BV 4211 .P84 1835 
 Porter, Ebenezer, 1772-1834. 
 Lectures on homiletics and 
 preaching 
 
:i,KYS, THAMES DJTTON", SURREY, 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 HOMILETICS AND PREACHING; 
 
 BY EBENEZER PORTER, D.D. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ANDOVER. 
 
 WITH A PREFACE, AN APPENDIX, AND COPIOUS NOTES. 
 
 BY THE REV. J. JONES, M.A. 
 
 INCUMBENT MINISTER OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, LIVERPOOL. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE 
 
 AND SOLD BY L. AND J. SEELEY, 
 
 FLEET STREET, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXXXV. 
 
TO 
 THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 JOHN BIRD SUMNER, D. D. 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER, 
 
 THIS ENGLISH EDITION 
 
 OF A VALUABLE TRANSATLANTIC PUBLICATION, 
 
 REVISED AND RE-PUBLISHED AT HIS SUGGESTION, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 
 BY HIS HUMBLE AND OBLIGED SERVANT, 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 

 QICiL 
 
 PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 One of the most important considerations connected 
 with the Christian Ministry, and too frequently lost 
 sight of in the present day, is its divine institution. 
 When our Saviour quitted this lower world, he left the 
 government of his church expressly in the hands of his 
 Apostles, whom he promised to endow with every 
 necessary gift, and whose decrees he declared should be 
 binding upon his disciples to the end of time. Their 
 official acts were virtually the acts of Christ himself, 
 for they acted not only by his delegated authority, but 
 under the immediate influence of his Holy Spirit. Now 
 we know from their own writings, as well as from the 
 testimony of ecclesiastical history, that they not only 
 ordained men to the ministry themselves, but gave 
 authority to others to do the same. Thus were Timothy 
 and Titus empowered and enjoined to " set in order 
 things that were wanting '* in the several churches which 
 they visited, " and to ordain elders in every city." From 
 that day to this, elders have been ordained by men who 
 were severally authorized by their immediate predeces- 
 sors ; and of every one who has been thus ordained, it 
 may be said, in the language of St. Paul, that " a dis- 
 pensation of the gospel has been given to him, and that 
 woe will be unto him if he preach not the gospel." 
 
Vlii PREFACE. 
 
 That the ministers of God's word and sacraments are 
 to be considered as divinely appointed to their respective 
 offices, may be deduced also from the general tenor of the 
 writings of the New Testament. The apostle Paul, in 
 adverting to the various agencies which were then em- 
 ployed for the benefit of the church, and the spread of 
 Christianity, traces them all up to the great Head of the 
 church, as their origin and source. " When he ascended 
 up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto 
 men. ... And he gave some apostles, and some pro- 
 phets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teach- 
 ers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." 1 In a 
 similar manner he speaks of himself and his fellow- 
 labourers, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 2 
 where he traces up all to the same divine source: " All 
 things are of God .... who hath given to us the minis- 
 try of reconciliation." And in the same chapter he 
 adds, " Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as 
 though God did beseech you by us." And is there not 
 an important sense in which every Christian minister, 
 inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to ' desire the office 
 of a presbyter,' as a thing preeminently ' good,' and 
 regularly set apart to the same, by the imposition of 
 authorized hands, may now be regarded as an " Ambas- 
 sador for Christ ? " And is he not justified in claiming 
 from professed Christians such a recognition of his divine 
 appointment, as is implied in the words of the apostle ; 
 " Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of 
 Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God ? " 
 i Eph. iv. 8, 11, 12. . 2 Chap. v. 18. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 But how much soever the ministerial office may be 
 contemned by others ; how low soever their concep- 
 tions of its authority or its source ; the minister himself 
 must " magnify his office." It is of the utmost import- 
 ance, that he entertain elevated notions both of its sanc- 
 tity and its dignity. The welfare of the people com- 
 mitted to his charge, no less than the formation and 
 maintenance of his own character requires him to be well 
 persuaded " of what dignity, and of how great import- 
 ance the office is, whereunto he has been called." Hence 
 the stress which is laid upon it in the Ordination Service 
 of our church. ' And now again,' (observes the Bishop, 
 whilst addressing those about to be admitted into the 
 priestly office,) we exhort you, in the name of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that you have in remembrance into how 
 high a dignity, and to how weighty an office and charge 
 ye are called, that is to say, to be messengers, watch- 
 men, and stewards of the Lord, to teach and to pre- 
 monish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family : to 
 seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for 
 his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, 
 that they may be saved through Christ for ever.' 
 
 There is a sense, doubtless, in which a Christian pres- 
 byter may be justly styled the minister or pastor of his 
 flock — their watchmen, their messenger, their steward : 
 but in a still higher and far more appropriate sense he is 
 the minister of Christ, the watchman of the Lord of 
 Hosts, the messenger of Jehovah, the steward of God. 
 As far as it respects the objects of his care, and watch- 
 fulness, and ministration, he is theirs, but when his 
 original appointment, the source of his authority, his ulti- 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 mate responsibility are referred to, he is wholly and 
 entirely the Lord's. 
 
 Such is the scriptural view which he should take of 
 the transcendant dignity of his sacred office. If he 
 regard it with less respect and veneration, he will not 
 fail to act in many respects in a manner at variance with 
 its true character — a more secular spirit, and meaner 
 motives and designs than become the sacred office, will 
 be sure to mar his ministrations. " The moment we per- 
 mit ourselves to think lightly of the Christian ministry, 
 our right arm is withered, nothing but imbecility and 
 relaxation remains. For no man ever excelled in a 
 profession to which he did not feel an attachment bor- 
 dering on enthusiasm ; though in other professions what 
 is enthusiasm, is in ours the dictate of sobriety and 
 truth." i 
 
 The reluctance which some persons feel to admit this 
 view of the subject, may have arisen in part from a just 
 indignation at the claims which have been set up by an 
 arrogant priesthood to the almost idolatrous homage of a 
 superstitious and ignorant people. But it should be 
 remembered that the abuse of a doctrine or a truth is no 
 just argument against the legitimate use. What, though 
 proud and ambitious men arrogate to themselves that 
 which is due only to their office, do they thereby make 
 void the declarations and appointments of the unchange- 
 able and faithful God ? No : "let God be true, though 
 (very man be found a liar," — let his own divine institution 
 be had in honour, though all who are invested with it be 
 
 ' Hall's Sermon on the Discouragements and Supports of the 
 Christian Ministry. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 deserving only of his displeasure. There is no necessary 
 connexion between the dignity of the office, and that of 
 the person who sustains it. The Christian minister who 
 has felt the power of the gospel on his own heart, instead 
 of priding himself upon his supposed personal dignity, 
 will be filled with self-abasement at the thought of his 
 unworthiness to be entrusted with so weighty a charge. 
 His feelings will be those of the Apostle when he ex- 
 claimed "who is sufficient for these things?" Whilst 
 he magnifies his office he will debase himself. In this, 
 as well as in every thing else connected with the minis- 
 terial profession, St. Paul is indeed an illustrious ex- 
 ample. He entertained at once the most exalted idea 
 of his office, and the most humble opinion respect- 
 ing himself. " Unto me," he observes, " who am 
 less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, 
 that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ." J What more lowly expression 
 could he use, than that which he here employs or rather 
 invents, 2 to designate his personal unworthiness? It 
 did not satisfy him to say that he was "inferior" to 
 other saints, or even the " least" of all saints: such 
 was his humility that he could scarcely deem himself 
 worthy to be numbered amongst them at all; and he 
 could only say that, if it were possible, he was " less 
 than the least." 
 
 And yet we know, as well from his own testimony as 
 from the history of his life, that he was not a whit 
 behind the chiefest of the Apostles. If there be a cha- 
 
 1 Ephesians iii. 8. 
 2 £\axL<rlohoos a comparative, formed from the superlative kXaxurhs. 
 
Xli PREFACE. 
 
 meter unfolded to us in the pages of sacred history, 
 whether of the Old Testament or the New, more strik- 
 ingly noble, disinterested, and benevolent than another, 
 it is that of the Apostle Paul. From the moment he 
 was arrested by the voice of his Redeemer, and entrusted 
 with the Gospel, he acted as a magnanimous champion 
 in his cause, and was successful beyond all example as a 
 Preacher of " the faith which once he destroyed." He 
 was a burning and a shining light ; " in all things approv- 
 ing himself as the minister of God, in much patience, in 
 afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in im- 
 prisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in 
 fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, 
 by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by 
 the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour 
 of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by 
 honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report." 
 How greatly are we of this day indited to him for his 
 invaluable and edifying writings ! How large a portion 
 of the New Testament itself is the composition of his 
 pen ! To how many millions have his words given light 
 and wisdom, consolation and joy ! It is impossible to 
 peruse those writings without forming the highest idea 
 of their author — of the sublimity of his conceptions, the 
 strength of his faith, the expansion of his heart, the con- 
 fidence of his hope, the warmth of his affections, the 
 ardour of his zeal, and the disinterestedness of his pur- 
 pose. Yet, such was the depth of his humility, and the 
 penitential regret with which he retraced his steps as a 
 " persecutor and injurious," that in sincerity of soul he 
 described himself as " less than the least of all saints ! " 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 And as the Christian Minister is thus taught to humble 
 himself, whilst he magnifies his office, so is he instructed 
 also to regard his appointment as a special privilege, 
 which should awaken his gratitude to " the Father of 
 lights, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect 
 gift." " Unto me," says the Apostle, " who am less 
 than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I 
 should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ." But why, it may be asked, did he esteem 
 such an appointment to be a " grace" or a " favour ? " 
 Jt was not in those days an office of credit in the world : 
 on the contrary, it was universally branded with infamy. 
 St. Paul, we know, was regarded as a factious dema- 
 gogue — a leader of the sect of the Nazarenes every 
 where spoken against — one who " turned the world 
 upside down." Was it a " favour " to be thus exposed 
 to the world's scorn and persecution ? Was that office 
 to be accounted honourable which insured universal con- 
 tempt, or that appointment valuable which stripped its 
 possessor of every earthly good ? Yet, St. Paul 
 accounted it such ; and, next to his conversion, he 
 thanked God for " putting him into the ministry." He 
 accounted it a favour because it gave him an opportunity 
 of gratifying the benevolent affections of his heart. He 
 longed for the salvation of mankind ; for this he accounted 
 not his life dear unto him. The office was one whose 
 duties he delighted to perform, notwithstanding all the 
 privations and sufferings it imposed. He preached the 
 Gospel "not by constraint, but willingly;" "not 
 for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." 
 
 He esteemed it a favour also, because it gave him 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 many opportunities of testifying his gratitude to Christ. 
 So great was his sense of obligation to the Redeemer, 
 that he rejoiced to sutler in his cause, and after his 
 example. Multiplied and grievous as were the tribula- 
 tions he endured, they depressed not his spirits; nay, 
 rather he learned to glory in them as evidences of his 
 fidelity and love to him " who died for him, and rdse 
 again." Nor was he ignorant that his " light afflictions 
 which were but for a moment, would work out for him a 
 more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," whilst h< 
 looked steadfastly at things unseen and eternal. Ht- 
 knew that the day of requital would ere long arrive, 
 when the Saviour's smile, and the Saviour's presence 
 would make amends for all; when they who had turned 
 many to righteousness would " shine as the sun in the 
 firmament, and as the stars, for ever and ever." 
 
 But there was one other consideration which served to 
 enhance the value of his appointment ; namely, the un- 
 speakable excellency of those tidings which he was com- 
 missioned to bear. It was given him to preach, what he 
 terms, " the unsearchable riches of Christ." And who 
 amongst the most profound of theologians, that has 
 studied the most deeply, and the most successfully the 
 treasures of wisdom, and knowledge, and love, which are 
 exhibited to us in the cross of the Redeemer, will not 
 freely admit that they pass man's understanding ? Be- 
 hold ! what wisdom is displayed in the contrivance of 
 our redemption. Careless and carnal minds are disposed 
 to overlook every difficulty which presents itself in ihv 
 inquiry, How can man be just with God? They regard 
 the all holy One as a Being like unto themselves, whose 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 only impediment to the pardon of sin is the indignation 
 which he feels against the sinner. " But God's ways are 
 not as our ways, nor are our thoughts like his thoughts." 
 Before sin can be pardoned, it must be seen that no 
 injury will accrue to the attributes of the Most High, or 
 to the well-being of the universe. The claims of justice, 
 holiness, and truth, must be severally satisfied, ere mercy 
 can dictate terms of forgiveness. Now the plan devised 
 in the counsels of eternity was one at the same time 
 honourable to God, and benevolent to man ; one whereby 
 mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace 
 embraced each other; one by which God remained just, 
 though the justifier of those that believe in Jesus. The 
 perfect life, and the atoning death, the glorious resur- 
 rection and triumphant ascension of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 achieved this plan," brought life and immortality to light, 
 and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Can 
 we contemplate the plan or its execution without exclaim- 
 ing in the language of the Apostle, " O the depth of the 
 wisdom and knowledge of God ; how unsearchable are 
 his thoughts, and his ways past finding out.'' 
 
 And what riches of liberality ; what treasures of com- 
 passion and love are exhibited in the gospel of Christ. 
 " God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up tor 
 us all." " God so loved the world, that he gave his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life." What the 
 Father refused not, the Son delighted to give : he gave 
 himself a ransom for all, first stripping himself of his 
 glory, the glory which he had before the world was, 
 assuming our nature in its lowest form, and voluntarily 
 
Xvi PREFACE. 
 
 subjecting himself to hardship, suffering, and contempt. 
 (i Being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery 
 to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, 
 and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
 in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a 
 man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto 
 death, even the death of the cross." " Greater love,' 
 says our Saviour, " hath no man than this, that a man 
 lay down his life for his friends." " Scarcely," says the 
 Apostle, " for a righteous man will one die ; yet, perad- 
 venture for a good (or benevolent) man, some would 
 even dare to die ; but God commendeth his love towards 
 us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for 
 us." O unsearchable riches of the love of Christ! The 
 more we try to estimate its value, the more it appears 
 to pass man's wisdom. It is indeed our duty and our 
 privilege to study to comprehend with all saints what is 
 " the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to 
 know the love of Christ ; " but we shall find, after all, that 
 " it passeth knowledge." May our contemplations of it 
 be more and more profitable to our souls, and be rendered 
 subservient to the increase of our love to him, who thus 
 loved us even unto death ! 
 
 The unsearchable riches of Christ may be considered 
 also with reference to the efficacy of his atonement, and 
 the invaluable blessings which he hath purchased, and 
 now confers upon his people. He became a propitia- 
 tion for the sins, not of a few, but of a multitude whom 
 no man can number; not for a separate people, but for 
 every nation under heaven ; not for a limited period, but 
 for every age, past, present, and to come. He is the 
 
PREFACE. XVU 
 
 propitiation for the sins of the whole world. His blood 
 cleanseth from all sin ; and '* whosoever cometh unto him 
 he will in no wise cast out." What he purchased by his 
 death, he is now ever living to bestow upon the contrite 
 supplicant. He is exalted at the right hand of God, to 
 be ** a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto 
 Israel, and the forgiveness of sins." He " ascended 
 up on high and received gifts for men, yea, even for the 
 rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among us." 
 And what are those gifts ? Are they not unsearchable ? 
 Who can tell, for instance, the value of pardon ? Surely 
 no one, till he first compute the value of a soul, and the 
 duration of eternity. Or who can estimate aright the 
 blessedness of heaven ? " Eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to con- 
 ceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
 love him." 
 
 Such are the unsearchable riches of Christ, which St. 
 Paul in common with his Apostolic brethren, thought it 
 so great a favour to be allowed to promulgate. And 
 such assuredly are the doctrines which every enlightened 
 minister will study to adopt for himself, and rejoice to 
 preach unto others. For, as it has been well expressed 
 by an enlightened and distinguished prelate, ' Jf the 
 Christian minister boasts of deriving his commission to 
 preach the Gospel by an uninterrupted succession from 
 the hands of the Apostles, consistency requires that he 
 should apply to the same Apostles for the doctrine which 
 he is to deliver. ' l 
 
 1 Bishop Sumner's Apostolic Preaching. 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 But supposing that a correct and comprehensive view 
 of the doctrines of Christianity has been attained, and 
 that their momentous importance is justly felt and 
 appreciated, the Christian minister may still feel consi- 
 derable perplexity as to the best mode of communicating 
 them from the pulpit. The young and inexperienced 
 minister, who is anxious to approve himself unto God as 
 "■ a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
 dividing the word of truth," cannot fail to feel his want 
 of much instruction on this point, and will turn with the 
 deepest interest to every source of information within his 
 reach. ' It is impossible indeed to contemplate calmly 
 the situation of a young man, who is first called to 
 appear in this most important, most responsible post, and 
 who ascends the pulpit with little advantage from pre- 
 vious instruction, and with none from previous exercise. 
 " It is impossible indeed to see him, preparing to teach 
 others, and to see hundreds hanging on his lips, for that 
 word which is to feed their souls; without mourning 
 over the circumstances under which this part of the 
 ministry is generally commenced. He may have know- 
 ledge, he may have zeal, he may have affection, he may 
 have qualities which hereafter may render him eminently 
 useful , but his first efforts in preaching are generally 
 nothing better than experiments which only lead to con- 
 viction of error. He naturally begins by imitating the 
 manner of some one whom he has been accustomed 
 to admire, or by attempting some mode which he has 
 been imagining to himself; but his first efforts are 
 attempts in an art which he has never studied, and where 
 he has no adviser to direct him. Even the theory of the 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 system is unknown, and it is probable that years must 
 elapse, before experience and reflection will lead him to 
 discover that mode of preaching which is suited to his 
 powers, and best calculated to edify his hearers." 1 
 
 Hence the importance of furnishing the youthful 
 minister with specific instruction on the subject of 
 preaching. It is to be regretted however that whilst 
 there is no lack of valuable treatises on the pastoral 
 duties generally, the want of a separate, complete and 
 satisfactory work on this particular department of them 
 has long been felt. How far the following attempt of Dr. 
 Porter, in his character of Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, 
 may be justly regarded as supplying this want, the Editor 
 will not presume to determine. He feels assured how- 
 ever that it will be found, to say the least, to contain 
 much valuable instruction, and to suggest many useful 
 hints. The object which the Author had in view, and 
 the reasons which induced him to compose the work are 
 thus briefly explained by himself. ' In entering on my 
 labours as Bartlet Professor of Sacred Rhetoric in this 
 Seminary, I found the office to be in some respects a 
 new one in the business of theological instruction. After 
 an examination of the many books which have been 
 written on Sacred Rhetoric, it became manifest, that I 
 must be called to traverse a field, to a considerable extent 
 untrodden by any of my predecessors. One of the first diffi- 
 culties which met me as an Instructor of our Senior Class, 
 was the want of any single work that I was satisfied to 
 put into their hands, as a text-book on Homiletics. The 
 
 1 Mr. Raikes' Remarks on Clerical Education. 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 best thing of the kind, as far as it went, was Fenelon's 
 Dialogues : but this little work is too limited in its range 
 of subjects, and too desultory as to classification of the 
 matter which it does contain, to occupy any considerable 
 time of students so advanced in knowledge as our Senior 
 Class are expected to be. This deficiency is not sup- 
 plied, in any adequate manner, by Claude's Essay; nor 
 by the few judicious Lectures of Blair on preaching ; nor 
 by those of Campbell on Pulpit Eloquence. 
 
 ' This state of the case left me no option as to the 
 course to be pursued. It was plainly necessary for me 
 to adapt my instructions to the immediate necessities of 
 my pupils, and to give them aid on those principles 
 which they were at once to apply in practice. Hence 
 my precepts took a systematic form as designed to 
 exhibit a connected view of the points which are 
 requisite to a theological student, just beginning to 
 compose sermons. 
 
 * Next to a warm and sanctified heart, and a sound 
 understanding, knowledge respecting his own sacred 
 employment is necessary to make the preacher a work- 
 man that needeth not to be ashamed. No man can learn 
 to preach by study merely. He must be taught of God, 
 or he will never understand the Gospel. He must love 
 Christ, or he will never feel the motives of the Gospel, 
 nor exhibit its truths in demonstration of the Spirit and 
 with power. But neither will piety alone render him 
 skilful and powerful in the pulpit. Besides respectable 
 native endowments, he must have others that can result 
 only from study. The preaching of the gospel is a 
 science, which has elementary principles. Other things 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 being equal, he will best succeed in this sacred work who 
 best understands and applies these principles/ 
 
 Having thus introduced the Author to the English 
 reader, and given him due precedence in the statement 
 of his own reasons for composing the following work, 
 it now becomes the Editor to state the circumstances 
 under which he has undertaken the task of revising 
 it, and what additions and alterations he has presumed 
 to make. 
 
 Soon after the publication of the original work in 
 America last year, a copy found its way into the hands 
 of his respected Diocesan, by whose kind recommenda- 
 tion and encouragement he was led to peruse, and subse- 
 quently to prepare it for the London press. In its original 
 character and shape how valuable soever the greater part 
 of its contents, it could never have made its way among 
 the English clergy. To say nothing of occasional pecu- 
 liarities in style and phraseology, there was much 
 irrelevant matter, and some few objectionable passages 
 which required emendation or elision. Certain additions 
 also appeared to be necessary in order to render the work 
 more complete. To each of these departments of his 
 labours, the Editor has given as much time and attention 
 as his numerous pastoral engagements would permit. 
 In the use of the pruning-knife he has studied modera- 
 tion, never altering a single sentence without an apparent 
 necessity ; and yet he has not scrupled to lop off occa- 
 sionally with a more formidable weapon, large portions 
 of wild and overgrown branches, together with a few 
 unsightly excrescences which seemed at once to deform 
 and injure the goodly tree. 
 
XX11 PREFACE. 
 
 In attempting to supply a few of the more obvious 
 deficiencies in the original work, the Editor has thrown 
 together some remarks on the delivery of Sermons from 
 the Pulpit — on the synopsis of a discourse — and on 
 other subjects of importance to the novitiate, in the form 
 of Appendices and Notes. 
 
 The extent of the alterations which he has made, and 
 the measure of success with which he has attempted to 
 improve the work can be determined only by those who 
 have the opportunity to compare the two editions to- 
 gether. Whilst, however, he is convinced that there are 
 other hands by which the Editorial task would have been 
 accomplished in a far superior manner, yet he feels 
 equally assured that the work as it is now presented, 
 cannot fail, with God's blessing, to prove a useful and 
 interesting publication to the younger clergy. 
 
 Many of the writings to which reference is made in 
 the notes, are familiar, it is probable, to the majority of 
 his readers : to all others the Editor would venture to 
 recommend them as fraught with wisdom, and calculated 
 to be highly useful to Christian ministers of every stand- 
 ing and grade. He would particularly refer to Remarks 
 on Clerical Education, by the Rev. H. Raikes, M. A. 
 Chancellor of the Diocese of Chester ; The Christian 
 Preacher, by Dr. Williams, containing treatises by 
 Bishop Wilkins, Dr. Watts, Dr. Doddridge, and others; 
 Cecil's Remains ; Budd on Infant Baptism, in which 
 many valuable observations will be found ; Herbert's 
 Country Parson ; Burnet's Pastoral Care ; Baxter's 
 Reformed Pastor ; and, above all, the comprehensive 
 and valuable work of Mr. Bridges on the Christian 
 
PREFACE. XXlll 
 
 Ministry. The most elaborate work on preaching is 
 undoubtedly that of Claude. It is however, far too stiff 
 and formal ever to become popular, or to be studied with 
 an adequate degree of interest. Mr. Simeon has done 
 more perhaps than any one else could have done to make 
 the work read by young divines ; but whilst the " Skele- 
 tons " to which he has attached his favourite Preceptor, 
 continue to be held in esteem, the Essay itself is too 
 generally neglected, if not despised. It is not the only 
 instance in which the scholar has been seen to excel his 
 master, and the example to surpass the precept. 
 
 It only now remains that the Editor should, as a 
 Christian minister addressing his younger brethren in the 
 Lord, remind them of the sacredness of this, as well as 
 of every other part of their appropriate study. 
 
 If the chief end of man be to glorify God — if, 
 " whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we 
 should do all to his glory " — how obviously are we 
 bound in a matter so nearly allied to his honour as 
 that of promulgating the gospel of his Son, to keep that 
 end intently in view. In all things we should study to 
 approve ourselves unto God — to preach not ourselves, 
 but Jesus Christ ; and to strive to gain the approbation 
 of our hearers no further than is consistent with their real 
 and eternal well-being. If popularity be regarded by us 
 as an end to be pursued for its own sake, rather than as a 
 means to promote the honour of Christ in the salvation 
 of men, we betray a spirit inconsistent with that of a 
 true and faithful pastor, and must be classed with those 
 of whom St. Paul speaks when he says, " All seek 
 their own ; not the things which are Jesus Christ's." 
 
XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 And though we may have our reward in the plaudits 
 of admiring friends, we can never entertain a well- 
 grounded hope of receiving at last, the approving testi- 
 mony of Him who shall say to every trustworthy and 
 disinterested herald of salvation, " Well done, good and 
 faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECT. I. 
 
 Introductory Remarks 1 
 
 LECT. II. 
 History of the Pulpit 8 
 
 LECT. III. 
 History of the Pulpit - - - - 20 
 
 LECT. IV. 
 Choice of Texts - - - - 33 
 
 LECT. V. 
 
 Choice of Subjects — General Principles. Four classes 
 of subjects,— Doctrinal, Ethical, Historical, Hortatory 45 
 
 LECT. VI. 
 
 Structure of Sermons. Preliminary Remarks — Neces- 
 sity of sound judgment, and a pious spirit in a 
 preacher — Exordium - - - - 61 
 
 LECT. VII. 
 
 Explication of Text. Precautions. Propositions 74 
 
 LECT. VIII. 
 Unity .-_-__ 86 
 
 LECT. IX. 
 Division. Objections to — Utility of kinds of — Rules 97 
 
 LECT. X. 
 Division ______ 105 
 
 LECT. XI. 
 Argument in Sermons - 112 
 
 LECT. XII. 
 Argument in Sermons - 123 
 
 LECT. XIII. 
 Rules of Argument - - - - 133 
 
 LECT. XIV. 
 Conclusion of Sermons - - 143 
 
 b 
 
XXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 LECT. XV. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 Style of the Pulpit. General Remarks — Faults of 
 style in Sermons — Excellences - - 157 
 
 LECT. XVI. 
 
 Style of the Pulpit — Directions in forming a style 167 
 
 LECT. XVII. 
 General Characteristics of Sermons - - 182 
 
 LECT. XVIII. 
 General Characteristics of Sermons - - 190 
 
 LECT. XIX. 
 Characteristics of Sermons - 200 
 
 LECT. XX. 
 General Characteristics of Sermons - - 205 
 
 LECT. XXI. 
 General Characteristics of Sermons - - 213 
 
 LECT. XXII. 
 General Characteristics of Sermons - - 221 
 
 LECT. XXIII. 
 Cultivation of Spiritual Habits, and Progress in Study 228 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 (hi the delivery of Sermons - 239 
 
 II. 
 
 On the principles, Physiological, Mental, and Gram- 
 matical — of oral delivery - 255 
 
 III. 
 
 On the Outline or Synopsis of a Sermon - - 276 
 
 IV. 
 
 A Letter from the late Rev. Robert Hall, M. A. of 
 
 Leicester, to the Editor, when a student at Cambridge 329 
 Notes ------ 335 
 
SYLLABUS 
 OF THE FOLLOWING LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 The preaching of the gospel is a work, in preparing for 
 which every attainable degree of perfection should be 
 sought. 
 
 No one should think himself already so perfect as to be 
 above improvement. 
 
 The requisite improvement is not to be made without 
 one's own efforts. 
 
 Opinion of Johnson on this point; his example, as a 
 critic on himself. This process of correction requires more 
 caution and judgment in regard to a sermon, than to an 
 essay ; but the danger lies more in wrong habits of writing, 
 than in subsequent correction. 
 
 Yet no man can be so perfect a critic on himself, as not 
 to need some aid from the judgment of others; for two 
 reasons ; the imperceptible influence of habit. Partiality 
 to faults which are his own. 
 
 These principles somewhat modified by age. Other 
 things being equal, the youngest men are generally least 
 patient of criticism. 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 HISTORY OF PREACHING. 
 
 What do you know of Enoch as a religious Teacher? — 
 and what of Noah ? 
 
 General form of religious instruction and worship in the 
 patriarchal ages, — what was it? — Tabernacle. 
 
 Schools of the Prophets, — what were they? 
 
 What change took place after the Captivity, in the quali- 
 
 b 2 
 
xxviii SYLLABUS. 
 
 h'cations and duties of religious Teachers? — and for what 
 reasons 1 — Reading of the Scriptures in synagogue wor- 
 ship; — what parts? — in what method? 
 
 Priests in Egypt and Persia; their public rank, — privi- 
 leges, — services. 
 
 State of assemblies to whom Christ and the Apostles 
 preached. 
 
 Names of the preacher and of his discourse, among the 
 Fathers. 
 
 Place of public worship, among the early Christians. 
 Erection of churches in time of Constantine; — Pulpit, — its 
 name and form; — place of Presbyters and Deacons. 
 
 Time of preaching ; — viz. frequency of on week days ; 
 number of services on the same Lord's day ; usage of the 
 Romish and the Greek church in this respect. 
 
 Posture of the preacher, — what? — also of the hearers, — 
 Classification of hearers, — Why their faces to the east? 
 
 Prayer, before sermon and after. 
 
 Reading the Scriptures. Connexion between the passage 
 read, and the subject of the sermon ; — Consequence, as to 
 unity of sermons. 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 HISTORY OF PREACHING. 
 
 Subject of Sermons. In ancient assemblies, hearers dis- 
 tinguished into two general classes; — Adaptation of 
 subjects to these. Most general character of subjects in 
 the second century ; — state of the church as to controversy. 
 Influence of Platonic philosophy, in the third century, on 
 the pulpit. From Chrysostom onward to the 15th century, 
 state of preaching, as to subjects. 
 
 Interpretation of the Scriptures in sermons among the 
 Fathers. Influence of Origen ; to what extent his system 
 prevailed. Influence of mystical interpretation, in substi- 
 tuting human authority for that of the Bible. 
 
 Reasoning in Sermons. Character of, among the Fathers. 
 
 Preparation of Sermons. Extemporary method, — by 
 whom introduced; — evidence that St. Augustine and Chrys- 
 ostom sometimes preached in this manner ; — but that 
 general usage was in favor of written sermons. 
 
 Eloquence of Sermons. The two most distinguished 
 ancient treatises on this subject. Eloquent Latin Fathers; 
 — also Greek Fathers, besides Chrysostom ; — extract from 
 the latter. 
 
SYLLABUS. XXIX 
 
 Length of Sermons. Mode of measuring. Customary 
 length, why difficult to be determined from printed sermons 
 of the day. 
 
 Effect of sermons ; as to silence and order in assemblies : 
 — applauses of hearers, — what, and how far encouraged by 
 preachers. - 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 From what principle this practice is derived. Why it is 
 no objection to this practice that there is nothing analo- 
 gous to it in secular oratory. 
 
 RULES. 
 
 1. A Text should not be chosen as the mere motto of a ser- 
 mon. General reason ; — not respectful to the Bible. Which 
 should be chosen first, — the subject or the text. Campbell's 
 reasous for preferring the former course. 1 Cases in which 
 this must be adopted. Danger to be guarded against. 
 General character of Motto Sermons. 
 
 2. There should be no affectation of peculiarity in the choice 
 of a text. Professed motive in such cases. — Examples. 
 
 3. A text should contain a complete sense of itself . Expla- 
 nation of this rule. When it is violated, what is generally 
 the motive ; — examples of its violation. Omission of words 
 and phrases in the middle of a text, though the sense is not 
 destroyed. What advantages in a concise text. The pro- 
 per course for the preacher when his text contains more 
 matter than he wishes to discuss. 
 
 4. It should express a complete sense of the inspired writer. 
 The taking from a compound sentence, a single clause, 
 expressing grammatical sense, may or may not be a viola- 
 tion of this rule. 
 
 5. It should fairly contain or suggest the subject of dis- 
 course. Violations, — where there is a fanciful connexion 
 of soufid and sense; — examples. Where there is no con- 
 nexion of any sort; — examples. Where the apparent sense 
 is not the true sense; examples. Accommodation of a text; 
 — improper and proper kind of; — examples. 
 
 6. A text should have simplicity. Should not demand a 
 nice, philological exposition. Nor a theological discussion 
 to show that the apparent sense is consistent with the 
 preacher's subject. Should not promise great efforts in the 
 preacher. 
 
 i Lectures on Pulpit Eloquence, p. 267. 
 
XXX SYLLABUS. 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 SUBJECTS OF SERMONS. 
 
 State of the Church in any period, how to be known from 
 the prevalent strain of preaching. This principle applied 
 to four different periods of the church. Choice of subjects 
 will be according to the principal end of the preacher. 
 Circumstances which have given character to the pulpit at 
 different times ; — viz. celebrated models, — great emergen- 
 cies in the church. Circumstances which at all times will 
 influence a judicious preacher in choosing his subjects: — 
 capacity and cultivation of his hearers; — time and occa- 
 sion ; — his own talents and age ; — his relation to the 
 hearers. 
 
 Four general classes of subjects. 
 
 I. Doctrinal. Object of a doctrinal sermon. What is 
 meant by essential doctrines. From what motives a man 
 who believes these, may yet forbear to preach them. 
 Reasons for preaching them. 
 
 II. Ethical. Why this term is here preferred to practical 
 and moral ; doctrines are practical. Character of sermons 
 commonly called moral; and influence on hearers. What 
 sort of subjects belong to ethical discourses. Three cau- 
 tions in public treatment of these. 
 
 III. Historical. Including facts which respect an in- 
 dividual, a period, a community. Eulogies on the dead 
 inexpedient, — why ? Maxim ' De mortuis, nil nisi bonum.' 
 Nor may we describe all the bad qualities of the dead ; the 
 true course. Two difficulties in preaching on historical 
 subjects. Several advantages ; evidence of facts surpasses 
 other kinds, — (first) In familiarity and precision: (secondly) 
 In vivacity of impression. Examples from the Bible of the 
 difference between abstract teaching, and illustration of 
 facts. 
 
 IV. Hortatory. The most common fault in this sort of 
 discourse ; remarks on language of terror and denun- 
 ciation. Three general remarks as to choice of subjects. 
 The preacher should, Aim at variety ; Avoid a vain love of 
 novelty. Never be perplexed for want of subjects. 
 
SYLLABUS. XXXI 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES. — EXORDIUM. 
 
 Preliminary remarks. Necessity of a sound judgment in 
 a preacher ; to preserve him from a mechanical uniformity 
 in his sermons; and from disregard, on the other hand, of 
 all settled principles, through a studied peculiarity. Neces- 
 sity of pious feeling ; what character will be imparted to 
 his sermons by the want of this ; and by the possession of 
 it. Principal parts of a sermon, — what. This classifica- 
 tion only general, to be more or less used, according to 
 the subject. 
 
 Exordium. Its chief object, — what. Chief obstacles to 
 the preacher's success, stated. Prejudice against his 
 talents, character, or opinions ; how to be treated. Ignorance 
 and indifference of hearers ; the regard which these require, 
 as to the mode of presenting a subject. 
 
 An exordium should possess, 1. Simplicity ; this forbids, 
 Pomp and studied ornament. Warm appeals to passions. 
 Ostentation of learning. Abstruse thought and language. 
 Abruptness. Examples of proper and improper abruptness. 
 
 2. Pertinence ; it should not be foreign from the subject 
 or occasion. Nor general and trite. Influence of per- 
 tinence on variety. Introduction from the context, — 
 advantages of. 
 
 3. Delicacy ; This should arise from Reverence towards 
 God, &c. ; respect to hearers. It does not require timidity ; 
 nor formal apologies for defects of the preacher ; objection 
 to these. It forbids an angry, austere manner. 
 
 4. Judicious length ; Practice of old divines ; of some 
 modern ones. The kind of matter common in long exor- 
 dium. Two brief reasons why inexperienced preachers are 
 apt to dilate the first thoughts of a sermon. 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 EXPOSITION. — PROPOSITION. 
 
 Exposition of the Text. When, after due examination, 
 we suppose ourselves still not to understand a text, what 
 course is proper. Explanatory remarks, may be useful 
 where no difficulty is to be removed ; and may fall in with 
 the exordium. Where a regular exposition of the text is 
 
XXXII SYLLABUS. 
 
 called for, there is a difference between the office of the 
 critic and of the preacher. 
 
 Practical principles to be observed by the latter. 
 
 1. He may err by supposing too many difficulties in his way. 
 Tendency of this state of mind in a preacher. To what 
 extent the Bible is a plain book ; how the supposition, that, 
 on essential points, it is necessarily unintelligible to plain, 
 pious men, is inconsistent with the grand principle of Pro- 
 testantism. Why reasonable to expect that it would be 
 intelligible to such men, if we consider by whom, for 
 whom, and for what purpose, it was written. Evidence that 
 it has been correctly understood by such men. Yet, 
 
 2. He may err by taking it for granted, that the obvious is 
 always the true sense. Reasons why this ought not to be 
 expected ; great diversity of matter and phraseology in the 
 Bible ; local customs, figures. Examples of allusions to 
 oriental customs, in which the terms do not obviously 
 convey the true meaning, viz. from language of Moses, 
 and of Christ. 
 
 3. He may err by aiming to find a new sense to his text. 
 Motives that may lead to this course. Random censures, 
 in sermons, of the received translation ; why improper. 
 Excess of criticism in the pulpit, — condemned by Camp- 
 bell ; his reasons. What was the example of Christ and 
 the Apostles in relation to this subject? How a man's 
 critical knowledge, without any ostentation of it, may 
 benefit his hearers. 
 
 When the sense of the text is ascertained, and exhibited, 
 it is announced in the 
 
 Proposition. Difference in the signification of this term 
 as used in logic, and as used in oratory. Examples of each 
 — Either is proper in a sermon ; which most favourable to 
 unity. Manner of announcing propositions. Two sug- 
 gestions of cautions. 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 UNITY. 
 
 Unity. Why is it that some do, and others do not con- 
 sider divisions as inconsistent with unity ? Unity different 
 from sameness. Unity with and without variety. Illustra- 
 tions. Applied to a dull uniformity in the matter and 
 method of sermons. 
 
 Unity in a sermon requires that it be, 
 
 1. One in subject. Violated, by too many preparatory 
 
SYLLABUS. XXX11I 
 
 topics, diverting hearers from the main point, when there is 
 one. Violated by introducing a system of religion into each 
 sermon. 
 
 2. One in design. Design a distinct thing from subject. 
 Example; — It is this which should leave on the hearers 
 some one distinct and predominant impression. 
 
 3. One in adjustment of its parts to the principal end, 
 and to each other. Grand principle in preaching, viz. — a 
 sermon should produce an effect as a whole. How accom- 
 plished. Its materials should be chosen and arranged with 
 a view to this. Illustration from works of art; — from 
 architecture ; — from landscape gardening ; — from historic 
 and portrait painting; — from epic and dramatic poetry. 
 Character of a sermon made up of a succession of good 
 remarks, unconnected : — or of striking sentences, — or bril- 
 liant passages, — independent of a main object. 
 
 4. One in mode of Illustration. Every topic, figure, &c. 
 should serve to fix the main subject more deeply in mind. 
 Does unity forbid divisions? 
 
 LECTURE IX. 
 
 DIVISIONS. 
 
 1. Objections to divisions. They give an air of stiffness, 
 and take away the interest which an intelligent hearer has 
 in discovering the method for himself. Ans. To intelligent 
 hearers, divisions are not useless ; — and to plain hearers 
 they are indispensable ; — especially in a spoken discourse. 
 Obj. Divisions are a scholastic device, — unknown in an- 
 cient oratory. Ans. Ancient orators, though not formal, 
 had method. Examples from Cicero, in which his method 
 was distinctly announced. 
 
 2. Utility of divisions. By these is meant, not occult but 
 obvious divisions. Not essential that heads be always 
 marked numerically; several ways of marking them to 
 hearers. Doddridge's advice and example. Method pro- 
 motes Perspicuity ; Beauty; Brevity; how promoted; 
 Energy; — order strengthens impression by combining the 
 power of separate arguments ; by relieving attention ; and 
 promoting vivacity. Memory, is aided ; viz. of the 
 preacher, — and hearers. Illustrated. Kind of sermons 
 that are in fact most easily remembered by common people. 
 Test from the practice of note-taking — and of repeating 
 sermons in families. 
 
XXxiv SYLLABUS. 
 
 LECTURE X. 
 
 DIVISIONS. 
 
 3. Kinds of divisions. The verbal or textual; The topical. 
 The principle of each stated. Example of the kind of 
 division required by each. The scholastic; principle of; 
 Example. Example of a deliberate oration on the same 
 plan. 
 
 4. Rulesby which divisions should be conducted. They 
 should be Necessary. When they are so. Well arranged. 
 Chief principles of arrangement in different cases, accord- 
 ing- to order of cause and effect; — order of time; of yen as 
 and species. In some cases, the order of heads is nearly in- 
 different, — in others it is essential. Examples of both 
 kinds. Complete. What is meant. Illustration from 
 light and colours ; from a geographical description of a 
 whole by its parts. Few; Illustrated by a map. Multi- 
 plication of divisions in the seventeenth century. Concise 
 in terms. Reason of this rule. How brevity of terms is 
 promoted by aid of grammatical ellipsis. Examples of 
 brevity in the form of heads, by such an arrangement as to 
 suspend them all on some one connecting term, or clause. 
 
 LECTURE XI. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Some who allow reasoning to be proper in secular oratory, 
 object to it in the pulpit ; Why ? The objection not well 
 grounded. Influence of such an opinion; — on the 
 preacher, — on the hearers. Moral evidence, and not de- 
 monstration, is appropriate to the reasoning of pulpit. 
 Still it does not follow that a knowledge of intellectual 
 philosophy, and of geometry, are useless to the preacher ; — 
 nor that religion does not admit of certainty. 
 
 Sources of argument. 
 
 1 . The Bible is the chief source of argument in the pulpit. 
 On some subjects the only source. In regard to subjects 
 and evidence of this sort, what is the proper province of 
 reason. How may we fail in giving prominence to the 
 divine testimony. Examples of this defect. On some sub- 
 
SYLLABUS. XXXV 
 
 jects proofs are mixed, partly from the Bible, partly from 
 other sources. 
 
 2. Consciousness. Distinction between this and conscience. 
 Strength of this evidence. To what purposes this kind of 
 evidence is most applicable. 
 
 3. Common sense. Why propositions of this class are 
 called self-evident. Example from Tillotson, to show how 
 this sort of evidence may be employed in sermons. 
 
 LECTURE XII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 4. Evidence of facts ; — including experience, testimony 
 and authority. A general law of the material and intellec- 
 tual worlds stated, according to which facts become the 
 basis of argument. To what extent this sort of evidence 
 may be used in sermons. Cases in which testimony, as 
 proof in sermons is liable to abuse. Authority, — its abuse, 
 — its true weight. Practical bearing of this last topic on 
 the evidence of what doctrines are taught in the Bible. 
 
 Rules of Argument . 
 
 I. In reasoning from the Bible, its unperverted meaning 
 must clearly support the point to be proved. 
 
 1. In adducing proofs from the Bible, the grand prin- 
 ciple of Protestantism must be adhered to, that our faith 
 must conform to the Bible, and not the Bible to our faith. 
 Violations of this principle ; — Their tendency ; — 
 
 2. But though there be no perversion, the proof may be 
 obscured, by quoting — too many texts; — or too few ; — or 
 by bare quotation of the text, where comment also is neces- 
 sary to show its bearing. Examples on the last point. 
 Cases in which scriptural proof is made out by comparison 
 and induction. 
 
 II. In reasoning, from whatever source, we should consider 
 the influence of passion and prejudice on belief. 
 
 This influence illustrated. Advantage of Analytic method 
 in such cases. 
 
 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 III. Arguments should be simple, — that is, not complicated, 
 nor abstract; Grounds of this rule. Prejudices against 
 
XXXVI SYLLABUS. 
 
 metaphysics often extreme. A truth may be mysterious, 
 while the proof that it is a truth is plain. Use of meta- 
 physics ; — and abuse. Rhetorical reasoning better than 
 abstract, for sermons. Language of metaphor and imagi- 
 nation not inconsistent with the dignity of religion ; — 
 example of the Bible. 
 
 IV. Arguments should not be too many. Disadvantages 
 of accumulation. 
 
 V. Should be well arranged. Remarks on the best order 
 in introducing proofs from the Bible, when these are con- 
 nected with a series of proofs from other sources. Illustra- 
 tions. On alternative of two places for a topic. On 
 relation of time, cause, and effect, &c, On negative heads. 
 On the antithetic form of reasoning. On reasoning from 
 Authority . 
 
 VI. Avoid a controversial strain of reasoning. Three ways 
 of refuting objections. When we must meet thtm inform 
 — six cautions suggested. 
 
 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Recapitulation, — in what cases useful. Example of Cicero. 
 Continued or running application, — when allowable. 
 Faulty conclusions of sermons. 
 
 1. The formal conclusion. What it is ; — exemplified in 
 sermons of the Puritans. Change after the restoration of 
 Charles II. 
 
 2. The desultory ; — what leads to this. 
 
 3. The dry ; — what it is. 
 
 To make a good conclusion, the preacher must — 1. Aim 
 at practical effect , — aim to impress the hearers as individuals. 
 How far this effect depends on the design of the preacher. 
 
 2. Understand the principles of the human mind. Aid of 
 this knowledge in applying truth. Rule illustrated. In 
 applications, difference between personality and individu- 
 ality ; — the former, why improper in an uninspired preacher ; 
 — often alleged, however, when there is no fault in the 
 preacher. Application by the agency of conscience. 
 
 3. Arrange the parts of a sermon so, if practicable, that they 
 may tend to a single effect in the close. Convergent method, 
 and divergent. In adjusting the plan of a sermon, how far 
 should the topics of conclusion be previously settled ? 
 Inferences, — cautions respecting ; — advantages of. 
 
SYLLABUS. XXXV11 
 
 4. Make an appeal to the heart. 
 
 The pathetic, — Five remarks on ; viz. 
 
 1 . Demands simplicity in execution. 
 
 2. Not to be confounded with emotion generally. 
 
 3. Not to be protracted. 
 
 4. Requires moral painting, 
 
 5. Though high powers in the pathetic are wanting to a 
 preacher, this is no reason why he should be dull and cold. 
 
 LECTURE XV. 
 
 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 1. How far it maybe professional and peculiar? Religion 
 must have its own technical terms. In other respects, should 
 conform to general laws of style. 
 
 II. Peculiarities, amounting to faults, arise from — de- 
 signed imitation of scriptural language. Using familiar 
 terms abstractly or mystically. Reading old authors, and 
 catching 1 their diction. Influence of conversation-dialect. 
 
 III. Properties of a good style for a preacher. 1. Sim- 
 plicity. This requires him, — Never to use a hard word, 
 when a plain one will express his meaning. Never to use 
 a common word in an itncommon sense. To avoid display 
 of reading. Metaphysical obscurity ;— Classical quotations 
 and allusions. To guard against taking it for granted that 
 words familiar to himself, as a scholar, will be so to plain 
 hearers. 
 
 2. Seriousness. This is opposed — To ridicule — To levity 
 and witticism in any form — To affected smartness and 
 sparkling ornament. 
 
 3. Earnestness. What is requisite in the man, to give this 
 quality to his style. 
 
 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 DIRECTIONS IN FORMING A STYLE, GENERALLY. 
 
 t. Remember that thought is the basis of style. 
 Writing with no object, except to form a style ; its 
 tendency. 
 
 2. Study your own genius. — Mistake of Plato, writing 
 poetry. 
 
 3. Study the best models. In point of style, what benefit 
 may a student for the ministry derive from reading the 
 
XXXV111 SYLLABUS. 
 
 Classics ? What, from reading poets, to one who writes only 
 prose? Will one acquire the style of popular address by 
 reading essays? What period of English literature fur- 
 nishes the best models? Comparative value of Scotch 
 models. In reading authors as models generally, what 
 cautions requisite? 
 
 4. Maintain the habit of writing. Perseverance and reso- 
 lution in this case, important in early life, as connected 
 with subsequent usefulness. Despatch in writing, on what 
 things it depends ; habits of Johnson, as to despatch. 
 Change in the characteristics of English style, since the 
 time of Addison ; reasons of this change. Over-exactness 
 in writing, and hurry, both to be avoided. 
 
 5. Take it for granted that your best performance is 
 capable of subsequent amendment. Different methods 
 adopted by respectable men, in the act of composing, to 
 diminish the labor of correction. Very strong and sacred 
 obligations rest on young ministers of the present day to 
 cultivate skill in writing. 
 
 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 EVANGELICAL PREACHING. 
 
 I. Sermons should be evangelical. 
 
 I. What is evangelical preaching. 
 
 Different kinds of phraseology to express this, used in 
 the New Testament. Why Christianity, like every other 
 science or system, must be taught by the exhibition of its 
 elementary principles? Difference between a discourse of 
 Socrates, and a Christian sermon, on the same subject, e. g. 
 the being of a God, or the doctrine of immortality — a 
 caution suggested. 
 
 II. All preaching should be evangelical. 
 
 1. Such preaching might reasonably be expected to answer 
 better than any other the great ends of preaching. Brief 
 mention of chief points in the evangelical system. Why 
 these are adapted to give special interest to preaching. 
 
 2. Evidence of facts shows it to be so. 
 
SYLLABUS. XXXIX 
 
 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 INSTRUCTIVE PREACHING. 
 
 II. Sermons should be instructive- 
 
 1 . What things are requisite to make a sermon instructive ? 
 
 (1) It must have an important subject. 
 
 (2) Should be perspicuous, in method and language. 
 
 (3) Should be rich in matter. To render sermons so, the 
 preacher should have — respectable capacity. Fixed habits 
 of reading and thinking. Should read and think as a 
 preacher, and with systematic classification of acquired 
 knowledge. In aiming to enrich sermons with matter, 
 should avoid two mistakes — a sweeping generality — and an 
 effort at perpetual novelty. 
 
 (4) Should have the form of discussion, rather than of the 
 desultory manner. 
 
 (5) Should exhibit truth in its connexions. 
 
 LECTURE XIX. 
 
 INSTRUCTIVE PREACHING. 
 
 2. The preacher should aim to instruct his hearers. 
 
 This appears — (1) From the constitution of the human 
 mind, as influenced by motives. 
 
 (2) From the nature of the gospel — as a system of truths, 
 on which is predicated a system of duties. 
 
 (3) From the best examples of preaching. 
 
 (4) From the best effects of preaching. Ignorance of the 
 gospel in a Christian country, why criminal, and fatal to 
 the souls of men. 
 
 LECTURE XX. 
 
 DIRECTNESS IN PREACHING. 
 
 III. Sermons should have directness ;— that is, the preacher 
 should so conduct his address, as to make each hearer feel. 
 " He preaches to me." 
 
 1. What constitutes directness in preaching?— It implies 
 such an exhibition of a subject that the hearers shall — 
 Understand it; — i. e. not in an unknown tongue ; nor on a 
 subject too recondite for their comprehension. Perceive its 
 pertinence and importance to themselves. 
 
xl SYLLABUS. 
 
 II. Causes which produce indefinite and indirect preach- 
 ing. 
 
 1. Want of intellectual precision in the preacher. Defect 
 in his mind as to — Native structure, or, intellectual habits. 
 Hence want of discrimination, and adaptation to different 
 classes and characters, among hearers. 
 
 LECTURE XXL 
 
 DIRECTNESS IN PREACHING. 
 
 2. Indefinite preaching may arise from false taste in the 
 preacher ; that is, want of rhetorical skill in expression. 
 Generality in terms, and formation of sentences. The peri- 
 phrastic drapery of diction illustrated by farther examples. 
 The same principle applied io figure in style. 
 
 3. Indefinite preaching may arise from constitutional 
 delicacy of temperament in the preacher. 
 
 4. — From absolute want of piety, or a low state of piety 
 in the preacher. How a man's manner, as to explicit 
 declaration of the truth, will be modified by supreme regard 
 to himself and to God. Use of evangelical terms, while 
 no one doctrine of the gospel is preached. Indefinite lan- 
 guage never resorted to in any serious business of this 
 world. 
 
 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 DIRECTNESS IN PREACHING. 
 
 5. Indefinite preaching may arise from wrong theory in 
 the preacher, as to the best mode of exhibiting divine truth. 
 The principle assumed is, that men are predisposed to love 
 the truth, if skilfully exhibited ; and that feelings of oppo- 
 sition must result from some fault in the preacher. Incon- 
 sistency of this theory with the Bible and facts. 
 
 1. The Bible represents unsanctified men as predisposed, 
 not to love the truth, but to oppose it. 
 
 2. The theory in question has no countenance from the 
 ministry of Christ. 
 
 3. Nor from the general evidence of facts. Recapitula- 
 tion. Concluding reflections on the influence of indefinite 
 preaching upon our churches ; and on the obligations of 
 ministers to give an explicit and undisguised exhibition 
 of the whole gospel in their sermons. 
 
LECTURES. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 1. The. preaching of the gospel, however contemned and 
 undervalued by philosophers, ' falsely so called/ is a 
 work of immense importance. In the magnitude of its 
 objects it surpasses, beyond all comparison, every other 
 employment in which men can engage. This might be 
 illustrated, did my limits allow the detail, by an ample 
 exhibition of facts, showing that the highest degrees of 
 intellectual cultivation, of civil liberty, and of social 
 order, which are found in the most favoured communi- 
 ties, result not so much from all other causes combined, 
 as from the sanctifying influence produced by the faith- 
 ful preaching of the gospel. 
 
 But the consideration which attaches preeminent 
 importance to this work is, that God has appointed it as 
 the grand instrument of salvation to men. The scheme 
 of redemption is an object to which all other objects and 
 events, in our world, are subordinate. This is the radiant 
 point, where all the attributes and works of God con- 
 verge into a blaze of glory. In contemplating the 
 
 B 
 
2 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 ' great mystery of godliness, into which angels desire to 
 look,' we see how infinite wisdom, love, justice, and 
 grace unite in the forgiveness of sin, and in suspending 
 the immortal hopes of sinners on the cross of Christ. 
 Now the principal means which God has instituted to 
 make known this scheme of mercy to a lost world, is the 
 preaching of the gospel. This consideration invests the 
 preacher's work with a character of exalted and awful 
 dignity, which very far transcends the most elevated 
 employments of this world. Well did St. Paul say, and 
 had he been an any el, well might he have said, " Who 
 is sufficient for these things ?" Surely then, a pious, 
 uninspired man should aim at the highest attainable 
 degree of perfection, in his preparation for this work. 
 
 2. No man who has any just conceptions of this work, 
 and of his own acquisitions, will think himself already so 
 perfect as to be above improvement. 
 
 He who has made any real progress in wisdom, will 
 see at every step of his researches, a field opening before 
 him, that is absolutely boundless. His sermons cannot 
 be rich in thought, unless his materials are drawn from 
 inexhaustible resources : and to these he cannot have 
 access, without patient, assiduous, well-directed, and 
 long-continued application. But supposing him to be a 
 " scribe well instructed," and furnished with ample stores 
 of biblical and theological learning, he may be very 
 unskilful in " bringing forth " these treasures, for the 
 instruction of others. His style may be vulgar, or inac- 
 curate, or unintelligible, or dry, or feeble. 
 
 In one or more of the qualifications requisite to form 
 an able preacher, very few, at any age, or in any circum- 
 stances, are free from considerable imperfection. To 
 any young man, then, it can be no reproach, to acknow- 
 ledge himself imperfect. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 3. To correct our own defects, and to increase our 
 qualifications for usefulness, is a work which requires our 
 own efforts. No process in which a man is merely passive, 
 can transform him into an able preacher, or a useful man 
 in any respect. Important acquisitions, of every kind, 
 must be the result of care and labour. * There is no 
 royal road' to knowledge in our profession, more than in 
 others. It would indeed be unwise, at this day, for a 
 Christian student to adopt a course like that of the 
 Athenian orator, who transcribed the history of Thucy- 
 dides eight times with his own hand, that he might learn 
 to imitate the conciseness, strength, and fire of the histo- 
 rian. But the same industry, though it may be better 
 applied in this age of books, is as necessary as it was in 
 the age of Demosthenes. 1 
 
 ' Men/ says Johnson, ' have sometimes appeared, of 
 such transcendent abilities, that their slightest and most 
 cursory performances excel all that labour and study can 
 enable meaner intellects to compose ; as there are regions 
 of which the spontaneous products cannot be equalled in 
 other soils by care and culture. But it is no less dan- 
 gerous for any man to place himself 'in this rank of under- 
 standing, and fancy that he is born to be illustrious 
 without labour, than to omit the cares of husbandry, and 
 expect from his ground the blossoms of Arabia.' Johnson 
 was practically acquainted with the principle of Quinc- 
 tilian, ' that it is the work of correction to add, to 
 retrench, and to change. That it is comparatively easy 
 to determine what parts require amplification or abridg- 
 ment ; but to repress the tumid, to raise the low, to prune 
 the luxuriant, to restrain the extravagant, to condense 
 the diffuse, is a labour of double difficulty.' 
 
 It deserves to be remembered that Johnson was neither 
 
 1 See note (1) by the Editor, at the end of the volume. 
 B 2 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 too indolent nor too fastidious to become a critic on 
 himself. His Rambler, which, as it was first published, 
 competent judges had classed among the finest specimens 
 of English composition, he almost rewrote for subsequent 
 editions. Chalmers, in his biographical preface to the 
 Rambler, has preserved one of its original papers, as a 
 literary curiosity. Any student who will carefully 
 compare this with the corrected copy, and see with what 
 punctilious inspection, this great man revised his own 
 composition, will find himself amply repaid for his 
 trouble. 1 
 
 I am aware that this critical process, when employed 
 in the correction of a sermon, needs to be conducted with 
 more caution and judgment, than in the case of an essay, 
 where the heart may slumber, while the intellect is en- 
 gaged in adjusting the parts of sentences. But the fervor 
 of feeliug which is indispensable in the compositions 
 of the preacher, is injured, not so much by subsequent 
 correction, as by the refrigerant proceeding too often 
 adopted in the original discussion of a subject, in which 
 the writer forgets his main business, in searching for favo- 
 rite forms of expression. 1 cannot too often repeat the 
 remark, that the only adequate remedy for this difficulty, 
 is to acquire such habits of correctness, that propriety of 
 language shall be spontaneous, and cost no labor of reflec- 
 tion ; while the thoughts to be communicated should 
 thus be allowed to engross the attention. 
 
 But to form these habits in a young writer, it is neces- 
 sary that he should be accustomed carefully to revise, 
 after a proper interval, every production of his own pen. 
 That this labour does not necessarily tend to destroy the 
 spirit of a sermon, is evident from the fact, that to this 
 very process we are indebted for the most animated, 
 
 1 Note (2.) 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 energetic, and eloquent discourses, that have ever issued 
 from the press. And to the want of this, in a great 
 measure, we may ascribe the superabundant supply of 
 those which deserve a different character. 
 
 But patience in revising our own compositions, is not ail 
 that is requisite on this subject — because, 
 
 4. No man, however accurate, or however desirous 
 of improvement, can be so perfect a critic on himself, as 
 not to need at least occasional aid from the judgment 
 of others. 
 
 The reasons of this remark, as applicable to the writer 
 of mature and well-disciplined mind, are chiefly two. 
 One is, the imperceptible influence of habit. It is not my 
 purpose here, to analyze those laws of mind on which 
 the power of habit depends. The fact is too obvious to 
 require to be proved, that this power does exist, and 
 exert an important influence upon our whole course of 
 thinking and acting. The constant recurrence of any 
 object or event diminishes the interest which it excites 
 in the mind. On this principle, we gradually become 
 familiar with the attitudes, features, voice, and language 
 of one with whom we daily associate, so as not to ob- 
 serve even those peculiarities which would be instantly 
 noticed by a stranger. For a still stronger reason, we 
 become insensible to whatever is peculiar in ourselves. 
 Faults that are quite obvious to others, in our use of 
 favourite words and phrases, or in the general method 
 of expressing our thoughts, may excite as little notice in 
 our own minds, as the action of our limbs in walking, or 
 of our lungs in respiration. 
 
 The other, and the more important reason, why a man 
 cannot be a perfect critic on himself, is, that he is liable 
 to feel a partiality to the faults which need correction, 
 because they are his own. This difficulty exists in all its 
 
6 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 force respecting a composition that is recent, and towards 
 which the writer cherishes a fond regard, as possessing a 
 sort of identity with himself. It was the tendency of 
 both the above causes, especially the latter, to pervert a 
 man's judgment of his own performance, that occasioned 
 the precept of the Latin critic, ' nonura in annum prema- 
 tura And with reference to the same tendency, a modern 
 writer, of good sense, remarked ; ■ The attachment felt 
 to the defects of our style, at the moment of their pro- 
 duction, is to be ranked with the sort of oblique taste 
 manifested by idolaters ; who usually most reverence 
 those idols, which are most deformed.' This, I appre- 
 hend, is peculiarly true of those faults which spring 
 from the heedless darings of affectation, or the sallies of 
 wayward fancy. Pride is always at hand to volunteer 
 its approbation, or at least apology, for our own defects. 
 After the assassination of Cresar, when Brutus was 
 about to make a speech in the Roman Senate, some of 
 his friends urged Cicero to prepare that speech for him. 
 Cicero replied — ' No orator ever believed that another 
 man could write better than himself.' 
 
 These principles, especially the latter, which sober 
 experience, and even piety, do not exterminate from any 
 human bosom, may be expected to operate, with peculiar 
 strength, when combined with the ardent temperament 
 of youth. Accordingly, I have always observed in 
 circles of ministers, that, other things being equal, the 
 youngest men are least patient of criticism. In any one 
 of ingenuous and intelligent mind, the desire of im- 
 provement is in proportion to his intercourse with 
 men and books; his knowledge of himself; in a word, 
 his attainments in real wisdom. In such a man, of course, 
 a partial attachment to his own productions, and his own 
 errors, always abates with the progress of years : but 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 there is danger of its continuing, to an unhappy extent, 
 till the best period of improvement is past. Instead of 
 shrinking from the scrutiny of judicious criticism, there- 
 fore, he who understands his own interest will invite it; 
 he will prize it, as the invaluable, indispensable auxiliary 
 of his own efforts. He will seek this aid seasonably , 
 before his defects acquire insuperable strength by indul- 
 gence. And he will desire that such criticism should be 
 impartial and thorough ; that it should not spare real 
 blemishes, though he himself might regard them as minor 
 defects, or even as beauties. No one, in the ' plastic ' 
 age, ought to be indifferent to small faults ; because the 
 carelessness that overlooks these, at twenty, if unchecked, 
 will grow into intolerable blundering by forty. l In a 
 sermon, peculiarly, no error of sentiment should be 
 deemed too small for animadversion. Let the empiric 
 tamper with his patient's life by random prescriptions, 
 and be comparatively blameless ; but let not the preacher 
 tamper with the Bible, and the souls of men. The faults 
 of one sentence from the pulpit, may produce mischief 
 through a century, nay through eternity. 
 
 Let me add, however, one caution to these remarks. 
 See that the habit of criticism does not withdraw your 
 attention from the great end of preaching. There is no 
 necessity, I must say again, that this consequence should 
 follow from attention even to minute accuracy. And 
 yet there is a tendency to this result, which, in minds of a 
 certain cast, ought to be guarded against with unceasing 
 vigilance. Gross blunders in language are inexcusable 
 in a scholar : but it is a thousand times better to violate 
 grammar and rhetoric, and preach the gospel clearly and 
 powerfully, than to be an accurate, dry, uninstructive, 
 phlegmatic preacher. 2 
 
 1 Hae nugse seria ducent. Hor. Ars. Poet. 2 Note (3) 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 In discussing the large class of topics which come under 
 the head of Homiletic Theology, frequent allusion to 
 facts will be necessary : and to avoid repetition, it seems 
 proper here to exhibit a brief sketch of the preacher's 
 work, as it has been conducted in different ages. A 
 complete account of the pulpit belongs indeed to the 
 department of ecclesiastical history, in which it deserves 
 a much more prominent and ample consideration than it 
 has hitherto received. But as I cannot devote ten or 
 fifteen lectures to this subject, I must be content to 
 give a mere outline of facts, imperfect as this of neces- 
 sity must be. 
 
 In the early history of the world, we find no evidence 
 that the business of public religious teaching was reduced 
 to method. " Enoch, the seventh from Adam," we are 
 told in the epistle of Jude, " prophesied." The brief 
 history of this patriarch as given by Moses, makes no 
 mention of him as a prophet. But the language ascribed 
 to him by St. Jude, renders it plain that he spoke under a 
 divine commission ; and that as a public instructor of his 
 cotemporaries, he taught the unity and moral perfections 
 of God, and the difference, as to present character and 
 final retribution, between saints and sinners. 
 
 St. Peter calls .Noah " a preacher of righteousness ; — 
 the eighth perso?i ivho was saved in the ark" as our 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 9 
 
 translators understood the place ; or as others, with less 
 reason, render it, " the eighth preacher of right- 
 eousness." 1 
 
 In the patriarchal ages, the worship of God was con- 
 fined chiefly to families, the head of each family acting 
 as its priest. Moses, Aaron, and Joshua, in their day, 
 often collected the people in solemn assembly, especially 
 in the Tabernacle, and addressed them with powerful 
 effect, in the name of the Lord. 2 
 
 At a still later period, schools of the prophets were 
 established at Bethel, IMaioth, and Jericho, which seem 
 at first to have been places of worship, where the people 
 assembled, especially on the sabbaths and new moons, 
 for purposes of religious devotion and instruction ; and 
 which afterwards became places of education for young 
 men designated to the sacred office. In the reign of Asa, 
 it is said, that Israel had long been " without the true 
 God, and without a teaching priest." In the next reign, 
 Jehoshaphat sent out a great number of itinerant preach- 
 ers, who " taught in Judah, and had the book of the law 
 with them, and went about throughout all the cities of 
 Judah, and taught the people." The peculiarity of 
 garb, the sanctity of manners, the bold and often splendid 
 imagery, and the violent action of these ancient preachers, 
 
 1 The same apostle says that to those who in his day were 
 " spirits in prison," Christ preached the gospel by Noah, before the 
 flood. And St. Paul, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, alludes to 
 the warning of the approaching deluge, which Noah gave his cotem- 
 poraries, in which he acted under the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 2 The tabernacle was a tent about fifty feet in length and seventeen 
 in breadth. It was divided by a rich curtain into two parts, the 
 sanctum, and sanctum sanctorum ; the latter containing the Ark of 
 the covenant, &c. In this tent, which was so constructed as to be 
 taken down and moved, the Congregation of Israel offered sacrifices, 
 and performed other religious services. 
 
 B 5 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 need not here be described, being only circumstantial 
 appendages of their sacred work. 
 
 After the captivity, when the inspired code assumed a 
 more regular form, exhibiting the genealogies, the system 
 of jurisprudence, and the sacred ritual of this peculiar 
 people ; and when their language was corrupted by a 
 barbarous mixture of foreign dialects ; religious teachers 
 were obliged to become students, for the purposes of 
 exposition and interpretation ; and their employment, to 
 some extent, became, of course, a learned profession. 
 In the eighth chapter of Nehemiah, one very interesting 
 example of Ezra's preaching is recorded. About fifty 
 thousand people were assembled in an open street. The 
 learned scribe, with a large number of preachers on his 
 right and left, stood on an elevated pulpit of wood. 
 When he opened the book of the law, "all the people 
 stood up," and continued standing, during the remainder 
 of the service, which lasted from morning to midday. 
 The preachers alternately " read in the book of the law 
 of God, distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them 
 to understand the reading ; and all the people wept, 
 when they heard the words of the law." 
 
 It is foreign from my purpose here to enter into the 
 controverted question about the origin of synagogues ; 
 except to say that I am satisfied with the arguments 
 which assign their origin to the period after the capti- 
 vity. The exercises of the Jewish public worship, were 
 prayers, reading the Scriptures, exposition, and miscel- 
 laneous exhortation. The prayers, which at first were 
 few and brief, had become in the time of our Saviour so 
 tedious as to be censured by him for their length. The 
 reading of the Pentateuch, in such portions as to finish 
 the whole every year, was a long established custom, 
 which Antiochus Epiphanes having forbidden by a 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 11 
 
 sanguinary edict, equal portions of the prophets were 
 substituted ; and after the above prohibition was re- 
 moved, the " law and the prophets" continued to be 
 read in alternate lessons. The passage which was read 
 was interpreted in Chaldee, after that became the current 
 language of the Jews ; and then the ruler of the syna- 
 gogue invited persons of distinction, giving the preference 
 to strangers, to address the people. 
 
 It would be rather amusing than useful to describe the 
 sacred rites of Pagan nations. Egypt, Carthage, and 
 Persia, had priests, who were second in rank and wealth 
 only to their kings. It was doubtless on account of the 
 veneration in which they were held, as possessing supe- 
 rior learning, and as understanding the mysteries of the 
 sacred books, and of divine worship, that Joseph 
 exempted their lands from the assessment laid upon all 
 the other subjects of Pharaoh. Among the sacred orders 
 of those nations, the Magi of Persia were most distin- 
 guished ; and the second Zoroaster might perhaps with 
 propriety be called the first Mahomet. By his inter- 
 course with the Jews in their captivity, he became 
 acquainted with their Scriptures, by the help of which 
 he compiled his Zendavesta. In this he inserted many 
 Psalms of David, — the history of Adam and Eve, of 
 the creation and deluge, of Moses, Abraham, and the 
 patriarchs. 
 
 The official services of the priests among the Persians, 
 consisted in giving instructions to the people, as to their 
 duties to the gods, and in conducting their superstitious 
 and sanguinary rites of sacrifice. These rites were per- 
 formed in the open air : and Varro thinks that perform- 
 ing them in temples, as was afterwards done by the 
 Greeks and Romans, had a great tendency to corrupt 
 religion. 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 The public ministry of John the Baptist, and of Christ 
 and the apostles, is so minutely described in the New 
 Testament as to require no distinct notice in this sketch. 
 The grand characteristics of their preaching, as to doc- 
 trine and manner, .will be considered in another place. I 
 will only say here, that our Saviour, as did his apostles 
 after him, and as all missionaries must do, in spreading a 
 new religion, taught his hearers wherever they happened 
 to assemble ; sometimes from the deck of a ship ; at 
 others, from the summit of a mountain; in a private 
 house; in the synagogue; in the temple; just as the 
 circumstances of the time made it convenient. The ser- 
 mons delivered on these occasions exhibit a combination 
 of simplicity and majesty, of superiority to the applause, 
 and of fervent zeal for the salvation of men, which render 
 them the best models of public instruction. 
 
 When they who planted the primitive churches ceased 
 from their labours, the noble simplicity which distin- 
 guished their preaching, began to decline. Many of the 
 early Christian Fathers, however, were burning and 
 shining lights, who, by the purity of their doctrines, the 
 fervour of their piety, the fidelity and efficacy of their 
 ministrations, were great blessings to the world. As the 
 state of the pulpit during the first few centuries of the 
 Christian church is to be collected chiefly from sources 
 difficult of access to most persons, it may be proper to 
 class the remainder of my remarks, under distinct heads, 
 with some enlargement on each. 
 
 I begin with the names by which the preacher and his 
 office were anciently designated. One of these titles was 
 tcygvH, a crier ; borrowed from the business of one, who, 
 as orator of heathen gods or princes, made proclamation 
 in public places with a loud voice. Under this allusion, 
 St. Paul calls himself k-'^vI kou a,iro(TTo\o<; 7 and St. Peter 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 13 
 
 calls Noah SixaKxrvvfit; Krjpv£. This title indeed, was often 
 applied, in early times, to the deacon, who called to 
 order at the commencement of public worship. The 
 preacher was besides often called &8ao-#ca>.o$, tractator, 
 concionator, &c. 
 
 The address which he delivered was called by the 
 Greeks o^iXia, that is, a familiar discourse, adapted to 
 common people, from o[mao$, an assembly, a multitude. 
 The Latins called it tractatus, disputatio, locutio, sermo, 
 and concio, according to the subject and strain of the 
 discourse. 
 
 When the stated preacher was sick, it was customary 
 for the deacons to read the homilies of the Fathers. 
 Indeed it is evident that Stephen and Philip, two of the 
 seven deacons in the apostolic church, were preachers ; * 
 and from several passages in St. Paul's epistles, 2 as well as 
 in the primitive fathers, it seems probable that the office 
 of deacon was, in many cases, regarded as preparatory 
 to the ministry ; though it did not of itself imply autho- 
 rity to preach. 
 
 The duties of deaconesses in the early Christian 
 church, like those of prophetesses in the Jewish, were 
 limited to offices of piety and charity, and to the private 
 instruction of their own sex. The public preaching of 
 women, which was so strictly prohibited by St. Paul, was 
 disallowed in all the orthodox churches of antiquity. 
 Accordingly the Council of Carthage adopted this as 
 one of its canons; " Mulier, quamvis docta et sancta, 
 viros in conventu, docere non prresumat." 
 
 1 Acts vii. and viii. 5, 26. - 1 Tim. iii. 13. 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE PULriT. 
 
 GENERAL ORDER OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
 
 Place. — To the Jews, Christ often preached in the 
 synagogue, and so did the apostles. Among the early 
 Christians religious assemblies often convened in the 
 streets or fields ; but more commonly in the houses of 
 private persons, especially during seasons of persecution. 
 In process of time, places of meeting were provided, 
 which became common property, and took the name of 
 churches, 1 by a figure derived from the assemblies which 
 were convened in them. What sort of buildings these 
 were, in the time of Diocletian, Eusebius informs us, in 
 describing the wonderful prosperity of the church, which 
 was suddenly darkened by the strife for preeminence 
 among its ministers. ' But now,' says he, ' how should 
 any one be able to describe those multitudes, who, 
 throughout every city, flocked to embrace the faith of 
 Christ ; and those famous assemblies in the churches ? 
 For which reason, they were no longer contented with 
 the old edifices, but erected spacious churches from the 
 very foundations, throughout all the cities.' 2 And the 
 churches erected by Constantine, * were richly adorned 
 with pictures and images, and bore a striking resemblance 
 to the pagan temples, both in their outward and inward 
 form.' 
 
