most part of those which speak in public, are no other than pure Declamators.   

§. 6.  
We exercise not ourselves to obtain this Eloquence in the way that is most ordinary, and sure to succeed in the pursuit, that is, frequent exercise in composition, 
Nulla res ad dicendum proficit quantum scriptio. Cic. fu Brut.  to which we must apply ourselves with no little assiduity to acquire a habitude; for nothing is equal to the advantage we receive by it: It was by this way that Demosthenes and Cicero are come to that degree of perfection which every one knows; and without speaking of the first who spent so many years in that acquest; 
Caput est quod minime facimus; est enim magni laboris quod fugimus quam plurimum scribere, De Orat.  no person is ignorant that the latter employed all his leisure which his Affairs allowed him, to exercise himself to speak well, by this frequent use of Composition.   

§. 7.  
We study not to speak things correctly, nor to make our Images and Portraicts equal; we speak usually too much or too little; the Mean that we must hold, is known to very few persons, for that it is almost imperceptible; to attain which Knowledge, we have but very few Rules. And as a skilful Painter knows how to distinguish Passions in different Subjects wherein he is to express them; he does not make the joy of a Prince like that of a Valet, nor the fiercness of a common Soldier equal to that of his General. There are also in the motions of the Soul different degrees, which the Orator ought to distinguish, to avoid the confusion of Images; Which are not well comprehended or understood but by those who are perfect Masters of the Art. The Ignorance of this Principle, so little practised, occasions the making so many false pictures of Eloquence. 
In omnibus rebus videndum quatenus; etsi enim suus cuique modus est, tamen majus offendit nimium quam parum. De clar. Or at.  It is important in the multitude of Ideas which present themselves to the Fancy, to make a just choice, and to avoid taking the false for the true; this demands an exact discernment, a great experience, and an exquisite understanding; we ought above all, to make a reflection, that the extremity, and heat of our Fancy may not transport us, and the too much shocks more than the too little. This is that which the Roman Orator reproves so many times in his books of Rhetoric: For the too much is always a mark that we are transported beyond ourselves, which is a great fault; but the too little may seem a mark of Moderation and Reserve, which is always a Virtue.   

§. 8.  
We think it not enough to bestow our Cares in the study of our natural disposition, to follow its inclination, without committing some constraint in affecting Manners, which becomes us not, and in forcing through violent studies, wherewith we become overburdened; or in fine, in imposing an air of Greatness, or of more Art than we are able to sustain; this began (as Cicero notes) first to make Eloquence degenerate from that Grandeur which it had in Athens, under Pericles, Lysias, Eschenes, and Demosthenes; for that Demetrius Phalerius affected more of Art than his Genius could bear. 
Phalereus non tam armis, quam Palaestra inslitutus, Cicero in Brut.    

§. 9  
The Pronunciation, which is one of the most important parts of Eloquence, is yet one of the most neglected: It renders Eloquence sensible to the people by the composition of the exterior part, and which hath the Art to impose by the appearances, when it wants the power to touch by its effects. If its virtue be so great, as to make impression in Subjects feigned and supposed, as it doth upon a Theatre in a Comedy, what can she not do, when things true are her object? But this admirable Art becomes unprofitable to those which speak in public, because of the little care they have to use and apply it; 'tis true, he must have much of the natural in him, who succeeds well in this Art; but where he wants that, application may supply. The Eloquence of Demosthenes became admirable by his pronunciation, though he had not any natural disposition; and he was obliged for his success, to the pains that he took to obtain it: But because we are soon weary of these constraints, we cannot resolve to give ourselves the pain that is required to form ourselves to this exeroise whereby we lose that great advantage that the pronunciation gives to an Orator, by giving a certain agreement to his person, and by the passionate expressions which it inspires even into his Eyes and Visage: Also we may truly say, that nothing frustrates more the ordinary effects of Eloquence than the little care we have of the exterior part, whose faults become so much more sensible, as they are above, in delicacy, the other pleasures we receive from Eloquence; which being an Art to please by the profession which it makes, hath nothing more opposed to it, than that which is violent and disagreeable in the action.   

§. 10.  
Those which make profession to speak in public, are not so careful to put in use their Logic, either by a pure negligence to instruct themselves in it, or by a natural debility to practise it; or in fine, by a very  regret they have to put themselves in pain of a little Meditation, in which the Discourses of Ceremony, or of Interests of State, with those of Religion, have not any part; and those which are purely for pomp and preparation, are ordinarily those wherein Logic finds its self most defective; for that they are too wand'ring, or too abstract for the general matters whereof they treat. Logic is the first Rule of Discourse, and the universal Organ of Speech; to discourse without this Instrument, 'tis but to beat the Air, and make a noise; we cannot say any thing that's judicious, or supportable, without it. How oft do we abandon it? and when we put it into use, how many extravagances do we commit, either by the confusion of the expressions wherewith we perplex it; or in fine, by the Idea we form of false Reasonings, to supply the want of the true Reason, which cannot inhabit but in a Spirit fine and penetrating: The rareness of such a Character is the reason that we find Eloquence so defective in the most part of those which make profession of it; for that the Reasonings on which they establish it, are either too mysterious, or too common, or altogether false and Chimaerical; and if we examine things well, we shall find that commonly in the usage of Eloquence in this age, there is no defect so essential as that of Reasoning, to which we have no great care to form ourselves. This is not so much obtained by the study of Logic, which we learn at the College; as by the reading Aristotle's Rhetoric, and by the frequent commerce we must have with good Books, the reading whereof imprints upon the spirit a justness of apprehension, which cannot be acquired without it. A right judgement is sometimes a Gift which comes purely from Nature; but when we have it not, we must labour to find it in Books, whereof we must be careful to make a good choice; for we may meet with some Books, which, instead of rectifying, may quite destroy our judgements: We must therefore take counsel of the most knowing persons, upon what we are not able to understand ourselves. The neglect of this, is the reason why so few persons are capable, and young men yet more than others; for that their experience and the usage of things have not yet formed their Spirit: But though the want of Logic be the most ordinary defect of those that speak in public, yet it is a thing whereof there always appears the least want; for none but men of the finest spirits, whereof there is always the fewest, are capable of that knowledge; not but that the people perceive very well the natural order of Discourse, and all that there is of Logic in it, without knowing it; but their Light reaches not so far to see what is false in his Reasonings, or defectuous in the order and pursuit of his Design: Upon which we may make three Orders of Spirits, the first, of those which attend only to the Words, to judge of their Beauty; the second, of those which go further, and who judge of the Thoughts: the third, of those which go even to judge even of the whole Design, Order and Proportion of the Parts; which last is not known but by the most intelligent. There are some Orators who leave not their Auditor's liberty to examine the bottom of their Discourse, by a certain Charm of Words and of Thoughts, wherewith they surprise them: There are some others which quite blind us by the agreeable manner of expressing things. I have known a person of this sort, who always pleased, though his Discourse was very little correct, either in the Order or Reasoning: but after all, he pleased none but Women and the Ignorant; the more understanding esteemed him not.   

§. 11.  
When we apply ourselves to the study of Eloquence, we are accustomed to mistake, by the false measures we take of it, or of its Subject, or of those to whom we address ourselves. For an Orator who hath a great elevation of Spirit, many times takes too great a pleasure in pursuing his own Fancy, without giving any care to proportion his Discourse to the Subject, or to measure the capacity of those to whom he speaks; it is much more easy to abandon ourselves to the impetuosity of our Genius, than to regulate ourselves according to the Circumstances of the things we speak of; for one is the effect of Imagination, the other the effect of Judgement, which is a Gift more rare. Also it is no marvel if those that speak in public, are so subject to this Disorder, out of which spring so many Indecencies, and choquant Disproportions which are jumbled together in our ordinary discourses which are made public; as the assuming of an air of greatness in the most trivial affairs, and affecting grand expressions in the most petty Subjects; making ostentation of the beauty of his Spirit to the people, and before a gross and stupid Auditory, and being ardent and pathetic in Subjects which deserve it not. Eloquence ceases to be true, 
Refert cognoscere qui sunt audientium mores, quae publica recepta persuasio. Fab. l. 3. c. 7.  when it hath no proportion with the capacity of those to whom it is addressed. The diversity of Ages, 
Ut gubernator ad incursus tempestatum, sie agenti ad varieta tem causarum ratio mutanda. Quintil. l. 10, cap. 7.  Sexes and Conditions, and of Lights acquired or natural, aught to oblige the Orator in different manners to proportion it to the Spirits of these different estates.   

§. 12.  
It must be known in general to distinguish the divers Characters of Eloquence, for to serve himself according to the necessity of the Subject whereof we treat, lest we fall into confusion. And we must be especially careful of this confusion, because nothing is capable to succeed in this Art out of its place. The grand Air of Eloquence ought to be in great places, and i● great Assemblies, where we find a general concourse: For we must speak to persons of great quality in that kind of Discourse which hath most of esteem, extension and grandeur of expression. This Character ought to be used in the most elevated Subjects, and in the most important matters; as it ought to be simple, 
Tenues causae tenue dicendifilum requirunt. Orat. Oratio poscitur austera, si accuses; fusa, si laudes. Quintil. l. 9 c. 4. Loquendi accurata, & sine molestia diligens Elegantia. Cic. in Brut.  natural, and without affectation of expression in lesser Subjects. Praises demand a Style elevated and diffused; Accusations serious and austere; in fine, Eloquence hath arrived to its utmost perfection, when it knows to adapt words proportionate to things, and to conserve the care to unfold herself without difficulty or scruple. There remains two things especially to be avoided, the cold Style, and the Boyish; for the first renders the Discourse dry and insipid, by the faint languor and lowness of its expression; the second renders it distasteful and tedious by its affected amplifications, wherewith they weary the patience of the Auditor.   

§. 13.  
Thought that Longin. confounds in some fashion the cold Style, and Boyish, whereof I have spoken we may always distinguish them in this manner; in the affectation of a cold Style, we use great expressions in Subjects which demand little; and in the Boyish, we use little and low expressions in things that demand great: But our Language is become so modest, reserved and scrupulous, that it rejects all expressions too strong and glistering, Metaphors too hardy, and the too frequent points in a cold stile, as it does in the Boyish, the little exultations in serious matters, and the too languishing amplifications in those places of discourse, which ought to be serious and concise.   

§. 14.  
It is impossible to be happy in an elevated Style, when we are not entirely persuaded that it is form of the things themselves which we have to speak, of the great images which we have conceived, and of the elevation of our Genius more than that of Expression, the vain splendour of words, or that train of studied Periphrases. This is that which in Discourse, in some manner, is like that load of Flesh in the Body of man, which serves only to charge & imbarrass it with an unprofitable weight; for when this elevated Style is unnatural, it degenerates into a Character low and reptile; for it cannot sustain itself. Pindar and Sophocles elevated themselves so high by the grandeur of their expression, that they could not, without much pain, pursue it. And when they could not bear up that elevation, which is not natural; for that it is not always in the things they speak of; they sometimes abase themselves even to a contempt, and become not knowabl even to themselves. This is a fault not to be pardoned; for there is a presumption of appearing great without being so, and a desire to elevate themselves without being able to sustain themselves in that height. The Secret is to study how to think of things worthily, 
Oratio sententiis debet esse ornatior●● quam verbis. Fab.  and serve ourselves of no other words than of those which are capable to answer to the dignity of the Subject whereof we speak.   