 Pulpit. — The preacher addressed the people, in these 
 ancient assemblies, sometimes from the episcopal seat, 
 and sometimes, especially when baptism was to be 
 administered, from the steps of the altar. The common 
 place of the preacher, however, to give him a full view 
 of his auditors, and to denote the dignity and authority 
 
 1 EKKXrjata. ~ Euseb, Lib. 8. Cap. 1. — and Mosheim, 1, 383. 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 15 
 
 of his office, was a sort of rostrum, called tribunal, sug- 
 gestum, ambo, and other names corresponding with the 
 different purposes for which it was designed. A very 
 usual appellation of this pulpit among the fathers was 
 * the preacher's throne.' Thus Gregory Nazianzen says, 
 1 I seemed to myself to be placed on an elevated throne ; 
 upon lower seats on each side, sat presbyters ; but the 
 deacons in white vestments, stood, spreading around them 
 an angelic splendor.' And Chrysostom calls the pulpit 
 Opovog §3a,<TKa\iKo<;. The form of these pulpits was that 
 of a rostrum, elevated, and somewhat extended ; but they 
 seem not to have been on the same model as those of 
 many churches of modern Italy, where the whole person 
 of the preacher is exposed to the view of his audience. 
 
 TIME OF PREACHING. 
 
 In populous cities, where assemblies could easily con- 
 vene for devotional purposes, it was often customary to 
 mingle preaching daily'with public prayers. Origen and 
 Augustine preached in this manner ; and hence the fre- 
 quent allusions of the latter to sermons, which he de- 
 livered ' Aen,' and ' hesterno die.' These things were 
 differently determined, according to circumstances in 
 different places. But the celebration of public worship 
 on the first day of the week, was, in the primitive 
 churches, an universal custom, founded on the example 
 and express appointment of the Apostles. 
 
 The number of services on the Lord's day was one, 
 two, or three, according to the disposition of the preacher, 
 or the zeal or convenience of the hearers. Basil com- 
 monly preached twice on the Christian Sabbath. 
 Augustine in the afternoon, often alludes to his morning 
 
16 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 discourse. Chrysostom styles one of his homilies, ' an 
 exhortation to those who were ashamed to come to ser- 
 mon after dinner.' In his tenth homily to the people of 
 Antioch, he commends them for the full assemblies 
 which convened for public worship in the afternoon. It 
 is probable that he did, at least occasionally, preach a 
 third time, on the same Sabbath ; for he certainly did 
 sometimes preach in the evening; it appears from his 
 fourth homily on Genesis, in which by an eloquent digres- 
 sion, he reproved his hearers for turning their eyes away 
 from himself to the man that was lighting the lamps. 
 The Apostolical Constitutions, speaking of the Christian 
 Sabbath, say, — ' On which day, we deliver three ser- 
 mons in commemoration of him who rose again after 
 three days.' The custom of modern Protestant churches, 
 throughout Christendom, except in very high latitudes, 
 or very scattered population, requires two services on 
 each Sabbath. The ecclesiastical canons of Scotland 
 require three in the summer and two in the winter ; 
 though general usage dispenses with one of these, in each 
 division of the year. 
 
 It need only be mentioned on this particular, that, in 
 the Romish church, at different periods, preaching, 
 except on occasion of some public festival, was entirely 
 suspended for ages together ; — as it has also been in 
 some branches of the Greek church. 
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH PREACHING. 
 
 Posture of the 'preacher. — Ancient authorities are 
 divided on the question, whether the common posture of 
 the preacher was sitting or standing. ' The Scribes and 
 Pharisees sat in Moses' seat.' Our Saviour, having 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 17 
 
 read a passage from the prophet Isaiah, — " sat down, 
 to teach the people." " He sat down and taught the 
 people out of the ship" — " He sat and taught his dis- 
 ciples in the mountain ; " — and to his enemies he said, 
 " I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple." 
 
 It is certain that sitting to preach was the attitude 
 adopted frequently by Augustine, and commonly by 
 Justin, Origen, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. It was 
 probably the prevailing usage of ancient preachers, 
 though often departed from by Christ, and by the early 
 fathers. 
 
 Posture of hearers. — Justin Martyr says in his second 
 Apology, that when the sermon was finished in the 
 church of Rome, the people all rose up to pray ;— im- 
 plying that they heard the sermon sitting, and united in 
 the prayer standing. This was the general custom in the 
 churches of Italy at that period ; and in many churches 
 of the east. But in the African churches, the indul- 
 gence of sitting to hear sermons, was strictly prohibited, 
 except to the aged and infirm ; and standing was the 
 more prevailing custom of Christian assemblies for a 
 long period. 
 
 Eusebius says that when he preached, in the palace 
 of Constantine the great, the Emperor stood, with the 
 other auditors, during the whole discourse. And when 
 he entreated him to sit down on his throne, which was 
 near, he refused, saying that ease and remissness was 
 unbecoming in hearers of the divine word ; and that 
 standing in such a case, was only a decent respect to 
 religion. 
 
 Classification of hearers. — In ancient Christian as- 
 semblies, distinct portions of the church were allotted to 
 different classes of persons, designated by railings of 
 wood ; so that males were separated from females, and 
 married from the unmarried. 
 
18 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 Prayers.— The regular prayers of the ancient churches 
 were offered after the sermon was closed. Ferrarius, 
 however, informs us, that, before the preacher began his 
 discourse, he always invoked divine aid in a short prayer, 
 similar in kind and length, to those occasional suppli- 
 cations, which he offered in the current of his sermon, 
 when any point of unusual difficulty came to be dis- 
 cussed. In the more set prayers at the conclusion of 
 public worship, the people, having been silent to the 
 close, united in the audible response, — Amen. 
 
 Reading the Scriptures. — The reading of the scriptures, 
 either by the preacher, or some one in his stead, always 
 was the first exercise of public worship. The subject of 
 the sermon was usually taken from the passage read, and 
 where the reader was a different person from the preacher, 
 it often happened that a fortuitous selection of the pas- 
 sage at the time, required from the preacher an ex- 
 tempore effort in the exposition. This passage, how- 
 ever, was commonly determined by previous arrangement. 
 
 The Salutation, Pax vobis. — To secure the attention 
 of the people at the commencement of worship, the dea- 
 cons commanded silence ; the preachers addressed them 
 with an affectionate salutation and benediction ; ' peace 
 be with you,' — (the people answering, ' and with thy 
 spirit; ') and at the moment of commencing his sermon, 
 he signified by his look, and the movement of his right 
 hand, that he expected them to give audience to what 
 he was about to deliver. This signal of his right hand, 
 Lucan says, Julius Caesar employed, when about to 
 address the multitude. It was common with ancient 
 orators, heathen and Christian. On such occasions St. 
 Peter "beckoned with his hand;" — and so did St. 
 Paul, repeatedly. 
 
 Text. — Ancient preachers did not select a text, 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 19 
 
 exactly in the modern manner. Sometimes the theme 
 of discourse was deduced from a short clause of the 
 lesson read, which was announced at or near the com- 
 mencement of the sermon. At other times, this theme 
 was taken from a whole lesson ; at others, from several 
 lessons. Basil, in one of his homilies, alludes to three, 
 and in another to four distinct passages that had been 
 read that day, from different parts of the Bible. This 
 accounts in some measure for the fact, that the preaching 
 of the Fathers had so much of the hortatory and dis- 
 cussive character, and so little unity of subject and 
 effect. 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 Subjects of sermons. — Under this head, I might 
 greatly extend my remarks ; as a proper survey of the 
 subjects discussed by preachers of different ages, would 
 form a history of the pulpit, far more accurate and com- 
 plete than any which has been given to the world. 
 
 Among the early fathers, sermons were adapted to 
 two general classes of hearers, the catechumens and the 
 faithful, or, (as they were sometimes called,) imperiti 
 and initiati. In addressing the latter, abstruse doctrines, 
 and the sacred mysteries of religion were often dis- 
 cussed; while the preacher, in instructing the catechu- 
 mens, passed over these entirely, or touched them very 
 lightly, dwelling on those simple truths and duties, 
 which were adapted to their circumstances. Concerning 
 the preachers of the second century, Mosheim says, 
 ' The Christian system, as it was hitherto taught, .pre- 
 served its native and beautiful simplicity, and was com- 
 prehended in a small number of articles. The public 
 teachers inculcated no other doctrines than those that are 
 contained in what is commonly called the Apostles' 
 Creed ; and in the method of illustrating them, all vain 
 subtilties, all mysterious researches beyond the reach of 
 common capacities, were carefully avoided. This will 
 not appear surprising to those who consider, that, at 
 this time, there was not the least controversy about those 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 21 
 
 leading doctrines of Christianity, which were afterwards 
 so keenly debated in the church.' x 
 
 In the third century, the same historian says, ' The 
 principal doctrines of Christianity were explained to the 
 people in their native purity and simplicity. But the 
 Christian teachers, who had applied themselves to the 
 study of letters and philosophy, soon abandoned the 
 frequented paths, and struck out into the devious wilds 
 of fancy. Origen was at the head of this speculative 
 tribe ; ' and though he handled this matter with modesty 
 and caution, his disciples, breaking from the limits fixed 
 by their master, interpreted in the most licentious man- 
 ner, the divine truths of religion, according to the tenor 
 of the Platonic philosophy. 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen, in enumerating the subjects 
 commonly discussed in the pulpit, mentions, — ' The 
 universal providence of God, the creation, fall, and 
 restoration of man, the incarnation, passion, and second 
 coming of Christ ; the resurrection, judgment, and the 
 final state of rewards and punishments ; and above all, 
 he says, the doctrine of the blessed trinity, which was 
 the principal article of the Christian faith.' Chrysostom, 
 in his preaching to plain hearers, selected such subjects 
 as these : ' the benefit of afflictions ; not seeking to know 
 all things, is supreme wisdom ; the reproach of this world 
 is glory ! death is better than life ; it is better to suffer, 
 than to inflict injury.' In his twenty-fourth homily, on 
 the baptism of Christ, he reminds his hearers, that the 
 scope of his preaching had been concerning, ' immortality , 
 heaven and hell, the long-suffering of God, pardon, re- 
 pentance, true faith, mystery, heresy.' 
 
 I need not trace the regular and lamentable degene- 
 
 1 Ecclesiastical History 1, 180. 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 racy of the pulpit from this time, onward to the re- 
 formation. Ferrarius, though when he wrote, the day 
 of better things had dawned, described some preachers, 
 who, during the darker periods of the church, discussed 
 the most frivolous questions, such as " Whether Abel 
 was slain with a club, and of what species of wood ? — 
 from what sort of tree was Moses' rod taken ? — was the 
 gold which the Magi offered to Christ, coined, or in 
 mass ? ' Hattinger says, that in a collection of sermons, 
 composed by the theological faculty of Vienna, A. D. 
 1430, a regular history is given of the thirty pieces, 
 which Judas had for betraying his master. These pieces 
 were said to be coined by Terah, father of Abraham ; 
 and having passed through a succession of hands, too 
 ridiculous to be named, they, came into possession of the 
 Virgin Mary, as a present from the Magi, and went into 
 the temple as an offering for her purification. At the 
 same period, Ferrarius complains that some preachers 
 made a great ostentation of their acquaintance with 
 ancient languages, versions, paraphrases, and manuscripts. 
 For a considerable period before the reformation, the 
 prevailing topics of the pulpit were, ' the authority of 
 the mother church; the merits and intercession of de- 
 parted saints ; the dignity of the blessed virgin ; the 
 efficacy of relics ; and above all, the terrors of purgatory , 
 and the utility of indulgences. ' Sermons consisted of 
 quibbles, fables, and prodigies ; and religion consisted 
 of external ceremonies. And be it remembered for ever, 
 that this prostitution of the pulpit was followed by the 
 reprobation of heaven on a church, which for centuries 
 has been gasping under the hand of death. 
 
 The meridian splendor of that light which shone at 
 the reformation, was soon obscured in different countries 
 by the combined influence of worldly policy and reli- 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 23 
 
 gious controversy. When the Baxters and Howes of 
 the English pulpit were denounced in the days of Charles 
 the Second, its glory departed. The rich and fervid 
 instructions of the preceding age, were superseded by dry 
 and speculative disquisitions ; and the cardinal doctrines 
 of the gospel, by the precepts of a cold and decent 
 morality. And be it remembered again, that when real 
 Christianity was thus supplanted in the pulpit, by a 
 spurious and secular theology, the door was opened, at 
 which entered the various forms of Arian and Socinian 
 error, and finally of the most unqualified infidelity. 1 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES IN SERMONS. 
 
 I have adverted to the influence of Origen in corrupt- 
 ing the primitive simplicity of religion. Guided, not by 
 a sober judgment, but by a wayward fancy, he laid down 
 the broad principle, absurd as it is bold, ' that the scrip- 
 tures are of little use to those who understand them as 
 they are written.' Hence he maintained that the Bible 
 is to be interpreted as the Platonists explained the his- 
 tory of their gods ; not according to the common accepta- 
 tion of the words, but according to a hidden sense. This 
 hidden sense he divided into moral and mystical; and the 
 latter he subdivided into the inferior or allegorical sense, 
 and the superior or celestial sense. This machinery, 
 when put into full operation, and recommended by the 
 genius and learning of Origen, degraded the Bible at 
 once from its paramount authority, as the standard of 
 faith ; and made it subservient to the dreams of every 
 visionary interpreter. Under the cover of this mystical 
 
 1 Note (4.) 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 meaning, little ingenuity was necessary to elicit from the 
 scriptures support for any opinion, however repugnant to 
 Christianity and common sense. 1 
 
 Among the Greeks, Gregory ISazianzen, and Augus- 
 tine among the Latins, became zealous supporters of 
 scholastic theology; combining in a most incongruous 
 union, the doctrines of the gospel, with those of the 
 Platonic philosophy ; and drawing conclusions the most 
 absurd. Every coincidence of phraseology, was fraught 
 with important meaning. Augustine regarded the plagues 
 of Egypt as a most pointed testimony against the sins 
 of the Egyptians, because the ten plagues corresponded 
 exactly in number with the ten commandments which 
 they had broken. No doubt the commentator forgot 
 that these ten commandments were given long after the 
 plagues ; and not given to Egyptians, but Jews. 
 
 If I were to indulge a single reflection here, it would 
 be this, that the whole superstructure of doctrinal and 
 practical religion depends on the principles adopted in 
 
 1 From the endless examples of fanciful interpretation, furnished 
 in the pages of Origen, I select but one. The prophet Isaiah, having 
 rebuked the spendor and luxury of the Hebrew women, declares, 
 that in the approaching havoc of war, such would be the slaughter of 
 males that only one would be left to seven females. These latter, to 
 escape the dread reproach of celibacy, would beg for the mere name 
 and credit of wedlock, renouncing all its legal privileges. ' And in 
 that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will 
 eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel, only let us be called 
 by thy name, to take away our reproach.' Let us see how this plain 
 and vivid description of a great public calamity, is metamorphosed 
 by the magic of a hidden sense. 
 
 These seven women, Origen says, are ' seven operations of the 
 divine spirit ; viz. a spirit of wisdom, of intelligence, of council, of 
 virtue, of knowledge, of piety, and the fear of the Lord.' The man 
 they take hold of is Jesus Christ, that he may take away the reproach, 
 which the world heaps upon true religion. 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 25 
 
 interpreting the scriptures. Origen and a few other 
 distinguished men were responsible for all the absurdities 
 of transubstantiation, and all the fooleries of superstition 
 that deluged the church, ages after they were dead. 
 
 From the sixth to the twelfth century, public instruc- 
 tion consisted of arguments and authorities drawn, not 
 from the Bible, but from the writings of the fathers. 
 So servile was the veneration for those infallible guides, 
 that it was deemed impious not to submit, implicitly, in 
 every article of faith, to their decisions. In the twelfth 
 century, Christian teachers were divided into two classes. 
 The former were called biblici and dogmatici, or exposi-_ 
 tory and didactic divines. These professed great reve- 
 rence for the Bible, and gave insipid explications of what 
 they called its ' internal juice and marrow.' The letter 
 were called scholastici, and avowedly subjected all arti- 
 cles of faith to the decisions of philosophy. The grand 
 point of religion, however, through these dark ages, to 
 the time of Luther, was, to know the decision of the 
 sovereign Pontiff, and then to believe and act without 
 examination. , 
 
 REASONING IN SERMONS. 
 
 Chrysostom, in his treatise nepi lepacrvMjs, requires the 
 Christian preacher to be skilful in dialectics. The utility 
 of this he shows at some length, from the argumentative 
 powers of St. Paul. The reasoning of this father, though 
 it is sometimes perspicuous and cogent to a high degree, is 
 rather of the rhetorical kind than the logical ; in other 
 words, it is characterized rather by the vivid illustrations 
 of oratory than by the regular inductions of argument. 
 But with the exception of Chrysostom and a few others, 
 
 c 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 very little that deserves the name of reasoning, is to be 
 found among the fathers. They were not accustomed to 
 define terms and anatomize the subject, by investigating 
 elementary principles. Their sermons, even when rich in 
 thought, were commonly destitute of precision and skilful 
 arrangement ; and too often what were called demonstra- 
 tions, consisted of incoherent allegories and conceits, 
 more adapted to amuse the fancy, than to convince the 
 judgment. 1 
 
 PREPARATION OF SERMONS. 
 
 How far the practice of preaching extemporary dis- 
 courses prevailed among the fathers, cannot be determined 
 with certainty. Origen is supposed to be the first who 
 introduced this method. This, however, he did not 
 attempt, as Eusebius affirms, till he was more than sixty 
 years of age, and had acquired by experience, great free- 
 dom in the pulpit. That Augustine did sometimes preach 
 without any preparation, is unquestionable ; for, in one 
 instance, he tells us that the reader, instead of reading 
 the passage of Scripture, prescribed as the subject of the 
 sermon, gave out another by mistake ; which compelled 
 him to change his purpose, and preach without premedi- 
 tation. Ferrarius quotes Suidas, as saying that Chrys- 
 ostom had a tongue flowing like the Nile, which enabled 
 him to deliver his panegyrics on the Martyrs, extem- 
 pore. The versatility of powers possessed by this great 
 preacher, appears from innumerable instances, in which 
 he dropped the main subject, and with the utmost perti- 
 nence and fluency of language pursued any accidental 
 thought suggested at the moment. 
 
 1 Note (5.) 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 27 
 
 But though there were in the primitive ages many 
 exceptions, it seems plainly to have been the general 
 usage, that sermons were written. No other proof of 
 this is necessary, if we advert to the indisputable fact 
 that some skilful writer often composed homilies, which 
 other preachers, and even dignitaries in the church, 
 delivered as their own. Ferrarius alludes to discourses 
 as still extant, which were written by Ennodius, for the 
 use of others. 
 
 This practice, Augustine not only recognizes, but 
 formally justifies, in behalf of those who are destitute 
 of invention, but can speak well ; provided they select 
 well written discourses of another man, and commit them 
 to memory, for the instruction of their hearers. 
 
 In different countries and periods, there has been con- 
 siderable diversity in the custom of preparing sermons. 
 Before the civil wars in England, preaching without notes 
 had become common. During those commotions, when 
 each pulpit was surrounded with spies, and each word 
 of the preacher liable to be the ground of civil indict- 
 ment, personal safety required him to write and read his 
 sermons with care. Hence this singular official order 
 of Charles the Second, addressed to the University of 
 Cambridge, forbidding, absolutely, that sermons should 
 be read ; and requiring that they should be delivered by 
 memory, without book, and that the name of every 
 preacher disregarding this requisition, should be forth- 
 with reported to his Majesty. 
 
 There can be no doubt that sermons among the fathers 
 were generally precomposed, and delivered, sometimes 
 with, but more commonly without the aid of written 
 notes. 1 
 
 1 Note (6.) 
 C 2 
 

 28 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 ELOQUENCE OF SERMONS. 
 
 The two most distinguished ancieut treatises on this 
 subject were that of Chrysostom, — De Sacerdotio, and 
 of Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana; ' from which we 
 learn that these luminaries of the Greek and Latin church 
 had exalted views of Sacred eloquence. Their sermons, 
 too, especially those of Chrysostom, furnish many ex- 
 amples of an elegant, fervent, and even sublime oratory. 
 His accurate acquaintance with the human heart, his 
 varied learning, and vivid fancy, furnished him with 
 inexhaustible stores of argument and illustration. Yet 
 he did not seek to appear learned ; and never descended 
 from his noble simplicity, to adopt those atfected beauties 
 of style, which sometimes debased the eloquence of 
 Augustine. 
 
 Among the Latin fathers, Jerome of the fourth century, 
 might be mentioned as one of the most distinguished for 
 learning and eloquence. During his education at Rome, 
 he devoted himself to the art of oratory, that he might 
 successfully defend Christianity. — Erasmus pronounces 
 him ' the greatest scholar, the greatest orator, and the 
 greatest divine, that the church had produced,' including 
 his predecessors of the three centuries before. His 
 writings are valuable, not only for vigour and elegance 
 of style, but for biblical learning. 
 
 Lactantius of the same century, though less sound as a 
 theologian, was eminent as a Latin writer. He was a 
 professed rhetorician. The beauty and eloquence of his 
 writings acquired him the title of ' the Christian Cicero,' 
 and induced the Emperor Constantine to choose him as 
 teacher to his son. 
 
 1 Lib. IV. 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 29 
 
 Among the Greek Fathers, the homilies of Basil, while 
 they are preferred, by some competent judges, to those 
 of Chrysostom, in classical purity of style ; are second 
 only to his, in point of eloquence ; and the two Gregories 
 occupy the next rank. That these men possessed real 
 eloquence, might be inferred from the effect of their 
 preaching on the hearers. When Chrysostom was "No 
 banished, the people said, with one voice, " it were 
 better that the sun should cease to shine, than that his 
 mouth should be shut ; " and this, notwithstanding he 
 often bore down on his hearers, in a torrent of bold and 
 pointed reproof, such as is seldom heard from any modern 
 pulpit. Take an example from his reprehension of 
 those who were averse to reading the scriptures, but 
 zealots for hearing sermons, and who demanded novelty 
 and pomp in the pulpit. ' Tell me,' said he, * with what j~- - 
 pomp of words did St. Paul preach? — yet he converted 
 the world. What pomp did the illiterate Peter use? 
 You say, we cannot understand the things that are writ- 
 ten in the gospel. Why so? Are they spoken in 
 Hebrew, or Latin ? — are they not spoken in Greek, to 
 you who understand Greek ? But they are spoken darkly. 
 How darkly ? Are the histories obscure ? There are 
 a thousand histories in the Bible: tell me one of them. 
 You cannot tell one. Oh ! but the reading of the 
 scriptures is a mere repetition of the same things ! And 
 are not the same things repeated at the theatre, and at 
 the horse-race. Does not the same sun rise every 
 morning ? Do you not eat the same sort of food every 
 day ? If we ask, why do you not remember our ser- 
 mons? — you answer, how should we, seeing they always 
 change, and we hear them but once ? — If we ask, Why 
 do you not remember the scriptures ? You answer, they 
 are always the same. These are nothing but pretences 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 for idleness/ I had selected an extract from the same 
 father, on the advantages of eloquence in a preacher, but 
 my limits forbid its insertion. 1 
 
 LENGTH OF SERMONS. 
 
 Cicero and Pliny allude to an instrument called 
 clepsydra, used by Greek and Roman orators to measure 
 time, by drops of water. Ferrarius says that Italian 
 preachers of his day, used an hour-glass, with sands, for 
 the same purpose ; though there is no certainty that any 
 such usage existed among the fathers. He affirms, how- 
 ever, upon what I think, inadequate evidence, that the 
 customary length of their sermons, was about one hour. 
 
 This point cannot be determined from the expressions 
 so common in preaching; ' allotted hour,' — 'hour of 
 sermon,' &c. which may denote merely that there was 
 a stated time of public worship. Nor can it be known, 
 from the published sermons of the day, for two reasons. 
 One is, that when the same audience was addressed by 
 several preachers, in immediate succession, as was fre- 
 quently the fact, sermons would, of course, be more 
 brief, than when the whole time was appropriated to one 
 man. The other reason is, the impossibility of dis- 
 tinguishing homilies, preserved by the original manuscripts 
 of preachers, from those taken down by short-hand 
 writers, called ra%vy^d<foi, by the Greeks, and notarii by 
 the Latins. The custom which Chrysostom applauds, 
 of repeating sermons in families, after they returned from 
 church, introduced the practice of note-taking. These 
 notes of hearers, were sometimes published, after a 
 
 1 See works Vol. 1. page 408. 
 
HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 31 
 
 revision by the preacher, and sometimes without his con- 
 sent. In this way many homilies transmitted to us, are 
 mere scraps of those which were actually delivered. 
 For example ; Chrysostom's first sermon on Lazarus, 
 must have occupied nearly sixty minutes in delivery : 
 Whereas others, as they appear in his printed works, 
 and the same is true, concerning those of Augustine, 
 would have required scarcely a tenth part of this time. 
 On the whole, it is evident that sermons, as delivered by 
 Christ, and the Apostles, and the primitive fathers, 
 varied in length with circumstances : — that after Origen's 
 time, they became longer, less desultory, and more con- 
 formed to the rules of Grecian eloquence ; but that, in 
 Chrysostom's day, they must have been less than an 
 hour in length, as this was the customary time of the 
 whole religious service. 1 
 
 EFFECT OF SERMONS. 
 
 The silence and order which decency demands in a 
 modern Christian assembly, did not prevail in the ancient 
 church. To prevent passing in and out during sermon, 
 different measures were adopted ; such as severe church 
 censures, placing officers at the entrance of the church, 
 and sometimes locking the doors. 
 
 The best preachers often reproved their hearers for 
 talking and jesting in time of worship. In imitation of 
 
 1 In some cases it would seem that what is given to us as one con- 
 tinued sermon, must have been delivered at several times. The 
 sermon of Erasmus on the Fourth Psalm, is as long as five modern 
 sermons. Editors probably took the same liberty as that by which 
 several discourses of President Edwards have been embodied into a 
 continued treatise. 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 the pagan theatre, it became an extensive custom for 
 hearers to express their approbation of a sermon, by 
 tumultuous applauses, such as stamping, clapping, waving 
 of handkerchiefs, and loud acclamations. Thus the 
 hearers of Cyril cried out, in the midst of his sermon, 
 orthodox Cyril ! And Chrysostom's in another case ex- 
 claimed, 'Thou art the thirteenth Apostle !' These 
 applauses were in many cases, mere matter of form, and 
 were uttered without any intelligent apprehension of what 
 the preacher had delivered. Thus Augustine reproved 
 his hearers, in one instance, for interrupting him with 
 their acclamations, when he had only begun to speak, 
 but had not expressed a single thought. But many 
 other preachers encouraged these disorders, from motives 
 of vain glory. They had their reward,-*- while the 
 illustrious men whose simple aim was to feed their 
 hearers with the bread of life, saw their faithful minis- 
 trations blest, to the saving conversion of many souls. 
 
 The sketch which T had designed to give of the modern 
 pulpit, in Great Britain, on the continent of Europe, and 
 in the Greek church, must be omitted, except so far as 
 it will be incorporated of course into the various topics 
 of subsequent lectures. 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 The practice of expounding parts of the sacred Scrip- 
 tures in public worship, as I have stated in the preceding 
 lectures, was common in the Jewish synagogue, and in 
 the early Christian churches. From this origin is derived 
 the usage, which for ages has prevailed in Christendom, 
 of selecting .from the Bible a few words or sentences, 
 called a text, from which the preacher deduces the sub- 
 ject of his discourse. It can be no valid objection to 
 the propriety of this custom in the pulpit, that nothing 
 analogous to it is found in the modern senate or forum, 
 nor among the great fathers of ancient eloquence. It is 
 not the province of secular oratory, as Dr. Campbell has 
 properly remarked, to expound any infallible code of 
 doctrines or laws. But a sermon purports to be a per- 
 spicuous and persuasive exhibition of some truth or duty, 
 as taught in the word of God. It is, therefore, with 
 great propriety, founded on some specific passage of this 
 sacred book. 
 
 The principles which ought to be observed in the choice 
 of texts may be included, perhaps, in the following 
 
 RULES. 
 
 1. A text should never be chosen as the mere motto 
 
 C 5 
 
34 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 of a sermon. This is not sufficiently respectful to the Word 
 of God. Our authority to preach at all, is derived from the 
 same sacred book which prescribes what we shall preach. 
 It is not enough that what we speak is truth; — it must 
 be truth taught in the Bible ; or else the declaration of 
 it deserves not the name of a Christian sermon. I do 
 not say that an elaborate explication, or any explication 
 is invariably necessary to show that the subject of dis- 
 course is contained in the text. When this is so obvious 
 as to be seen by every hearer; especially when it is 
 obvious without recurrence to the connexion of the con- 
 text, or when there is no such connexion, explanatory 
 remarks are superfluous. This point will be resumed in 
 another place. 
 
 But here a question arises which demands some atten- 
 tion, as to the order to be observed in choosing a subject 
 and a text. Dr. Campbell 1 lays down the broad posi- 
 tion, that ' the text ought to be chosen for the subject, 
 and not the subject for the text.' His reason is, that in 
 the opposite course, the preacher is tempted to descant 
 upon the words and phrases of a text, while the sentiment 
 becomes only a secondary consideration, 
 
 In point of fact, doubtless, every wise preacher often 
 fixes on some prominent doctrine or duty, which he 
 wishes to discuss, and then goes to the Bible to ascer- 
 tain what it teaches on this subject, selecting some single 
 passage as a text, that is especially pertinent to his pur- 
 pose. This, I presume, is the common process of prepa- 
 ration, where a sermon is to be adapted to any special 
 circumstance or occasion. The ordination of a minister, 
 for example, requires a discourse on an appropriate sub- 
 ject; and the selection of a text adapted to such a 
 
 1 Lectures on Pulpit Eloquence. 
 
CHOICE OF TEXTS. 35 
 
 subject implies no disrespect to the Bible ; for the occa- 
 sion itself, and all the instructions which it demands, are 
 founded on the aufhority of this sacred book. Or, when 
 there is some special reason for the preacher to discuss 
 the doctrine of atonement, or of progressive sanctifica- 
 tion, he adopts the same process in choosing a text. 
 
 But here is a danger to be guarded against, much more 
 serious than the one mentioned by Dr. Campbell, on the 
 other hand. Suppose you fix on your subject, and 
 arrange your matter, and even write your sermon, as has 
 often been done, and then go to the Bible in search of a 
 text. Probably, your text will either not contain your 
 subject ; or contain it only by inference or remote ana- 
 logy ; or combine with it other subjects, which must 
 entirely be neglected. I do not say that there can be no 
 case in which it is admissible to arrange the plan of a 
 sermon, and even execute it without having determined 
 on a text. But from the specimens of motto-preaching 
 which have fallen under my observation, I cannot doubt 
 that the tendency of the above process is to sink the 
 reverence due to the Bible; and hence it too often 
 happens in point of fact, that, in what are called polite 
 sermons, there is nothing but the text to remind the 
 hearers that there is a Bible. The text is obviously 
 chosen from respect, rather to the usage of the pulpit, 
 than to the authority of the divine word ; and it would 
 better accord with the ends of the preacher in such a 
 case, to choose no text; or, like him whom Melancthon 
 heard preach in Paris, to choose one from the Ethics 
 of Aristotle. 
 
 2. In the choice of a text there should be NO AFFECTA- 
 TION OF PECULIAPcITY. 
 
 Some preachers have endeavoured to awaken the 
 curiosity of their hearers by an artifice of this sort, alto- 
 
 X 
 
36 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 gether unbecoming the dignity of the pulpit. They 
 select, perhaps, from a passage, a scrap, or a single 
 word, that vulgar minds may admire the sagacity which 
 can elicit so much meaning from a text, in which they 
 perceive no meaning, and in which there truly is none. 
 
 I have heard a sermon from a clause of the passage 
 Isaiah xlv. 11. " Command ye me." The leading pro- 
 position was to this effect, — ' that such is the condescen- 
 sion and faithfulness of God, in fulfilling his promises, 
 that he consents to be addressed as a servant, in the 
 language, not of supplication, but of command. It 
 seems to me plain, that this is not at all the sense of the 
 passage ; but that it is to be read interrogatively, — ' do 
 ye command or dictate to me ? ' — and understood as a 
 pointed rebuke of Jehovah, to those who assumed to 
 meddle with his prerogatives. No other investigation, 
 than to look at the context, is necessary to settle this 
 point. But supposing the other sense to be the true one, 
 the air of conceit and peculiarity in choosing this de- 
 tached clause for a text, would be avoided by the 
 preacher of sober judgment; when all becoming free- 
 dom and confidence in approaching the throne of grace, 
 is encouraged in so many simple passages of the Bible. 1 
 
 1 Dr. Campbell mentions one of those declaimers, * who will rather 
 take the most inconvenient path in the world, than keep the beaten 
 road, who chose the words, a bell and a pomegranate, and a bell and a 
 pomegranate, — as the ground of a discourse on this topic, that faith 
 and holiness in the Christian life, do ever accompany each other.' It 
 would not be easy, he adds, 'to conceive a more extravagant flight. 
 But where, you say, is the connexion in the subject ? It requires 
 but a small share of fancy to make out a figurative connexion any 
 where. Faith cometh by hearing : and could one desire a better rea- 
 son for making the bell which is sonorous, an emblem of faith ? Ho- 
 liness is fruitful in good works : — how can it be better represented 
 than by a pomegranate, which is a very pleasant fruit? ' 
 
CHOICE OF TEXTS. 37 
 
 Now I protest against all whim and eccentricity, in 
 ransacking the Bible for some odd word or phrase, to be 
 the basis of a discourse. I would as soon adopt at once 
 the recommendation of Sterne, that, when a preacher is 
 much at loss to find a text for his sermon, he shall take 
 this ; * Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites ; ' or even 
 as soon propose this same fantastical Sterne as a pattern 
 of Christian decorum in the pulpit. But there is a 
 kindred fault, which, though it may not arise from 
 affectation, shows want of good taste. 
 
 3. A text should contain a complete sense of 
 
 ITSELF. 
 
 I do not mean that it should contain all the sense, of 
 which it is susceptible, when viewed in relation to the 
 context. In many cases, this would be impossible. But 
 I mean that it should, generally, consist of at least one 
 grammatical sentence, simple or complex, containing the 
 distinct relations of subject, attribute, and object. The 
 propriety of this is suggested by the primary end of 
 preaching, the elucidation of the scriptures, as the foun- 
 tain of religious instruction. 
 
 When this principle is violated, it is commonly from 
 the desire of brevity. Almost innumerable examples of 
 this sort might be mentioned ; and many from preachers 
 of respectable rank. In some cases, a mere member of 
 a sentence, amounting to no affirmation, and expressing 
 no complete thought, whatever, is violently disjoined 
 from its grammatical connexion, to stand for a text. 
 Bishop Home's sermon, entitled; 'The beloved dis- 
 ciple,' — has this text, "that disciple whom Jesus loved.'' 
 The whole sentence is, "Therefore, that disciple whom 
 Jesus loved, said unto Peter, It is the Lord." His ser- 
 mon entitled ' the Tree of Life,' has this text : " The 
 Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden." Each 
 
38 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 of these clauses is only a nominative case, with an 
 adjunct. 
 
 In other instances, a few words are so selected as to 
 express a complete sense ; but the brevity at which the 
 preacher so fondly aims, is attained by the omission of 
 intervening words or phrases. The prelate just mentioned, 
 in his sermon on patience, has this text, " Follow after 
 patience , " which is a mutilation of St. Paul's injunction 
 to Timothy, " Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, 
 love, patience, meekness." 
 
 Dr. Blair in his sermon ' on the importance of order 
 in conduct,' thought proper to make his text exactly 
 pertinent to his subject, by omitting an adverb and a 
 conjunction, in the middle, thus; "Let all things be 
 
 done in order." In his sermon on ' Gentleness,' 
 
 his text, by a similar modification, reads thus: "The 
 
 wisdom that is from above, is gentle ." In 
 
 his sermon on 'Candour,' the text is "Charity 
 
 thinketh no evil ; " four members being omitted between 
 the two parts of th's clause. But the most singular 
 example of this sort in Blair, is his choice of the words, 
 " Cornelius, a devout man," as a text to his sermon on 
 ' Devotion.' The passage is given as in Acts x. 2, 
 where, indeed, three of its four words are found, while 
 the other word occupies a remote place, in the verse 
 preceding. The entire passage is this; "There was a 
 certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a Centurion 
 of the band, called the Italian band, a devout man, and 
 one that feared God with all his house, which gave much 
 alms to the people, and prayed to God always." This 
 is a sketch of a devout man, in one sentence. Why 
 should four words be culled out of this sentence, and 
 put together, containing a nominative case, without 
 any grammatical correlatives, or any distinct sentiment ? 
 
CHOICE OF TEXTS. 39 
 
 Brevity is the object, but why should a preacher of 
 good taste, why, especially, should a preacher of the 
 Scotch church, whose stated duty it is to read portions 
 of the Bible as a part of public worship, be so reluctant 
 to read one complete sentence of this sacred book, as 
 the basis of a long discourse. I admit that there are 
 some special advantages in a concise text, provided it is 
 perspicuous and appropriate. A long one is less likely 
 to be remembered ; and when it involves distinct sub- 
 jects, is more likely to withdraw the preacher from the 
 simplicity and unity of design, which ought to prevail 
 in sermons. But when our choice falls upon a text 
 containing more matter than we wish to discuss, the 
 plain course is, to select our one topic, after reading 
 and, if we please, briefly commenting on the whole, 
 rather than to select a word or two, which suggest no 
 subject whatever. 
 
 4. A text should express A complete sense of the 
 inspired writer, from whom it is taken. 
 
 This it may do, though it is but a single clause, 
 selected from the members of a compound sentence; as, 
 " Rejoice with trembling," — " The time is short." — 
 " Awake, thou that sleepest." Such a clause, however, 
 by being severed from its connexion, is often wrested 
 from its true meaning. You might take, for example, 
 as a text, this complete and independent proposition, 
 "There is no God." But you would use a liberty for- 
 bidden by all established laws of language; you would 
 make the Bible contradict itself, unless you also take 
 the previous clause, "The fool hath said in his heart, 
 there is no God." " John the Baptist was risen from 
 the dead," — is a distinct proposition. But it does not 
 express the sense of the inspired writer, and is not true 
 without including more words : " And King Herod 
 
40 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 heard of him, and he said, that John the Baptist was 
 risen from the dead." 
 
 A text is not to be hung upon a Sermon as an 
 amulet; nor, like the nostrum of an empyric, is it to be 
 taken up and applied at random. It should always 
 express the true sense, and, as far as possible, the com- 
 plete sense of the sacred writer. 
 
 5. This should be the particular sense which 
 
 CONSTITUTES THE SUBJECT OF DISCOURSE : SO that 
 
 the text is pertinent to the subject; in other words, the 
 subject should be directly expressed, or fairly suggested, 
 by the unperverted meaning of the text. 
 
 Now this rule is violated in three ways. It excludes, 
 in the first place, all those texts which are chosen from 
 some fanciful connexion of sound with the occasion or 
 subject in hand. 
 
 Archbishop Fenelon censures a sermon, delivered on 
 Ash- Wednesday, from the words, " I have eaten ashes 
 like bread." Here the correspondence between the text 
 and the subject, lies not at all in the sense, but in the 
 sound of a single word, which the preacher perceived to 
 be related to the ceremony of the day. 
 
 Still less excuse is there, in the second place, for that 
 affected eccentricity which lights on a text by accident, 
 without any connexion of either sound or sense, with the 
 paint to be discussed. It is said of Latimer, that in his 
 advanced age, he had a text which served for any 
 subject; •' Whatsoever things were written aforetime, 
 were written for our learning-." 
 
 I observe again, in the third place, that a text is not 
 pertinent, when so disjoined from its connexion, that its 
 apparent meaning, though it is truth, and revealed truth, 
 is not the real meaning of the passage. Suppose you 
 take, as the foundation of a sermon, the words, " What- 
 
CHOICE OF TEXTS. 41 
 
 soever is not of faith, is sin ; " and without examining 
 the connexion, make this your doctrine, that, nothing 
 is true obedience which does not result from a principle 
 of faith. This false sense of the passage, the authority 
 of Augustine made the classical one for a long period. 
 Doubtless, this sentiment is taught in the Bible, and 
 seems to be taught in this text ; but examining the scope 
 of the whole passage, you perceive the Apostle's affirma- 
 tion to be simply this ; "Whatsoever is done without 
 a conviction of its lawfulness, is sinful ; " — a conclusion 
 from his preceding remarks about conscientious scruples 
 as to meats and drinks. 
 
 I have heard the text, Psalm xlix. 8, " The redemp- 
 tion of the soul is precious," &c. — made to furnish the 
 doctrine, that " the salvation of man is procured at 
 great expense ; " — and this, illustrated by various topics, 
 exhibiting the worth of the soul, and the love of God. 
 This is all true; — and it is truth often taught in the 
 Bible ; but the primary, and obvious sense of the text, 
 as the whole connexion shows, is overlooked, by a mis- 
 understanding of the word soul, which in this place 
 means the life of the body. — Cecil says, " The meaning 
 of the Bible, is the Bible." 
 
 Dr. Blair's sermon on the duties belonging to middle 
 age, has this text, — "When T became a man, I put 
 away childish things." Was it then the design of the 
 Apostle to inculcate the duties of the middle age ? Not 
 at all. He merely said, by way of illustration, that, as 
 the scenes of full manhood surpass the feeble compre- 
 hension of a child ; so the grand concerns of the heavenly 
 state transcend our dark conceptions in this world. In 
 the next verse, the same sentiment is expressed by 
 another figure; " Now we see through a glass, darkly ; 
 but then face to face." Every one perceives how absurd, 
 
42 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 in this case, it would be to pass over the thing illustrated, 
 and fix on the illustration, as a subject of discourse. 
 
 I am aware that the best of men have sometimes taken 
 great freedom with the plain meaning of the Bible, 
 under the license of what they call accommodation. 
 
 Thus Dr. from the words, " Speak to the children 
 
 of Israel, that they go forward," preached on the doc- 
 trine of progressive sanctification. And the language 
 poetically ascribed to Sisera's mother, waiting the return 
 of her heathen son, " Why is his chariot so long in 
 coming ? " has often been made to express the aspira- 
 tions of a dying Saint, for the perfect vision of his 
 Saviour. How much more appropriate, in the former 
 case, is the simple language of the ISTew Testament, 
 " Grow in grace," and in the latter, " I desire to depart, 
 and be with Christ." 
 
 It is not enough, that the chief sentiment of a sermon 
 is true, nor that it is important, nor that it is contained in 
 the Bible ; it must be contained in the text, or properly 
 deduced from it. There is, I admit, a justifiable accom- 
 modation, if you please to give it that name, where a 
 scriptural declaration or precept, or fact, special and 
 limited in its original application, is made the basis of 
 general instruction, " Son of man, I have made thee a 
 watchman to the house of Israel," was an address to 
 Ezekiel, as a minister of God in the ancient church. 
 But there is no violence in considering the solemn charge 
 to that prophet, as applicable to the ministers of the 
 christian dispensation. '« I have nourished and brought 
 up children, and they have rebelled against me," — though 
 spoken of the Jews, would be a proper text for a sermon, 
 on the general subject of ingratitude. So a passage of 
 sacred history, exhibiting the character or obligations 
 of man, the perfections of God, or the principles of his 
 
CHOICE OF TEXTS. 43 
 
 government, furnishes instruction, profitable and pertinent 
 to men of whatever age or country. 
 
 6. The only remaining quality which I would recom- 
 mend in the choice of a text, is simplicity. 
 
 The importance of this is implied in the remarks 
 already made : but it may be more apparent by some 
 distinct illustrations. 
 
 The simplicity to which I refer, is violated, in the first 
 place, by the choice of a text so obscure, as to require a 
 long critical commentary to prepare the way for the sub- 
 ject. It is certainly not my design to condemn such 
 critical remarks, as wholly inexpedient in the pulpit. 
 The judicious exposition of a paragraph or chapter, at 
 stated times, is an invaluable method of enlightening a 
 congregation, as to the contents of the sacred oracles : 
 and it is to be lamented that this ancient usage is so far 
 fallen into desuetude, in the churches of modern Chris- 
 tendom. But, in these exercises, the steps of a philo- 
 logical investigation, are by no means to be exhibited 
 before common auditors. Much less is this proper in a 
 sermon, where men should be called to contemplate an 
 interesting subject, without having been first led through 
 a chilling and perplexing maze of critical speculation. — 
 On the same principle, — 
 
 Simplicity is violated, in the second place, by the 
 choice of a text which promises great efforts in the 
 preacher. This is especially the case, with such pas- 
 sages as present images distinguished for vivacity and 
 sublimity. Of this sort are the following; " He bowed 
 the heavens also and came down, and darkness was 
 under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly, 
 yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." " I beheld 
 a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose 
 presence the earth and the heavens fled away." How- 
 
44 CHOICE OF TEXTS. 
 
 ever grand or awful your subject may be, if you would 
 not disappoint your hearers, introduce it with a simple 
 text. 1 Whenever this contains a figure, explain it, if 
 necessary ; and then, as a general rule, drop it, that you 
 may confine your attention to the thought. It will 
 seldom be proper to follow a figure through your sermon, 
 and never to run it down, into a thousand fanciful points 
 of resemblance. 2 
 
 1 Note (7). 
 2 The Christian Observer, vol. v, 493, recommends what it calls 
 the good old practice of announcing a text twice. When a text is 
 very long, this may be inconvenient ; when very short, unnecessary. 
 It may be best, however, as a general rule, for the preacher to do 
 this, in cases where he is aware that the hearers expect it. Probably 
 it would be well to do it, in all cases, where the text is of moderate 
 length. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS.— GENERAL PRINCIPLES. — FOUR 
 CLASSES OF SUBJECTS, — DOCTRINAL, ETHICAL, HIS- 
 TORICAL, HORTATORY. 
 
 We proceed now to consider the choice of subjects. 
 
 In giving a brief survey of the pulpit, at different 
 periods, I have already remarked, that this single article, 
 the subjects of sermons, would furnish matter for a more 
 complete history of preaching, than any which has been 
 given to the world. Indeed, such is the influence of the 
 pulpit on public sentiment, and such the reaction of 
 public sentiment on the pulpit, that in the most import- 
 ant respects, the state of the church in any given period, 
 may be determined from the prevalent strain of preach- 
 ing, during that period. 
 
 Were we to make this principle the ground of a 
 general estimate, and divide the history of the church 
 since the Christian era into four periods/Ave might perahps 
 denominate the first simple and evangelical ; the second, 
 allegorical and mystical ; the third, controversial ; and 
 the fourth mixed. The first period may perhaps be con- 
 sidered as extending about to the time of Origen; the 
 second, to the Reformation; the third to the commence- 
 ment of the eighteenth century, and the last, to this time. 
 It scarcely need be remarked, that this would be correct, 
 only as a very general classification, admitting many 
 exceptions in each period. The third, I denominate 
 
46 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 controversial, as embracing not merely the mighty strug- 
 gle between the Romish and the Reformed churches, but 
 also the iutolerant, and often sanguinary contests among 
 Protestants of different sects. During this lamentable 
 season, while the pulpit was the theatre of acrimonious 
 attack and recrimination, the greatest question that has 
 ever agitated the church, namely, whether the Bible is, 
 or is not, the supreme standard of faith, may be consi- 
 dered as finally put to rest. 
 
 The fourth period I call mixed, because, at different 
 times and places, it has exhibited an endless variety in 
 the character of sermons, from the extreme of fanatical 
 declamation, to that of the frigid and courtly essay. 
 
 The selection of subjects, which any preacher will 
 make for his public discourses, will correspond with his 
 principal end in preaching. If this is personal emolu- 
 ment or fame, his sermons will be modelled in matter and 
 spirit, according to the prevailing taste of the time. 
 His object may be to establish some point of technical 
 orthodoxy ; or to confute some heresy ; or to elucidate 
 some doubtful text from the resources of criticism ; or to 
 promote good morals, by enforcing some duty or repro- 
 bating some vice ; or finally, to amuse his audience, by 
 the exhibition of an elevated taste, or a splendid oratory. 
 If the preacher's end is to glorify God, and save his 
 hearers, the peculiar truths and duties of the gospel will 
 constitute the principal topics of his public discourses. 
 
 The pulpit, like all other things in which human agency 
 is concerned, has always been more or less subject to the 
 influence of local and temporary causes. At one time, 
 all its powers have been directed, perhaps for half a 
 century, according to an impulse given by a few cele- 
 brated models of preaching. At another time, an over- 
 whelming current of public feeling and opinion has been 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 47 
 
 occasioned by some great subject of duty or danger, 
 involving the common interests of the church. For a 
 hundred years after Luther's time, scarcely a sermon was 
 delivered in any Protestant pulpit, without alluding to 
 the usurpations of the papal hierarchy. 
 
 But aside from caprice and passion, and the occasional 
 excitement of great emergencies in the religious world, 
 there must be circumstances in the view of every judicious 
 preacher, affecting to some extent his own choice of 
 subjects for the pulpit. He will take into view the 
 capacity and cultivation of his hearers ; their attainments 
 in religious knowledge; their prejudices; and their in- 
 tellectual and moral habits. He will have regard also 
 to time and occasion. By this, I do not chiefly mean 
 the periodical solemnities of religion, such as the Christian 
 sacraments, days of fasting or of thanksgiving ; nor other 
 special, public occasions, which usually prescribe their 
 own limits to the preacher. But I refer to that general 
 coincidence of things, which may render the discussion 
 of a particular subject more or less seasonable at any 
 one time or place. 1 
 
 The wise preacher too, will have some regard to his 
 own talents, and taste, and age, in determining upon the 
 topics to be discussed in his public instructions. I 
 mention age, because a sermon designed to investigate 
 some abstruse point in religion, or to arraign some vice 
 which calls for the reprehension of the pulpit, will be 
 much more likely to meet a favourable reception from 
 the hearers, if the preacher is supposed to possess that 
 maturity of judgment, and extensive knowledge of his 
 subject, which nothing but experience in his sacred work 
 can give. The relation which the preacher sustains to 
 
 1 Note (8.) 
 
48 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 the hearers, is connected with a distinct class of circum- 
 stances which good sense will not fail to take into the 
 account. That may be a fit discourse for a stated pas- 
 tor, which would be very inappropriate if discussed by a 
 stranger : and that which might seem affectation of zeal, 
 or learning, or orthodoxy in a single sermon, from an 
 itinerant, might be unexceptionable as connected with a 
 series of addresses to the same audience. 
 
 There is one kind of public discourse, called Expo- 
 sition or Lecture, which is distinguished rather by its 
 form than its subject, and the importance of which claims 
 for it a distinct consideration in another place. The 
 subjects of sermons, in the more appropriate sense of this 
 word, may perhaps be included in the following general 
 classes. 
 
 1. Doctrinal. — This head comprises that whole 
 circle of truths, which appertain to the system of revealed 
 religion. A sermon which discusses one or more of 
 these truths, as its principal subject, is called a doctrinal 
 sermon. Its professed object is to enlighten the under- 
 standing, confirm the faith, and obviate the mistakes 
 of the hearers. Of course, it is in the didactic strain ; 
 as it is intended to exhibit, explain, and establish the 
 views which the preacher entertains on the point in 
 question. The absolute importance which he will attach 
 to this class of subjects, collectively, and the relative 
 importance of each, compared with the rest, will be 
 according to his general system of religious opinions. 
 Some of the doctrines above alluded to, have been de- 
 nominated essential or fundamental. By this it is not 
 meant merely, that they are taught with so much dis- 
 tinctness in the Bible, that to deny them is to call in 
 question the authority of this book as a divine revela- 
 tion ; but also that they are constituent parts of an entire 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 49 
 
 system, none of which can be taken away, without the 
 virtual renunciation of the whole. On this ground, it is 
 maintained, that the deliberate denial of these doctrines, 
 by any one who understands them, is inconsistent with 
 love to the truth, and therefore inconsistent with salvation. 
 
 It is foreign from my present purpose, to examine the 
 views of those who discard the above distinction between 
 essential and nonessential truths ; and allege that error of 
 opinion is not, in any case, either criminal or fatal. I 
 shall only remark in passing, that to say there are no 
 essential principles in theology, while we admit such 
 principles in all those sciences which are secondary and 
 subservient to this, is absurd. To say that error in 
 opinion is never owing to obliquity of moral temper, is to 
 contradict all experience. And to affirm, that while the 
 Bible is our only guide to salvation, we may yet be 
 saved, though we reject the most important truths which 
 it reveals, is to charge absurdity on its contents, and 
 folly on its author. 
 
 Taking it for granted then, that the Bible reveals 
 truths essential to be understood and believed, it is clear 
 that the preacher who is wise and faithful, will often 
 make these truths the topics of his public discourses. 
 Indeed, these are the grand basis of all profitable in- 
 struction. The character of God, the character of man, 
 the way of salvation by Christ, and the kindred doc- 
 trines involved by necessary connection with these, are 
 subjects which our hearers must be brought to under- 
 stand, or they are taught nothing to any valuable pur- 
 pose. The man who avoids these doctrines in his sermons, 
 from a perverted taste, or a false delicacy, or a servile 
 complaisance to the prejudices of others, forgets the 
 chief end for which the Christian ministry was instituted. 
 " The sword of the spirit is the word of God." Let the 
 
 D 
 
50 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 doctrines preached by Christ and his Apostles, the 
 doctrines which constitute the glory, the efficacy, the 
 essence of the gospel, be generally excluded from the pul- 
 pit for one half century, and the night of paganism would 
 again spread its gloomy shades over Christendom. The 
 manner in which these doctrines are to be preached, will 
 claim our attention hereafter. I have only to add here, 
 that this class, including the primary and the subordinate 
 truths of revelation, afford the preacher a rich variety 
 of subjects for discussion in the pulpit. 
 
 2. The next class of subjects to be noticed, may be 
 called Ethical. — I prefer this term to the more common 
 ones, practical and moral, not on account of any primary 
 difference in the sense of the terms, but because these 
 latter are wont to be associated with views of Christian 
 duty, very indefinite, and often erroneous. In respect to 
 the motives, the consolations, and indeed all the essential 
 characteristics of a truly religious man, the doctrines of 
 the Bible are eminently practical. To give one example 
 of my meaning. Any minister of experience in his work, 
 knows that the most direct way to administer consolation 
 to a pious husband, mourning for the death of his wife, 
 would be to dwell on the holy perfection of God, and of 
 his providential government. 1 No system of morals, 
 indeed, that is not founded on these, will receive any 
 ; ountenance from the ministrations of a public teacher, 
 who understands and loves the Gospel. He cannot for a 
 moment sanction the spurious morality which attaches 
 moral qualities to actions, independent of the temper and 
 motives of the agent. It may be said, and said truly 
 perhaps, that no respectable man does avowedly plead 
 
 1 On the practical influence of Christian doctrines, see Erskine's 
 Discourses, 1798, page 54, and Bridges on the Christian Ministry. 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 51 
 
 for a principle, so repugnant to sound philosophy and to 
 common sense. But unquestionably, thousands of ser- 
 mons are every year delivered in Christendom, which 
 contain no more recognition of this obvious principle than 
 if it were self-evident that the heart has no connection 
 with the conduct, but is altogether exempt from the 
 claims of the divine law. Such sermons pervert and 
 prostitute the first principles of Christian morality. They 
 set up custom, convenience, or expediency, as the 
 standard of human duty ; and substitute mere external 
 conformity to divine commands, for that love which is 
 the essence of ail acceptable obedience. Though such 
 morality may assume the name of religion, it is a religion 
 which the Bible disowns. It is completely at variance 
 with the gospel, and with the law, which it is the great 
 design of the gospel to honour and fulfil. Accordingly 
 it deserves to be remembered, that the system which is 
 thus termed morality, invariably fails of itself to make 
 men moral. When this constitutes the prevalent strain 
 of preaching, its influence falls far below the proper 
 effect of Christian instruction. 1 
 
 With these things in view, I need only add that the 
 class of subjects denominated ethical, which the preacher 
 is called to discuss in sermons, includes all those external 
 duties which man is required to perform, resulting from 
 his relations to other beings, especially to his fellow men. 
 It includes prayer, observance of Christian institutions, 
 fidelity, charity, &c. to our neighbour. Whenever these 
 subjects are to be brought into the pulpit, three things at 
 least ought to be remembered. One is, that the precepts 
 of Christianity require the same conduct, as those of the 
 moral law, extended, indeed, to greater particularity in 
 
 1 The best illustration of this topic that I have ever seen, is con- 
 tained in Dr. Chalmer's Address to the people of Kilmany. 
 
 D 2 
 
52 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 detail, and enforced by stricter requisitions as to moral 
 temper, and greater elevation of motive : while both 
 possess, in all these respects, a vast superiority to every 
 human system of morals. Another thing is, that good 
 works, however unexceptionable in character, can never 
 be the ground of justification before God, so as to super- 
 sede the dependence of a sinner on the atonement and 
 grace of Christ. The last thing is, that while we cannot 
 admit morality, without piety, to be acceptable obedi- 
 ence, nor with piety, to be meritorious; we should insist 
 on the indispensable necessity of a good life ; as com- 
 manded by God ; as essential to the relations subsist- 
 ing among moral beings ; and as the only proper fruit 
 and evidence of a holy temper. 
 
 3. Another class of subjects for sermons, is the his- 
 torical. — This includes a statement of facts, which is 
 limited to the character of an individual; or which 
 relates to some particular period, or to some community 
 of men. In the former case, it is the object of the 
 preacher to exhibit the traits of some distinguished cha- 
 racter, good or bad, as the basis of practical instruction. 
 Such descriptions, so far as the pulpit is concerned, have 
 commonly been restricted to the character of persons 
 deceased, and to their excellences rather than their 
 defects; according to the long received maxim; " De 
 mortuis, nil nisi bonum." To this maxim, in its full 
 extent, I can by no means accede. If it is understood 
 to imply merely that death imposes an awe on the licen- 
 tiousness of the tongue, because it extinguishes those 
 little antipathies which often affect our estimate of living 
 persons ; no enlightened mind will question its correct- 
 ness. But if the meaning is, that when men die, their 
 errors and faults cease to be the occasion of warning or 
 instruction to the living ; and that in all such cases, 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 53 
 
 where we cannot truly speak good, we must of course 
 speak nothing or falsehood ; the principle has no sanction 
 from reason, none from the Bible, and it will have none 
 from the scrutiny and the retributions of the final judgment. 
 Shall the preacher then revolt the sensibilities of his 
 hearers, by exactly portraying the imperfections of de- 
 parted friends ? — 1 answer, no. But he is not to escape 
 this difficulty by indiscriminate panegyric. Did we 
 know the man whose character is represented as perfect ? 
 Of course we know that it is overdrawn, for he was not 
 perfect. Was he a stranger to us ? Still we know, 
 from revelation and from analogy, that he was not per- 
 fect. In general, therefore, unmingled eulogy of the 
 dead, however it may gratify the partial sympathies of 
 friendship, or promote the interest of the preacher, is 
 beneath the integrity and dignity which belongs to his 
 sacred office. His true course then, is to avoid de- 
 scribing the character of persons recently deceased, 
 except in a few cases of conspicuous and acknowledged 
 excellence. And while these are drawn in colors not 
 too bright to present the likeness of any human being, 
 the qualities of an eminently good and useful man, 
 exhibited in one consistent view, furnish to others, very 
 powerful motives to imitate an example so attractive. 
 So much it seemed proper to say on a subject which 
 occasionally claims the consideration of every preacher : 
 and more, I presume, need not be said, since modern 
 usage excludes from the pulpit the extravagant pane- 
 gyrics of former days. At this period, even in Roman 
 Catholic countries, it would hardly be admitted as an 
 apology for such servile flattery, as that exhibited by 
 Bossuet, in some of his Funeral Orations, that it was 
 addressed to the ears of royalty. l 
 
 1 Note (9.) 
 
54 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 But under the head of historical subjects, the Bible 
 affords an ample range, free from all the above difficulties. 
 From individual characters there delineated, and from 
 facts exhibiting the providence of God, and the agency 
 of man, in the history of communities, the preacher may 
 derive the most interesting topics for sermons. As these 
 have been very much overlooked, in preparations for the 
 pulpit, it may be useful to inquire whether they are 
 attended with any peculiar inconvenience or advantage. 
 There are certainly some inconveniences. 
 
 The common method adopted in describing a character, 
 an event, or a series of events, is to follow a chronological 
 order, and relate occurrences as they stand connected in 
 time. Here, the first difficulty arises from a tendency 
 either to undue brevity or prolixity in the narrative. It 
 is peculiarly the province of good taste, to fix on the 
 medium between a naked outline, and that particularity 
 of detail, which disgusts by excessive minuteness. 
 
 Another and greater difficulty arises from the miscella- 
 neous train of remarks, commonly suggested by an his- 
 torical subject. In some cases, I know, a single point 
 may be selected for discussion ; but a sermon founded on 
 facts, almost of course, takes into view various reflections 
 resulting from the narrative. Though this sacrifice of 
 unity is not consistent with the highest effect of a sermon, 
 it is, in my opinion, fully justified on proper occasions, 
 by the advantages with which it is attended. What then 
 are these advantages ? 
 
 The first is, the familiarity and precision which attends 
 the evidence of facts. Men instantly understand reason- 
 ing of this sort. It corresponds with their customary 
 modes of conception. When an argument depends on 
 the investigation of criticism, or the deductions of logic, 
 few possess that intellectual discipline and patience of 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 55 
 
 thought, which are necessary clearly to perceive its 
 force. But a plain historical statement, if the facts are 
 unquestionable, is a kind of argument which it is per- 
 fectly easy to comprehend. It is on this account, pro- 
 bably, that the instructions of the Bible are so much 
 thrown into the form of narrative. And it is especially 
 to our purpose here to remark, that the public discourses 
 of our Lord, more particularly his parables, which are 
 only a peculiar species of narrative, are adapted to this 
 common principle of the human mind. Hence this kind 
 of evidence more readily commands assent in common 
 minds, than any other. In its power it is complex, 
 though without obscurity. With a felicity peculiar to 
 itself, it unites the evidence of sense, of experience, and 
 of testimony ; while the combined influence of these is 
 strengthened by the simple light in which this evidence is 
 presented to the understanding. 
 
 A second advantage is, the vivacity of impression, 
 with which this species of discourse is attended. 
 Every preacher knows how difficult it is to keep up 
 the interest of a common assembly in the discus- 
 sion of an abstract subject. Their feelings demand 
 something of that variety in illustration, which attends 
 the concerns of real life. Hence it is, that a metaphor 
 or comparison, founded on some familiar object of sense, 
 is so striking in its effect. Hence, too, a statement of 
 facts, delineating human character, and tracing human 
 passions and principles in their various operations, inva- 
 riably commands the attention of common hearers, espe- 
 cially of the young. It accords with the manner in 
 which they are accustomed to receive instruction from 
 the book of Providence, and of Creation around them. 
 We readily feel the difference between the description of 
 a man's person, and the sight of his picture ; or between 
 
56 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 the sight of his picture, and that of his living face. 
 Analogous to this, as to vivacity of impression, is the 
 difference between instruction of doctrine or precept, and 
 the instruction of facts. When the baseness of envy, or 
 the obligation of filial affection, and religious integrity, is 
 set before us, in the form of didactic representation, we 
 readily assent to its correctness. But how different is 
 the thrilling interest with which we contemplate the same 
 things in the simple story of Joseph ! We are convinced 
 by the logical discussion which proves the vanity of 
 earthly distinctions, and the certainty of an eternal retri- 
 bution. But we are impressed, arrested, agitated with 
 awful emotion, when we view these truths in the parable 
 of the rich man and the beggar. In what way do we 
 form the most striking apprehension of faith, repentance, 
 devotion ? Not by viewing these in the light of precept 
 or reasoning ; but as they are seen in the example of 
 Abraham offering up Isaac ; of St. Peter, weeping bitterly 
 for the denial of his Lord ; of Daniel, braving the terrors 
 of the lion's den. And the excellence of humility we 
 perceive not so strongly, from an abstract dissertation on 
 the greatness of God, or the meanness and guilt of man ; 
 as when we see the publican smiting on his breast ; or 
 the Saviour, in the majesty of condescension, rising, and 
 girding himself, and washing the feet of his disciples. 
 
 In these remarks, I cannot be understood to recommend 
 that historical subjects should supersede others in the 
 pulpit. My meaning is, that this class of subjects has 
 some peculiar advantages, which have not been duly 
 considered by public teachers. 
 
 4. There is one more class of subjects which ought to 
 be mentioned, namely, the hortatory. 
 
 Upon this head, there is no occasion that I should 
 enlarge, though the topics which it includes are endless 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 57 
 
 in variety and extent of interest. Among these are to be 
 reckoned all the points on which the preacher considers 
 his hearers both to know and acknowledge the truth, in 
 speculation ; while they neither feel nor obey it. 
 
 The defect which is far more common than any other 
 in the hortatory discourse, consists in a reliance on the 
 subject itself ', to produce impression, while it is exhi- 
 bited only in the feeble dress of common-place illustration. 
 Upon a subject which demands deep emotion, the 
 preacher perhaps displays an artificial animation ; and 
 declaims merely, where he ought to speak " in demon- 
 stration of the spirit and with power." Conviction is the 
 basis of persuasion ; and to address men with epithets of 
 terror, to assume the attitude and aspect of denunciation, 
 in pointing the thunderbolts of heaven, when no light has 
 been presented to the understanding, though a very com- 
 mon defect of comminatory sermons, is one of the most 
 unprofitable efforts in which a minister of Christ can 
 employ his powers. To preach the truth on some sub- 
 jects, and to some descriptions of men, is unavoidably to 
 preach terror. But if we follow the example of Christ 
 and the Apostles, the terror will consist in the thought, 
 rather than the language. They never, indeed, avoided 
 the use of figures the most awful, nor of such words as 
 damnation, hell, &c. when necessary to express the sen- 
 timent they wished to utter; nor did they ever employ 
 these forms of expression unnecessarily. On the con- 
 trary, without using them at all, they sometimes preached 
 the gospel in the most alarming manner. It deserves to 
 be remembered that such was the fact with St. Peter's 
 sermon on the day of Pentecost, the most pungent and 
 powerful one that ever was delivered. The sermon of 
 President Edwards, entitled, " Sinners in the hands of an 
 angry God," was one of the most awful exhibitions of 
 
 D 5 
 
58 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 truth, as to both sentiment and language, that has been 
 made in the modern pulpit. Its effect on the audience, 
 as to deep and solemn impression, was perhaps greater 
 than that of any other sermon that can be named within 
 a century past. But terrific phraseology was used no 
 farther than was necessary to express the thoughts. So 
 Whitfield often employed words and figures full of 
 terror ; but he did this with tenderness, and often with 
 tears ; instead of that unfeeling severity of denunciation 
 so often witnessed. 1 
 
 When we choose a subject from this class, we ought 
 to do it with the full conviction that our success, so far 
 as it depends on ourselves, depends almost entirely on 
 that sort of ethereal simplicity, sincerity, affection, and 
 fervour, in the spirit and execution, which commend the 
 truth to the hearts of the hearers. 
 
 Three remarks will close this Lecture. 
 
 1. In selecting subjects for sermons, the Christian 
 teacher should aim at variety. To preach month after 
 month, on a single subject, or a contracted circle of sub- 
 jects, is to depart from the grand model of instruction as 
 contained in the book of Revelation, and the book of 
 Providence. Diversity in the course of events, in the 
 condition, taste and attainments of different hearers, and 
 of the same hearers in different circumstances, demands 
 a correspondent diversity in the instructions of the pulpit. 
 Let the preacher then seize upon occasions, as they rise. 
 Let him follow Providence ; and always turn to good 
 account, every interesting occurrence among his flock. Yet, 
 
 2. The preacher should never, to gratify a vain love of 
 novelty and amusement, sink his ministrations to the rank 
 of a dramatic exhibition. He should never forget that 
 he is an ambassador of Christ ; and that his main busi- 
 
 1 Note (10.) 
 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 59 
 
 ness is, to turn the sinner from darkness to light ; and to 
 build up the believer in his most holy faith. The exact 
 limits within which he shall keep, cannot indeed be pres- 
 cribed. But when he descends, as some preachers of 
 our time have done, to discourse upon " vaccination" — 
 "upon the popular dread of apparitions," — "the beau- 
 ties of a New England autumn, and the charms of its 
 Indian summer ; " it is no great stretch of preciseness to 
 say, that he occupies ground which better accords with 
 the objects of a novel or gazette, than with those of a 
 Christian sermon. The incidental allusion to such topics 
 by way of illustration, is by no means improper ; but 
 they cannot be made the chief subjects of discourse, 
 without wresting the pulpit from ' the sober use of its 
 legitimate peculiar powers.' ' Insist,' said the venerable 
 Archbishop Usher, in his directions to young ministers, — 
 ' insist most on those points, that tend to produce sound 
 belief, sincere love to God, repentance for sin, and a life 
 of holiness.' 
 
 3. That preacher who is perplexed through want of 
 subjects for sermons, should suspect that something is 
 wrong in himself; at least, that he is very imperfectly 
 qualified for his office. His religion furnishes topics, 
 inexhaustible in variety, and beyond all comparison, 
 superior in richness, elevation, and sublimity, to those 
 which any other public speaker is called to discuss. In 
 the character of God, he contemplates all that is pro- 
 found in wisdom, awful in holiness, and attractive in 
 mercy. In the character of man, he sees a combination 
 of dignity and misery; the dignity of an immortal soul, 
 polluted and degraded by sin. He sees majesty and 
 meekness, glory and ignominy, strangely united in the 
 character and sufferings of Christ. He sees in the gos- 
 pel provided for fallen man, at infinite expense, a rescue 
 
60 CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 from his ruin, ' a remedy for his maladies, and a rule for 
 his guidance.' He sees heaven with all its blessedness 
 inviting to a life of piety, and hell with all its miseries 
 awaiting the ungodly. Is it possible that with a field 
 before him, absolutely boundless, a man can want sub- 
 jects for sermons? In selecting among these one that 
 shall be most appropriate in given circumstances, I allow 
 he may hesitate. But, with the profusion of interesting 
 matter, displayed in every page of the Bible, if he is 
 perplexed to find any topic of discourse, he has mistaken 
 his profession. The fact that he wants a subject, is 
 demonstration that he wants either the understanding or 
 the heart of a minister. 
 
LECTURE VI. 
 
 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS, — PRELIMINARY REMARKS, 
 — NECESSITY OF SOUND JUDGMENT, AND A PIOUS 
 SPIRIT IN A PREACHER.— EXORDIUM. 
 
 Our attention will be directed through several following 
 lectures, to the structure of sermons. In entering 
 upon this large class of topics, some preliminary sugges- 
 tions seem to be required. 
 
 The composition of a sermon calls into exercise both 
 the intellect and the heart.. As a work of intellect, the 
 preacher's success in selecting and arranging his materials, 
 depends in no small measure on the soundness of his 
 judgment. Through an infelicity of taste or habit, some 
 men treat all sorts of subjects in one precise method. 
 They have just so many principal heads, just so many 
 subdivisions, and so many inferences in each discourse, 
 following in exact succession, like the strokes of the 
 clock, which mark the hours of the day. The hearers 
 easily anticipate the particulars of this unvarying round. 
 Now this rigid uniformity is not applicable to any im- 
 portant business, depending on the agency of mind. 
 What should we think of a general, who should plan a 
 battle or a siege according to books, without regarding *. 
 the character of his troops, the circumstances of his posi- 
 tion, or the strength of his enemy ? He might spend the 
 time of a campaign in drawing lines of circumvallation or 
 contravallation, and with all his mathematical exactness, 
 
62 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 he might prove a harmless enemy to those who would 
 have trembled at the prompt use of bayonets and heavy 
 artillery. Should the lawyer treat all causes of his 
 clients, or the physician all diseases of his patients, in 
 one technical method, without regarding the endless 
 variety of circumstances, what should we say of their 
 skill in their several professions ? Certainly a mode of 
 proceeding, which is absurd in all other cases, is not less 
 absurd in the pulpit. 
 
 But the reasonable disgust which we feel at a mecha- 
 nical uniformity, should not push us into the opposite 
 extreme. Oratory, like other arts, has settled principles. 
 The barrister when he speaks, has some end in view ; 
 and applies his powers to attain it, not at random, but 
 according to some plan, adapted to his purpose. He 
 states facts, adduces testimony, cites authority, reasons, 
 obviates prejudices, rouses emotion. To gain his cause, 
 he combines more or fewer sources of argument, and 
 directs his efforts to a given point of attack or defence, as 
 a versatile invention, and a skilful judgment may dictate. 
 He adopts a particular course, not by accident, but 
 because his knowledge of men and of his profession, 
 induces him to prefer this, as most likely to be successful. 
 
 The wise preacher too, will proceed according to the 
 subject and design of his discourse ; and will not be so 
 afraid of rules, as to determine that a sermon should have 
 no subject nor design. Without using judgment, every 
 rule indeed will be unavailing, even to teach him the 
 meaning of his text. Does it therefore follow that the 
 system of sacred interpretation can give him no aid in 
 understanding the Bible?— or that he is to ascertain the 
 sense of a single text only by chance, without any prin- 
 ciples to guide him? No more does it follow, because 
 mere rules cannot enable him to compose a good sermon, 
 
STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 03 
 
 that therefore he can never hope to make such a sermon, 
 except by chance. The thought, the method, and the 
 expression, all demand pains and skill. Writing is a 
 fine art, and has elementary principles. Accident might 
 as well produce the Messiah of Handel, as the Paradise 
 Lost ; might as well guide the chisel of Praxiteles, or 
 the pencil of Raffaelle, as the pen of Addison. 
 
 I am aware that a random effort in the pulpit, is some- 
 times successful. But when it is so, if it was occasioned 
 by affected peculiarity, or careless neglect of regular 
 preparation, it requires apology rather than commen- 
 dation. 
 
 This leads to another remark, viz. on the necessity 
 of pious feeling . The preacher's success in composing 
 a sermon, depends pre-eminently on the state of heart 
 with which he comes to the work. Suppose he engages 
 in it with the same frigid calculation, with which a 
 mechanic sits down to the construction of a clock. His 
 object is to amuse his hearers ; to make an advantageous 
 display of his own genius, or learning, or eloquence. 
 With this view, he chooses his subject and his method ; 
 adopts some novel interpretation of his text, becoming a 
 man of erudition ; calls to his aid all the resources of 
 profound theological research ; adjusts all his topics 
 of argument and of address to the passions, according to 
 the best canons of taste; — and when the sermon is 
 finished, what is it?— a body with fair proportions, 
 elegant, splendid, perhaps, in its decorations, but a body 
 without a soul. 
 