§. 15.  
As the great defect of the wiser sort of men is the negligence they have to measure themselves upon the capacity of the Subject, or their Auditory. That of the lesser Genius's is a too scrupulous care, and a too affected Diligence to attach themselves more than is required, to finish in particular certain parts of the Discourse they have enterprised, & to which they have some peculiar affection. This is a pure effect of their little judgement, to tie themselves to one part of a Design; for they are not able, nor so happy as to form a Design all entire. These narrow Spirits suffer themselves to be surprised into a false Principle, which they would authorise by the Authority of Tyrius Maximus, who pretends that Art hath always something more perfect than Nature; and that we cannot find any natural Beauty that can be so perfect as some of their artificial Statues. I pretend not to enter into a Discussion of that Principle with this Philosopher: But Eloquence being the true Art to please, which she cannot do without an imitation of Nature, that Maxim of those little Spirits which give so much to Art, is not a very sure mean to persuade. I pretend not only that Rule is false, but that their too Boyish Attachment to Precepts which they have learned in their youth, hath formed in them a very vicious Idea of Eloquence: We need not then consult the Agamemnon of Petronus, to comprehend the ridiculousness of that Eloquence which hath nothing of natural in it; for that it fastens itself too much upon the exterior Ornaments, which they would have to pass for that which is most essential. The true foundation of Eloquence is a good Judgement, which as it is the quality most necessary to speak in public, so it is the most rare; we need not be astonished that we find so few perfect Orators, since a perfect Orator cannot be formed but in an Age happy, and in a people of good Gust.   

§. 16.  
The Sovereign Art of Eloquence consisteth in a scrupulous attention to Nature, as to its true Model, and first Original, whereof we have so little knowledge, by reason of the little care we take to pursue the Tracts, and to observe the conduct; we must study then to know well this great Model, and to examine all its Resorts by a profound study of Philosophy, and a long observation of natural things; for so often as we depart from Nature we fall into error and mistake; the heat of our most passionate motions, is but a false heat; the most dazzling splendour of her Figures are but a false and deceitful blaze; and the greatest of her Reasons hath nothing real, and is no other than a sophistical Declamation and pure Illusion.   

§. 17.  
We find very little of construction in the Discourses of the most of our public Orators, because they apply not themselves to study the Rules of Speech. Those which have a genius for Eloquence find it a trouble to abase themselves to those little scrupulous cares which are necessary to succeed well; the natural elevation of their spirit cannot be subjected to those circumspections; and those that have not that genius, are subject to fall into the fault of affectation, to supply by words that which they want of light to understand things well.   

§. 18.  
The most ordinary source of those defects which we meet with in the expression, which is so essential to Eloquence, comes from the natural defects of the imagination. The expression falls into a Lux and into superfluity, when the Imagination is too quick and ardent; she falls into galimatias and into obscurity, when the Imagination is too abundant and too profuse: In fine, it falls into a faint languishing and insipidness, when the Imagination is too cold, too heavy and enveloped.   

§. 19  
We scarce ever study that just temperament which is of so much use in the mixing in our Discourse, Reason with Authority, Comparison and Similitude with Example and Induction. In the usage itself which we make of this great Instrument of persuasion, we apply not ourselves with any care to arrange our reasons in such a manner, as that the one may sustain the other by the order which we give them; for the stronger Reasons ought to succeed the weak, and the most solid to those that are the less solid, to the end that the Discourse may sustain and elevate itself the nearer it approaches to the period of its perfection. This is a thing of such Importance, that the only neglect of this observation renders sometimes the reasonings which are very strong and solid, little effective, for that they weaken themselves when the proportion of the reasons is not observed. This proportion consists in the not urging of any thing that may appear weak, when we have said any thing more persuasive: For the latter Reasons make the most lasting impression in the spirit, and aught therefore, as I have said before, to be the most strong. Besides the mannagement of the Reasons, which ought to be placed in their natural order, and ought not to be confounded, they must also be orderly managed in the use which we make of Induction, lest we be exposed to an inconsiderate multiplication. Also our Orator must have that admirable Art, which knows generously to retrench superfluities in things as well as words, and to suppress too frequent Ornaments, without harkening to the transport of the Imagination, which by a natural inclination suffers itself to be carried away to a vain splendour of Discourse, which usually hath nothing of solid Eloquence, he cannot move with success those great Machine's of haet Art, without these precautions, which are of the highest consequence, for that they reduce things to their natural estate. But these Observations are but seldom practised, because they are but little known.   

§. 20.  
That Eloquence which touches not the spirit, and makes not its way to the heart, is not true Eloquence, it is no more than a pure instruction, which ought not to be used but in the School. And all those Beauties which smite the spirit without affecting the heart, are not true Beauties. That great Air itself which Longinus teaches, affects but little, when it doth not dazzle nor astonish, as he avows himself, for that it enters not into the thoughts of those to whom we speak. All those great expressions, without as great thoughts, are like those great Ships that are not balanced, they float, and never sail in safety.   

§. 21.  
That Eloquence in general which bestows too much care in the arrangment of words, 
Cum verborum derogat affectibus fidem, et ubicunq: ais o lentatur veritas abesse videtur. Quint. l. 10. c. 4. Non ad judiciorum certamen, sed ad voluptatem aurium scripserat Isocrates. Cic Orat.  and of that outward splendour which glisters in the expression, almost never succeeds. We are usually displeased with all things which appear studied and artificial. That great Orator Isocrates, which wrote, as it seems, only for pleasure, was not fit for affairs, and had never succeeded at the Bar, for that he was too polished. This was the manner also of the Sophists, upon whom Socrates rallyes so pleasantly in Plato's Phaedra, and Longinus notes in the great artifice of Hiperides, who used to fill his Discourse with too many Ornaments, and too many beauties. It is a great Art to know how to manage these Ornaments, and to dispose them in their due place, when necessity obliges to make use of them. The Artifice of Eloquence cannot have any effect, but against itself, when it is too dazzling, for thereby it becomes suspected, and we regard it only as a Page which is gaudily dressed, 
Quae par●nt retia vitat av●s: Ovid.  for no other end than to surprise. Besides, that which strikes the spirit and the sense with too much splendour, wearies and oppresses. In fine, 'tis necessary that the matters themselves be not without beauty to bear those great Ornaments which become ridiculous in little Subjects; for there is nothing more contrary to Art, than to adorn what merits it not: And 'tis not of the least importance in this Art, to know what is to be neglected, and what is not. To be too expensive in Ornaments, is but a vain and fruitless prodigality; for we often find, that which glisters most in Discourse is most usually false. Those studied Figures, those fine Antithesies, and those splendid Epithets, are not always conformable to good sense. True Eloquence doth not dazzle or surprise, but insinuates by little and little into the spirit. The Reasons that are most capable to move, are ordinarily the most common, as Aristotle teacheth us. 
Topic. 1.  And the most natural Language to which we are carried, by the sole desire we have to make ourselves understood, is most proper and the best. Those Discourses which require much of spirit and ornament, as Panegyrics, and Funeral Orations, contain little that's very solid, and generally own their success to the pronunciation: We may discover the truth when they come to the Press; which I advise those that make them, not to publish. When they want that heat of action which first gave them life, they make no longer any impression. There are Images in Eloquence as there is in painting, which sometime must be shown to the view are a distance, and sometime near at hand.   

§. 22.  
There is required in Eloquence less of Genius to invent things, than to place them in order: For that place which we must assign (to have them disposed where they ought to be) will cost more than the pains we are at in cogitation and invention; for every reasonable spirit may have reasonable thoughts; but it is not so easy to give to our thoughts that grace which renders things agreeable, and which makes them to be admired. This is it in which consists Eloquence: I mean not that Eloquence of words which we ordinarily know but too much, but the Eloquence of things, which we seldom well understand, and have little knowledge of; and the perfect attainment of which, we cannot hope than from an happy Nature. We may know the price of this Art, by the great difference in the same things diversified. This right disposal of things ordinarily makes the beauty of an Oration; and though this Air be usually the bounty of our Nature, yet we have means to acquire it, when Nature hath denied it; as a frequent use of Composition under a good Master, or an intelligent friend, and a diligent commerce with ancient Authors; it is from them that we learn that justness which gives to the Spirit that agreeable variety, and which the spirit communicates to all its thoughts and Imaginations when we have a Genius for it.   

§. 23.  
There is not, according to the sentiment of Cicero, any true Eloquence, 
Eloquentiam quae admirationem non habet nullamjudico. Cic in Brut.  but that which doth attract an admiration; and there is nothing more capable to render it admirable, according to the judgement of that great man, than the pictures that it makes of manners, and those motions that it excites in those divers passions which it toucheth. This cannot be effected without a perfect knowledge of the heart of man, which ought to be the sovereign Science of the Orator. The Portraicts that he makes of manners cannot be false, if he know well the principal, which is the heart; and he will know without doubt, how to move with success the most hidden Parts of the soul, that is to say, the Passions, by the same knowledge of the heart, which is the source. The little cares (that the most part of those that speak in public have to know the depth of that abyss which appears so difficult to descend) is the cause that we have so few successful Orators. For this cause those who make profession of Eloquence, aught to make very serious Reflections; for all being well considered, no man is properly eloquent, who knows not the heart of man, and all its intricate Maeanders, to expose them to the people.   

§. 24.  

Quis ignorat eloquentiam descivisse a veteri gloria, no inopia hominum, sed desidia juventutis parentum negligen tia, et inscitia precipientium.  The evil Education of Youth, caused by the extreme luxury and delicateness of this Age, by the indulgence of Parents, by the little experience of Masters, and by the ignorance of the most part of those with whom we converse, is one of the most certain Causes that there is so little success in this Art, it being one of the greatest obstacles to Eloquence. We conduct our Youth through false and unequal paths, and through very unskilful methods, who being corrupted even in their principals, it is no wonder if their success be so little happy, and their purfuits unprofitable.   

§. 25.  
I do not affirm that there are not yet some sparks of wit remaining, which eminently shine in some of the Orators of this Age, who cease not to merit applause and reputation: but because Eloquence purely natural cannot achieve any thing without the succour of Art, as may be usually observed either by the false principles which we assume, or the little application of those who make profession of it: it cannot arrive to merit the general admiration of the people, by the marvellous effects which it would produce upon their hearts if it were accomplished.  
I have thus finished the Reflections, as may be made upon the use of the Eloquence of this Time, considered in general; and upon that which may hinder its effects in those occasions which it hath to make appear its power over hearts. Those that follow are Reflections upon the use of Eloquence in particular, and the two principal Species of it, The Eloquence of the Bar, and that of the Pulpit; wherein I have remarked the abuse which may be committed in the one and in the other, and the means to succeed with moderate felicity in both.    

REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THE BAR.  
ELoquence in General may be reduced to two Species: Whereof one is occupied in Interests of State; The other in those of Religion: also one is profane, the other Sacred. The first hath a vaster Career than we are able to think; she is not bufied only to sustain an Ordinance, nor to defend a Law; she exerciseth herself in the Campaign, as well as in the Cabinet; she presides over States, and is employed in Councils of War; she rules in the Camp, and hath the greatest part in the Government and Ministry of Kingdoms. But because she is at all times more particular in Cabinets, where we cannot penetrate to come to the knowledge of her, where she passeth for a Mystery, and is no where so public as at the Bar, I'll confine myself to the state which she holds there, being the place where she appears with most advantage.  