 But let the preacher commence his preparation for the 
 pulpit with the heart of a devout Christian ; a heart 
 that regards as the great end of preaching, the glory ot 
 God and the salvation of man ; a heart that feels the 
 worth of souls, glows with holy affection to the Re- 
 
 1 
 
G4 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 deemer, and anticipates with trembling hope, the day 
 when he shall come to be glorified in them that believe ; 
 and this spirit will diffuse a savour of godliness through 
 the sermon, that will warm, and impress, and penetrate 
 his hearers. Luther's maxim, ' Bene orasse est bene 
 studuisse,' should be graven on the memory of every 
 preacher. None but God can effectually teach ws how 
 to teach others. A heart devoted to him in the study, 
 will stamp its own character of sanctity and energy on 
 every preparation for the pulpit. And let it never be 
 forgotten, that no fund of knowledge, no rhetorical skill 
 in the selection of matter, or in the arrangement or em- 
 bellishment of a discourse, can make it in any measure 
 what a Christian sermon should be, if it wants that vital 
 impulse, which nothing can impart but a spirit of fervent 
 piety. 1 
 
 With these general remarks in view, we may proceed 
 to consider that arrangement of parts, which is most 
 usual in a regular sermon. To every such sermon, 
 some of these parts will of course belong. You will 
 readily perceive that it is not my object to designate the 
 cases in which more or fewer of them may be dispensed 
 with; but to lay down some principles in respect to each, 
 that may assist the young preacher in his preparations 
 for the pulpit; taking it for granted, that he will endea- 
 vour to make such an arrangement of parts, in any given 
 case, as is best adapted to the subject and design of his 
 discourse. The principal parts of a sermon which now 
 demand our consideration are these five, exordium, expo- 
 sition and proposition, division, discussion or argument, 
 and conclusion. The observations which I shall make 
 on these particulars, will necessarily bring into view 
 some of the great principles of preaching ; and instead 
 
 1 See Erskine's Discourses on Ministry, Ser. I. 
 
EXORDIUM. 65 
 
 of exhausting the subject, will only prepare the way for 
 examining, more fully, the general characteristics of 
 sermons. 
 
 EXORDIUM. 
 
 The only valuable purpose for which any public 
 speaker can address an assembly, is to make them under- 
 stand, and believe, and feel, the sentiments which he 
 utters. The chief object of an introduction then is, to 
 secure that attention which is most favourable to the 
 attainment of this purpose ; and the obstacles which 
 prevent this favourable attention, are commonly found in 
 the prejudice, the ignorance, or the indifference of the 
 hearers. They may have a low estimate of the talents 
 or the moral character of the preacher. In such a case, 
 however, the remedy lies not in any effect which he can 
 hope to produce by a few prefatory sentences at the 
 opening of a sermon, but in his becoming better knoicn 
 to his hearers, if he deserves their respect, or becoming a 
 better man, if he does not. If the prejudice is directed 
 against general opinions, which he holds, or is supposed 
 to hold, no benefit can arise from attempting, in an exor- 
 dium, to defend those opinions; nor from alluding to 
 them in any form, except in some rare case, where a 
 prompt disavowal may remove at once some injurious 
 mistake. But if he is aware that the hearers are pre- 
 occupied with unfavourable impressions, as to the parti- 
 cular subject he is about to discuss, his first aim evidently 
 should be, so to present that subject, if possible, as not 
 to strengthen, but to obviate those impressions. 
 
 Supposing, however, the preacher to be satisfied, that 
 no prejudice of the hearers exists to frustrate the effect 
 of his discourse, still he is to presume that their ignorance, 
 or at least their indifference to divine things, will present 
 
66 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 powerful obstacles to his success. He must therefore 
 introduce his subject, so that it shall promise to be intel- 
 ligible to them, and interesting; so that they shall be 
 attracted to listen, and gradually disarmed of that deadly 
 insensibility, which bars up all the avenues of profitable 
 instruction from the pulpit ; so in short, that they shall 
 become prepared spontaneously and earnestly, to " give 
 heed to the things that are spoken." An exordium, then, 
 should possess the following properties: 
 
 In the first place, Simplicity. 
 
 Here there is no room for artificial structure, and 
 studied ornament of diction. Good taste absolutely for- 
 bids both the stiffness of aphoristic brevity, and the 
 elaborate harmony of the stately and periodic style. It 
 is an ancient precept, that no discourse should commence 
 with a long sentence. All pompous allusions, Horace 
 condemns as splendid patches on an introduction, which 
 render it ridiculous; such as ' the grove and altar of 
 Diana ; the stream winding through beautiful fields ; the 
 majestic river, and the rainbow.' 
 
 All those warm appeals to the passions or imagination, 
 which may be highly proper in the sequel of a discourse, 
 are entirely out of place at the beginning. The obvious 
 reason is, the hearers come together with their hearts 
 cold, and their thoughts dissipated by intercourse with a 
 thousand minor objects. They can no more be started 
 into high emotion by a fervid stroke of eloquence, than 
 a mountain of ice can be dissolved in a moment, before 
 the blaze of a taper. Besides, were it practicable to 
 awaken this sudden ardour of feeling, it would not be 
 desirable. High emotion is necessarily transient. He 
 who thinks himself able to keep up its full intensity 
 through a long discourse, needs only a few lessons from 
 experience to undeceive him. By striking his highest 
 
EXORDIUM. 67 
 
 string at first, he compels himself to sink as he pro- 
 ceeds; and thus very unskilfully excites expectation, 
 only to disappoint it. The discourse that begins in 
 ecstasy, to be consistent with itself, must end in phrenzy. 
 A good judge on this subject says, ' reserve your fire : 
 bold thoughts and figures are never relished, till the 
 mind is heated and thoroughly engaged, which is never 
 the case at the commencement. Homer employs not a 
 single simile, in the first book of the Iliad, nor in the 
 first book of the Odyssey/ 
 
 Under the head of simplicity, I remark too, that an 
 introduction should not exhibit a display of learning. 
 Grammatical and philological observations, the names 
 and opinions of celebrated men, and in general, whatever 
 looks like ostentation of extensive reading, is to be 
 avoided as much as possible in this part of a sermon. 
 
 It should not be abstruse. Controversial speculation, 
 metaphysical subtleties, protracted and profound argu- 
 mentation, abstract thoughts and language, are entirely 
 unsuitable while as yet the minds of those we address are 
 prepared only for that which is perspicuous and familiar. 
 
 It should not be abrupt. The general reason is, that a 
 bold dash upon the hearers at first, is not congruous with 
 the cool state they are in, nor with the steady and 
 increasing interest, which we wish to preserve in their 
 minds. Extraordinary circumstances may justify the 
 departure from any rules, which common sense prescribes 
 for common cases. Such was the sudden and vehement 
 attack on Catiline, with which Cicero opened his first 
 oration against that conspirator. Chrysostom, after an 
 earthquake, began a sermon thus : t Do you see the 
 power of Cod ? Do you see the benignity of God ? — 
 Power, because the firm world he has shaken ; benignity, 
 because the falling world he has sustained.' And 
 
68 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 Flecher commenced a funeral discourse thus: ' With 
 what design, Sirs, are you assembled here ? What view- 
 have you of my ministry ? Am I come to dazzle you 
 with the glory of terrestrial honours ? ' 
 
 But those abrupt exordiums which denote a studied 
 eccentricity in the preacher, are without apology. The 
 most faulty examples of this kind, that I have seen, are 
 in the sermons, (as they are called,) of Sterne. On the 
 text "His commandments are not grievous ; "—he 
 begins — ' No, — they are not grievous, my dear auditors.' 
 After the text : " For we trust that we have a good 
 conscience ; " he exclaims — ' Trust ! trust we have a 
 good conscience ! ' — On the text : " It is better to go to 
 the house of mourning than to the house of feasting ; " his 
 first sentence is : ' That I deny.' The first of these 
 examples is tolerable; but the others, especially the last, 
 are a puerile effort at witticism, which a man of good 
 taste might excuse in the tavern or circus, but which he 
 must reprobate in the house of God. 
 
 In the second place, another quality requisite in an 
 exordium, is pertinence. It should correspond with 
 the subject, and the occasion. Writers on oratory have 
 often adverted to the fact, that both Demosthenes and 
 Cicero were accustomed to compose introductions before- 
 hand, from which they might make a selection in case 
 of an emergency. The reason assigned for this, is the 
 importance, and at the same time the difficulty, of begin- 
 ning well an address, when there had been little oppor- 
 tunity for preparation : and while neither the speaker nor 
 the hearers have as yet become deeply interested in the 
 subject. Unquestionably these great masters of oratory 
 might devise a few sentences, adapted to the general 
 state of affairs, which might be made the preface to the 
 discussion of almost any topic. But the preacher is 
 
EXORDIUM. 69 
 
 seldom called to an unpremeditated effort ; and so con- 
 stant is the repetition of his public services, that he 
 would soon find an expedient like the one just mentioned, 
 utterly fallacious. It is an indispensable quality of an 
 exordium that it should be engaging. This it cannot be, 
 if it consists only of thoughts which are trite or trivial. 
 The preacher may begin by descanting on some such 
 point as, — the vanity of the world, — the brevity of human 
 life, — the worth of the soul, — the calamities of the fall ; 
 but it requires no common skill and vivacity to give 
 interest to an assembly, in that which they have heard a 
 thousand times repeated. 
 
 Now pcrtenence promotes variety. The important 
 difference as to variety between general subjects and 
 those which are particular, is this ; the former are few, 
 obvious, and to all men who reflect at all, familiar. 
 While particular subjects are as various as the endless 
 diversity that exists in the properties and relations of 
 things, So far then as interest depends on variety, we 
 have only to select various subjects for sermons, and to 
 make the exordium of each appropriate, and the end is 
 accomplished. I am aware that there is one kind of 
 introduction, which, though limited to the subject in 
 hand, is void of interest, because it recurs in formal 
 routine, on every Sabbath. It consists in a strain of 
 indefinite remarks, bespeaking attention to what shall be 
 delivered, on account of its immense importance, and the 
 momentous consequences connected with the manner in 
 which it shall be received. 
 
 Those Introductions which cast a preparatory light on 
 the subject from the context, may easily unite the advan- 
 tages of simplicity and pertinence. And there is a pecu- 
 liar felicity in this connexion, where it can be exhibited 
 in the form of narrative. 
 
70 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 In the third place, delicacy is another indispensable 
 quality of a good exordium. 
 
 There is a becoming congruity between the preacher's 
 work, and the air of religious sensibility and reverence 
 with which he should engage in its appropriate duties. 
 When he enters the place consecrated to Jehovah, the 
 reflection, " This is none other than the house of God, 
 and this is the gate of heaven," should repress all feel- 
 ings that do not accord with the dignity and sanctity of 
 his business. The same Luther who braved the anathe- 
 mas of the Roman Pontiff, always ascended the pulpit 
 with trembling knees. But besides this aspect of reli- 
 gious awe, which a d£ep feeling of divine things will 
 certainly impart to the preacher, there is a decorum of 
 manner, which will arise from a proper respect to his 
 hearers. Where this is wanting, they will not fail to 
 perceive it, and to be instinctively prepossessed against 
 what he shall deliver. 
 
 But we must not mistake the character of that 
 modesty which is becoming in a preacher. It is not a 
 timid, tremulous manner of saying things, which seems 
 to imply that he does but half believe his own senti- 
 ments. The divine commission to Jeremiah was : " Arise 
 and speak unto the people all that I command thee ; — 
 be not afraid of their faces." And St. Paul besought 
 his brethren to pray for him, " that he might speak 
 boldly as he ought to speak." Certainly no commend- 
 ation is due to that modesty in a preacher, which makes 
 him " ashamed of the gospel of Christ." 
 
 Nor does real modesty require those formal apo- 
 logies, with which sermons are often introduced. 
 When a preacher compliments an assembly with the 
 assurance, that he considers them as very enlightened and 
 respectable ; that through the weakness of his powers, or 
 
EXORDIUM. 71 
 
 the want of preparation in the present case, he is con- 
 scious that what he shall deliver will be unworthy of 
 their attention ; it may seem to result from an amiable 
 self-diffidence. But judicious hearers will suspect, and 
 often suspect truly, that pride is speaking under the cloak 
 of humility. 
 
 At the bar, or in the senate, the public speaker may 
 with happy effect sometimes allude, by way of apology 
 for himself, to his want of health, or want of time for 
 preparation, to the inexperience of youth or the imbe- 
 cility of age. But the same indulgence is by no means 
 allowed to the Christian preacher. The exhibition of 
 himself in any form, is so inconsistent with the sacred 
 delicacy and elevation of his work, that it rarely fails to 
 excite disgust. 
 
 Before I dismiss the article of delicacy as a be- 
 coming property of an introduction, allow me to say, 
 that it absolutely forbids an angry, austere, or queru- 
 lous manner of address. He knows but little of men, 
 who does not know that harsh and acrimonious language 
 is adapted to produce unsanctified resentment, rather 
 than evangelical repentance. He may imagine that 
 fidelity to the truth requires him to assume a frowning 
 front ; to arraign his hearers with a magisterial air, 
 and bid defiance to the sentiments they may entertain 
 of him and his doctrines. But while they may be 
 satisfied perhaps, that his religion has made him fearless 
 and honest, they will hardly be persuaded that it has 
 made him either an amiable man, or a wise preacher. 
 Love and gentleness win upon the affections, while 
 asperity and threatening fortify the heart against per- 
 suasion. A sermon, however excellent in other respects, 
 will be lost to the hearers, if it assails them with an 
 angry commencement. 
 
72 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 In the fourth place, an exordium should be judicious 
 as to length. 
 
 I say judicious, because what is proper in each case, 
 must be determined by the subject and the circumstances. 
 Many of the old divines extended this part of their dis- 
 courses to a tedious prolixity ; while others, in mo- 
 dern times, both among the English and the French, 
 have adopted the opposite extreme, and have passed 
 from the text to the discussion, with only a sentence or 
 two of introduction. This matter, however, should be 
 regulated by sober principles, and not by caprice. The 
 wise traveller will adjust the rapidity of his first move- 
 ments, and the length of his stages, to the extent of his 
 whole journey. If the subject to be discussed by the 
 preacher is very copious, the exordium should be brief, 
 to make room for the subsequent matter. If the sermon, 
 on the other hand, is to contain but few thoughts, it is a 
 very inadequate remedy for the defect, to postpone the 
 consideration of these, by an attenuated introduction. I 
 have sometimes been pained at the want of skill, which 
 leads a man to select a subject extensive enough for 
 live sermons, and then to occupy in loose prefatory 
 remarks, one third of the time allotted to his discourse. 
 The most common characteristic of such introductions, is 
 sterile and languid declamation. The preacher begins 
 perhaps with the charms of Eden, the primitive innocence 
 and felicity of man, his fatal seduction by the subtilty 
 of the Tempter, his apostacy, and his expulsion from 
 Paradise. Then follow, in regular gradation, the mise- 
 ries of the fall, and the wonderful plan of redemption. 
 Besides the disproportionate length to which these tame 
 exordiums are apt to be extended, they are too miscella- 
 neous, and too trite, to awaken interest. The preacher 
 is so much at leisure, that every trifle by the way-side 
 
EXORDIUM. 73 
 
 attracts his attention ; and his subject (if indeed he has 
 one) is forgotten. In this case, no congruity of parts is 
 maintained, no regard to the maxim : 
 
 " Primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum." 
 
 The fault indeed is not so much that subsequent matter 
 is inconsistent with what had preceded, as that the 
 sermon is a dull repetition of thoughts anticipated in the 
 introduction, some of which might have been vivid and 
 interesting, in their proper place and order. 
 
 Two hints, founded as I think on careful observation, 
 will close this lecture. One is, that young writers of 
 sermons are extremely apt to dilate all the first thoughts 
 of a sermon, from an apprehension that their stock of 
 materials to complete it will be too soon exhausted. The 
 other is, that a similar dift'useness may be expected, 
 when a man is too indolent or unskilful to look through 
 his subject, and arrange its parts, before he begins to 
 write. In this case, his introduction will almost of course 
 be inappropriate, and tedious in length. l 
 
 1 Note (11.) 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 EXPLICATION OF TEXT. — THREE GENERAL PRECAU- 
 TIONS. — PROPOSITION. 
 
 As the subject is the basis of a sermon, this ought in the 
 first place, to be very distinctly apprehended by the 
 preacher, before he can be prepared to state it clearly, 
 to enforce it by argument, and to apply it with power to 
 the conscience. It ought also to be fairly contained in 
 the passage from which it is professedly deduced, as I. 
 have shown at some length in discussing choice of texts. 
 It is this unquestionable principle, that the subject of a 
 Christian sermon ought to be derived from the oracles of 
 God, which often makes the explication of the text 
 necessary, before the subject of discourse is announced. 
 As very few remarks will be requisite on that part of a 
 sermon, which we call proposition, I shall defer these 
 till I have considered what is proper in explaining a text, 
 when this is required. 
 
 It ought then to be taken for granted, that no man 
 will attempt to discuss a text in public, while he does 
 not suppose himself to be possessed of its true meaning. 
 Not that absolute certainty concerning every passage, is 
 essential or attainable. A man of the clearest concep- 
 tions, with the best aids which learning can furnish, may 
 sometimes be in doubt, among the different senses that 
 have been attached to a passage, which is the true one. 
 But instead of obtruding his doubts on his hearers, pro- 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 75 
 
 fessing to enlighten their minds, while his own gropes in 
 darkness, Christian discretion prescribes a shorter course, 
 namely, to let that passage alone in the pulpit;— at 
 least not to make it a subject of a sermon. * A man,' 
 says Claude, * who needs to be told that he ought not 
 to preach on a text before he understands it, needs at the 
 same time to be informed, that he is fitter for any other 
 profession than that of the Ministry/ 
 
 But when there is no real difficulty in the sense of a 
 passage, it is often useful to notice the occasion and 
 circumstances with which it is connected, for the sake 
 of a more vivid impression. When this is done by allu- 
 sion to the context, especially when a simple statement 
 of facts is all that is required, such an explanation of the 
 text very properly falls into the exordium. I may add, 
 that in much the greater number of cases, this familiar 
 preparation to announce the subject of discourse is the 
 best that can be adopted. There must however, be 
 instances in which a regular explanation of the text is 
 necessary to show the hearers that it contains the senti- 
 ment which the preacher deduces from it. In such a 
 case he must resort to those laws of sacred criticism, by 
 which, as an interpreter of the Bible and a theologian, 
 his inquiries should be guided. To give instruction in 
 these, is not the business of Sacred Rhetoric. But as 
 the great end of sacred philology is the elucidation of 
 divine truth, and that for the benefit of common under- 
 standings, the critic and the preacher must to some ex- 
 tent be combined ; and it often becomes a question how 
 far the literary habits of the former are to be modified by 
 the practical wisdom of the latter. You sit down at 
 your study table to investigate an interesting passage 
 of scripture, with a view to bring forth its real import in 
 a sermon. But there is an important difference between 
 
 E 2 
 
76 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 the process by which you examine that text to ascertain 
 its meaning, and that by which you are to exhibit that 
 meaning to plain hearers. In the first case, you act as an 
 etymologist, and a critic ; in the other, as a " teacher 
 of babes." It would seem, if we judge from facts, that 
 there are extremes on different sides of this subject; and 
 to guard the young preacher against these, by suggesting 
 a few plain principles of common sense, is all that is 
 required by the plan of these lectures. 
 
 1. The preacher may err, by taking it for granted that 
 some great difficulty is to be encountered in every 
 passage. With this spirit he will come to the Bible, as 
 the empiric does to his patient, resolved at all events, to 
 find occasion for the display of his professional skill. 
 He will magnify difficulties when they exist, and create 
 them when they do not. The medical student must 
 make it his business to investigate human diseases ; — 
 shall he therefore presume that every man he meets is 
 sick ? No more must the Biblical student take it for 
 granted that every part of the sacred oracles is full of 
 mystery, because critical research is necessary to eluci- 
 date passages that are really obscure. In all points that 
 are essential to salvation, the Bible is a plain book. 
 Should we admit that, as to its great purposes, it is so 
 obscure that its meaning cannot be understood by common 
 men, till it is explained by critics and commentators, and 
 that these are entitled to exact from the unlearned an 
 implicit confidence, then the grand principle of Pro- 
 testantism, that ' the Bible is the only rule of faith,' 
 applies merely to the initiated few ; — that is, the Bible 
 is the rule to critics, and critics the rule to common men. 
 What advantage then has the Protestant over the 
 Papist ? If unlearned, neither has any Bible : from the 
 one it is locked up in the arcana of criticism : — from the 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 77 
 
 other, in the arcana of an unknoivn tongue ; and to both, 
 their authorised teachers are lords of their conscience. 
 As Protestants therefore, we must maintain that the 
 Bible in its great outlines is intelligible to plain men, in 
 whatever translation, provided that such translation is a 
 faithful one ; and provided also that it is studied with a 
 candid and devout spirit. 
 
 The language of this sacred book is not technical nor 
 philosophical, but more familiar than that of any other 
 book, ancient or modern. It was written chiefly by 
 plain men, unaccustomed to the abstract phraseology 
 of science. It was written for the use of plain men, such 
 as have always constituted and always must constitute 
 the great majority of our race. It was written too, for 
 purposes equally important to the illiterate, as to the 
 learned, namely to be the foundation of their faith and 
 hope, and the directory of their conduct, as candidates 
 for eternity. From the benevolence of God then, in 
 giving this book to men, and from the design for which 
 he gave it, it would be reasonable to presume, that, in 
 its grand characteristics as a guide to heaven, all who 
 read it with humility, integrity, and common intelligence, 
 as to its principal contents, must be able to understand 
 its meaning. Accordingly we find that the body of plain, 
 pious men, whose minds are unperverted by prejudice, 
 have correctly understood the great outlines of religious 
 truth contained in the Bible. In respect to these, the 
 coincidence of views expressed in their formularies of faith, 
 drawn up in ages and countries remote from each other, 
 would be an absolute miracle, on any other supposition, 
 than that one leading- system of truth, is stamped in 
 characters of light, on the sacred pages. That such 
 coincidence of views has existed, is a fact placed beyond 
 all question by the evidence of history. The general 
 
78 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 correctness of these views is not invalidated, but con- 
 firmed by the profoundest investigations of criticism. 
 
 And why should we expect it to be otherwise ? The 
 great Teacher, who came from God, was predicted as 
 one " anointed to preach the gospel to the poor." In 
 the best sense of the word, he was preeminently a popular 
 preacher. " The common people heard him gladly," 
 because his instructions were so simple and familiar, that 
 they easily understood him. But T need not enlarge on 
 this topic. It is preposterous for the preacher to treat 
 plain declarations of the Bible, as though he considered 
 them to be involved in mystery. Yet, 
 
 2. The preacher may err by taking it for granted, that 
 the most obvious sense of a text, is always the true 
 sense. A little reflection will satisfy any one that this 
 could not be reasonably expected. The diversity of 
 language contained in the Bible must be somewhat cor- 
 respondent with the diversity of individual taste and 
 manner among its writers. Its matter too, consisting of 
 history, poetry, prophecy, biography, precept, and doc- 
 trine, necessarily occasions great variety in its phraseology, 
 The frequent allusions, especially in the Old Testament, 
 to local usages, to customs of different ages, and such as 
 were peculiar to eastern countries ; the metaphors taken 
 from such local usages, or from local objects or facts, 
 present many points of difficulty to those who read the 
 Bible, in countries and periods remote from those in 
 which it was written. I would by no means intimate 
 that scriptural figures are of course obscure. So far from 
 this is the fact, that when they are taken from familiar 
 objects, and expressed in simple terms, the meaning con- 
 veyed is instantaneously and forcibly impressed on the 
 mind. Still it is certain, that not figures merely, but allu- 
 sions to oriental customs, are sometimes unintelligible, 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 79 
 
 except to men of reading. To mention one brief ex- 
 ample, in which a phrase according to the obvious import 
 of its words, expresses no meaning at all ; — Moses say 
 to Israel : " The land whither thou goest in to possess it, 
 is not as the land of Egypt, whence ye came out ; where 
 thou sowedst thy seed and wateredst it with thy foot ; 
 but the land whither ye go, is a land of hills and valleys, 
 and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." Any plain 
 man might see that here a difference is alluded to between 
 two countries, in one of which the ground is watered by 
 some artificial process, and in the other by rain. But he 
 would attach no meaning to the phrase, "wateredst it 
 with thy foot ; " unless he happened to know that, on 
 the borders of the Nile, large cisterns were provided, that 
 the roots of vegetables might be refreshed by water, 
 which was distributed from these cisterns, through small 
 trenches ; and to which the gardener gave a new direc- 
 tion at any time, by turning the earth against it with 
 his foot. 
 
 In some cases where no figure is used, the obvious literal 
 sense of a passage, is not its true sense ; at least as it must 
 be understood by modern readers generally. For ex- 
 ample ; our Saviour says, "When thou fastest, anoint 
 thine head, and wash thy face." It is a simple injunc- 
 tion that his disciples, on such occasions, should appear 
 in the usual manner ; in distinction from hypocrites, 
 who, as a signal of special devotion, covered their heads, 
 or wore ashes on their faces, that their sanctity might 
 attract observation. But where there is no such common 
 custom as anointing the head, a literal conformity to this 
 precept would be a violation of its spirit ; because the 
 man who is keeping a private fast, would proclaim this 
 to his neighbours, by an external sign ; the very thing 
 which Christ forbids. 
 
80 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 These examples are selected, not as presenting diffi- 
 culties to the critic, but as familiarly illustrating the 
 principle, that we must often look beyond the phraseology 
 of a text to ascertain its meaning. Of course the preacher 
 cannot take it for granted that the common interpretation 
 is right. A general and spontaneous concurrence of opi- 
 nions, as to the meaning of a passage in the Bible, or in 
 any other book, would be presumptive evidence that 
 such opinion is correct. The weight of this evidence 
 however, would be great or small, according to circum- 
 stances in a given case. And in no case can it be suffi- 
 cient to supersede a personal examination, in one who is 
 a professed interpreter of the sacred oracles. 
 
 Still it should be said, 
 
 3. That it must not be his aim to find a NEW sense to 
 his text. 
 
 Whatever danger results from a tame submission to 
 authority on this subject, the attractions of novelty are 
 still more dangerous to a man of sprightly genius, not 
 matured by experience and judgment. To exhibit the 
 points of difference between his opinions and those of 
 others, gives opportunity to display at once, the extent 
 of his reading, and the superiority of his discernment. 
 But how does such puerile ostentation accord with the 
 dignity of his office, who is "a servant of the most high 
 God, to show unto men the way of salvation." 
 
 No translation or commentary is to be regarded as 
 exempt from the scrutiny of criticism ; nor need we 
 scruple to say, on any proper occasion, that the received 
 English version of the Bible has many inaccuracies and 
 defects. Yet to assail this version from the pulpit, on 
 all occasions, and thus to invalidate its authority with 
 common minds, while we admit its correctness, as to the 
 great outlines of divine truth, is a mistake, which no 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 01 
 
 preacher of good sense will commit. Besides, in this 
 case it is oftener pedantry than learning, that is displayed. 
 One of those venerable men, who assisted in forming this 
 version, being afterwards on a journey, heard its defects 
 pointed out, to an illiterate congregation, by a very 
 young preacher, who, in one instance assigned three 
 reasons why a word should have been differently trans- 
 lated. In the evening, the learned divine said to the 
 young man, ' You might have preached a more useful 
 sermon to these poor hearers. The king's translators 
 considered well the three reasons which you have sug- 
 gested for another rendering of that word ; but they were 
 induced by thirteen weightier reasons to prefer the ren- 
 dering that was adopted.' 
 
 On this point, I am happy to express my own views 
 in the language of Dr. Campbell, who was at once an 
 enlightened scholar and a judicious preacher. 'Parti- 
 cular care,' says he, ' ought to be taken, in expounding - 
 the Scriptures, not to appear over-learned and over- 
 critical. There is no occasion to obtrude on an audience, 
 as some do, all the jarring interpretations given by differ- 
 ent commentators ; for this knowledge can serve no other 
 purpose than to distract their thoughts. Before you 
 begin to build, it is necessary to remove such impedi- 
 ments as lie directly in your way ; but you could not 
 account him other than a very foolish builder, who 
 should first collect a deal of rubbish, which was not in 
 his way, and could not have obstructed his work, that he 
 might have the pleasure and merit of removing it. And 
 do the fantastic and absurd glosses of commentators de- 
 serve a better name than rubbish ? They are even worse 
 than useless : where a false gloss cannot be reasonably sup- 
 posed to be either known or thought of by the audience, 
 it is in the preacher worse than being idly ostentatious 
 
 E 5 
 
82 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 of his learning, to introduce such erroneous gloss or 
 comment.' 
 
 We must always remember too, the difference between 
 a church and a college. In most Christian congregations 
 there are very few, if any linguists. I do not say that 
 we ought never to mention the original. Justice to the 
 passage we explain, may sometimes require it. Nor is 
 it necessary that our translators should be deemed infalli- 
 ble. But then, on the other hand, it is neither modest 
 nor prudent in the preacher, especially if a young man, 
 to be at every turn censuring the translators, and pretend- 
 ing to mend their version. It is not modest; as they 
 over whom the corrector assumes a superiority, are 
 allowed on all hands to have been men of eminent talents 
 and erudition. And it is not prudent, as this practice 
 never fails to produce, in the minds of the people, a want 
 of confidence in their Bible. Indeed, in regard to 
 every thing which may be introduced, either in the way 
 of criticism or comment, it is not enough that such an 
 observation is just, that such an interpretation has been 
 actually given, or that such an opinion has been main- 
 tained ; the previous inquiry which the preacher ought to 
 make by himself is, whether it be of any consequence to 
 the people to be informed of the observation, comment, 
 or opinion. If on other occasions, more especially on 
 this, the apostolical admonition ought to be sacredly 
 observed, that ' nothing proceed out of the speaker's 
 mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, 
 that it may minister grace to the hearers.' 
 
 On the literary vanity which employs an excess of 
 criticism in the pulpit, I add one more remark, that it 
 has no countenance from the highest of all examples, that 
 of our Lord and his Apostles. The great body of primi- 
 tive Christians had access to the Hebrew Scriptures 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 83 
 
 chiefly through a translation ; and one less perfect, 
 unquestionably, than the common version in our Ian* 
 guage. Yet the first preachers of Christianity, qualified 
 as they certainly were, to correct all mistakes, by gifts 
 more adequate than those of scholarship, ' never per- 
 plexed their hearers with various readings and various 
 renderings.' 
 
 You may say perhaps, of what value to me as a 
 Christian teacher, or to my hearers, is my critical know- 
 ledge, if I am not to use it ? I answer, of the same value 
 with any other knowledge, if you have not discretion to 
 use it aright; that is, of no value at all. You may have 
 a knowledge of grammar, and make it subservient to the 
 great business of the pulpit, without giving your hearers 
 in every sermon, a disquisition upon etymology and 
 syntax. Your logic may be made the instrument of 
 instruction and conviction to sinners, without acquainting 
 them with the ten categories of Aristotle, or the difference 
 between abstract and concrete terms. Your eloquence 
 may melt your hearers, while they know not that you 
 have read Quinctilian or Longinus; and care not whether 
 the figure that thrilled their bosoms, has been called 
 metonymy or apostrophe, in technical rhetoric. Just so 
 you may use your knowledge of sacred criticism, without 
 abusing it. From its stores, humility and good sense may 
 draw the richest instruction for your hearers, without 
 ostentation on your part, or perplexity on theirs. 
 
 Having remarked at so much length on the practical 
 principles to be observed by the preacher in explaining a 
 text, when its meaning is doubtful, I shall be brief in 
 noticing the other topic, which belongs to this lecture; 
 namely, the proposition of the subject. 
 
 The term proposition, as used in logic, is applicable 
 only to an assemblage of words, in which something is 
 
84 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 affirmed. As used by writers on oratory, it is not 
 restricted to this sense, but applies to any form of 
 expression, in which the subject of a discourse is an- 
 nounced. Thus, if my text were,—" There is not a just 
 man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not," I 
 might say, we are called to consider as the subject of this 
 discourse, the ' universal sinfulness of man: ' or, I might 
 reduce it to a logical affirmation, and say,— the doctrine 
 of the text is, " that all men are sinners." Either form 
 amounts to what rhetoricians mean by a proposition of 
 the subject ; though T would not say that in all circum- 
 stances, either form is equally good. If you take the 
 former method, you have indeed a subject before you, 
 but you feel at liberty to treat it in the way of discursive 
 remarks. If you take the logical proposition, you are 
 pledged to one course : you must prove the thing affirmed, 
 before you make it the subject of inference or exhorta- 
 tion. A sermon written under such a necessity, is more 
 likely to possess unity, and to combine to the best advan- 
 tage, instruction with impression. 
 
 For reasons that are obvious to every mind, the doc- 
 trine or duty to be discussed in the sermon, should be 
 announced in the proposition, with as much brevity and 
 clearness as possible. 
 
 Two circumstances, in this connexion, deserve some 
 regard. One is, that when you are prepared to state 
 your subject, the form of expression employed, should 
 be such, as to give the hearers a momentary premonition 
 that you are about to do it. 
 
 For example, — * The doctrine which is taught in the 
 text, and which I shall endeavour to establish in the 
 following discourse, is this, that the only possibility of 
 human salvation, consistent with the character and 
 government of God, is suspended on the atonement of 
 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 85 
 
 Christ.' Now, if language like this is employed, every 
 intelligent hearer will perceive that you are about to 
 announce your subject before you have done it; and 
 accordingly that sentence of your sermon, which it is 
 more important for him to remember than any other, he 
 will be more likely to remember. But many preachers 
 would reverse the order of members, in the example 
 given above, and consequently the hearers, being told in 
 the end of a complex sentence, that the subject of the 
 sermon was stated at the beginning of it, may recall the 
 statement, if they can. 
 
 The other circumstance is, that the terms employed in 
 stating the subject, should be such, if possible, as not to 
 call for explanation after the proposition is announced. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 UNITY. 
 
 When the preacher has ascertained the sense of his 
 text, and, after a proper exordium, has placed his subject 
 distinctly before his hearers, he must proceed in some 
 method to elucidate and apply this subject. The next 
 thing that comes regularly to be considered in the 
 structure of sermons, is division. Many persons appear 
 to object to divisions, especially to regular and explicit 
 divisions, in a sermon ; — because, as it is said, they are 
 inconsistent with unity. This objection is not merely 
 the offspring of a fastidious or fanciful taste ; it has been 
 made by men of respectable name. The Archbishop of 
 Cambray, whose judgment is entitled to high regard, 
 says — ' There remains no true unity after such divisions ; 
 seeing they make two or three discourses w T hich are joined 
 into one, only by an arbitrary connexion.' And Bishop 
 Burnet, himself an excellent preacher, recommends that 
 a sermon should have ' one head and only one, well 
 stated and fully set out.' 
 
 The canons of rhetoric invariably require unity, not 
 only in dramatic and epic poetry, but also in oratory. 
 And every one who has learned his first lessons in sacred 
 eloquence, admits without doubting, that unity is an 
 essential attribute of a good sermon. Now, though the 
 same precision of language is not demanded here, as in 
 the abstract sciences, it is perfectly obvious that men of 
 good sense seem to differ on this subject, because they 
 
UNITY. 87 
 
 have been accustomed to attach no definite meaning to 
 their words. It becomes necessary then to examine the 
 question, what is unity in a sermon ? and the importance 
 of this point to our main business, requires that the 
 examination shall be extended through this lecture. 
 
 In entering on this subject, let me say, I do not mean 
 by unity that sameness which excludes all interesting 
 variety of thought and illustration in a discourse. If 
 twenty pieces of coin, stamped with the same die, are 
 spread before you, each is so perfectly like the rest, that 
 though you turn them over and over, you see the same 
 object still without variety. If you travel across an 
 extended plain of arid sand, stretching around you in a 
 wide, unchanging scene of barrenness, there too you 
 have oneness without variety. But how soon do you 
 long for a hill, a rivulet, a cottage, a tree, or even a 
 shrub, to relieve you from this intolerable unity of pros- 
 pect. If you stand on the deck of a ship, in mid-ocean, 
 on the morning of a calm summer's day, you contemplate 
 this vast expanse of waters with emotions of sublimity. 
 But how soon does the eye become weary of a scene, 
 which presents nothing but one immense, unvarying;, 
 unmeaning uniformity ? Suppose now you sail down a 
 majestic river; here on its banks a flourishing village 
 meets your eye ; there a rugged cliff, there cultivated 
 fields, and there a tributary stream rushes down from the 
 neighbouring mountains. Or suppose you travel on a 
 great road leading through a fertile country, interspersed 
 with meadows and forests, with the splendour of wealth, 
 and the simplicity of rustic life. In these cases, the unity 
 of the river or the road, is associated with an interesting 
 variety. You glance at the changing scenery as you 
 pass on, and feel the vivacity which it inspires, without 
 being at all diverted from your chief object. 
 
88 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 Now, to apply these illustrations to the purpose in 
 hand. There is a kind of unity in a sermon, which 
 indeed is in no danger of distracting the attention of 
 hearers, by the multiplicity of objects presented. It 
 consists in a constant recurrence of the same thought, 
 attenuated and repeated with undeviating uniformity. 
 The hearers pass on with the preacher, not from one 
 branch of the discourse to another, delighted with the 
 richness of matter and variety of illustration ; but from 
 one topic presented again with some trifling changes of 
 representation. The above sort of taste, indeed, does 
 not always deign, in this last particular, to humour the 
 caprice of hearers. It gives them over and over the 
 same favourite thoughts, in the same favourite expres- 
 sions, and often very consistently completes its claims to 
 their attention, by a favourite monotony in delivery. 
 Nor is this sameness limited to a single discourse of the 
 preacher ; it extends, perhaps, through the whole range 
 of his instructions ; so that whatever reason the hearers 
 may have to expect a new text, they have the advantage 
 of foreseeing essentially what the sermon will be, from 
 sabbath to sabbath. Now if this is the indispensable 
 quality in sermons which we call unity, it is one, as all 
 will agree, in which it is the province of dulness to 
 excel. But to suppose that our hearers are benefited by 
 such a sameness in the pulpit, is to suppose that when 
 they enter a place of worship, they cease to be men. 
 Correct views on this subject, are to be acquired only by 
 studying the human mind in its general operations. 
 That acute and able writer, the late Professor Brown, 
 in analyzing the philosophy of emotions, has the fol- 
 lowing remarks which I quote with pleasure, as strength- 
 ening the illustrations already given. * Even objects 
 that originally excited the highest interest, if long con- 
 
UNITY. 89 
 
 tinued, cease to interest, and soon become painful. 
 Who, that is not absolutely deaf, could sit for a whole 
 day in a music room, if the same air without variation, 
 were begun again in the very instant of its last note ? 
 The most beautiful couplet, of the most beautiful poem 
 if repeated to us without intermission, for a very few 
 minutes, would excite more uneasiness than could have 
 been felt from the single recitation of the dullest stanza 
 of the most soporific inditer of rhymes. How weary are 
 we of many of the lines of our best poets, which are 
 quoted to us for ever, by those who read only what 
 others quote* What we admired when we read it first, 
 fatigues and disappoints us, when we meet with it so 
 often ; and the author appears to us almost trite and 
 common in his most original images, merely because 
 these images are so very beautiful, as to have become 
 some of the common places of rhetorical selection. 
 
 Notwithstanding our certainty that a road without one 
 turn, must lead us to our journey's end, it would be to 
 our mind, and thus indirectly to our body also, which is 
 soon weary when the mind is weary, the most fatiguing 
 of all roads. A very long avenue is sufficiently weary- 
 ing, even when we see the house that is at the end of it. 
 But what patience could travel for a whole day, along 
 one endless avenue, with perfect parallelism of the two 
 straight lines, and with trees of the same species and 
 height succeeding each other exactly at the same inter- 
 vals ? In a journey like this, there would be the same 
 comfort in being blind, as there would in a little tem- 
 porary deafness, in the case before imagined of the same 
 unvaried melody, endlessly repeated in the music room. 
 The uniformity of similar trees, at similar distances, 
 would itself be most wearisome. But what we should 
 feel with far more uneasiness, would be the constant dis- 
 
90 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 appointment of our expectation, that the last tree, which 
 we beheld in the distance, would be the last that would 
 rise upon us ; when tree after tree as in mockery of our 
 patience itself, would still present the same dismal con- 
 tinuity of line." 
 
 I need not be more particular in applying these illus- 
 trations. As men are constituted, they demand variety 
 in intellectual subjects, as well as in material. And the 
 preacher of good sense, will never be anxious to attain 
 that unity in his public instructions, which excludes a 
 proper variety. 
 
 What then is the unity so important to be observed in 
 the composition of a sermon ? I answer, it requires that 
 the sermon should be, 
 
 In the first place, one in subject. 
 
 It will be unnecessary to dwell on this point, farther 
 than to explain my meaning. The preacher may have 
 but one chief subject in his eye, and yet manage so un- 
 skilfully as by way of preparatory remark, to suggest a 
 number of distinct subjects, which will preoccupy the 
 attention of the hearers, and leave a divided impression 
 on their minds. This is especially liable to be the case, 
 when a sermon commences with critical discussions, 
 extended to some length. As an example of this fault, 
 I mention Claude's plan on the text, Actsii. 27. "Thou 
 wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou surfer 
 thine Holy One to see corruption.'' The subject is, the 
 resurrection of Christ. Before entering on this, how- 
 ever, he would discuss two other points. In the first 
 place, he would show that the language of the Psalmist, 
 quoted in the text, was correctly understood by St. Peter, 
 as referring to Christ. Tn the second place, he would 
 refute the opinion of the Romish Church respecting 
 Christ's descent into what they call * limbus patrum,' as 
 
UNITY. 91 
 
 grounded on the word hell in the text, which in this case 
 means the state of the dead. But with whatever pro- 
 priety these several topics might be embraced in an 
 expository lecture ; a sermon on the resurrection of Christ 
 would evidently be ruined by a formal, preparatory dis- 
 cussion of St. Peter's inspiration, and of a gross super- 
 stition, founded on a verbal mistake. The former should 
 be taken for granted ; and the latter, noticed in the 
 briefest manner possible, while explaining the terms of 
 the text. 
 
 There is another way in which the above principle is 
 violated. The preacher, from an apprehension of falling 
 short in matter, or from a false notion that his hearers will 
 be ediried, in proportion to the range of topics in each 
 sermon, contrives to bring before them every sabbath, the 
 whole system of religion. Every subject which has any 
 affinity to the one in hand, comes in for its share of 
 attention. Thus in considering the question of Pilate, 
 " What is truth ? " the hearers are gravely told that all 
 truths have a common foundation, and a common con- 
 nection one with another ; and hence it comes fairly 
 within the compass of the sermon, to speak of every thing 
 which is true. In regard to the violation of unity by 
 such a heterogeneous assemblage of matter, the preacher 
 might often receive admonition, by attempting to fix on 
 a brief title to his discourse ; or even by searching for a 
 psalm or hymn, appropriate to his subject. 
 
 In the second place, unity requires that a sermon should 
 
 be ONE IN DESIGN. 
 
 The wise preacher will propose to himself some chief 
 effect which he hopes to produce, by every discourse. 
 This is a distinct thing from the subject of discourse ; 
 just as the same end in other cases, may be sought by 
 various means. Thus, if you would make sinners feel 
 
92 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 their guilt, your direct subject may be either their obli- 
 gations or their transgressions. If you would console a 
 good man in affliction, your subject may be the perfec- 
 tion of God's providence, or the benefit of afflictions. If 
 you would inculcate the obligation of children to love 
 their parents, you may do this by preaching on filial 
 affection, as a direct subject, or on the character of 
 Joseph, as an indirect one. The good to be accom- 
 plished by a sermon, whatever is its subject, must depend 
 very much on its fitness to leave on the hearers' minds 
 some specific and predominant impression. Whether it 
 bears upon insensibility, or error, or vice ; whether it is 
 designed to alarm the carelesss sinner, or to strengthen 
 the wavering Christian, its bearing should be distinctly 
 seen and felt. This requires not only that the sermon 
 should have a definite subject and a definite design, but 
 that these should be constantly in the preacher's eye, 
 ' It is a favourite method with me,' said Cecil, ' to re- 
 duce the text to some point of doctrine. On that topic 
 I enlarge, and then apply it. I like to ask myself, 
 ' What are you doing ? — What is your aim ? ' 
 
 This leads me to remark, 
 
 In the third place, that unity requires a sermon to be 
 
 ONE IN THE ADJUSTMENT OF ITS PARTS TO THE 
 PRINCIPAL END, AND TO EACH OTHER. And here I 
 
 lay it down as an elementary principle of great im- 
 portance, that a discourse should be adapted to produce 
 an effect as a whole. This principle was substantially 
 stated above, but is here varied in form for the sake of a 
 more extended illustration. It is not enough that there 
 is a succession of good words, or of striking sentences, 
 or of brilliant paragraphs, or even of weighty detached 
 thoughts. The choice and arrangement of matter should 
 be such as to produce a growing interest in the auditors, 
 
UNITY. 93 
 
 and to leave a strong impression of the subject on their 
 minds. This supposes the preacher, before writing, to 
 have examined well the materials of which the sermon 
 is to consist, and to have settled with himself the 
 order in which these are to be disposed, to the best 
 advantage. 
 
 There is no work of art in which this principle of unity 
 is not essential to perfection. The architect studies the 
 purpose, for which a building is intended, while he adjusts 
 its parts in his whole plan. He will employ what is 
 called the prophetic eye of taste. He will anticipate 
 just what the principal edifice, and the subordinate 
 buildings will be when finished. It is not a fine column, 
 or window, or gateway, that makes a beautiful seat, but 
 the combined effect of symmetry and fitness, which 
 strikes the eye, in the structure and its appendages, 
 when viewed as a whole. 
 
 So with the landscape gardener. Give him a rude 
 spot to transform into a beautiful garden ; and he sees by 
 anticipation, how each part of the grounds must be 
 shaped, where each avenue must pass, and each tree and 
 shrub must stand, when the plan is completed; and 
 * when he plants a seedling, he already sits under its 
 shade.' So the historic painter, if he would represent a 
 shipwreck, must not be satisfied to show you a broken 
 mast or cable. Nor yet must he show you the mariners 
 clinging to a tempest beaten ship, while other ships in 
 the same prospect are becalmed. The heavens must 
 frown with blackness, and the ocean swell in angry 
 surges, and spread before you a consistent scene of 
 terrific sublimity. 
 
 So the portrait painter must not exhaust his skill on a 
 single feature, but must exhibit the united expression of 
 all the features in the human face divine. 
 
94 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 ' 'Tis not a lip, or eye, we beauty call • 
 But the joint force and full result of all.' 
 
 So the epic or dramatic poet, must not set before you 
 an incongruous succession of characters or incidents, 
 violating all probability and consistency. He must show 
 you a train of things, growing in interest, and leading on 
 to some common result. Shakspeare, though he has 
 been called the stumbling block of critics, though he is 
 frequently inelegant, obscure, and ungrammatical in style ; 
 and though he pays little regard sometimes to what are 
 called the unities of time and place, — shews you men 
 and things as they are. He not only pleases you with 
 here and there a speech, but arrests your attention to 
 the course of events ; fills you with a restless eagerness 
 to keep up with his incidents; and leaves you at last 
 under some strong impression, that abides with you. Of 
 this great dramatic poet Johnson says, ' He who tries 
 to recommend him by select quotations, will succeed 
 like the pedant in Hierocles, who, when he offered his 
 house for sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a spe- 
 cimen.' When you have read Julius Caesar, or Hamlet, 
 you may be unable to repeat a single line, but you 
 never can forget the subject. 
 
 I have extended these illustrations, to show that 
 preaching is not exempt from the common laws which 
 apply to all other things, where good sense and taste are 
 to be exercised. A sermon should have unity of plan. 
 The matter, length, and order of its parts should be so 
 adjusted, as to preclude anticipation, repetition, and 
 collision. Good judgment will not so much inquire, 
 whether a thought is important, as whether it belongs to 
 the subject in hand, and in what place it may be intro- 
 duced, so as most to increase the general effect. That is 
 not useful preaching, which is a mere collection of good 
 
UNITY. 95 
 
 remarks, without the scope, connexion and impression, 
 which belong to a regular discourse. Nor is that a 
 profitable sermon, which now and then startles the 
 hearers with a vivid flash of thought, or makes them 
 remember a few eccentric phrases; — but that which fixes 
 their eye on a single subject ; which holds their attention 
 steadily to that subject ; which gives them as they go on 
 a clearer perception and a deeper feeling of that subject; 
 and finally compels them to remember that subject, 
 "though they cannot repeat one expression uttered by the 
 preacher. 
 
 To accomplish this end, / only add, fourthly, there 
 must be unity of illustration. No mixing of topics 
 in argument, or of incongruous images should be allowed 
 to impair the object of a discourse. 
 
 ' Servetur ad imum, 
 
 Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet.' 
 
 Of a distinguished living preacher, it is remarked by 
 a professed critic, that, ' exuberant as are his resources, 
 little or nothing is introduced by him, without a distinct 
 reference to his main design. Every additional figure or 
 idea, illustrative of his chief topic, serves for the most 
 part to convey it more distinctly to the mind ; and though 
 Pelion is sometimes heaped upon Ossa, in his gigantic 
 sport, we do not view it as an useless exertion, when he 
 appears himself to be reaching heaven by the process, 
 and showing us a path to the same elevation.' 
 
 Such is that unity which is worthy to be sought in the 
 pulpit. It is not a sterile sameness ; but it requires that 
 a sermon should be one in subject, one in design, one in 
 the adaptation of its parts to each other, and to the com- 
 mon effect, and one in illustration. Of course, unity 
 
OG STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 does not forbid divisions; it only requires that these 
 should not exhibit several distinct subjects, but only that 
 they should present several parts of the same subject, 
 as one complete whole. Against such a fault as that 
 just alluded to, it will be our business to guard still 
 farther, in considering the characteristics of a perfect 
 division. 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 DIVISION. — OBJECTIONS TO; — UTILITY OF; — KINDS 
 OF; — RULES. 
 
 The objection that divisions in a sermon are inconsistent 
 with unity, rendered it proper to consider, at length, in 
 my last lecture, this most important principle in the 
 sacred work of the preacher. Two other objections 
 require a brief notice at this time. 
 
 It is sometimes said, that divisions give a stiff and 
 mechanical appearance to a discourse ; that to announce 
 its chief parts beforehand, is to take from it the charm 
 of novelty, and to destroy the pleasure which an intelli- 
 gent hearer would derive from discovering your method 
 for himself. 
 
 But you must remember, that of those to whom the 
 gospel is preached, only a small part are so intelligent, 
 as to perceive that which is not very easily perceived. 
 To adopt an occult method, because this is supposed to 
 be most consistent with the rules of elegance, or because 
 some obscurity furnishes exercise to the ingenuity of 
 hearers, is a doubtful expedient, even in respect to 
 cultivated minds ; but in respect to plain men, such as 
 constitute the body of every congregation, it is, to say 
 the least, a great error in judgment. If such hearers 
 might be able to analyze an obscure train of thought in a 
 printed discourse, this is not to be expected in one that 
 
 F 
 
98 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 is spoken, where they have no opportunity to examine 
 and compare different parts. 
 
 The other objection is, that divisions are a scholastic 
 device, unknown in the best days of ancient oratory. 
 
 That the celebrated orators of old were less formal in 
 this respect than has been common in the modern sermon, 
 is certain; and perhaps a sufficient reason for this appears 
 in the object of their orations, and the character of those 
 to whom they were addressed. But the most celebrated 
 of those orations have method, and some of them, method 
 very distinctly expressed. Cicero, in his oration for the 
 Manilian law, has three divisions; the nature of the 
 Mithridatic war; — the greatness of it; — and the choice 
 of a proper general. The first of these heads is discussed 
 under four minor heads, — the honour of the state ; — the 
 safety of their allies ; — the public revenue, — and the in- 
 terests of private citizens. The third head, too, has four 
 minor heads. Pompey is recommended as a consum- 
 mate general, for his military skill ; — his courage ; — his 
 authority ; and his success. The same orator, in his 
 seventh Philippic, dissuades the senate from making peace 
 with Marc Antony, by three heads of argument, show- 
 ing the measure to be base, to be dangerous, and to be 
 impracticable. In his oration for Muraena, the division 
 has been allowed by some critics to be perfect. * The 
 whole accusation, O judges, may be reduced to three 
 heads ; one consists in objections against his life ; the 
 second relates to the dignity of his office ; the third 
 includes the corruption, with which he is charged.' 
 
 His oration against Caecilius has two, and that for 
 Publius Quinctius three general divisions. 
 
 To mention no other examples, Quinctilian says, 
 ' divisions may be too many, but ought not, as some 
 think, to be limited to three.' So much for an objection, 
 
DIVISION. 99 
 
 drawn from antiquity, against that method in a discourse 
 which constituted so important a part of both theory and 
 practice in ancient eloquence. 
 
 We proceed now to consider the utility of divisions, — 
 the different kinds that have been employed — and the 
 rules by which they should be conducted. 
 
 In remarking on the utility of method, let it be ob- 
 served, that I mean to recommend a method which is 
 obvious to the hearers; and in general, one that is 
 announced by the preacher, in entering on the discussion 
 of his subject. Though his plan of thought may be 
 distinctly marked in his own mind, and though every 
 sentence he utters may be intelligible, the sermon, if the 
 method is studiously concealed, will have only the aspect 
 and effect of a smooth essay. He who aims to save 
 rather than amuse his hearers, will not scruple to inter- 
 rupt the polished flow of his composition, by dividing it 
 into separate heads. Not that these should, of course, 
 be named numerically at the opening of the sermon. It 
 is not always best that so formal a distribution by first, 
 second, third, &c. should announce the main heads 
 beforehand ; and seldom can this be properly done with 
 the subordinate ones. 1 In regard to these latter, the 
 speaker as he passes on, may, if he chooses to omit the 
 numerical distribution, mark them sufficiently by pauses, 
 by antithetic distinction of words, by change of quantity 
 and pitch of voice, or by simple emphasis.- 
 
 Doctor Doddridge advises that more prominence still 
 should be given to divisions, by the manner of announcing 
 them. Thus his own practice was to mention the general 
 heads twice, beforehand. At the opening of each head, 
 
 1 Note (12.) 
 2 Jay's Family Discourses, furnish a good pattern for short sub- 
 divisions. 
 
 F 2 
 
100 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 if it was to have subdivisions, he announced these before- 
 hand ; and in the conclusion, he briefly recapitulated all 
 his topics, principal and subordinate. So rigid an exact- 
 ness, as an universal habit of a preacher, seems to me 
 undesirable; yet he will be compelled to study lucid 
 arrangement, by a frequent resort to such a practice. 
 
 Among the advantages of an obvious method, T remark 
 that perspicuity is promoted by it. The understanding 
 is a faculty that delights in order. It contemplates with 
 ease and pleasure, things that are placed before it in the 
 light of a just arrangement. Hence Horace properly 
 calls such arrangement, ' lucidus ordo,' — Hence again, 
 
 Beauty is promoted by order. Aside from those laws 
 of mind, agreeably to which method facilitates our per- 
 ception of relations among things ; according to our 
 principles of emotion, good taste is disgusted with con- 
 fusion. A fine library, promiscuously jumbled together, 
 without regard to connexion of volumes, or distinct 
 works, would offend the eye just in proportion to the 
 intrinsic worth, or the elegant appearance of the several 
 books. The same sensation of incongruity is excited by 
 thoughts or expressions, however brilliant, which have no 
 connexion. 
 
 Brevity is promoted by order. The poet above 
 alluded to says — ' This will be the excellence and 
 beauty of method, that it will enable the writer just now 
 to say what just now ought to be said, and to omit every 
 thing else.' He who classes his thoughts on a subject, 
 will see what to use, and what to refuse, among the 
 general mass of matter related to that subject. Besides, 
 confusion of thought leads to repetition ; and repetition 
 leads to undue length. 
 
 Energy is prompted by order, in two ways ; the first 
 is by concentration. The power of a discourse to im- 
 
DIVISION. 101 
 
 pTess the mind, depends not on the separate impulse of 
 its parts, but on the combined effect of the whole. And 
 often an argument derives all its strength from its stand- 
 ing in proper connexion with other arguments. The 
 united strength of five men, might easily raise a weight, 
 which the separate efforts of the five would be unable to 
 stir. The regular phalanx, disposed in order of battle, 
 so that each individual may support the whole line, is 
 irresistible in its outset. But the undisciplined rabble is 
 harmless in its movements, if not contemptible. 
 
 The other way in which order contributes to strength, 
 is by promoting vivacity. Give to the traveller, who is 
 to pass through a strange country, a chart, pointing out 
 beforehand his road, with the chief objects that will 
 demaud his attention, and he pursues his way with 
 increased spirit. Even the languor of a single day's 
 journey is relieved by his being able often to ascertain 
 what progress he has made, and what is the distance to 
 the next stage. So division relieves heaviness in a dis- 
 course. Quinctilian supposes his orator to say, * I will 
 tell you what facts occurred before this transaction, 
 what at the time, and what afterwards.' « This,' he says, 
 1 will seem to be three short narrations, instead of a 
 single long one. The hearer is refreshed as he perceives 
 the end of the last division, and prepares himself, as to a 
 new beginning.' The advantage of such transitions, 
 Cicero well understood. ' Hitherto, Caesar,' said he, 
 having advanced one stage in his defence, ' Hitherto, 
 Caesar, Ligarius appears to be free from fault,' and then 
 commences another branch of his argument. Finally, 
 
 Memory is assisted by order. It were easy to show 
 how important this consideration is to the preacher him- 
 self. But T refer especially to the memory of hearers. 
 What is memory? It is that reflex operation of the 
 
102 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 mind, by which it recalls its past thoughts. The capa- 
 city of doing this, in a given case, other things being 
 equal, depends on the strength of original impressions, 
 and the circumstances which facilitate the voluntary 
 repetition of those impressions. A succession of ideas 
 must be understood, before it can be remembered ; and 
 perspicuous method is the vivid light, by which the 
 mind clearly perceives, and deeply feels what is pre- 
 sented before it. But as few original impressions are so 
 deeply imprinted, as to fix themselves in the adult mind, 
 without repetition, the recollection of its thoughts 
 depends much on its power to renew them, at pleasure. 
 And this again depends on the associations by which 
 they are connected. For example ; suppose you were 
 to enter, for the first time, a city with parallel streets, 
 in one direction, marked according to the ordinals, first, 
 second, third ; and the intersecting parallel streets marked 
 with the names of the United States, in their usual 
 order. How easily would you remember the plan of 
 this city, compared with that of another, where the 
 streets are laid out at random, are crooked, irregular, and 
 designated perhaps, by names which you never heard 
 before. Suppose you were introduced to ten strangers, 
 who should keep their seats in the same order, till you 
 had recalled a few times the name of each successively. 
 With how much more ease could you recollect them, than 
 if they had been, all this time, passing about the room. 
 The reason why familiar things are not forgotten is, 
 that frequent recurrence stamps impression. The im- 
 >. portance of method to memory, therefore, as an associat- 
 ing principle, lies chiefly in the fact, that method is the 
 medium of spontaneous and instantaneous reflection. 
 The incidents in the story of Joseph, for example, are so 
 connected, that one reading fixes them in the memory 
 
DIVISION. 103 
 
 of even a child. But that must be a miraculous memory, 
 which could repeat, in the same manner, the genealogical 
 lists of names in the Chronicles. 
 
 Witherspoon says, « Suppose I desire a person going 
 to a city, to do several things for me ; to deliver a 
 letter to one man ; to visit a friend of mine, and bring 
 me notice how he is ; to buy a book for me ; and see 
 whether any ship is to sail for India soon. — It is very 
 possible he may remember some of them, and forget the 
 others. But if I desire him to buy me a dozen of silver 
 spoons, to carry them to an engraver, that my name may 
 be put on them, and to procure a case for them ; — if he 
 remembers one article, it is probable he will remem- 
 ber all.' 
 
 In view of the foregoing illustrations, I will only add 
 that the importance of method, by which I mean obvious 
 method, in a sermon, is so unquestionable, that to affirm 
 it, is only saying in other words, that the sermon of 
 which the hearers remember nothing, is useless. The 
 principle involved, in this case, may be tried by one 
 simple, practical test. The custom of taking notes of 
 sermons, as they are delivered, was common in the 
 ancient church, and to some extent it prevails, in many 
 congregations at this day. 1 Suppose then a sermon to 
 be immethodical and incoherent, I do not ask whether an 
 expert stenographer can record every word of it, from 
 the mouth of the speaker ? but can an intelligent hearer 
 commit to paper a brief outline of the chief thoughts, in 
 such an arrangement, that the review of these will enable 
 him to recollect the substance of the whole sermon ? If 
 
 1 A practice which is highly objectionable on various grounds.— 
 The mechanical act of writing must tend more or less to weaken the 
 impression. — Editor. 
 
104 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 not, an elementary principle of preaching has been dis- 
 regarded, in the composition of the sermon. 
 
 The appeal may also be made to teachers of schools, 
 and to Christian parents, who are still in the good old 
 practice of calling their children to ' repeat sermons ; ' 
 what sort of sermons are those of which they can give 
 the best account ? Without a single exception, the 
 answer will be, those sermons which are constructed on a 
 simple, obvious train of thought; — not those in which 
 there is an occult method, or no method. Let the 
 ' teacher of babes/ condescend to be taught by babes, 
 in this thins;. 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 DIVISION. 
 
 We are to consider next the different kinds of method. 
 These are, the textual, the topical, and the scholastic. 
 
 1. The textual or verbal division is taken from the 
 words of the text. An example of this sort we have 
 in the exhortation of the Apostle, "Add to your faith 
 virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge tem- 
 perance, &c." where the preacher follows these par- 
 ticulars, in a separate consideration of each word, as 
 faith, virtue, knowledge, &c. 
 
 2. The topical division drops the phraseology of the 
 text, and is grounded on its sense, as expressed in some 
 distinct proposition. A sermon of this sort, on the text 
 just mentioned, instead of treating five or six subjects, 
 would illustrate perhaps this one theme, ' that all the 
 graces of the gospel are united in the character of the 
 consistent Christian.' The words of Christ, to the male- 
 factor on the cross, " To-day shalt thou be with me in 
 Paradise," the textual preacher would divide thus ; 
 Consider first the person to whom this promise was 
 made, " Thou," the penitent thief. Secondly, the 
 matter of the promise, " shalt be with me in Paradise." 
 Thirdly, the time of its accomplishment, " To-day." 
 The topical preacher would perhaps divide thus ; ' First, 
 the death of believers introduces them immediately to 
 
 * 5 
 
106 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 eternal happiness. Secondly, God sometimes prepares 
 men for this happiness in the last moments of life.* 
 
 On such a text as this, — " What doth the Lord require 
 of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk 
 humbly with thy God," no better division perhaps can 
 be adopted, than that suggested by the words. But in 
 general, this is the favourite method of only dry and 
 diffuse preachers. 
 
 3. The scholastic division, consisting of subject, 
 predicate, and copula, may be more or less related to 
 either of the preceding. Suppose the text is, " He 
 that believeth shall be saved ; " and the plan of dis- 
 course is, to show first, — ' What it is to believe : 
 secondly, what is it to be saved ; and thirdly, the cer- 
 tainty that all who believe shall be saved ; ' the method 
 would accord with what is probably the prevailing taste 
 of the pulpit. A sermon recently published has this 
 text, ' The just shall live by faith.' No thought could 
 be more simple than the one here suggested. But the 
 scheme of discourse is the following ; 1 I propose, first, 
 to show the meaning of the term just, as used in the 
 text. Secondly, to explain the nature of faith. And 
 thirdly, in what manner it is that the just may be said 
 to live by faith.' 
 
 Another English sermon, published 1826, on the text, 
 " The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous 
 runneth into it and is safe : " has this method ; 
 
 * 1. What we are to understand by the name of the 
 Lord. 
 
 ' 2. What by its being a strong tower. 
 
 * 3. What is the safety it affords. 
 
 * 4. Who are the persons that partake of this safety.' 
 But carry the same taste into a deliberative oration on 
 
 this topic for example, ■ the connexion between knowledge 
 
DIVISION. 107 
 
 and liberty among a people,' and let the orator announce 
 his method thus ; ' I shall consider first, what we are to 
 understand by knowledge ; — secondly, what by liberty ; 
 and, thirdly, how the one is connected with the other; ' 
 and T need not say how tame and puerile this discourse 
 would appear. Yet so strong is the tendency to this 
 artificial structure, in sermonizing, that one can hardly 
 look amiss for examples of it. 
 
 It remains that I mention some rules, by which 
 divisions should be conducted. And they should be, 
 
 1. Necessary. The subject should not only allow, 
 but should seem to require them. It is the province of a 
 barren invention, as I have before remarked, to give 
 every sermon j ust so many heads as to correspond with 
 the habits of the preacher, without inquiring whether the 
 topics to be discussed are distinct or not. And where this 
 mechanical taste prevails, it commonly happens that the 
 requisite number of parts is made out, by forcing asun- 
 der things which really belong to the same class; or 
 rather, by a tedious repetition of the same things, under 
 the most insipid form of variety, a mere difference of 
 numerical distribution. 
 
 2. Divisions should be well arranged. The con- 
 nexion between them should not only exist in the 
 preacher's mind, but should be apparent to the hearers. 
 The chief principles of arrangement, I shall notice 
 briefly. When the different topics will allow it, the 
 relation of series should be observed. Each preceding 
 particular should prepare the way for the following, 
 and lead it in, by an easy transition of thought. This 
 principle is violated, when the first head supposes the 
 second to be already understood, by the hearers. In 
 most subjects of argument, the logical order is more or 
 less to be observed. Thus when we reason from causes 
 
108 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 to effects, or from effects to causes, or when things are 
 stated according to order of time, an obvious relation 
 exists which determines the proper arrangement. There 
 are indeed some cases in which the order is nearly 
 arbitrary. If I were discussing Christian obedience, I 
 might say with Tillotson, that it is sincere, universal, 
 and constant ; or I might give these characteristics in a 
 reversed order, without injuring the entire discussion. 
 But if I were considering the fall and restoration of 
 St. Peter, the two parts of the subject cannot be indif- 
 ferently transposed. It would be preposterous to describe 
 the repentance of this Apostle, before I had described 
 his sin. 
 
 On the same general principle, it would not be 
 proper to mingle, in a consecutive series, things which 
 belong to different classes. If I were proving the divine 
 origin of the scriptures, and should take my first argu- 
 ment from miracles, my second, from the doctrines of the 
 Bible, and my third, from prophecy, the sources of 
 proof would be unexceptionable, but the arrangement 
 is unskilful ; because the first and third topics belong to 
 external, and the second to internal evidences. Nor is it 
 proper to confound what logicians call the genus and 
 the species. If I were illustrating the dignity of man 
 from his faculties, it would not be proper to consider 
 first, his reason, secondly, his will, thirdly, his soul, 
 fourthly, his conscience ; because the third comprehends 
 all the rest. 
 
 3. Divisions should be COMPLETE. 
 
 By this I do not mean to say, as a general rule, that 
 all the topics which appertain to a subject should be 
 introduced into a discourse on that subject; but that 
 when we profess to present it as a whole, by its several 
 parts, we should exhibit all those parts. Thus, if I 
 
DIVISION. 109 
 
 were describing light, by the distribution of its rays 
 into the principal colours, I must not enumerate red, 
 orange, yellow, green, and then stop ; but must go 
 through the seven. If I were describing Massachu- 
 setts, by its counties, I must not stop after naming 
 Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex; — but must mention the 
 whole. So when an intellectual subject is to be treated 
 according to distinct properties or parts, the distribution 
 should not be partial but complete. 
 
 4. Divisions should, notwithstanding , be FEW. 
 
 A map may exhibit geographical lines, mountains, 
 rivers, cities, and a few objects of prominent importance. 
 But attempt to make it embrace minute things, to repre- 
 sent private plantations and dwellings, and you frustrate 
 its design. The eye is disgusted with this multiplicity 
 and confusion of things. So an excessive enumeration 
 of particulars, in a sermon, distracts the minds of the 
 hearers. A preacher of the seventeenth century, having 
 employed thirty divisions in explaining his text, says, 
 ' I shall not shred the words into unnecessary parts ; 
 and then adds fifty-six more divisions to explain the 
 subject. Another, of the same period, whose sermon 
 had already exceeded a hundred and seventy parts, 
 gravely apologized for omitting ' sundry useful points, 
 pitching only on that which comprehended the marrow, 
 and the substance.' 
 
 5. Divisions should be concise IN terms. I mean 
 that the words employed should be few ; and when it is 
 possible, the chief thought should be expressed in a 
 single word. The reason of this rule is, that, in stating 
 a head, we simply inform our hearers what is the point 
 to be discussed ; and the more simply and briefly we 
 do this, the more easily is our division understood and 
 remembered. Welwood, on the text, "Who maketh 
 
110 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 thee to differ from another ? " has this tedious round of 
 words in his division. 
 
 ' 1. The consideration of the authority of God, under 
 which we are all equally placed, notwithstanding the 
 variety in our conditions, ought to teach us an implicit 
 acquiescence in the duties, and in the lot assigned us. 
 
 ' 2. Our obligations to cultivate the blessings we have 
 received, and the consequences of their perversion, are 
 exactly the same, whatever may be our portion of ad- 
 vantages ; and 
 
 ' 3. The sentence which shall at last be pronounced 
 on our conduct at the tribunal of God, will have a 
 special relation to the advantages which have been 
 given, or have been denied us ; and to the condition in 
 which every individual has served God, or has sinned 
 against him.' 
 
 Now, if the preacher should repeat this antithetic 
 lumber of phrases and members a thousand times, not 
 one of his hearers would remember it. But there would 
 have been no difficulty, had he said ; I shall prove the 
 duty of implicit acquiescence in the allotments of God, 
 first, from his authority over us ; secondly, from the 
 blessings he confers upon us ; and, thirdly, from our 
 final account \ 
 
 As this principle is of elementary importance, and is 
 constantly violated in the pulpit, I will add, that con- 
 ciseness in the form of heads, depends on such a relation 
 of parts, as to dispense with the greatest number of 
 words, by ellipsis-, and especially to dispense with all 
 ornament or explanation in the head itself. 
 
 Take as an illustration, the following plan, on the 
 subject of regeneration. — First, I shall consider in what 
 this change consists, or what is its nature. Secondly, 
 show that wherever it takes place, it is produced, not 
 
DIVISION. Ill 
 
 by the efficacy of means, but by the influence of the 
 Holy Spirit. And, thirdly, exhibit evidence, that 
 wherever this change is produced by the Holy Spirit, it 
 is followed by the fruits of holiness, or a life of obedi- 
 ence. See how this drapery of words is dismissed by 
 the aid of ellipsis, suspending all the heads on one 
 connecting term ; thus, in discussing regeneration, I 
 shall consider, 1. Its nature. 2. Its Author. And 3. 
 Its fruits. 
 
 Reybaz says, — * A clear division is the handle of a 
 vase ; in the taking hold of which, every thing it contains, 
 goes with it. But if it has no handle, its contents are 
 lost to us.' Of this clear division, we have an example 
 in the six particulars of Father Bernard, on the text, 
 " The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a 
 shout ; " &c. ' Quis veniat ?— Unde ? — Quo ? — Quando ? 
 — Quomodol — Ad quid? * On this point I will only 
 add two examples, from a valuable English preacher ; 1 
 so brief and clear, that a hearer might repeat them 
 mentally, several times, without losing more than one 
 sentence of the sermon. The first is on the repentance 
 of Judas, which is shewn to differ from true repentance 
 in four respects ; 'Its origin; — Its object; — Its extent; 
 and its result.' The next is, " On the wrath to come," 
 with five heads. — ' It is divine wrath ; — Deserved 
 wrath; — Unmingled wrath; — Accumulated wrath; — 
 Eternal wrath.' 
 
 1 Bradley. 
 
LECTURE XI. 
 
 ARGUMENT IN SERMONS. 
 
 Having stated some of the general principles which 
 should govern the preacher in the choice and exposition 
 of his text, — the annunciation and the division of his 
 subject ; I am now to consider the sources and rules of 
 argument, which fall under the head of discussion. 
 
 I am aware that many subjects must be introduced 
 into the pulpit, which do not admit of what may strictly 
 be called reasoning. I am aware too, that in the 
 Christian community, an opinion is cherished by many, 
 and is countenanced by the example of some popular 
 preachers, that reasoning is neve?" appropriate to the 
 business of the pulpit. The secular orator, it is said, 
 speaks to men of cultivated minds, who can comprehend 
 a train of discussion ; but to plain, unlettered men, 
 such as the preacher addresses, every thing in the form 
 of argument is dry and uninteresting. Certainly plain 
 men are not logicians, but it does not follow that they 
 are incapable of reasoning. Even children, in their own 
 department of knowledge, draw conclusions from pre- 
 mises, as well as the philosopher in his. This tendency 
 of the human mind, which appears in its earliest opera- 
 tions, ought to be cherished. Persuasion and action 
 ought to depend on conviction, and conviction on proof. 
 To substitute declamation for reasoning in the pulpit, is 
 to give the preacher a loose and desultory habit of 
 
ARGUMENT. 113 
 
 thinking. In this way too, no stability of religious 
 character can be produced in hearers, except through 
 implicit faith, and blind prejudice. The preacher who 
 always declaims, from the supposition that his hearers 
 are unable to comprehend argument, gives the whole 
 influence of his labours, and of his own example, 
 against the use of their reasoning powers, in religion. 
 He takes the direct way to make them bigots, on the 
 one hand, or on the other children, liable to be " tossed 
 to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc- 
 trine/' Whenever such preaching prevails, for a period 
 long enough to produce its genuine influence, that in- 
 fluence is certainly unfavourable to manly discrimi- 
 nation, and strength in Christian attainments. The 
 question, then, needs not to be discussed, Whether, in 
 its proper place, argument should be employed in 
 sermons ? but, In what manner should it be employed ? 
 
 This will lead us to consider two things, the sources 
 of argument, and the principles on which it is to be 
 conducted. 
 
 My object in these remarks does not require me to 
 confirm or to controvert the doctrines of modern writers 
 on pneumatology and moral philosophy, nor to notice 
 them at all, in addressing those who are already con- 
 versant with these writers. My simple business is, to 
 inquire in what way religious truths may best be vin- 
 dicated and enforced by argument in the pulpit. The 
 laws of intellectual philosophy indeed are directly 
 auxiliary to this end. Even the study of geometry has 
 its important uses to the preacher, as it gives him dis- 
 cipline of thought, and precision of language. Much 
 of the controversy, which has distracted the church, 
 would have been prevented, had theologians employed 
 the same care in selecting and defining their terms, 
 
114 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 which has rendered mathematical reasoning so per- 
 spicuous, and so powerful an instrument of conviction. 
 But is mathematical reasoning, as well as moral, ap- 
 propriate to the pulpit? I answer, no. Demonstration, 
 in the exact use of the word, belongs only to the 
 science of abstract quantities ; and it would be no more 
 absurd to mingle tropes with terms of geometry, than 
 to apply a mathematical argument to a moral truth. 
 Still, it is a vain triumph in which infidelity has some- 
 times gloried, that religion is a subject which cannot 
 admit of certainty. For in no subject of mere science 
 can our data be more fixed, or our conclusions more 
 unquestionable, than in religion. Many of our first 
 principles, in theology and morals, have as much clear- 
 ness of intuitive evidence, as mathematical axioms ; 
 and we rest in our deductions with all the confidence 
 that attends the most perfect demonstration. 
 
 But while it is only moral evidence that can be 
 employed in preaching, this evidence arises from different 
 sources, each of which is more or less applicable, on 
 different occasions. The immediate end of reasoning is 
 to produce conviction ; and this is to be effected in each 
 particular case, by the power of evidence that is adapted 
 to that case. 1 
 
 SOURCES OF ARGUMENT. 
 
 The first and chief source of that evidence which is 
 to be employed in the pulpit, is the volume of Revelation. 
 In respect to an important class of subjects, no other 
 evidence can be relied on. What we know for example, 
 respecting the Trinity, the incarnation and atonement of 
 
 1 Note (13). 
 
ARGUMENT. 115 
 
 Christ, and justification by faith; we know only from 
 the sacred oracles. The simple and only inquiry on 
 such subjects is, what does the Bible teach ? And just 
 so far as we rely on the speculations of philosophy, 
 where the truth lies beyond the research of reason, the 
 light of heaven ceases to shine on our path, and we grope 
 in darkness. A want of strict adherence to this obvious 
 principle, has been the prolific occasion of heresy and 
 controversy in all ages. But while on subjects of this 
 sort, the Bible is the sole standard of faith and of duty, 
 our reason is of course to be employed in ascertaining 
 what the Bible teaches; and also in illustrating and 
 applying to a particular subject, the proof which it fur- 
 nishes. This is what St. Paul meant by " reasoning out 
 of the Scriptures." It is so to class and exhibit our 
 proof, as to show distinctly that God has declared as 
 truth, or enjoined as duty, some particular thing. 
 
 Now this mode of reasoning, if I mistake not, as it is 
 too commonly found in sermons, is not sufficiently ex- 
 plicit and direct. In a case where the preacher does not 
 doubt that the ultimate appeal is exclusively to the 
 Bible, often a fastidious delicacy, or a perverted taste, 
 prevents him from giving prominence to the divine testi- 
 mony. He thrusts forward his proof texts, perhaps in a 
 random and unskilful way, without proper regard to 
 their bearing on each other, or the end in view. Or, on 
 the other hand, he may assume the fine rhetorician, and 
 shape the declarations of the Bible into such a subser- 
 viency to the easy flow of his own style, that the proof is 
 diluted and humanized in his hands, and leaves no 
 strong impression on the minds of the hearers, that 
 " thus hath the Lord spoken." Illustrations of this 
 great defect might easily be given from the published 
 discourses of many who are called elegant or polite 
 
116 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 preachers. The sermons of Edwards, on the contrary, 
 furnish an excellent example of simple and direct rea- 
 soning from the Scriptures. His style, indeed, has many 
 faults, and his formality in naming chapter and verse, 
 when texts are cited, is a needless incumbrance, except 
 in strict argument, when some difficult topic is in discus- 
 sion. But though his habits of thought were those of a 
 metaphysician, and though he never appeared as the 
 critical commentator in the pulpit, he was eminently a 
 biblical preacher. So constant was his reference to 
 the Scriptures, that it imparted an air of sacredness 
 to his sermons; and his hearers, like the trembling 
 camp of Israel, at the foot of Sinai, had their eye fixed 
 on the authority and majesty of God, and felt a deep 
 impression of awe, as if approaching his judgment-seat. 
 
 On subjects of pure revelation, where the simple point 
 in argument is, ' what has God said in this case ? ' no 
 interest can be awakened in hearers, so strong or so salu- 
 tary, as that which arises from scriptural proofs properly 
 conducted. And when the preacher substitutes for these 
 solid materials, the speculations of philosophy, or the 
 embellishments of fancy, the apathy w T ith which his 
 sermon is commonly regarded by his audience, is but a 
 just rebuke of his self-complacency, 
 
 There is however a large class of subjects where 
 the proofs to be adduced in reasoning, are of a mixed 
 character, partly from revelation, and partly from other 
 sources. 
 
 If I were called to discuss a positive institution of 
 Christianity, such as baptism or the Lord's Supper, my 
 first business would be to open the volume of inspiration, 
 and see what it teaches on this subject. But it might 
 also be proper, and in some circumstances indispensable, 
 for me to adduce collateral evidence from the Fathers, to 
 
ARGUMENT. 117 
 
 show that the meaning which 1 attach to the Scriptures, 
 is probably the true one, because it accords with the 
 views of those whose sentiments and practice were 
 derived immediately from the apostles. So if I were 
 preaching on the obligations of men to worship God, or 
 on the relative duties of parents and children, it would 
 be proper for me to show that reason inculcates these 
 duties, as well as revelation. But then, in cases of this 
 sort, two extremes should be shunned. One is, the ten- 
 dency of some men by the phraseology they adopt, so to 
 exalt the reasonableness of the Bible, as to make the 
 impression that no implicit faith is ever required in its 
 declarations ; or, in other words, that the testimony of 
 God does not of itself demand our assent, except as 
 confirmed by the testimony of human reason. The other 
 extreme appears in the habit of cautious misgiving, with 
 which some men admit the aid of reason at all, in 
 Christian argumentation, lest they should invalidate, 
 while they professedly confirm the authority of the 
 Bible. But while the declarations of this sacred book 
 are independently and perfectly decisive where they 
 apply, to enforce them by arguments from reason, 
 where these also are applicable, is to treat them with 
 honour, not with disrespect. This holds true in prac- 
 tical illustration and commentary, as well as proof. For 
 example, — I examine the character which St. Paul 
 gives of the heathen world, in the first chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Romans . If I undertake to show that 
 the same character belongs to the heathen now, my 
 argument must be taken from human testimony. So if I 
 take a passage in which the doctrine of native depravity 
 is asserted, concerning an individual or a community, and 
 I undertake to show that the sacred writer intended also 
 to assert the same doctrine > as applicable to all men, my 
 
118 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 argument must proceed according to the laws of biblical 
 interpretation. But if my object is merely to show that 
 this doctrine is true in reference to all men, it becomes a 
 question of fact, as well as of Scripture ; and may be 
 proved, like any other point of this sort, by experience 
 and testimony. 
 
 I have extended these remarks sufficiently to express 
 my meaning, that the Bible is the grand store-house of 
 argument to the preacher, and yet that he must resort to 
 other kinds of proof. 
 
 Among these collateral sources of evidence, that ivhich 
 I would rank as second to revelation, is consciousness. 
 The distinction between this and conscience is, that the 
 former respects generally the knowledge which every 
 one has of the existence and operations of his own mind ; 
 the latter respects only its moral operations. This is a 
 kind of evidence which commands absolute assent, and 
 that by an immediate appeal to our own bosom. In this 
 way I know that there is a thinking existence within me, 
 that perceives, loves, and hates. I know when I am 
 hungry, or in pain. From this principle, acting with 
 memory, I know that I began to exist ; and that I am 
 the same individual as I was yesterday. I know that I 
 deserve blame, if I have done to another what it would 
 have been wrong in him to do towards myself ; and that 
 1 am innocent, though I may have done him an injury, 
 which proceeded from no wrong intention in me, or 
 which it was not in my power to avoid. 
 
 Such elementary principles, from which no one can 
 dissent, are of great value in enforcing many truths and 
 duties of religion, especially in the removal of perplexi- 
 ties arising from abstruse speculations. A metaphysician 
 may proceed with a train of reasoning which looks fair 
 
ARGUMENT. 119 
 
 and incontrovertible, till he brings out the conclusion, 
 that men are machines acting under a law of physical 
 necessity, and therefore not accountable for their actions. 
 But any plain man, while he cannot show where the 
 fallacy lies in this reasoning, may boldly pronounce the 
 conclusion false. It contradicts his own consciousness. 
 He knows that he is not a machine, but a voluntary, 
 accountable agent. 
 
 The faithful preacher, who presses truth on the con- 
 science, will often find some fastidious objector, or some 
 anxious sinner, resorting to refuges, which a vain philo- 
 sophy has invented, to escape the charge of personal 
 guilt. There is no way in which the pungent application 
 of divine truth is so likely to be parried, by the self- 
 excusing temper of the human heart, as by some objection 
 predicated on a denial that men possess the powers of 
 moral agency. Such objections may be met with the 
 light of demonstration from the scriptures, and yet they 
 are renewed with unyielding pertinacity. But let the 
 appeal be made at once to the consciousness of the hearer, 
 whether he is not a free agent, and his objections are 
 not refuted merely, they are effectually silenced in a 
 moment. 
 
 A third very ample source of evidence, is that to which 
 ivriters on intellectual philosophy have given the name of 
 
 COMMON SENSE. 
 
 This relates to things which do not come within the 
 province of consciousness, but which are so plain to 
 every reasonable mind, that they cannot be questioned. 
 For example, propositions such as these, ' It is impossible 
 that a thing should be and not be, at the same time.' 
 ' Every effect must have a cause-.' ' Things which I see 
 do exist,' strike the mind with the clearness of intuition. 
 They are accounted self-evident, as not admitting of 
 
120 STRUCTURE OR SERMONS. 
 
 proof, on the one hand, or of doubt on the other. While 
 it appertains to the process of reason, to draw con- 
 clusions from such premises, it is the province of common 
 sense to judge of these conclusions. Should a speculat- 
 ing visionary lay down axioms, from which he should 
 fancy himself to prove, that all the present modes of 
 travelling will become obsolete ; that men will soon 
 navigate the interior of the earth with sails and oars, or 
 traverse the air with wings, any man, without claiming 
 to be a philosopher, might smile at the conclusion, 
 and on the authority of common sense, pronounce it 
 ridiculous. 
 
 Now to show how this sort of evidence may be applied 
 in the pulpit, it is sufficient to show, by an example, 
 how it has been applied. Archbishop Tillotson, in refut- 
 ing the absurd hypothesis, that the world sprung from 
 chance, proceeds thus ; * Will chance fit means to ends, 
 and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in one ? 
 How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of 
 letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground, before 
 they would fall into an exact poem ? — yea, or so much 
 as make a good discourse in prose ? And may not a little 
 book be as easily made, as this great volume of the 
 world ? How long might one sprinkle colours upon 
 canvass, with a careless hand, before they would make 
 the exact picture of a man ? And is a man easier to be 
 made by chance than his picture ? How long might 
 twenty thousand blind men, who should be sent out from 
 the remote parts of England, wander up and down, before 
 they would all meet upon Salisbury plain, and fall into 
 rank and file, in the exact order of an army? And yet 
 this is much more easy to be imagined, than how the 
 innumerable blind parts of matter should rendezvous 
 themselves into a world. A man who sees Henry the 
 
ARGUMENT. 121 
 
 seventh's chapel at Westminster might with as good 
 reason maintain, yea, and much better, considering the 
 vast difference between that little structure and the huge 
 fabric of the world, that it was never contrived or built 
 by any man ; but that the stones did by chance grow 
 into those curious figures into which we see them to have 
 been cut and graven ; and that the materials of that 
 building, the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and glass, 
 happily met together, and ranged themselves into that 
 delicate order in which we see them now, so closely 
 compacted, that it must be a very great chance that parts 
 them again. What would the world think of a man 
 that should advance such an opinion as this, and write 
 a book for it ? If they would do him right, they 
 ought to look upon him as mad. But yet he might 
 maintain this opinion, with a little more reason than 
 any man can have to say, that the world was made by 
 chance, or that the first men grew out of the earth, as 
 plants do now/ l 
 
 Here is no process of mathematical demonstration to 
 refute the atheistical sentiment, that matter is eternal ; 
 and that this world assumed its present order and beauty 
 without the agency of an intelligent Creator. But if such 
 demonstration had been adapted to the subject and the 
 hearers in this case, who does not feel that it would have 
 been far less convincing than this skilful appeal to com- 
 mon sense ? Such an appeal is felt at once, in all its 
 power. Without that steady application of thought, 
 which abstruse reasoning demands, without any effort 
 indeed, even to uncultivated minds, conviction finds its 
 own way to the understanding, as light finds its way to the 
 eye. Hence this sort of evidence is peculiarly valuable 
 
 1 Tillotson's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 31. See also Vol. II. p. 50. 
 
 G 
 
122 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 to the preacher, in repelling sophistry, and in answering 
 objections, that cannot be effectually met in any other 
 way. Such are the cavils with which infidelity has often 
 assailed Christian doctrines, especially when clothed in 
 the obscure terms of scholastic theology. And such are 
 the doubts with which anxious inquirers are sometimes 
 distressed, under convictions of sin. 
 
LECTURE XII. 
 
 ARGUMENT IN SERMONS. 
 
 There is a fourth source of evidence, namely, the 
 evidence OF FACTS, which is more or less mingled with 
 all the foregoing ; and which includes also the evidence 
 of experience, testimony, and authority. It is a general 
 law of both the material and intellectual worlds, that 
 like causes will produce like effects, or that the future 
 will resemble the past. This law is the sole basis of 
 physical and of political science. Hence we know that, 
 in all ages and countries, rivers will flow downwards, 
 fire will burn, and poison destroy. And hence we know 
 too, how men will feel and act under given circum- 
 stances. If there were no uniformity in the operations 
 of mind, no system of government could be framed for 
 any community ; nor could social relations exist in any 
 neighbourhood or family. The same regularity resulting 
 from settled principles in the divine government, and in 
 human agency, gives a fixed character to what we call 
 Christian experience. On this ground we may expect 
 with certainty, wherever we find unsanctified. human 
 beings, to find them with selfish and depraved hearts ; 
 and wherever we find those who are sanctified by divine 
 grace, to see them possess affections essentially the same 
 as have distinguished pious men in all ages. 
 
 I need not spend time in applying these principles to 
 the work of the preacher. He must be very unskilful 
 
 G 2 
 
124 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 not to know, that some parts of almost every subject to 
 be discussed in the pulpit, admit of confirmation or 
 illustration from facts ; and that this kind of reasoning, 
 where it does apply, is precisely that by which men 
 choose to be addressed, and are predisposed to be con- 
 vinced. Other things being equal, he will have most 
 power over an assembly whose mind is best stored with 
 facts, especially scriptural facts, and who best know 
 how to apply them with effect. 
 
 Testimony, as I have already said in treating of scrip- 
 tural evidence, is a kind of proof that must be employed 
 in sermons ; but it is liable to great abuse. The extent 
 to which some have carried appeals to ecclesiastical 
 history, on certain points of controversy, is certainly 
 undesirable, if not totally inadmissible, in the pulpit. 
 
 In these remarks I include also the evidence of autho- 
 rity. The spirit of this age indeed is not more disposed 
 to bow to popes and fathers, than to the mystic trifling 
 of scolastic theology, or the categories of Aristotle. 
 
 The abuse of authority in reasoning is strikingly ex- 
 hibited in the " Oral Law," or traditions of the Jews, 
 which they supposed God to have delivered to Moses on 
 Mount Sinai, though never committed to writing. By 
 these traditions, a great many ceremonies and authori- 
 tative maxims were handed down, as of sacred obliga- 
 tion, among that people ; though some of them directly 
 contradicted the written law of God, and were condemned 
 with great severity by Christ in his sermon on the mount. 
 Hence when the Pharisees complainingly said to Christ, 
 " Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the 
 Elders?" he replied in the solemn rebuke, " Why do 
 ye transgress the commandment of God by your tra- 
 dition ? " 
 
 The Romish church too, as every reader of history 
 
ARGUMENT. 1'25 
 
 knows, has for ages framed to itself a set of traditions, 
 by which the authority of the fathers is avowedly made 
 to supersede that of the Bible. 
 
 But there is another extreme. The blindest bigotry 
 is not more blind than the narrow and boastful prejudice 
 that discards all respect for received opinions. This is 
 to discard experience and testimony, and indeed all the 
 laws of evidence, by which human opinions are governed. 
 Say what he may of authority, no man is free from its 
 influence, or can be, without renouncing his reason. It 
 has its weight even in matters of science. VYho would 
 not presume a demonstration to be correct, if he knew 
 that it had often passed under the scrutiny and sanction 
 of Newton, and had been re-examined and pronounced 
 faultless by the ablest mathematicians to this day ? 
 Who does not feel, in any case, more reliance on the 
 judgment of a wise man, than on that of one who is 
 ignorant and weak ? The power over the minds of 
 others, ascribed to the Nestor of Homer, and the Mentor 
 of Telemachus, is a just character in poetry, solely 
 because it accords with philosophy and experience. 
 Precisely for the same reason, a general coincidence 
 of sentiment, especially among wise men, if that coinci- 
 dence is not explained away by the force of some 
 obvious countervailing principle, always furnishes a high 
 presumptive evidence that the thing believed is true. 
 
 Preserving to every one then, the right of independent 
 judgment, that judgment still to be rational, must accord 
 with evidence; including the evidence of facts, as it 
 appears in experience and testimony ; otherwise no faith 
 can be reposed in history, and no step can be taken in 
 the common affairs of life. 
 
 The practical bearing of my remarks on authority, is 
 briefly this. If the disciples of the Koran should 
 
]26 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 generally affirm some particular doctrine to be taught in 
 that book, though 1 had never seen it, I should believe 
 the fact without examination, unless I could see some 
 strong reason for calling it in question. On the same 
 ground, a reasonable man, though he had never seen the 
 Bible, would believe that it teaches a doctrine which 
 nine tenths of those who have read it agree in affirming 
 that it does teach. The dissent of the other tenth would 
 not hinder this conclusion, especially if he could explain 
 this dissent by the influence of some strong and obvious 
 prejudice. The established laws of evidence, for ex- 
 ample, would require such a man to believe that the 
 Bible teaches the Unity of God, and forbids malice and 
 murder. And on the same evidence he must be satisfied 
 that it teaches the atonement of Christ, and the kindred 
 doctrines of grace. Accordingly I have said in a former 
 lecture, that the coincidence which we see in the con- 
 fessions of faith, drawn up by evangelical churches, in 
 different ages and countries, and professedly grounded on 
 the Bible, would be an absolute miracle, on the sup- 
 position that these doctrines are not contained in the 
 Bible. Hence it has always been deemed good colla- 
 teral reasoning in support of any doctrinal opinion, to 
 show that this opinion has been entertained by the 
 greatest and best men. 
 
 In sermons, I know this sort of reasoning is but of 
 secondary importance ; but there are occasions when it 
 may be applied with great effect. 
 
 RULES OF ARGUMENT. 
 
 We proceed to consider the principles, according to 
 which, reasoning in the pulpit should be conducted. 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 127 
 
 No one will understand me to intimate, that any 
 artificial process can confer on a man the power of carry- 
 ing conviction to the minds of others. This must depend 
 primarily on the strength of his invention ; the clearness 
 of his perceptions; the accuracy with which he com- 
 bines things that are analogous, and separates things that 
 differ ; and the precision and energy with which he 
 employs language to express his thoughts. Technical 
 logic can no more make a reasoner than technical 
 rhetoric can make an orator. Still, both reasoning and 
 elocution must conform to those principles which genius 
 has prescribed to its own operations. These principles 
 are substantially the same in sermons as in any other 
 department of public speaking. 
 
 As argument in sermons must depend primarily on 
 evidence drawn from revelation, we may begin with the 
 principles to be observed, in regard to proofs derived 
 from the Volume of Inspiration. 
 
 First; The unperverted meaning of Scripture, 
 must clearly support the point to be proved. 
 
 All protestants unhesitatingly admit, that our faith is 
 to be conformed to the Bible, and not the Bible to our 
 faith. Yet this plain principle is often violated, even 
 among good men, by unwarrantable liberties of straining 
 the word of God into a sense corresponding with opinions 
 which have been formed independent of its authority. 
 In all cases, some allowance is to be made for innocent 
 mistake, resulting from the imperfection of human know- 
 ledge. The heedless darings of ignorance and empi- 
 ricism, in interpreting the Bible, must not be encouraged 
 by any indulgence of our charity on the one hand, and 
 on the other, will not be restrained by any severities of 
 our animadversion. But beyond this, there lies a fault 
 on men of piety, and conscience, and learning, which 
 
128 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 ought to be, and may be corrected. Such a man is 
 not warranted, carelessly and without examination, to 
 adduce among his unquestionable proofs, a text of doubt- 
 ful import, merely because some have classed it in the 
 same manner. Nor may he do this because he is aware 
 that his hearers will receive it as proof. Nor should he 
 of design, give to a doubtful passage a greater weight of 
 evidence on other minds, than it really has on his own. 
 All deliberate straining and wire-drawing of texts, to 
 make them fit our argument, besides being consistent 
 neither with honesty nor reverence for the scripture is 
 adapted to awaken suspicion, and to injure the cause it is 
 designed to promote. It is a kind of sacrilege that 
 involves its own punishment. The eagle in the fable, 
 that stole consecrated flesh from the altar, though it was 
 to feed her young, carried home with the flesh a coal of 
 fire that consumed her own nest. I need not dwell on 
 the endless mischiefs which the vital interests of truth 
 have sustained, from the unwarrantable liberties of alle- 
 gorizing interpreters, who make no scruple to find any 
 sense in a passage which emits their purpose, though it 
 be one never intended by the Holy Ghost. It is a 
 maxim worthy of being repeated here, ' The meaning of 
 the Bible is the Bible.' The foregoing remarks apply to 
 the reprehensible practice of throwing together in a 
 careless or designed amalgamation, different passages, 
 dissevered from their connexion, and often from their 
 primary signification ; while the professed object is to 
 exhibit proof of something from the word of God. 
 
 Augustine says, — ' Non valet — hrec ego dico, hrec tu 
 dicis, hrec ille dicit; — sed hrec dicit Dominus.' The 
 loose manner, in which the testimony of Scripture is 
 often introduced into sermons, may be owing in some 
 cases, to the very imperfect acquaintance of the preacher 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 129 
 
 with its sacred contents. This consideration led Matthew 
 Henry to say to young ministers — * especially, make the 
 Bible your study. There is no knowledge which I am 
 more desirous to increase in, than that. Men get wisdom 
 by books, but wisdom towards God is to be gotten out 
 of God's book ; and that by digging. Most men do but 
 walk over the surface of it, and pick up here and there a 
 flower. Few dig into it. Read other books to help you 
 to understand that book. Fetch your prayers and ser- 
 mons from thence. The volume of inspiration is a full 
 fountain, always overflowing, and hath always something 
 new.' P 
 
 But where there is no perversion of sense, the strength 
 of our reasoning from the Scriptures may be injured by 
 bad management. We may adopt the dull practice of 
 accumulating quotations from the word of God to till up 
 the time, and supply the lack of matter. There is a 
 trite and heavy way of doing this, which is the opposite 
 extreme to that studied elegance of manner before men- 
 tioned, that strips a text of half its meaning, by the 
 drapery thrown around it. On a subject so plainly 
 revealed as to preclude all doubt, such as the holiness 
 of God, it may still be proper to adduce scriptural decla- 
 rations for the sake of impression ; but it were absurd in 
 such a case, to cite fifty passages. On the contrary, in 
 proving a controverted point, though one clear declara- 
 tion of the Bible is decisive in reality, it is not com- 
 monly so convincing, in practical effect, as a greater 
 number. But in cases of strict argument on a disputed 
 subject, a bare citation of texts is not sufficient, without 
 more or less of commentary, to show how they apply to 
 the case in hand. For example, in proving the entire 
 
 1 Matthew Henry's Life. 
 G 5 
 
130 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 and universal depravity of men, it is directly to the pur- 
 pose to quote the language of St. Paul, in the third 
 chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. But the force 
 of this passage is so much increased, by looking at the 
 14th and 53rd Psalms, to which it refers, and at some 
 of the terms employed, that a few pertinent remarks on 
 the connexion, and on the language of the Apostle, may 
 give it double weight in the minds of the hearers. A 
 strong proof of the same doctrine of depravity is furnished 
 by the words of St. John, " He that loveth is born of 
 God." But among common hearers, not one in ten will 
 see the full force of this passage, as applicable to this 
 Lsubject, unless besides repeating it, you show how it does 
 apply. I scarcely need say, however, that the explana- 
 tory remarks which I recommend, should seldom be of 
 the critical and philological cast ; at least they should 
 never depend on distinctions too nice for the apprehension 
 of common minds. 
 
 One more suggestion may be necessary, on the manage- 
 ment of scriptural argument ; it respects cases in which 
 the proof lies, not on the face of one text or more, but is 
 made out by comparison and induction. The duty of 
 daily devotion in families is an instance. Vie cannot 
 cite chapter and verse where this is expressly commanded 
 — and yet the obligation is so clearly deduced from the 
 general current of Scripture, as to justify this strong 
 declaration of Tillotson, ' The principal part of family 
 religion is prayer, every morning and evening, and read- 
 ing some portion of scripture. And this is so necessary 
 to keep alive a sense of God and religion in the minds 
 of men, that where it is neglected, I do not see how any 
 family can in reason be esteemed a family of Christians, 
 or indeed have any religion at all.' 
 
 A SECOND general rale, which applies to arguments, 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 131 
 
 drawn from whatever source, is, that in reasoning, we 
 should take into account the INFLUENCE OF PASSION 
 and prejudice on belief. The weight of evidence 
 in producing' conviction is relative, according to the 
 scales in which it is weighed. That may be light as a 
 feather, in the estimation of one man, which has the 
 power of demonstration to another. Without attempting 
 here to analyze the reasons of a fact so wonderful, and 
 yet so unquestionable, no man whose business it is to 
 urge the truth on others, should forget that the affections 
 and habits have a strong ascendency over the judgment. 
 Solomon had his eye on this principle, when he repre- 
 sented the slothful man as saying — "There is a lion in 
 the way— I shall be slain in the streets." And Shaks- 
 peare, the philosopher of poets, whose knowledge of 
 human nature was remarkable, thus describes the par- 
 tiality with which worldly favour regards the same action 
 in different circumstances — 
 
 Plate sin with gold, 
 
 " And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; 
 Arm it in rags, a pigmy's straw doth pierce it." 
 
 Prejudice is a complex term, by which we designate 
 the state of a man's mind, which is unfavourable to con- 
 viction, arising from interest, habit, previous opinion, 
 pride, or other passions. We never trust the judgment 
 of any one in his own cause, or in that of a near friend. 1 
 Urge the timid man to an act of courage, or the proud 
 man to an act of condescension, or the covetous man 
 to an act of generosity, and his heart will furnish an 
 answer to all your arguments. Or if you carry the 
 point with him by assault, the victory is but momentary ; 
 the next day he could defy your reasoning. 
 
 1 Quod volumus, facile credimus. 
 
132 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 The application of these principles, to the work of 
 the preacher, is easy. It is not enough, in any case, 
 that his proof is good ; it must be adapted to circum- 
 stances ; to the time, and the state of the hearers. If 
 they are already settled in an opiriion, which it is 
 his object to overthrow ; especially, if that opinion is 
 fortified by ignorance, or interest, or education, or party 
 spirit, he must proceed with caution and wisdom. 
 Such a case calls not for the bold onset, the language 
 of denunciation, or severity, or even for great earnest- 
 ness, particularly at the commencement. These bar the 
 door, which would still be left open to a more discreet 
 and gentle approach. There are the subjects on which 
 we know, that our hearers are strongly prejudiced 
 against the truth. In discussing these, there are special 
 advantages in the analytic method, by which the point 
 to be proved, is concealed at first ; certain undeniable 
 principles are made prominent ; the assent to these, step 
 by step, is rendered unavoidable ; till the result we wish 
 to establish comes out with a clearness of evidence, 
 which cannot be questioned. These hints I know are 
 capable only of a limited application ; but for want of 
 judgment, in adapting ourselves to circumstances, the 
 best talents may be employed in a fruitless effort. 
 Power, I repeat, is relative. A child may undermine a 
 rock, which no giant could heave from its base. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 
 
 RULES OF ARGUMENT. 
 
 A THIRD rule respecting arguments is, that they be 
 SIMPLE, NOT COMPLICATED AND REFINED. 
 
 I refer not here to abstract terms, nor to dark con- 
 struction of sentences, nor to style in any respect, but to 
 sentiment. Systematic thinking implies a mental labour 
 to which most men are little accustomed. We cannot 
 expect that they will follow a train of argument, de- 
 rived from such sources, and consisting of so many parts, 
 as to demand a discriminating* and close attention, for 
 any long time. Hence the cumulative form of argument, 
 when so conducted that the train of thought is complex, 
 and so that the hearer must fail of reaching our con- 
 clusion, if he lose a single step of our process, is too 
 refined for common understandings. 
 
 To this reluctance, and this incapacity to think in- 
 tensely, must be ascribed, in some degree at least, that 
 general feeling of dissatisfaction, excited by what is 
 called metaphysical discussion in sermons. To some 
 extent doubtless this is a mere prejudice, very improperly 
 encouraged by those preachers, whose compliant practice 
 seems to allow, that no subject befits the pulpit, which 
 requires thinking from themselves or their hearers. 
 This would set aside the most important doctrines of 
 revelation. 
 
 In the indefinite reproaches cast on metaphysics, a 
 
134 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 very plain distinction seems to be forgotten. In one 
 respect or more, a truth may be incomprehensible, and 
 yet the proof that it is a truth be perfectly plain. For 
 example; — that God is eternal, — that he created the 
 world, — that man acts under divine influence, and yet 
 is free and accountable — that a sinner, to be qualified 
 for heaven, must be renewed by the Holy Ghost, are 
 points that I can prove at once from the Bible ; and 
 every child can understand the proof, though the sub- 
 jects are in themselves deep and mysterious. So far, I 
 am on plain ground. But if I undertake to explain the 
 eternity of God, or to tell how matter could be created 
 or modified by a spirit, or how the will of man, though 
 free, is controlled by motives, or how the Holy Ghost 
 operates in renewing the heart, my reasoning must be 
 obscure and useless, because I attempt to go beyond the 
 province of argument. 
 
 Now while it is clear to me, that the preacher should 
 be conversant with the science of metaphysics, so far as 
 to understand the powers of the human mind, and the 
 principles of logical analysis, it is equally clear, that 
 this kind of knowledge, as well as every other, should 
 be under the guidance of good sense in the pulpit. He 
 who engages in the ministry, with the weak ambition of 
 being reputed a profound thinker, will probably acquire 
 the habit of choosing abstruse subjects for his sermons, 
 or of rendering plain ones abstruse. The love of paradox, 
 that controverts first principles, and delights to puzzle, 
 rather than instruct, is as far from the true spirit of the 
 pulpit, as the vapouring of declamation, or the raving 
 of fanaticism. Speculation may be called instructive 
 preaching; but whom does it instruct? and in what? 
 It cannot build men up in the most holy faith. It 
 cannot interest them, till the mind is new modelled. A 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 135 
 
 man of distinguished common sense said ; ' I honour 
 metaphysicians, logicians, critics,— in their places. But 
 I dare not tell most academical, logical, frigid men, how 
 little I account of their opinion, concerning the true 
 method of preaching to the popular ear. They are often 
 great men, first-rate men, in their class and sphere, but 
 it is not their sphere to manage the world.' 
 
 It comes directly within the design of this head, to 
 compare the abstract and dialectical kind of reasoning, 
 with the analogical and rhetorical. On this subject, 
 however, at which I have repeatedly glanced already, 
 there is room here but for a few additional remarks. 
 
 How then do men spontaneously think and reason, on 
 common subjects ? In the abstract mode? Not at all. 
 From the constitution of man, the language, written or 
 spoken, by which he expresses his feelings, is primarily a 
 sort of painting. It is a representation, of emotions, arising 
 within himself, or suggested from the external world. 
 Hence, every language, in its infancy, is necessarily a 
 species of poetry. Not rhyme nor metre, which are 
 only artificial and circumstantial appendages of poetry ; 
 but poetry in essence, that is, imagery and metaphor. To 
 the mere philologist, as well as to the man of refined 
 taste, it would be a subject of curious interest, should 
 he ascertain to what extent, language is originally 
 formed, by figures taken from objects of sight. But 
 the ear, and the other senses, are made auxiliary to this 
 mode of conception; — thus w r e say, 'Conscience will 
 speak to the guilty in accents of thunder.' When we 
 compare rage to a storm, and benevolence to the gentle 
 zephyr,, we speak a language perfectly simple and sig- 
 nificant, and much more energetic, than when we employ 
 mere words, which are totally unmeaning, except as 
 arbitrary signs. In this manner we transfer the attributes 
 
136 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 of mind to matter, or of matter to mind ; — we speak of a 
 broken heart,- —a load of sorrow, a proud monument. 
 Does any one doubt the utility of employing, in the 
 service of God, this language, which is only a mode of 
 analogical reasoning ? Let him tell why God has made 
 men so, that they speak and feel this language, rather 
 than any other. Let him tell why God himself speaks 
 and reasons in this manner, in his holy word. The 
 parable of the sower, — of the barren fig-tree, — of the 
 wise and the foolish virgins, — to name no more examples, 
 are beautiful and powerful specimens of analogical 
 reasoning. The preacher then, will generally succeed 
 best in discussion, whose arguments are arrows, pointed 
 with truth, and sped to their mark by a lively and 
 fervid illustration. But I cannot enlarge on the ad- 
 vantages of the rhetorical, over the abstract mode of 
 reasoning. 
 
 A fourth rule is, that arguments should not be 
 
 TOO MANY. 
 
 In probable reasoning it is indeed true, as Reid has 
 said, that we must rely upon the combined force of 
 different arguments, which lead to the same conclusion. 
 Such evidence may be compared to a rope, made up of 
 many slender filaments, twisted together. The rope has 
 strength to bear the stress, though no one df the filaments 
 would be sufficient for this purpose. But the analogy 
 holds only to a certain extent, beyond which the parts 
 added to argument produce weakness. The maxims of 
 ancient criticism, ' Ne quid nimis ; ' and * Omne super- 
 vacuum pleno de pectore manat,' are founded in good 
 sense. A plain hearer, who listens to a rapid succes- 
 sion of various proofs, especially if they are novel and 
 incongruous, is much in the condition of a rustic stranger, 
 who is hurried through the streets of a crowded city, 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 137 
 
 where a thousand objects strike his eye, not one of 
 which leaves any distinct and permanent impression on 
 his mind. Cicero said, ' Arguments should be iveiyhed, 
 rather than numbered? It is certain that the preacher 
 has misjudged, as to the number of his topics, or as to 
 the proper treatment of them, when the sermon he de- 
 livers, is long enough for two. 
 
 A FIFTH rule is, that the ORDER OF ARGUMENTS 
 SHOULD BE SUCH AS TO GIVE THEM THE GREATEST 
 EFFECT. 
 
 The principle of arrangement, by which the rhetorical 
 art, like the military, assigns the first rank to the be- 
 ginning, and the second to the close, demands so much 
 regard at least, as to keep us from attenuating our con- 
 cluding topics, till they become feeble and tedious. Tn 
 some respects too, the order of arguments in sermons, 
 must be influenced by the sources whence they are 
 drawn. Our strongest proof in general is taken from the 
 inspired word ; but when this is mingled with a series of 
 other proofs, there is a valid objection to placing it first. 
 I know it is common in preaching, to prove a point from 
 Scripture and then add arguments from experience, or 
 consciousness, or some other source. But to my mind 
 there is at least an apparent disrespect to the declarations 
 of God, when we adduce these as proof of a point, and 
 then proceed, by arguments of a different kind, to cor- 
 roborate this proof, as though it were not of itself de- 
 cisive. In general, when such arguments are independent 
 of scriptural authority, they should be arranged not 
 after but before it. When they are adduced to answer 
 objections against the scriptural proof, or to render its 
 meaning more clear and impressive, they must of course 
 follow it in order. 
 
 There are many cases in which prejudice and wayward- 
 
138 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 ness give only a reserved, doubting assent to proof from 
 the Bible. For example : If the proposition to be 
 proved is, ' that men are accountable for their religious 
 opinions,' — direct testimony from the Bible may pro- 
 perly take the lead in your argument ; but because this 
 testimony is received with only a hesitating assent, by 
 men of lax speculations, these men should be made to 
 see that experience and common sense, equally with 
 revelation, teach the criminality of essential error in 
 religious opinion; since they most clearly teach, that the 
 heart is the moral man, and that obliquity of heart per- 
 verts the understanding . 
 
 The amount of my meaning is, that when collateral 
 arguments are drawn from different sources, and when 
 the subject is such, that proofs from the Bible will be 
 received with a decisive authority, undiminished by the 
 influence of prejudice, to arrange these proofs last in the 
 series, is most consistent with rhetorical order, and with 
 due respect for the sacred oracles. 
 
 In some cases we may hesitate between two places, in 
 either of which a particular topic may be introduced. 
 For example ; if the proposition I am discussing is, that 
 the human heart is naturally destitute of holiness, it is 
 pertinent to introduce among my proofs the doctrine of 
 regeneration ; because the necessity of this change implies 
 the previous destitution of holiness. But it is equally 
 proper, and often more so as to practical effect, to 
 set this topic by for the close, to be introduced as an 
 inference. 
 
 In general, when there is any fixed principle of rela- 
 tion running through different topics, such as order of 
 time, or of cause and effect, that order must be observed. 
 Common minds follow a speaker with pleasure if he leads 
 them in an easy train of thought, so that they see the 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 139 
 
 connexion of things. But if he passes by fits and leaps 
 from one point to another, these detached parts of his 
 discourse produce nothing of that concentrated impression, 
 which results from continuous and connected reasoning. 
 These suggestions I need not extend, as they coincide 
 with remarks already made on unity, and on division in 
 sermons. 
 
 The frequent practice of opening a discussion by a set 
 of negative considerations, in my opinion is not expedient, 
 except when some disputed truth is to be guarded against 
 mistake. In general we show sufficiently what a thing 
 is not, by showing clearly what it is. Still the negative 
 form of argument at the beginning of a sermon in par- 
 ticular subjects, is the best way of obviating difficulties. 
 One of the most instructive preachers whom I have 
 known, in discoursing on the text, " Vengeance is mine, 
 I will repay, saith the Lord," made this his proposition; 
 ' God will punish the wicked.' Instead of answering 
 objections at the close of his discussion in the common 
 way, he met them at the threshold, in three negative 
 particulars, viz. * We must not suppose that God will 
 fail to punish the wicked, either first, on account of his 
 goodness; or secondly, on account of his having pro- 
 vided an atonement ; or thirdly, on account of his 
 forbearance.' Then he proceeded to prove his pro- 
 position ' that God will punish the wicked in two 
 ways, from what God has said, and from what he has 
 done.' 
 
 The antithetic form of reasoning is attended with dif- 
 ficulties, as it is often carried on in pairs of contrasted 
 particulars, through a sermon. This is a task which few 
 are able to sustain. For this reason I think Bishop 
 Taylor's method on the text, " What shall it profit a 
 man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own 
 
140 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 soul ? " — where he makes a general contrast of two parts, 
 the value of the world on one side, and the value of the 
 soul on the other, is decidedly preferable to that of 
 Bourdaloue on the text, " Great is your reward in 
 heaven,"— where he breaks his contrast into parts, by 
 considering the reward of holiness as better than that of sin, 
 — because the former is certain, the latter is precarious ; 
 the former great, the latter worthless ; the former eternal, 
 the latter transitory . 
 
 In reasoning from Authority, when we quote the views 
 of another, for the confirmation of our own, it should be 
 in his own word's ; and often the mention of his name, 
 when that is known and respected, gives additional 
 weight. When the subject or length of the quotation 
 gives it importance, the habit of noting author and pag» 
 in the margin, may save us trouble afterwards. And let 
 me say in passing, that the careless mode practised by 
 some good men of adopting long passages from books, 
 without reference or notice of any sort, if it can be recon- 
 ciled with integrity, is very indiscreet. Too often for the 
 credit of the ministry, has this been demonstrated in 
 posthumous sermons committed to the press, from a 
 hasty partiality to their deceased authors. 
 
 The sixth and last rule I shall mention is, that 
 
 WE SHOULD ENDEAVOUR TO AVOID A CONTROVERSIAL 
 STRAIN OF REASONING. 
 
 The same Apostolic precept and example, that require 
 us to contend earnestly for essential truths, require us to 
 avoid all disputes that engender strife and mar the spirit 
 of godliness. Points on which good men honestly differ 
 when discussed in the pnlpit, as they sometimes must be, 
 demand special candour and gentleness. And in general 
 it may be said, that a worse habit can hardly be 
 imagined in a preacher, than that of always creating to 
 
RULES OF ARGUMENT. 141 
 
 himself an adversary in the pulpit, and assuming on every 
 subject the air and spirit of a disputant. 
 
 There are three ways of refuting objections. The Jlrst, 
 and when the case admits it, the best is to aim only at a 
 full and clear exhibition of the truth. The next is to 
 interweave objections, and answer them indirectly and 
 without formality. The last is to state them in form, 
 and refute thern by distinct arguments. When this last 
 course is adopted, it requires the following precautions. 
 
 1. State no objections that are too trivial to deserve 
 notice. We may waste our time by refuting what needs 
 no refutation, as well as by proving what needs no proof. 
 
 2. If objections are really weighty, never treat them 
 as insignificant. Without evasion, without distortion, 
 state them fairly and fully ; — give them all the weight to 
 which they are entitled. 
 
 3. Take care that your answers be complete and de- 
 cisive, so as not to leave the impression, that you have 
 raised an adversary, whom you have not strength to 
 withstand. 
 
 4. State no objections in which your hearers are not 
 interested. Though weighty, and capable of complete 
 refutation if they are such as are never likely to be known 
 without your help, it is worse than trifling to discuss 
 them. The physician deserves no praise for his skill in 
 devising an antidote for poison, which his own temerity 
 had-vadministered. What preacher would repeat the 
 language of obscene and profane men, with a view to 
 condemn it? No more does Christian propriety allow us 
 to state artful and blasphemous cavils against religion, 
 for the same end. Even when such cavils are decent in 
 manner, they should not be obtruded on common minds, 
 without urgent necessity. Such minds may understand 
 an objection, and remember it, when the force of a reply 
 
142 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 is not seen, or is forgotten. It is from the learned labours 
 of Christian advocates for the truth, not from their own 
 investigations, that sceptics have 
 
 ■' Gleaned their blunted shafts, 
 
 And shot them at the shield of truth again.' 
 
 5. Avoid acrimony, as both unchristian and unwise. 
 Meet an objector with ingenuousness and kindness. Take 
 no advantage of verbal inadvertence ; nor charge on him 
 consequences, as intentionally admitted by him, which 
 he disavows. 
 
 6. Seldom or never oppose sects by name. 
 
LECTURE XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION OF SERMONS. 
 
 The close of a regular discourse has been designated by 
 different terms. The ancients called it peroration, and 
 required that it should consist of two parts, recapitulation 
 and address to the passions. 
 
 Suppose an argument to have been so conducted, that 
 a brief review of its chief parts will present them in a 
 strong and concentrated light before the hearers, this 
 prepares them to admit an appeal to their feelings. The 
 practicability of such a review as will answer this pur- 
 pose, depends on the degree of perspicuous arrangement 
 which has prevailed in the discourse. The admirable 
 skill with which Cicero wrought up his materials in his 
 defence of Milo, prepared the way for a powerful pero- 
 ration. And it will not be deemed out of place for me 
 to refer again to this great pleader, as a pattern of rhe- 
 torical method, worthy to be studied by the Christian 
 orator who wishes his discourse to make a distinct and 
 strong impression on the hearers. But supposing a dis- 
 course to have been loose and diffuse, without any lucid 
 order of thought, all attempts at recapitulation must be 
 worse than useless. In the secular oratory of Athens, 
 where direct address to the passions was forbidden by 
 law, recapitulation was the usual form of conclusion, in 
 which, of course, much skill was employed to give 
 rhetorical effect. 
 
144 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 In sacred eloquence, the close of a discourse is some- 
 times called application, sometimes reflections or infe- 
 rences, and sometimes, though not according to the best 
 usage, it is called improvement. 
 
 Some preachers are in the habit of intermingling prac- 
 tical reflections with the different topics discussed 
 throughout a sermon, instead of bringing these together 
 at the close. There may be cases in which this is the 
 best course. Claude, in his essay, recommends that 
 some texts should be treated in the way of continued 
 application, and gives an example in a long sermon on 
 the passage, " Work out your own salvation," &c. His 
 design is, to give a specimen of that preaching which is 
 carried on in the strain of direct address. It may perhaps 
 be considered as a general rule, that in proportion as a 
 subject is treated argumentatively , and on the principles 
 of strict unity, it demands a regular conclusion ; and 
 when a series of independent points are discussed, it 
 becomes more proper for the preacher to apply each of 
 these, as he goes on. But if this rule is just, it would 
 seem to follow, that in proportion as the sermon has 
 this miscellaneous character, and admits this running 
 application, it is the less likely, in general, to produce 
 any single and strong impression on the hearers. 
 
 As it is proper for us to derive instruction from the 
 example of others, I shall direct your attention to some 
 faults in the conclusion of sermons, as they appear both 
 from the press and the pulpit. These, so far as they 
 demand our present notice, may be included in the formal 
 manner, the desultory and the dry. 
 
 The formal conclusion varies, with the vogue of the 
 pulpit, at different periods. To what extent this taste 
 formerly prevailed, may be seen from the sermons of the 
 Puritans, and from Bishop Wilkins' Ecclesiastes, a book 
 
CONCLUSION. 145 
 
 which was, for a considerable time, regarded as a stand- 
 ard work on preaching. The usual mode of concluding 
 a sermon, was by a series of many heads, called uses, 
 subdivided into minor parts. As a specimen of this 
 manner, we may take the eleventh sermon of the pious 
 Flavel, entitled England's Duty. After more than 
 sixty heads in the body of this sermon, the application 
 begins with a use of information, which is thrown into 
 live inferences. Then comes the use of exhortation, first 
 to believers, including four heads of counsel; then to 
 unbelievers, including eight minor heads, the first of these 
 again split into three parts, making twenty-four divisions 
 in the conclusion. A sermon of the same preacher, on 
 the evidences of grace, closes with a use of information, 
 containing nine inferences ; a use of exhortation contain- 
 ing six motives ,• a use of direction containing ten rules ; 
 the last of these divided into eight meditations ; and a use 
 of examination with thirteen minor heads. In the last 
 place, the preacher says, ' It remains that I shut up all, 
 with a use of consolation,' which contains five parts, 
 making fifty-six divisions in the conclusion. 
 
 After the restoration of Charles the Second, the influ- 
 ence of the court being directed in every possible way to 
 discredit puritanism, the fashion of the pulpit was 
 changed in this as in other respects. In the English 
 church, since the time of Jeremy Taylor and Tillotson, 
 the conclusion of sermons has been much less formal 
 than before. Still, the scholastic manner has been 
 retained by many distinguished preachers of the past and 
 the present age. A rigid formality runs through all their 
 applications, so that whatever be the subject or occasion, 
 the same round of particulars in the same phraseology 
 is to be expected. 
 
 The desultory conclusion may arise either from ajfec- 
 
 H 
 
146 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 tation or barrenness in the preacher. In the former case, 
 the fault is commonly the opposite of that just described. 
 A succession of rambling, incoherent remarks, is adopted 
 from a false taste, which would shun at all events the 
 imputation of formality. When this loose manner is 
 occasioned by sterility of thought, it is commonly because 
 the preacher, having worked up his materials, and yet 
 feeling it necessary to proceed, falls into a strain of 
 indefinite remark or exhortation. Whether he does this, 
 from want of matter, or from want of method, or from 
 both, the attention of intelligent hearers is certainly lost, 
 the moment they perceive him to be merely filling up 
 the time with observations which have no important 
 relation to each other, or to the subject. Augustine, in his 
 precepts on preaching, says, ' When it is manifest that 
 the audience have understood what is said, the speaker 
 should close his discourse, or pass on to other topics. As 
 that orator awakens interest, who removes obscurity from 
 what is to be made known ; so he is tedious who dilates 
 and repeats things that are known/ An application 
 may be rich, instructive, and powerful in impression, 
 though very formal in its parts ; as any one may see in 
 the sermons of Edwards. But thr+. vacuity of thought, 
 of which I am speaking, is necessarily void of interest. 
 Be the number or order of parts what they may, call 
 them inferences, reflections, or any other name, if they 
 are of that general cast, that might as well be attached 
 to another subject as to the one in hand, the character 
 of barrenness runs through the whole. All amplification 
 in such a case, is the mere turning over of trite remarks, 
 which had constituted the body of the sermon. So strait- 
 ened is this sort of preacher in his resources, that he often 
 makes the same thing stand as an inference, which had before 
 stood as his main proposition, or one of his chief heads. 
 
CONCLUSION. 147 
 
 The dry conclusion, as I shall call it for want of a 
 better term, consists not so much in tame and hackneyed 
 thoughts, nor in technical arrangements, as in a naked, 
 inanimate outline of particulars, simply stated perhaps, 
 as results from the subject discussed. These, though 
 they may be just, and such as a warm-hearted, skilful 
 preacher might amplify, so as to produce a vivid impres- 
 sion on the hearers, awaken no lively interest, because 
 they are only mentioned with the same frigid brevity, as 
 his corollaries are stated, by a mathematical lecturer. 
 
 We proceed now to consider in what consists the 
 excellence of a conclusion, it being understood as pre- 
 requisite in all cases, that the subject of discourse be 
 important, and such as admits an interesting application. 
 To succeed in this part of his work, the preacher should, 
 
 1. Aim at practical effect. The very institution 
 of the Christian ministry, supposes that the great purpose 
 of revealed religion is to promote the reformation and 
 salvation of men. In this view, only, is all Scripture 
 profitable, that " the man of God may be perfect, 
 thoroughly furnished to every good work." All that 
 gives value to knowledge and to correctness of belief, is 
 their tendency to sanctify the heart and life. On this 
 principle Christ proceeded in his preaching. On the 
 same principle the apostles proceeded, and by this stand- 
 ard the worth of every sermon is to be estimated. Just 
 so far as it is adapted to make the hearers feel the 
 power, and cherish the spirit, and obey the precepts of 
 the gospel, it is what a Christian sermon should be. 
 And that sermon which does not reach the hearers as 
 individuals, which is not felt to bear distinctly on their 
 ignorance, or error, or moral defects, as individuals, 
 answers no good end whatever. 
 
 2. He should understand the principles of 
 
 H 2 
 
J48 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 the human mtnd. The aid of this knowledge in 
 applying truth, is most important. In the moral world, 
 as well as the physical, like causes produce like effects. 
 We can never calculate with certainty on any end to be 
 attained, unless we know the principles to be operated 
 on, and the means to be applied, for the attainment of 
 that end. But the laws of mind are as settled, as uni- 
 form, as easily applied to practical purposes, as the laws 
 of matter. In either case, the principles most important 
 in real life, are not such as demand skill in the abstract 
 and profound researches of science, but such as are 
 obvious to the eye of common sense. It was great 
 accuracy of judgment, grounded on a thorough know- 
 ledge of history, and a careful analysis of intellectual 
 and moral causes, operating at the time, which enabled 
 a- distinguished British statesman of the last century, to 
 foretel, with almost prophetic exactness, the results of 
 the French revolution. 
 
 It is according to laws which govern intellectual 
 operations, and only according to these, that we explain 
 the power of one mind to act upon another. Why have 
 modern ages united in a tribute of admiration to the 
 genius of Shakspeare ? How is it that in his Julius 
 Caesar, every man feels the hand of the poet, searching 
 his own bosom ? How is it that in Othello, we are 
 alternately melted to tears, thrilled with surprise, and 
 racked with horror ? One single thing accounts for this 
 magic power of the dramatist ; he had studied the human 
 heart. He knew infallibly how to direct the move- 
 ments of his hand ; he knew how and when to touch any 
 string, as he intended, and what note it would respond. 
 
 Surely the principles on which this power depends, lie 
 equally open to the eye of the preacher, as of the poet ; 
 and if they are important to be applied, where the chief 
 
CONCLUSION. 149 
 
 object is amusement, how much more so, where the 
 immortal interests of men are concerned ? 
 
 Light, reflected from a mirror, resembles the truth as 
 exhibited in the Bible. Though that mirror was not 
 made for me in particular, yet if I stand before it with 
 my eyes open, I see, not a general representation of 
 every thing, but exactly my own image. That mirror 
 may be covered, or placed in the dark, so as to reflect 
 nothing. But if it speaks at all, it speaks truth. T 
 must not look at it, if I would not see my own face ; 
 nor, if I dislike the image, may I complain of him who 
 made the mirror, nor of him who placed it before me ? 
 
 In applying truth to the conscience, however, there is 
 a difference between persona lity and individuality. That 
 special designation of men by name, which was practised 
 by the prophets, and Christ, is not proper tor any one 
 possessing no more than the authority or knowledge of 
 an uninspired teacher. Nor is it generally safe, in our 
 preparations for the pulpit, to trust ourselves in a specific 
 aim at individuals ; since the design to be effectual, must 
 be quite apparent, and since the motive is always liable 
 to suspicion and mistake. But the more completely 
 truth is so exhibited, that conscience is compelled to do 
 its own work, in making the application to individuals, 
 the stronger and the better is the impression produced. 
 
 But besides this general skill in applying truth, by 
 the agency of conscience, it is often useful, by a classifi- 
 cation of hearers, to make a direct appeal to their hearts. 
 I select one example from the Archbishop of Cambray, 
 whose pungency and fire were so deeply impressive, 
 especially in the close of his sermons. The address is 
 to careless nominal Christians. " Who are you, pro- 
 fane men, who laugh when you see a renewed sinner 
 following Jesus Christ, and stemming the torrent of all 
 
150 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 his passions ? What then, you cannot endure that we 
 should declare ourselves openly for the God who made 
 us? With you it is a weakness to fear his eternal 
 justice. With you it is a folly to live by faith in hope 
 of eternal life. Who then are you that ridicule religion 
 and the religious ? Do not you believe any religion ? 
 Go then out of our churches ; — go, live without Christ, 
 without hope, without God in the world. Go where 
 your impious and brutal despair would hurry you. But 
 alas, — you are professed Christians ; you have promised 
 to renounce the world and take up the cross. You have 
 promised ;— you dare not deny it ; you dare not renounce 
 your salvation ; you tremble when approaching death 
 shows you the abyss opening under your feet. Miserable 
 foolish men ! — you would have us think you wise while 
 you treat as fools those who, hoping for benefits which 
 you pretend not to have renounced, labour to obtain 
 them." 
 
 There is a more specific application still, in which 
 each hearer is set apart, and feels himself to be addressed 
 in the second person singular, as though no one else were 
 present. I add a brief example of this from the French 
 pulpit, rebuking the common presumption on long life. 
 " Make the different orders of men pass before your 
 eyes; — count them one by one, and see what proportion 
 of the whole die before they are thirty years of age. 
 How many die between thirty and forty ! How few 
 arrive at fifty ! How very small is the number of old 
 men ! In a city containing a million of souls there may 
 be two or three thousand ; three hundred perhaps in one 
 hundred thousand. Now what foolish security is it to 
 presume, at the risk of your salvation, that yourself will 
 be among these few exceptions ? Were one to hazard 
 his fortune on such uncertainty, he would pass for a 
 
CONCLUSION. 151 
 
 madman. And thou, miserable man, dost thou hazard 
 thy soul, thine eternal happiness, on this frivolous hope ? " 
 These examples confirm the statement, that to make a 
 direct and powerful application of truth, the preacher 
 must know the human heart. 
 
 3. The preacher should so ARRANGE THE PARTS OP 
 A sermon, that they may attend to A single and 
 
 COMBINED EFFECT IN THE CLOSE. On this point, I 
 
 have enlarged so much under the head of unity, that 
 only a few additional remarks are needed here. It is 
 not enough that we aim to make men feel, and that we 
 understand the principles of their minds, if we fail to 
 adapt our discourse to those principles. The sermon 
 that wants plan, will of course want power in the conclu- 
 sion. An important thought may lose more than half 
 its weight by standing in a wrong place and wrong 
 connexion. The effect of extempore address is often 
 frustrated by the fact that a few prominent things are 
 produced at once, and then are only dilated and repeated 
 afterwards. With a view to a main design, steadily 
 kept in mind, the skilful preacher will arrange his sub- 
 ject throughout, so that each part shall add strength to 
 the whole. 
 
 The convergent method, when the subject admits it, 
 is peculiarly adapted to this purpose. Cicero, as I have 
 before observed, when he had a great point to carry, 
 like a general who would break through an opposing 
 line, considered and arranged his means with consummate 
 skill, till at last he brought them all to bear down on 
 that point with irresistible effect. There is something in 
 this principle of oratory, analogous to the current of a 
 great river. It rises in remote mountains a mere rill ; 
 then it becomes a rivulet ; then a brook ; then, by the 
 accession of tributary streams, it swells and widens, and 
 
152 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 deepens in its course till it rolls on a flood of waters to 
 the ocean. But imagine if you can a river diminishing 
 in force as it runs, parting oft' a rivulet on the right hand, 
 and another on the left, till the main channel is dry ; 
 while each branch becomes less and less till it is 
 lost ; and you have a tolerable representation of a ser- 
 mon which promises well at first, but diverges into parts, 
 and dwindles as it goes on, till the current of thought 
 is exhausted in a feeble conclusion. Not so, where the 
 powers of the speaker, the weight of the subject, and 
 the coincidence and continuity of argument and motive, 
 bear on an assembly in the best manner. The sermon 
 grows as it proceeds, and carries on the speaker and 
 hearers with an increasing tide of interest to the last. 
 So much does the skilful preacher know the entire effect 
 of his discourse to depend on the application, that instead 
 of filling up this with common-place gleanings of thought, 
 the whole performance is adapted to the final impression 
 he wishes to make ; and he is not ready to begin the 
 writing of a sermon till he has determined how it is to 
 close. In the process of composing, indeed, when the 
 inventive powers are sharpened by exercise, he may 
 modify his -plan. Some topic assigned to an earlier 
 head, or some new thought that occurs, may advanta- 
 geously be set aside, that it may become more prominent 
 in the close. 
 
 I will add under this head, that when a sermon is 
 argumentative, whether doctrinal or practical, it may 
 often be closed with inferences. These should always 
 be scriptural results from scriptural premises. Neither 
 false deductions from Christian premises, nor true deduc- 
 tions from premises not in the Bible, deserve any better 
 name than a vain display of ingenuity. But there are 
 several advantages in a conclusion by inferences, when 
 
CONCLUSION. 153 
 
 well conducted and pertinent to the subject. They 
 exhibit the truths of religion connectedly ; they often 
 exhibit disputed truths, unexpectedly and undeniably. 
 Where the premises would have been rejected, had the 
 deduction been foreseen, it comes by surprise and com- 
 pels assent. And what is most important, as a grand 
 principle in preaching is, that such inferences make men 
 active hearers, and not passive, like hortatory addresses. 
 4. The success of a conclusion depends much on the 
 
 WARMTH WITH WHICH IT APPEALS TO THE HEART. 
 
 ' To this part,' says Quinctilian, * the highest powers 
 of address should be reserved. Here, if ever, it is proper 
 to open all the fountains of eloquence. Here, if we have 
 succeeded in other parts, we may take possession of our 
 hearers' minds. Having weathered the shallows any 
 breakers we may spread full sail ; and according to the 
 chief design of a peroration, we may give free scope to 
 magnificence in sentiment and language.' 
 
 To this part of a discourse the best institutes of oratory 
 assign the pathetic ; on which, however, my limits here 
 allow only a few suggestions. My Jirst remark is, that 
 all attempts to move the passions will fail, without 
 simplicity in thought and language. The precepts of 
 books on this subject, except a few leading principles, 
 are by far too artificial for the pulpit. The devices by 
 which popular orators of old sought to move their 
 hearers, would be condemned by the taste of this age, as 
 unsuitable in any case, and especially in Christian elo- 
 quence. Nor can any mere study of the passions enable 
 a man to reach them with success. There is a power in 
 genius, combined with sensibility, to which the throb- 
 iugs of the heart respond, but which art cannot imitate 
 nor explain. 
 
 A second remark is, that not all kinds of emotion, nor 
 
 H 5 
 
154 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 even of high emotion, fall under the head of pathetic. 
 Animation, vehemence, or what is often termed fire, 
 produce strong emotion, but it is of a different sort. 
 Grand and sublime representations awaken sentiments 
 of awe or admiration, and perhaps overwhelm with their 
 majesty. But the pathetic is distinguished by its gentle 
 insinuating, melting influence, which silently wins upon 
 the heart, and makes it yield itself to the power that so 
 irresistibly, and yet so delightfully controls its affections. 
 
 A third remark is, the pathetic cannot be protracted. 
 Strong passion is necessarily short in continuance. 
 1 Nothing,' says Quinctilian, quoting Cicero, ' nothing 
 dries up sooner than tears. The auditor shortly becomes 
 weary of weeping, and relapses into tranquillity. We 
 must not let this work grow cold on our hands, but 
 having wrought up the passions, leave them.' Sometimes 
 however, the heart may be touched for a moment, at 
 several successive intervals ; — while at each time, its sen- 
 sibilities start into action more readily, as it retains the 
 softening influence of past emotion. Whereas, if the 
 same note is sounded too long at once, feeling flags, and 
 dies away into fatigue. 
 
 A fourth remark is, that in all addresses to the pas- 
 sions, moral painting is indispensable. The two chief 
 reasons are that the senses are the primary inlet of ideas; 
 and that remoteness of objects diminishes their power of 
 impression. Painting annihilates absence and distance, 
 and embodies objects before the eye, as they are seen in 
 life, or on canvass. It thrills the heart, where mere 
 description would leave it cold. From this principle 
 arises the awful interest often awakened by the delinea- 
 tions of scripture ; such, for example, as the transactions 
 of the last judgment. We see the Judge enthroned, — 
 the retinue of angels, the books open, the heavens pass- 
 
CONCLUSION. 155 
 
 ing away, — the dead small and great standing before 
 God. We forget intervening ages. The scenery is all 
 present ; — we feel ourselves encompassed with the dread 
 realities of that occasion. 
 
 The painting to the fancy, which belongs to pastoral 
 poetry, has little use in the pathetic of the pulpit. Our 
 business is with the heart, which abjures amplification, 
 and drapery, and embellishment. The most moving 
 scene of the pulpit, the death of Christ, is often so over- 
 drawn, with pompous decoration, as to chill the hearers 
 with indifference. Yet a skilful pleader will give life to 
 the exhibition of a common murder. You see the 
 assailant spring from his ambush ; his victim calling for 
 help. You see the blow given, — the man falling, — hear 
 his groan, — see his gushing blood, his convulsive agonies 
 in death. It is lamentable that the power which in poetry 
 and romance often seizes the heart with resistless grasp, 
 is so seldom brought to bear on the feelings of men, from 
 the pulpit. 
 
 A fifth remark is, that though high powers of execution 
 in the pathetic are wanting to any preacher, THIS IS NO 
 
 REASON WHY HE SHOULD BE DULL AND COLD. The 
 
 most careless hearers know too well the weight of our 
 business, to be satisfied when we aim no strokes at the 
 heart. The keen sting of conscience they dread, but the 
 thrill of emotion they certainly prefer to the listlessness 
 of indifference. The love of excitement is instinctive and 
 universal. Suppose that you lack, what indeed few 
 possess, the power of taking the heart by assault ; yet you 
 ?nust awaken feeling, especially in the close of your 
 discourse, or you come utterly short of the great end of 
 preaching. A frigid temperament is no excuse in this 
 case. Whose fault is it that his heart is cold, who 
 speaks on a subject which tills heaven with emotion ? 
 
156 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 He has proved a great doctrine of the gospel to be true, 
 perhaps by clear argument. What then ? Shall that 
 doctrine be left on the same footing with a mathematical 
 axiom ? Shall the hearers rest in mere assent to its truth, 
 when its truth is the very thing that cuts them off from 
 hope and heaven ? Look on an assembly of immortal 
 beings sinking down to death, under an accumulation of 
 unpardoned guilt ; think of the unspeakable love and 
 agonies which procured for them forgiveness ; anticipate 
 your meeting with these very hearers at the judgment ; 
 and the certainty that each one of them who dies im- 
 penitent, will be an eternal outcast from God ; and then, 
 if you feel no stirrings of a mighty emotion in your own 
 bosom, where is your compassion for dying men ? Where 
 is your love to Christ ? Talk not of a piety that can 
 offer apology for such a state of heart. Mourn for it 
 rather as your sin. 
 
LECTURE XV. 
 
 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. — GENERAL REMARKS. — FAULTS 
 OF STYLE IN SERMONS. — EXCELLENCIES. 
 
 I come now to offer some remarks on the appropriate 
 style of the pulpit. The opinion that the Christian 
 preacher, when he speaks on religion must assume a 
 countenance, a tone, and a style, such as are adapted to 
 no other subject, has been greatly prejudicial to the 
 interests of piety. 
 
 1. Our first inquiry is, how far may the preacher's 
 style be professional and peculiar. The views which I 
 entertain as to the peculiarity of diction, allowable in 
 sermons, may be expressed under two general remarks. 
 
 One is, that religion must have terms, call them 
 technical if you please, but terms appropriate to itself. 
 The arts and the physical sciences require words and 
 phrases which cannot be used in theology. For the 
 same reason theology must have to a certain extent its 
 own expressions, adapted to its own peculiar subjects. 
 And Christian theology must be distinguished in this 
 respect, from Mahometan and Pagan systems of religion. 
 If the writers of the New Testament m»jst have been 
 rigidly tied down to classical usage, they could have had 
 no words to express those thoughts which were peculiar 
 to the gospel. Plato and Xenophon had no such 
 thoughts ; and the primary classical import of the words 
 which they employed, could not therefore express the 
 
158 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 meaning of St. Paul, on topics peculiar to the style he must 
 use in preaching the gospel. Strikeout from the language 
 of the pulpit the words, sin, holiness, redeemer, atonement , 
 regeneration, grace, covenant, justification, salvation, and 
 others of similar import, and what would become of the 
 distinctive character of Christianity? The preacher in 
 this case must either not exhibit the truths of the gospel 
 at all, or exhibit them under all the disadvantages of an 
 endless and needless circumlocution. In either case, his 
 ministrations, whatever literary merit they might possess, 
 would have little tendency to instruct and save his 
 hearers. Before he can submit to the requisitions of a 
 taste so perverted, he must have forgotten the sacred 
 dignity of his office, as an ambassador of Christ. 
 
 My other remark is, that, with the above exception, 
 the general character of style in sermons, should be such 
 as is proper, in discussing any elevated and interesting 
 subject. The reasons are obvious. If we would impress 
 religious truth on the hearts of men, it must be done 
 through the medium of the understanding. We must 
 address them, therefore, in language to which they are 
 accustomed. After the example of our Saviour, we 
 should employ words and figures which accord with the 
 familiar conceptions of our hearers. By this me'ans, too, 
 we may avoid any repulsive associations, which would 
 otherwise prevent the access of truth to the mind. If he 
 who speaks on religion, assumes the aspect and tones 
 of sadness, he makes the impression on the minds of the 
 irreligious, that piety is inconsistent with cheerfulness. 
 An effect not less favourable is produced by a corres- 
 pondent peculiarity of language. Besides, a strong and 
 vivid representation of any subject cannot be made, when 
 the terms employed are inappropriate or indefinite. 
 
 2. We are prepared, in the next place, to glance at 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 159 
 
 those peculiarities, most common in the style of sermons, 
 which must be accounted faults. 
 
 The theological dialect, as distinguished from what 
 may be called classical style, results in a considerable 
 measure, from a designed imitation of scriptural language. 
 I say imitation, for unquestionably direct quotation from 
 the Bible, is not only necessary in adducing proofs from 
 this standard of religious belief and practice, but is 
 required by good taste, for purposes of illustration and 
 impression. Such quotations, if made with judgment, 
 give weight and authority to a sermon. But the fault I 
 am describing, lies in the unskilful amalgamation of 
 sacred with common phraseology. 
 
 This sometimes arises from a necessary familiarity 
 with theological writers of past times. The excellent 
 sentiments which these often contain, expressed, per- 
 haps, in quaint and antiquated phraseology, imperceptibly 
 give a cast to his own diction, resembling, in its influ- 
 ence on other minds, the stiffness and peculiarity which 
 would appear in his garb, if it were conformed to the 
 fashion of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Having suggested these hints on the defects of pulpit 
 style, I proceed to state some of the chief qualities which 
 it 'ought to possess. Taking it for granted that perspi- 
 cuity, strength, and a proper degree of ornament are 
 essential attributes of all good writing, and therefore 
 never to be neglected by the preacher, I shall consider 
 certain properties of style, which he is under peculiar 
 obligations to cultivate. 
 
 The first of these which I shall mention, is sim- 
 plicity. 
 
 This, as I have already observed, is required by the 
 principles of good taste. But it is more to my purpose, 
 at present, to show that it is required of the Christian 
 
160 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 preacher, by the principles of religion. He is appointed 
 to instruct men in the way of salvation ; to instruct those, 
 many of whom are ignorant. To instruct them in that 
 gospel of which it was a remarkable characteristic, at its 
 first publication, " that it was preached to the poor." 
 ' In this respect our Saviour was a perfect pattern, — 
 accommodating his instructions to the weak and illiterate, 
 in distinction from the Jewish teachers, and the heathen 
 philosophers, who delivered their discourses only to a 
 few select disciples.' 
 
 The simplicity of language which a preacher should 
 adopt, requires him to choose such v;ords as are intel- 
 ligible to his hearers. I say not that he shall adopt 
 the extravagant principle sometimes laid down, never t to 
 use a word, which is not familiar to every child. This 
 would forbid him to preach at all, on the simplest topics, 
 without such a constant explanation of terms, as would 
 render his discourses tedious and uninteresting, to the 
 greater part of every assembly. But the proper rule of 
 conduct in this case, lies in a narrow compass. 
 
 We should take care then never to use a hard word, 
 when a plain one would express our meaning. The sense 
 to be expressed, is the main point, and language is only 
 the vehicle of communication. The affectation which 
 leads a man to sacrifice the object for which he speaks, 
 to the reputation of being an erudite or elegant speaker, 
 is altogether beneath the dignity of the sacred office,, 
 
 Who would expect ' a teacher of babes,' to ransack 
 the resources of etymology, and to speak of the * lapsed 
 state of man,' and the ' moral adaptation of things,' 
 when his proper business is to discuss the great and 
 simple truths of the gospel, in the plainest manner ? It 
 is a familiar anecdote of the distinguished Prelate, 
 Archbishop Tillotson, that before he delivered his ser • 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 161 
 
 mons, be sometimes read them to an illiterate old lady, 
 of good sense, that by the aid of her remarks, he might 
 reduce his style to the level of common capacities. 
 
 There is one more violation of simplicity in the style 
 of sermons, which the preacher should avoid ; I mean 
 the display of extensive reading. The practice of intro- 
 ducing scraps of quotations from classical authors, if 
 carried beyond very moderate limits, even in literary 
 compositions, is so repulsive to men of taste, that it is 
 much less prevalent now than it was in some former 
 periods. At this day, pedantry in the pulpit, is much 
 more likely to show itself in exotic phrases, in far- 
 fetched rhetorical figures, in citing the apothegms of 
 illustrious men, and especially in obtruding upon plain 
 hearers, the names and the opinions of learned writers. 
 To seek the admiration of others by solving difficulties, 
 which we ourselves have created, is an artifice, unworthy 
 of any respectable man. ' It is not difficult,' says 
 Usher, ' to make easy things appear hard; but to render 
 hard things easy, is the hardest part of a good orator 
 and preacher.' 
 
 But when there is no affectation of this sort, the habits 
 of a cultivated mind, may deceive a preacher ; and he 
 may, imperceptibly to himself, take it for granted that 
 his language is intelligible to his hearers, because it is so 
 to himself. ' The extent of his knowledge,' says a 
 competent judge on this subject, 'the quickness of his 
 perception ; his ability to grasp a wide, and to unravel 
 a complex subject, to appreciate the force of arguments, 
 and to keep up his attention without fatigue, during a 
 long and arduous investigation ; these advantages place 
 him at a distance from uncultivated minds. But when 
 in addition to the difficulties he must encounter from these 
 causes, he speaks a language widely different from that 
 
162 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 of the mass of his hearers, in its copiousness, its arrange- 
 ment, its images, and its very terms ; he will evidently 
 be in great danger of being generally obscure, and fre- 
 quently, almost unintelligible to them. The words of 
 Latin and of French derivation in our language, are 
 extremely numerous ; and a large proportion of them are 
 completely naturalized, among men of education. They 
 are so perfectly familiar to the ear of a scholar, that he 
 has no conception before he makes the trial, how many 
 of them are never found in the vocabulary of the lower 
 classes. When a young man therefore, accustomed to 
 the language of erudition, laden with academic honors, 
 finds himself the pastor of a country congregation, what 
 is his duty ? INot indeed to adopt a barbarous and vulgar 
 phraseology ; — but, like a missionary lately arrived in a 
 new region, or like an inhabitant of another planet, 
 dropped into a village, he must study the habits of mind, 
 and the language of those among whom he is placed-, 
 before he can prosecute his ministerial labours with 
 effect/ 1 
 
 The effort required in this case, well becomes one 
 whose honor it is, for Christ's sake, to be the servant of 
 all. Concerning the simple rhymes, composed by the 
 great reformer, for the sake of the vulgar, it has been 
 well remarked ; ' For these ballads Luther may receive 
 a greater reward, at the last day, than for whole shelves 
 of learned folios. Vanity may make a man speak and 
 write learnedly ; but piety only can prevail on a good 
 scholar to simplify his speech, for the sake of the vulgar. 
 
 1 Note [14,) 
 2 Augustine says, ' Of what value is a golden key, if it will not 
 open what we wish ? — and what is the harm of a wooden one, if it 
 will accomplish this purpose ? — since all we seek is to obtain access 
 to what is concealed.' 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 163 
 
 Such a preacher, though his worth may be overlooked 
 by the undiscerning now, will one day have a name 
 that is above every name, whether it be philoso- 
 pher, poet, orator, or whatever is most revered among 
 mankind.' ' 
 
 The second quality requisite in the style of Sermons, 
 
 is SERIOUSNESS. 
 
 In some departments of oratory, ridicule may be em- 
 ployed with propriety, and with great effect. In the 
 hands of the senator or pleader, this instrument often 
 has an invisible edge, when argument is unavailing. But 
 the dignity of the pulpit rejects the aid of this weapon. 
 I do not say that satire in sermons is never admissible ; 
 but it is always dangerous, and almost always mis- 
 chievous. 
 
 ' It may correct a foible, may chastise 
 
 The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress : 
 
 But where are its sublimer trophies found ? 
 
 V- 7 hat vice has it subdued ? whose heart reclaim'd 
 
 By rigor, or whom laugh'd into reform ? 
 
 Alas ! Leviathan is not so tam'd : 
 
 Laugh'd at, he laughs again, and stricken hard, 
 
 Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales, 
 
 That fear no discipline of human hands.' 
 
 If the graver sort of irony, employed for sober 
 purposes, can seldom be indulged in the pulpit, what 
 shall we say of that unmeaning levity and witticism of 
 language, which is sometimes heard in sermons? The 
 preacher trifles in this manner, under the pretence of 
 keeping up the attention of his hearers. But what 
 attention does he desire ; and for what purpose ? Not 
 the attention of the theatre or the circus : but the 
 
 1 Robinson on Claude. 
 
164 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 attention of immortal beings, to a message from God. 
 Let him not then degrade his office and himself, by a 
 preposterous levity. Surely when mingled with the 
 most momentous and awful subjects, there is especial 
 reason to say, " of laughter, it is mad, and of mirth, what 
 doeth it." 
 