§. 1.  
At the Bar we give no time to the study of Eloquence, but what we gave in the first studies of our Youth, which are ordinarily too precipitate, too confused, or too superficial. This renders us unable to form any just or reasonable Idea of it. Besides the great advantages that the Greeks and Romans had by the force of their Genius, and by their great natural dispositions they had to speak, they made Eloquence their continual study during their lives they travelled all the World to understand the most choice Masters of this Art, they laid out a long time and study to form their spirits upon the great models which they went to seek out of other Countries; they did not occupy themselves as if they were to gain nothing by it; they placed their pleasure, their hopes, their fortune, and all their ambition in the study of it, for it was then able to elevate them to the greatest Honours. But the young men of these Times (with a very indifferent genius) believe that the reading of a Romance or a Comedy, is sufficient to acquire all the Eloquence which is necessary to the Bar. We are not excited by the same hopes of Glory as the Greeks and Romans were, amongst whom Eloquence attained so much splendour, because it was the way that conducted to the highest Honours, even to the Sovereign power itself.   

§. 2.  
When all the Qualities requisite to succeed in the Eloquence of the Bar concur in an Orator, with all the perseverance of Application, and is encouraged in it by a prospect of Interest and Ambition; yet those little condescensions to which he must submit in a scrupulous and exact usage of the practic, would be able to weary the spirit, and to take away the power to form an Idea according to Art and Nature; he must have a care to shun this default, and to prevent it by an anticipated study of Eloquence, where we must form the spirit, before we abandon the Imagination to the barbarous terms of the practic.   

§. 3.  
The Eloquence of the Bar is too much subjected to the divers Fantasies of Language, which reign in this Age, according to the different gusts which prevail, and corrupt it by taking away the natural beauties, & in giving it false and adulterate. There was a tedious kind of Eloquence which had once the vogue amongst the Romans, which consisted in a long and perplexing Discourse: But this gust changing with the Age, one more judicious succeeded. Nevertheless it is true that the Eloquence of the bar demands a Manner diffused and extended: 
Subselia grand iorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant. Cic. in Brut.  But that Embarras of words to which these kind of Declamators usually abandon themselves, always displeaseth: We are not now taken with things so little real and solid.   

§. 4.  
Too great a care to appear regular, exact and just in our Discourse, is sometime very dangerous; it wearies both the attention of those that speak, and those that hear. We ought to shun this fault, and must not always be so scrupulous to speak nothing but what is exact; it suffices to have a care to maintain a certain equality and evenness; for there is nothing more essential to him that speaks, than to speak according to his Genius, without force or constraint. Besides, those scrupulous Orators that speak with so much circumspection, have nothing of great or elevated; the care they take to speak things so correctly renders flat their spirit; and they have not the power to move the heart by the greatness of their thoughts; they expose our Language by this constraint, and too much scruple, to lose its force and abundance, being too desirous to preserve its sweetness and delicateness.   

§. 5.  
There is also another extremity to be avoided, which is a too great negligence, not only in the ornament of the words, but also in the right order and disposal of things. Those which have already established their Reputation, and which are accustomed to a long usage of the air of the Bar, are most subject to fall into this Error; for when they arrive to above forty years of age, and to great employment, they think then of nothing but of what is profitable and solid; they abandon the ornaments of Eloquence, for they have no time to spend in the thoughts of it: And the care of Interest surmounts that of Glory and Ambition.   

§. 6.  
There are some occasions notwithstanding where this negligence is pardonable, and where the heat of a Discourse, and the impetuosity of the Genius succeeds sometimes better than all our care, the most exact words, or all the Ornaments of Art. The difficulty is to know and distinguish it; when we have sufficient force of spirit and understanding to know it, we need not be much troubled to surmount the scruples which may arise from the negligence of certain places in our Discourse, which regularly ought not to have been neglected.   

§. 7.  
There are also certain manners peculiar to the Bar, which are known but to few Orators, for that they are not discovered but by a great penetration of spirit, a serious inquiry into the sources, and in studying with much meditation the great models of Eloquence which we have amongst the Ancients. These are the extraordinary efforts of this Art, which surpriseth the Judges, and which works unforeseen and unexpected effects in their spirits: Such was that which Cicero praises in one Canus Ruffius, who being accused with much vehemence by Sisenna, cried out with a very touching and animated voice to the Judges, O ye Judges, I am circumvented, except ye secure me, etc. That show of fear that he had to be surprised, and the protection he so passionately demanded of his Judges, touched them so much, that they became favourable to him. There are an infinite of like places in Demosthenes and Cicero; but we must make reflection that these are not the glistering parts of an Oration, or that splendour of words that works these effects. These Charms of Eloquence are more in the things themselves, than in the words; whose beauty we cannot unfold, nor give certain Rules to it, for that they are inexplicable: yet we cannot fail, (if we have a right judgement,) of a true discovery. Sometime in these great Subjects of Eloquence, we must imitate that Masterpiece of the Painter, who to express the grief of Agamemnon at the sacrifice of his Daughter, drew him with his face covered, despairing that his Art could express the sorrows of a Father, after he had expressed that of his friends in a manner so vigorous. These also are the expressions that Cicero requires in matters of importance, Significatio saepe major erit quam oratio. 
Cic. in Brut  These places ought to be prepared by a passionate and tender Discourse, and by all the most studied attractions of that Art, to have that success that they ought to have.   

§. 8.  
Nothing hath so much power on the spirit of his Judges, 
Melior moderatio et nonnun quam etiam patientia bonus altercator vitio ira cundiae carcat. Quint. l. 6. c. 4.  as the opinion of a general probity, and especially a moderation in the affairs which wound his own Interest, or that of his Party. An affair becomes suspected, when it is managed with transportation; and Choler may ruin the most just Cause; for we are apt to believe that Cause to be unjust, which useth only passion for its defence. Moderation, above all other virtues, knows the best how to regulate the outward motions, and wherewith we are the most sensibly touched: And indeed they must have a very ill opinion of their Judge, who think him capable to take pleasure in their Choler, and in their ill humour.   

§. 9  

Loci inanes, nec erudita civitate tollerabiles, Cic.  Nothing so ill consists with the Eloquence of the Bar, as that fruitless cumber of Common Places, wherewith our Pleaders swell their Discourse beyond proportion, and serves only to weary the patience of the Judge, and make him distaste that which may be good in the rest. They are ordinarily the young men that are most subject to this default; they wander about, because they want force of spirit to enter immediately into the matter: We should render them a great service, if we could make them resolve to leave that length and circuit of Discourse which is so much contrary to decorum, and becomes odious and insupportable. A Discourse spun out with these childish amplifications, becomes languishing, it only makes the Judges yawn, and lulls them into a slumber.   

§. 10.  
It is also the delight of young men to glister in all they say: But true Eloquence seeks not after that vain splendour, which is only proper to dazzle the spirit. We always fall into error when we study too much to please. That Lawyer which relies more upon a passage of Seneca for defence of his Cause, than upon good Reason, very much deceives himself; those glistering passages have not any force to persuade, they serve only to waken the spirit of the Judge, when it is weary.   

§. 11.  
We seldom take any care of the exterior part which relates to action, which Cicero calls the Eloquence of the Body, whose perfection consists in the gesture and pronunciation, because we do not enough comprehend the necessity and importance thereof: Quintilian only hath given us any precepts of it, which Aristotle and Cicero have omitted, possibly believing that it was a gift only of Nature, which could not be reduced into Art or Method, and have contented themselves only to note us the importance of it, which they have done in several places of their works. This right pronunciation is so important, that we cannot neglect it without renouncing what is most powerful and persuasive in Eloquence: It is that which rules most in Discourse, and which irresistibly invades the soul, and in which consists the greatest force and ornament. The great Talon of Hortensius who equalled Cicero in Reputation, was the skilful mannagement of the action: He was so admirable in an ardent manner of speaking, that Roscius and Aesop, the most famous Comedians of that time, went always to hear his Orations, to learn from him their measure. Having so little care to form ourselves to this action, we need not be astonished that we see so few tracts of that Eloquence which wrought so many wonders in the Times of Cicero and Demoit hens, who always endeavoured to express in themselves, by their ardour and vehemence, those passions which they intended to excite in the Spirits of their Auditors. It is true we have seen Orators some years past, who gave weight to all their Reasons by the force wherewith they animated their Discourse: but after all, their ardency was so ill managed, that what they said, lost its grace, by the desire they had to be too passionate: for when once the fire mounted to their faces, we could understand no more, their pronunciation became so confused by their excessive transport. Some others appear too cold, they show in their greatest affairs little of that emotion which is necessary to inflame the spirit of the Judges, which are not at all touched in these great Subjects, but by great movements. We may say to these languishing Declamators that of Cicero against Calidius, who spoke things very touching with an air of tranquillity, An ista si vera essent, sic a te dicerentar? All those which speak at the Bar are subject to add to the evil pronunciation, which they learned at the College; One constant and disagreeable tone, and an impression of the accent in the penultima syllables, which occasions rather laughter than persuasion.   

§. 12.  
The Subjects which furnish the present condition of the Bar, having nothing of great or elevated, cannot give to Eloquence those advantages, which is found in the more important matters of the Ancients: Such were the deliberations of War and Peace, the considerations of the good of the State and the public interest, the accusations and defences of Princes and Kings, which the great Orators discoursed with so much splendour. The interests which are at this time the Subjects of the Bar, are sometimes so little considerable that they are not capable to furnish matters of such worth to Eloquence, as made it in those times to triumph over hearts. 
His accedebat spl endot rerum, & magnitudo causarun, quibus ipsa plurimum elo quentia praeslat. Dialog. de cous. co. eloq. Crescit cum amplitudine rerum vis ingenij: nee quisquam illustrem orationem facere potest, n●si qui causam paremi invenit. 16.  This was one of the advantages (that Messalla notes in the Dialogue of Quintilian) the ancient Orators had above those of his time: in effect, petty Subjects make petty Orators; and the Spirit of him that speaks in public, is elevated by the merit and elevation of the Subject.   

§. 13.  
There is an Eloquence of pure Authority which is of very great use at the Bar; and though it be not passionate, and its manner of declaiming be cold, and serious, yet it has the dignity that is required to imprint respect and veneration; we harken to it as to an Oracle, being preingaged in its favour. This is the Eloquence of the Judges, and those which make Orations to Princes and great Lords, who ought to observe this calm and peaceful Eloquence, who must speak without emotion to preserve their Character, for it ought to have nothing in it but submissive and respective, and aught to be regulated according to the rank and quality of those to whom it is addressed, either more or less respectively, according to their degree or merit.    

REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THE PULPIT  
'tIs a thing above wonder, that in so great a number of Persons who apply themselves to Preaching, we find so few who succeed, seeing they have so many advantages infinitely above all others who speak in public. The Eloquence of the Bar cannot furnish its Orators with matters so important to treat, with things so touching to speak, nor with such great motives to persuade, as this Eloquence of the Pulpit: all those Engines which she employs in moving the Passions are so powerful, the Figures of Rhetoric (which are as sanctified in the Mouth, by the commerce it has with the holy Spirit) so glorious, and the mysteries that it unfolds are so transcendent, and it speaks by the dignity of its Character with so much authority; that if there be any Eloquence which is perfect Mistress of hearts, by the power that it hath to move, and by its natural independence, it must be this; from whence comes it then that we have so few good Preachers? It is not the fault of the Auditors, since Faith prepares their Spirits to a perfect submission to what they come to hear? the sight of Altars inspires them with respect, and they are already persuaded by the principles of their Religion, of what they come to attend. Finally, since the Preacher speaks as the Ambassador of God, and his words are the words of his eternal Master, when he preaches everlasting recompense to those that believe, and threatens unspeakable punishments to those who disbeleive; it must be his own fault if he have not all the success that his function merits. But as it is too true that amongst all Professions, there are the fewest in this who succeed well in this Art, it will not be unprofitable to search out the way to remedy it, since it is a thing of so great importance, which I pretend to do by these following Reflections.  

§. 1.  
We seldom enter into serious consideration of that disposition of mind, which the honness of that ministry of the word of God, and the dignity of a Function so sacred, requires. There is not only expedient a great Application, and long study to replenish the mind with great Images, which are necessary to form the Character of this Eloquence; but there must be also long retirements from the noise of the World, to prepare the heart by solitude for the reception of the holy Spirit, whose Interpreter the Preacher takes upon himself to be: It is from this eternal Spirit that he takes his immediate mission by the principles of the interior life, 
Quomodo praedicabunt nisi mittantur. 5. Rom. 12.  to dispose him to take his Orders from those who are established in dignity, and have received the power of God to communicate it to others: He must then take great care that he be not too much abandoned to himself and to his Genius; but first he must passionately seek the succours of Heaven, by the frequent use of Meditation and Prayer. Without this divine assistance it is impossible to penetrate into the mysteries and hidden truths of the Gospel. How many does this? who ever thinks of it? what studies or what retreats do we make to dispose our hearts? or what preparations of Spirit do we bring to this holy Function? do not we see every day young Preachers without Virtue or Science ascend the Pulpit, with the same end that a Comedian mounts the Theatre? they invite their Friends by Letters, and fill a great Circle with their Relations, who engage a great assembly of their honest acquaintance, to grace the audience and to encourage those young Declamators; they raise their Eyes to Heaven with a feigned complaisance and counterfeit admiration, when they have pronounced two or three ill arranged periods without stumbling; and when they have a little confidently said what possibly themselves have not the courage to act; when these trifling Orators have done what they can, they are but pitied by those who judge without preoccupation, even in those performances wherein they think they have reason to triumph. They have a very false Idea of so holy a Function; if they think to advance its reverence by such preach, a Preacher must have other qualities to enable him to represent with success the Sword of God's word like a flame to the Eyes of the Offenders, to reduce, Libertines under the sacred Yoke of the Gospel, and to cast into our Spirits the terror of the last Judgement, by a vigorous representation of the pains of Hell, and the dreadful consequence of our unbeleif, and to sustain in some sort the Dignity, Grandeur and Majesty of the Subjects, whereof our Religion makes profession. It is also without doubt for this reason, that the two Apostles of our Lord were called the Children of Thunder: for the word of God which they proclaimed, with that dignity which it merited, was bright and terrible in their Mouths. Few of our Declamators are thus qualified, they usually Preach for their recreation, or to perform the Injunctions of their Physicians, to discharge themselves of some troublesome Fat: these are profanations so deplorable that we should with great difficulty believe it, had we not so many examples of it in this Age.   

§. 2.  
We do not enough consider that it is on God's account we speak when we Preach, by which means we deprive the Word of its weight and authority; for the greatest part of Preachers speak only of their Patrons; to whom they make a merchandise of themselves, and extinguish in some manner the Spirit of God, to give place entirely to their own exorbitant and extravagant, Fancies. This was not the practice of the ancient Prophets, who were the Preachers of the old Law, they spoke not as private men to the People, 
Pro Christo legati one fungimur tanquam deo exhortante per nos, 2 Cor. 5.  but as men sent from God; and the grandeur of that Master whose commands they delivered, attracted the respect of their Auditors. I have sometime seen an Ambassador of a petty stranger Prince, who had no Talon in speaking, but because he was to speak on the account of his Master, he assumed on himself an air of authority by which he procured attention, and persuaded merely by the address he had to make himself considered: What weight then should we give to the Word of God, if we know the Art to treat of it as the word of God, and not as a pure invention of the wit of man? he therefore that would Preach the Word with success, must do as Saint Paul did, Per arma Justitiae in verbo veritatis in virtute Dei, Cor. 2.   

§. 3.  
As this sacred Eloquence travels in a Field infinitely more large than Eloquence profane; It proposes an eternal Kingdom for the object of our hopes; and torments which endure for ever, of our fears and caution. The sanctity of our mysteries, the purity of our morality, the Majesty of the God which we adore, of whom we find so many great Idaea's in the holy Scripture, and all those glorious Truths which render our Religion so august, are the most ordinary Subjects wherein this divine Eloquence is exercised. It demands also, to work the effects which it proposes to itself, greater natural qualities, and a genius more elevated than is required in humane Eloquence. A Preacher therefore aught to have great exterior quaties, Gravity in all his Person, Dignity in his countenance, Devotion in his Eyes, a certain ardeur in his Pronunciation, a Freedom in all his Action, and the Air of a Prophet; but a sole assembly of these exterior qualities, is so rare, that I have not known a Preacher in this Age that came near this description, except one; this one had an excellent natural disposition for Preaching joined with the vivacity of imagination, and a fineness of Spirit, which he possessed in a sovereign degree, and which gave him a wonderful facility in expressing himself, the greatest that I have ever seen in any person; he had yet a Talon in pronunciation the most extraordinary in the world, that one might say that he was an Orator in his countenance, in his voice, in his gesture, and in all his actions; he could make his Eyes with an easy motion speak any thing, give an inflection to his voice, an air to his visage, any grace to his gesture, and an agreement to to his discourse, such as he pleased; and all these in such a degree as never had Orator an equal power to him to raise attention, and as never any person was more Master of what he said, nor of the manner wherein he spoke; he could give to the Spirits of his audience what impressions he pleased. The greatest places where he Preached was too little to hold the concourse of those that followed him. Though this great facility he had in speaking betrayed him into a neglect of preparing himself, yet by the mere power of his action in the most indifferent and neglected discourses, he could impose upon the People by his manner of speaking: the most common things that he said, were listened to with the same applause and admiration, as those which were the most extraordinary things the choicest Preachers could say. He had certainly been the most accomplished Preacher that ever was, had his judgement and his capacity answered to his other Talents; and if he had not been so excessive in his action, which was too significant, and besides had not all the gravity that the sanctity of the place required.   

§. 4.  
These natural Talents sometimes exert themselves in so much splendour, that they rob (if it be lawful so to speak) the word of God of that esteem & veneration which we ought to have for it; they often procure themselves attention, not for that it is on God's account they speak, 
Non in sapientia verbi, ne. vacuetur crux Christi. 1 Cor. 3.  but because they speak agreeably, because they are Eloquent, Preach novelties, or bear some Character of dignity or advancement in the Church, or for some other outward qualities, like the People of Jerusalem, who went to hear Ezekiel because he was Eloquent. For this reason it was that Saint Austin went first to hear Saint Ambrose before he was converted. The Preacher ought to shun, as a thing too humane, and too sensual, the giving place in his discourse to the curiosity of the people; which he may easily do, in taking the resolution to profit, rather than please. He cannot fail too of success, if he know how to speak of good things, and to speak them with judgement and knowledge.   

§ 5.  
I do not intent that it is necessary for all those that are called to the ministry to have all those great qualities that I have numbered; 'tis good that in the Church there should be men of different capacities, to be accommodated to those of their Auditors, which are so various: It suffices to a Preacher that preaches to the common People, to know the principal duties of Christianity. An indifferent Preacher is sufficiently qualified to entertain Religion, and make it subsist in a Village, maugre the ignorance and stupidity that reigns amongst us; for that mediocrity of genius, may always be in an estate to instruct, especially if it have joined with it any Talon inspeaking; and though he want the Genius to raise deep concernments, yet he may be numbered amongst those Preachers who have the power to make a great noise by an animated manner of speaking, which oftentimes works the same effect upon the hearts of the People, as the Drums and Trumpets do upon the Soldiers in a Battle: The noise astonishes them, and makes them run with precipitation upon the Enemy, without any reflection whither they go. It is not the impulse of Reason which moves the grosser Spirits and awakens them to their duty, for they understand it not; but it is the emotion and ardeur with which they speak, and the loudness of their Exclamations, which makes the impression; it is not the things themselves that move, but the manner of delivering them, because the manner is sensible, and the things are not: It is also manifest that the People judge not so much by the reasons (as hath been said) as by the tone of the voice; they believe him that speaks most loud, and with most confidence; and it is to this boldness that they own the success of their persuasions: for the truth is, the Soul is not ordinarily moved, than by what first vigorously strikes the sense. But after all this, these popular Preachers must be let to understand, that they become ridiculous when they strive to be numbered amongst the fine Spirits, and endeavour rather to please, than to edify; it suffices in Preaching to the People, to propose simply to them the great verities of Religion, and the sanctity of its morals, without labouring so much for Forms and Ornaments, which oftentimes serve only to burden the Preacher as well as his Audience.   

§ 6.  
The most part of Preachers are rendered very ignorant, by mingling themselves too much in the commerce of the world, neglecting to apply themselves (with that diligence that is required) to the work of the Ministry; 'tis this reduces them ●oa necessity, to copy one from another, to furnish themselves with matters for their Sermons. They take not the pains to fetch it from the Sources, nor indeed have they any knowledge of them; this is the cause that they use such ill Reasons to persuade to virtue, for they have not a capacity for good reasons, nor the Art to make them understood when they have them. They usually ruin themselves by this copying from other men, and extinguish their own Genius, by striving to assume that of others: From hence I may say, all those deformities which are so ordinary amongst them, first receive their birth; & that which makes so many ill Preachers, is the false method they choose; they ought not to serve themselves with the designs, nor the thoughts of others, till they be able to transform them and make them proper to their own Spirits.   

§. 7.  
This Eloquence only becomes solid in a great capacity, nor can any hope to be fortunate in this Art, who has not before replenished his mind, with all the knowledges necessary to treat the word of God with dignity: The most important is that of Divinity, without which a Preacher cannot with that confidence and authority give clear resolutions in the subjects whereof he treats. It is a great weakness in him that preaches, when he cannot determine precisely what is of Faith, and what is not, or to hesitate, when he should decide. But we know that there is nothing more great, necessary or agreeable in this Eloquence of the Pulpit, than Divinity, which is the Science of Religion, and there is nothing more miserable and disgusting, when it is not treated with that sufficiency and dignity with which it ought to be.   

§. 8.  
A too frequent commerce with the Schoolmen, brings a much greater prejudice than advantage to the Preacher, when he knows not how to make use of it as he ought, and wants Wisdom or a necessary precaution in the reading of them; for there is nothing so contrary to Eloquence, as the learning of the Schools, and I am persuaded that the Lecture of Thomas Aquinas, how solid and methodick soever he be, hath made more ill Preachers than good, for he writ in a very miserable age, whose gust was universally corrupted; and that difficult manner that he hath to express things, is as much opposed to Eloquence, as the things themselves are proper; for though a simple and plain stile is fittest for instruction, yet it becomes very much contrary to what we ought to use in public, if we take not great care. The Divines which succeeded him, have imitated the same manner, and it is now become the general method of the Schools, and so dangerous to this kind of Eloquence; it is busied only in desertations and subtleties, which may perhaps give the Nerves and force to discourse, but deprives it of the grace and beauties; hence it appears that Logic though it teach the Art of reasoning, yet it is not absolutely necessary to Eloquence; for though without it a discourse is but a prattling in the Air, which signifies nothing: yet its succours are not to be received in that naked manner which is usual; they must be clad in the Ornaments of Eloquence, to add a grace to its discourses.   