 But seriousness in the pulpit is inconsistent, not merely 
 with sarcasm and witticism, but with that affected 
 smartness of expression, and that exuberance of spark- 
 ling embellishment, which betray at once a puerile taste, 
 and a heart unaffected with the great subjects of religion. 
 Bates says, ' This is like Nero's lading his gallies from 
 Egypt, with sand for the wrestlers, when Rome was 
 starving for want of corn.' 
 
 This leads me to notice a third excellence in the style 
 of sermons, which is earnestness. 
 
 Let me not be understood to recommend that false 
 animation which characterizes every species of artificial 
 eloquence. All that vain parade and pomp of elocution, 
 in which the speaker's effort is to exhibit himself and not 
 his subject, is contemptible in a lawyer ; but in a minister 
 of the gospel, it is unpardonable. * Shall those,' says 
 Fenelon, ' who ought to speak like Apostles, gather up 
 those flowers of rhetoric which Demosthenes, Manlius, 
 and Brutus trampled on ? What could we think of a 
 preacher, who should in the most affected jingle of words 
 show sinners the divine judgment hanging over their 
 heads, and hell under their feet ? There is a decency to 
 be observed in our language as in our clothes. A discon- 
 solate widow does not mourn in fringes, ribands, and 
 embroidery. And an Apostolical minister ought not to 
 preach the word of God in a pompous style, full of 
 affected ornaments. The Pagans would not have endured 
 to see even a comedy so ill acted. I love a serious 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 165 
 
 preacher who speaks for my sake, and not for his own ; 
 who seeks my salvation, and not his own vain glory. 
 He best deserves to be heard, who uses speech only to 
 clothe his thoughts ; and his thoughts only to promote 
 truth and virtue. A man who has a great and active 
 soul needs never fear the want of expressions. His most 
 ordinary discourses will have exquisite strokes of oratory, 
 which the florid haranguers can never imitate. He is 
 not a slave to words, but closely pursues the truth. 
 He knows that vehemence is, as it were, the soul of 
 eloquence.* l 
 
 When a prelate inquired of Garrick, why the theatre 
 exhibited so much more eloquence than the pulpit, the 
 actor replied, * We speak of fictions as if they were 
 realities; you speak of realities as if they were fictions.' 
 Let a stammering peasant be put to plead for his life, and 
 he is eloquent. Let a minister of the gospel be deeply 
 impressed with the weight of his business, and he will be 
 eloquent. He will make you understand him, for he 
 understands himself. He will make you feel, for he 
 feels himself. The highest order of pulpit eloquence is 
 nothing but the flame of enlightened piety, united with 
 the flame of genius. When this glows in the bosom, it 
 sanctifies and concentrates all the powers of the mind. 
 It makes even the stripling warrior " valiant in fight; ' ; 
 and enables him to cut off the head of Goliath, with the 
 sword wrested from his own hand. 
 
 Would you know the difference then between the 
 pulpit declaimer and the pulpit orator ? It is this — the 
 former preaches for himself, the latter for God. One 
 seeks the applause of his hearers, the other their salva- 
 tion. One displays before them the arts of a fine speaker, 
 
 1 Letter to the French Academy. 
 
106 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 the other assails them with the lightning and thunder of 
 truth. One amuses the fancy ; the other agitates the 
 conscience ; forces open the eyes of the blind, and storms 
 the citadel of the heart. 
 
 The style of declamation may indeed be perspicuous. 
 But its perspicuity differs as much from that of fervid 
 eloquence, as the transparency of ice differs from the 
 glowing transparency of melted glass issuing from the 
 furnace. 
 
LECTURE XVI. 
 
 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. — DIRECTIONS IN FORMING 
 
 A STYLE. 
 
 Skill in writing depends on genius and discipline. 
 Without genius, industry and art can never raise a man's 
 performance above the character of elaborate dulness. 
 Without discipline, the best powers can never be brought 
 to act by any uniform principles, or to any valuable end. 
 
 For the benefit of those who are still forming their 
 intellectual habits, expecting to devote all their powers 
 to the holy and exalted work of preaching the gospel, I 
 shall now offer some practical suggestions as to the 
 attainment of a good style. 
 
 The first of these is, always remember THAT the 
 
 BASIS OF A GOOD STYLE IS THOUGHT. 
 
 SsY) Language is but the instrument of mind. To study it 
 on any other principle, is to make the object to be 
 attained subordinate to the means of its attainment. A 
 man who would form himself as a writer, must acquire 
 the control of his own intellectual powers. He must be 
 capable of fixing his mind with steady attention to a 
 single point, that he may compare and distinguish the 
 relations of different things. ' I never thought,' says 
 Baxter, • that I understood any thing till I could anato- 
 mize it, and see the parts distinctly, and the union of the 
 
168 STRUCTURE OF SERMONS. 
 
 parts as they make up the whole.' This mental disci- 
 pline accounts for the clearness and vigour of his style. 
 A writer, who has not established habits of patient exact 
 thinking, will use words with indeterminate meaning, and 
 unskilful arrangement. 
 
 But it is not enough for a writer to think clearly on 
 any single subject. He may understand his own mean- 
 ing, and yet have but little meaning ; he may be intel- 
 ligible to others, and yet be barren. That his style may 
 be interesting, it must be rich in matter. It must exhibit 
 those intellectual qualities in himself, which presuppose 
 good inventive powers, sharpened by much reflection, 
 and patient acquisition of knowledge. 
 
 As a result of these principles, it must doubtless 
 follow, that the man who sits down to write as the mere 
 student of style, forgetting that language can be studied 
 with advantage, only as the vehicle of thought, will be 
 very liable to miss his aim. Some object he must have 
 in writing, distinct from the attainment of a good style, 
 or he will not write well. I know not that the style 
 of Blair was formed in the method now condemned ; but 
 with all its good qualities, it possesses just those defects 
 which I should expect such a process to produce. 
 Secondly, study your own genius. 
 As in a man's features, and other exterior qualities 
 of person, so in his structure of mind, and habits of think- 
 ing, and of course in his style, there is an individuality 
 of character. This appears in what he writes, with more 
 or less distinctness, according to his native temperament, 
 and the influence of circumstances, by which this tempe- 
 rament is strengthened or controlled or transformed. 
 While every writer is bound to observe the established 
 laws of grammar, and of rhetoric too, he is at liberty to 
 consult his own taste, as to the general characteristics 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 169 
 
 of the style which he shall adopt. Accordingly we find, 
 among- authors of the first rank, a considerable diversity. 
 One is terse and sententious ; another copious and flow- 
 ing ; another simple; another bold and metaphorical. 
 Now, by losing sight of his own capacities and cast of 
 mind, and attempting to be something altogether different 
 from what his Creator intended, a man may not only fail 
 of excellence, but make himself ridiculous. ' Plato, in 
 his younger days, had an inclination to poetry, and made 
 some attempts in tragedy and epic ; but finding them 
 unable to bear a comparison with the verses of Ho- 
 mer, he threw them into the fire, and abjured that 
 sort of writing in which he was convinced that he 
 must always remain an inferior.' Next to the necessity 
 of being well acquainted with your subject and yourself, 
 I would say, 
 
 Thirdly, — study the best models. 
 
 To what extent the ancient classic writers should be 
 included in this direction, as addressed to theological 
 students, and young ministers, is a question, the formal 
 discussion of which would be inappropriate here. If 
 sober men have good reason to be disgusted at the extra- 
 vagant claims sometimes advanced in behalf of classical 
 learning, as certainly they have, still there is another 
 extreme. The prevailing tendency of this age doubtless 
 is, to fix a very inadequate estimate on the ancient 
 classics, as models of taste and eloquence. An immense 
 field of knowledge is spread before our young men, in 
 their training for public life ; and a rapid, superficial 
 survey of this field is expected of them, rather than the 
 patient, elementary process of study, which is indis- 
 pensable to thorough scholarship. 
 
 Classical learning is important to the preacher, because 
 it gives him access to some of the best examples, which 
 
 I 
 
170 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 the world has produced, in the department of taste 
 and oratory. In all the branches of general know- 
 ledge, the writings of Greece and Rome were of 
 course far more restricted, as to range of thought, and 
 richness of matter, than those of modern times. But as 
 models of style and eloquence, no competent judge can 
 doubt, that the ancient classical works still hold a 
 rank pre-eminent above all others. And though the 
 thoughts of their authors may be tolerably learned 
 from a good translation, he who would study these 
 great masters with a view to style, must read them 
 in their own language. 
 
 To these considerations may be added another still 
 of a more general character, namely, the wide field of 
 improvement in theology and criticism, which is opened to 
 the Christian student, from familiarity with the labours 
 of the venerable dead. 
 
 No wise man now will devote his life, or any large 
 share of it, to searching the endless tomes of antiquity, 
 many of which are nearly worthless. But there is ano- 
 ther extreme. Antiquity had a few master spirits, who 
 gave character to their own age, and to ages following. 
 The influence they exerted on public opinion constitutes 
 the chief elements of history. What did such men as 
 Augustine believe?— how did they write? — how did 
 they preach ? — are questions which deserve at least some 
 regard, in a liberal education for the ministry; — questions 
 qii which every Christian scholar must have opinions, 
 either taken up at second hand, or derived from original 
 sources of knowledge. 1 
 
 1 In acquiring information of this sort, theological students might 
 perform a service at once important to themselves and the church, 
 by the systematic reading and translation of- select passages from the 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 171 
 
 Under the general head of Models, I would certainly 
 include a few of the best jwets. This selection should 
 be made from those whose works are characterized by 
 richness, and vigour, and dignity, both of thought and 
 language. A great poet is a moral painter. He knows 
 the sources of emotion, and all the springs of action in 
 the human bosom. The same graphic delineation, the 
 same glow and vivacity by which he rouses the imagina- 
 tion, and seizes the heart, constitute the power of elo- 
 quence. In this view, and this only, the Christian 
 student may derive advantage from a judicious use of 
 Shakspeare, as an anatomist of the human heart. It has 
 been said, that 'when this poet was born, nature threw 
 away the mould in which his mind was formed.' In 
 respect to strong, original conception, and exact descrip- 
 tion, probably nothing of the kind has ever been written, 
 equal to the best pieces of Shakspeare. Cowper's Task, 
 while its object is not to exhibit a bold portraiture of the 
 passions, often thrills the heart with touches of exquisite 
 painting. With an ethereal delicacy and elevation of 
 sentiment, to which Shakspeare was a stranger, it com- 
 bines a more perfect command of the English language, 
 as to copiousness and harmony of diction, than has been 
 possessed by any of our standard writers, except Pope. 
 The Paradise Lost, too, has passages of distinguished 
 beauty in respect to mere diction ; while in respect to 
 astonishing powers of imagination, it not only surpasses, 
 but greatly surpasses every other human composition. 
 Let any Christian student of oratory go through a patient 
 
 ancient fathers. Among these, deserve to be mentioned with special 
 respect those illustrious cotemporaries, Jerome, Basil, Augustine, 
 and Chrysostom, the two former distinguished for elegance, and the 
 two latter for a fervid and powerful eloquence. 
 
 I 2 
 
172 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 analysis of the Iliad and the iEneid, and compare these 
 with the s,reat poem of Milton, and he will not fail to see 
 that the grand and majestic conceptions of the latter, 
 were owing to the fact that his genius was trained to 
 sublimity in the school of the sacred writers. 1 
 
 Since the days of Milton, poems have been multiplied, 
 possessing various, and some of them, great merits in 
 other respects, but few of them aiming at sublimity, and 
 none of them reaching it, with the exception of here and 
 there a bold paragraph or a figure. To name no other, 
 the Night Thoughts and the Course of Time, in my 
 opinion may be read often and with much advantage, by 
 young preachers who are forming their style. 
 
 In respect to English prose writers, who deserve to be 
 read as models, my remarks must be brief. If I were to 
 fix on any period as the English Augustine age, it would 
 be that including the latter division of the seventeenth, 
 and the former of the eighteenth century ; that is, the 
 period from Charles the Second, to George the First, 
 inclusive; — the middle of which would be the time of 
 Anne. To any one aiming at the cultivation of a simple, 
 classical, English style, I should of course recommend a 
 good degree of familiarity with the writers of that period, 
 including Addison, Pope, Swift, Steele, and Goldsmith, 
 to extend the list no farther. 
 
 But a remark of elementary importance to be made in 
 
 a On this subject there is as much of truth as there is of enthu- 
 siasm, in the following epigram of Dryden. 
 
 ' Three poets, in three distant ages bom, 
 Greece, Italy, and England, did adorn. 
 The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; 
 The next in majesty ; — in both, the last. 
 The force of nature could no farther go ; 
 To make a third, she joined the former two.' 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 173 
 
 this connexion is, that essayists can be regarded only as 5 
 models of style generally ; but not of that style which is 
 specially adapted to popular impression. The reasons 
 of this distinction are obvious. The essay is a brief dis- 
 cussion, limited to a narrow range of thought, —written 
 to be read, — written at leisure, — designed chiefly to 
 amuse or instruct. The writer wants the scope, the ex- 
 citement, the impelling motive, the ' vivida vis animi,' 
 of him who stands up to speak in a public assembly with 
 a thousand soul-inspiring eyes meeting his own. No man 
 of common sense, if he had a real point of business to 
 carry with such an assembly, would think of addressing 
 them in the stately and elaborate periods of Johnson's 
 Rambler. Nor is the style of Junius, with all its 
 strength and pungency, adapted to the ends of public 
 speaking. The difference between the most studied 
 speeches of Burke, and those of Chatham, illustrates 
 what I mean. The former scarcely received attention 
 from the hearers ; the latter kept alive in their bosoms an 
 intense interest, while his eloquence came down upon 
 them, peal after peal, like the electric flame and the 
 thunderbolt. After a man has fixed the elementary 
 character of his style, by studying the standard writers 
 of the language, he may derive much greater advantage 
 from the reading of good speeches, than from compo- 
 sitions executed in the form of essay. 
 
 As to sermons, it is a matter of course that the young 
 preacher should make himself acquainted with those of 
 the highest merit, especially in his own language. 
 
 I am aware that after all, the utility of models in 
 forming a style, is altogether denied by some ; but the 
 denial is contrary to both philosophy and experience. 
 How is it that all the useful arts are learned ? Not by 
 inspiration, nor by precepts chiefly, but by imitation. 
 
174 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 How is it that we come to speak and write at all ? — by 
 imitation. How did the tnost eloquent writers of an- 
 tiquity form themselves ? Plato, though he despaired 
 of excelling Homer in poetry, by the very attempt 
 acquired a sweetness and majesty of style which occa- 
 sioned him to be called the ' Homer of philosophers.' 
 Demosthenes acquired his vehemence by studying Homer 
 and Thucydides. Cicero incorporated into his manner, 
 the strength of Demosthenes, the copiousness of Plato, 
 and the delicacy of Isocrates. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds in his Discourses before the 
 Royal Academy, (which I will say in passing, are as 
 worthy to be read for their sound philosophy, as for their 
 good English,) observes : * Invention is one of the great 
 marks of genius; but if we consult experience, we shall 
 find, that it is by being conversant with the inventions 
 of others, that we learn to invent ; as by reading the 
 thoughts of others, we learn to think.' But he would 
 caution the student against a confined and partial imita- 
 tion. The formation of his own mind is the great object. 
 ' He that imitates the Iliad is not imitating Homer.' ' It 
 is not by laying up in his memory the details of great 
 works, that a man becomes a great artist, if he stops 
 without making himself master of the general principles 
 on which these works are conducted.' 
 
 To derive advantage from models, then, they must be 
 few; — must have decided excellences; and must be 
 allowed only their proper influence, in the formation of 
 our own taste and habits ; instead of drawing us into a 
 servile copying of their peculiarities, especially their 
 faults. 1 
 
 1 * As the air and manner of a gentleman can be acquired only by 
 living habitually in the best society, so skill in composition must be, 
 attained by an habitual acquaintance with classical writers. It \i 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 175 
 
 The FOURTH requisite which I shall mention in form- 
 ing a good style, and one more important than any other, 
 
 is THE HABIT OF WRITING. 
 
 Cicero says, ' the young- orator's best master is his 
 pen.' It might be well supposed that educated men 
 who have had opportunity to be taught by their own ex- 
 perience, and that of others ; men too who have devoted 
 themselves to a profession in which the pen is confessedly 
 a prime instrument of respectability and usefulness, 
 would need no lessons on this subject. But it is vain to 
 close our eyes against the evidence of facts. A pious 
 man, of good talents, may be indolent or diffident. 
 Writing is labour ; it calls his mind into effort; it com- 
 pels him, at least should compel him to think. He 
 dreads this labour. Through a false theory as to the 
 management of his intellectual powers, or a morbid 
 delicacy that holds them under restraint, especially 
 where exposure to observation is implied, — he thinks it 
 clear gain to escape exercises in writing, and to devote to 
 reading the time allotted to these exercises. Thus he 
 goes through his academical, and perhaps his professional 
 studies, and comes forth with a stock of knowledge more 
 or less complete; but with an appalling consciousnes> 
 that he is utterly destitute of skill to communicate hi* 
 knowledge to others. 
 
 The capacity of writing well is not gained by accident, 
 
 indeed necessary that we should peruse many books, which have no 
 merit in point of expression; but I believe it to be extremely useful 
 to all literary men, to counteract the effect of this miscellaneous 
 reading, by maintaining a constant and familiar acquaintance with ... 
 few of the most faultless models which the language affords. For 
 want of some standard of this sort, we often see an author's taste in 
 writing alter much for the worse, in the course of his life.' 
 
 Dugald Steicart. 
 
176 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 nor by miracle. Like every other valuable attainment, 
 it is the result of labour. And he who acquires the 
 habit of yielding to his reluctance in this case, to say the 
 least, greatly impairs his prospect of usefulness, if he 
 does not chain himself down to obscurity for life. The 
 man who would become a writer, must write. If his 
 mind slumbers, if his delicacy or indolence starts back, 
 he must apply the spur. He must be able to control his 
 faculties, and apply them to his object, not by fits and 
 intervals, but with a steady patience and perseverance. 
 I would advise every man who is destined to the 
 ministry, through his whole preparatory course, and even 
 after it, frequently to place himself under the pressure 
 of such an urgent necessity to write, as shall secure him 
 from the danger of neglecting his pen. 
 
 The influence of practice on despatch in composition, 
 deserves also to be mentioned. Supposing the general 
 habit of writing with facility to be acquired, the rate at 
 which a man may proceed, in a given case, will ordinarily 
 be accelerated, in proportion to this facility. Much will 
 depend, indeed, on familiarity with his subject, on the 
 kind of subject he has in hand, on the interest it awakens 
 in himself, and on the state of his animal and intellectual 
 system. The operations of mind in this case, are 
 governed by laws, which subject them to the same 
 varieties as attend other operations, in the physical or 
 intellectual world. As the speed of a mariner depends 
 on wind and tide, or of a traveller on the condition of his 
 road, and the strength of his limbs, so the rapidity of a 
 writer is much affected by circumstances. In this 
 respect too, there is doubtless a difference in the struc- 
 ture and habits of different minds. 
 
 Johnson has often been mentioned as an example of 
 rapid writing. In one day, his biographer says, he wrote 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 177 
 
 twelve octavo pages ; and in another day, including part 
 of the night, he wrote forty eight pages. And it is 
 certain that many of his compositions, which bear the 
 marks of great labour, were written in such haste, as not 
 even to be read over by him, before they were printed. 
 But it should be remembered, that Johnson had trained 
 his mind to a peculiar discipline. His habit was to 
 think aloud ; to look through his subject, and arrange 
 his thoughts and expressions. He made little use of his 
 pen, till he had ' formed and polished large masses by 
 continued meditation, and wrote his productions after 
 they were completed.' Thus the act of writing was 
 little more than the transferring from his memory to his 
 paper, a composition already finished in his mind. That 
 the reputation of despatch was not an object of ambition 
 with Johnson, is evident from his very decided remarks 
 on this subject ; in which he says that this ambition 
 appears in no ancient writer of any name, except Statius; 
 and that he, as a candidate for lasting fame, chose to 
 have it known that he employed twelve years on his 
 Thebais. 
 
 Doubtless most men of taste have observed an im- 
 portant change in the general characteristics of English 
 style, since the time of Addison. One fact may go far 
 to account for this change. At that day readers were 
 few, and books were in demand, almost exclusively for 
 the use of intellectual men. Now, all the world read ; 
 and authorship, consulting the state of the market, 
 accommodates itself to the taste of all the world. The 
 fact that such a progress is going on in the diffusion of 
 knowledge among all classes, is one in which every phi- 
 lanthropist, and especially every Christian will rejoice. 
 But while it is reasonable to expect that a thousand- 
 fold more books will be ushered into the world, than in 
 
 i 5 
 
178 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 former ages, the great mass of these probably will have 
 but an ephemeral existence, and after their brief day, 
 being written only for the moment, will be forgotten. 
 It is probable too, that among these there will be very 
 few or none of those great, elementary, standard works, 
 which not only survive the fluctuations of caprice, and 
 of occasional excitements, but are held in growing esti- 
 mation from age to age. This immortality of authorship 
 depends not on popular suffrage, but on the judgment of 
 the few who read with discriminating taste, and whose 
 award of merit always slowly pronounced, is, when 
 distinctly pronounced, always irreversible. The pitiful 
 sum given for the original copy-right of Paradise Lost, 
 is too familiarly known to be repeated here ; and to this 
 day, that work has not been, and for most obvious 
 reasons it never can be a popular work, in the same sense 
 that many a work of modern romance is popular. Yet, 
 when all these multifarious volumes, like successive 
 swarms of summer insects, shall have been swept away 
 by the breath of time, this great work of Milton will 
 remain an imperishable monument of its author's 
 genius. So the writer of the Iliad, though held in com- 
 paratively low esteem by his cotemporaries, has been 
 honoured through all succeeding ages as the Father of 
 Poetry. 
 
 ' Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead, 
 Through which the living Homer begg'd his bread.' 
 
 As an appendage to the foregoing head, I will add a 
 fifth and Jinal direction ;— always take it for 
 
 GRANTED THAT WHAT YOU WRITE IS CAPABLE OF 
 
 AMENDMENT. I do not mean that whatever you write 
 through life, shall be corrected; but that your early 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 179 
 
 habits of exactness ought to be, and may be so formed 
 by proper industry, as to supersede the necessity of all 
 material corrections. In forming such habits, respect- 
 able men adopt different methods. One commits to 
 paper a rough and rapid outline of his thoughts, always 
 relying on his second draught for the completion of his 
 work. Another endeavours to make the original copy 
 of his thoughts as perfect as possible with the intention 
 of revising, but not of recomposing it, as a part of the 
 primary labour of his pen. The former method has 
 some advantages, when there is sufficient command of 
 time, and a call for great exactness. But my own expe- 
 rience would lead me to prefer the latter, as the perma- 
 nent habit of one who is pressed with the multiplied 
 engagements of the ministry. No young man, however, 
 should shrink from the labour of re-writing his earlier 
 compositions, when he can unquestionably make them 
 better by the process. After an interval has elapsed, 
 sufficient to efface the partiality which he feels at first 
 towards the phraseology that he has employed to ex- 
 press his thoughts, he can review the composition, and 
 correct its faults. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds, addressing young men on a 
 kindred subject says, c Have no dependence on your 
 own genius. Nothing is denied to well directed labour ; 
 nothing is to be obtained without it. Impetuosity, and 
 impatience of regular application is the reason why many 
 students disappoint expectation ; and being more than 
 boys at sixteen, become less than men at thirty.' 
 
 Although I have already dwelt, at so much length, on 
 the different topics of this Lecture, I cannot close with- 
 out adverting to another aspect of the subject, which 
 presents in a strong light, the obligation of young minis- 
 ters, to aim at the attainment of skill in writing. I 
 
180 STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 
 
 refer to the intelligent cast of the age, and to the in- 
 fluence of the press. 
 
 It was always a truth of importance, but is more 
 eminently so now, than in any past period since the 
 world began, that skill in wielding the pen is moral 
 power. If used aright, it invariably confers respect 
 on its possessor. When we see a perfect clock, we 
 know that the maker acquired skill, by studying the 
 theoretic principles of his art, and by much practice ; 
 and that the same man who made this, can make another. 
 So when we see a finished composition, we know at 
 once that it was produced by some gifted mind, ac- 
 customed to writing, and able to write again. So spon- 
 taneously do men judge in this manner, that a very 
 short piece, like Gray's Elegy, sometimes confers a 
 literary reputation on its author, for ages. 
 
 The application of these general remarks is easy. 
 Christian ministers should not only acquire the power of 
 writing well, but should use this power, for the glory 
 of God, and the good of men. The combined influence 
 of the pen and the press, is the most astonishing moral 
 machinery that ever was set at work in this world. It 
 is openings new aspect on all the affairs of men. The 
 question is settled too, that this machinery will be kept 
 in active operation, for good or for evil, in every civilized 
 community. Greece and Rome in their glory had no 
 press ; and while this fact certainly contributed to the 
 perfection of their public speaking, we cannot but wonder 
 how they accomplished what they did, without the art 
 of printing. 
 
 But the intercommunication of thought is no longer 
 restricted to impressions to be made on popular assemblies, 
 nor to oral addresses in any form. The influence of the 
 press can reach every man at his fireside, and at every 
 
STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 381 
 
 hour of the day; it can carry hope to the peasants' 
 cottage, or thunder the note of alarm to the ear of 
 princes. As by the power of enchantment, it transfers 
 the thoughts of one mind to millions of other minds, by a 
 process silent and rapid, as the winds that sweep over a 
 continent ; or like the light of day, which traverses the 
 nations by a succession almost instantaneous. 
 
LECTURE XVII. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 The preceding course of Lectures on. Preaching com- 
 prises a brief view of the Bistory of the Pulpit, with 
 such directions as I thought proper to give, respecting 
 the choice of texts and of subjects ; the general prin- 
 ciples to be observed in the plan and execution of a 
 regular discourse ; together with some remarks on the 
 style of the pulpit. 
 
 But as an instructor of those who are to be instructors 
 of others in the way of salvation, my work is by no 
 means finished, when I have pointed out the proportions, 
 the structure of parts, and the disposition of materials, 
 which a skilful preacher will employ in the composition 
 of a single discourse. There are certain great principles 
 °f preaching, which remain to be discussed, and which 
 open a wide field for our contemplation. To some of 
 these great principles, which are independent of all the 
 local and temporary usages that human caprice may 
 prescribe to the pulpit, in different countries and periods, 
 I propose now to call your attention. In exhibiting 
 those general characteristics which I think Christian 
 sermons ought to possess, I shall avoid every thing of 
 the technical and scientific manner, aiming both in 
 sentiment and expression, to be simple, serious, and 
 practical. Indeed, the object I have in view requires 
 me, not so much to discuss disputed principles relative 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 183 
 
 to preaching as an art or science, as to spread before 
 your minds those plain, solemn views of this great work, 
 which may assist each of you, in his preparatory efforts, 
 to become " a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, 
 rightly dividing the word of truth." 
 
 The first characteristic of a good sermon, on ivhicli 
 I am about to enlarge, is, that it should be evan- 
 gelical. 
 
 To do justice to my own views on this subject, it will 
 be proper to state what I mean by evangelical preaching ; 
 and then to show, that all preaching ought to possess 
 this character. 
 
 1. What is evangelical preaching ? I answer, 
 it is the same as is sometimes called preaching Christ, an 
 expression by which the Apostles meant, not chiefly 
 preaching as Christ himself did, and as he commanded 
 ministers to preach ; but especially preaching so as to 
 exhibit Christ in his true character, as the great object 
 of faith and love. The same meaning is sometimes ex- 
 pressed by the phrase, ' preaching the cross,' and preach- 
 ing v Christ crucified.' 
 
 Every science is built on elementary facts, which must 
 go together, and must be fully exhibited to teach that 
 science with success. The gospel as a complete system 
 of truth, has its own essential principles ; and without 
 the clear exhibition of these, the gospel cannot be 
 preached, any more than geometry can be taught, while 
 its essential principles are denied or overlooked. What- 
 ever proposition in this science you undertake to prove, 
 you cannot proceed one step except on the admission of 
 the principles on which the science is built. Just so in 
 preaching the gospel. Suppose the doctrine of atonement 
 is your subject; how are you to proceed? Of course 
 you must admit man to be in a state of ruin ; ruin from 
 
184 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 which he needs redemption ; ruin so desperate that he 
 could not redeem himself. If saved at all, it must be by 
 the interposition of an all-sufficient, vicarious sacrifice. 
 If justified at all, it must be ' freely, by the grace 
 of God.' So it is with other subjects. The doc- 
 trines of grace must go together ; you cannot consistently 
 admit one without going the length of the whole 
 system. 
 
 According to these views, I need not take up time in 
 showing, that sermons in which the doctrine of atonement 
 and other essential doctrines of the gospel are avowedly 
 discarded, or decidedly overlooked, come altogether short 
 of evangelical preaching. But it is to my purpose to re- 
 mind you in this connexion, that even among ministers 
 whose general views of the gospel are correct, there is 
 much preaching which cannot be called evangelical. I 
 would not say or imply that every sermon ought to dis- 
 cuss, in set form, some essential principle of Christianity ; 
 but every sermon ought to exhibit the spirit of Christ- 
 ianity, and to derive its appeals to the heart from the 
 motives of Christianity. It is not enough that it inculcate 
 what is both true and important ; for this it may do, and 
 yet deserve not the name of a Christian sermon. My 
 meaning may be illustrated by familiar historic examples. 
 Socrates taught the being of a God, and the doctrine of 
 immortality, and eternal retribution. Cicero taught 
 temperance, benevolence, truth, justice, &c. Seneca 
 enforced the same duties by grave lessons drawn from the 
 dialectics of the schools. Now suppose that you urge the 
 same topics in the same manner, from the pulpit. Is it 
 Christian preaching ? By no means. The things taught 
 are true and important; but the spirit, the motives, the 
 tendency, are not Christian. You have delivered such a 
 sermon as St. Paul could not have delivered, consistently 
 
THEY SHOULD BE EVANGELICAL. 185 
 
 with his solemn purpose not to " know any thing, but 
 Jesus Christ and him crucified." 
 
 Do I mean then to find fault with a minister for preach- 
 ing on the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, 
 or the duties of temperance, truth, and justice ? Certainly 
 not. But I mean that he should preach these subjects, 
 not as a heathen philosopher; preach them, not as 
 independent of the Christian system, but as parts of that 
 system; so that all his arguments, and motives, and ex- 
 hortations shall be drawn from the authority and exhibit 
 the spirit of the gospel. The minister who believes the 
 divine all-sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour, and the 
 absolute dependence of sinners on his atonement, and the 
 efficacy of the Holy Spirit for salvation, can hardly preach 
 a sermon on any occasion or subject without showing that 
 he does thus believe. One of our venerable divines 1 has 
 well said, ' Faithful ministers never preach mere philo- 
 sophy, nor mere metaphysics, nor mere morality. If 
 they discuss the being and perfections of God, the works 
 and creation of providence, the powers and faculties 
 of the human soul, or the social and relative duties, 
 they consider all these subjects as branches of the 
 one comprehensive system of the gospel. Hence, 
 when they preach upon the inward exercises of the 
 heart, they represent love, repentance, humility, sub- 
 mission, sobriety, &c. not as moral virtues, but as 
 Christian graces. And when they discourse upon moral 
 topics, they inculcate the duties of rulers and subjects, 
 of parents and children, masters and servants, by 
 motives drawn from the precepts and sanctions of the 
 gospel.' 2 
 
 II. We are to consider the main position of this Lec- 
 
 1 Emmons. 2 Note (15) 
 
180 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 tare, namely, that ALL PREACHING OUGHT TO BE 
 
 EVANGELICAL. 
 
 Several topics that might properly be introduced under 
 this head, will be reserved for another place. The con- 
 siderations which I have now to suggest, are chiefly two : 
 
 1. That evangelical preaching might reasonably BE 
 EXPECTED to answer, better than any other, the great 
 ends of preaching. What are these ends ? The glory 
 of God in the sanctification and salvation of sinners. 
 How then are sinners to be sanctified and saved ? By 
 knowing arid embracing the system of truth which God 
 has revealed in the gospel, and commanded his ministers 
 to publish. And can it be that the system which infinite 
 wisdom has devised, for a given purpose, is no better 
 adapted to promote that purpose than an opposite sys- 
 tem, or no system at all? Will men be induced to 
 receive and love the doctrines of grace, by the influence 
 of that pulpit which never exhibits these doctrines ? 
 Will they be induced to flee for refuge to the cross, by 
 preaching which never urges upon them " Christ and 
 him crucified ? " 
 
 Let us now glance at some of the principal points 
 of the evangelical system, and see why these are adapted 
 to give special interest and success to preaching. 
 
 This system shows men that with God, the heart, and 
 not (as they are presumingly inclined to suppose,) the 
 external conduct, is the standard of moral character. 
 
 It shows them that the heart of the uusanctified man is 
 * very far gone from original righteousness,' that it is his 
 own heart, and he is personally responsible to God, for 
 all its wrong affections ; that eternal death is the just 
 desert of every sinner, because the law which he has 
 broken is " holy, just, and good," and one which he is 
 bound to obey perfectly, and with all his heart. Let 
 
THEY SHOULD BE EVANGELICAL. 187 
 
 us pause here for a moment. The above doctrines, if 
 they are solemnly urged home upon the conscience, it 
 is easy to see, must make men feel guilty and therefore 
 feel unsafe. They must disturb the deadly insensibility 
 in which careless men love to repose, and produce soli- 
 citude and alarm. But let them be taught, and let 
 them embrace any system of lax theology which al- 
 lows them to deny their own depravity ; let them 
 become persuaded that sin is merely ' human infirmity,' 
 and that sinners are but the * frail and erring children of 
 their heavenly Father,' (for so men have often been 
 instructed from the pulpit,) and they feel no trembling 
 apprehension of the " fire that shall never be quenched," 
 no deep solicitude, to •' flee from the wrath to come." 
 
 But to proceed with our enumeration — The evangelical 
 system shows men, that from the fearful curse and con- 
 demnation, which rest on every transgressor of the divine 
 law, no one can escape, on the ground of any satisfaction 
 which he himself is able to make. It shows them that 
 Christ has interposed, for the rescue of lost men from this 
 desperate condition, by the sacrifice of himself on the 
 cross ; that repentance and faith are now the indispensa- 
 ble and immediate duty of every sinner, to whom the 
 gospel is known : but still, that the stubborn hostility of 
 the carnal mind to this gospel is such, that no sinner will 
 cordially embrace it, except through the transforming 
 influence of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Take the foregoing particulars, and follow them out, 
 in reference to the principle I am illustrating, and sup- 
 pose the combined influence of these truths to bear down 
 upon the heart and conscience, in the weekly ministra- 
 tions of the pulpit, and it will be most evident that the 
 hearers of such preaching can hardly remain in total 
 indifference to religion. The direct tendency is, to make 
 
188 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 them solemn and anxious ; to show them their depend- 
 ence on a justly offended God; and to keep constantly 
 before the mind the great question, ' Am I in a state of 
 salvation, or in a state of wrath ? ' Such effects may be 
 reasonably expected to result from preaching, which 
 exhibits with power and pungency the holy strictness of 
 the law, and the love of a dying Saviour. 
 
 But we need not rest this argument on any abstract 
 tendency of evangelical preaching ; for 
 
 2. Another source of evidence remains, which is deci- 
 sive, the evidence of facts. From this it appears that 
 the preaching of the evangelical system, is attended with 
 a salutary and sanctifying efficacy, which belongs to no 
 other system. The question becomes one of historical 
 verity, on which the proof is so ample and triumphant, 
 as greatly to exceed the limits that can be allotted to it 
 in this discussion. 
 
 The ground which I take is, that God has usually 
 attended the faithful preaching of the gospel with a signal 
 success, through the influence of his own Spirit ; and that 
 he has thus set upon it the unquestionable and special 
 stamp of his own approbation. In proof of this, the 
 recorded experience of the church may be adduced, in 
 one accumulated and overwhelming testimony. If this 
 cannot be established by an unbroken line of facts from 
 the Apostles' days, no point can ever be proved by 
 history. 
 
 What was it that occasioned the first great declension 
 from the spirit of godliness in the primitive church ? The 
 simple gospel, as it was preached by Christ and the 
 Apostles, was obscured by admixtures of human specu- 
 lations, especially the theories of the Platonic philoso- 
 phy. Instead of Christ crucified, the subtilties of the 
 schools gradually came to occupy the pulpit. Sermons 
 
THEY SHOULD BE EVANGELICAL. 189 
 
 were moulded on the elaborate precepts of Grecian 
 oratory. The spirit of piety was supplanted by love of 
 novelty, and by the vagrant dreaming of mystical theo- 
 logy, founded on the grossest perversion of the sacred 
 oracles. What was the consequence? When this wide 
 door was opened, Pelagianism and Arianism rushed in, 
 like a flood, upon the church. 
 
 Now let any honest man, acquainted with history, be 
 put to answer the question, who were the great moral 
 luminaries that beamed upon the world, through seasons 
 of intervening darkness ? and he cannot fail to name 
 such champions of the evangelical faith, as Athanasius, 
 Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom ; afterwards, Bernard, 
 Huss, Jerome of Prague, WicklifFe ; and the constella- 
 tion of illustrious reformers, in the time of Luther. I 
 need scarcely add, that the state of the church in later 
 periods confirms the same sentiment. 
 
LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 In the foregoing lecture, I endeavoured to show that 
 from the nature of the case, and from the actual state of 
 facts in the history of the church, we have no reason to 
 expect the blessing- of God, on any preaching- but that 
 which is distinctly evangelical. But other things are 
 requisite to constitute a good sermon, and I shall now 
 consider, at some length, 
 
 A second, general characteristic of a good sermon, 
 
 which is, that IT MUST BE INSTRUCTIVE. 
 
 For the sake of method, I shall inquire, 
 
 1. What things are requisite to render a sermon 
 instructive. 
 
 1. In the first place, then, I say it must have a sub- 
 ject that is important ; a subject that spreads before the 
 hearers some serious truth to be believed, or duty to be 
 done, or danger to be avoided. So obvious is this prin- 
 ciple, that to dwell on it, or even to mention it, would 
 seem superfluous, were it not that many a discourse 
 has been preached, in which it is apparently the object 
 of the preacher, not so much to enlighten his hearers, as 
 to any one thing to be believed, or done, or avoided, as 
 to till up the time allotted to a sermon. It by no means 
 follows that a sermon is a good or\e, because you can 
 state in a word, or in a short sentence, that it is on the 
 
THEY MUST BE INSTRUCTIVE. 191 
 
 subject of repentance, or faith, or humility; but it cer- 
 tainly follows that it is not a good one, if neither they 
 who hear it, nor he who delivers it, can tell concisely 
 what is its subject. I have heretofore adverted to the 
 common mistake of young preachers, in selecting such 
 general subjects as * the vanity of the world,' * the 
 universal desire of happiness,' &c. on which a man of 
 genius and of experience, might indeed give to an assem- 
 bly many profitable instructions, but to do which would 
 cost him three times as much reflection, as would be 
 requisite to preach well on some specific point of faith 
 or practice. 
 
 The apprehension that, on a subject of the latter kind, 
 the stock of materials for a regular discourse would be 
 too soon exhausted, often leads him who has little skill 
 in sermonizing, to select a subject of so much scope that 
 he might nearly as well have no subject. 
 
 But whether the subject be general or specific, it 
 should be important. For a man who is commissioned 
 to preach the everlasting gospel, to pass over all those 
 topics which involve the highest interests of his hearers, 
 and gravely to instruct them from the pulpit, on points 
 critical, speculative, or merely curious, is ' to prostitute 
 his noble office.' Such topics may procure a temporary 
 reputation to himself, while he only amuses his hearers 
 at the expense of their souls. Bishop Wilkins, who was 
 a judicious adviser in these matters, says, — ' Avoid all 
 subjects that would divert the hearers, without instructing 
 them. Never consult your fancy in this case, but the 
 necessities of your flock. I would rather send away the 
 hearers smiting on their breasts, than please the most 
 learned audience with a fine sermon. By discussing 
 useless questions, and things above their capacities, we 
 too often perplex those whom we should interest. There 
 
192 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 is. a great deal of difference between their admiring the 
 preacher, and being edified by his sermons.' 
 
 2. A sermon to be instructive, must be perspicuous 
 
 IN METHOD AND LANGUAGE. 
 
 On the advantages and kinds of divisions proper in 
 discourses from the pulpit, and the principles by which 
 such divisions should be conducted, I have expressed my 
 views at large in discussing the structure of sermons. I 
 will only add in this connexion, that to give instruction, 
 at least to common minds, without a good degree of 
 lucid arrangement in the things taught, is quite impos- 
 sible. That such arrangement should prevail in a 
 sermon, is just as important, I must repeat, as that the 
 hearers should understand that sermon, and remember it. 
 For assuredly, unless they can follow the preacher step 
 by step, in some intelligible train of thought, they will 
 understand nothing, and of course remember nothing, to 
 any valuable purpose ; in other words, they will gain no 
 instruction. 
 
 That the language of a sermon should be intelligible, 
 is so plainly essential to its being instructive, that no 
 enlargement on this head is called for, except to refer you 
 to observations which I have made on style, and to those 
 which I shall have occasion to make on the indefinite 
 and the direct manner in preaching. Like Paul, " I 
 would rather speak rive words in the church, with my 
 understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten 
 thousand words in an unknown tongue." 
 
 3. That a sermon may be instructive, IT MUST BE 
 RICH IN MATTER. 
 
 Want of matter in a sermon, from whatever cause the 
 deficiency may arise, diminishes its value to the hearers, 
 in point of instruction. If the difficulty arises from want 
 of native talent in the preacher, if he is destitute of 
 
THEY SHOULD BE INSTRUCTIVE. 193 
 
 inventive power, there is no remedy. Precepts and 
 study may do something, but the stamp of barrenness 
 will be fixed on all the labours of such a mind. If it 
 arises not from want of intellectual capacity, but of intel- 
 lectual cultivation in the preacher ; in other words, if his 
 discourses are barren of instruction, because he has him- 
 self a scanty stock of acquired knowledge, the remedy 
 lies in study A mind invigorated and replenished by 
 habits of reflection and reading, will impart its own 
 character to all its efforts. That the stream may be 
 abundant and unfailing, it must flow from a fountain 
 that is inexhaustible. When I speak of acquired know- 
 ledge, I mean to express the deliberate opinion, that no 
 man who does not, according to the direction of St. Paul, 
 " give himself to reading ," can be a profitable preacher 
 to the same audience for any considerable time. Reli- 
 ance on mere intellectual powers, to the neglect of 
 reading, will leave even a superior mind unfurnished with 
 all that store of knowledge which the progress of ages 
 has accumulated in books, and in books only. Besides, 
 the mind that has no fellowship with the world of 
 cotemporary minds, and of minds that have stamped 
 their impress on the books of past periods, such a mind, 
 vigorous though it may be, will lose its own elasticity. 
 To sustain the intellectual powers, and keep them in 
 readiness for action, both the information and the impulse 
 derived from reading are necessary : but to a mind 
 already well furnished, doubtless the primary advantage 
 of books, is their aid in rousing its own energies. Of 
 course, he who is called to instruct others from the 
 pulpit, must not merely have been a man of reading, he 
 must read still, while he preaches, or his sermons will be 
 trite and barren in thought. 
 
 I would urge every candidate for the sacred office, to 
 
 K 
 
194 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 form, as early as possible, the habit of reading and 
 thinking, as a preacher. Let all his intellectual exer- 
 cises acquire this cast, and have general reference to this 
 one grand business of his life. The painter, the sculptor, 
 the architect, the military chief, who has professional 
 enthusiasm, each will see in every object around him 
 those relations to his own favourite pursuit, which are 
 unobserved by other men. So should the preacher see 
 with the eyes of his own profession ; and when his mind 
 goes abroad in intercourse with the external world, with 
 men and books, it should be to bring home stores 
 adapted for use in his business as a Christian Instructor. 
 This will give to his sermons a richness and variety of 
 matter, that will make them eminently useful. 1 
 
 It may be added in passing, that such a systematical 
 classification of a man's knowledge, especially his know- 
 
 1 In respect to the point under consideration, it is of incalculable 
 advantage to the preacher, early to adopt the habit of classification in 
 his reading. Let him keep a blank-book, consisting of materials for 
 sermons, in which he will insert, with proper heads and arrangement, 
 the most important subjects on which he will have occasion to preach. 
 I do not mean a plan book ; — that is another affair, to be kept by 
 itself. Under each of these subjects, let him enter some brief notice, 
 not a transcript of passages, but a brief notice of what is most striking 
 in any writer that he reads, with reference to author, and page, and 
 edition too, when the book is not his own. This will never become 
 voluminous, like the cumbrous Common Place books used for tran- 
 scribing entire pages, to which practice there are insuperable objec- 
 tions. A quarto blank book of two hundred pages, will perhaps 
 serve a man for life, and in a few years will become such an index of 
 his own reading, as will enable him to avail himself, in one hour, of 
 what he has been reading for years ; and often on a given subject, 
 will, in a few moments, put him in possession of materials for which 
 he might otherwise search a long time, and perhaps search in vain. 
 The alphabetical order for such a blank-book, is probably the best, 
 allowing the greatest space to the most important letters. 
 
THEY SHOULD BE INSTRUCTIVE. 195 
 
 ledge derived from books, will store his mind with facts ; 
 and give him the power of illustration, the want of which 
 will certainly make a dull preacher. 
 
 But in aiming to render sermons rich in matter, that 
 they may be instructive, two mistakes are to be avoided. 
 The first is, a sweeping generality , which aims to bring 
 the whole system of religion into one sermon. After 
 what I have already said on this point, I advert to it 
 here, only to remark, that discourses constructed in this 
 manner, instead of being rich and various in matter, are 
 usually distinguished for barrenness of thought. The 
 other mistake consists in attempting perpetual novelty 
 of matter. The former mistake commonly results from 
 dulness, the latter from affectation. The same sun 
 shines in the firmament, and the same Bible is the light 
 of the moral world from age to age. In regard to merely 
 human opinions or rules of conduct, eccentricity and 
 caprice are to be expected. But the prominent truths 
 of revealed religion, like their author, are immutable. 
 The same God, and Redeemer, and Sanctifier — the same 
 way of salvation too, are to be preached now, as were 
 preached by prophets and apostles. What was the ex- 
 ample of St. Paul, as to originality and variety ? Did 
 he deem it necessary to preach new doctrines in every 
 sermon ? So far from this, he urged and reiterated the 
 same essential points of faith and practice, again and 
 again, on those whom he addressed. Just the same did 
 the other Apostles. Hear what Peter said to those who 
 had been under his instruction. " I will not be negligent 
 to put you always in remembrance of these things, though 
 ye know them, and be established in the present truth.'' 
 Nay, it was his design, not only to render these truths 
 familiar to his hearers, while he taught them, but so to 
 impress them on their minds, by frequent repetition, that 
 
 K 2 
 
196 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 they should never be forgotten. " I will endeavour that 
 ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things 
 always in remembrance." So men are taught by the 
 instructions of Providence ; and so, I need not scruple to 
 say, they have been taught, from the pulpit, by the most 
 skilful preachers, in all ages. 
 
 But where, it may be said, on these principles, lies the 
 room for variety and richness of matter ? It lies in the 
 endless scope for illustration, by which the preacher of 
 competent powers has opportunity to present the truths 
 of the gospel, in aspects and relations so diversified, that 
 while the same truths are taught, over and over, the 
 hearers see them in new lights, and with eager interest 
 stretch forward in knowledge. 
 
 Is not the book of providence various, rich, beautiful, 
 and even sublime in its instructions ? Yet the sun 
 travels the same path through the heavens, and the 
 seasons preserve their order. Regularity and repetition, 
 in the natural world, fix impression ; so that uniformity 
 in its laws, is the basis of knowledge. If every fact in 
 the kingdom of nature should occur but once, and 
 the course of events should be a succession of ab- 
 solute novelties, experience could not be the ground 
 of foresight, the lessons of providence would convey no 
 valuable instruction to men, and the business of the 
 world must cease. The same principles apply to the 
 instructions of the pulpit. They need not be tame and 
 barren of interest, because they often dwell on the same 
 great truths of religion. On the contrary, the man who, 
 from affectation of constant novelty, should teach his 
 hearers the doctrine of atonement, for example, but 
 once in his life, might as well never have mentioned 
 it at all. 
 
 4. That a sermon may be instructive, its materials 
 
THEY SHOULD BE INSTRUCTIVE. 197 
 
 SHOULD GENERALLY BE THROWN INTO THE FORM 
 OF DISCUSSION, IN DISTINCTION FROM THE DESUL- 
 TORY MANNER. 
 
 My remarks on this topic will be brief, as partly 
 superseded by those already made on Argument in 
 Seriiions. There is indeed a dry, technical mode of dis- 
 cussing subjects, which gives a logical air to a discourse, 
 but which wearies rather than instructs the hearers. The 
 formality of propositions and corollaries, is not at all the 
 thing that I am recommending. But it is incumbent on 
 tiie preacher to give his hearers substantial reasons for 
 that which he urges on them, as a matter of faith or 
 duty. The Senator, or the advocate at the bar, when 
 he speaks, aims to establish some point by reasoning. 
 Why should a Christian discourse be a mere declamatory 
 harangue, not aiming to establish the truth of any thing, 
 or to make any definite impression ? Will it be said 
 that, in the eloquence of the senate and the forum, 
 argumentation is indispensable, because men will not act 
 till they are enlightened and convinced ; but that, in the 
 sanctuary, the main object is to produce excitement and 
 warmth ? Of what value is that warmth, which is pro- 
 duced by the mere vociferation of a declaimer, and 
 which vanishes, when the sound of his voice ceases ? 
 In my opinion, one of the greatest calamities that can 
 befal a congregation, is to be placed under the ministry of a 
 man who never discusses any subject in a regular manner, 
 nor attempts to prove any thing, from reason and scrip- 
 ture, but gives his hearers declamation, instead of 
 Christian instruction. Such sermons, if strictly un- 
 premeditated, are more likely perhaps to have occasional 
 flashes of vigour and vivacity, than if precomposed, in 
 the extemporary and desultory mode of writing. In either 
 case, they will utterly fail of instructing the hearers. 
 
198 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 5. That sermons m«y be instructive, THEY MUST EX- 
 HIBIT DIVINE TRUTH IN ITS CONNEXIONS. 
 
 Men in general spontaneously read and think very 
 little on religious subjects. What they know of the 
 gospel, they learn more from the pulpit, than from all 
 other sources. No one sermon can contain the whole 
 of Christianity ; yet Christianity is a connected, con- 
 sistent whole, which must be exhibited in parts ; and no 
 part can be fully understood, except in its relations to 
 the rest. In every art or science, as I have before re- 
 marked, there are fixed principles, which are to be 
 learned distinctly, but which are inseparably related to 
 each other. A knowledge of that art or science, is a 
 knowledge of each part, and of its relative bearing on 
 other parts. One principle of geometry, detached from 
 the rest, signifies nothing ; —the whole taken together 
 constitute a perfect science. The wheels of a clock, 
 viewed apart from the whole machinery, would ap- 
 parently have no design ; and any one of these wheels, 
 indeed, if formed by the artist without regarding its 
 adaptation to the rest, would be altogether useless. So 
 it is in the system of religious doctrines; any one of 
 these dissevered from its connection with the rest, may 
 be so distorted, that it virtually ceases to be true. It 
 is true in the connection in which the Bible has placed 
 it ; but apart from that connection it is liable to be 
 misunderstood, and to have all the influence of falsehood. 
 
 To preach the gospel instructively then, is to preach 
 all its parts, especially its essential parts; and to preach 
 them in their symmetrical relation to one harmonious, 
 connected scheme of religion. This will prevent that 
 ' inconsistency which runs through the whole course of 
 some men's preaching, who not only contradict in one 
 discourse, what they have said in another, but say and 
 
THEY SHOULD BE INSTRUCTIVE. 199 
 
 unsay the same things, in the same discourse.' The 
 amount of my meaning is, that no single truth of the 
 gospel can be adequately taught from the pulpit, with- 
 out being taught in its connections with the general 
 scope of revealed religion ; and the result is, that partial 
 and superficial preaching, is not instructive preaching, 
 Men may hear sermons through a whole life, which in- 
 culcate no falsehood, but on the contrary exhibit, in a 
 detached way, one principle after another of true religion, 
 and yet these hearers may never acquire an adequate 
 knowledge of any one doctrine of the Bible. / 
 
 The foregoing are some of the principal qualities of 
 sermons, necessary to render them instructive. 
 
LECTURE XIX. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 I shall proceed now, 
 
 11. To look at the reasons why it ought to be a 
 prominent object with a Christian preacher TO render 
 
 HIS SERMONS INSTRUCTIVE. 
 
 1. That this is his duty may be inferred from the 
 constitution of the human mind. The service 
 which God requires of men is a reasonable service. All 
 the laws of his moral kingdom are adapted to the con- 
 dition of intelligent, moral agents. This kingdom is a 
 kingdom of motives ; and no action can possess a moral 
 nature, except as it results from intelligence and purpose 
 in the mind of the agent. The understanding therefore, 
 is that leading faculty of the soul to which motives are 
 addressed ; and through which their influence bears on 
 the heart, and conscience, and affections. Whatever 
 emotion or action can be produced, without any intelli- 
 gent, voluntary purpose in the agent, must be as destitute 
 of moral qualities as are the actions of a manaic, or the 
 ebbing and flowing of the tide. But if men are so made 
 as to be influenced by motives, and this influence can 
 operate only through the medium of light and conviction 
 addressed to the understanding, then the sermon that 
 communicates no instruction is useless, not being adapted 
 to the constitution of the human mind. 
 
 2. That the Christian preacher should aim to render 
 
THEY SHOULD BE INSTRUCTIVE. 201 
 
 his sermons instructive, IS EVIDENT FROM THE NATURE 
 of the gospel. What is the gospel ? It is a system 
 of evangelical truth ; a stupendous scheme of mercy, the 
 great design of which is to sanctify men through the 
 truth. The sword of the Spirit, by which only the 
 enmity of the human heart is slain, and the moral temper 
 is renovated, is the word of God. But how can divine truth 
 operate so as to enlighten the conscience, and sanctify 
 the heart, unless it is distinctly presented to the mind ? If 
 evangelical belief might exist, without a knowledge of 
 God and the Saviour, why should the gospel be preached 
 at all ? Most evidently when God sanctifies a human 
 heart, it is through the truth, and the truth so presented 
 to the mind as to be perceived and understood. 
 
 What is the gospel ? I say farther, it is a system of 
 practical truths ; in other words, a system of truths on 
 which is predicated a system of duties. The end of faith 
 is practice. Hence the Bible attaches importance to 
 each truth which it reveals, just in proportion to the in- 
 fluence which that truth is adapted to exert over the 
 heart and life. It exhibits no single doctrine as a matter 
 of dry speculation, without reference to its bearing on 
 the affections and the conduct. But it is only an intelli- 
 gent view of truth that can exert the influence of which I 
 am speaking. The gospel, for example, requires me to 
 repent. Why do I need intellectual light for this ? 
 What is it to repent ? It is to hate my own sins, as 
 being the transgression of a perfect law. How then can 
 I repent, without a knowledge of my own sins, and of the 
 law that I have broken ? The gospel enjoins faith in Christ 
 as a divine and all-sufficient Saviour. But how can I 
 believe in him without knowing that I need a Saviour, 
 and that he is such a Saviour as I need ? The gospel 
 enjoins prayer ; but how can I pray acceptably to a 
 
 k 5 
 
202 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 God, of whose character and will I have no just concep- 
 tions ? Ignorance may be the mother of such devotion 
 as was offered to Diana of the Ephesians, or the unknown 
 God of the Athenians ; but the worship which the only 
 true God will accept, is rational and spiritual. It requires 
 that the understanding, as well as the affections should 
 be employed. Short of this, whatever has the semblance 
 of Christian devotion, is as unmeaning; as the ablutions of 
 the Hindoo, or the sacrifices at Mars Hill. 
 
 3. That the Christian preacher should aim to render 
 his sermons instructive , is evident from the best EXAMPLES 
 of preaching. 
 
 And here I appeal at once to the great Teacher who 
 came from God, the perfect pattern of all other teachers. 
 When he entered on his ministry, false religions had en- 
 veloped the world in darkness. A thousand errors had 
 overspread even the Jewish church. His great object 
 was to dissipate these errors, and to enlighten men in the 
 knowledge of true religion. Take his sermon on the 
 mount, for example, and it is a continued series of 
 instructions, given on most important subjects. Take 
 the whole current of his public discourses, as recorded 
 by the evangelists, and as the basis of them all, you find 
 the fundamental truths of the gospel inculcated. Among 
 these I can barely mention, without enlargement, the 
 distinct personality in unity, of the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost ; his own real divinity ; the doctrine of 
 vicarious atonement, as the only ground of forgiveness ; 
 the necessity to all men, of regeneration by the Spirit 
 of God, on account of their entire moral depravity ; 
 the necessity of repentance and faith, to salvation ; 
 the present and everlasting happiness of all true 
 believers ; and the eternal punishment of final unbe- 
 lievers. As Christ committed nothing to writing himself, 
 
THEY SHOULD BE INSTRUCTIVE. 203 
 
 one of two things is unquestionable ; we must rely with 
 absolute confidence, on the men whom he inspired to 
 preach and to write his gospel, — or we have no gospel 
 now. If we do rely on these men, the proof from the 
 Evangelists, the Acts, and the Epistles, that Christ did 
 preach the above doctrines, stands on one and the same 
 footing of authority ; and that proof is complete. It is 
 the evidence of testimony ; the same by which we know 
 that the Apostles themselves preached the same system 
 of truths. That they did so, you may see in St. Peter's 
 preaching on the day of Pentecost ; — in St. Paul's at 
 Antioch, at Athens, at Corinth ; in short, throughout 
 the whole course of their ministrations. The very end 
 for which they were commissioned was to " teach all 
 nations," the religion of Christ. And in all subsequent 
 ages, those who have been worthy successors of the 
 Apostles, have been instructive preachers. In short, if 
 the great end of the Christian ministry is to save sinners, 
 by bringing them to embrace the truth, then preachers 
 of every age, who have sought to amuse their hearers, 
 by appeals to the fancy, or to excite them, by appeals 
 to the passions, without instructing them in the great 
 truths of the gospel, have utterly failed in their duty, 
 as guides to souls ; and are not fit to be reckoned as 
 examples of good preaching. This leads to my next 
 topic of remark ; 
 
 4. That the obligation of ministers to be instructive in 
 their sermons, is evident from the best EFFECTS of preach- 
 ing in the conversion of sinners. 
 
 It is a fair inference from principles already estab- 
 lished, that any system of preaching, which leaves men 
 unacquainted with the vital truths of the gospel, leaves 
 them without hope, and without God in the world. I 
 shall of course be understood to speak of those who are 
 
204 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 ignorant of the above truths to such a degree as is incon- 
 sistent with the exercise of Christian graces; and also 
 of those who have both capacity and opportunity to 
 receive instruction ; in distinction from the case of infants 
 and idiots, and perhaps of individual exceptions, which 
 divine grace may make among the heathen. But in 
 respect to men of full understanding in a Christian land, 
 I suppose it is self-evident, that no one can be in a state 
 of salvation, without doing what the gospel requires; and 
 that no one can do this, without knowing what the gospel 
 requires. Ignorance of the gospel, therefore, to the extent 
 supposed, must be in such a case criminal and fatal. 
 
 A human statute-book that should professedly tolerate 
 in subjects a deliberate and voluntary ignorance of its 
 own enactments, would be stamped with absurdity. To 
 suppose then that God has given the gospel, with all the 
 requisite means for understanding it correctly, and yet 
 that they may be innocent or safe in utter ignorance of 
 the truths and duties it reveals, is to suppose that the 
 great Lawgiver trifles with the subjects of his moral 
 government, and encourages them to trample on all its 
 obligations. But woe to that man who, as an ambas- 
 sador of Christ, proceeds on such an assumption as this I 
 While he fails to give his hearers evangelical instruction, 
 the effect of his ministrations is not to save, but to 
 destroy their souls. Let him look to it, how he shall 
 meet the reckoning that awaits him in the day of final 
 retribution. 
 
 But in this case as in others, the tendency of moral 
 causes is to be estimated from the effects which they 
 actually produce. On this principle let the question be, 
 what sort of preaching does God most frequently bless 
 to the conversion of sinners ? — and the answer will be 
 found most conclusively in the history of the church. 
 
LECTURE XX. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 On the general requisites to render preaching' instructive, 
 and the reasons why it ought to be so, I have purposely 
 dwelt at considerable length. So fundamental, however, 
 to the work of the Christian preacher, is the duty of 
 communicating instruction, that the discussion on which 
 I am next to enter, will exhibit, not so much a distinct 
 subject, as an amplification of the foregoing, or a presen- 
 tation of it under different aspects. 
 
 / proceed then to a THIRD general characteristic 
 required in a sermon, namely, directness. My mean- 
 ing is, that it should be explicit, both in doctrine and 
 execution. Jt has been well said, that, ' A man who 
 walks directly, though slowly, towards his journey's 
 end, will reach it sooner than his neighbour, who runs 
 into every crooked turning, or loiters to gaze at trifles, or 
 to gather flowers by the way-side.' 
 
 I will consider what constitutes directness in preach- 
 ing, and then inquire why preaching so often fails of 
 possessing this character. 
 
 I. What constitutes directness in preach- 
 ing 1 It consists in such an exhibition of a subject, that 
 the hearers not only understand it, but perceive it 
 to be pertinent and important to themselves. 
 
 If I stretch my hand towards a man at a distance, no 
 sensation is produced in him by the movement, for I 
 
206 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 have not reached him. But if I approach him, and lay 
 my hand on him, he instantly perceives that he is 
 touched. So if I only preach towards a man, without 
 reaching him, he feels nothing; but if I bring divine 
 truth into direct contact with his mind, he instantly feels 
 the contact. He is a complex being. He has an 
 understanding — he has a conscience — he has passions. 
 If the sermon bears on his understanding, he feels it ; if it 
 bears on his conscience, he feels it ; if it bears on his 
 passions, he feels it. Of course, if it does not touch 
 him any where, he has no spontaneous feeling that it 
 was meant for him. 
 
 Now, in some important respects, all men are alike. 
 In strength and cultivation of intellect there is indeed 
 great disparity ; but every man has a conscience, emo- 
 tions, passions. A hundred men, therefore, under the 
 same sermon may each one feel that it is as well adapted 
 to his own case, as though it were designed for him only. 
 But a sermon to produce this impression, must do two 
 things ; it must clearly present to the hearers some sub- 
 ject, which they see to be true and important; and show 
 them its adaptation to their own case. My meaning may 
 be illustrated by an unerring example. 
 
 Our blessed Lord was unquestionably a direct preacher. 
 It was just in the way above described, that the humb- 
 ling truths contained in his sermon at Nazareth, roused 
 the prejudices of the hearers, so that they were " rilled 
 with wrath;" and that his parable of the vineyard in 
 another case made the Jews angry, when " they perceived 
 that he had spoken the parable against them." How 
 did they know that he meant them ? He had not name/ 
 them; had not preferred any accusation against them. 
 Yet he did mean them ; and purposely drew such a 
 representation, that their consciences could not fail of 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 207 
 
 making the application to their own case. Christ knew 
 what was in man. He compelled his hearers to feel that, 
 with the eye of omniscience, he looked directly into 
 every bosom, and saw what was passing there. It was 
 impossible that they should not feel thus, when he 
 answered, as he often did, to their " inward thoughts," 
 while those thoughts had not been expressed at all in 
 words. Hence it was that the woman of Samaria said 
 to her friends, " come see a man, who told me all things 
 that ever I did." Hence the men who brought to Christ 
 a woman, alleging against her a heavy criminal accusa- 
 tion, were struck dumb with confusion, by a direct appeal 
 to their own bosoms — " He that is without sin among 
 you, let him first cast a stone at her." Silently they 
 withdrew, one by one, being " convinced by their own 
 conscience." 
 
 Hence also, the young man who was very rich, and 
 who came to Christ inquiring, what shall 1 do, that I 
 may inherit eternal life, was thrown into agitation by the 
 simple reply, " Sell all that thou hast, and give to the 
 poor, and come follow me." Nor was this a random 
 stroke ; for the bolt was directed with unerring aim, to 
 smite down the reigning idol of his heart. Nay this 
 great Teacher from God sometimes assailed his hearers, 
 by forms of address still more explicit and direct, than 
 any that I have mentioned — " Wo unto you, Scribes and 
 Pharisees, hypocrites — Ye serpents ! ye generation of 
 vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell." So 
 he sometimes directly applied the language of consola- 
 tion — "Son, be of good cheer." "Daughter, go in 
 peace." 
 
 Nothing short of omniscience, or at least inspiration, 
 could authorize any one to use this sort of directness in 
 addressing men. But still, every preacher of good 
 
208 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 common sense, and tolerable acquaintance with human 
 character, may, if he chooses to do so, find direct access 
 to the hearts of his hearers. To this principle I have 
 before adverted, when considering the conclusion of 
 sermons, by showing how the agency of conscience is to 
 be employed, in making the application of divine truth. 
 It was involved too, in discussing the special interest 
 excited by that preaching which is strictly evangelical, 
 in distinction from that which is not. The principle im- 
 plies, you will observe, that while no individual de- 
 signation is made by the preacher, the exhibition of 
 truth is so skilfully adapted to the hearer, that he feels 
 himself to be as really addressed, as though he were 
 called by name. 
 
 One more illustration of my meaning will be suf- 
 ficient. Suppose yourself to be one among a crowded 
 audience, listening to a sermon from some powerful and 
 direct preacher on the omnipresence of God. The sub- 
 ject is a general one, yet its exhibition is such, that the 
 truth comes home to each hearer, with a solemn intensity 
 and individuality, from which there is no escape. ' God 
 sees me,' is the one, all-absorbing thought of each mind. 
 As the sermon proceeds, it tears away every covering, 
 and demolishes every refuge of sin. The adulterer, who 
 locked his door, and ' waited for the twilight, saying, 
 no eye shall see me,' trembles, when he comes to feel 
 that God was there. The thief, who said, " surely the 
 darkness shall cover me," trembles when he comes to 
 think of that omniscient eye, which beheld the deed of 
 guilt; and to hear that voice which seems to echo from 
 the judgment seat, "Can any hide himself in secret, 
 that I shall not see him ? " The man who defrauded 
 his neighbour by direct falsehood or skilful deception ; 
 the hypocrite, who assumed the mask of religion, to 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 209 
 
 further his purposes of iniquity ; the votary of avarice, 
 ambition or sensuality, who supposed that the lurking 
 abominations of his heart were known only to himself; 
 each of these as the preacher goes on to exhibit an 
 omnipresent, heart-searching God, finds himself stripped 
 of all disguise, and standing naked amid the all-pervading 
 light of truth. Nay, before the sermon is finished, the 
 summons of the last trump sounds in his ears; he is 
 arraigned at the bar of God ; the books are opened ; the 
 secrets of all hearts are revealed ; the righteous are 
 adjudged to everlasting life, and the wicked to shame 
 and everlasting contempt. 
 
 Why is it that under a sermon, skilfully conducted, 
 on this general subject, every hearer, who has a con- 
 science, feels the hand of the preacher, pressing heavily 
 on himself? Just because the subject is one, not of 
 empty speculation, but of awful and universal interest; 
 and because the truth is so exhibited, that every one 
 must feel its adaptation to his own case. This is direct- 
 ness in preaching. 
 
 The way is now prepared to inquire in the 
 
 II. Place, what are the causes which produce THE 
 INDEFINITE AND INDIRECT sort of preaching ? 
 
 Among these causes, I would reckon the following. 
 
 1. Want of intellectual precision in the 
 speaker. When the native structure of a man's mind 
 is so heavy, as to impart a character of imbecility to its 
 movements, a correspondent indistinctness attends all his 
 mental operations. As the sun behind a cloud, is to be 
 seen but occasionally and obscurely, so the thoughts 
 of this man are wanting in distinctness and vividness of 
 impression. 
 
 Or the difficulty may lie in the habits of his mind, 
 when there is no fault in its structure. If he has not 
 
210 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 been accustomed to systematic thinking ; or if he under- 
 takes to discuss a particular subject, to which he has 
 given no time for reading and reflection, his sermon, as a 
 copy of his own mind, will convey no distinct instruction 
 to the minds of others. 
 
 Such a preacher will make no thorough discrimination 
 of characters. He will deal in general positions, which 
 all perhaps will admit to be true, but which no one will 
 appropriate to himself. Suppose he makes the broad 
 statement, that all men are sinners, and does this clearly. 
 Not one of his hearers, perhaps, disputes this ; and yet 
 not one applies it to his own character. The sermon 
 may go still further, and divide the hearers into two 
 general classes, saints and sinners, and yet lead no one 
 to make the solemn inquiry, ' To which class do I 
 belong ? ' A single colour of the painter indiscriminately 
 spread over canvass may be very proper for certain 
 purposes, but no one mistakes such a painting for the 
 likeness of a human being. So the sermon that consists 
 of generalities, without any exact delineation of cha- 
 racter, awakens no vivid interest ; it leads no hearer to 
 say, ' that means me.' 
 
 But suppose farther, that the preacher, besides the 
 general classification of his hearers into saints and sinners, 
 goes on to show that the former will be happy and the 
 latter miserable ; while he makes no intelligible discri- 
 mination between the two classes ; will any conscience 
 be disturbed by that sermon ? The grand inquiry re- 
 mains, — what is a saint? — what is a sinner? To say 
 that one loves God and the other does not, is a true 
 answer, but too general. Among real Christians there is 
 great diversity of character, arising from diversity of 
 doctrinal views, intellectual temperament, attainments 
 and habits. One is inclined to ultra-Calvinism, another 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 211 
 
 to the opposite extreme. One is strong and clear in his 
 reasoning powers, another feeble and obscure. One has 
 made much advance in knowledge, another little. One 
 is judicious, another indiscreet ; one ardent, another phleg- 
 matic ; one gentle, another austere ; one scrupulous, 
 another sanguine and rash. 
 
 And there is a corresponding difference in spiritual 
 characteristics. One is a fervent, watchful Christian ; 
 another, lukewarm and negligent. One is cheerful, ano- 
 ther melancholy; one growing, another declining; one 
 looks only at the state of the heart, another is strenuous 
 for names and forms ; one has too much a religion of 
 opinion, another too much a religion of passion; one 
 carries to extreme his conformity to the world, — another 
 his seclusion and austerity. 
 
 Among unconverted sinners, too, we find great diver- 
 sity. To one the influence of instruction and example in 
 childhood has been salutary, to another pernicious; one 
 has been trained up in the school of Christ, another in 
 the school of Satan ; one is orthodox in belief, another 
 sceptical ; one is solemn and anxious, another a careless 
 neglecter, or hardened despiser of religion ; one is 
 addicted to prodigality, another to parsimony ; one to an 
 ostentatious gaiety and grossness of sinful indulgence, 
 another to sullen and solitary wickedness. 
 
 But the indefinite preaching which I condemn amal- 
 gamates all impenitent men, under one sweeping term 
 sinners, without any adaptation of truth to the great 
 variety existing among these as to age, temper, intellect, 
 knowledge, and convictions. It may undertake to 
 describe the character of a sinner, and draw the picture 
 of a demon ; or on the other extreme, may represent this 
 sinner as possessing a great preponderance of moral 
 excellences. 
 
212 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 Let the same preacher attempt to describe a saint, by 
 exhibiting the separate graces of the Christian character, 
 and here too, all is loose and declamatory. Does he 
 speak of religious joy ? — it is ecstasy ; of contrition ? — it 
 is melancholy ; of deadness to the world ? — it is monkish 
 austerity; — of submission? — it is stoical apathy, as to 
 temporal calamities, and as to spiritual, it is an arbitrary 
 test of character, which puts asunder what God has 
 joined together, holiness and heaven. Every delineation 
 of a true Christian, which he attempts, is overdrawn. 
 The standard of duty he confounds with the measure of 
 actual attainment ; and thus makes sanctification, as it 
 exists in this life, to imply perfect conformity to God. 
 He paints a Christian ; and it is the likeness of an angel, 
 rather than that of any imperfect son or daughter of 
 Adam. No real saint, certainly, would presume to 
 apply the character to himself. 
 
 Now all this confusion in sermons, may arise from 
 want of clear, accurate habits of thinking in the preacher. 
 
LECTURE XXI. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 2. Indefinite preaching may arise in part from FALSE 
 
 TASTE IN THE PREACHER. 
 
 Under the foregoing head, I referred to want of logical 
 exactness; here I refer to deficiency in rhetorical skill. 
 The former fault lies in the thought, the latter in the 
 expression. St. Paul says, * And even things without life, 
 giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a 
 distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is 
 piped or harped ? For if the trumpet give an uncertain 
 sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle ? So 
 likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue, words easy 
 to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken ? 
 for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so 
 many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them are 
 without signification. Therefore, if I know not the 
 meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh, 
 a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian 
 unto me." 
 
 It is by no means my intention here to consider those 
 various qualities of style, which contribute to perspi- 
 cuity ; nor yet to show how strength is injured by need- 
 less accumulation of words, and complexity of structure. 
 My object is rather to exhibit that generality in the 
 choice of terms, and the formation of sentences, which is 
 the opposite of simplicity and directness in style. This 
 
214 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 may result from a habit, unconsciously contracted by 
 reading some writer of imposing celebrity, who has many 
 redeeming excellences, amid great faults. Or it may 
 arise from a designed and affected imitation of such a 
 writer. The fault may be that the sentences of this 
 writer are too periodic, the members being accumulated 
 to excess, and artificially adjusted to the purpose of 
 rotundity and cadence. Or they may be too much con- 
 structed on the principle of the loose sentence, in which 
 one thought after another, is hung on by way of append- 
 age to the principal thought, so as to form one long, 
 obscure sentence, out of materials sufficient to constitute 
 five or ten sentences. 
 
 But aside from rhetorical structure, there is a kind of 
 indefinite style, which may be called a factitious sim- 
 plicity, in which the terms employed are all intelligible, 
 and well arranged, but so general as to cast an air of 
 obscurity over the meaning. Examples of this sort abound 
 in the published discourses of a modern divine, who, by 
 the fascinations of his genius, his high reputation, and the 
 drapery of peculiar diction in which he clothes his 
 thoughts, is more likely to vitiate by his influence, the 
 style of young preachers, than any other living model. 
 