§. 9  
There may be made the same observations upon the writings of the Latin Fathers, which are also much contrary to Eloquence, by reason of the miserable estate of those times, in which they writ; every one knows to what extremities, all that which was called good sense, was reduced to at the time of the departure of the Barbarians from Italy: All the Fathers of the first age, even to Saint Bernard, have writ after this hard and dry manner, excepting a very little number which are not corrupted, by this Gusto, by reason of some tincture which they have conserved, as Minutius Felix, Salvian, Arnobius▪ & St. Jerom; to which we might add some places in the works of Saint Ambrose and Saint Austin. The Greek Fathers are more Eloquent than the Latin Fathers, though the order of their designs, and the matters which they treat on are very little just or conformable to the precepts of Art; for they have taken an Air of Eloquence, more natural and easy, but thereby they become more apt to be abandoned to their Genius, as we may observe in Saint Basile, and in Saint Chrisostome; Saint Gregory of Nazianzen is indeed more polished, and without doubt has more of Art; but when I advertise the Preachers of the danger of reading of the Latin Fathers (by exposing their Eloquence) to the end to oblige them to take caution that they ruin not themselves on that part, I pretend not to decry all commerce with them, which is not only profitable, but absolutely necessary for a Preacher to furnish his Spirit with Ideas of sanctity, and of the Grandeur of our Religion, which we find in all the works of these Authors. In the reading of these, the most pure of the Christian morality is to be found; from whence the Preacher may draw it, as from the proper source, the most clear and undisturbed, The Fathers are the Interpreters of the Evangelists, and the Church honours them with the Title of holy, because their works are as a heritage and patrimony which they have bequeathed to the faithful, as to their true Children.   

§. 10.  
'Tis not enough that the Preacher lay a foundation by a long study of Divinity, and a frequent reading of the Fathers, which he ought to do with method; but he must also study a Rhetoric proper to the Pulpit, whereof we find not any Character amongst the Ancients, who have not had any perfect Idea of it; nor amongst the Moderns, who have only copied from the Ancients. The Majesty of our Religion, the Sanctity of its Laws, the purity of its Morality, its exalted Mysteries, and the importance of all its Subjects, aught to give it an elevation which cannot be sustained by the weakness of a spirit purely humane. It is in vain to search for it in the Rhetoric of Aristotle, in the Ideas of Hermogenes, or in the Institutions of Quintilian, even that sublime kind which Longinus hath form of all the great expressions of the Ancients which he hath collected, are feeble, and low in comparison of that which our Preacher ought to possess to maintain the dignity of his Character. That divine Air which the grandeur of Christian Religion, and the Incomprehensibility of our Faith demands, is only to be sought in those excellent Ideas which are to be found in the holy Scripture by those who know the secret to penetrate into the depth thereof. This is that pure and plentiful Spring from whence all those magnificent expressions flow, whose Author is the holy Spirit. It is from hence he ought to take those glorious Images, and that elevation which makes up the essential Character of this Eloquence▪ he must read with diligence the Prophets, and lay out his time in hourly meditations of them, if he would preach terror, 
Naturaliter plus valet apud plurimos malorum timor quam spes bonorum Fab. l. 3. c. 8  which must be his most general practice; for to preach well, he must terrify the Sinner, and awaken him from the Lethargy & softness of a vicious age, by casting a terror into his Spirit. To this I add, that the Scripture is a Fountain abounding with all the Riches, and all the Ornaments, whereof this Eloquence is form; and that all kinds of writing are there to be found: Esaiah is elevated, Jeremiah moving, Ezekiel terrible, Daniel tender, and all the other Prophets in general contain something so great and excellent, as is not in any measure to be equalled by what is most esteemed in profane Orators. Good sense and right reason, was never so clearly unvayled in any work of morality, as in the Books of Solomon; never hath any History been writ with an Air more simple and elevated, mixed together, nor in a manner more perfect than that of Moses, whereof Longinus only citys two words in the beginning of Genesis, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. c. 8  to give the greatest and most sublime Idea that conception is capable of, so far above the highest elevation of profane Authors. Never was any thing writ more tender or delicate, for the thoughts of Devotion & Piety, than the Psalms of David: the most refined politics and worldly wisdom, are to be found in the Book of Wisdom and Proverbs: Finally, nothing has been ever conceived in the utmost extent of humane capacity, more profound and penetrating than those sacred and adorable mysteries of Grace, and predestination, which Saint Paul hath delivered in his Epistles. And to say a word of the New Testament, which is the most essential Book of our Religion, to which all that hath been writ by the Prophets is but Preface and Introduction; what can one say more great or expressive than what our Saviour himself said in two words, Verba quae locutus sum vobis Spiritus & vita sunt? 
Job. 6.  all the other Books may be said to contain only words, but this is a rich Treasury of things: And as it is the Character of the Spirit of man, to speak much, and in effect to say little; so 'tis the Character of the holy Spirit to speak little, and therein to comprehend much: all the holy Scripture hath in it most excellent things couched in the most humble and simple expressions, which ordinarily enlarge our conceptions beyond the Letter. What is more plain and more succinct than these words, Verbum caro factum est, 
Joh. 1. Joh. 19 — & crucifixerunt eum? how many Commentaries hath been made upon these words, how many dissertations at this day? how great must then be the penetration of Spirit, which is necessary to discover the depth of These Mysteries? We stay ourselves upon the superficies of words without searching to the bottom, by meditation. Who is at this day a Preacher so illuminated, to penetrate into all these mysterious darknesses and holy obscurities of sacred Scripture, to discover the hidden Treasures thereof? alas our want comes from our little meditation thereof. 
Parvuli petierunt panem, & non erat qui frangeret cis. Lament. Jer. c. 4.  It is the unhappiness of this age, that there are so few persons found capable to break the holy Bread of God's word, which ought to be the most ordinary nourishment of the faithful; that is to say, there are few Preachers so illuminated, as to unfold the whole sense of the holy Scripture to the People; or who know how to make use of Art, which is the most certain means to succeed in their Preaching; they Preach their own Imagination and thoughts, abandoning the thoughts of the holy Spirit. Is not this to be wanting even in the principals? for we cannot have a true Idea of Christian Eloquence, but from the holy Scripture, which is the first original.   

§. 11.  
There is required (besides this reading of the Fathers, & a diligent study of Divinity, joined with that Art of Eloquence, which is form upon that of the Prophets, that the Preacher forms a morality, whereof the principles must be taken from the Gospel; for all other morality is no more than a certain Pagan probity, and pure Philosophy. This is not only to be found by the study of the Evangelists, but as well in the Epistles of Saint Paul, and in the Homilies of Saint chrysostom, where it is so well explained: These Homilies ought to be the most ordinary study of the Preacher, whereof also he will find great instructions in Saint Austin, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory, the great, in Saint Bernard. This diligence ought not to be in the search after beautiful thoughts, and shining words, which is the fault of most young Preachers, which in truth conduce little to the edification of the People, or true compunction of heart.   

§. 12.  
This true morality cannot be taken then from these pure and holy sources, whereof I have spoken, especially in these times, where every one frames to himself morals according to his own fantasy; and we find so many extravagant Preachers, who impose from the Pulpit their own morose humours and sour temperaments for pure morality, which are accompanied with the ridiculous Visions, which their Spirit of novelty, or their preoccupation inspires. Have we not seen some Preachers, who notwithstanding their profound ignorance in all that a Preacher ought to know, undertake a decision of all things, with the utmost rigour, and deliver, with the assurance of a Prophet and an unparalleled confidence, the greatest absurdities in the World, and in matters of morality to hazard every novelty, when the Smoke of their Zeal has once mounted to their heads  
'Tis the custom of our Nation to run after all that is new, or that has any air of singularity; but when we have sounded the depth of those Preachers, who practice (to derive respect on their discourses) an affectation of severity on themselves, we shall find that they are not altogether so hard to themselves, as they are to others. Such a one was a young Doctor, who Preached five years ago before an honourable Audience; who who commenced his Sermon by promising in a tone of a Reformator that he would Preach nothing but severe morality, and the pure rigour of the Gospel; and a little after he canted forth the story of the new Pope, wherein he forgot nothing that might rejoice or give a subject for entertainment to the more sportive part of his Audience. Those that would Preach this severity must do as Jesus Christ has done, that is to say, Preach by his example. The Character of Christian severity is to be sweet to others and hard to ourselves; to do otherwise is to play the Impostor or Comedian, not a Preacher. We have seen in this past age, false Zealots who made profession to preach ●n morality more rigid than others; during which they were lifting up their impure hands to Heaven, and fomenting error upon Earth. Finally, these Preachers who are so excessive, only because they are ignorant, and who make Enormities and abominations of mere trifles, who will damn a Woman for wearing of Lace or coloured Ribbons, or for having been a promenading upon a Festival day; these Preachers I say dishonour their ministry, by the excess of their sottish exaggerations; they discourage the faithful by making false Images of crime, and authorise Libertinism by these terrible Ideas they give of Virtue; whereby they render it more dreadful and savage than it is.   

§. 13.  
The little success that most Preachers meet with, comes from the little care they have to understand the morals of our Religion; and the small Talon they have in dispensing it for nothing, so sensibly touches the Spirits, as the pourtracts which we make, when we make them well, in which we are oft rendered wanting by a vain curiosity, and a too scrupulous kind of ratiocination. This way we take to shun the difficulty we find in the well painting of manners, whi●h is a thing not only the most capable to attract admiration to the Orator, but also the most difficult to succeed in this, he must commence by a perfect knowledge of the heart of man, he must know the particular of all its motions; to make a true portrait, and to paint men so naturally that they may know themselves in the Pictures that are made of them. 'Tis in this that almost all Preachers are wanting, who represent false Images of manners to their Auditors, in making them too difficult, or too easy, so that they fail of the intended effect, for that the Images being false we know them not; and what he says is quite lost, because no person can take it as spoken to himself; they Preach to the rich as to the poor, to the Courtier as to the Citizen, they make the morals of a City the Subject of a Village Sermon; and they make elaborate Sermons, where simple Catechisms and naked instructions are most proper. Every one knows the story, of the Preacher, who preached all the species of sin against the sixth Commandment, to a house of Religion. This is the most ordinary defect of the whole Clergy, because the necessary discernment, and understanding of the persons to whom they speak, and the perfect knowledge of the manners of men are Talents very rare; for the great experience of the world which he must have, joined with the light of Philosophy and Divinity, (which are the first sources of this discernment) are the most essential to a Preacher, and I am persuaded that none can succeed, but according to the proportion of his knowledge of the manners and heart of man.   

§. 14.  
The heart of man is an abyss of unknown Depth; whatsoever discoveries we make, still there remains something not yet discovered. It is not alone sufficient to make a true picture, though we had so much power of penetration, as to know its impostures, deceits, dissimulations, weaknesses, suspicions, its distastes, jealousies, irresolutions, its several Meanders, and inequalities, its delicatesses which surmount interest, its pride, presumption, and that confused Miscellany of all its affections, and finally, its natural and inconceivable propension to malice and disguisement. He must yet know how to take off the mask of virtue, of candour, and sincerity, which are used in the more successful and refined exercises of dissimulation; he must make him see that by his self love (against which all the Fathers have declaimed with so much heat) and by a false modesty which he conceals from himself, the evil of his own intentions, to shun under this disguise the confusion that it would bring him. And as man hath not any virtue of himself, but on the contrary, his nature is corrupted with vice, he must show him that the joy which he seems to have in the exercise of virtue, is but a counterfeit joy; that he flatters himself with a false appearance of sorrow and Repentance in the exercise of Repentance; that his Faith, his Hope, his Charity, and his other virtues, are no other than imaginary, wherewith he amuses himself, and a deceitful tranquillity amidst the vain and confused projects that he frames of his salvation. Finally, for to discover him wholly, and to give him a full prospect of his deformities, he must depaint to him his false modesties in the things he seeks after, his artificial excuses in what he flies, the perversity of his Judgement in what he esteems, the frailty of his resolutions, and the continual agitation and inquietudes in the pursuance of any good: I should never find an end, if I would discover all the changes and varieties of his thoughts. I have said enough to make out in general the principal source of all its motions, which ought to be the subject of a perpetual meditation to him who pretends to be distinguished from other Preachers: For in effect, the knowledge of this heart of man, more or less great, is almost the sole thing which makes the true distinction of the different Talents of Preaching, in the infinite number of divers manners that there are of preaching. The little care that most Preachers take to gain a perfect knowledge of man, is one of the most ordinary causes that there are so few in number of those that succeed; for that when they speak things so much in the general, and descend not in the particular enumeration of Manners, none seem to be interessed in what they say. It is this particularising of morals, when it is natural, which gives success to the Preacher; and as this secret is rare, so is the success also.   

§. 15.  
Besides this Morality which is a part of Eloquence, which contributes the most to render it admirable; the Art to excite the Passions contributes also not a little: For it sufficeth not to a Preacher to speak good things, but he must speak them well, and with a moving air; for when he says any thing that's touching, without seeming moved himself, 'tis only taken for a Grimace, wherewith he mocks his Audience. I once heard a Doctor, who preached with words very well chosen, and all that he said was very good; but he spoke it so coldly, without that action and heat that is necessary to work concernment, that he gave cause to the pleasant to say, that he could not be so calm, without being in some fashion resigned to the Reprobation of his Auditors, since he appeared to take so little interest in what he said. And in truth, this cold and languishing manner of speaking upon the great subjects of the Gospel, is a great obstacle to the virtue of the Word of God, the which being not delivered at least with some sort of zeal and ardeur, fails of his expected fruit. But alas, how few Preachers are there, who at this day can boast that they have moved the least of their Auditors, by representing the horror of sin, and the greatness of the pains to which he is destined? Though we have known a Jerome Savan. in Flor. one Lewis of Grenada in Sevil, and one Delingendes in Paris, (not to exclude some famous men of our own nation) who have made all their Auditors tremble whensoever they opened their mouths of matters so terrible. Whence proceeds this, but from that languishing way of Preaching, whereof the manner is so little touching. It is remembered of a Capucin named Philip of Narny, who under the Pontificate of Gregory 15. preached at Rome with so much power, so much of action, and so much of zeal, that he never spoke in public, that he made not mercy to be cried to the people through the streets when they went from the Sermon. It is likewise said, that having one day preached before the Pope of the obligation that Bishops have to reside, he so terrified by the vehemence of his discourse, thirty Bishops who were at the Sermon, that the very next day they posted to their several Dioceses. These great effects are wrought by an extraordinary talon in pronunciation, to which eloquence oftentimes owes all the doing of its miracles, especially amongst the common people, whose apprehensions are too gross to be moved by Eloquence, but only as it is sensible: Such is this ardent and pathetic kind of declamation: this is a thing very little studied because it demands so much diligence and application, whereof very few persons are capable, and for which reason the greatest part of Preachers scarce ever think on't.   

§. 16.  
It is but too true, that few Preachers allow themselves time to the exercise of pronunciation to form it true, and to grace it with suitable action; they think altogether on other things; they study the Fathers, they study Rhetoric, they study the Tongues, but they neglect the study of this Art of action, which only hath the power to animate what he says, and to give an agreement necessary to engage the attention of the Auditor. The negligence of this part is alone capable to render all the other unprofitable; but yet after all this, there are in this, as in other things, some extremities to be feared and avoided: For those Preachers who are all passionate, and who begin their Exordiums in thunder, lest they should seem to be wanting in any thing, ruin all by giving themselves too much to their humour. It is good to make them comprehend that they never were less capable to move, than when they most strived to do so. I have sometimes seen a Preacher who was of this humour, who notwithstanding preached with very good success: indeed he had a rare talon, and many tracts in his discourse which did exceedingly affect the spirits: His way of speaking was very strong, and his whole air was vehement, but he lost these great advantages by a too great passion that he had to move, and to make vehement discourses against the Times, so that his declamation became too full of Transport, his gestures too expressive, and his countenance too Comedian; finally, his manner was so very much corrupted by the Grimaces, and violent agitations and constraints of his whole body, that all his motions became so many real Convulsions. A Preacher must shun these extravagant transports of zeal, which become  as oft as they are excessive; he must therefore consider well this rule, that he never moves less, than when he betrays this too earnest desire to his Auditors: it seems but a false passion which endures so long; and that zeal becomes suspected which is continued with so much heat, and whereof the Preacher makes too great ostentation.   

§. 17.  
There is in most a too great desire to please without putting themselves to the trouble of working real concernments in their Auditors; this is another extremity which ought to be avoided: For he that would perfectly succeed in preaching must commence by moving first the heart before he think to please: What way he should take to effect this, I have already described. I deny not but that there may be found in this Age a species of good sense joined with excellent things, but by a too great passion that most have to please, they bring themselves in danger to lose the true fruit of things, by a too careful search after the flower: For that which pleases opens the heart and dissipates the spirits, which only profits by its close entertainment, and he loses what is solid by a too eager pursuit of what is agreeable. It is without doubt from that disposition of spirit that there are so many Preachers who endeavour more to please than to persuade, and who introduce into the Pulpit all those various gustoes which reign in the world, which they make their study, that they may appear the more all a mode. We have lately seen many Preachers of this kind, who prepare themselves to go to a Sermon, as to a Ball; where he meets all the fair world assembled, whom he entertains with the morality in fashion, delivered in an amorous stile, and with an air very lascivious: What is the effect of these agreeable Sermons but the dissipation of the spirits, than which there is nothing more opposed to devotion. Unhappiness be to these Preachers all a mode: The Evangelists nor the Apostles did not thus: What indecence is it to preach the severities of our Religion, the abjection of Christianity, and the contempt of the Cross with an air undisturbed, and with fine and studied expressions, and to mix these feeble ornaments with the greatness and majesty of our Religion? This is the most ordinary defect of those who preach to persons of Quality; they amuse themselves to make Religion agreeable to the manners of those, whom they ought to terrify, in letting them understand that their condition hath an essential opposition to Salvation, and that they find not any tract or footstep of the Gospel, or of true Christianity in the life that they lead at Court. It is true, he ought to have compassion on their blindness, who are poisoned with a pestilential air which reigns amongst them. But this aught so much the more to excite the Preacher to speak the Truth: For we are taught by the Fathers, that the Court always followed the manners of their Preachers; if they were holy, it failed not to be holy also.   

§. 18.  
There are some others who fail of success, because their respects are too humane and too interested; they are more attentive to their own establishment, than to the Salvation of their Auditors; they preach themselves, and not Jesus Christ. Let those Preachers reflect, that the great success the of Apostles came (as St. Chrisostome saith) from their disinteressment. St. Paul perfected an entire conversion upon the people, because he pretended no benefit by his Sermons: But it happens sometimes to those who have resigned all their temporal hopes in renouncing the world, yet have no power to subdue this foolish vanity, which makes the Preacher labour too much after reputation; who after he has renounced all, cannot, without much pain●, renounce the pleasure of being praised. Let the Preacher that would cure himself of this weakness, consider (if all these praises that are given him were sincere, which they scarce ever are,) that he has but preached very indifferently, whilst he has left still a liberty to his Auditors to say that he has done well, and that his preaching is not to much purpose; whilst he hath given them leave to say that he hath preached agreeably, he has only given them a little pleasure, but no fruit. The greatest praises of a Preacher is the silence of his Auditors, and when they rise all pensive from their seats after Sermon, and departed from the Church without speaking a word, this is a sure mark that they are nearly touched. and that they think on what they heard. This agrees with what the Great Symachus in one of his Epistles said to the Emperor's Theodosins and Arcadius: 
Magnitudo stuporis locum plausibus non relinquit. Lib. 10. Epist. 22.  (The greatness of our admiration and astonishment seals up our tongues, and deprives us of the power to praise) An example of this I have seen at the Sermon of a Preacher, who preached in a manner so vehement and touching, that when they departed from the Sermon, and astonishment of the Auditors, and the compunction of heart which they suffered, imposed a general silence, which spoke loud to his advantage. I cannot forbear the relation of an Adventure which happened to me a few years ago. I went to hear a Sermon one day in Lent to the Court; the Preacher that day preached upon the passion of our Lord with an air very brisk and polished: The Ladies from time to time lift up their eyes to heaven during his discourse, saying, that was excellently expressed! that was graciously spoken! whilst I was almost mad with indignation to hear him discourse so pleasantly in a subject so worthy compassion, and take so much pains to please his Auditors, whom he ought to have endeavoured to affect with grief and compunction. There is one other vanity yet more foolish and deplorable. When those that have gained a reputation of good men, and to be excellent in this Art, they attribute to themselves the glory and success of their persuasions, when they have done no more than what is effected by the impression of the voice, and the exterior part of speech upon the heart: Our Religion teaches us, that it is the holy Spirit alone which does the rest.   

§. 19  
Another cause of the ill success in preaching, is the Preachers being too much abandoned to himself, without ever thinking to implore the assistance and succours of heaven; whereby he is driven to mix his own imaginations and weaknesses with the grandeur and sanctity of our Mysteries: like that impertinent Preacher, who preached one day very miserably before a reverend Bishop, making this compliment after Sermon, that he was forced to abandon himself to the holy Spirit, because he had been allowed but a little time for preparation: Adding that hereafter he hoped to acquit himself better. There is something so great and elevated, which I know not how to name, in our Mysteries, that it suffices to expose them simply, and without Art, to the people, to merit all the glory that can be hoped from Eloquence, (were it honest to preach for Reputation.   

§. 20.  
He treats unworthily the Word of God, who debases himself to the childish amplifications of petty subjects, and to mere trifles, amongst the great number of important matters which furnish our Religion; following the example of those trifling Preachers, who spend their Zeal against Paintings, Garnitures, Dresses, and other vanities of Women. A good man gins by throwing a terror into our Souls, by a remembrance of the Judgements of God, and making us tremble by proclaiming the dreadful consequences of our Sins; this is the most powerful means to extirpate Luxury, and the most capable to introduce Modesty in our Habits and Behaviour: He does but trifle, that thinks to effect it any other way. And in truth, in so great and rich abundance of great matters which the Gospel affords, he must have a very low spirit who can stay and busy himself about such trivial subjects. I know not by what unhappiness our Preachers become so nugatory in the great subjects they have to treat; when the ancient Pagans were even great and elevated in the least things that they had to say.  
I am ashamed when I read the Oration of Eschines against Ctesiphon, where that Orator makes shine with so much Art the power of a Pagan Eloquence in these Trifles. We (says he) are come to the Feast of Corbeils; the Victims are upon the Altars, the Sacrifice is ready, and you are all prepared to beg of the Gods what is necessary for the State: But consider before with what voice, with what spirit, and with what assurance you can present your Vows, if you leave the Impiety of those who have violated their Mysteries, unpunished. See how much spirit, and how much greatness there is in solittle a subject, in comparison of that languor and weakness of most part of our Preachers; who instead of being elevated by the Majesty and Greatness of our Mysteries, amuse themselves in little things, because they have not that force of spirit to fasten upon the greater; The grave and serious kind is the character most essential to the Pulpit, which admits of nothing that is low, cold, trivial, or childish; to obtain this he must imitate the Apostle, who in lieu of busying himself in the search of profane Ornaments, made all his Art and all his Eloquence out of the continual meditation of the greatness of Jesus Christ: Non doctas fabulas seculi, notam fecimus nobis Jesu Christi virtutem, speculatores facti illius magnitudinis.   