 The same thoughts which Baxter would have ex- 
 pressed with unstudied brevity and directness, he ex- 
 presses by a periphrastic generality. For example, — 
 the former would say, perhaps, of two men, that ' they 
 were intimate friends,' — the latter would say, * they 
 were united in the affectionateness of intimate compan- 
 ionship.' The former would describe the believer's 
 conquest, by ' conformity to God ; ' the latter would 
 describe it, as * the overcoming of his passions, by the 
 attemperament of his affections to the divine image.' The 
 former would say, ' This is the character of all men ; ' 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 215 
 
 the latter, ' this is the character of the world's popula- 
 tion.' The former would say, ' sincerity,' — the latter, 
 ' incorruptible truthfulness ; ' — the former, • he was in- 
 dignant,' — the latter, ' a feeling of indignancy came 
 over him;' the former, 'his heart was stung with re- 
 morse,' — the latter, ' with unutterable painfulness, the 
 feeling of remorse came over him.' 
 
 There is, it must be confessed, in the fault I am 
 -describing, an apparent aim to depart from the customary 
 phraseology of the best writers ; but affectation of pecu- 
 liarity is not the main difficulty. Instead of a clear, 
 terse, compact style, there is, in the formation of sen- 
 tences, a loose generality, as to words and members. 
 Instead of a meaning specific and obvious, so expressed 
 that you see instantly and exactly what it is, you see 
 it indistinctly, as you see the moon through a dense mist. 
 
 Would the time permit, I might properly apply the 
 foregoing principles to the use of figures in style, the 
 purpose of which is often frustrated by indistinctness. 
 The painter would deserve little credit, who should 
 draw the likeness of a man, so as not to be distinguish- 
 able from that of an elephant. In language, it is a 
 maxim of universal application, that vivacity of impres- 
 sion depends on the precision and speciality of the terms 
 employed. Change Milton's description of Satan's 
 shield, which ' hung on his shoulders like the moon,' to 
 this form, 'it hung on his shoulders like a luminous body," 
 and the figure is ruined. And the bold comparison of 
 the prophet, " The mountains skipped like rams, and the 
 little hills like lambs," would be divested entirely of its 
 picturesque character, if transformed into ' they moved 
 like animals.' A figure may be so general as to express 
 no resemblance to any thing, and therefore be much less 
 intensive than a plain word. 
 
216 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 Such are the ways in which the preacher, through bad 
 taste, may be so indefinite in phraseology, that, while 
 his sentiments and spirit are altogether good, he may 
 make no distinct impression on his hearers. 
 
 3. Indefinite preaching may arise from CONSTI- 
 TUTIONAL DELICACY OF TEMPERAMENT IN THE 
 
 preacher. He may be wanting in boldness to utter 
 sentiments which he believes to be true and important. 
 
 There is, I am aware, a spurious boldness which is 
 neither conducive to the usefulness of a Christian preacher, 
 nor creditable in any respect to his character. There is 
 a courage which consists in rashness, which pushes on at 
 random, without regard to time, or place, or occasion; 
 which sets at defiance the rules of discretion, and often 
 of decorum. Sometimes it is mere rusticity, which falls 
 on the most offensive manner of doing and saying things 
 from ignorance of what is becoming. Sometimes it is an 
 affected fidelity which chooses to give offence ; and makes 
 a merit of provoking hostility to the truth by the form 
 of its exhibition. Sometimes it is native asperity or 
 obstinacy, which regards all respect for the feelings of 
 others, and all kindness of manner, as pusillanimity. A 
 man of this description may be a very lucid and direct, 
 and yet a very unprofitable preacher; for it may be 
 easy to understand him, but hard to love him, or to love 
 the truth, which he clothes with so repulsive an aspect. 
 
 But there is another extreme. The preacher, through 
 an amiable delicacy of temper, may shrink from the 
 explicit declaration of truths which he apprehends would 
 awaken inquietude in his hearers. He is reluctant to 
 inflict pain on others. 
 
 ' He supposes too much in his hearers, the existence 
 of the qualities which the Bible labors to beget. He 
 speaks commonly in general terms ; deals much in the 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 217 
 
 impersonal verb, much in the third person. The man- 
 of mild temper will naturally, in addressing an audience, 
 take refuge in general terms, abstract truths, impersonal 
 verbs, third persons, and the mixture of general applause 
 to the mass, with the measured condemnation of indi- 
 viduals. Nevertheless, such mildness has no prototype 
 in the scriptures ; nor is it consonant to the dictates of 
 enlightened humanity. We do not warn the man whose 
 house is on fire, by the abstract assurance that ' fire is 
 dangerous ; ' by introducing a third person, and saying, 
 ' he is in danger ; ' — by adverting to those noble public 
 institutions, the fire insurance companies. Nor must the 
 delegated apostle of Christianity fail to discriminate, to 
 individualize, to strike home, to draw the line betwixt the 
 form and spirit of religion ; to show that the best church 
 cannot of itself sanctify those who enter it ; 'to speak,' 
 as old Baxter says, ' like a dying man to dying men ; 
 to warn, rebuke, exhort,' like one who expects to meet 
 his congregation next at the bar of God.' l 
 
 4. Indefinite preaching n\ay arise from the ABSOLUTE 
 WANT OF PIETY, OR FROM A LOW STATE OF PIETY, 
 
 in the preacher. In the latter case, while his personal 
 religion is barely sufficient to secure his own salvation, 
 his preaching will do little to promote the salvation of 
 his hearers. The man whose governing principle is love 
 to Christ, and who solemnly believes that his hearers 
 must repent or perish, will speak in demonstration of the 
 Spirit and with power, because he means to be understood. 
 But suppose the man to be influenced by supreme love 
 to himself, — how will he preach ? Perhaps he entered 
 the ministry as a mere profession, to gain his living by it. 
 Will he then incur the risk of alienating his hearers, by 
 
 1 Christian Observer. 
 L 
 
218 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 an explicit declaration of divine truth ; No, — he does 
 not mean to preach the gospel, so as to be understood. 
 
 Perhaps he is ambitious of distinction, as a man of 
 learning and taste. Among his hearers, he numbers 
 families, wealthy, polite, intelligent, fastidious ; — whose 
 refined sensibilities would be shocked at the faithful 
 portrait of their own character as sinners, and the awful 
 retribution that awaits them hereafter. Something of 
 Christian truth they are willing to hear from the pulpit, 
 if it is adapted to their fancy by elegance of costume, 
 and makes no stirring appeal to their conscience. But 
 can the man, whose chief object is popular applause, be 
 expected to sacrifice the favour of these worldly hearers, 
 by preaching the gospel in a manner so direct as to be 
 profitable to the poor and ignorant ? It is no part of his 
 design to carry the truth home with power to the con- 
 science ; — he does not mean to be understood. 
 
 A man who wishes to impress on other minds that 
 which deeply interests his own, will easily find words 
 suited to his purpose. Does the starving beggar address 
 you with studied amplification, so as to leave you in 
 doubt as to his object? He comes to the point at once, 
 and asks for bread. Does the general in the heat of 
 battle, when all is at stake on a single charge, seek out 
 the recondite terms of philosophy, or the embellishments 
 of rhetoric, in addressing his army? No, — his language 
 is brief and direct : — ' On, comrades, on ! ' Just so the 
 preacher, who firmly believes the message of the gospel, 
 and solemnly feels its everlasting importance to his 
 hearers, will deliver this message plainly, like a man in 
 earnest. So did John the Baptist. He knew that his 
 life was in danger from the sanguinary temper of Herod. 
 But he was charged from heaven with a message of 
 rebuke to that guilty man, and he did not scruple to 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 219 
 
 deliver it. When John preached generally, Herod 
 * heard him gladly ; ' but when the fearless stroke was 
 aimed at the conscience of that licentious king, ' it is 
 not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife/ he 
 beheaded the preacher. 
 
 Let love to God and to souls, and the solemn antici- 
 pation of meeting his hearers at the judgment, be pre- 
 dominant in a man's heart, and this will strip off from 
 his sermons all the drapery of concealment and artificial 
 ornament, and lead him to a plain downright searching 
 exhibition of divine truth, which will make his hearers' 
 hearts burn within them. 
 
 But let the love of himself be the ruling principle, 
 and this will probably give to his preaching some of 
 those forms of generality, which will frustrate all its 
 salutary effects. Perhaps it will transmute what should 
 be a Christian sermon, into a frigid essay. The course 
 of thought, with the careful avoidance of all divisions, 
 or obvious arrangement of any sort, flows on in the un- 
 interrupted succession of sentences, constructed perhaps 
 by the nicest rules of art; but when the discourse is 
 ended, nothing is proved : no conviction, no light, no 
 excitement is given, or was meant to be given to any 
 mind. Hence it is, that outrageously immoral men 
 often listen to such exhibitions from the pulpit, with no 
 inquietude ; or if any throb of conscience is felt, re- 
 tiring from the sanctuary, they forget what manner of 
 persons they are. A general approbation of what is 
 right, or condemnation of what is wrong, may have 
 been awakened, but it is all as the parable of Nathan 
 to David would have been, without the application, 
 " Thou art the man." 
 
 Preachers, defective in piety, may use evangelical 
 terms, as sin, repentance, atonement, sanctificat'ion, and 
 
 L 2 
 
220 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 yet preach no single doctrine of the gospel clearly. 
 They often adopt a phraseology, so guarded and general, 
 as not to disturb the most fastidious contemner of the 
 gospel. Where Christ would say, " He that belie veth 
 not shall be damned," — they speak of the ' sanctions of 
 Christianity.' Where this divine Teacher would say, 
 "Ye must be born again," — they inculcate the 'im- 
 portance of moral reformation.' Where Paul would 
 say, " The carnal mind is enmity against God," they 
 speak of * the lapsed state of man.' Where he would 
 inculcate "holiness," — they descant on 'the moral 
 fitness of things, and the beauty of virtue.' 
 
 Such sermons have no tendency to instruct the ignorant, 
 nor to alarm the careless, nor to accomplish any one 
 purpose of Christian preaching. The advocate who 
 should speak to a jury, in language so indefinite, as 
 purposely to make no distinct impression on their minds, 
 while his client is on trial for his life, would scarcely 
 be employed again, in any cause of magnitude. The 
 physician, who should seem to believe that there is no 
 such thing as dangerous disease among men ; or who 
 should barely talk of the benefits of health, to one in 
 a burning fever ; or prescribe some palliative to a man 
 in the consumption, and the same to a man in the 
 dropsy, would be thought, as Baxter says, * a sort of 
 civil murderer.' 
 
 Why then should he who ministers to souls, trifle 
 with his sacred charge ? Why speak obscurely, when 
 the truth to be uttered, is clear as the light of heaven, 
 and the motives to declare it plainly, are momentous as 
 eternity ? 
 
LECTURE XXII. 
 
 GKNERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 There remains one more topic, under the general head 
 of indefinite preaching, which it seems necessary to 
 expand, so much as to make it the chief subject of the 
 present lecture. I proceed then to say, 
 
 5. That indefinite 'preaching may arise from WRONG 
 THEORY IN THE PREACHER, AS TO THE BEST MODE 
 OF EXHIBITING DIVINE TRUTH. 
 
 This may occur, perhaps, in a given case ; not because 
 there is any obvious deficiency of taste or discrimination, 
 or boldness, or piety, in the dispenser of the sacred 
 oracles ; but because he honestly believes, that men are 
 less likely to be converted, under a direct and explicit 
 declaration of Christian doctrines, than under one that is 
 more cautious and qualified. 
 
 The principle assumed, to express it briefly, is this ; that 
 religious truth, to produce any saving effect on men, must 
 operate according to the philosophy of the human mind ; 
 and that to exhibit this truth in such a manner that the 
 effect to awaken opposition in the hearers, is of course to 
 harden their hearts, and confirm them in impenitence. 
 The assumption is, in other words, that men are predis- 
 posed to embrace the truth if it is skilfully exhibited ; 
 and that when they are excited to feelings of opposition, 
 this must be owing to some fault in the preacher. After 
 the remarks which I have already made on that point, 
 no one will understand me as justifying a studied repul- 
 
222 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 siveness of manner in the pulpit. But I regard the 
 theory just mentioned, though it is embraced by some 
 good and able preachers, as wrong in principle, and as 
 inconsistent both with the Bible and with facts. 
 
 Fully to show this might lead to a discussion more 
 extended than is consistent with my present object, which 
 is to suggest only those thoughts that have a direct 
 bearing on the point in hand. 
 
 In the first place, the Bible represents unsanctified 
 men as predisposed, not to receive and love the 
 
 TRUTH, BUT TO HATE AND OPPOSE IT. Every such 
 
 man is an enemy to God. In proof of this I will cite 
 but one text as a specimen of the concurrent testimony 
 of the sacred oracles ; " The carnal mind is enmity 
 against God." To say that this refers only to Jews or 
 to men of one age, is to trifle with the plain import of 
 language ; for it clearly applies to men universally of all 
 ages. Hence a special renovation by the Holy Spirit is 
 also taught in the Bible, as universally necessary to 
 qualify men for heaven ; because by nature they have no 
 ■holiness, and never would have any if left to themselves. 
 Every such man loves himself supremely, and is there- 
 fore opposed to the law, which requires him to love God 
 supremely. He loves sin, and is therefore opposed to 
 the law, which requires him to be holy, and threatens 
 him with death for every transgression. He loves tran- 
 quillity in his unbelief, and is therefore opposed to the 
 alarming denunciation of the Gospel, " he that belie veth 
 not shall be damned." He is proud; and therefore is 
 opposed to that whole system of truth, by which " the 
 loftiness of men is bowed down, and the haughtiness of 
 men is made low, and the Lord alone is exalted." 
 Accordingly this system of truths, when not disguised 
 or explained away by preachers, has been, like the sect 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 223 
 
 of the Nazareues, ■ every where spoken against.' And 
 can it be, notwithstanding all this evidence as to the 
 native temper of the human heart, that it is predisposed 
 to love the gospel, if properly exhibited ; and that all 
 its opposition to the truth, arises from the preacher's want 
 of skill in presenting the system of Christian doctrines, 
 according to the laws of intellectual philosophy ? 
 
 In the SECOND place, such a theory of preaching HAS 
 NO COUNTENANCE FROM THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF 
 
 Christ. He did not represent men as predisposed to 
 love God, so soon as they should see his true character, 
 for this true character was the very thing which they 
 hate$. " Ye have both seen and hated both me and my 
 Father." " This is the condemnation, that light is come 
 into the world, and men love darkness, rather than light." 
 When hatred arises from intellectual misapprehension, 
 light will remove it ; when it arises from the state of the 
 heart, light will increase it. I mean that while the 
 heart hates the true character of God, clearer views of 
 that character do not produce love, but more hatred. 
 If the opposition of sinners to God were only an intel- 
 lectual mistake, if it were only opposition to a false 
 character of God, it could not be criminal, for every 
 false character of God ought to be opposed. But the 
 difficulty with sinners in Isaiah's time, was not an intel- 
 lectual one; "A deceived heart turned them aside." 
 Just so it was in the time of Christ. If his hearers only 
 needed to have the truth skilfully set before them, to 
 love it, why did they often bitterly complain under his 
 sermons ? Did not Christ know how to preach his own 
 gospel ? Was it want of acquaintance with the human 
 heart, or of skill in adapting his instructions to the real 
 condition of men, which led him so to exhibit the doc- 
 trine of divine sovereignty at Nazareth, that " the whole 
 
224 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 synagogue were filled with indignation ? " Suppose 
 that this great Teacher had conformed to the theory that 
 the gospel must be so preached, as not to be repulsive to 
 depraved hearts, the scornful and malignant opposition 
 that was waged against him, he would indeed have 
 escaped. Why? Just because he would have given 
 men a system of religion at once adapted to please their 
 pride, and to leave them without remedy and without 
 hope in their alienation from God. He knew that the 
 only way to save lost sinners, was to show them that 
 they were lost; and to make them feel their awful guilt 
 and danger. But this he could not do, without disturb- 
 ing the enmity of their carnal minds. 
 
 In the third place, the theory that the gospel, when 
 properly preached, finds the unsanctified heart predis- 
 posed to embrace it, is contrary to the general 
 
 EVIDENCE OF FACTS. 
 
 From the ministry of its divine Founder to the present 
 time, the gospel has fought its way against the pride, and 
 prejudice, and unbelief of this same human heart, arrayed 
 in a thousand forms of inveterate hostility to oppose its 
 progress. Indeed, that this religion, in its primitive 
 purity, should have maintained an existence on earth, in 
 the face of so much opposition, and notwithstanding so 
 many motives operating on its teachers to disguise its 
 truths, and neutralize its character, is owing merely to 
 the shield of omnipotence, interposed for its protection. 
 
 To the maxim then, — that to repel the human heart is 
 not the way to convert it, I reply by another maxim; — 
 that to appease the enmity of the heart, by accommodating 
 the gospel to its tuste, is not the way to convert it ; but 
 is the direct way to frustrate the saving influence of 
 divine truth, and to fix men in hopeless rejection of it. 
 Paradoxical as it may seem to unbelief, it ought to be 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 225 
 
 no mystery to the Christian teacher, that those search- 
 ing, humbling truths, which inflict agony on the sinner's 
 conscience, are the only means of his deliverance from 
 spiritual death. So thought the great physician of souls. 
 To those diseased with sin, he did not scruple to admi- 
 nister bitter medicines. And shall we imagine ourselves 
 more merciful and skilful than Christ, while we leave 
 untouched the deadly malady of the soul, because we 
 choose to accommodate our prescriptions to the wishes 
 of those who are utterly ignorant of their disease as 
 sinners, and of the only remedy provided in the gospel ? 
 
 Suppose that St. Paul, when he was going to Corinth, 
 could have been addressed by some adept in intellectual 
 philosophy, and told, 'it is preposterous for you to 
 preach the doctrine of Christ crucified in that refined 
 city. This doctrine is "to the Jews a stumbling block, 
 and to the Greeks foolishness."' He would have said, 
 — ' I know it, but this same doctrine is, notwithstanding, 
 the wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salva- 
 tion. Your maxim of modifying the gospel, lest it 
 should repel the sinful heart, would bind over the world 
 to despair.' 
 
 Suppose you were called to devise the best method 
 of converting infidels to Christianity; — would you pre- 
 sent it to them as it came from Christ ? or as accom- 
 modated by a philosophical theory to their prejudices ? 
 Dr. Priestley tried this latter experiment, — fully expect- 
 ing that Jews and philosophical unbelievers would em- 
 brace what he called a rational Christianity. What 
 was the result? The Jews believed, not that Christianity 
 is true, but that Dr. Priestley was no consistent Christian. 
 And he very candidly acknowledging the disappointment 
 of his own hopes, said, • J do not know that my book 
 has converted a single unbeliever.' 
 
 L 5 
 
226 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SERMONS. 
 
 Or suppose you were sent as a missionary to the hea- 
 then ; would you modify the gospel, so that they might 
 think it coincident with their own superstitions ? That 
 they might be induced to take on them the Christian 
 name, would you amalgamate their faith with yours? 
 This experiment, too, has been tried. The Romish 
 missionaries in China, acting on the genuine theory of 
 their master Loyola, carried out the plan of converting 
 the heathen by accommodation. ' They gave up the 
 main thingrs in which Christians and heathens had been 
 accustomed to differ, and allowed the Chinese every 
 favourite species of idolatry. The consequence was, 
 they had a great many converts such as they were ; but 
 thinking people looked upon the missionaries as more 
 converted to heathenism, than the heathen to Christianity. 1 
 
 I have thus imperfectly fulfilled the task which 1 
 assigned to myself in several preceding lectures, designed 
 to exhibit the general characteristics of a good sermon. 
 The first characteristic, which I stated to be indispens- 
 able in a sermon, is, that it be evangelical. After show- 
 ing what this implies, I urged the importance of it from 
 the twofold consideration, that no other than the evan- 
 gelical system fully brought out in sermons, is adapted 
 to accomplish the great end of preaching ; and that in 
 point of fact, no other ever has accomplished this end. 
 
 The next characteristic of a good sermon is, that it be 
 instructive; namely, that it have an important subject , 
 that it he perspicuous in method and language ; that it be 
 rich in matter ; that it have the form of discussion 
 rather than that of declamation ; and that it exhibit 
 divine truth in its connexions. 
 
 That a Christian sermon ought to be instructive, 
 
 1 Fuller's Works, II. 38. 
 
THEY SHOULD BE DIRECT AND EXPLICIT. 227 
 
 appears from the constitution of the human mind; — from 
 the nature of the gospel ; — from the best examples, and 
 the best effects of preaching ; — and from the tendency of 
 instructive preaching, and of this only, to promote the 
 unity and strength of the church. 
 
 The third characteristic of a good sermon is directness. 
 What this implies is illustrated from the preaching of 
 Christ. The causes which produce the indefinite and 
 indirect sort of preaching, are,— Want of intellectual 
 precision in the preacher ; — -false taste in the preacher ; — 
 constitutional delicacy of temperament in the preacher ; — 
 and absolute want of piety, or a low state of piety, 
 
 The topics on which I have thus expressed my 
 thoughts at full length, I regard as of vital importance 
 to the interests of religion. Doubtless the real gospel 
 may be preached so technically, or paradoxically, or 
 controversially, or with such an air of ostentatious fidel- 
 ity, as to frustrate its proper effects. But preachers of 
 the present day are unquestionably more in danger of 
 erring on the side of cautious reserve, than of indiscretion, 
 in exhibiting Christian doctrines. 
 
LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 ON THE CULTIVATION OF SPIRITUAL HABITS, AND 
 PROGRESS IN STUDY. 
 
 [Addressed to the Students at Andover, November, 1831.] 
 
 The brevity with which I am compelled to treat the 
 subject of personal religion, at this time, is not to be 
 understood as implying that I regard its importance as 
 secondary to that of any other subject. On the contrary, 
 I am persuaded that whatever else you may possess or 
 acquire, without the love of God shed abroad in your 
 hearts by the Holy Ghost, you cannot be qualified to 
 preach the gospel; — nay, in the attempt to do it, you 
 would probably become a burden on the church, and a 
 reproach to the ministry. l But as my chief object lies 
 in another direction, I cannot enlarge on the importance 
 
 1 We must indeed work, like Nehemiah and his men, with the 
 trowel in one hand and the sword in the other. We have to build 
 and to fight at the same time, and with incessant employment. The 
 progress of the work would be stopped by the laying down of the 
 trowel. The enemy would gain a temporary advantage by the 
 sheathing of the sword. Nothing therefore remains but to maintain 
 the posture of resistance in dependance upon him who is our wise 
 Master-builder, and the Captain of our salvation — waiting for our 
 rest, our crown, our home. — Bridges. 
 
 Magnum opus omnino et arduum conamur ; sed nihil difficile 
 amanti puto. Cicero. 
 
 The eloquent author of the Reformed Pastor, having spoken of 
 Paul's charge to the Eiders at Ephesus, says ; 
 
ON SPIRITUAL WANTS. 229 
 
 of personal religion in ministers, nor even touch many 
 interesting branches of the subject, which demand the 
 solemn and often-repeated consideration of theological 
 students. In this division of the Lecture, I shall remark 
 only on one point, the importance of the spiritual 
 
 HABITS WHICH YOU FORM. 
 
 According to a settled law of our minds, habits are 
 formed by the periodical recurrence of the same thing. 
 Even in those habits which are called passive, regular 
 reiteration stamps impression. No man forgets that 
 there is a sun, or doubts his return to-morrow ; but if 
 there were no regularity in the succession of day and 
 night, no order in the seasons, — there could be no expe- 
 rience, and the business of the world must cease. When 
 a man's habit of dining at a particular hour becomes 
 fixed, it is of little absolute importance whether it is 
 early or late ; but if that hour is changed continually, so 
 as to be early one day and late another, he has no habit ; 
 and is liable to sutler both in comfort and health. 
 
 By the influence of custom, things laborious or irksome 
 
 * O brethren, write it on your study doors, or set it as your copy 
 in capital letters still before your eyes. Could we but well learn two 
 or three lines of it, what preachers should we be! Write all this 
 upon your hearts, and it will do yourselves and the Church more good 
 than twenty years' study of those lower things, which, though they 
 get you greater applause in the world, yet separated from this, will 
 make you but sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.' Baxter. 
 
 ' Qui cupit juxta Paulum esse SiSuktikos, det operam ut prius sit 
 QeoBiSaKTos, i. e. Divinitus edoctus.' Erasmus. 
 
 ' None but he who made the world can make a Minister of the 
 Gospel. If a young man has capacity, culture and application may 
 make him a scholar, a philosopher, or an orattfr ; but a true minister 
 must have certain principles, motives, feelings, and aims, which no 
 industry nor endeavours of men can either acquire or communicate. 
 They must be given from above, or they cannot be received.' 
 
 Newton. 
 
230 ON SPIRITUAL HABITS. 
 
 become tolerable and even pleasant ; things apparently 
 impossible become easy ; — things trifling or indifferent 
 become important. A man of twenty may with little 
 trouble change his room, his bed, his chair ; — he breaks 
 up no habit : but to a man of eighty the change would 
 be a real inconvenience. 
 
 Now, to apply these illustrations. The man who 
 imagines that he can perform his secret devotions in the 
 street, as well as in his closet, or as well without as with 
 stated times for the purpose, is ignorant of his own mind. 
 Intellectual and spiritual, as well as other habits, are 
 formed on the principles of association. In the regular 
 recurrence of the thing to be done, there must be identity 
 of time, and place, and circumstances. He who assigns 
 to his closet devotions a particular season, will rind the 
 return of that season bring with it the recollection of the 
 duty ; so that the omission of it at the customary time 
 will be attended with mental uneasiness. His avocations 
 too will regularly become adjusted to this settled order, 
 so as not to intrude on his hours of communion with 
 God. But the man who waits for impulses, and goes to 
 his closet only at irregular times, has no advantage of 
 habit in this duty. He attends to it without constancy, 
 without preparation, without enjoyment. He has no 
 current of spiritual feeling ; other engagements thrust 
 themselves between him and God ; the day and the 
 night pass away, without any season of retirement ; he 
 forgets to pray, because he has no system in the care of 
 his own heart. Thus perhaps he slides into estrangement 
 from his closet for days and weeks together. 
 
 There is no point in Christian experience more settled 
 than this, that there is an intimate connexion between 
 enjoyment in closet devotions, and their return at regular 
 seasons. The best writers on the subject say so. De- 
 
ON SPIRITUAL HABITS. 231 
 
 vout Christians, learned and unlearned, say so. Our 
 own experience says so. 
 
 If you would form such spiritual habits then as shall 
 promote your progress in personal religion, draw a 
 sacred enclosure around your hallowed seasons of retire- 
 ment, to preserve them from interruption. To accom- 
 plish this, your times of secret devotion should be so 
 chosen as not to interfere with other duties : 1 mean such 
 duties as stated, social devotions, exercise, voluntary 
 associations, and study. Your chief danger, probably, 
 will be found under the last particular. For the sake 
 of study, especially when hard pressed, you will be liable 
 sometimes to attempt a compromise with conscience, for 
 the neglect of your closet. The Christian merchant, 
 mechanic, or farmer, knows that such a compromise, for 
 the sake of mere secular business, would be sinful: but 
 the Christian student, all whose business is sacred, may 
 more easily fall into this temptation. Take care then 
 that no pressure of study shall become an apology for 
 omitting your regular devotions. Whenever you feel 
 inclined to waver on this point, take care lest your spiri- 
 tual habits be utterly supplanted. Think of Daniel, 
 prime minister of Persia, with the affairs of one hundred 
 and twenty provinces resting on his mind, yet finding 
 time to go ' into his chamber three times a day, that he 
 might pray and give thanks to God.' Think of Alfred, 
 encompassed with the cares of monarchy ; of Luther, 
 buffeted by the storms of Papal wrath ; of Thornton, 
 encompassed with a thousand mercantile engagements, 
 yet never allowing the hurry of business to intrude on 
 their regular hours of devotion. 
 
 Next to regularity in spiritual habits, I would urge 
 consistency. The most nutritious food would not pre- 
 serve him in health, who should mingle with it daily, a 
 
232 ON SPIRITUAL HABITS. 
 
 little portion of some deadly drug. So the man who is 
 regular in his devotions, but is accustomed to violate his 
 conscience in other things ; such as remissness in observ- 
 ing the sanctity of the sabbath ; indulgence of colloquial 
 habits, that cherish levity and frivolity of temper ; 
 unkind and censorious remarks respecting his brethren ; 
 or any other practice that is decidedly wrong, may have 
 some grace, perhaps, notwithstanding these inconsisten- 
 cies, but he will not grow in grace. 
 
 Vigilant and faithful self -inspection is also indispen- 
 sable. Without this you may be a backslider, and may 
 have been so for months, and yet not be aware of your 
 condition. Doubtless there is in our profession, from the 
 peculiar relations which we sustain to those around us, a 
 lamentable tendency to live upon some old hope, taking 
 it for granted that we are Christians, without sufficient 
 daily evidence that it is so. In this way probably not a 
 few, whose profession and business it has been to promote 
 the salvation of others, will fail of salvation themselves. 
 Constant vigilance too is necessary to theological stu- 
 dents, in sustaining their spiritual habits, from the fact 
 that they have so much to do with the theory of religion, 
 and the investigation of speculative difficulties ; that they 
 study and talk about the Bible as a class-book ; study 
 for the ultimate benefit of others> not the direct benefit 
 of themselves. Hence they are liable to rest in an 
 intellectual religion in distinction from the simple piety 
 of plain Christians. 
 
 Again, the success of a theological student in culti- 
 vating spiritual habits, depends much on the helps to 
 devotional feeling 1 which he employs. For this end, 
 besides the stated reading of the Scriptures in the common 
 
 1 Note (16.) 
 
PROGRESS IN STUDY. 233 
 
 version, which will be less likely than the originals to 
 induce philological inquiries, I would urge the daily 
 reading more or less of the best devotional books. 
 
 I have room to glance only at one more particular ; as 
 to the formation of spiritual habits, namely, the motives 
 by which you are governed, in theological studies. Just 
 so far as you " walk with God" in the closet, you will 
 have an abiding sense of his presence through the day, 
 controlling and sanctifying all your pursuits. You will 
 feel your dependence upon God, and study with a view 
 to his glory, and thus will make such arrangement of 
 duties, that your time will turn to the best account. 
 But if you neglect your closet, God will gradually be 
 supplanted in your affections, by undue regard to self. 
 Some form of unhallowed ambition will gain possession 
 of your heart, will lead to undue reliance for usefulness, 
 upon your own genius or acquisitions ; and set up as the 
 chief object of your studies, an ultimate regard to your 
 own reputation or interest or influence, and not to the 
 glory of God. l 
 
 1 'The solidly-learned, the studious, and well-furnished man is 
 but the unshapen mass from which the Christian minister is formed. 
 The plastic energy — the quickening influence of the Almighty Spirit 
 is still needed to put light, life, and motion, into the inert substance ; 
 to mould it into his image, and to make it a " vessel of honour, meet 
 for the Master's use." Nor must it be denied, that these studious 
 habits, to which we have attributed considerable importance, are 
 attended with proportionate temptations. Any enlargement of intel- 
 lectual knowledge has a natural tendency to add fuel to the fire of our 
 self-importance. The habit of study growing into a passion, may 
 crave indulgence at the expense of conscience or propriety, by pre- 
 occupying the time that belongs to duties of equal moment. Much, 
 however, of apprehended danger will be repelled by the regulation of 
 a sound judgment, and a spiritual mind, in directing these studies to 
 the main end of the ministry. A minister should remember that 
 himself with all his studies is consecrated to the service of the sane- 
 
234 PROGRESS IN STUDY. 
 
 But I must proceed to the other branch of this Lecture, 
 namely, progress in study, on which my remarks 
 must be more extended. 
 
 When St. Paul says to Timothy that a bishop should 
 not be a novice, there is a figurative allusion in the origi- 
 nal word, that is very significant. Literally the expres- 
 sion is, " not an infant." It denotes that want of 
 knowledge or skill which we see in a new born child, 
 that would certainly fail of success, if set to accomplish 
 any work requiring the strength and intelligence of a 
 man. There is a secondary sense too, that is scarcely 
 less pertinent. It refers to a tree or plant recently set in 
 the earth, which has not had time to become rooted, and 
 is easily disturbed by the wind or any external violence. 
 The meaning is, that a Christian minister ought not only 
 to be mature in religious experience, but to have a sound, 
 well-furnished understanding. Both these requisites he 
 needs, lest being inflated with pride, he fall into the con- 
 demnation of the devil. That stability of character 
 which can resist temptation, and qualify a man to be a 
 guide in the church, must come from fixed religious 
 opinions, grounded on a thorough acquaintance with 
 divine truth. The apostle, that he might be certainly 
 
 tuary. Let every thing be done therefore with a view to one great 
 end. Let all the rest of our knowledge be like lines drawn from the 
 vast circumference of universal nature, pointing to that divine centre, 
 God and religion.' — Bridges. 
 
 ' Not to read or study at all, is to tempt God ; and to do nothing 
 but study, is to forget the ministry ; to study, only to glory in one's 
 knowledge is a shameful vanity : to study in search of the means to 
 flatter sinners, a deplorable prevarication; but to store one's mind 
 with the knowledge proper to the saints by study and by prayer, and 
 to diffuse that knowledge in solid instructions, and practical exhorta- 
 tions, — this is to be a prudent, zealous, and laborious Minister.' 
 
 Quesnej.. 
 
PROGRESS IN STUDY. 235 
 
 understood on this subject, often exhorts Timothy to 
 diligence in reading, and meditation, and study of the 
 Scriptures, the great store-house of divine knowledge ; 
 through which the minister might become fnrnished for 
 his work. 
 
 In remarking on this subject then, I would advance no 
 theories that are extravagant, none that are new — none 
 indeed that are not sanctioned by apostolic authority. 
 Let any man (if in this age of light there is any man, 
 who advocates the cause of clerical ignorance,) read the 
 epistles to Timothy and Titus, and then answer this plain 
 question ; did a teacher of religion, who had the gift of 
 inspiration to understand the scriptures, and the gift of 
 tongues to preach — a teacher too, born amid the scenery 
 and customs described in the Bible, and familiar with the 
 language in which important parts of it were written — 
 did he need the aid of study to qualify him for his work ? 
 and can a man, who has not one of all these advantages, 
 be qualified for the same work, ivithout study ? How is 
 he to know what is in the Bible, till he has studied the 
 Bible ? and how can he study the Bible, so as to have, 
 concerning what is peculiar in its language, local allusions 
 and usages, the knowledge requisite for a public teacher, 
 without much reading of other books ? 
 
 Now the positions which I would take to show the 
 connexion between intellectual furniture and success in a 
 minister are these four ; — a man must have knowledge 
 himself, before he can teach others ; — he must have 
 capacity to learn, before he can acquire knowledge ; he 
 must have time to learn ; and he must have instruction. 
 The first is self-evident. The second admits no diversity 
 of opinion, except as to the degree of native talent, 
 which is necessary to a minister. Concerning this too, 
 all will agree thus far, that the highest powers of genius 
 
236 PROGRESS IN STUDY. 
 
 may find ample scope in this work ; and that on the 
 other hand, decided weakness of intellect is a disqualifi- 
 cation. Good sense he must have; but brilliant powers 
 are by no means indispensable. 
 
 It is self-evident too, that he must have time to learn, 
 before he can hope for success in his work. Common 
 sense decides so, in regard to all acquisitions which are 
 to be made by study. In the first schools of Europe, 
 established for the two great professions, law and 
 medicine, the period of study is three, four, and in 
 some cases, Jive years, superadded to an academical 
 education. In the same departments, three years of 
 professional study is made a legal requisite in different 
 parts of our own country. But is the care of men's 
 immortal interests a business that demands less maturity 
 of preparation than that of their bodies or estates? Is 
 the interpretation of the sacred oracles, and the preaching 
 of the everlasting gospel, so trifling an affair, that it may 
 be safely left to any novice who chooses to undertake it ? 
 Plainly, he cannot be a successful teacher in the church 
 of God, who has not had time to learn. The knowledge 
 that he needs is to be gained, not by intuition, not by 
 inspiration, not by any ' royal road,* but by patient 
 long-continued study. Solomon has told him all the 
 secret of gaining this knowledge ; he must dig for it as 
 for hidden treasures. 1 
 
 1 * If knowledge is not to be despised, then it will follow that the 
 means of obtaining it are not to be neglected, viz. study ; and that 
 this is of great use in order to a preparation for publicly instructing 
 others. And though having the heart full of the powerful influ- 
 ences of the Spirit of God, may at some times enable persons to speak 
 profitably, yea, very excellently without study, yet this will not 
 warrant us needlessly to cast ourselves down from the pinnacle of 
 the temple, depending upon it, that the angel of the I^ord will bear 
 
PROGRESS IN STUDY. 237 
 
 Need I add that he must have instruction ? Not a 
 few young men of bright promise, who might have be- 
 come champions of the truth, have been so impatient to 
 hasten into the ministry, that they have fatally blighted 
 their own prospects; and instead of attaining to dis- 
 tinguished success, have scarcely reached the point of 
 mediocrity. The minister now, whose maxim is to ex- 
 pect little things, and attempt little things, mistakes the 
 day in which he lives. What was knowledge in the 
 thirteenth century, is ignorance now. What was energy 
 then, is imbecility and stupidity now. As was said in 
 another case, it becomes not our sacred profession in this 
 period of intellectual progress, to remain like the ship 
 that is moored to its station, only to mark the rapidity 
 of the current that is sweeping- by. Let the intelligence 
 of the age outstrip us and leave us behind, and religion 
 would sink, with its teachers into insignificance. Igno- 
 rance cannot wield this intelligence. Give to the church 
 a feeble ministry, and the world breaks from your hold ; 
 your main spring of moral influence is gone. 
 
 Would you then become burning and shining lights in 
 the church of God, study — indefatigable, systematic 
 study, is essential to the attainment of your object. 
 
 us up, and keep us from dashing our foot against a stone, when there 
 is another way to go down, though it be not so quick.' — Edwards- 
 
 ' How few read enough to stock their minds ? and the mind is no 
 widow's cruise, which fills with knowledge as fast as we empty it. 
 Why should a clergyman labour less than a barrister ? since in spirit- 
 ual things, as well as temporal, it is " the hand of the diligent which 
 maketh rich." ' — Bickersteth. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 ON THE DELIVERY OF SERMONS. 
 BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 One of the most important subjects connected with 
 preaching, which Dr. Porter has omitted to notice in 
 his Lectures, is that which relates to the delivery 
 of sermons. The Editor is by no means insensible to the 
 indifference which is frequently attached by preachers 
 themselves to the manner in which they deliver their 
 discourses from the pulpit : but when he has noticed the 
 effect produced by the preaching of such individuals, 
 however distinguished for their piety, their zeal, or their 
 talents, he has generally perceived symptoms of inatten- 
 tion, and a want of interest in their discourses, on the part 
 of their congregations. It is mortifying indeed to think 
 how many excellent sermons, fraught with wisdom, and 
 piety, with depth of argument, and beauty of style, are 
 vainly scattered, as it were, to the winds, every Sabbath 
 in the year, for want of that attention to their delivery 
 from the pulpit, which alone can ensure the attention 
 of the hearers. It is quite irrelevant to plead the doe- 
 trine of human corruption, and the alienation of the 
 
240 APPENDIX. 
 
 natural heart from God, and thus to account for the 
 inattention of a congregation. That corruption and that 
 alienation remain precisely the same, whether they are 
 addressed in a lively, natural, energetic manner, or in a 
 manner exactly the reverse : but whilst in the latter 
 case they will generally be found inattentive and in- 
 different, in the former they will appear to be interested 
 and alive to the subject. God works by * means,' and 
 generally by the means best adapted to the end. He 
 makes use of the talents with which he endows his minis- 
 tering servants ; and if of the talent of composing, why not 
 of the equally important talent of delivering a discourse ? 
 u Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
 God. But how shall they hear without a preacher," 
 who studies to make himself heard, and to deliver his 
 message in a manner calculated at once to awaken and 
 rivet their attention ? 
 
 The Editor would here premise that many of the 
 following observations should be reduced to practice, 
 if possible, before the sacred student assumes the charac- 
 ter and station of a preacher. It is with delivery as with 
 composition, there should be previous discipline and 
 preparation. As in the one case the style should be 
 already formed so as to require little or no attention from 
 the writer, whilst expressing his thoughts on paper, so 
 in the other, a happy and vigorous species of elocution, 
 should be attained before the preacher ascends the 
 pulpit, where he must become absorbed at once with 
 the grandeur and importance of his subject. It happens, 
 however, in numerous instances, that young men enter 
 on the work of the ministry without having had their 
 attention at all directed to this subject, and in conse- 
 quence not only feel a considerable embarrassment in the 
 pulpit, but frequently fall into an unnatural, a^nd to say 
 
APPENDIX. 241 
 
 the least, an uninteresting manner of addressing their 
 audience. 
 
 Unhappily the study of elocution is not only unpro- 
 vided for in the preparatory exercises of candidates for 
 orders, but even labours under a considerable degree of 
 reproach which it by no means deserves. Hence it has 
 become almost a proverb, that ' the English Clergy are 
 the best writers of sermons, and the worst readers of 
 them in all Christendom.' This censure is doubtless 
 much exaggerated, as antithetical proverbs usually are : 
 yet it is very certain that our country is not remarkable 
 for general eloquence, and that in the Church it is less 
 visible than either in the Senate or at the Bar. Much 
 of the disesteem in which the cultivation of this useful 
 talent is held, arises from a false supposition that by 
 eloquence is meant an affected and artificial manner 
 of speaking : or, what is worse, the mere trick of 
 ' making the worse appear the better reason,' by the 
 blandishments of a meretricious oratory. From such 
 eloquence may we ever be preserved ! But the elo- 
 quence which arises from an appropriate unsophisticated 
 mode of speaking — and which not merely tunes the 
 organ of speech to an agreeable modulation, but allows 
 the speaker to follow the dictates of nature in reciting 
 energetically what he feels strongly — deserves to be 
 assiduously cultivated. 
 
 But another current, and far more weighty objection to 
 the cultivation of just elocution by young men intended 
 for the sacred profession, is, that it is inconsistent with 
 the simplicity and sincerity of their vocation as ministers 
 of Christ. St. Paul is often quoted as an authority to 
 decide this question : and because he abjured " the 
 enticing words of man's wisdom," and " determined to 
 know nothing among men but Jesus Christ, and him 
 
 M 
 
242 APPENDIX. 
 
 crucified; " it is argued, that the rules of forcible com- 
 position and just enunciation are unbecoming the stude- 
 nt a Christian teacher ? But it is very clear, that-the 
 reprobation expressed by the apostle was levelled at that 
 spurious oratory which prevailed both among the Greeks 
 and the Romans at the time when he wrote, and has 
 nothing to do with a sober view of the present question. 
 Many of the classic rhetoricians, it is well known, taught 
 little else than dialectic subtilty and sophistry : too 
 often they instructed their pupils how to speak either for 
 or against a question, without any reference to truth or 
 moral feeling; and were content with the triumph of 
 their art, independently of any valuable end to be ob- 
 tained by its exertion. It was against such practices 
 that the great apostle of the Gentiles so zealously 
 remonstrated. Very different was his own style of 
 eloquence, " not with wisdom of words," but " in 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Yet who 
 was a greater master of true eloquence ? Who knew 
 better how to ' convince and persuade? ' * Who felt his 
 subject more deeply, or knew how to convey his con- 
 ceptions more forcibly to others ? ' l 
 
 But whilst the Editor feels the importance of directing 
 the attention of the young preacher to a subject too 
 frequently neglected and contemned by those whom it 
 chiefly concerns, he almost shrinks from the delicate and 
 difficult task of offering suitable direction and advice. 
 It is in vain, however, to wish that the task had fallen 
 into abler hands, and that the grave propoundcr had been 
 at the same time, the successful exemplar of his rules. 
 He cannot pretend to construct any new system of in- 
 struction, or to enter into any elaborate discussion. The 
 
 1 Wilkes's Correlative Claims. 
 
APPENDIX. 243 
 
 utmost at which he aims, is to offer a few practical 
 directions which occur to him as the result of his read- 
 ing, his observation of other preachers, and his own 
 experience during- a ministry of nearly twenty years 
 standing". 
 
 The first direction which he would suggest is of a 
 preliminary, but most important character, viz. that 
 pains should be taken to acquire the art, and cultivate 
 the habit of READING WELL. 
 
 To read in silence so as to understand the meaning of 
 an author, and thereby to increase our intellectual stores 
 is one thing ; to read aloud so as to unfold that meaning, 
 and communicate that knowledge to our hearers with 
 perspicuity and force is another. The former is an 
 attainment which is almost universal — the latter is pos- 
 sessed by comparatively few. But whilst the number 
 who can aspire to read remarkably well, involving as it 
 does a rare combination of physical and mental qualifi- 
 cations, will always be small, there is no room for 
 discouragement. Between mediocrity and perfection, 
 there is a wide interval, in which various degrees of 
 excellence may be attained by the diligent and observant 
 student. There are not wanting many valuable treatises 
 on the art, among which may be specially mentioned 
 those of Sheridan and Walker. But written rules alone 
 will not suffice : there must be added the example of a 
 ' living voice.' Let the young student then notice and 
 remember the manner in which a good reader proceeds. 
 
 Let him mark the distinctness of his articulation, the 
 propriety of his emphasis, the correctness of his pronun- 
 ciation, the ease and force with which he completes 
 every sentence which drops from his lips. Then, if he 
 possesses a tolerable ear, he will be able to enter with 
 intelligence and interest into the written directions of the 
 
 M 2 
 
244 APPENDIX. 
 
 rhetorician. A considerable part of the task of learning 
 to read well, will be found to consist in unlearning to 
 read ill. Bad habits, begun probably in the nursery, 
 increased at school, and perpetuated at the University, 
 are like a threefold cord, not easily broken. Before, 
 indeed, the attempt can be made, the individual must 
 become acquainted with his own peculiar faults. Let 
 him seek then to have them pointed out to him whilst he 
 is young — whilst his organs of speech are pliable, and his 
 habits have not yet assumed the character of a second 
 nature. 
 
 With this view he should request some judicious friend 
 to remind him from time to time of any impropriety into 
 which he may fall when he reads before him in public or 
 in private. * Tell me,' he should say, ' not only when 
 I fail to convey to you the true meaning of my author, 
 but every instance in which 1 pronounce a word im- 
 properly, or lay a false emphasis. Mark also my tones 
 and inflexions, my pauses, and pitch of voice, and fail 
 not to apprize me in every instance of what appears 
 unnatural, or stiff, or feeble, or affected. ' His friend's 
 compliance with such requests as these will prove, 
 perhaps at first, a source of considerable surprize, if not 
 of some little mortification ; for, strange as it may seem, 
 whilst few men read well, there are still fewer who think 
 they read ill : and none are commonly so unconscious 
 of their imperfections as those in whom they most abound. 
 But let him not be discouraged by the long catalogue 
 which may be presented to him of his rhetorical delin- 
 quencies : ' to understand the disease is more than half 
 the cure.' Let him proceed at once to the necessary 
 task of eradicating every fault which has been pointed 
 out to him, and of supplying every defect. By the 
 exercise of vigilant self-inspection and persevering efforts 
 
APPENDIX. 245 
 
 in compliance with the rules of some well written work 
 on Elocution, he will, in all probability, soon acquire 
 the ability to read comparatively well. 
 
 But let him not suppose when he has arrived at a 
 considerable measure of excellence in the art of reading, 
 that he has nothing more to acquire with a view to pulpit 
 delivery. True, it is an important, not to say, indispen- 
 sable preliminary ; but it is only a preliminary. Read- 
 ing is not preaching. A sermon may be read from the 
 pulpit with much propriety and correctness — there may 
 be no false quantities, nor provincial accents, nor erro- 
 neous emphasis — the tones may be agreeable, the inflex- 
 ions correct, the harmony of every sentence carefully 
 preserved— and yet after all, the sermon may not have 
 been preached, it may not have conveyed for one mo- 
 ment the idea suggested by the term employed by our 
 Lord and his apostles, Kripvypa, a proclamation, a mes- 
 sage of importance from a Sovereign to his people. The 
 distinction is not between the delivery of written and un- 
 written discourses, but between the mere reading of a 
 written sermon, and the preaching of a written sermon. 
 An ex-temporary discourse may be as remote from 
 preaching, as the tamest and most uninteresting reading 
 of one previously composed : for if there be no life- 
 stirring sympathy between the words and affections of the 
 speaker, it is at best but the cold essay of a fluent 
 tongue. The preacher is a Kypvi; — an ambassador, a 
 herald ; and he bears with him tidings in which he is 
 most deeply and intimately concerned in common with 
 those to whom he announces them ; hence, whether his 
 sermon be written or unwritten, he preaches it — he pro- 
 claims it — he publishes it abroad with corresponding life 
 and energy. There is, in short, a reality in the matter 
 to which mere reading, however excellent or even fault- 
 
246 APPENDIX. 
 
 less, cannot attain. The preacher must convey his dis- 
 course, not from his manuscript merely, nor from the 
 tablet of a retentive memory, but from an enlightened 
 and approving understanding- — from a heart warm with 
 love to him from whom he receives the tidings, and to 
 those to whom he conveys them. With this view he 
 should make special preparation for the pulpit every 
 time he is called upon to enter it. It is not enough that 
 he prepare a suitable discourse whether written or un- 
 written ; he must prepare himself also to deliver it in a 
 suitable manner. He should endeavour, in the first 
 place, to make himself perfectly familiar with what he 
 has written, by reading it over several times, and so far 
 to fix it in his memory, as to free himself from that 
 slavish dependence upon his manuscript, which would 
 keep his eye continually fixed upon its pages. 
 
 In the next place he should endeavour to get his heart 
 deeply interested in the truths which he is thus prepared 
 to promulgate : he should ' mark, learn, and inwardly 
 digest them,' with a view to his own spiritual edification. 
 He should adopt, in short, the laudable practice of 
 Philip Henry, who invariably preached every sermon 
 to himself in private, before he ventured to preach it 
 in public to his congregation. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary perhaps to add, in the third 
 place, that devout prayer for the special blessing of God 
 to accompany his efforts should always precede his 
 entrance into the pulpit. The uniform experience of 
 Christian Ministers goes to prove the truth of the testi- 
 mony " bene praedicasse est bene orasse." Of many of 
 the most eminent preachers whose lives have been handed 
 down to posterity, it is recorded that they loved to pass 
 at once from the closet to the pulpit — from pleading- with 
 God to pleading with immortal souls. 
 
APPENDIX. 247 
 
 Thus prepared, as it respects both himself and his 
 subject, he may humbly but confidently rely on the 
 blessing of God, and enter the pulpit in the spirit of 
 one commissioned from on high to " stand between the 
 living and the dead." And there let him again lift up 
 his heart in ejaculatory prayer during the few moments 
 which precede the announcement of his text, that he 
 may be freed from that " fear of man which bringeth a 
 snare" and from that love of human praise which would 
 marr the costliest offering which could be presented to 
 an omniscient and heart-searching God. 
 
 In the announcement of his text, the preacher should 
 be deliberate and distinct ; and in a similar manner he 
 should, for the most part, commence his sermon. There 
 should be a sensible pause also between the announce- 
 ment of the text and the opening of the discourse, not 
 only for the purpose of giving time to the congregation 
 to refer to the passage in the sacred volume, but also to 
 avoid all appearance of precipitancy and haste. Few 
 things indeed are more important to be guarded against 
 at the commencement of a sermon than an agitated or 
 hurried manner, for nothing tends more effectually to 
 raise in the minds of the audience a suspicion that there 
 is no depth of feeling, or of thought in the preacher — 
 that his object is rather to get through his sermon than 
 to enlighten their understandings or affect their hearts. 
 He should both be, and appear to be, deeply impressed 
 with the importance of his subject, and should enter 
 upon it in a calm and becoming manner. 
 
 Much of this hurried appearance is doubtless to be 
 attributed to a constitutional nervousness of temperament ; 
 but in most cases it may be effectually overcome by 
 persevering efforts. Self-possession, though natural to 
 some, may to a certain degree be attained by all. The 
 
248 APPENDIX. 
 
 best spiritual remedy is that suggested by Mr. Cecil, 
 who was wont to say, ' that a realizing sense of the 
 divine presence would annihilate a large congregation, 
 and ennoble a small one.' 
 
 During the exordium, the pitch of his voice should 
 be rather lower than that which is to characterize the 
 rest of the sermon ; only let him take care to be suf- 
 ficiently loud to be distinctly heard by the whole of the 
 assembly. This is the more necessary to be observed 
 inasmuch as the voice has a natural tendency to rise to a 
 higher pitch as the speaker proceeds with his discourse. 
 
 And here it may be remarked, that much of the 
 comfort, both of preacher and hearers, will depend 
 throughout on the proper pitch and management of the 
 voice. There are three distinct scales, or gradations of 
 voice, which every one may notice in himself and others, 
 — the high, the low, and the middle. The high pitch 
 is employed when we speak, or rather shout, to a per- 
 son at a considerable distance from us. The low pitch, 
 on the contrary, is directed towards those in immediate 
 contact with us, and approaches almost to a whisper. 
 Between these extremes is that most agreeable and 
 ample range of voice which may be called the middle 
 pitch, and out of the boundaries of which the preacher 
 should seldom, if ever, permit himself to stray. It is 
 in fact that division or scale of voice, which is the 
 vehicle of our ordinary conversation in the social circle, 
 and which admits of the utmost variety, not only of 
 tone and inflexion, but of softness and strength. * It is 
 erroneous to suppose that the highest pitch of voice is 
 requisite to be well heard by a large assembly. This 
 is confounding two things materially different, loudness, 
 or strength of sound with the key-note of which 
 we speak. The voice may be rendered louder with- 
 
APPENDIX. 249 
 
 out altering the key ; and the speaker will always 
 be able to give most body — most persevering force 
 of sound— to that pitch of voice to which in con- 
 versation he is accustomed; whereas, if he begin on 
 the highest pitch of his voice, he will fatigue himself, 
 and speak with pain ; and whenever a man speaks with 
 pain, he is always heard with pain by his audience. To 
 the voice, therefore, may be given full strength and 
 swell of sound, but it should always be pitched on the 
 ordinary speaking key. A greater quantity of voice 
 should never be uttered, than can be afforded without 
 pain, and without any extraordinary effort. To be well 
 heard, it is useful for a speaker to direct his eyes occa- 
 sionally to some of the most distant persons in the 
 assembly, and to consider himself as speaking to them. 
 We naturally and mechanically express our words with 
 such a degree of strength, as to be heard by one to whom 
 we address ourselves, provided he be within the reach of our 
 voice. This will be the case in public speaking, as well 
 as in common conversation. But it must be remembered 
 that speaking too loud is peculiarly offensive. The ear 
 is wouuded when the voice comes upon it in rumbling 
 indistinct masses : besides it appears as if assent were 
 demanded by mere vehemence and force of sound. Dis- 
 tinctness of articulation is far more conducive to being 
 well heard and clearly understood, than mere loudness 
 of sound. The quantity of sound requisite to fill even a 
 large space, is less than is generally supposed, and with 
 distinct articulation, a man of a weak voice will make 
 it extend further than the strongest voice can reach 
 without it. This therefore demands peculiar attention. 
 Many instances occur in common life, of people, who, 
 though hard of hearing, prefer to be spoken to with a 
 moderate than a loud tone of voice. The speaker must 
 
 M 5 
 
250 APPENDIX. 
 
 give every sound which he utters its due proportion, and 
 make every syllable to be heard distinctly. To succeed 
 in this, a rapidity of pronunciation must be avoided. To 
 pronounce with a proper degree of slowness, and with 
 full and clear articulation, cannot be too industriously 
 studied, or too earnestly recommended. Such a pro- 
 nunciation gives wings and dignity to language. It 
 assists the voice by the pauses and rests which it permits 
 it more easily to make, and enables the speaker to swell 
 all his sounds both with more energy and more music. 
 He may by this means also preserve a due command 
 over himself, and avoid that flutter of spirits produced by 
 a rapid and hurried manner which is destructive to all 
 due impression on the minds of the audience.' 1 
 
 But one of the worst, and at the same time most 
 common faults, against which the preacher should sedu- 
 lously guard, is monotony. A uniform sameness of tone 
 in the delivery of a sermon, will infallibly weaken, if not 
 destroy the attention of the most devout audience, and 
 if the attention be lost, all will be lost. Displeasing as 
 eccentricity of manner doubtless is, it is by no means so 
 injurious to a preacher's usefulness, as that decent and 
 respectable, but dull and soporific monotony which 
 inspires indeed no disgust, but awakens at the same time 
 no one emotion of the mind. Surely any kind of deli- 
 very which is not absolutely repulsive, and which keeps 
 up the attention of the audience, is preferable to the 
 most pleasing and gentle tone, which by its unvarying 
 uniformity lulls asleep. 
 
 It is consoling, however, to know that this cardinal 
 fault may in every case be corrected where vigilance and 
 resolution are put in exercise. The speaker has only to 
 
 1 Blah's Rhetoric. 
 
APPENDIX. 251 
 
 ask himself the question from time to time, ' With what 
 tone, or in what manner should I naturally utter this 
 sentiment in serious conversation with a friend ? ' This 
 is precisely the tone, and for the most part the manner 
 which become also the pulpit. Nothing is more mis- 
 taken than the notion, that in the delivery of our ser- 
 mons, our ordinary mode of speaking is to be abandoned, 
 and that we are to assume some plaintive, stately, or 
 pompous tone, which is at once unnatural to us, and 
 uninteresting to our hearers. In extemporary preaching, 
 there is considerably less danger of falling into this error ; 
 and hence the principal cause of its acknowledged supe- 
 riority in awakening attention. But why should the 
 written sermon be allowed to operate so unfavourably on 
 the tone and manner of the preacher ? Why should he 
 regard his manuscript as anything more than a remem- 
 brancer, or fail to realize the thought that he is not 
 reading an essay with which he has no concern, but 
 conveying to his hearers, his own sentiments and feelings 
 with as much truth and reality, and heartfelt sincerity, 
 as can possibly be felt by the most extemporaneous 
 preacher. 
 
 The same general direction will be found applicable 
 to most other faults in the delivery of sermons from the 
 pulpit, and equally serviceable in assisting the preacher 
 to attain the manner most natural and easy to himself. 
 For after all the rules which the Elocutionist and Rhe- 
 torician can devise, there is no one direction so material 
 to the improvement of the speaker as this, of forming the 
 tones and inflexions of public speaking upon those of 
 sensible and animated conversation. Most men when 
 engaged in speaking with others on subjects of mutual 
 interest, will give utterance to their sentiments in the 
 tones and cadences of natural eloquence. Let the 
 
252 APPENDIX. 
 
 preacher then bear in mind that whether he is discussing 
 a topic of considerable interest in his own parlour in the 
 company of a few friends, or addressing a large assembly 
 from the pulpit, he still speaks, and should preserve the 
 manner and appearance of speaking, and the tones and 
 modulations of voice which are natural to him. How 
 much of the propriety, the force, and the interest of a 
 discourse must depend on such modulations will appear 
 from this single consideration, that to almost every senti- 
 ment we utter, and every emotion we profess to feel, 
 nature has adapted some peculiar tone of voice ; inso- 
 much that he who without that corresponding tone 
 should tell another, that he was grieved or anxious, 
 or displeased, or afraid, would be so far from being- 
 believed, that he would probably be considered as 
 speaking ironically. Sympathy is one of the most 
 powerful principles by which persuasive discourse is made 
 instrumental in operating on the human mind. The 
 speaker endeavours to transfuse into the minds of his 
 hearers his own sentiments and emotions: which he can 
 never be successful in doing, unless he utters them in 
 such a manner as to convince the audience that he feels 
 them. The proper expression of tones, therefore, deserves 
 to be attentively considered by every one who aims with 
 the blessing of God to be a successful pleader with 
 immortal souls. 
 
 , Much also of the force of delivery will depend upon 
 the judicious use ot'jKiuses, of which there are two kinds. 
 The first, or ordinary pause, is that which takes place at 
 the close of divisions, paragraphs, sentences, or even 
 parts of sentences, with a view to the sense. The other, 
 or extraordinary pause, is used in an arbitrary manner 
 before certain emphatic words depending altogether for 
 its success upon the taste and judgment of the speaker. 
 
APPENDIX. 253 
 
 The pause to be observed at the close of a general 
 head or division of a discourse should be of considerable 
 length. Two important purposes will be answered by 
 it : the attention of the hearer will be recruited by a 
 short but complete repose; and the continuity of sound 
 having been broken, the preacher will be able to descend 
 with greater ease into the ordinary pitch of his voice, 
 should he have previously risen to a higher elevation, or 
 have closed the preceding division in a declamatory or 
 pathetic strain. 
 
 On the subject of action, or gesture, little more need 
 be said than that it should be natural and simple. The 
 delivery of written sermons obviously admits of less 
 action than extemporary preaching; but it is far from 
 prohibiting it altogether. Awkwardness, affectation, 
 and excess, are the three dangers to be shunned. The 
 Preacher should for the most part, stand erect in the 
 pulpit : it is at once the most natural and dignified 
 posture, and at the same time the most conducive to the 
 proper management of his voice and manner. He should 
 carefully guard against the awkward habit of raising and 
 lowering the head simultaneously with the action of the 
 eyes in glancing at the manuscript before him. Few 
 things tend more powerfully than this to give the delivery 
 of a sermon the air and appearance of mere reading, and 
 to divest it altogether of the character of preaching. 
 Necessity requires that in the use of a manuscript the 
 eyes should be withdrawn from time to time to the 
 cushion : but in no other respect should he permit his 
 delivery to be less natural or interesting than that of the 
 extemporary speaker. 
 
 To the few simple rules which the Editor has thus 
 ventured to suggest with a view to assist his younger 
 brethren in the ministry in their laudable endeavours to 
 
254 APPENDIX. 
 
 obtain an unexceptionable and forcible delivery, he 
 would add one caution. He would earnestly warn 
 every one against giving way to the too frequent conse- 
 quence of discouragement — the abandonment of all 
 attempts at improvement. A rigid attention to rules 
 will at first, doubtless, be irksome and unpleasant : it 
 will distract probably the attention of the young preacher 
 from subjects in themselves of far greater importance. 
 But this will be only for a short time : what is at first 
 distracting and constrained, becomes, after a little prac- 
 tice, natural and free. Perseverance will be found, with 
 God's blessing, to overcome every ordinary obstacle; 
 and good delivery will become so habitual, that instead 
 of proving detrimental to the spirituality of the preacher, 
 it will rather tend to promote it. He will experience 
 fresh delight in his pulpit duties, and by observing the 
 increased and increasing attention of his hearers, he will 
 be stimulated with stronger desires to benefit their souls. 
 
II. 
 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES, PHYSIOLOGICAL, MENTAL, AND 
 GRAMMATICAL, — OF ORAL DELIVERY. 
 
 FROM THE CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. 
 
 If the practice of elocution had improved in proportion 
 to the number of books which have been written upon it, 
 it would long ago have attained no slight degree of 
 advancement. Yet to this hour how few public speak- 
 ers deliver themselves even passably well ; and how rare 
 is it to find one who, with the higher intellectual quali- 
 ties of composition, combines the elocutionary aids of 
 strength, melody, harmony, expression, and the numerous 
 legitimate graces which constitute a pleasing and impres- 
 sive address? Such being the fact, what are the causes 
 of the deficiency ? 
 
 The first and most obvious cause is, that, among the 
 large body of persons who are professionally called upon 
 to speak in public, comparatively few devote them- 
 selves, as an important portion of their early training, to 
 the diligent study of elocution. Most of the treatises 
 which are likely to fall into the hands of a student, are 
 rather calculated to teach the art of composition than 
 that of speaking : they are treatises on eloquence, not 
 elocution ; rhetoric, not delivery : so that what the 
 ancients considered the first, the second, and the third 
 
 1 January, 1835. 
 
256 APPENDIX. 
 
 requisite in eloquence, call it " pronunciation," or 
 " delivery," or by whatever name, is almost entirely 
 neglected. That it should be so neglected is astonishing, 
 if we consider its importance to every public speaker. 
 Were half the labour bestowed upon the cultivation of 
 solid manly elocution, which is given to attainments of 
 far inferior value, many a public speaker would be ren- 
 dered audible, impressive, and interesting, who is at 
 present unable, with large mental powers and excellent 
 matter, to command common attention. Men of reading 
 are so much and so justly in the habit of bestowing their 
 chief solicitude upon the intrinsic value of what they 
 utler, that they are apt to neglect the mechanical part 
 of their office. They are perhaps even disgusted at 
 witnessing* the admiration often lavished on the most 
 jejune compositions delivered with agreeable fluency, 
 and they rather despise, than wish to attain, what they 
 consider only a passport to vain popularity. Yet surely 
 it does not become a wise man to neglect any guileless 
 instrument of usefulness. The musical composer does 
 not think it sufficient to write good music ; he knows 
 that it requires to be skilfully performed : and the same 
 applies to every species of public address. 
 
 Another cause of the neglect of the art of public 
 speaking, at least among many students for Holy 
 Orders, is an idea, as intimated in the above query, that 
 it involves something not simple, natural, and congenial 
 to Christian simplicity. Now if this were the case, 
 the objection would, to every religious mind, be fatal 
 to the study. But no reason can be shewn why a 
 student should not pay attention to his delivery as much 
 as to his composition ; or why he should not avoid bad 
 elocution as much as bad grammar. The monitory de- 
 nunciations of St. Paul against enticing words of 
 
APPENDIX. 257 
 
 man's wisdom, apply to the subtle artifices or shewy 
 ornaments of the classic sophists : they do not forbid a 
 due attention to the proper arrangement of a discourse, 
 and the use of solid arguments and forcible language ; 
 and much less do they apply to the cultivation of a 
 suitable mode of delivery, so that what is spoken may 
 not lose any of its effect by indistinct and powerless 
 utterance. God is the God of nature, as well as of 
 grace : and as he made the organs both of speech and 
 hearing, why should they not be employed in his ser- 
 vice ? Why are sacred things to be marred by ungainly 
 associations ? why should not the apples of gold be 
 framed in pictures of silver ? why should a sacred 
 theme be played upon an instrument out of tune, when 
 a little pains would have corrected its jarrings ? 
 
 But this leads us to another cause of the neglect of 
 this initiatory study, which is, that public speakers are 
 not in general aware how much may be done by ju- 
 dicious management to improve their delivery. They 
 impute their deficiencies too hastily to unavoidable 
 causes ; they have weak lungs, or imperfect organs of 
 voice or articulation ; they cannot get over ' natural 
 defects ; ' it is impossible for them to speak more loudly, 
 distinctly, or forcibly : and thus, in the ignorance of 
 despair, they never seriously make the attempt. But 
 has it never occurred to such persons, that some of the 
 greatest masters of public speaking have been men who 
 actually laboured under some physical impediment, 
 which they were obliged with much care to strive 
 against, till in the effort they at length surpassed others 
 who had no such inconvenience ; while, on the other 
 hand, it frequently happens that where nature, as the 
 phrase is, has done much, the favoured party does 
 nothing ; so that in the end the hare is outstripped by 
 
258 APPENDIX. 
 
 the tortoise ? A speaker has, perhaps, a flowing musical 
 voice, a.nd organs formed for easy articulation ; and such 
 is the force of mere sweetness and richness of tone, that, 
 notwithstanding his inflections may be inappropriate, 
 and his whole speech painful to a well-judging mind, 
 crowded auditories will listen to him with delight. The 
 speakers with whom the bulk of a miscellaneous as- 
 sembly are most pleased, are often persons who have 
 what is called a natural gift, and who know no more 
 of what they do, or how they do it, than a fish knows 
 how it swims, or a bird how it flies. Would persons 
 thus endowed give due attention to the mental part of 
 the procesSj they would no doubt excel others in their 
 ultimate attainments ; because, of two instruments 
 played upon with equal ability, the best will be the 
 most agreeable. But the absence of difficulty often 
 prevents the exertion of energy ; and it is well, if, in 
 addition to indolence, self-conceit also do not attach 
 itself to an easily earned popularity, which the party 
 will be inclined to attribute to something higher than 
 mere organic fluency. 
 
 But the case of a person anxious on proper grounds to 
 speak well, and yet labouring under natural or acquired 
 difficulties, is very different. Speaking, in such a case, 
 must necessarily to a considerable extent be an art. 
 The effort to remedy a mistake, or to conquer a defect, 
 opens new ideas to the mind : the student begins to see 
 that oral delivery is as much under the guidance of the 
 intellectual powers, as playing upon a musical instrument. 
 The attention necessary to the correction of some known 
 fault, familiarizes him to his own voice, and leads him to 
 analyse and correct its other defects. Thus by practice, 
 with a good ear and good judgment, he becomes ac- 
 quainted with the various modifications of oral sound ; 
 
APPENDIX. 259 
 
 and learns to ascertain what it is which constitutes a 
 pleasing and impressive delivery, and what the contrary; 
 and how the one may be acquired and the other avoided. 
 He becomes, as it were, a skilful player on his own 
 voice ; and though he had not a naturally good instru- 
 ment to play on, he has in the end a vast advantage over 
 the former speaker, whose execution was perhaps as 
 incorrect as his instrument was agreeable. To this must 
 be added the important circumstance, that what appeared 
 at first sight physical defect, is perhaps discovered to be 
 merely a bad habit; the instrument, to continue the 
 allusion, having been blamed for what was only the 
 fault of the musician. It is not likely that public 
 speakers will devote the requisite attention to this part 
 of their duty, while the present popular ignorance pre- 
 vails respecting the benefits of elocutionary study ; nay, 
 while there is even a strong prejudice against it. Many 
 persons, of good intelligence in other matters, would 
 smile at the idea of any one, beyond the age of child- 
 hood, learning over again the first elementary sounds of 
 language, and tuning the organs of speech to new intona- 
 tions and articulations. The current aphorism used on 
 such occasions is, ' speak naturally ; ' but speaking 
 naturally, if we may venture to use such a paradox, is 
 very frequently speaking artificially. If a young 
 Northumbrian wishes to correct his burr ,• a Somerset- 
 shire-man, or other provincialist, his peculiar dialect ; 
 his unlettered neighbours will advise him not to learn 
 new fashions, but to ' speak naturally,' as his fathers 
 spoke before him. Now any false tone, or tune, or 
 inflection, any imperfect mode of sounding or articulating 
 any letter, any misuse of the organs of speech, is as much 
 a legitimate subject of correction, as the most displeasing 
 provincialism. Bad speaking is not natural, except it 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 be said that every thing is natural which was learned at 
 an early age from an educated nurse or a youthful 
 companion. It is the refuge of ignorance, to talk of any 
 thing being natural in conventional language : there is 
 nothing in the human constitution that makes it natural, 
 on the one side of the English Channel to speak French, 
 and on the other English ; or for a child to hiss, or lisp, 
 or stammer, who might have learned to speak correctly 
 and melodiously, had he been better taught. And if one 
 error or defect, however gross, is not necessarily to be 
 pronounced natural, why should an assemblage of errors 
 or defects be considered so ? or why should it be thought 
 unnatural for a young man to endeavour to correct his 
 habits of reading and speaking, even though the correc- 
 tion should extend to almost every part of the process, 
 so as eventually to alter his very tones and articulations ; 
 to bring into play those parts of the phonic apparatus 
 which had been imperfectly developed, and to keep down 
 those which had an undue or irregular action ? There is 
 nothing unnatural in a painter or musician altering his 
 style for the better ; or in a plough-boy having his awk- 
 ward limbs drilled into military gait ; and why should 
 not the habits of speech be similarly disciplined ? A 
 speaker who is determined to be heard, and understood, 
 and felt, if he labour under any difficulty, such as a 
 harsh, or weak, or otherwise defective voice, or bad 
 habits of enunciation, ought in duty to apply his mind to 
 amend his errors and supply his defects: and if by due 
 attention, he should in the course of time change the 
 entire character of his delivery, it would not be just to 
 say that he spoke less naturally than before; unless, 
 in unlearning his old bad habits, he had acquired 
 new ones, which were perhaps even more un pleasing, 
 from their wearing the appearance of art and study, 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 instead of being the result of accidental early associa- 
 tions. 
 
 And here we arrive at another, and perhaps the chief, 
 reason why the art of public speaking, in its sober and 
 legitimate application, is not more diligently studied.* It 
 is not merely that many speakers are inattentive to the 
 subject — whether from apathy, or from a mistaken sup- 
 position that good speaking is entirely the gift of nature; 
 but it is from the prejudice excited by the fact that of 
 those who study public speaking few are found to 
 succeed ; and that there is usually among the pupils of 
 the art a stiffness, a mannerism, and an affectation, which 
 are far worse than the unstudied faults of a careless 
 speaker. The reasons of this too common result will be 
 further touched upon ; but, in the mean time, when it is 
 considered how many things are necessary in speaking a 
 single sentence really well, and how completely the ab- 
 sence or undue preponderence of any one will mar the 
 whole, and give to the delivery an awkward or artificial 
 character, far worse than the ordinary defects of inatten- 
 tion, it must be owned, that, if the student have not good 
 judgment and reasonable perseverance, it were almost 
 better that he should not enter upon the pursuit. He had 
 better • drink deep or taste not.' The first attempt to 
 correct a fault (not to advert to the higher attainments 
 of elocutionary excellence) will almost necessarily cause, 
 for a time, an awkwardness and stiffness of manner, 
 which will tend greatly to discourage a student who has 
 not considerable patience and mental energy ; and if he 
 never arrive beyond this point, he had better never have 
 set out on his journey. The case is analogous in other 
 arts. Suppose a person to have learned to play on an 
 instrument by ear, and to have practised this for many 
 years : it might in such a case be a question whether he 
 
262 APPENDIX. 
 
 should go back to the gamut, and begin to learn to play 
 by note : since for a considerable period he would play 
 much worse by note than by ear ; but if he were a man 
 of intelligence and application — a man capable of form- 
 ing a judicious plan, and resolutely adhering to it — he 
 would do well to commence anew, not heeding the re- 
 marks of those who did not understand his object and 
 only wondered at his apparent retrogression. It is always 
 humiliating to begin again, where we thought we had 
 made some advances ; but every man must do this who 
 has erected his fabric upon an unstable foundation. 
 
 If the pupils of teachers of elocution become less 
 effective or pleasing speakers than they would otherwise 
 have been, this must arise either from the rules which 
 they have adopted being unsound, or from their not being 
 well mellowed in their practice. Demosthenes probably 
 enunciated the letter rho, for a considerable time after 
 his attention to the subject, much worse than before he 
 attempted to correct his fault ; and had he listened to the 
 advice of ignorant auditors he would probably have been 
 dissuaded from continuing his efforts. 1 Every student 
 
 1 The case of Demosthenes is often cited, but we have never seen 
 it physiologically considered. What, for instance, was the benefit of 
 his running up a hill while declaiming ? and also of putting pebbles 
 in his mouth ? 
 