§. 21.  
The most refined and sublime matters are not the most proper for preaching; but on the contrary, those that are the most edifying and simple: For these reasons we ought to blame that extravagancy of wit which reigns in this age, and labours after curious designs, and ingenious distributions and division of discourse, which gains so much approbation from the Ladies. Such was that division of the Preacher, who preaching on the suffering of our Saviour, thought he had acquitted himself very dexterously, when he had shown in two parts of his discourse, The pleasures in sufferings, and the sufferings in pleasures. This affectation in discourse appears so childish, smells so much of the Scholar and Declamator, and so little of the gravity of the Pulpit, that it is pitied by every one who has the least use of their reason; for in those studied oppositions there is seldom any thing that is solid; though sometime possibly they may be witty, yet the parts are oftentimes comprehended the one in the other, when they are exactly discussed: And this contains but one and the same thing in effect, though they are two in appearance. Beside, they often weaken the Subject by this too curious care to give it an agreeable variety, which would be more strong if it were more natural.  
It is for the most part the younger Preachers who seek after this fineness in the division of their discourses. It was not the manner of St. chrysostom, nor those great men of the Church; they found the most common distributions, as being most natural, always the best; they had a noble contempt of the reputation of being witty in these kind of things, which only can succeed by being natural, by their simplicity, and by the strength of the reasons that recommend them.   

§. 22.  
Nothing so much contributed to the great success the Apostles had in preaching the Gospel, than their own practice of it; their example was the best instruction, and their preach were rendered more powerful by their humility, by their mortification, and by their poverty, than by their reasonings or Discourse. And indeed the most effectual way of persuasion to Christianity, is by the Life and Manners of those that preach. It was the Eloquence of Jesus Christ, first to practise himself what he taught. He that preaches a severe morality, with a cheerful and vermilion countenance, will not easily persuade to what he exhorts; for he gives cause to believe that he practiceth not what he teacheth, and his visage destroys his Reasons. All the world hath seen the little success of some, who could not by all the emotion of their zeal, make the least impression, because the rigour of their morality had diminished nothing from their thriving Carcases; for the Auditors oftentimes regard more his Countenance, than his Reasons. The Countenance of the Preacher gives not a little consolation to those who cannot accommodate themselves to that severity, which these sanguine Complexions dispense with so much zeal. I do not say but that the people whose understandings are dull, may be imposed upon; but the exterior part cannot do it, for they judge according to appearance; and though the Preacher may speak never so great a truth, if his Manners be suspected, his Reasons will be so also. It is sometimes necessary to speak little, to persuade much; for all appears false that a Preacher says, if he have once the reputation of one that will amplify.   

§. 23.  

Imposumus populo oratores visi sumus. Cic. in Brut.  Every one is very well persuaded of the Reflection that I come to make, That the most ordinary Artifice of Preachers is to impose on their Auditors, and to make themselves appear what they are not. The morality that they practise is so much the more severe, as that which they practise is sweet and commodious; and because in preaching the Gospel he must necessarily edify his Auditors to maintain the dignity of his Ministry, he is constrained to take upon him at least the appearances of severity; whilst the sweetness of the life he leads, convinces us of the little disposition he hath to a real Mortification. But of all these pretended Zelots, who would be distinguished by the severity of the morals they deliver, the most dangerous sort are those shallow and presumptuous Devots, who preach to the people Chimerical Devotions, and their own Fantastic Visions, who without distinguishing what is essential from what is not, they bring all things to the last extremity. I know some that have this Art to impose, without understanding any thing of fineness or subtlety, by a strong natural imagination, which is fed by the little Light they receive from the reading of the Gospel: So that it is not the Spirit that is always Master; it resigns itself up to the conduct of the Imagination; and as oft as that is transported, all that the Spirit saith by its impression, is so also. A Preacher must avoid this with a particular care, or else he will make very strange disorders amongst the people, but especially amongst the Women, who are naturally feeble and ignorant; for the more extravagant a Preacher is, and the more extraordinary his Conduct, by so much he is rendered more capable to make the greater disturbance: This disorder is but too frequent in this Age, as well as in that of the false Devots whose virtues were all counterfeit, which hath given occasion to decry so very much that devotion, whereby they have made at present in the world a species of Intrigue, and a manner of profession to be distinguished from others. But they cannot be very devout, who seek only to distinguish themselves by a bare profession, that they make to be so.   

§. 24.  
How many Preachers are there, who by the vehemence of their discourse, seem to throw stones at the heads of their Auditors, to compel them to amend their faults, and scarce ever think of preaching those to which themselves are subject? They study the Father's Divinity and Rhetoric, and all things else that may contribute to render them renowned. In fine, they study all things, but the knowledge of themselves: Their ill pronunciation, their minds, their grimaces, their action, their gestures so little conformable to a true decorum, and whatsoever else that is violent in their persons and outward behaviour, to suffer to stick to them, they, without any care of Reformation, by this negligence of their persons: they corrupt oftentimes their best natural qualities, which possibly might contribute to render them more successful and profitable, if they would give themselves the trouble to think on it: For how can they so much neglect this, without making it believed, that they yet more neglect their Auditors? what respect can we have for what they say, when we have no difference for their persons. We have seen not long ago, a Preacher of this kind, who could not put off his air of the Village, whereby he corruped his other talents, because he would not take the pains to amend it.   

§. 25.  
A Christian Preacher ought to shun nothing so carefully as that which is too glistering, either in words or thoughts; he must know how to speak in a stile polished without affectation. All that is studided and artificial is false, and little agreeable to the eloquence of the Pulpit; his discourse ought to be simple, reasonable, and natural, to which the commerce with the Italilian and Spanish Simonists, is very contrary. This reading of the Moderns does but amuse him, because he knows not the Ancients; and he frames to himself a false Idea of that Eloquence, whose true Character is very much opposed to what is studied, dazzling and witty. The true Eloquence of the Pulpit ought not to endeavour to sustain itself but by the greatness of the Subjects of which it treats, by its simplicity, and by its reasons: He does but weaken it, who pretends to adorn it with the Riches of the Pagans. The Preacher ought to banish from the Pulpit all Citations of profane Authors, all reflections upon their Maxims, and all their stories, as unworthy of so sacred a Subject. The holy Scripture is rich enough to furnish him with Ornaments of all kinds which are of use to this Eloquence; when he has well meditated it, he will find plenty of Reasons and Examples to strengthen and establish his discourse; all other Authorities ought to have no place in the Pulpit, as too estranged, and too little conformable to the Sanctity of his Character. A Preacher, which ought not to put in usuage any thing, but what is holy, aught to be extremely scrupulous in serving himself with any thing that is not so: He must also fly the affectation of making the entrance of his discourse too glistering, whose fair thoughts surprise and dazzle the spirits of their Auditors, but are very far from having that junction which accompanies the Word of God, reducing it to a dryness, which renders it sterile, and unfruitful.   

§. 26.  
Finally, the most essential character of this Eloquence, which we likewise so miserably neglect, is the Art to allot divers days to the same thoughts, which is done by varying them after different manners; for that the common people, which usually makes the greater number, whereof every Audience is compossed, wants prompt and easy conceptions: So that it is to great purpose (if the Preacher would have them reap any fruit or profit) that he propose the truth of the Gospel in such a manner as may insinuate little by little into their spirits, and to dispose in order their impressions upon their hearts and resolutions; which cannot be effected, but by those variations that he must give to the same proposition, to imprint them more deep in the spirits of his Hearers, insinuating by frequent repetitions the same things under different forms of speech. It was thus that St. chrysostom preached in the first Ages of the Church, and the famous Grenade in this last Age: Bo●h which have been the most perfect models that can be proposed to a Preacher. A discourse (to answer this Character) must not be overcharged with matter, lest it too much oppress the Auditor. That rapid Eloquence, which so much pleases the lesser wits, and is only recommendable for its impetuosity and transport, is not at all proper for the people, who have neither so much penetration of spirit, or promptitude to keep pace with it, and retain its fruit. I cannot forbear to note, that some Preachers own all their success to the weakness and ignorance of the Auditors; but that success ought not to authorise an evil custom, because that it happens only from the little reason and stupidity of those to whom they speak.   

§. 27.  
The choice of matters we ought to treat of in the Pulpit, is of a greater importance than we commonly think it is. We seldom consider the great Importance in the choice of matters which ought to be treated of in the Pulpit: They fall into an ill custom, who upon that portion of the Gospel which they propose, preach only what others have done before: The choicest Preachers know how to distinguish themselves from the indifferent; in effect it is one of the essential talents of great Genius's to make choice of great Subjects in all the matters that they treat of, to which they know how to add that natural variety that it ought to have: For as every Subject is only great so far as it is solid: All that passes the test of a Preacher, who hath a great and firm Judgement, becomes proportionably solid, and whatsoever is so, is always proper to preach. But because this talon is rare, and common Preachers are much wanting in the choice of worthy Subjects, I have thought it not unprofitable to propose some of them, that may be the most proper to this Eloquence of the Pulpit.  
1. The Greatness and Majesty of God, as it is described in the Prophets, and in other places of Scripture. To give an Idea of him to the greatest part of Christians, who know so little of him, the Preacher must render him terrible to the wicked, and amiable to the good; and so (by making him appear such as he is) they both may be equally edified.  
2. The truth of our Religion, which has been attested by the wisest men of the world, and those which were most exempted form Interest or Passion, and has never been contested but by those whose sentiments were corrupted by the contagion of their manners.  
3. The necessity and importance of Salvation, and the difficulty to attain to it, by reason of the uncertainty of death, which oftentimes surprises us in our disobedience.  
4. The greatness of the act of Redemption, and the unspeakable bounties of our Saviour, the acknowledgements and thanks that we own to him, and which he hath merited of us by his Sufferings, and by the effusion of his Blood.  
5. The unprofitableness of the life of most part of Christians, especially the rich, who do so little to gain Heaven; which being proposed only as a conquest, cannot be gained by sloth and softness of life, as is that of Courtiers and Ladies.  
6. The terrible account that he must render to God of his misspent life, and the use of those graces that he bestowed on him, when he receives from death his last arrest.  
7. The Sanctity of the Mysteries of our Religion, as that of the Resurrection, which is the establishment of our Faith: the Ascension, which is the motive of our Hope, by the assurance of a Mediator with God; the descent of the Holy Spirit, which is the ground of our Charity, and the love we own to God, by a bond so holy.  
8. The greatness and dignity of the name of Christian, which we receive at our Baptism; which consists in the honour we have to become the Children of God by Adoption, and in the right to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven: This right, and that honour is a thing so glorious, that we cannot given an Idea great enough to a Christian, nor make him well comprehend the obligation that such a name lays upon him, to lead his life answerably in all purity and holiness.  
9 The frequent Elegy of our Faith, which only can calm the inquietudes, and the eternal Agitations of curiosity, to which the spirit of man is subject, and which is capable to sweeten the perpetual troubles of this life, by giving us a clear prospect of the Recompenses which we hope for, fide sperandarum substantia verum.  
10. The holy use that we ought to make of the Sacraments, which are the most essential things in our Religion; he must show in that usage, what perfection the quality of a Christian (which we receive by our Baptism) doth oblige us; he must make him understand that penitence is a sincere Reconciliation with God, which obliges us to a true Repentance for our offences, and a firm resolution to offend no more: He must explain, that the Eucharist is not only the sacred nourishment of souls, but that it ought to be taken as a lively Image to refresh in us the memory of that great act of Redemption which ought never to be effaced from the heart of a Christian: That Marriage is not only a Christian society of man and woman, but also a means to elevate Christians to acknowledge and honour God: And in this manner to explain all the Sacraments.  
11. The sufferings, humiliations, contradictions and poverty, which are the blessings of Christian Religion, and the mosts certain paths that lead to Heaven; as wealth and greatness are the greatest obstacles.  
12. To stir up in the faithful that spirit of fear and trembling, in which they must travel to their salvation, according to the advertisement of the Apostle: It is good to proclaim in the ears of sinners the terror of the Judgements of God, to awaken them from that sleepiness into which their crimes have plunged them; and to raise a fear even in the better Christians, by representing the peril to which they expose themselves, by neglecting the least Graces which they receive from God, who severely punisheth the least contempt or misimployment of them.  
13. The confidence in God which he must excite by frequent Discourses upon his Providence, which we are not very apt to acknowledge, by reason of the ill habitude we have got to impute all evenements to Chance, or to our own industry, without reflecting on what we are taught in the Gospel, that there falls not a hair of our Heads, that is to say, there arrives nothing in the world, how indifferent soever it appears to our eyes, but by order of Providence, which we ought to acknowledge and adore in whatever comes to pass, if we would render our Duty and Obedience complete.  
14. The obedience and perfect submission we own to the Church, and the authority of its Decisions; without which no society can subsist; and because it is the Rule of what we ought to believe, and of what we ought to practise, without which we are always exposed to the mercy of our extravagant imaginations, and our changeable and unbridled desires; and Religion, which ought to be the most sure and established thing in the World, becomes the most light and inconstant.  
15. The virtue of the Word of God, which converts sinners, and humbles the wise of the World by the mouth of Babes and Ignorants.  
16. The Panegyrics of the Saints, which they must propose to the Faithful as the true Models of that perfection which God demands of them according to their divers Conditions and Vocations.  
17. Finally, the strange misery of the most part of Mankind, especially of great men, who run after falsity and mistake, and who occupy their minds in Chimeras and illusions, whereof they serve themselves to maintain the Maxims of their Libertinism.  
There are a great number of other Subjects of equal importance with these, as that essential Character of a Christian, which is the jove of our Neighbour, with an universal Charity, which doth not exclude our greatest Enemies; the pardon of injuries; conformity to the Will of God in our adversity; alms; the distrust of ourselves; the good use of our time, and a faithful employment of our Graces, penitence, humane respects, which are so contrary to the profession of Christianity, the horror of sin, the care of our salvation, the omnipresence of God, fervency in his Service, prayer; and all things that are most capable to move the hearts, and contribute to the edification of the people, we must above all things endeavour: He cannot too often propose to the people the innocence of manners, which the sanctity of our Religion requires, which cannot easily be attained, but a by holy retreat, and a love of solitude. The commerce of the world, how holy so  it be, infects the heart with a contagion, which will corrupt our manners in spite of all our precaution. The purity of Christian Religion is so great, that we cannot attain any perfection in it, but by a desertion and holy separation from the world, and from men. This is that which the great Martyr of Sieily Saint Agatha had so well learned, when she blessed God with all her heart, that he had taken from her the spirit and care of the world. (Qui tulisti a me amorem seculi.) In effect there is no man so good as he that lives concealed; and the most secret way is the most secure to arrive at Heaven.  
It remains (to achieve fully these Reflections) that I propose some Model (Those who have good natural disposition for this Eloquence, may frame themselves.) To effect this, I have given two examples of the most perfect Preachers that I have known in this Age; though their accomplishments may appear miraculous, yet those who have heard them speak, will acknowledge, that I have not represented them greater than they really were; and that those whom I have described are not only Preachers in Idea, but such as were so indeed, without which I might be suspected to impose and amplify.  
The first had the greatest natural disposition for Eloquence that I have seen; his person was graceful, his visage was very agreeable, he was grave and modest, and all his outward behaviour was very taking: his voice was not the most excellent, but very clear and intelligible, and I know not, so insinuating, as irresistably engaged the attention. The qualities of his spirit were answerable; he had a great penetration and exquisite understanding, a strong reason, an easy comprehension, a fine imagination, and a judgement very solid; his learning consisted in a perfect knowledge of Divinity, which enabled him to decide all matters clearly, and without ambiguity: To this he had joined a perfect knowledge of the Fathers, of which he made use with so much happiness and address, that they seemed to have been writ purposely for him: But nothing contributed so much to the renown of his learning, as that admirable Eloquence, wherein he was extremely happy; he could make what impression he pleased upon his Auditors, by a pleasing variety he gave to every thing: His reasons so mutually supported each other, that the last was always more strong than the first; and besides, he had nothing false or sophistical in his reasonings, but all exceeding solid; the force of his discourse increasing by degrees, the nearer it approached to the end, striking the spirit with more vigour at the conclusion, than at the beginning. Finally, his true talon was to enlighten fully the understanding, and to touch yet more sensibly the heart: all his discourse was a marvellous illumination of the matters whereof he treated; and after he had cast into the spirit the seed of the movements that he proposed; by the wonderful power that he had, he set in an instant all the engines of the soul on work, by those movements that he judged most capable to be touched, and inflamed the heart by all the heat and ardeur of the passions, whereof he perfectly knew the art by a peculiar Rhetoric that he had form; they harkened to his Sermons with pleasure, because it entered into their minds by this pleasing artifice; and he never preached so long, but his Auditors could have wished his Sermon longer; and they never apprehended him near his conclusion without a very sensible Regret: For in those moments that he took possession of their hearts, he became absolute master to do what he pleased; he had this Art in so eminent a degree, that I have known some Libertines, who could not resolve to hear him, out of fear of being constrained to render themselves to his reasons; for whosoever heard, became without resistance, his captive: But nothing spoke so much to his advantage, as the profound silence of his Auditors. When he had finished his Sermon, one might always have seen them rise from their seats with their countenances pale and disfigured, with their eyes heavy and dejected, and to departed from the Church strangely moved, and pensive, without saying a word, especially in the most touching Subjects; and when he took occasion to speak of what was terrible he shown, that he had the same reflections with that great Master of this Art, Naturaliter plus valet apud plurimus timor malorum, quam spes bonorum. The spirits of the people are less sensible to the hopes of good, than to the fear of evil: This made him always say, that a Preacher should generally preach terror, and this indeed was his chief Character; but as he sometimes preached out of humour, to which the greatest men are subject, he had in certain subjects such a heaviness of spirit as would not have without difficulty been understood, with out that touching and pathetic Air, which was his first talon.  
The other Preacher that I have known, had an equal natural disposition, and I dare say all the learning of the former, but he possess't it in a very different manner: I never saw more of Art in any Orator, nor never more diligence to conceal it; for under the appearance of a simplicity and negligence, he covered the greatest Art that ever was. This negligence was accompanied with so many graces, that always charmed, because his Auditors were persuaded by his manner of speech, that he thought of nothing less. His sovereign Talon, was the secret that he had found to make it believed that all his Art was natural, because that it was couched under the most studied negligence in the world, so that his Audience easily abandoned themselves to the pleasure that they took in hearing him; they suffered themselves to be lead without caution, or any resistance; as his reasons were strong, and as he knew how to expose them with all their powers, they made extraordinary and proportionable impressions; but his manner of delivering them was so pleasing, that they could not understand them without being ravished: This was the ordinary effect of that Eloquence which was less in the words and things, than in the manner of ordering and speaking them: And as he had an Art to please in all that he said, and that when he spoke he seemed seasoned with the graces which he had delivered; he became sovereignly Eloquent, for thereby he never failed of persuading; he knew how to mix the force of his reasons with Authority, and with a temper which adorned all that he said, insomuch that he led the spirit of his Auditors in Triumph which way he pleased, because they could not defend themselves from the pleasure by which he surprised them: All his Morals were correct, because his reason was so; the Subjects that he treated of were always rendered great by the importance of those Truths whereof they were composed; he had nothing false in his thoughts, nor superfluous in his words; and when he made any digression, he always returned to his Subject with all imaginable facility, and without the least maim in the sense or connexion. By these agreeable ways he went more directly to the heart, than the other, who fetched a larger circuit, making his way first through the Spirit: One was indeed more moved and struck by the force and vehemence of the former; but more charmed, penetrated, and surprised by the graces and agreements of the second. After all, both the one and the other were fully accomplished in the Character that they assumed, and in that Eloquence which they had form to themselves. A Preacher so perfect as these were, whose Images I have drawn, is one of the greatest gifts that God can bestow on his Church, because it is a means to sanctify whole Provinces and Realms, by reforming the Licentious, and the irregularity of manners which reigns amongst the People. This is that sacred leaven, which God by the care of his Providence hath opposed to all the corruptions which have course in the world. So that I believe the few good Preachers that we find in these days proceeds from the little care they take to ask of God these kind of Graces, which cannot be sought with too much passion. Let us then pour out our tears at his holy Altars with a Lively Faith, with ardent Vows, and with a long perseverance. Let us always make to God that Prayer that he commended to his Apostles, which after their example we are bound to practice.  
Messis quidem multa operarii vero paucirogate; ergo Dominum Messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam, Luke cap. 10.  
Thus I have finished these few Reflections. I have chosen this Method, that I might not seem to speak like a Master of a Science which is no less universal than delicate: I might be justly accused of presumption, if I pretended to give my Opinions as Rules from myself; on the contrary, I confess I have drawn some of them from the writings of the best Oraors, and some I may modestly challenge as the result of my own observation upon the little conformity I have found amongst the Orators of this Age, to those ancient Precepts of Demosthenes, Ciceto, and Quintilian; whom if I have not cited so often as I approved their Opinions, it is not that I would have attributed to myself any part of the glory that is their due, but to avoid breaking the thread of my Discourse by too frequent Citations. The death of the most excellent Mr. Cow is very much to be lamented, which with that of his Life, gave an unhappy period to the design he had conceived to give us the pattern of several Styles fitted for several Subjects: His example might have put some bounds to that Poetic rage, from whose invasion our holy places have not escaped: Certainly none knew better than he, how modestly to confine that Wanton: And in this it may be truly affirmed, he hath lefvery few successors. The Styles of our most witty men, seem the dictates of the same spirit which inspires them in their raptures. Though our Common Laws allow but very little place to this Art, yet methinks the desire of glory should inflame them; and the care to support the Majesty of our Law, and the Dignity of its Professors, should engage the Students to lay out some time in the acquisition of this Art, and those gentler Sciences that complete an Orotar. But so far are they now from it, that when they enter upon that Study, they think it necessary to bid adien to all those Sciences which teach Humanity, Modesty, and sweetens Conversation. How miserable a thing is it, and how ridiculous to hear in common discourse Plato and Cicero cited out of Cook and Plowden; as if the treasures of the Greek and Roman wisdom were to be found couched in those mangled fragments. I know not why it should be inconsistent in a well form and tempered mind to mix these beautiful Studies with those which are more severe; this I am sure would add to the honour of our Laws, the want of which renders them deformed and despised. For though our Law deserves those just commendations, by which it is preferred to all the Laws of the world, yet lex est mutus Magistratus, saith Cicero, the Law of itself is dumb, and speaks not, but by the tongue of a learned and eloquent Lawyer. Much might be said in commendation of our Language, which possibly equals the most celebrated in Europe in the plenty of soft, grave and majestic expressions, fit for all arguments: But since it is a Subject fit for another Discourse, I omit further enlarging upon it.   
FINIS.