 In imitation of his example, students of elocution have been very 
 frequently recommended to run up a hill declaiming. Thus Dr. 
 Bailey, in his " Art of Pronunciation and Singing," says : " To 
 acquire a long breath, and strengthen the lungs, there can be found 
 perhops no better method than to run often up some ascent, espe- 
 cially in the morning, without suffering the lungs to play quick, in the 
 manner called panting." Therationale of this advice is to strengthen 
 the muscles of respiration, so that they may act forcibly; yet at the 
 same time to gain such vigour in the little muscle that closes the 
 glottis, and such command over it, as to be able to keep the wind- 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 who is beginning carefully to amend his reading or speak- 
 ing, must be prepared for the exclamation, * Well, if 
 that is learning to speak, may I never be condemned to 
 hear such speaking again ! ' He must feel that his ob- 
 ject is to speak naturally, forcibly, and appropriately, 
 without any affected tones or cadences; and that what 
 
 chest air-tight, so that it ma}' be capable of sustaining a strong pres- 
 sure from the ribs and diaphregm, without bursting open till directed 
 to do so at the volition of the speaker. If the valve lets out the air 
 before sufficient muscular vigour is impressed upon the chest, there 
 is no power of adequate vibration in the larynx for forcible vocality. 
 To know the design of the practice is to aid the object ; for it is not 
 convenient for every student to run up hiils declaiming : but con- 
 siderable accessions of theoretic and laryngeal vigour may be 
 attained, by due exercise and habit, even in a chamber. 
 
 With regard to the pebbles,^ it has often been asked, what good 
 there could be in a man's declaiming with stones in his mouth : how 
 could that teach him to sound the letter rho, or in any way improve 
 his articulation ? for if articulation depend directly upon the tongue, 
 or other external organs, such an impediment would be more likely 
 to get them into irregular habits, than to rescue them from them \ 
 nor, in fact, could any letter be duly sounded. We have never seen 
 a solution of the difficulty ; but our hypothesis, that the action of 
 the tongue and other external organs is not the direct cause of 
 articulation, but only, or chiefly, its result, furnishes one. The 
 pebbles prevented the speaker using his tongue as he was accustomed 
 in the old vicious action ; he was therefore obliged to depend more 
 directly upon the primary organs ; he thus learned to make the 
 larynx and adjacent parts do their duty ; sound and articulation were 
 formed and finished in the right place; the morbid associations 
 between the erring organs was broken ; and the tongue, when the 
 pebbles were removed, went to its proper place. 
 
 We have dwelt much upon the distinction between the external 
 and the primary organs of speech, because it is of great practical 
 importance, and though obvious when explained, is not generally 
 understood by writers on education. In a very excellent and popular 
 book, entitled ' Hints to Parents, in the Spirit of Pestalozzi's 
 Method,' the pupil is taught that ' the tongue is so flexible that it 
 
$64 APPENDIX. 
 
 may appear for a time awkward, is but a step towards 
 being natural : it is an effort to leave off what was in- 
 correct, or feeble, or ill-judged, or ungraceful, and to 
 substitute something better. A young man at college, 
 who should determine to leave off the mouthing and 
 artificial intonation with which he was accustomed to 
 
 can form various tones, by the air which proceeds from the lungs ; 
 "by it we communicate our thoughts to each other, call for help, 
 pray, and praise God..' Now if the child really believes what he is 
 here taught, that it is the tongue that forms the ' various tones,' and 
 tries to act upon his information, his speech must be strangely 
 unnatural. We have expressed our doubts whether the tongue 
 makes even the articulations; but that it makes the tones, which 
 every physiologist, without a shadow of dispute, imputes to the 
 larynx, is as erroneous as if it were said that the elbows or knees 
 made them. So far from bringing in the tongue upon every occasion, 
 we would rather say, Forget that you have a tongue ; speak rightly, 
 and your tongue will fall rightly, without any artificial placing. An 
 infant learns to speak by ear, by means of laryngeal action, which is 
 of necessity connected with a certain opening and shutting of the 
 jaws, and other claspings and positions of the various secondary 
 organs, the lips and other parts falling rightly for the purpose ; and 
 this the infant would do even if it were blind, and had never seen a 
 person's lips move ; but it would not do so if, though it saw, it were 
 deaf, and therefore could not hear the sound ; which is a clear proof 
 that the rules about placing the lips and tongue are erroneous, and 
 only lead to irregular and displeasing habits. There is no direction 
 which, if we were teachers of elocution, w r e should more strongly urge, 
 than that of depending as little as possible upon the external organs — 
 for rather, we might say, indicators — of speech ; and of stimulating the 
 primary organs to their duty. There is scarcely any common defect 
 of the external apparatus which may not be rendered unimportant, 
 if the primary organs act as becomes them. For example: A person 
 lisps, and we lay the fault perhaps on his incisor teeth ; but many 
 persons, with teeth worse disposed, do not lisp, and this person 
 could in all probability overcome the defect, by not allowing, if we 
 may so say, the glottis to lisp. We may illustrate the matter thus : — 
 A person who has a front tooth removed often begins to lisp, though 
 
APPENDIX. 265 
 
 spout a public-school declamation, would probably at first 
 find his utterance, when not thus stilted, miserably tame ; 
 and practice and good judgment would be required to 
 throw his energies into a right channel. A few partial 
 faults may be easily eradicated ; but to unlearn a whole 
 tissue of wrong habits of early life, requires a taste, a 
 feeling, an ear, and a perseverance, which few persons 
 possess. 
 
 We shall not attempt to detail the various causes why 
 public speakers so often acquire unpleasing modes of 
 address ; but one of them is the following : — Ordinary 
 speaking is a sort of miniature, in which blemishes and 
 defects, though they may be numerous, are too minute 
 
 not five minutes before he spoke distinctly ; but after a few days the 
 defect often goes off, and he speaks perhaps nearly as well as ever : 
 and why ? not because there is not the same cause of lisping as there 
 was immediately after the oral mutilation, but because the 'primary 
 organs have learned to give the right sound, and to send the tongue 
 to the right place under the new arrangements, to which arrange- 
 ments the tongue accommodates itself. The defect of the teeth, 
 though the inciting' cause of the lisp, w r as not therefore of necessity 
 an insuperable cause. A person who has a well formed mouth, and 
 does not lisp, may lisp in imitation, by catching the sound by ear, 
 without seeing the lisper's face. The lisp was not in this case caused 
 by the irregular structure of the mouth ; though, if it had been 
 allowed to become habitual, it would in general be so accounted for. 
 Persons who jumble and clutter their words, sometimes seem to be 
 taking great pains to speak plainly and articulately, and yet fail of 
 their object ; while others, who never seem, we might almost say, to 
 make any use of their tongue at all, speak distinctly. The chief 
 difference (for allowance must of course, after all, be made for. 
 differences of organic structure, both of the external and internal 
 organs) is owing to the greater or less correctness of glottal action. 
 What is called mincing pronunciation, or, in popular phrase, speaking 
 miminepimine, is caused by directing affected attention to the tongue 
 and lips, instead of speaking from the larynx. 
 
 N 
 
260 APPENDIX. 
 
 to be noticed ; but the same picture, when magnified to 
 the proportions of public speaking, becomes more con- 
 spicuous, and each part occupies a large share of obser- 
 vation. Many a person will pronounce a sentence with 
 tolerable correctness in ordinary conversation, who, if 
 called upon to repeat it in a slow and deliberate manner, 
 will betray a variety of faults, which before were scarcely 
 discernible. This happens still more frequently in read- 
 ing than in speaking ; and most of all in addressing a 
 large auditory. For this reason, among others, the 
 clergy, generally speaking, are far from being the best 
 public speakers. Their manner, whether cheerful or 
 grave, slow or rapid, inflected or monotonous, or how- 
 ever differing in other respects, is often unnatural. To 
 read or speak to a large auditory, especially in a church, 
 and on a sacred subject, in a manner really natural, is a 
 difficult attainment. Every thing conspires to prevent, 
 in many cases, even the attempt. But supposing the 
 attempt made, the first error would probably be an ap- 
 pearance of familiarity ; but this is not natural ; for 
 nothing is, or ought to be, less natural than familiarity in 
 such a place, and on such an occasion. To avoid famili- 
 arity therefore, pompousness, or declamation, or artificial 
 intonation, is perhaps resorted to : besides which, the 
 time is set too fast or too slow ; the inflections are either 
 almost monotonous, or are varied to a rant ; in short, the 
 whole is any thing but natural. 
 
 Indeed, the very circumstance of wishing to speak 
 with force, or with pathos, or even with loudness, so 
 as to be heard by a considerable assembly, is almost 
 sure both to magnify habitual faults, and to create 
 new ones. To recur to a former allusion : there are few 
 men whose ordinary speaking is sufficiently correct to 
 bear being magnified to the size necessary for a public 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 address : l besides which, in general the magnifying pro- 
 cess is accompanied by another, which, to keep up the 
 metaphor, may be compared to the unequal operation 
 of certain optical glasses, which not only enlarge but 
 distort the image. If, for example, a person is some- 
 what too nasal, or buccinal, or pectoral, or guttural, or 
 dental, or sibilant, in his ordinary speech (and there are 
 few speakers who have no such faults), the defect will 
 be far more visible in public speaking, where he exerts 
 himself with more energy. Again, different persons 
 employ, in different proportions, different parts of the 
 organs of voice and articulation — for almost every man 
 has some parts of his organs of speech better formed or 
 developed than the others, and on which, therefore, he 
 learns principally to depend ; or he has been accustomed, 
 by morbid habit, to admit this undue preponderance ; — 
 when, therefore, he exerts himself in public speaking, 
 the favoured part will naturally take more than its due 
 share of the extra burden. This will destroy the whole 
 
 1 The first lesson of a teacher of elocution, is to direct the student 
 to pronounce deliberately and forcibly all the elementary sounds of 
 the language (which are more numerous than the letters of the 
 alphabet) ; and in most cases it is found that he cannot do this with 
 precision ; that he cannot either give the correct sound, or sustain it 
 for a prolonged time. He cannot, as it were, sol fa his speech. The 
 unintelligible sounds known by the name of ' London cries' are an 
 exemplification of the difficulty which an uneducated person finds in 
 speaking loudly and slowly what he can speak well enough in conver- 
 sation. If the itinerant tried to give the right articulation, he could 
 not: he speaks by rote, but he cannot analyse the several elements. 
 The same remark applies in its degree to not a few public speakers. 
 A vowel passes off glibly in current speech; but a public speaker must 
 learn to dwell upon, and prolong and swell it, without whining, or 
 ranting, or drawling. If he cannot rehearse the single elements, 
 a, e, i, o, u, &c. in this manner separately, as an exercise, how can he 
 duly fill them out in solemn speech ? 
 
 N 2 
 
268 APPENDIX. 
 
 symmetry of speech. The question is immediately asked, 
 ' Why does not that man speak in public as he does in 
 private?' The just answer might be, ' He did not know 
 how to do so.' A correct volition is not sufficient; know- 
 ledge and practice are necessary to render most persons 
 able to speak in public as they do in private. To say 
 nothing of timidity, anxiety, and various other affections 
 of mind, which might disturb the balance, a speaker, 
 even when he has most self-possession, when he is really 
 affected with his subject, and has every thing in his 
 favour, may still find it difficult to be natural when 
 placed in a situation so artificial as that described. 
 
 We may illustrate this by a recurrence to what we 
 have before remarked of the character of speech. The 
 3peaking apparatus is to the full as much a stringed, or 
 rather a vibratory, as a wind instrument. The bones and 
 muscles of the head, the chest, and all the upper part 
 of the bcdy, vibrate in unison with the sound issued from 
 the larynx ; and it is on some of these vibrations, even 
 more than on the primary sound, that the force and 
 energy of speaking consist.. In ordinary conversation, the 
 wind and the stringed part of the apparatus generally do 
 their duty pretty well together ; but no sooner does a 
 person unskilled in speaking become either nervous or 
 animated, than the several agents are in danger of losing 
 their due proportion. Suppose a person unaccustomed 
 to public speaking endeavouring to be heard by a larger 
 auditory than he knows how to command, what will be 
 the natural consequence ? He will generally begin to 
 oxert the wind part of the instrument in greater propor- 
 tion than the stringed. There will also probably be 
 many other faults, of which the want of due articulation 
 will be one of the chief; but we confine ourselves to one 
 part of the case. The windpipe is forced to give out 
 
APPENDIX. 2(3!) 
 
 louder sounds than usual, while the vibratory part of the 
 apparatus is not sufficiently affected. Hence the voice 
 becomes shrill, and in other respects unpleasing; in 
 much the same manner as a flute, into which we blow too 
 forcibly, gives a sharp and displeasing- tone. Yet, not- 
 withstanding this quantity of noise, for want of due 
 vibration there is no force or fulness ; whereas, had the 
 wind instrument given a less quantity of sound, yet with 
 strong vibration, the voice would have been felt even at 
 a distance where it was scarcely audible. 
 
 A clergyman has greater difficulties to contend with 
 than a barrister. A legal advocate usually addresses 
 but a few individuals, and these at no great distance. 
 His subjects also are of ordinary occurrence ; and every 
 thing unnatural would be injurious to his cause. He 
 therefore must appear as if really talking, only with 
 more than usual pathos and energy. The voice thus 
 assumes nearly its regular conversational pitch ; indeed, 
 it would be difficult to speak under such circumstances in 
 any other, except where the speaker has occasion to 
 declaim, which does not come into the present consider- 
 ation. A counsellor could not address a judge in the 
 pitch and tones employed by many clergymen in large 
 churches: he must literally talk : he may be swift or 
 slow, forcible or feeble, pathetic or facetious, but he 
 must talk. This keeps him within due bounds. What- 
 ever may be his zeal for his client, his professional 
 eagerness, or the stimulus of opposition, his voice must 
 be conversational. 
 
 But a clergyman is usually placed under very different 
 circumstances. Ordinarily, he reads, instead of speaks, 
 which of itself is one deviation from nature. Then again 
 his auditory is at a distance, and perhaps not always 
 alive to the subject; and there is nothing in the shape 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 of reply or contradiction to keep alive the feeling of 
 reality. There is therefore danger of becoming, on the 
 one hand, careless and monotonous, or, on the other, 
 declamatory. Determined to be heard, he pours forth 
 an undue volume of voice, without sufficient articulation 
 and vibration. This may lead to a habit of being 
 clamorous without being forcible ; a habit the opposite 
 of that of being energetic without being noisy. A speaker 
 who thus unfairly uses his wind instrument is in danger 
 of losing his voice, as has been the lot of many clergy- 
 men of great zeal. But a speaker who depends more on 
 the stringed part of his instrument, and makes himself 
 heard and felt by vibration rather than by noise, seldom 
 injures either his voice or constitution by public speak- 
 ing. If a young man, on first taking Holy Orders, 
 resolutely determined, till the habit became familiar, to 
 be distinctly heard in a large auditory, without making 
 more noise than he finds easy to his own organs of speech 
 and to his neighbours' ears, he would naturally be led to 
 vibrate his sounds, in the manner which is observable in 
 the impressive parts of the elocution of a good speaker. 
 In really powerful yet easy speaking, scarcely a muscle 
 of the face is in a state of tension; the mouth assumes 
 an intelligent placidity, which indicates that every fibre 
 and cartilage vibrates freely with every sound that issues 
 from the wind-pipe, thus augmenting its fulness, variety, 
 and impressiveness of intonation. 1 
 
 1 The common direction to young clergymen, to look at the most 
 distant part of their auditory, and to address them, tends, if not 
 rightly understood, to strain the voice. In speaking to a person at 
 a distance, we naturally raise our pitch ; and we could not long speak 
 thus without raving and hoarseness. What a public speaker should 
 desire to attain, is due loudness, not shrillness ; not a high pitch of 
 voice, but force in his natural pitch. If a young clergyman would 
 learn to be heard by the most distant person in his audience without 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 We would not be understood to mean that all the 
 elementary discipline which we have described is needful 
 for every person when first he begins to speak in public. 
 Some men have a voice so powerful, that even their 
 ordinary sounds are sufficient to fill a large building ; 
 and others have had correct principles mellowed into 
 practice in their childhood, without their knowledge. 
 Mr. Pitt was a powerful public speaker at the age of 
 twenty years ; but it was because, in addition to great 
 native powers, he had been early instructed by his illus- 
 trious parent ; so that he had little or nothing to unlearn. 
 This, however, is not often the case ; for it does not often 
 happen that a Pitt has a Chatham for the tutor of his 
 infancy and childhood. Mr. Pitt had only to magnify 
 his ordinary conversation to render it fit for public speak- 
 ing : the elements were correct. 
 
 But perhaps one of the greatest impediments to the 
 cultivation of the art of speaking, is the vague use of the 
 terms employed by those who teach it. After all that 
 has been said and written, the majority of professed 
 students of elocution know nothing of the various acci- 
 dents that affect speech. If, indeed, two such palpably 
 distinct things as quantity and accent are often con- 
 founded, it cannot be expected that the other terms 
 necessary to convey information on the subject of speak- 
 ing should be found generally to excite in the hearer 
 correct ideas. Scarcely two writers mean the same thing 
 by the same word, when they write respecting the affec- 
 tions of speech. Sheridan literally did not know the 
 
 straining his voice, he should pitch it at its conversational height, 
 and try to speak with sufficient loudness and force in that key, but 
 avoid being betrayed into a higher note. The organs of speech will 
 gradually strengthen themselves in the proper key; and the speech 
 will thus be audible without beine unnatural. 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 distinction between accent and quantity. Even Mr. 
 Walker did not consider the physiology of accent ; and 
 consequently confounds it with a particular kind of 
 force, or loudness ; whereas a syllable may be accented 
 and yet neither be loud nor forcible. An analysis of the 
 affections of speech is of great importance to students 
 of elocution, as without it they cannot have clear ideas 
 of their art, and are constantly liable to be misled with 
 contradictory assertions, and with the confused use of the 
 same term for different ideas, and of different terms for 
 the same idea. The heads of such an analysis would 
 comprise, among others, the following accidents of 
 speech : — Every syllable is 
 
 Lower. 
 
 Softer. 
 
 Shorter. 
 
 Unaccented. 
 Falling, or Circumflex, 
 of these affections we reserve for 
 another occasion ; and we hope not to overload the diges- 
 tion of those readers who have no particular taste for 
 such inquiries. Our younger readers, especially acade- 
 mical students, will, we trust, tind the disquisition prac- 
 tically useful, by turning their attention to the subject. 
 
 1. Higher 
 
 or 
 
 2. Louder 
 
 or 
 
 3. Longer 
 
 or 
 
 4. Accented 
 
 or 
 
 5. Rising, 
 
 Fj 
 
 A brief definition 
 
 of 
 
 To the foregoiug observations, the following may not 
 improperly be added. They are taken from a paper in 
 the Christian Observer, for March, 1835. 
 
 * * ' Permit me to recal to 
 
 your own recollection, and to that of your readers, a 
 paper in your volume for 1821, under the signature of 
 ' Pastor,' (which was reprinted and circulated among 
 some of the young men in Cambridge, by our venerable 
 friend Mr. Simeon, without any secret being made of the 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 authorship of the paper,) containing some valuable sug- 
 gestions, in his own striking manner, which will bear 
 repetition in your columns, especially as some of your 
 present readers may not have the volume for 1821 
 before them. Your venerable correspondent appears to 
 have concurred by anticipation with yourself, in consi- 
 dering the usual habits of clerical enunciation as an 
 ' unnatural and artificial' mode of speaking; and also 
 in what you have said of the impropriety of the oft- 
 repeated recommendation to regulate the voice by look- 
 ing at a distant auditor, which is almost sure to cause an 
 undue exaltation of ' pitch ; ' — instead of determining to 
 keep the pitch at its natural conversational height, but 
 giving to the voice, by effort and practice due loudness, 
 vibration and intensity, and also by clearly articulating 
 every element. I have heard Mr. Simeon himself 
 *• thrill an audience ' as you express it, in a voice scarcely 
 audible: while many injudicious speakers bellow inar- 
 ticulate volumes of sound, to the serious distress of their 
 own chest and windpipe, and the tympana of the ears 
 of their auditors, but with little access either to the 
 understanding or the heart. 
 
 Mr. Simeon's directions are as follow : — 
 
 ' Diaconus. Is there any thing against which you 
 would particularly guard me in delivering my sermons? 
 
 4 Pastor. Yes : guard against speaking in an unna- 
 tural and artificial voice. 
 
 ' D. I am glad you have mentioned this : for I per- 
 ceive that almost every minister in the pulpit, speaks in 
 a voice which he never uses on any other occasion : and 
 I am well assured, that it is that which makes sermons 
 in general so uninteresting. Can you tell me how I may 
 manage to find, as it were, my natural voice? 
 
 ' P. Yes: before you read your sermon at home, 
 
 N 5 
 
274 APPENDIX. 
 
 speak some sentence in a whisper to your chair, or writ- 
 ing desk, if you please, as to a living object ; and then 
 suppose this imaginary auditor to recede from you to the 
 distance of five yards, ten yards, twenty yards, and 
 strengthen your voice progressively in proportion to the 
 distance : and then again, suppose him to approach you 
 gradually, in the manner in which he had receded, and 
 let the force of your voice proportionably abate, till on 
 account of his proximity, you find a whisper will suffice. 
 Do this ; and if your whisper at the beginning and end 
 be a natural whisper, you may be sure that you have 
 kept your natural voice. If you speak to two thousand 
 people, you should not rise to a different key, but still 
 preserve your customary pitch. The only difference 
 you are to make, is from the piano to the forte of the 
 same note. You know that on a violincello, you may 
 sound scarcely to be heard : or, that you may strike it 
 with such force, that it shall twang again. So it is with 
 your voice : it is by the strength, and not by the eleva- 
 tion of it that you are heard. You will remember that 
 a whole discourse is to be delivered : and if you get into 
 an unnatural key, you will both injure yourself, and 
 weary your audience. 
 
 * D. And is this the plan you would recommend for 
 reading the prayers ? 
 
 ' P. No : I have an easier and better plan for that. 
 Never read the prayers, but pray them. Utter them 
 precisely as you would if you were addressing the Al- 
 mighty, in the same language in your secret chamber : 
 only of course you must strengthen your voice as in the 
 former case.' 
 
 I have quoted the above directions the rather, because 
 coming from the pen of such a man as Mr. Simeon, they 
 may be listened to by some young clerical readers and 
 
APPENDIX. 275 
 
 academical students, who either by mistake, or through 
 indolence, despise study and pains-taking in this and 
 other matters, under the notion of following the example 
 of St. Paul. That eminent Apostle of Christ discarded 
 vain, sophistical pleadings : but he did not, we may 
 presume, forego any proprieties of enunciation which he 
 had acquired in his academical studies. * * * 
 
 The cause of God, though ultimately 
 dependant on nothing human, yet consecrates and adorns 
 every faculty and gift. Our heavenly Father disdains 
 not the services of any of our members, and certainly not 
 that of the best member that we have. 
 
< 
 
 III. 
 
 ON THE OUTLINE OR SYNOPSIS OF A SERMON. 
 
 BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 There are three distinct kinds of outlines of sermons to 
 be noticed, each appropriate to the end specially designed. 
 The first is a rough draft of the elements of a written 
 discourse, comprising the principal ideas which the writer 
 intends to expound, with an arrangement sufficiently 
 exact to serve as his land-mark or guide-post in the 
 composition of his sermon. 
 
 The second is a shorter, but more finished outline of 
 what has been previously prepared, and intended to be 
 used in the pulpit in the form of notes, having- all the 
 leading ideas compressed into as narrow a space as 
 possible, and the various references to scripture distinctly 
 marked. 
 
 The third species differs from both the preceding, 
 being still more full and complete, and designed, like 
 Mr. Simeon's Homileticae, for the benefit, not of the 
 writer himself, but of others. 
 
 Of the first of the above species of synopses, the fol- 
 lowing example may perhaps suffice. 
 
 Suppose the text selected to be 2 Cor. iv. 7, " We 
 have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency 
 of the power may be of God, and not of us." Having 
 sought the assistance of God's Holy Spirit in humble and 
 
APPENDIX. 277 
 
 earnest prayer, the preacher will proceed to meditate on 
 the words of the Apostle with patient and laborious 
 thought, taking care to consult the original Greek, and to 
 peruse attentively the context. When he comes at 
 length to arrange his ideas on paper, he will express 
 them perhaps in something like the following order, and 
 in some such brief terms as these : 
 
 2 Cor. iv. 7. 
 
 If we were intrusted with the charge of some valuable 
 treasure, we should naturally inquire into the extent of 
 our power of safe keeping — and if we discovered that 
 we possessed no advantages either of strength, or wisdom, 
 or fortitude — we should feel at a loss to discover the 
 reason of our having been selected to be its deposi- 
 tories. 
 
 A similar train of thought seems to have been pursued 
 by the Apostle in the context. Overwhelmed with a 
 sense of the value of the Gospel dispensation, he inquires 
 the reason, &c. and finds it intended to promote the 
 divine glory. 
 
 We may consider, The treasure here spoken of — the 
 Repositories in which it is laid up — and the end designed 
 by thus depositing it. 
 
 I. The treasure here spoken of. 
 
 Having adverted in the preceding part of the chapter 
 to the manner in which he had preached the Gospel, and 
 to its awful rejection by multitudes, the Apostle adds, 
 in the words of the text, " But we have this treasure in 
 earthen vessels." The gospel is justly called a treasure* 
 St. Paul counted all things but loss, &c. Such was the 
 treasure hid in the field. It conveys glad tidings— par- 
 
278 APPENDIX. 
 
 don to the condemned malefactor— release from slavery— 
 " a faithfnl saying," &c. It reveals to us the knowledge 
 of Christ — his advents — his sufferings — his exaltation. 
 It points out to his various offices, &c. 
 
 II. The Repositories in which it is laid up— 
 In " earthen vessels." 
 
 Vessels are employed both for security and conveyance. 
 Christ's ministers are so employed. They are intrusted, 
 
 (1) With the preservation of the truth. 
 
 The Apostles were specially careful to guard the 
 Church against errors. The Epistles abound with warn- 
 ings and exhortations to that effect. 
 
 Nor were they faithful only as individuals, — they 
 selected others to assist, and ultimately to succeed them ; 
 such as Timothy and Titus. These they charged to hold 
 fast, &c. 
 
 (2) With its conveyance. 
 
 St. Paul " a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ, 
 &c." Acts ix. 15. How zealous should the ministers 
 of Christ be ! In season — out of season, &c. 
 
 But notwithstanding the inestimable value of the 
 treasure, the Repositories are mean and worthless — 
 they are " earthen vessels" — they are frail — feeble — 
 imperfect. The Apostles themselves plain and humble 
 men. Hear how St. Paul speaks of himself and his 
 inspired brethren, 1 Cor. i. 27—29. and iv. 9, 13. 
 
 We might naturally have supposed that God would 
 have chosen for the Repositories of this treasure some 
 of the angels — or at least men of profound learning and 
 science, — gifted with all the splendour of genius, and 
 with all the fascinations of oratory. But it was other- 
 wise determined* 'which leads us to consider, 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 III. The end designed by thus depositing it. 
 " That the excellency of the power may be of God, and 
 not of us." 
 
 God's glory would not have been equally manifested, 
 had more powerful agents been employed. 
 
 The " excellency of the power" was signally mani- 
 fested in the propagation of the gospel. See Acts i. 47, 
 and xix. 20 ; 1 Cor. i. 23 — 25. Its prevalence and 
 effects still visible in the hearts and lives of millions. 
 ''If I be lifted up," &c. No preacher more successful 
 than St. Paul — and more ready to ascribe all the glory 
 to God. See 1 Cor. ii. 1 — 5. 
 
 In conclusion, 
 
 Inquire, Have you individually experienced the true 
 efficacy of the Gospel on your hearts, — your tempers, — 
 your sentiments, — your conduct ? Have you received it 
 not as the word of man ? &c. The vision of dry bones 
 in Ezekiel. 
 
 Though the faithful minister is not answerable for 
 results, he must feel his awful responsibility as one that 
 should be faithful, &c. " Who is sufficient for these 
 things?" Intercede for us. Collect for Ember week. 
 Remember that your minister's spiritual prosperity is 
 virtually your own. Brethren, pray for us ! 
 
 The preceding is a sketch of one of the Editor's printed 
 sermons, 1 and which he here republishes with a view to 
 give the young student some notion of the manner in 
 which such a brief outline may be filled up. The outline 
 and the full sermon should of course be closely compared 
 throughout the several divisions, 
 
 1 Published by Hatchard, and Seeley, in one vol. 8vo. 
 
280 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE SERMON. 
 
 2 Corinthians iv. 7. — " We have this treasure in 
 earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be 
 of God, and not of ws." 
 
 Were any of you, ray brethren, intrusted with the care 
 of some invaluable deposit, you would naturally turn 
 your thoughts, in the first instance, to the immensity of 
 its worth. You would then as naturally inquire into the 
 powers of safe keeping which you possessed, — how far 
 you were endowed with those moral and physical advan- 
 tages, which might enable you at once to preserve it from 
 all spoliation, and to distribute it in the manner and after 
 the measure prescribed by the donor. And further, if, 
 upon instituting such an inquiry, you discovered that you 
 were peculiarly defective in all these advantages, — that 
 instead of being strong, you were feeble in the extreme, 
 and instead of being wise and skilful, were quite the 
 reverse, you would naturally feel surprised, and inquire, 
 in the third place, what could possibly have induced the 
 proprietor to intrust such a treasure to your custody ? 
 
 Now this is precisely the train of thought which ap- 
 pears to have suggested itself to the apostle's mind, when 
 he wrote the words of the text. He had been speaking 
 of the ministry of the word, " the light of the knowledge 
 of the glory of God," as reflected from the face of the 
 incarnate Saivour. He was overwhelmed with a sense 
 of the value of this treasure, and stood in amazement at 
 the thought that it had been committed to the charge of 
 men of like passions and infirmities with others. This led 
 him to inquire into the reason of so remarkable a circum- 
 stance ; when he arrived at the conclusion, that God 
 intended it for the promotion of his own glory. " We 
 
APPENDIX. 281 
 
 have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency 
 of the power may be of God, and not of us." 
 
 Our attention may, with God's blessing, be profitably 
 directed to these several particulars. Let us consider, then, 
 
 I. The treasure here spoken of. 
 
 This, as I have already observed, is the ministration 
 of the gospel. The apostle commences the chapter with 
 an immediate reference to it. " Therefore," says he, 
 " seeing we have this ministry, as we have received 
 mercy, we faint not." He then speaks of the simple and 
 faithful manner in which he and his fellow labourers 
 endeavoured to fulfil it, viz. by " renouncing the hidden 
 things of dishonesty;" and, instead of " handling the 
 word of God deceitfully, commending themselves to 
 every man's conscience in the sight of God, by the 
 manifestation of the truth." Then follows this explana- 
 tion of the awful fact, that by multitudes this glorious 
 gospel was rejected. " But if our gospel be hid, it is 
 hid to them that are lost. In whom the god of this 
 world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, 
 lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the 
 image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach," 
 he adds, " not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; 
 and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, 
 who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
 shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge 
 of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And 
 then follow the words we are considering; " But we 
 have this treasure in earthen vessels." And is not the 
 gospel, I would ask, justly termed a "treasure?" Ts 
 there any thing, how valuable soever, which can be 
 properly compared with it? If " the god of this world" 
 hath not blinded our eyes also, we shall esteem it beyond 
 all price ; " yea, doubtless," we shall, with the apostle, 
 
282 APPENDIX. 
 
 " count all things but loss for the excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord." He " suffered 
 the loss of all things, and counted them but dung, that 
 he might win Christ ; that he might know him, and be 
 found in him." And so also shall we. "To them that 
 believe, Christ is precious," and consequently the gospel 
 which reveals him. Such was the " treasure," of which 
 the parable speaks, " hid in a field." The individual 
 who had the felicity to discover it, " went and sold all 
 that he had, and bought it." 
 
 Consider what the gospel is, my brethren, and then 
 judge of its value. It is a message of mercy to a lost 
 world ; it is the " ministry of reconciliation " to a guilty 
 and rebellious race. What greater treasure could you 
 present to a condemned malefactor, waiting in awful sus- 
 pense the execution of his sentence, than an authoritative 
 reprieve, and a full remission of his punishment? In 
 vain would you proffer him the wealth of an universe ; 
 to him it would be a thing of nought. But bring him 
 the document which suspends his execution, and unlocks 
 his fetters, and sets him free, and you bring him a trea- 
 sure indeed. Such is the gospel message of free pardon 
 and full salvation to a sinner awakened to a sense of his 
 guilt and danger. He feels himself to be in the situation 
 of a criminal under the sentence of a three-fold death. 
 He cries out, in the bitterness of his grief, and in the 
 anxiety of his soul, "What shall I do to be saved?" 
 And oh ! what value must he attach to the apostolic 
 reply, when once he has faith to receive it, " Believe in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Then 
 does he account it not only a " faithful saying," but an 
 infinitely precious saying, and one " worthy of all accep- 
 tation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save 
 
APPENDIX. 283 
 
 The leading blessing conferred by the gospel is the 
 knowledge of Christ. To know him, together with the 
 Father, is declared to be everlasting life. The gospel 
 reveals him to us, both in his divine and human nature, 
 as the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father; as the 
 Word incarnate; as " Immanuel, God with us;" as 
 coming down from above, assuming our nature, living, 
 suffering, dying for us men, and for our salvation ; as 
 rising again from the dead, ascending up into heaven, and 
 sitting at the right hand of the Father, where he rules 
 the world and the church, making intercession for us, 
 and whence he will " come the second time without sin 
 unto salvation." It declares to us the efficacy of his 
 atoning sufferings, and the power of his resurrection. It 
 assures us that by believing in him, we shall be "justified 
 from all things ; " and not only "justified," but " saved ;" 
 for that "he ever liveth to make intercession for us." 
 It reveals to us, also, the means of our salvation, through 
 the communicated influences of the Spirit which Christ 
 bestows upon his disciples ; and urges us to follow the 
 " steps of his most holy life." It presents the Saviour 
 to us, in short, in all his offices, as our " Prophet, Priest, 
 and King ; " and declares him to be at once " our 
 wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our 
 redemption." These are some of the chief particulars of the 
 " excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord " 
 — these unite to form "the treasury " of the Christian 
 church, the value of which, neither human nor angelic 
 tongues can adequately describe. 
 
 II. Having thus considered the " treasure " itself, I 
 would direct your attention, secondly, to the reposi- 
 tories in which it is laid up. " We have this 
 treasure in earthen vessels." The expression is pecu- 
 liarly significant. " A vessel " is used for the two-fold 
 
284 APPENDIX, 
 
 purpose of security and conveyance ; which well accord 
 with the two great ends for which the ministry is 
 ordained. 
 
 1. To the Christian priesthood is intrusted, in the first 
 place, the preservation of the faith. When our blessed 
 Lord had completed his personal ministry, he constituted 
 his apostles the first repositories of his truth. He not 
 only wished them to retain the knowledge they had 
 acquired, but promised to give them his Holy Spirit, to 
 bring all things to their remembrance which they had 
 heard of him, to enlighten their minds, and to guide them 
 into all truth. They were required, by their office, to 
 guard the church against the reception of error, and to 
 preserve the gospel of their Redeemer from all spoliation 
 or injury. Accordingly we find, as well from the brief 
 notices recorded in the Acts, as from the general tenor of 
 their epistolary writings, that they were solicitous to fulfil 
 these important duties. We find them, on one occasion, 
 assembled together to consult on a question of difficulty, 
 which had distracted the minds of some Gentile converts. 
 Imploring the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit, 
 they deliberated on the subject ; and having come to an 
 unanimous decision, they recorded it for the future 
 guidance of the church. St. Peter, St. James, St. 
 Jude, — in fact all the apostles whose writings are still 
 extant,— display a watchful anxiety to preserve whole 
 and undefiled, " the truth as it is in Jesus." Nor 
 was the amiable John, " the disciple whom Jesus loved," 
 less distinguished than his brethren in the exercise of this 
 care. It was the grief of his old age to witness the 
 progress of error in the Christian church ; and earnestly 
 did he beseech his converts to be upon their guard : 
 "Beloved," says he, "believe not every spirit, but 
 try the spirits whether they are of God : because many 
 
APPENDIX. 285 
 
 false prophets are gone out into the world." But to the 
 apostle Paul we should look more especially for ex- 
 amples of this nature. Of the fourteen epistles which 
 he wrote, scarcely one can be mentioned in which he 
 displays not a watchful solicitude to drive away error. 
 In some instances, he not only denounces erroneous 
 doctrines, but puts his converts on their guard against 
 the individuals who were attempting to propagate them. 
 •* If any man," he observes, in his epistle to the Ga- 
 latians, " preach any other gospel unto you than that 
 ye have received, let him be accursed." To the Thes- 
 salonians he writes, " Now we command you, brethren, 
 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw 
 yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, 
 and not after the tradition which he received of us." 
 Having mentioned the opposition of Alexander, the 
 coppersmith, to the truth, he enjoins Timothy to be 
 watchful, and to withdraw from his society; " of whom 
 be thou ware also, for he hath greatly withstood our 
 words." In a similar manner he alludes to Hymeneus 
 and Philetus, " whose word did eat as a canker ; who 
 concerning the truth had erred, saying that the resur- 
 rection was past already ; and overthrew the faith 
 of some. 
 
 But the apostles were careful not only to preserve 
 individually the trust reposed in them, but to secure 
 its integrity and safe keeping in after generations. For 
 this purpose, as well as for the general propagation of 
 the faith, (to which I shall soon have occasion to 
 allude,) they selected from among their converts faithful 
 and upright men, whom they solemnly set apart for the 
 sacred ministry. These were termed, for the most part, 
 " elders; " though it is evident that there were, at that 
 time, several descriptions of ministers. " For," as St. 
 
28G APPENDIX. 
 
 Paul observes, " unto every one of us is given grace 
 
 according to the measure of the gift of Christ 
 
 And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and, 
 some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for 
 the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 
 for the edifying of the body of Christ.'" 1 It is quite 
 clear, also, that the apostles not only ordained ministers 
 themselves, but gave authority to others to do the same. 
 Thus Timothy, who, in the early part of his ministry, 
 appears to have fulfilled the office of an " evangelist," 
 was subsequently empowered to appoint elders, and to 
 rule with some special authority in the church. St. 
 Paul, in his first epistle to Timothy, enters at some 
 length into the qualifications which he was to look for 
 in those whom he might ordain, whether as deacons or 
 elders ; and charges him to " lay hands suddenly on no 
 man." To Titus, also, he gave similar instructions, re- 
 minding him that the purpose for which he had left 
 him in Crete, was " to set in order the things that were 
 wanting, and to ordain elders in every city" 
 
 It was after this manner then, my brethren, that the 
 Christian priesthood became repositories of the "trea- 
 sure" spoken of in the text; and we have the fullest 
 evidence for believing, that in the transmission of such 
 ministerial authority down to the generation which now 
 exists, the chain of succession remains unbroken. It is 
 still our office, as it was that of the primitive elders, to 
 guard the sacred deposit with which we are intrusted, 
 from the hands both of the spoiler and the defiler. It is 
 ours to watch against all intermixture of error, and all 
 withdrawment of truth. On the one hand we have the 
 lover of science falsely so called, who is too rational to 
 
 1 Ephes. iv.7, 11, 12. 
 
APPENDIX. 287 
 
 receive '.' the whole truth ; " and on the other hand, 
 we have the superstitious devotee, who is not sufficiently 
 rational to receive " nothing- but the truth." But 
 whilst it is the duty of every one to " buy the truth, and 
 sell it not; " to " prove all things, and to hold fast that 
 which is good ; M it is more especially incumbent upon 
 the ministers of the sanctuary to " contend earnestly for 
 the faith once delivered to the saints," — " in meekness 
 instructing those that oppose themselves, if God perad- 
 venture will give them repentance to the acknowledging 
 of the truth." Still is it the character of a true pastor, 
 that he takes heed both unto himself and his doctrine, 
 " holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, 
 that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort 
 and to convince the gainsayers." Still is it his bounden 
 duty to hold fast the form of sound words which has 
 been delivered to him, and so to preach the gospel of the 
 kingdom, as to be able to take his people to record, that 
 he has not " shunned to declare unto them all the counsel 
 of God." 
 
 2. And this leads me to the consideration of the 
 second purpose for which vessels are usually designed, 
 namely, that of conveyance. In this sense we meet 
 with a striking instance of the use of this figure, with 
 reference to the apostle Paul. " He is a chosen vessel 
 unto me," said the Lord to Ananias, " to bear my name 
 before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of 
 Israel." The treasure of Christianity is not like earthly 
 possessions, which " perish with the using." On the 
 contrary, it is " inexhaustible," as well as " undefiled." 
 Let the Christian instructor impart what he may, it is 
 only like the overflowings of a perennial spring, whose 
 capacious basin, whence they descend to fertilize the 
 valley, remains ever full. He is not himself the poorer 
 
288 APPENDIX. 
 
 for all the gifts which he bestows. His are " the barrel 
 of meal, and the cruse of oil," which shall never fail 
 whilst there is one individual on the earth who " hungers 
 and thirsts after righteousness." 
 
 How ready, then, should every Christian minister be, 
 to convey the knowledge of salvation to all within his 
 reach ; to preach the word with all boldness, and with 
 all fidelity, " in season and out of season ! " As, in the 
 instructive parable of our Lord, the slothful servant was 
 condemned for hiding his master's talent in a napkin, so 
 is he to be reproved, who, careful only to preserve his 
 own creed unimpaired, feels no anxiety, and makes no 
 effort, to extend to others the savour of the knowledge 
 of Christ. 
 
 But whilst we acknowledge that such unworthy 
 repositories of Christian truth deserve reprehension, let 
 us not forget that the ministers of the sanctuary are, 
 " at their best estate," but " earthen vessels." The 
 epithet is well suited to express their meanness, and their 
 frailty. The apostles themselves, even the most eminent 
 amongst them, were men of like feelings and infirmities 
 with others. Though sanctified by the Spirit of God, 
 they were not impeccable ; though endowed with mira- 
 culous powers, they were equally exposed with others to 
 weariness and fatigue, to hunger and thirst, to cold and 
 nakedness. They were, for the most part, mean in 
 their extraction, and mean in their external appearance. 
 With the exception of St. Paul, they were plain, unlear- 
 ned men, without riches, without honours, without 
 worldly influence. The pencil of the artist and the 
 fancy of the poet have, it is true, encircled their heads 
 with a halo of glory ; but, in reality, they had " neither 
 form nor comeliness," that mankind should "desire" 
 them. " 1 think," says St. Paul, " that God hath set 
 
APPENDIX. 289 
 
 forth us, the apostles, last, as it were appointed to death : 
 for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to 
 angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, . . . 
 weak and despised. Even unto this present hour we 
 both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, 
 and have no certain dwelling-place. . . . We are made 
 as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all 
 things." And though the outward condition of the 
 Christian priesthood has improved since the establish- 
 ment of Christianity on the ruins of Judaism and Pagan- 
 ism, yet is it still seen, that the most useful of God's 
 ministering servants are frequently the most destitute of 
 worldly comforts, and the most despised by the great ones 
 of the earth. Under the names of the most evangelical, 
 holy, and laborious preachers of the truth, in every age 
 of the church, might the aphorism of the apostle be 
 aptly inscribed, — " poor, yet making many rich." They 
 were distinguished, perhaps, neither for eloquence nor 
 learning ; and yet their extraordinary success in turning 
 many to righteousness, and in building up believers in 
 their most holy faith, proves incontestibly that they were 
 chosen vessels of the Lord. 
 
 In making choice of such repositories of gospel bless- 
 ings, the Almighty has shown us that his thoughts are 
 not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. We 
 should naturally have expected, that instead of putting 
 such a treasure in frail earthen vessels, defiled with sin, 
 and marked with imperfection, he would have selected 
 for his purpose, some of the most honourable and mighty 
 among the celestial hosts, some of those principalities and 
 powers in heavenly places, of which we read, even the 
 cherubim and seraphim, and the angels who excel in 
 might. Or had he condescended to. employ human 
 agents, we should naturally have expected that he would 
 
 o 
 
290 APPENDIX. 
 
 raise up some men of extraordinary genius, gifted with 
 an eloquence which nothing could resist, and enriched 
 with every mental and corporeal endowment. We 
 should have expected, in short, that they should be so 
 qualified, by outward advantages and inward graces, as 
 that they might confidently traverse the globe with their 
 treasure, scattering their gifts without let or hindrance, 
 and bringing every individual to an instant conviction 
 that they were the messengers of the Most High God. 
 But he has been pleased, as we have seen, to determine 
 otherwise, and to make choice of ordinary men, and, for 
 the most part, of an humble rank in life, and distin- 
 guished by no secular advantages, to be the most success- 
 ful ministers of his word. Nor are we left to conjecture 
 why he has so determined. " We have this treasure 
 in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the jjower may 
 he of God, and not of us." 
 
 III. This is the third and last particular, which now 
 requires our attention. The self-existent Jehovah, even 
 the God over all, designs in this, as in all his arrange- 
 ments, to manifest his own glory. Had he em- 
 ployed any of the instruments already mentioned, 
 then the achievements of Christianity would have been 
 referred, not to the power of his gospel, accompanied by 
 the influences of his Spirit, but to the learning, the 
 eloquence, the skill, the worldly influence of those dis- 
 tinguished individuals. Acting, therefore, upon that 
 one uniform and essential principle, that he " will not 
 give" his "honour to another," he has selected such 
 instruments as cannot possibly be regarded as the unaided 
 accomplishers of the mighty effects which result from 
 their ministry. Thus, to use the language of the apostle, 
 " he hath chosen the foolish things of the world to 
 confound the wise ; and the weak things of the world to 
 
APPENDIX. 291 
 
 confound the things that are mighty ; that no flesh should 
 glory in his presence, — that, according as it is written, 
 He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord." 
 
 That the preaching of the gospel is attended with 
 "excellency of power," there can be no question. It 
 was so in the days of the apostles, as exhibited in the 
 propagation of Christianity. Though the gospel was 
 diametrically at variance with the notions which generally 
 prevailed, whether in Palestine or Greece; though it 
 was violently opposed by all the influence, authority, 
 and learning of mankind ; though it called upon its 
 converts to deny themselves, and take up their cross, and 
 follow an exalted but once crucified Jesus through 
 present disgrace, hardships, bonds and privations ; though 
 it promised nothing, either of glory or of ease, but what 
 was future and unseen ; yet did it march onward and 
 prevail, in spite of all opposition. Though " to the 
 Jews the preaching of the cross was a stumbling-block, 
 and to the Greeks foolishness," yet to multitudes who 
 were pricked in their hearts, and enabled " to believe," 
 it proved " the power of God unto salvation." 
 
 Its blessed effects, when accompanied by the influence 
 of the Holy Spirit, are still exhibited in the renewal and 
 sanctification of men's hearts and lives. Is it not evident 
 to every one who is at all conversant with the state of 
 religion in this country, and in our own particular church, 
 that in every instance in which the doctrines of the gos- 
 pel, in opposition to the mere theory of morals, are 
 plainly, zealously, and affectionately pressed, that God 
 is glorified by the conversion of many evil livers, the 
 humbling of many a proud heart, and the consoling of 
 many a sorrowful heart? Cannot the faithful minister 
 of religion still testify with the apostle Paul, after a 
 similar experience, " 1 am not ashamed of the gospel of 
 
 o 2 
 
292 APPENDIX. 
 
 Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth ? " Yes! we see that when 
 Christ is " lifted up/' he still " draweth all men unto 
 him." It is not the preacher's eloquence that renews 
 the heart, and engenders faith, and kindles love, and 
 excites joy. These are no other than "fruits of the 
 Spirit." 
 
 What preacher more successful than the great apostle 
 of the Gentiles? And yet this is the testimony recorded 
 by his own pen; " And I, brethren, when I came unto 
 you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, 
 declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I deter- 
 mined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus 
 Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in 
 weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my 
 speech and my preaching was not with enticing words 
 of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and 
 of power : that your faith should not stand in the ivis- 
 dom of men, but in the power of God." 
 
 Seeing then, my brethren, that such are the blessed 
 effects of a preached gospel, when rightly received, per- 
 mit me to ask, in conclusion, whether you have expe- 
 rienced them? This " excellency of power" invariably 
 accompanies a proper reception of the truth. Inquire 
 therefore, I beseech you, whether you have " received 
 it, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word 
 of God, which effectually worketh in them that believe ? " 
 If the preaching of the gospel has served merely to 
 modify some of your notions about religion, to correct a 
 few prejudices, and throw a little glimmering of light into 
 your understanding, leaving your heart at the same time 
 unrenewed, and your affections still fixed supremely on 
 things below, no " excellency of power" has been dis- 
 played in you. No; before this power can be said to 
 
APPENDIX. 293 
 
 have exerted itself in the salvation of your souls, we must 
 see something of that shaking of " the dry bones," of 
 which the prophet speaks in his instructive vision. Yea, 
 more than a "shaking" must take place; they must 
 even «< come together ; the sinews and the flesh also must 
 come upon them, and the skin must cover them above." 
 Nor will even this suffice. Another most important cir- 
 cumstance must be realized, before " the excellency " 
 of God's power in the ministry of his word can be fully 
 exhibited. The " breath of heaven" must come into 
 them ; and then shall they live, and stand up upon their 
 feet. Would to God that this glorious and mighty 
 result may be experienced by every one here present as 
 yet dead in trespasses and sins. *' Come from the four 
 winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, and they 
 shall live." 
 
 It is cheering to the Christian minister to know, that 
 though he is responsible to God for a faithful and labor- 
 ious prosecution of his high calling, he is not answerable 
 for its results. If it were otherwise, who could dare to 
 assume the dread, the tremendous office ? Even as it is, 
 we are compelled to exclaim, with the apostle, " Who 
 is sufficient for these things ? " So inestimably valuable 
 is the treasure,— so frail, and mean, and worthless the 
 earthen vessels in which it is deposited, — that we are 
 sometimes tempted to despond. But we are reminded 
 by the same apostle, that " our sufficiency is of God ; " 
 that the grace ** of our Redeemer is sufficient for us ; and 
 that as our day is, so our strength shall be." We thus 
 remind you, my brethren, as well as ourselves, of our 
 weakness and infirmities, in order to stir you up to the 
 exercise of that too much neglected duty, intercessory 
 prayer. I beseech you to remember, in your petitions, 
 the ministers of religion. Pray, in the language of our 
 
294 APPENDIX. 
 
 liturgy, that the giver of all good gifts, "who of his 
 divine Providence has appointed divers orders in his 
 church, may give his grace unto all who are called to 
 any office and administration in the same ; and so 
 replenish them with the truth of his doctrine, and endue 
 them with innocency of life, that they may faithfully 
 serve before him, to the glory of his great name, and the 
 benefit of his holy church." And more especially let 
 me intreat your prayers in behalf of him who now 
 addresses you. The vessel which is appointed to convey 
 to you the rich treasure of the gospel is, indeed, an 
 " earthen vessel." Pray that, notwithstanding all its 
 frailty and imperfection, it may yet prove effectual, 
 through the grace and strength of the Redeemer, to ac- 
 complish the two great ends of the ministerial office. It 
 is at once your interest, your privilege, and your duty, to 
 pray for your minister. His prosperity is yours also. 
 The more unalloyed and entire he is enabled to preserve 
 the " treasure" committed to his care, and the more 
 fitted he becomes to convey it to others, the more will 
 your own advantages as a people be increased. Let 
 him, then, under the consciousness of many wants and 
 failings, conclude his discourse with a request, which he 
 feels confident will not be denied him; " Brethren, 
 pray for us ! " 
 
APPENDIX. 295 
 
 The second species of outline, consisting of notes, 
 condensed in a form best adapted for the use of an ex- 
 temporary preacher, requires also to be illustrated by 
 examples. The two following specimens occur in the 
 Memoirs of the late Rev. T. Robinson, M. A. Vicar of 
 St. Mary's, Leicester, the author of " Scripture Charac- 
 ters," &c. and one of the most popular as well as 
 judicious preachers of his time. 
 
 1 John iv. 17. 
 
 " As he is, so are we in this world." 
 
 What are Christians? — Important question! Redeemed 
 by Christ — Rejoicing in him — But their character as 
 well as state is changed — they are followers or imitators 
 of Him — Who can adopt these words ? — Examine 
 
 I. We are not so by nature. Rom. viii. 7. Eph. ii. 
 1 — 3. Titus iii. 3. 
 
 II. We are made so by grace. Philosophy and rea- 
 son do not effect this change. Rom. viii. 29. Gal. iii. 
 27. 2 Peter i. 4. Eph. iv. 24. Fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 III. We must appear to be so. 1 Peter ii. 21. 
 1 John ii. 6. 
 
 1. In zeal for God — public and private devotions. 
 
 2. In abstraction from the world — not of it — and 
 hated by it. 
 
 3. In holy tempers — meekness, and love. Matt, 
 xi. 29. Eph. v. 2. Phil. ii. 5. bearing- 
 forgiving — kind. Psalm cix. Rom. xv. 3. 
 1 Peter ii. 23. 
 
296 APPENDIX. 
 
 IV. By what means we must become so. 
 
 1. The Scriptures — study him there. 
 
 2. Contemplation. Heb. xii. 
 
 3. Faith. John vi. 2 Cor. iii. 18. 
 
 4. Prayer for the Spirit. Psalm li. 13. 
 
 Apply 
 
 1. To Christians — your likeness is defective here, 
 will be complete hereafter. Phil. iii. 21. Col. 
 iii. iv. 1 John iii. 2. 
 
 2. To sinners. Whom do you resemble — with 
 whom can you dwell ? 
 
 Coloss. i. 19. 
 
 " It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness 
 dwell:' 
 
 My business is to speak of Christ— 
 But O ! how unfit— O Lord assist ! 
 This is the apostle's subject — most glorious— 
 
 I. The fulness of Christ as head of all things — 
 This is- 
 
 (1.) The fulness of Deity — Shechinah — Christ's 
 body is the temple— Godhead resides in it — 
 It was manifested in Him — 
 The scriptures assert that it was in Him — 
 His works and offices imply that it was in Him — 
 He sustains, and supports all things. 
 O worship — adore — serve Him ! 
 (2.) The fulness of all spiritual blessings — The view 
 here is not to his own character, but to his 
 office as Mediator. 
 He is the fountain head— grand depository — 
 Having purchased grace he bestows it— 
 
APPENDIX. 297 
 
 Righteousness for justification. 
 
 Wisdom, as light from the sun. Col. ii. 3. 
 
 Strength for duties and trials. 2 Cor. Hi. 5. 
 
 Eph. iv. 7—16. 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
 Comfort. John xiv. 27 ; xvi. 33 ; xv. 11. 
 
 Psalm xvi. 11. 
 These graces he possesses without measure — enough, 
 For all the wants of believers. 
 For all believers however numerous. 
 By faith you must receive — 
 
 II. The good pleasure of the Father— a blessed union, 
 
 1. The Father hath appropriated this way. 
 
 2. The Father considers it as most glorious to 
 himself. 
 
 3. The Father requires the acquiescence and sub- 
 mission of sinners. 
 
 Improve by advising 
 
 1. To cease from man — who is vanity. 
 From yourselves. 
 
 From others— who will disappoint you. 
 
 2. To study the glory of Christ— 
 
 3. Not to object to their own emptiness— 
 
 4. To communicate to others— thus resembling 
 
 Christ— 
 In spiritual things. 
 In temporal. 
 
 5. To be satisfied if Christ be yours. 
 
 But let nothing less, nothing else, satisfy you. 
 1 Cor. iii. 21. 
 
 O 5 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 To the two preceding specimens, the Editor subjoins 
 a synopsis of a discourse on 2 Cor. iv. 16, the original 
 of which he possesses in Mr. Robinson's own hand 
 writing. 
 
 2 Cor. iv. 16. 
 
 We are anxious for the welfare of friends. This not 
 wrong — but our attention too confined. 
 
 We look to the body — forget the soul. 
 
 Bodily health of great value — that of the soul greater. 
 
 Is yours what you understand ? Examine. 
 
 Text describes, a prosperous state of soul in bodily 
 
 weakness. 3 John 2. 
 Consider, 
 
 I. The renovation of the soul. 
 Beginning of life — why necessary. 
 
 Not mere amendment of life, or reformation. 
 Faculties restored to their proper use. 
 (1.) Understanding. (2.) Will. (3.) Affections. 
 Inquire as to the reality of religion. 
 
 II. The gradual progress of the work. 
 
 Life is at first in a weak state — maintained — carried 
 
 on — day by day. Babes— children— fathers. 
 Little increasings — purified as metals — grow as 
 
 grass, corn, trees. Spreads as leaven —rises as a 
 
 building. 
 All Christians need daily provision. 
 They differ — from others — from themselves. 
 All mourn defects — liable to fall— do actually 
 
 depart — &c. not perfect. 
 
APPENDIX. 299 
 
 Should pray: for their increase and revival. Phil. 
 
 i. 9. Psalms. 
 Should seek after. Phil. iii. 12—14. 2 Pet. iii. 18. 
 Lament sloth — earthliness— &c. 
 
 III. Its obstructions. Various. 
 
 Outward troubles are a test, but necessarily 
 hindrances. 
 
 Body perishes— doomed to die — infirmities — pains — 
 sickness — age. 
 
 Will these prevent? No — grace triumphs. 
 
 These may forward the work. Better than pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Drive to God — humble — endear Christ and heaven. 
 
 Glorious sights exhibited on sick beds. 
 
 But many are hindered by — remaining corruptions. 
 
 occasional temptations. 
 
 sad relapses, 
 Apply, 
 
 (].) Take care by what marks you judge. 
 Trust not in a mere profession. 
 
 in great confidence or joy. 
 Be not discouraged— though unfitted by disorder. 
 
 though sorely tempted. 
 (2.) Admire the work of God — carried on — his grace, 
 his strength — preserving life against so much 
 opposition, a spark of fire in the ocean. 
 Pray— and trust— and give thanks. 
 (3.) What a sad contrast in the sinner. 
 
 More careless — confirmed — obdurate — mischiev- 
 ous—fitted for destruction. 
 Mourn and weep. O fear ! 
 Your outward man must perish. 
 Then where must you dwell. 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 The preceding sketches were evidently designed by 
 the preacher, to refresh his memory in the pulpit, should 
 occasion require, and to keep himself within the pre- 
 scribed limits of his subject. The notes themselves indi- 
 cate no particular talent nor skill : the ability consisted 
 in employing them as he did, in a distinguished and 
 masterly manner, retaining a listening throng, hanging 
 upon his lips, awed, penetrated, delighted, and instructed 
 by his manly unaffected eloquence. ' Who ever heard 
 him/ asks his still more eloquent panegyrist, 1 '■ without 
 feeling a persuasion that it was the man of God who 
 addressed him ; or without being struck with the per- 
 spicuity of his statement, the solidity of his thoughts, 
 and the rich unction of his spirit ? It was the harp of 
 David, which, struck with his powerful hand, sent 
 forth more than mortal sounds, and produced an impres- 
 sion far more deep and permanent than the thunder of 
 Demosthenes, or the splendid conflagrations of Cicero. 
 The hearers of Mr. Robinson were too much occupied 
 by the subject he presented to their attention, to waste 
 a thought on the speaker : this occupied a second place 
 in the order of their reflections; but when it did occur, 
 it assumed the character, not of superficial admiration, 
 but of profound attachment. Their feelings towards him 
 were not those of persons gratified, but benefitted, and 
 they listened to his instructions, not as a source of 
 amusement, but as a spring of living water. There 
 never was a settled pastor, probably, who had formed a 
 juster conception of the true end of preaching, who pur- 
 sued it more steadily, or attained it to a greater extent. 
 He preached immortal truth with a most extraordinary 
 
 1 The late Rev. Robert Hall. 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 simplicity, perspicuity, and energy, in a style adapted 
 to all capacities, equally removed from vulgarity and 
 affected refinement ; and the tribute paid to his exer- 
 tions, consisted not in loud applauses ; it was of a higher 
 order ; it consisted of penitential sighs, holy resolutions 
 of a determination of the whole soul for God, and such 
 impressions on the spirits of men as will form the line 
 of separation betwixt the happy and the miserable to all 
 eternity.' 
 
 From the Memoirs l of this distinguished preacher, 
 it appears that during the first seven years of his min- 
 istry, he composed all his sermons before preaching, and 
 delivered them without alteration or addition from the 
 manuscripts he had prepared. After that period he 
 preached from short notes, such as have been given in 
 the two preceding specimens. These contained the main 
 divisions of his subject, and a sketch of all the leading 
 ideas which he meant to introduce, together with his 
 formal references to Scripture. The impression produced 
 by his written, and by his extemporary sermons, is said 
 to have been much the same ; only it was remarked that 
 he was slower and more deliberate in the delivery of 
 these than of the former. 
 
 1 See ' Some account ' of his Life, &c. by the late Rev. E. T. 
 Vaughan, M. A. 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 The third species of analysis, to which allusion has 
 been made, yet remains to be considered. It differs 
 from the two preceding species by being still more 
 ample and complete, and designed by the writer, not for 
 his own use, but for that of others. 
 
 It is not perhaps generally understood that the vene- 
 rable author of the Horae Homileticae penned those 
 valuable compositions after having preached the sub- 
 stance of them from the pulpit. The analysis, which in 
 every instance he previously prepared, and took with 
 him into the pulpit, was much shorter, and more com- 
 pressed. It consisted in fact, of short notes, resembling 
 the specimens already given from the pen of Mr. 
 Robinson. 
 
 The Editor trusts that his revered friend will pardon 
 the liberty he takes in illustrating this observation by 
 presenting to the younger clergy, to whom he has shewn 
 himself preeminently a benefactor, one or two specimens 
 of his pulpit notes, selected out of about half-a-dozen, 
 which he kindly left with him as memorials of his highly 
 valued visit at Liverpool some years ago. They were 
 sketched, it must be remembered, for the occasion, with 
 no view whatever to meet the public eye, or indeed any 
 eye, but his own ; yet, it is remarkable what order and 
 method, what correctness and precision they evince, and 
 how much important matter is compressed within so 
 small a space. 
 
 The first specimen which I shall produce is from 
 Isaiah xxvii. 12, 13, containing the matter and sub- 
 stance of what he gives us in No. 500 of his Horae 
 Homileticae. It will prove an interesting occupation to 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 the student, who may possess that valuable work, to 
 compare the one with the other in their several parts. 
 
 Isaiah xxvii. 12, 13. 
 
 A mistaken notion that God will convert the 
 Jews by miracle, and not by means. 
 
 The text refutes that, and encourages the use 
 of means. Consider, 
 
 I. The mercy reserved for the Jewish people, 
 
 II. The way in which it shall be vouchsafed to them. 
 
 And I. The mercy reserved for the Jewish people. 
 
 They shall " be gathered and worship," &c. 
 (].) Literally. 
 
 Many doubt this — but it seems certain. Deut. 
 
 xxx. 1 — 5. Zech. viii. 3 — 9, 23. 
 (2.) Spiritually. 
 
 The Christian church is Mount Zion. 
 
 To it shall they be gathered. 
 
 This is foretold. Ezek. xxxiv. 11 — 16, 23, 24. 
 
 Hosea iii. 5 ; especially Rom. ii. 12, 15, 19, 
 
 20, 24. 
 Regarding this as certain, we may proceed to 
 
 consider, 
 
 II. The way in which this mercy shall be vouchsafed 
 
 to them. This we will trace 
 
 (1.) In its commencement. 
 
 The extent of territory before promised, Gen. 
 
 xv. 18. 
 But driven thence, they are compared to an olive 
 tree stripped. Isaiah xvii. 4 — 6. 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 God, however, will send his servants to "seek" 
 and " beat off" or " shake off." 
 
 The success of this will not be great : " one by 
 one." 
 
 But to them it will be a joyful event. 
 
 y Isa. xxiv. 13, 14. 
 
 Jer. iii. 14, " one of a city." 
 
 They only a remnant, Isa. x. 22. 
 
 Yet as the first-fruits of harvest. 
 (2.) In its progress. 
 
 The great trumpet will be blown. 
 
 These used for convincing — in the wilderness re- 
 gulating their journeys, Numb, x.2; proclaiming 
 jubilee, Lev. xxv. 
 
 The gospel is this trumpet. 
 
 Then will that be fulfilled, Isa. xi. 11, 12, 15, 16. 
 
 Multitudes will accompany them, Isa. xix. 23 — 25. 
 
 A matter of joy, Jer. xxxi. 6 — 14. 
 
 Thus shall all Israel be saved, Horn. xi. 26, 27. 
 Infer, 
 
 1. How groundless is the objection which so many 
 
 raise against the efforts that are making for the 
 
 conversion of the Jews, that they are useless ! 
 
 Many malignantly ask, " What have you done ? " 
 Ans. " Not sow and reap in one day." 
 
 Heathen missions (Greenland) not at once. 
 
 But it is erroneous to think they will be converted 
 by miracle. There will be indeed a resurrection, 
 Ezek. xxxvii. But the commencement as glean- 
 ings. Christ and his apostles converted few — 
 yet this no reason for relaxing. We have as 
 many as could reasonably be expected. 
 
 If they be few, should we not still seek them ? 
 e. g. a house on fire. 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 See the description, " outcasts " — " ready to 
 
 perish." 
 They are the " lost sheep of," &c. 
 One sheep should be sought. 
 Not the Father's will that one perish. Matt. 
 
 xviii. 12 — 14. 
 But this cannot be done — if not to seek, and beat 
 
 them off. Can there be a convocation if none 
 
 blow the trumpet ? We want instruments and 
 
 missionaries. 
 2. What we all need in order to our own salvation. 
 We are as in bad a state as the Jews. 
 " All we like sheep have gone astray." 
 We are but a remnant, or gleanings—" little flock" 
 
 — few in the narrow way. 
 I would " beat you off from the tree." 
 
 sound the trumpet. 
 
 i be thankful to gather " one by one," 
 
 " two or three on the topmost — four or five on 
 
 outmost," &c. 
 All that is necessary for Jews, is necessary for 
 
 you also. 
 
 The second specimen which I shall present, consists 
 of still shorter notes upon 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16; and may 
 be compared with No. 985 of the Horae Homileticae. 
 
 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16. 
 
 I. The present blindness of the Jews. 
 
 II. The manifestations that await them. 
 
 First. The present, &c. 
 
 Moses is read — yet they see not. 
 
306 APPENDIX. 
 
 (1) The scope and intent of the Mosaic dispensation. 
 This is complicated. The moral law is a repub- 
 lication of, &c. 
 
 The ceremonial law — a shadowing forth' 
 
 grace. 
 These they mistake. The judicial law a national 
 covenant. 
 The moral — not seeing its spirituality, but as a 
 
 letter. 
 The ceremonial — viewing it as a real atonement, 
 
 instead of a typical exhibition. 
 The judicial — as the whole — by which to obtain 
 . acceptance. 
 
 (2) The true meaning of their prophecies. 
 
 There is a chain — but they saw it imperfectly. 
 Even the Apostles at one time thought of a tempo- 
 ral Messiah. 
 The present Jews have a still deeper veil — denying 
 much which their ancestors saw. 
 
 incarnate, 
 living. 
 They had no idea of the whole as we see it. ^, dying. 
 
 rising. 
 reis:nina. 
 
 S: 
 
 Secondly. The manifestations that await them. 
 
 Moses went in before the Lord. Exod. 
 
 xxxiv. 34. 
 So they, when they turn to him, shall see, 
 and not to the Habbies. 
 (1) The truth and certainty. 
 
 The types and prophecies mark with such 
 fulness 10,000 particulars— a seal-~ an 
 impression. 
 
Infer, 
 
 APPENDIX. 307 
 
 (2) The mysteriousness and sublimity. 
 
 In these they will see the true temple, altar, 
 sacrifice, priest, prophet, king. 
 
 (3) The fulness and excellency. 
 
 A complete atonement — not a mere remem- 
 brance. 
 
 A full pardon — and satisfactory to conscience. 
 
 Sanctification — purged from dead works to 
 serve, dec. 
 
 The law made nothing perfect. 
 
 They will have a different view from a 
 heathen. Sun-dial — machine — educa- 
 tion. 
 
 1. What we should desire for ourselves. 
 
 We have a veil too. Our views like those of 
 
 the Jews. 
 We should pray for the removal of it. " God 
 
 open the eyes of our understanding ! " 
 We should go to the Lord— learn of him, and 
 
 be taught by him. 
 
 2. What we should desire in behalf of the Jews. 
 The veil on the Scriptures is taken away in 
 
 Christ ; and we should desire to remove 
 
 the veil from their hearts endeavour 
 
 to do it. 
 
 N. B. The Scriptures have been committed to 
 us for that end. Rom. ii. 24, 25. 
 
 Their blindness imputable to us. A light- 
 house. 
 
 Let us now endeavour— and unite for that end. 
 
 They enlightened us — let us enlighten them. 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 In referring the young preacher to the valuable assist- 
 ance which such works as the Thesaurus Theologicus of 
 Beyeridge,* and the Skeletons of Sermons, and Horae 
 Homileticae of Mr. Simeon, are calculated to afford, the 
 Editor ventures to suggest the importance of making a 
 proper use of them. They were intended to aid the 
 minister in his preparation for the pulpit, but by no 
 means to supersede his own exertions. 'The preacher,' 
 observes Mr. Simeon, ' should first make himself master 
 of the Skeleton before him, and then write in his own 
 language, and according to his own conceptions, his 
 views of the subject; and he will find that 'verba 
 provisam rem not invita sequentur.' Mr. Bridges, in 
 his valuable work on the Christian Ministry, speaking 
 on the same subject, observes, that ' a thoughtful mind 
 will find ample and profitable employment in clothing 
 the Skeletons, and exhibiting them fitted with solid 
 matter, in the form of symmetry and strength. ' As an 
 illustration,' he adds, ' Henry Martyn's Sermon on Psalm 
 ix. 17. is the filling up of Mr. Simeon's Skeleton on that 
 text. It was worked out (as we accidentally learn from 
 his life) under circumstances of peculiar disadvantage 
 and mental agitation. But the life that is infused 
 throughout, the variety of its enlargements, the accuracy 
 of the proportions of its several parts, the skill with 
 which the breaks are completed, and the warm and 
 strong colouring given to the whole — all combine to give 
 it the power and effect of an original and talented 
 composition.' 1 
 
 With a view to render this peculiarly happy illustra- 
 tion the more complete, the Editor here subjoins for the 
 inspection and comparison of the Student both the 
 
 1 See his Life, p. 130—132. 
 
APPENDIX. 309 
 
 Skeleton and the Sermon. The former which may be 
 found in Mr. Simeon's Helps to Composition, Vol. IV. 
 Skeleton, 357, is as follows. 
 
 THE DANGER OF FORGETTING GOD. 
 
 Psalm ix. 17. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, 
 and all the nations that forget God." 
 
 [The most eminent saints are represented in Scripture as 
 
 weeping over an ungodly world. Nor would this 
 
 exercise of compassion be so rare, if we duly considered 
 
 how great occasion there is for it. The words before 
 
 us are a plain and unequivocal declaration from God 
 himself respecting the doom which awaits every impeni- 
 tent sinner. May God impress our minds with a 
 
 solemn awe, while we shew — ] 
 
 I. Who they are whom God esteems wicked. 
 
 [If we consult the opinions of men, we shall find that 
 they differ widely from each other in their ideas of moral 
 guilt, and that they include more or less in their defini- 
 tion of wickedness according to their own peculiar habits 
 of life; every one being careful so to draw the line that 
 he himself may not be comprehended within it. But 
 God does not consult our wishes, or accommodate his 
 word to our partial regards : he denominates all them 
 wicked, who " forget" him. Doubtless there are degrees 
 of guilt; but all those are wicked in his sight who are 
 forgetful of — ] 
 
 1. His laws. 
 
 [These ought to be written on our hearts, and to be the 
 invariable rule of our conduct. It should be our con- 
 stant inquiry, What is duty ? what does God command ? 
 But if this be no part of our concern, if our inquiry be 
 continually, t What will please myself — what will ad- 
 vance my interests — what will suit the taste of those 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 around me ; ' are we not wicked ? Do we not in all such 
 instances rebel against God, and become, as it were, a 
 God unto ourselves? Yet who amongst us has not been 
 guilty in these respects? ] 
 
 2. His mercies. 
 
 [Every day and hour of our lives we have been laden 
 with mercies by a kind and bountiful benefactor — and 
 should they not have excited correspondent emotions of 
 gratitude in our hearts ? Yea, should they not have 
 rilled our mouths with praises and thanksgivings? But 
 what shall we say to that greatest of all mercies, the gift 
 of God's dear Son to die for us ? Has not that deserved 
 our devoutest acknowledgments ? What then if we have 
 passed days and years without any affectionate remem- 
 brance of God ? What if we have even abused the 
 bounties of his Providence, and poured contempt upon 
 the riches of his grace? What if we have " trodden 
 under foot the Son of God, and done despite to the 
 Spirit of grace ? " Are we not wicked ? Do we account 
 such ingratitude a venal offence, when exercised by a 
 dependent towards ourselves ? ] 
 
 3. His presence. 
 
 [God is every where present, and every object around 
 us has this inscription upon it, "Thou God seest me." 
 Now it is our duty and privilege to walk with God as 
 his friends, and to set him before us all the day long. 
 But, suppose we have been unmindful of his presence, 
 and have indulged without remorse those thoughts, which 
 we could not have endured to carry into effect in the 
 presence of a fellow-creature; suppose we have been 
 careless and unconcerned even when we were assembled 
 in God's house of prayer ; suppose that instead of having 
 him in all our thoughts, we have lived " without him in 
 the world," are we not wicked ? Is it necessary to have 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 added murder and adultery to such crimes as these in 
 order to constitute us wicked ? Does God judge thus, 
 when he declares that they who are thus without God, 
 are at the same time " without hope ? " ] ] 
 
 While we rectify our notions respecting the persons 
 that are wicked, let us inquire — 
 
 II. What is to be their final doom. 
 
 [The word " hell" sometimes imports no more than the 
 grave ; but here it must mean somewhat far more awful ; 
 because the righteous go into the grave as well as the 
 most abandoned.] 
 
 Hell is a place of inconceivable misery. 
 
 [Men in general do not wish to hear this place so much 
 as mentioned, much less described as the portion of the 
 wicked ; but it is better far to hear of it, than to dwell 
 in it ; and it is by hearing of it that we must be per- 
 suaded to avoid it. 2 Our Lord represents it as a place 
 originally formed for the reception of the fallen angels ; 
 and very frequently labours to deter men from sin by the 
 consideration of its terrors. 3 And who that reflects 
 upon that " lake of fire and brimstone," where the wicked 
 " dwell with everlasting burnings," and " weep, and 
 wail, and gnash their teeth," without so much as the 
 smallest hope of deliverance from it, and where " the 
 smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever ; " 
 who that considers what it must be to have the devils for 
 our companions, and to have the vials of God's wrath 
 poured out upon us, without intermission and without 
 end ; who that considers these things, must not tremble 
 at the thought of taking up his abode in that place. ] 
 
 Yet must that be the portion of all that forget God. 
 
 [Now scoffers make light of eternal torments, and 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 12. 2 2 Cor. v. xi. 
 
 a Luke xii. 5. Mark ix. 43—48. 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 puff at the denunciations of God's wrath ; but ere long 
 they will wish that " the rocks might fall upon them, 
 and the hills cover them" from his impending judg- 
 ments. But, however reluctant they be to obey the 
 Divine mandate, they must "depart;" they will be 
 "turned" into hell with irresistible violence, and with 
 fiery indignation. Their numbers will not at all secure 
 them against the threatened vengeance ; though there be 
 whole '*■ nations," they will not be able to withstand the 
 arm of God ; nor will they excite commiseration in his 
 heart : neither will their misery be the less because of 
 the multitudes who partake of it ; for, instead of alle- 
 viating one another's sorrows with tender sympathy, they 
 will accuse one another with the bitterest invectives. 
 The power and veracity of God are pledged to execute 
 this judgment ; and sooner shall heaven and earth be 
 annihilated, than one jot or tittle of his word shall 
 fail. ] 
 
 INFEK. 
 
 1. How awful is the insensibility in which the world 
 are living ! 
 
 [Men seem as careless and indifferent about their 
 eternal interests, as if they had nothing to apprehend ; or 
 as if God had promised that the wicked should be 
 received into heaven. But can they set aside the decla- 
 ration that is now before us ? Or do they suppose it is 
 intended merely to alarm us ; and that it shall never be 
 executed upon us? " Ts God then a man that he should 
 lie, or a son of man, that he should repent?" O that 
 they would awake from their infatuation, and flee from 
 the wrath to come. ] 
 
 2. How just will be the condemnation of sinners in the 
 last day ! 
 
 [Many think it a hard thing that so heavy a judgment 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 Should be denounced merely for forgetting God. But is 
 this so small an offence as they imagine? Is it not 
 rather exceedingly heinous ? Does it not imply the 
 basest ingratitude, the most daring rebellion ? Yea, a 
 great degree even of atheism itself? And shall not God 
 visit for these things, and be avenged on such trans- 
 gressors as these ? Shall they be at liberty to abase 
 God's mercies, and God not be at liberty to suspend the 
 communication of his blessings ? Shall they despise and 
 trample on God's laws, and God not be at liberty to 
 assert their authority? Shall they say to God, " Depart 
 from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways ; " 
 and shall God be accused of injustice if he say to them, 
 " Depart, ye shall never have one glimpse of my pre- 
 sence any more ? " But if they will dare to open 
 their mouths against him now, the time is shortly coming, 
 when they will stand self-convicted, and self-condemned. 
 
 3. How marvellous are the patience and the mercy 
 of God ! 
 
 [God has seen the whole race of man departing from 
 him, and blotting out, as much as they could, the 
 remembrance of him from the earth. His authority, his 
 love, his mercy, are, as it were, by common consent 
 banished from the conversation and from the very 
 thoughts of men. Yet, instead of burning with indigna- 
 tion against us, and " turning us all quick into hell/' 
 he bears with us, he invites us to mercy, he says, 
 ". Deliver them from going down into the pit, for I have 
 found a ransom." > O that we might be duly sensible 
 of his mercy ! O that we might flee for refuge to the 
 hope set before us ! If once we be cast into hell, we 
 
 1 Job xxxiii. 24. 
 P 
 
314 APPENDIX. 
 
 shall never obtain one drop of water to cool our 
 tongues : " but " this is the accepted time; " the Lord 
 grant that we may find it also " the day of salvation ! " 
 
 The Sermon of Henry Martyn, corresponding with the 
 above, is as follows. 
 
 Psalm ix. 17. 
 
 " The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the 
 people that forget God." 
 
 Men and brethren, if religion were only a cunningly- 
 devised fable, if that hell, of which you read in the 
 Bible, were only an invention of crafty deceivers, you 
 might, despise their threatenings, and go on in sin. 
 Moreover, if it were only the drunkard, the murderer, 
 the adulterer, the sabbath-breaker, or the common 
 swearer, that was to find his portion in hell, then the 
 sober and moral among you might please themselves with 
 the hope of escape. But if the Almighty has himself 
 thundered out of heaven, and made known to all men, 
 not only that he hath prepared a place of torment for the 
 wicked, but that all who forget God shall be turned into 
 it, it behoveth every one of us to hear, believe, and 
 tremble. 
 
 Brethren, let the words of our text convince you that 
 the word of God speaks plainly. Certain vain and 
 ignorant persons are shocked at the coarseness of this 
 subject, but you now hear God speaking for himself. 
 This then is the threatening of Jehovah, which his 
 justice and truth engage him to execute, that the wicked 
 shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
 God, 
 
 At the very recital of these words, some of you must 
 
APPENDIX. 315 
 
 be convinced that they are in danger : their consciences 
 must testify, that, if they die as they are now living, 
 they must perish. But by far the greater number are 
 saying to themselves, * Whatever others may be, I 
 have no reason to believe myself to be wicked, or that I 
 forget God.' Now, my brethren, you that speak after 
 this manner, may perhaps be right, but it is possible you 
 may be wrong. If you are right, you need not fear to 
 inquire into your reasons for thinking so : if you are 
 wrong, it will be but a poor exchange to obtain a false 
 peace for a little while in this world, at the expense of 
 awakening from delusion in the next. It is therefore far 
 wiser to ascertain the point. Let us then for this pur- 
 pose, first inquire, who are the persons described in 
 the text : and, in the second place, declare their final 
 doom. 
 
 I. We shall inquire, who are the persons described in 
 the text. 
 
 We apprehend that the wicked, and all the nations 
 that Jorge t God, are the same persons. In the sight of 
 God, all are wicked who forget him : yet, in compliance 
 with the usual sense put upon these words, let us suppose 
 two sorts of persons spoken of — the wicked, those who 
 are openly immoral ; and the other, those who are more 
 decent in their conduct. 
 
 1. The wicked or immoral are those whose sins carry 
 the sentence of their condemnation along with them. To 
 call these sins into a particular review, were unnecessary. 
 Deeply marked with the character of hell, they proclaim 
 to every beholder to what place they are tending. Let 
 it suffice to adduce certain passages of Scripture, in 
 which God has summed up these workers of iniquity, in 
 one complete catalogue, and assigned one doom to them 
 all. " Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit 
 
 p 2 
 
316 APPENDIX. 
 
 the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived ; neither for- 
 nicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor thieves, 
 nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extor- 
 tioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 
 vi. 9, 10. " Now the works of the flesh are manifest, 
 which are these : adultery, fornication, uncleanness, 
 lasciviousness, idolatry, drunkenness, and such like : 
 of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you 
 in time past, that they which do such things shall not 
 inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. v. 19, 21. Would 
 there were none such in the present assembly ! 
 
 2. Leaving these texts to their consideration, we 
 proceed to inquire who they are that forget God. 
 
 God hath commanded us to remember him in all our 
 ways. Not to do this is to forget him. ' What then,* 
 you ask, ' is it possible for any man to be always 
 thinking of God ? Is there not a time for all things ? 
 Is it not sufficient that we think of him at proper sea- 
 sons : such as on the Sabbath, or at morning or evening 
 prayer?' No, brethren; it is not sufficient. God 
 says, " My son, give me thy heart," Prov. xxiii. 26. — 
 thine affections : love me, and you will think of me. 
 The good man may through infirmity, lose sight of God : 
 but he always accounts it a loss, and longs to regain it : 
 but it is a sign of wickedness, if we forget God wilfully 
 and deliberately in any part of our conduct. God re- 
 quires All the heart, and All the life to be devoted to 
 his service. And, indeed, there is as much reason why 
 we should remember him in all our ways, as in any one 
 of them ; if it were lawful to forget him, that is, to have 
 no regard to his authority in one particular, it would be 
 lawful also to forget him in another : thus the rule of 
 right would be left to every man's own choice, and 
 God would be no longer the governor of the world. 
 
APPENDIX. 317 
 
 It is therefore, trifling with scripture to urge that you 
 do not forget God, merely from this circumstance, that 
 you sometimes think of him ; for you may now certainly 
 perceive, if God be wilfully excluded from any one of 
 your thoughts, you are so far wicked. But we need not 
 strain this point to prove your guilt. It is easy to show, 
 concerning a great part of you, that he is scarcely in 
 any of your thoughts ; you forget his laws — you forget 
 his mercies — you forget his presence. 
 
 (1.) There are some who forget God, as a lawgiver, 
 to such a degree, that they never inquire what laws he 
 has given ; nay, disobey those laws which they know. 
 
 Ask yourselves, whether you are not living in the 
 daily habit of seeking your own pleasure — whether it be 
 not your daily question, not ■ What is the will of God? ' 
 but * What is my will ? ' — not ■ What does God com- 
 mand me to do ? ' but ' What do I think fit to do ? 
 what will gratify the flesh, or secure most pleasure to 
 myself? what will promote my honour, or advance my 
 interests in the world ? ■ Are not these the considera- 
 tions that tacitly suggest themselves ; and these the 
 principles that move us to action ? We do not ask 
 whether you run the road of dissipation, and are known 
 in the circles of fashion ; perhaps many of you have not 
 the means of following your own humour, and the bent 
 of your own inclination, except in a few instances. Do 
 you not find, that, whenever you have the means of 
 enjoyment, you immediately set about inquiring how you 
 may gratify yourself to the utmost ? When you have 
 now and then leisure, do you send up a petition to God, 
 that he would direct you to pass your time to his glory 
 and the good of your soul ? or do you not rather waste 
 your hours in idle conversation, and employ them 
 according to your own humour ? But is not this neglect 
 
318 APPENDIX. 
 
 of inquiring about his will, a forgetfulness of God your 
 Maker ? What must be said of that servant, who would 
 not take the trouble so much as to know his master's 
 will ? Indeed, " A son honoureth his father, and a 
 servant his master : if then, I be a father, where is mine 
 honour ? and if I be a master, where is my fear ? saith 
 the Lord of Hosts unto you." Mai. i. 6. 
 
 Further, Consider whether you do not through for- 
 getfulness of God, disobey those laws which you know 
 to be his. You call yourselves Christians : there is 
 probably therefore, not one here who does not know that 
 " God has commanded all men, every where to re- 
 pent;" to " be born again ; " to " renounce the world 
 and its vanities ; " to " crucify the flesh, with its affec- 
 tions and lusts;" to be "poor in spirit; " to " mourn 
 for sin;" to "hunger and thirst after righteousness;" 
 to be "pure in heart; * to be constant and " earnest in 
 prayer ; " to be " laying up treasures in heaven ; " to 
 " enter in at the strait gate," and to walk along the 
 narrow way that leadeth unto life — and in fine to be 
 " looking for the day of God, in all holy conversation 
 and godliness; " and yet are you not conscious that you 
 do not put one of these into practice, but that you live in 
 the habitual neglect of some or all these duties, every 
 one of which you know God has commanded ? 
 
 (2.) You forget God in another particular, namely, 
 by forgetting his mercies. 
 
 On this head let me ask you, whether you acknow- 
 ledge his mercies — whether you bow your knees in 
 fervent and affectionate thanksgiving, for having been 
 blessed with health, for having been fed by his bounty ; 
 for mercies personal, social? Do you confess that every 
 thing which you receive at the hand of God is mere 
 mercy? If he were to afflict you with disease and strip 
 
APPENDIX. 319 
 
 you of all your comforts, would he give you no more 
 than you deserve? If he were to condemn you to 
 everlasting misery, would he be just ? Do you believe 
 that you deserve it ? ' No,' you say, i What have 
 I done to deserve it ? ■ You think God would be 
 unmerciful if he were to destroy you ! 
 
 And above all, my brethren, what think ye of Christ, 
 who is, according to Scripture, God's unspeakable gift ? 
 Do you shew that you bear due regard to God's mercy 
 in sending Christ, by believing in him, coming to him, 
 casting yourself upon him as a lost and ruined sinner ? 
 Have you ever devoted yourself to him — becoming his 
 disciple, esteeming his reproach, and saying, in short, 
 with a true heart, " Henceforth I will not live unto 
 myself/' 2 Cor. v. 15. Ask yourselves whether you 
 ever thought of Christ, with real pleasure and genuine 
 satisfaction of heart. When you speak of him, or of 
 God's mercy in giving him, as you sometimes do in the 
 public prayers, is it not rather a forced or thoughtless 
 acknowledgment, to the grateful tribute of a broken 
 heart ? Christ has said, " He that loveth father or 
 mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he that 
 loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of 
 me ; and he that taketh not up his cross and followetlt 
 after me, is not worthy of me." Matt. x. 37, 38. Do 
 you thus love and obey him, counting all things but 
 dung and dross to win him, and forsaking all to follow 
 him ? Alas ! my friends, you know it is no such thing ; 
 and what is worse, you do not even desire that it should 
 be so. You start at the thought of unceasing self- 
 denial ! You would think yourselves miserable in a life 
 of godliness ! You seek your happiness, not from God 
 but the world. You could in your opinion be as happy 
 as you are, if there were no God— no Saviour. I may 
 
320 APPENDIX. 
 
 say to you as our Lord to the Jews. " Ye have not the 
 love of God in you." Johu v. 42. 
 
 Thus you slight and neglect the rich mercies of God, 
 either by not counting the cost, or by determining not to 
 pay it : thus proving that altogether you undervalue the 
 blessing to be bought ! 
 
 (3.) Let us proceed to remark, in the third place, that 
 you forget God by forgetting his Presence. 
 
 It is God's presence which made and upholds the 
 universe, and which directs every event of our lives. It 
 is this, therefore, that makes the frame of nature sacred, 
 and hallows the varying turns of providence. We do 
 not ask whether you admire the marks of his creating 
 finger, and trace his footsteps as they are seen when he 
 goes to and fro over the earth. Let us come nearer home. 
 God's eye pierces into our hearts. " All things are 
 naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we 
 have to do ! " Heb. iv. 13. " He knoweth our thoughts 
 afar off." Psalm cxxxix. 2. 
 
 Do you thus remember his awful presence ? Are you 
 anxious that your hearts should be a pure and living 
 temple to his praise. Do you love to walk with God ; 
 to cry to him with holy confidence, " Search me, O 
 God, and know my heart: try me, and know my 
 thoughts : and see if there be any wicked way in me ? " 
 Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24. 
 
 On the contrary, do not you know that if you were to 
 profess to have any such secret communion with God, 
 you would "lie to the Holy Ghost," and would almost 
 expect the fate of Ananias ? Do you not know that you 
 securely indulge the lustful thought, and secret vanity, 
 and covetous desire of gain, and bitterness of revenge and 
 anger ; and freely give the reins to those appetites, which 
 the eye of man cannot scrutinize ? God sees them, and 
 
APPENDIX. 321 
 
 sees them with anger ; but you are not concerned. 
 What you would be ashamed and shocked for man to 
 know, that you commit before God without fear and 
 without remorse ! You say, in excuse, that you are 
 not aware of God's presence ; that you forget that his 
 eye is fixed upon you ; but by so saying, you confess 
 what we aimed at proving, namely, that you forget his 
 presence. 
 
 Thus, then, we have described a character, not diffi- 
 cult to be drawn. Let not such persons expect that 
 they shall dwell with God : forgetting his laws, they 
 cannot join in the blessed obedience of angels : forgetting 
 his mercies, they could not sing praises to the Lamb : 
 forgetting his presence, they shall be banished from his 
 presence for ever ! 
 
 But it is not a negative suffering only which they are 
 to undergo ; for we know him that hath said " Ven- 
 geance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." Horn, 
 xii. 19. They have paid me contempt ; I will repay 
 them vengeance. 
 
 II. Hear, therefore, their final doom. "The wicked 
 shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
 God ! " 
 
 Men, in general, do not wish to hear this place so 
 much as mentioned, much less described as the portion 
 of the wicked : but it is better to hear of it than to dwell 
 in it ; and it is by hearing of it that we must be stirred 
 up to escape it. It is degrading to human nature, that 
 we must draw an argument from such a source — that we 
 must dip our shafts in the lake that burneth with fire. 
 It is painful and humiliating to reflect that beings, 
 capable of being constrained by love, should require to 
 be driven by an iron scourge ! Hell is often described 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ. He was too compassionate 
 
 P 5 
 
322 APPENDIX. 
 
 and serious to excite groundless terrors. As he said to 
 his disciples, " In ray Father's house are many man- 
 sions; if it were not so, I would have told you," John 
 xiv. 2 : so we may say of hell : there, then, are many 
 mansions, if it were not so he would have told us. Hell 
 is often described by him as a place in which both body 
 and soul are tormented for ever. To one of these 
 descriptions we will refer you. 
 
 In the ninth chapter of St. Mark's gospel, the eternity 
 of torment is six times described ! The fire and the 
 worm are such images of the causes of suffering as are 
 addressed to the senses. Christ describes hell as a place 
 of inconceivable torment and everlasting misery. He 
 describes it by saying, their fire is not quenched. Fire, 
 a dreadful element, is a scorching thing, and enters deep 
 into the senses : yet hell is represented to be " a lake of 
 lire and brimstone." Rev. xix. 20. But if there were 
 any period set to their sufferings— if after millions of 
 years, they were to be reduced to nothing, they might 
 bear it : but this is their misery, that it is for ever ! 
 Think how tedious is the motion of time when you are 
 in pain — how you wish the hours away I What must 
 it be to suffer such pain as will make every moment 
 appear an age? and yet there must be an eternity of 
 those ages ! Our Lord also compares it to the gnawing 
 of a worm, which preys on the vitals : by which is 
 signified that anguish of spirit and remorse of conscience, 
 which they must for ever feel, and keen disappointment 
 at having lost for ever past opportunities: ** their worm 
 dieth not." They have fallen into the hands of the 
 living God : therefore, so long as he liveth, that is, for 
 ever, so long must they be subject to the execution of 
 his wrath ! These things are within the apprehension of 
 all — it is a very plain thing of which we speak. Who- 
 
APPENDIX. 323 
 
 ever do go to a place of torment, continue there for 
 ever ! 
 
 This place will be the portion of them that forget God. 
 Here, foolish and ignorant men scotT at eternal torments : 
 they say within themselves of sin — 'is it not a little 
 thing? will a merciful God, who knows our weakness, 
 punish so dreadfully what we can scarcely help doing? t 
 But what says God? "Thou though test that I was 
 altogether such an one as thyself." Ps. 1. 21. Because 
 thou didst smile at sin, thou though test I should do so 
 too. Because I forgave the sins of my penitent people, 
 thou thoughtest I should forgive thine without repent- 
 ance. They will find that God was in earnest when 
 he warned them " to flee from the wrath to come." 
 Matt. iii. 7. He said to them on earth, " If ye live 
 after the flesh, ye shall die." Bom. viii. 13. they did 
 live after the flesh : hoping, no doubt, that God would 
 not be true to his word. But do not they find, now that 
 they feel the pains of hell get hold upon them, now that 
 they have actually died and are in hell, that God is 
 faithful ? Though we believe not, but deny him, yet he 
 cannot deny himself. Believe it, brethren, " God is not 
 a man, that he should lie : neither the son of man, that 
 he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? 
 or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good ? 
 Numb, xxiii. 19. 
 
 Some are so weak as to suppose that the numbers who 
 must perish, if all this be true, will secure them against 
 the threatened vengeance ; or at least move the commis- 
 eration of the judge. But we read in the text, that 
 though they be whole nations, they cannot withstand his 
 almighty arm : however numerous, or however strong, 
 he can in a moment hurl the mightiest criminals into 
 endless ruin : thus he speaks by his prophet, " Hell hath 
 
324 APPENDIX. 
 
 enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure : 
 and their glory and their multitude, and their pomp, 
 and he that rejoiceth shall descend into it." Is. v. 14. 
 " and as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame 
 consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, 
 and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they 
 have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and 
 despised the word of the Holy One of Israel." Is. v. 
 24. And hath not this dreadful threatening been ful- 
 filled ? hath not our Lord told us of a rich man, who, in 
 hell lifted up his eyes being in torment ? it was not said 
 that he was sent thither for being a drunkard, or a forni- 
 cator, or an extortioner : but he had forgotten God. 
 That narrative, I mean of Dives and Lazarus, exhibits 
 realities. Is there such a place as hell ? Does any one 
 descend into it, and find himself actually there ? The 
 rich man did ! Let it then be established as an awful 
 truth, that they who wilfully neglect to obey any of 
 God's laws which they know, or who live without Christ, 
 that is, ignorant of him— do not follow him in the rege- 
 neration, or who indulge the secret sins of the heart ; 
 thus disregarding the divine presence, are those that 
 forget God, and shall be turned into hell. 
 
 Now pause a while, and reflect ! Some of you, per- 
 haps by this time, instead of making a wise resolve, have 
 begun to wonder that so heavy a judgment should be 
 denounced merely against forgetfulness. 
 
 But look at the affairs of common life, and be taught 
 by them. Do not neglect, and want of attention, and 
 not looking about us to see what we have to do — do not 
 any of these bring upon us consequences, as ruinous to 
 our worldly business as any active misbehaviour ? It is 
 an event of every day, that a man by mere laziness and 
 inattention to his business, does as certainly bring him- 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 self and family to poverty, and end his days in a gaol, 
 as if he were in wanton mischief, to set fire to his own 
 house. So it is also with the affairs of the soul : neglect 
 of that — forgetfulness of God, who only can save it, 
 will work his ruin as surely as a long and daring course 
 of profligate wickedness. 
 
 When any one has been recollecting the proper proofs 
 of a future state of rewards and punishments, nothing, 
 methinks, can give him so sensible an apprehension of 
 punishment, or such a representation of it to the mind, 
 as observing, that, after the many disregarded checks, 
 admonitions, and warnings, which people meet with in 
 the ways of vice, folly, and extravagance — warnings 
 from their very nature, from the examples of others, from 
 the lesser inconveniences which they bring upon them- 
 selves, from the instructions of wise and good men ; after 
 these have been long despised, scorned, ridiculed ; after 
 the chief bad consequences (temporal consequences) of 
 their follies have been delayed for a great while, at 
 length they break in irresistibly like an armed force : 
 repentance is too late to relieve, and can serve only to 
 aggravate their distress : the case has become desperate ; 
 and poverty and sickness, remorse and anguish, infamy 
 and death, the effects of their own doings, overwhelm 
 them beyond possibility of remedy or escape. This is 
 an account of what is, in fact, the general constitution 
 of nature. 
 
 But is the forgetfulness of God so light a matter ? 
 Think what ingratitude, rebellion and atheism there is at 
 the bottom of it ! Sirs, you have " a carnal mind which 
 is enmity against God." Rom. viii. 7. Do not suppose 
 that you have but to make a slight effort, and you will 
 cease to forget him : it is your nature to forget him : it 
 is your nature to hate him : so that nothing less than an 
 
326 APPENDIX. 
 
 entire change of heart and nature, will ever deliver you 
 from this state of enmity. Our nature is not subject to 
 the law of God, neither indeed can be. They that are 
 " in the flesh, cannot please God." Rom. viii. 7, 8. 
 From this state, let the fearful menace in the text, per- 
 suade you to arise ! Need we remind you again of the 
 dreadfulness of hell, of the certainty that it shall over- 
 take the impenitent sinner ? Enough has been said ; and 
 can any of you be still so hardened, and such enemies 
 to your souls, as still to cleave to sin ? Will you still 
 venture to continue any more in the hazard of falling 
 into the hands of God ? Alas ! " Who among us shall 
 dwell with the devouring fire ? Who among us shall 
 dwell with everlasting burnings?" Isaiah xxxiii. 14. 
 " Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, 
 in the days that I shall deal with thee ? I the Lord have 
 spoken it, and will do it ! " Ezekiel xxii. 14. 
 
 Observe that men have dealt with sinners ; ministers 
 have dealt with them ; at last God will take them in 
 hand, and deal with them ! Though not so daring as to 
 defy God, yet, brethren, in all probability you put oft 
 repentance. Will you securely walk a little longer 
 along the brinks of the burning furnace of the Almighty's 
 fury ? " As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there 
 is but a step between thee and death ! " 1 Samuel xx. 3. 
 When you lie down you know not but you may be in it 
 before the morning, and when you rise, you know not 
 but God may say, " Thou fool ! this night thy soul 
 shall be required of thee ! " When once the word is 
 given to cut you down, the business is over. You are 
 cut oft* from your lying refuges and beloved sins, from 
 the world, from your friends, from the light, from hap- 
 piness, from hope for ever. Be wise, then, my friends, 
 and reasonable ; give neither sleep to your eyes, nor 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 slumber to your eye-lids, till you have resolved on your 
 knees before God, to forget him no more. Go home 
 and pray. Do not dare to fly, as it were, in the face of 
 your Maker, by seeking your pleasure on his holy day ; 
 but if you are alarmed at this subject, as well you may 
 be, go and pray to God that you may forget him no 
 more. It is high time to awake out of sleep. It is 
 high time to have done with hesitation ; time does not 
 wait for you ; nor will God wait till you are pleased to 
 turn. He hath bent his bow and made it ready; halt 
 no more between two opinions : hasten, tarry not in all 
 the plain, but flee from the wrath to come. Pray for 
 grace, without which you can do nothing. Pray for the 
 knowledge of Christ, and of your own danger and help- 
 lessness, without which you cannot know what it is to 
 find refuge in him. It is not our design to terrify, with- 
 out pointing out the means of safety. Let us then 
 observe, that if it should have pleased God to awaken 
 any of you to a sense of your danger, you should beware 
 of betaking yourselves to a refuge of lies. 
 
 But, through the mercy of God, many among us have 
 found repentance unto life, have fled for refuge to the 
 hope set before them, have seen their danger and fled to 
 Christ. Think with yourselves what it is now to have 
 escaped destruction ; what it will be to hear at the last 
 day our acquittal, when it shall be said to others, " Depart 
 from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." Let the sense 
 of the mercy of God gild all the paths of life. On the 
 other hand, since it is they who forget God that are to 
 bear the weight of his wrath, let us beware, brethren, 
 how we forget him, through concern about this world, 
 or through unbelief, or through sloth. Let us be punctual 
 in all our engagements with him. With earnest at- 
 tention and holy awe ought we to hear his voice, cherish 
 
328 APPENDIX. 
 
 the sense of his presence, and perform the duties of his 
 worship. No covenant relation or Gospel grace can 
 render him less holy, less jealous, or less majestic. 
 " Wherefore let us have grace whereby we may serve 
 God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear ; for our 
 God is a consuming fire." 
 
IV. 
 
 A LETTER FROM THE LATE REV. ROBERT HALL, M. A. 
 
 OF LEICESTER, TO THE EDITOR, WHEN A STUDENT 
 
 AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 So highly are the writings of the late Robert Hall 
 esteemed by all classes of readers, that the Editor has 
 occasionally been led to regret having so long withheld 
 from them the following valuable remarks. He ought 
 perhaps to have furnished the Publisher of his works 
 with a copy at the time when his correspondence was in 
 a state of preparation for the press. He makes, how- 
 ever, the best reparation in his power by introducing it 
 into the present work, to which it is in all respects most 
 appropriate. 
 
 Leicester, Feb. 17, 1814. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am happy to hear, as in the instance before me, 
 that God is inclining by his Spirit so many young 
 Students to devote themselves to the ministry from the 
 purest and most evangelical motives. With such views 
 and dispositions you may be assured of your receiving a 
 competent measure of that sacred unction that teacheth 
 all things. But as you have condescended to ask my 
 advice respecting the best mode of preparing yourself for 
 the sacred work of the ministry, I can only lament my 
 incompetence for the task you have assigned me. In 
 
330 APPENDIX. 
 
 the mean time I have no doubt you will take in good 
 part the few suggestions which I shall present you, 
 without suspecting me of a disposition to dictate or 
 dogmatize. 
 
 With respect to your first inquiry, I have no doubt 
 that the extemporaneous mode of preaching is the best; 
 by which I am far from intending the neglect of previous 
 study, but the practice of delivering sermons with little 
 or no immediate use of notes. That it possesses a supe- 
 rior power of keeping up attention, and exciting an im- 
 pression, can scarcely be doubted ; and all that can be 
 said on the other side is, that it is unfavourable to accu- 
 racy. But why should sermons be more elaborately 
 exact in point of composition, than the speeches in 
 Parliament, or at the Bar— or the force and pathos 
 naturally attendant on the extemporary mode of speaking 
 be excluded only from the inculcation of divine truth ; 
 that truth which we are enjoined by the highest example 
 and authority not to attempt to combine with excellency 
 of speech, or of wisdom ? 
 
 The matter appears to me to be this. The general 
 decay of piety amongst the regular clergy in the reign of 
 the two Charles's, almost extinguished pulpit eloquence. 
 And when true religion began to be held in dis-esteem, 
 nothing remained to be cultivated but a scrupulous and 
 timid correctness ; when the Preacher, instead of at- 
 tempting ' dominari in concionibus,* was chiefly solicit- 
 ous to avoid ridicule, satisfied with the negative praise 
 of not giving offence. This is surely a very confined 
 limit for the ambition of a Christian Minister : but 
 whoever would greatly surpass it, and accomplish to 
 any considerable extent the true objects of preaching, 
 must, after deeply meditating his subject, and making a 
 tolerably copious analysis, trust the clothing of his ideas 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 to the feeling of the moment. I would not, however, 
 urge a young preacher to attempt all this at once ; but 
 rather never to read entirely — to write the whole or a 
 good part of his sermon for a while — then to trust him- 
 self gradually more to his extemporaneous powers. 
 
 With respect to the course of study to be pursued, 
 and the proper books to be read by a young man who is 
 preparing for sacred orders, I am ashamed to attempt to 
 give my opinion, conscious as I am of being so deficient 
 myself in the knowledge, which, if not absolutely requi- 
 site, is yet highly conducive to the profitable discharge 
 of the Christian Ministry. 
 
 I suppose the most necessary study of all is the ac- 
 quiring an intimate acquaintance with both Testaments in 
 their original languages, never losing sight of the Sep- 
 tuagint, which is the best interpreter of the Hebrew 
 words, as well as of the Hellenistic dialect, which per- 
 vades the New Testament. This, I presume, should 
 form a part, and a considerable one, of the daily study of 
 a young divine. 
 
 Next, Ecclesiastical History will demand his atten- 
 tion, which, without neglecting some modern historians, 
 will be best learned out of Eusebius ; and, if he wishes 
 to pursue the history of the church beyond the fourth 
 century, from Socrates and Sozomen. The compilation 
 of Eusebius is invaluable, and the History of Socrates 
 very entertaining, and full of melancholy instruction. 
 
 For Jewish Antiquities, I know nothing better than 
 Beausobre and L' Enfant' s Introduction to the Prussian 
 Testament ; though the subject is handled more fully by 
 Jennings, in two volumes, octavo. 
 
 Of Commentators, I am not very competent to speak, 
 having not conversed with them very widely. Grotius 
 is perhaps the most profound and enlightened — particu- 
 
332 APPENDIX. 
 
 larly on the Gospels. His legal views of religion, how- 
 ever, almost always confounding sanctification and justi- 
 fication, require to be strictly guarded against, Matthew 
 Henry, as a practical and devotional Commentator, 
 exceeds all praise, and suggests most matter for sermon- 
 izing of any. 1 
 
 1 The Editor will stand excused with every one who is conversant 
 with the Family Expositor of the late Thomas Scott, if he ventures 
 strongly to recommend to the Student and the Preacher the com- 
 ments of that judicious and laborious writer. * It is difficult,' says a 
 very competent authority, the present Bishop of Calcutta, 1 ' to form 
 a just estimate of a work which cost its author the labour of thirty- 
 three years. Its capital excellence consists in its following more 
 closely, than, perhaps any other, the fair and adequate meaning 
 of every part of Scripture, without regard to the niceties of human 
 systems. It is a scriptural comment. Its originality is likewise a 
 strong recommendation of it. Every part of it is thought out by the 
 author for himself, not borrowed from others. It is not a compila- 
 tion ; it is an original work, in which you have the deliberate judg- 
 ment of a masculine and independent mind on all the parts of Holy 
 Scripture. Every student will understand the value of such a pro- 
 duction. Further, it is the comment of our age, furnishing the last 
 interpretations which history throws on prophecy, giving the sub- 
 stance of the remarks which sound criticism has accumulated from 
 the different branches of sacred literature, obviating the chief objec- 
 tions which modern annotators have advanced against the doctrines 
 of the Gospel, and adapting the instructions of Scripture to the par- 
 ticular circumstances of the times in which we live The time is 
 
 not distant, when, the passing controversies of the day having been 
 forgotten, this prodigious work will be almost universally confessed 
 in the Protestant churches, to be one of the most sound and instruc- 
 tive comments of our own or any other age.' ' To almost every part 
 of this panegyric ' observes his reviewer, ' we heartily subscribe. 
 Perhaps however, we should demur to the acknowledgment that, even 
 in this work the defects of Mr. Scott's style do not materially detract 
 from the value of the work, especially as a work for family reading. 
 Even here there is a considerable want of that perspicuity — of these 
 
 i See his two sermons on the death of the Rev. T. Scott, 
 
APPENDIX. 333 
 
 As to general theologians, I much prefer Howe to any 
 whom it has been my lot to meet with. He was at once 
 a man of stupendous genius, and of great unction ; though 
 his style is harsh and repulsive. I should recommend a 
 
 dense and terse expressions — of those pithy practical counsels — of 
 these tender and pathetie remonstrances — of these cheerful and varied 
 addresses, which abound so much in the Commentary of Matthew 
 Henry. This, however, is to be remembered, in comparing the two 
 writers, that for one offence against taste in Mr. Scott, it would be 
 easy to find a hundred in his predecessor ; and that the modern com- 
 mentator is as much distinguished by forbearance and propriety in 
 the exposition of scripture, as the ancient expositor by the strained 
 and imaginative interpretation so common in the days in which he 
 lived. Matthew Henry appears to us to surpass Mr. Scott and every 
 other writer in his Exposition of the Gospels : Mr. Scott to have 
 considerably the superiority in his Commentary on the Epistles. 
 And as a textuary, Mr. Scott is, we think, without a rival. We 
 fully anticipate the increasing celebrity of his Commentary ; and, 
 with it the extension of sound and scriptural views of religion. 
 Without pronouncing any opinion on his sentiments as to some dis- 
 puted and most difficult points, we entertain the deepest reverence 
 of his judgment on all the principles of that ' common Christianity * 
 recognized in the confessions of the Protestant churches. And when 
 we consider the circumstances to which Mr. Wilson so justly refers, 
 namely the ' originality' of his exposition, or, in other words, how 
 much he drew from himself, and how little from others, and contrast 
 the fulness and explicitness of his judgments upon many dark and 
 perplexing passages of scripture, with the leanness and ambiguity 
 of certain modern interpretations avowedly casting far and near for 
 authorities, and living to the utmost possible extent upon "bor- 
 rowed light," we cannot but consider the work as an astonishing 
 evidence of the powers of honest energy in well doing. It reminds 
 us more of * those days in which,' as our old and revered monarch 
 George III. was heard to say, ' there were giants in theology,' than 
 of these puny and dwarfish days in which writers give us indeed a 
 ' meadow of margin,' but a ' rivulet of text :' and in which the 
 prettiness of the book is transcended only by the barrenness of the 
 matter.' 
 
334 APPENDIX. 
 
 young man who is entering on the ministry to make 
 himself intimately acquainted with our older writers, 
 Barrow, Tillotson, Hooker, Milton, Chillingworth, 
 Pearson, &c— of whom, in comparison with later writers, 
 J should be disposed to say, with very few exceptions, 
 a No one, having tasted old wine, straightway desireth 
 new ; for he saith the old is better." 
 
 Thus I have attempted very briefly to comply with 
 your request : and with my sincere prayers and wishes 
 that you may be enabled to " approve yourself to God a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed," 
 I remain, with sincere esteem, 
 
 Your's most respectfully, 
 
 Robert Hall. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 ( L ) Page 3. * When a young minister sets out, he 
 should sit down and ask himself, how he may best 
 qualify himself for his office ? ' 
 
 * How does a physician qualify himself? It is not 
 enough that he offers to feel the pulse. He must read, 
 and inquire, and observe, and make experiments, and 
 correct himself again and again. He must lay in a stock 
 of medical knowledge before he begins to feel the pulse. 
 
 * The minister is a physician of a far higher order. 
 He has a vast field before him. He has to study an 
 infinite variety of constitutions. He is to furnish 
 himself with the knowledge of the whole system of 
 remedies. He is to be a man of skill and expe- 
 dient. If one thing fail, he must know how to apply 
 another. Many intricate and perplexed cases will come 
 before him : it will be disgraceful to him not to be pre- 
 pared for such. His patients will put many questions to 
 him : it will be disgraceful to him not to be prepared to 
 answer them. He is a merchant embarking in extensive 
 concerns. A little ready money in the pocket will not 
 answer the demands that will be made upon him. Some 
 of us seem to think it will, but they are grossly deceived. 
 There must be a well-furnished account at the banker's.' 
 — Cecil. 
 
336 NOTES. 
 
 ( 2 ) Page 4. The Editor takes leave to remind the 
 reader, that this advice is given to the Student rather 
 than to the Preacher — to the novice who is endeavouring 
 to form or improve his style, and not to the parochial 
 minister, amidst the daily and hourly calls of pastoral 
 duty. A curious instance of laborious trifling is seen in the 
 life and correspondence of a late divine, distinguished 
 indeed for his literary attainments, but lamentably 
 defective in his views of divine truth. The writer of his 
 Memoir informs us that one of his Sermons which he 
 preached and subsequently published in behalf of a 
 popular charity, cost him months of incessant labour, and 
 had been the subject of a year's voluminous correspond- 
 ence with a literary friend. Of another of his sermons 
 we are told that " he transcribed the exordium at least 
 thirty times, before he was satisfied with the effect : it 
 being his object to make this discourse a model for him- 
 self, and a specimen of the capabilities of the English 
 language for rhythmical composition" ' We shall not 
 be suspected,' observes a judicious Reviewer of the 
 recent life and correspondence to which I allude, * of 
 wishing to recommend to a young clergyman, or to any 
 clergyman, to put forth his first crude thoughts in his 
 first unstudied words ; for no time and effort that can be 
 called reasonable are too great for the service of the 
 Christian pulpit ; but thirty transcriptions by a middle 
 aged clergyman of an exordium for the sake of ' effect ; ' 
 and we must presume a good year's labour to make the 
 discourse • a specimen of the capabilities of the English 
 language for rhythmical composition ; ' argues a weak- 
 ness and a vanity, that his biographer did not well to 
 expose to the world, unless by way of salutary warning. 
 Life, especially the life of a Christian pastor, is too 
 precious to be spent in such trifling. His flock would 
 
NOTES. 3*37 
 
 have been much more likely to be benefited by an 
 ample supply of simple practical expository discourses 
 about the plain matters of the gospel, than by the most 
 rhythmical composition that ever divine or poet fabricated.' 
 That Dr. Porter himself would cordially assent to 
 these observations, the subsequent pages of his work 
 sufficiently evince. His object in the present instance is 
 to encourage the young minister > and more especially the 
 candidate for holy orders to spare no pains in endeavour- 
 ing to improve his compositions by carefully correcting 
 and revising them from time to time. 
 
 ( 3 ) Page 7. This admission on the part of a critic 
 such as Dr. Porter, will not be lost upon the attentive 
 reader. How important soever correctness, precision, 
 and good taste undoubtedly are, they should never be 
 permitted to stand in the way of far more important 
 objects. It is pleasing to meet with testimonies corro- 
 borative of this remark from men distinguished for the 
 excellence of those attainments which too frequently 
 serve to prejudice the mind against the simplicity of 
 preaching. ' Let zeal and industry,' observes Bishop 
 Sumner, ' be directed by piety, and a minister will not 
 fail to command attention, though he may not be eloquent 
 — and will be useful though he may be plain. Were his 
 subject indeed one of common interest or importance, the 
 graces of oratory or the splendours of composition might 
 be requisite. But death and judgment, heaven and hell, 
 are topics in which all have so intimate a concern, that 
 the subject supplies what is wanting in the manner. Let 
 the congregation be once persuaded that they have a 
 personal interest in the discourse, and they will listen to 
 it with the earnestness which personal interest never fails 
 to inspire, and which in this case nothing else can com- 
 
 Q 
 
338 NOTES. 
 
 mand. Critical power to judge of the composition they 
 have not ; but reason they have which will tell them 
 whether the voice of the preacher is re-echoed by the 
 words of Scripture ; and conscience they have, which 
 will apply his appeal to their hearts more powerfully 
 than the best turned period. It is only where they hear 
 little of the Bible, and the means of salvation that the 
 people have fastidious ears. 
 
 ' In fact, elaborate composition is so far from being 
 necessary to the success of public discourses, that in 
 many situations a person of delicate and refined taste 
 will be obliged to maintain a severe conflict between his 
 duty and his habits, before he can become useful to 
 others from the pulpit. He must descend from the high 
 ahd lofty tone of language to which he is accustomed, to 
 walk in the humble terms of Scripture ; he must limit 
 his rounded periods to the extent of vulgar comprehension ; 
 he must abound in interrogations, and addresses which 
 the rules of composition condemn in writing, though the 
 rules of nature sanction them in speaking : in short he 
 must put off all sense of personal importance, and assume 
 the character of his office ; he must forget himself and 
 remember only his situation as the messenger of Christ, 
 and his business of converting sinners from the error of 
 their way.' l 
 
 ( 4 ) Page 23. Whilst the Editor admits the justice 
 of this remark, he would remind the reader that these 
 ' forms of Arian and Socinian error' were assumed not by 
 the members of the established church, but by the des- 
 cendants of those who dissented from her discipline. 
 
 ( 5 ) Page 20. As young ministers cannot reasonably 
 
 i Bishop Sumner's Apostolical Preaching. 
 
NOTES. 339 
 
 be supposed to have read very extensively the writings 
 of the early Fathers, and may therefore be unduly 
 influenced by the disparaging remarks of Dr. Porter, 
 the Editor thinks it may not be without its use to pre- 
 sent them with the following observations from the pen 
 of a distinguished scholar and prelate of the Irish 
 Church. " It will not be disputed,' says Bishop Jebb, 
 ' that the ancient writers of the Christian church have 
 suffered no small injury from excessive praise, and that 
 the implicit veneration of former ages has too naturally 
 been followed by an equally indiscriminate depreciation. 
 It is certain, that if the Fathers were to be estimated 
 solely by their literary merits, and compared not with 
 their own contemporaries, but with the classical standards 
 of Greece and Rome, the issue of such a trial could be 
 no other than unfavourable. But because it is extrava- 
 gant to place Lactantius above Cicero, or to prefer Saint 
 Basil to Demosthenes, does it therefore follow, that 
 every degree of respect and estimation which has been 
 adjudged to these reputed luminaries, is alike unfounded, 
 and untenable ? Let the ' imposing effect produced upon 
 the minds of their admirers by the sanctity of their sub- 
 jects ' be ever so gross, or ever so delusive, an appeal 
 may still be made to other judges, whose decision can- 
 not be impeached on any ground, either of prejudice or 
 of incompetency.' 
 
 " A more remarkable testimony could scarcely be 
 adduced than the following from the pen of the cele- 
 brated Daille, the professed assailant of the ancient 
 Fathers. ' Flxpunge if you choose, the name of Augus- 
 tine from his most excellent works, ' De Civitate Dei 
 and ' De Doctrina Christiana;' yet each work, though 
 I were ignorant of the author's name, if I but read, will 
 admirably teach me many things most worthy to be 
 
 Q 3 
 
340 NOTES. 
 
 known. And so it is with all the rest. In the first 
 place, these monuments of the Fathers contain most 
 numerous and weighty exhortations to sanctity of morals, 
 and accurate observance of Christian discipline. They 
 abound also with striking arguments, by which the 
 universally acknowledged fundamentals of the Christian 
 faith are most luminously illustrated and confirmed : and 
 with very many precious documents of most extreme 
 utility, as well for the general interpretation of the 
 Scriptures, as for the special elucidation of those myste- 
 ries contained in the sacred word. Their very authority, 
 too, may be highly serviceable to us in proving the 
 truth of Christianity. For is it not a wondrous fact, 
 that so many men of such mental energy, of such happy 
 genius, born at different times, and in different places 
 during the space of fifteen hundred years, various in their 
 temperaments, their studies, and sometimes their opinions, 
 should have so uniformly, and as it were, with one heart 
 and with one soul, conspired and concurred in all the 
 fundamentals of Christianity ; and so unlike in other 
 particulars, should have adored one and the same Christ, 
 co-exhorted to the same sanctification, hoped for the 
 same immortality, received the same Gospels, and, in 
 those Gospels, all admired the same great and sublime 
 mysteries ? Internal evidence, 1 admit in itself estab- 
 lishes the truth of Christianity ; the exquisite wisdom 
 of the entire system, and a certain unexampled beauty, 
 which affords intuitive and instant proof that it is hea- 
 venly and divine, these are abundantly sufficient to pre- 
 clude the necessity of any other argument more certain 
 or more clear. Yet it is by no means to be despised, 
 that this astonishing consent of the Fathers respecting 
 the truth of the Gospel, affords us no slight corrobora- 
 tive evidence. For it is abhorrent from all colour of 
 
NOTES. 341 
 
 truth, that so many men of transcendent genius (which 
 their works attest,) and endowed with most acute and 
 perspicacious minds could have so absurdly blundered, 
 as to stake all their substance and all their fortunes on 
 the faith of Christianity ; as to encounter boldly every 
 danger for its sake ; as, with alacrity and joy, to pour 
 forth their very life-blood in its cause, unless it really 
 possessed some divine power to affect and animate the 
 minds of men.' 
 
 " These, be it observed, are the expressions of one who 
 strenuously laboured to reduce the authority of the Fa- 
 thers to the lowest possible level. His concessions are, 
 therefore, extorted tributes to irresistible truth ; and 
 consequently, they carry as great weight, as could, in 
 any instance be ascribed to human sentiments. 
 
 " But in order to decide the merits of the Christian 
 Fathers, no well instructed member of the Church of 
 England, need have recourse to the Gallican church, or 
 to any church whatever but his own. It is to a Christian 
 Bishop and Father, that we are indebted for the sub- 
 stance of our invaluable Liturgy : it was to the Chris- 
 tian Fathers that the great divines of our most learned, 
 and not least pious days, (those " giants in the land," as 
 they were called by our good old king) resorted, when 
 desirous, either to corroborate their faith, or to nourish 
 their devotion. And till a race of theologians arise, who 
 shall eclipse the Hookers and the Hammonds, the Pear- 
 sons and the Medes, the Barrows and the Taylors, the 
 Beveridges and the Bulls, no man need be ashamed to 
 kindle his torch at the same pure and unextinguishable 
 flame which communicated light to the footsteps, and 
 warmth to the hearts of this illustrious company. Dr. 
 Barrow in particular, was a profound and sober mathe- 
 matician, little to be suspected of unreasonable flights 
 
342 NOTES. 
 
 of fancy. Yet, mathematician as he was, he committed 
 an extravagance which will, perhaps, first astound, and 
 then scandalize certain of his panegyrists. He stands 
 convicted of no common delinquency. He called in 
 local emotion, to the aid of personal enthusiasm. He 
 studied every page and paragraph of the ' florid and 
 effeminate Chrysostom/ in Chrysostom's own archiepis- 
 copal city of Constantinople. Yet some there are who 
 will forgive him this wrong : some who will forgive the 
 still greater extravagance of his later years : for the 
 Fathers were the cherished companions of his maturity, 
 no less than the chosen instructors of his youth : and the 
 result is manifest in every page of those volumes which 
 will render the name of Barrow coeval with the English 
 language." 
 
 ( 6 ) Page 27. — The advantages and disadvantages of 
 extempore preaching are more fairly and judiciously 
 stated in the following passage from the very useful 
 1 Remarks' of Mr. Raikes on ' Clerical Education,' 
 than in any other work with which the Editor is 
 acquainted. ' One thing seems certain, that though the 
 power of preaching extempore may probably, and in 
 some degree, be gained by all, it is acquired with much 
 greater facility by some men than by others ; and that 
 if there is one talent which more than another deserves 
 to be considered as a gift it is this. Learning will not 
 produce it : knowledge, imagination, reasoning powers, 
 warmth of feeling, piety, and all the qualities which 
 seem essential to ministerial usefulness, may be possessed 
 in a very considerable degree, and still if they are not 
 compounded in a manner which it is not for man to specify 
 or describe, they may fail in producing this result, and 
 impede, rather than facilitate the power which is wished 
 
MOTES. 343 
 
 for. To some men it seems to come with a sort of 
 spontaneous ease which we are unable to account for. In 
 the case of others not inferior to them in any quality 
 which may seem essential to the faculty, it is laboured 
 for, and laboured for in vain. The thoughts rise too 
 rapidly, or too slowly : the feelings are too weak to give 
 force to the delivery, or so strong that they obstruct it ; 
 the imagination is too fertile or barren ; and the mind 
 which can reason powerfully and conclusively in the 
 retirement of the closet, loses all self-possession in public 
 through the weakness of a nervous temperament, or the 
 diffidence of extreme humility. In a case like this, it 
 would be unjust to impose one only method for all, where 
 the state of none was the same ; or to lay down one system 
 to which every intellect, and every character should be 
 formed. That each system has its advantage, the most 
 zealous advocates of either, are found to concede. And 
 since it seems impossible that all should adopt one plan 
 with equal facility, or practice it with equal success, it 
 seems best to advise, that each taking the line to which 
 the peculiar frame of his mind directs him, should labour 
 to excel in the manner which is most natural to him, 
 without aiming at any laborious eminence in that for 
 which he feels no bias. 
 
 ' Each however, should bear in mind the failing to which 
 his peculiar method is most exposed, and be on his guard 
 against it. The preacher who writes his sermons must 
 remember, that compositions prepared in the study are 
 apt to come out in the language of the study, too learned, 
 too refined, too elevated for common hearers ; and he 
 should labour to obtain clearness of statement and sim- 
 plicity of language. Those sermons also which are 
 written in retirement, are naturally apt to be deficient in 
 animation ; they become essays rather than addresses, 
 
344 NOTES. 
 
 and as such are too often systematic, cold, and unim- 
 passioned. This evil must be met by awakening, even 
 in the closet, the feelings of one who stands as the minis- 
 ter of God, and who sees the eternal interests of his 
 hearers at stake ; it must be met by a spirit of Christian 
 love, excited by prayer and meditation. The danger 
 which still remains of coldness, must be avoided by 
 warmth and fervour in delivery ; nor can we doubt, that 
 by God's blessing on exertions such as these, all the 
 peculiar evils of written compositions might be obviated, 
 and as large a measure of usefulness be obtained as it is 
 possible to hope for. 
 
 ' Nor must the extempore preacher forget that his style 
 is still more exposed to danger, though the voice of 
 public feeling may speak strongly in its favour. That 
 facility of utterance which probably decides his choice 
 as to the line of preaching he adopts, too often leads him 
 to forget the necessity of previous study and preparation 
 for the pulpit. The apparent success of his ministry 
 seems a convincing proof of the power which accom- 
 panies it. The crowds which are attracted, are con- 
 sidered as seals which it would be incredulity to doubt ; 
 and while fluency of speech, and an animated enunciation 
 of certain great truths, continue to secure their attendance, 
 no doubt arises as to the blessing under which he is 
 labouring, or the sufficiency of the Gospel which he 
 preaches. But during all this time his hearers may only 
 have been attracted to the talent which dazzled them, 
 not converted to the truth as it is in Jesus. Their im- 
 pressions may have been lively, but not deep nor abiding ; 
 their views of the Gospel may have been strong, but 
 neither full nor consistent ; and after several years of 
 brilliant display, and general admiration, he may find 
 that his congregation is drawn away to some newer and 
 
NOTES. 345 
 
 more attractive rival : or falling into inconsistencies of 
 doctrine or practice which affect the very integrity of 
 their faith. Knowing that such may be the case, and 
 often has been so, let the extempore preacher remember 
 that the gift in which he glories, was not given to super- 
 sede the necessity of study, of meditation, of laborious 
 cultivation of his mental powers, but to assist in their 
 developement, and to contribute to their usefulness. 
 Like the gift of tongues in Apostolic times it is the most 
 specious, but it is also the most illusive quality in 
 the preacher : and though when properly employed 
 and discreetly used, it may be a powerful instrument 
 of good, he must never lose sight of its real nature nor 
 cease to consider it merely as an instrument which 
 depends on other qualites for the good which it is to 
 produce. 
 
 * But while there are some advantages to be named on 
 this side, let not any one to whom God does not seem to 
 have granted the qualities essential to it, be tempted to 
 despondency on that account. Some of those individuals 
 whom the grace of God has made eminently and widely 
 useful, have never seen fit to adopt the practice. Their 
 heart has spoken through the medium of their pen ; and 
 the feeling with which they delivered in the pulpit, what 
 had been prepared in the closet, has rescued their minis- 
 trations from the charge of coldness and languor. 
 
 ' Let but a sermon be prepared under the influence of 
 prayer ; let it be but aimed at the souls of men, and be 
 delivered from a heart overflowing with love to those who 
 are addressed, and the difference will be small, whether 
 it lies on paper before the preacher, or is only lodged in 
 the recesses of his mind. Its final success depends upon 
 the grace of God ; and that grace will generally accom- 
 pany the most faithful labours and the most earnest 
 
 Q 5 
 
346 NOTES. 
 
 prayers, whatever may have been the mode in which 
 they have been exerted. 
 
 ' Nor should we forget to bear in mind, that those evils 
 which seem to belong to written sermons, may be more 
 easily detected and avoided, while those which belong 
 to the extempore mode, seem inherent in the system 
 itself. The present practice of the Scottish church is 
 strongly in favour of the adoption of written discourses ; 
 and if extempore addresses are best calculated to pro- 
 duce effect, it is probable that edification will be more 
 generally promoted by those which are written. 
 
 * At all events, the dangers connected with extempore 
 preaching, are so many and so obvious, that it should 
 never be attempted by those who are perhaps the most 
 disposed to adopt it, by the young, the warm, and the 
 inexperienced. It should be deferred till the judgment 
 has gained maturity, till the mind has been enriched 
 with a large variety of knowledge, and till some security 
 has been gained by these acquirements against the 
 dangers of sameness and precipitancy.' 
 
 ( 7 ) Page 44. ' 1 am persuaded,' observes the late 
 Rev. H. Venn, ' that we are very negligent in respect 
 of our texts. Some of the most weighty and striking are 
 never brought before the people : yet these are the texts 
 which speak for themselves. You no sooner repeat 
 them, than you appear in your high and holy character, 
 as a messenger of the Lord of Hosts. Within these few 
 weeks I have found it so. In London I preached on — 
 " Thus saith the Lord : cursed be the man that trusteth 
 in man, and inaketh flesh his arm, and whose heart 
 departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath 
 in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but 
 shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a 
 
NOTES. 347 
 
 salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that 
 trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For 
 he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that 
 spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see 
 when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green ; and 
 shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall 
 cease from yielding fruit." Jeremiah xvii. 5 — 8. I 
 contrasted the character described in the first verse, 
 with the child of God in the latter. The very reading 
 of my text fixed the attention, and raised as I could see 
 the expectation of the hearers ; and much affected they 
 seemed to be. Last Sunday I saw the same impression 
 from—" And the Lord descended in the cloud, and 
 stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the 
 Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and pro- 
 claimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gra- 
 cious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
 truth." Exodus xxxiv. 5 — 6, on which I am to preach 
 again, God willing next Lord's day. I feel the good 
 of selecting these passages to my own soul. I have 
 to lament and bewail my ignorance and great defects 
 for so many years, one thousandth part of which I do 
 not yet perceive. I wish you may attend to this 
 point, and be led to make the chief and vital parts, 
 as they may be called, of Scripture, your subjects of 
 discourses." Life and Correspondence of the Rev. H. 
 Venn, p. 453. 
 
 ( 8 ) Page 47. It has always appeared to the Editor, 
 to be very important to the edification of a congregation, 
 that the preacher should be in the habit of directing their 
 attention from time to time to the subjects of the several 
 fasts and festivals of our church. What valuable oppor- 
 tunities will be thus presented to him to direct their 
 
348 NOTES, 
 
 attention to an enlarged survey of all the great doctrines 
 of Christianity. 
 
 (9) Pape 53. It was the opinion of Vossius, that 
 praying to saints owed its origin partly to the injudicious 
 use of figurative language in funeral orations ; to the 
 apostrophes and prosopopoeias of the panegyrists. These 
 abuses have driven some good men to lay aside all 
 funeral services whatever. 
 
 ( 10 ) Paje 56. In the Christian Observer for March 
 1821, occurs a very valuable paper on this important 
 subject, which the Editor is glad to be permitted to 
 extract. " There are clergymen, (observes the writer,) 
 who though they admit the gospel to be a dispensation 
 of mercy to fallen man, perpetually clothe it, I had 
 almost said, in the terrors which accompanied the deli- 
 very of the Law at Mount Sinai, and in a hard and 
 unfeeling manner, as if not subject themselves to the 
 like infirmities with their hearers, constantly overwhelm 
 their people with a black and appalling catalogue of 
 their transgressions, and habitually pourtray in the most 
 tremendous colours, the punishment of the wicked in the 
 eternal world ; and then, as if mercy formed no part of 
 the scheme of redemption, with scarcely a mention of the 
 way of salvation by Christ, they leave their audience 
 the chilling alternative, of embracing a religion which 
 they have never beheld, but amidst the frowns of justice 
 and the thunders of vengeance, or of persisting in their 
 evil course with the certainty of incurring the awful 
 destruction which the preacher has described. Now 
 what I complain of is, that during the denunciation of 
 these affecting truths, little apparent concern or compas- 
 sion is manifested for those to whom they are delivered ; 
 
NOTES. 349 
 
 so that the good effect which they might otherwise have 
 produced is destroyed, either by a seeming insensibility 
 in the preacher, to the future state of his hearers, or by 
 an impetuosity and warmth of temper, savouring too 
 much of that " wrath of man which worketh not the 
 righteousness of God." Accustomed to hear the threat- 
 ening of Scripture, constantly brought forward, and seeing 
 their minister apparently unconcerned in denouncing 
 them, an audience grows hardened under rebuke ; while 
 unused on the other hand, to view religion as the remedy 
 for every moral disease, as the balm of consolation to the 
 wounded spirit, as the only source of real happiness, they 
 recoil from it as calculated only to disturb their peace, 
 to fill their minds with vain apprehensions, and to deprive 
 them of what they esteem the substantial felicities of 
 life. 
 
 Let not my meaning, however, be misunderstood by 
 supposing that I am offended at the plain declaration 
 ,of the truths of Revelation, though of ever so alarming 
 an import ; or that I would desire to see Christianity 
 softened down to suit the sickly delicacy of a fastidious 
 ear. The minister of Christ must indeed try all methods, 
 if by any means he may save some of the souls com- 
 mitted to his charge. Now there are in almost every 
 congregation, persons whose attention to religious sub- 
 jects can be excited only by an appeal to their fears: per- 
 sons on whose hearts the merciful tidings of the love 
 of God, and the atonement of Christ make comparatively 
 little impression. The faithful shepherd is therefore 
 obliged to enforce the terrors of the Lord. He is com- 
 pelled to remind his hearers, that " the wicked shall be 
 turned into hell, and all the people that forget God; — 
 that there is no peace to the wicked: — that he who 
 believeth shall be saved, and he who believeth not shall 
 
350 NOTES. 
 
 be condemned." These truths constitute a most im- 
 portant part of the disclosures of Revelation, and should 
 be frequently and solemnly enforced ; but they should 
 not usurp the place of other truths equally important. I 
 can discover no reason why one part alone of those 
 motives by which men are persuaded to accept of sal- 
 vation, should be constantly exhibited to the exclusion 
 of all others : and still less why the part selected should 
 be the one most revolting to the human mind. It is 
 granted, indeed, that the natural mind is enmity against 
 God ; and that the whole scheme of the Gospel is un- 
 congenial to the vicious taste ; but this is an additional 
 inducement to throw no unnecessary stumbling-block in 
 the way of the most hardened sinner, and to avoid giving 
 to the gospel an air of unmerited austerity and repulsive- 
 ness, which it does not wear in the wisely-blended pages 
 of sacred writ, and in the preaching of our Lord and his 
 Apostles, who " knowing the terrors of the Lord per- 
 suaded men." It is, however, the maimer even more 
 than the matter, that constitutes "angry preaching;" 
 and I am not to be understood as arguing that the 
 threatenings of God against sin are not to be earnestly 
 and often dwelt upon ; but only that they should be 
 enforced in a way that indicates real Christian sympathy 
 and tenderness of heart upon the part of the preacher, 
 and with a soberness of language and a solemnity of 
 appearance, which show an evident reluctance to wound, 
 except in order to heal. Allow me in confirmation of 
 my remarks, to adduce the testimonies of two or three 
 writers, whose office or character entitles their opinions 
 to attention. The late Mr. Newton in a " letter to a 
 Young Minister," remarks ' there is another strain of 
 preaching, which, though it wears the garb of zeal, is 
 seldom a proof of any power, but the power of self. I 
 
NOTES. 361 
 
 mean angry and scolding preaching. The Gospel is a 
 benevolent scheme, and whoever speaks in the power of 
 it will assuredly speak in love. In the most faithful 
 rebukes of sin, in the most solemn declarations of God's 
 displeasure against it, a preacher may give evidence of a 
 disposition of good- will and compassion to sinners, and 
 assuredly will if he speaks under the influence of the 
 power of truth. If we can indulge invective and bitter- 
 ness in the pulpit, we know not what spirit we are of: 
 we are but gratifying our own evil tempers, under the 
 pretence of a concern for the cause of God and truth. 
 Persons of this character may applaud their own faith- 
 fulness and courage, and think it a great attainment that, 
 they can so easily and constantly set their congregations 
 at defiance ; but they must not expect to be useful, so 
 long as it remains a truth that the wrath of man worketh 
 not the righteousness of God.' 
 
 In the " Remains of the Rev. R. Cecil," the senti- 
 ments of that eminent servant of Christ are clearly 
 expressed on this point. "The zeal of some men is 
 of a haughty, unbending, ferocious character. They 
 have the letter of truth, but they mount the pulpit like 
 prize-fighters : it is with them a perpetual scold. This 
 spirit is a reproach to the Gospel : it is not the spirit of 
 Jesus Christ. He seems to have laboured to win men. 
 But there is an opposite extreme. The love of some 
 men is all milk and mildness ? There is so much 
 delicacy and so much fastidiousness ? They touch with 
 such tenderness! and if the patient shrinks they will 
 touch no more ! The times are too flagrant for such a 
 disposition. The Gospel is sometimes preached in this 
 way till all the people agree with the preacher. He 
 gives no offence, and he does no good ! 
 
 " But St. Paul united and blended love and zeal. 
 
352 NOTES. 
 
 He must win souls ; but he will labour to do this by all 
 possible lawful contrivances. " I am made all things to 
 all men that I might by all means save some." Zeal 
 alone may degenerate into ferociousness and brutality : 
 and love, alone, into fastidiousness and delicacy; but the 
 Apostle combined both qualities, and more perfectly 
 than other men realized the union of the ( for titer in re,' 
 with the * suaviter in modo.' 
 
 In another part of the work Mr. Cecil observes, ' It 
 is a foolish project to avoid giving offence ; but it is our 
 duty to avoid giving unnecessary offence. It is necessary 
 offence if it is given by the truth ; but it is unnecessary if 
 our own spirit occasion it.' ' Our system of preaching must 
 meet the circumstances of mankind : they must rind it pos- 
 sible to live in the bustle of the world, and yet serve God. 
 After being worried and harrassed with its concerns, let 
 them hear cheering truths concerning Christ's love, and 
 care, and pity, which will operate like an enchantment 
 in dispelling the cares of life, and calming the anxious 
 perturbations of conscience. Bring forward privileges, 
 and enforce duties in their proper places and proportions. 
 Let there be no extremes : yet I am arrived at this con- 
 viction : — men who lean toward the extreme of evan- 
 gelical privilege in their ministry, do much more to the 
 conversion of their hearers than they do who lean toward 
 the extreme of requirement. And my own experience 
 confirms my observation. I feel myself repelled, if any 
 thing chills, loads, or urges me. This is my nature, and 
 I see it to be very much the nature of other men. But 
 let me hear, " Return again to me, saith the Lord," and 
 I am melted and subdued.' 
 
 Such are the sentiments of two divines to which I shall 
 subjoin the testimony of a layman — the poet Covvper. 
 4 No man,' says he ' was ever scolded out of his sins. 
 
NOTES. 353 
 
 The heart, corrupt as it is, and because it is so, grows 
 angry, if it be not treated with some management and 
 good manners, and scolds again. A surly mastiff will 
 bear, perhaps to be stroked, though he will growl under 
 that operation, but if you touch him roughly he will 
 bite. There is no grace that the spirit of self can 
 counterfeit with more success than a religious zeal. A 
 man thinks he is fighting for Christ, and he is fighting 
 for his own notions. He thinks that he is skilfully 
 searching the hearts of others, when he is only gratifying 
 the malignity of his own, and charitably supposes his 
 hearers destitute of all grace, that he may shine the 
 more in his own eyes by comparison. When he has 
 performed this noble task, he wonders that they are not 
 converted : * he has given it them soundly ; and if they 
 do not tremble, and confess that God is in him of a 
 truth, he gives them up as reprobate, incorrigible, and 
 lost for ever.' But a man that loves me, if he sees me 
 in an error, will pity me, and endeavour calmly to con- 
 vince me of it and persuade me to forsake it. If he has 
 great and good news to tell me, he will not do it angrily 
 and in much heat and discomposure of spirit. It is not 
 easy therefore to conceive on what grounds a minister 
 can justify a conduct which only proves that he does not 
 understand his errand. The absurdity of it would cer- 
 tainly strike him if he were not himself deluded.' 
 
 These extracts I submit to the most serious con- 
 sideration of all whom they may concern ; and 1 trust 
 that with some they may have their due weight and 
 influence in producing a conciliatory strain of preach 
 ing, accompanied by a conciliatory manner : a mild- 
 ness and forbearance entirely consistent with the strictest 
 fidelity. A just picture of what a clergyman ought to 
 be in addressing his congregation is incidentr.lly drawn 
 
354 NOTES. 
 
 by the poet just quoted in the person of one ' for years 
 deserving honour, but for wisdom more.' 
 
 1 With a smile, 
 Gentle, and affable, and full of grace, 
 As fearful of offending whom he wish'd 
 Much to persuade, he plied his ear with truths 
 Not harshly thunder'd forth, or rudely press'd, 
 But like his purpose, gracious, kind, and sweet.' 
 
 Task, book vi. 
 
 I add no other comment than an earnest exhortation 
 to every minister of the Gospel of peace : " Go, and do 
 thou likewise." 
 
 ( ll ) Page 73. One of the most important con- 
 siderations in making a sermon, is to disembarrass it as 
 much as possible. The sermons of the last century were 
 like their large unwieldly chairs. Men have now a far 
 more true idea of a chair. They consider it as a piece 
 of furniture to sit upon, and they cut away from it every 
 thing that embarrasses and encumbers it. It requires as 
 much reflection and wisdom to know what is not to be 
 put into a sermon, as what is. 
 
 ' A young minister should likewise look round him, 
 that he may see what has succeeded and what has not. 
 Truth is to be his companion, but he is to clothe her so 
 as to gain her access. Truth must never bow to fashion 
 or prejudice ; but her garb may be varied. No man 
 was ever eminently successful in his ministry who did 
 not make Truth his friend. Such a man might not see 
 her, indeed, in all her beauty and proportions ; but cer- 
 tainly he saw and loved her. A young minister should 
 remember that she does not wear the dress of a party. 
 Wherever she is, she is one and the same, however 
 variously men may array her. He who is ignorant of 
 her prominent and distinguished features, is like a mu- 
 
NOTES. 355 
 
 sician who plays half score ; it grates on every well- 
 formed ear, as fatal error rinds no corresponding vibration 
 in the renewed heart. Truth forms an immediate ac- 
 quaintance with such a heart by a certain fitness and 
 suitableness to its state and feelings. 
 
 ' Knowledge, then, and Truth, are to be the constant 
 aim of a young minister. But where shall he find them ? 
 Let him learn from a fool, if a fool can teach him any- 
 thing. Let him be everywhere, and always a learner. 
 He should imitate Gainsborough. Gainsborough trans- 
 fused Nature into his landscapes, beyond almost any of 
 his contemporaries ; because Gainsborough was every- 
 where the painter. Every remarkable feature of a tree ; 
 every fine stroke of Nature was copied into his pocket- 
 book on the spot, and in his next picture appeared with 
 a life and vivacity and nature which no strength of 
 memory or imagination could have supplied.' — Cecil. 
 
 ( 12 ) Page 99. The following observations on this 
 subject by, perhaps, the most eloquent preacher of modern 
 days, are well worthy of consideration. " May I be per- 
 mitted, (says he) to remark, though it seem a digression, 
 that in the mode of conducting our public ministrations, 
 we are perhaps too formal and mechanical, that in the 
 distribution of the matter of our sermons, we indulge too 
 little variety, and exposing our plan in all our parts, 
 abate the edge of curiosity, by enabling the hearer to 
 anticipate what we intend to advance. Why should 
 that force, which surprise gives to every emotion, de- 
 rived from just and affecting sentiments, be banished 
 from the pulpit, when it is found of such moment in 
 every kind of public address. I cannot but imagine the 
 first preachers of the gospel appeared before their au^ 
 dience with a more free and unfettered air than is con- 
 
356 NOTES. 
 
 sistent with the narrow trammels to which in these 
 latter days, discourses from the pulpit are confined. 
 The divine emotions with which they were fraught, would 
 have rendered them impatient of such restrictions ; nor 
 would they suffer the impetuous stream of argument, 
 expostulation, and pathos, to be weakened by diverting 
 it into the artificial reservoirs prepared in the heads and 
 particulars of a modern sermon. 
 
 ' Method, we are aware, is an essential ingredient in 
 every discourse designed for the instruction of mankind, 
 but it ought never to force itself on the attention as an 
 object apart; never appear to be an end, instead of an 
 instrument ; or beget a suspicion of the sentiments being 
 introduced for the sake of the method, not the method 
 for the sentiments. Let the experiment be tried on some 
 of the best specimens of ancient eloquence ; let an 
 oration of Cicero or Demosthenes be stretched upon a 
 Procrustes' bed of this sort, and, if I am not greatly 
 mistaken, the flame and enthusiasm which have excited 
 admiration in all ages, will instantly evaporate ; yet no 
 one perceives a want of method in these immortal com- 
 positions, nor can anything be conceived more remote 
 from incoherent rhapsody.' — Discouragements and Sup- 
 ports of the Christian Minister, by the late Rev. Robert 
 Hall, M.A. 
 
 ( 13 ) Page 114. 'Two extremes have been fallen into, 
 from not duly attending to the difference between moral 
 evidence and demonstration. On the one hand probable 
 proof has been called demonstration. When a writer has 
 produced in favour of some important point, a variety 
 of reasons all of the probable kind, yet of great cogency, 
 and has shewn, that all the objections against it are 
 either fallacious, or but of little weight, he often asserts 
 
NOTES. 357 
 
 that he has demonstrated his position. He may, indeed, 
 have so far proved it, as to have excluded all reasonable 
 doubt : yet he has, nevertheless, not demonstrated it. 
 For, the highest degree of probability does not amount 
 to a demonstration ; and nothing can be a demonstration 
 where there is not an intuitive, and necessary connexion 
 between every successive step of the proof. This prac- 
 tice has, probably, arisen from an inclination to magnify 
 every thing important : and from a disposition to the use 
 of figures of speech. As demonstration is the highest 
 species of proof, when we have so fully proved any point, 
 as to have excluded all reasonable doubt, we say, by the 
 figure hyperbole, that we have "demonstrated it." This, 
 however, is improper, because things which differ in their 
 nature, ought to be distinguished by different names : 
 and when different names have been invented for them, it 
 is wrong to confound the things by using the name of the 
 one for the other. It has, besides, a tendency to defeat 
 its owiLend : for, with ail, who have been accustomed to 
 a more accurate use of words, it is calculated rather to 
 weaken than to strengthen the force of the proof; inas- 
 much as it excites them to inquire, not whether the 
 question has been proved by sufficient evidence, but 
 whether there is an intuitive and necessary connexion 
 between each successive step of that proof; and, as it is 
 evident that there is no such connexion doubts are raised 
 in their minds. 
 
 ' On the other hand, a position for which sufficient 
 probable evidence is brought, is often denied to be 
 proved. This happens most frequently when an oppo- 
 nent demands our assent to some point, which seems 
 unfavourable to our present interests. But, the word 
 proof ought not to be confined to demonstration, any 
 more than the name demonstration to be given to every 
 
338 NOTES. 
 
 species of proof. Lawyers have their proofs as well as 
 mathematicians. And should a mathematician censure a 
 lawyer who had asserted that to be proved, for which 
 sufficient evidence, according to the established rules of 
 law, had been adduced, because it had not been demon- 
 strated, he would be considered as absurd. Divines, 
 too, have their proofs : and though they do not amount 
 to demonstration, yet, if they be sufficient to exclude all 
 reasonable doubt, they ought to be admitted to be 
 proofs. In truth, wherever there is produced, in favour 
 of any demonstration the highest kind of evidence of 
 which it admits, and in a sufficient degree to outweigh 
 all that can be urged against it, it may properly be 
 said to be proved.' — Gambier's Introduction to the Study 
 of Moral Evidence. 
 
 There are few subjects more frequently and I may add, 
 more unhappily neglected by theological students than 
 that of ' Moral Evidence,' and yet what subject is there 
 more deeply interesting to those who are appointed to be 
 the guides of the perplexed, and the referees in cases of 
 conscience ? Among the very few writers on this 
 neglected subject, the Editor refers with feelings of 
 peculiar interest to the Rev. J. E. Gambier, M. A. to 
 whose kind and able instructions whilst preparing for the 
 University he feels deeply indebted. 
 
 ( 14 ) Page 162. 'The concern of a parish minister,' 
 (observes Archbishop Seeker,) ' is to make the lowest 
 of his congregation apprehend the doctrine of salvation 
 by repentance, faith, and obedience ; and to labour, that 
 when they know the way of life, they may walk in it. 
 If he doth not these things for them, he doth nothing : 
 and it requires much consideration to find out the proper 
 methods of doing them, and much pains and patience to 
 
NOTES. 359 
 
 try one after another. Smooth discourses, composed 
 partly in flowing sentences which they cannot follow 
 to the end, containing little that awakens their drowsy 
 attention, little that enforces on them plainly and home, 
 what they must do to be saved, leave them as ignorant 
 and uninformed as ever, and only lull them into a fatal 
 security. Therefore bring yourselves down to then- 
 level.' Eighty years have now elapsed since this advice 
 fell from the lips of this pious Archbishop, and well had 
 it been for our peasantry and our mechanics, if not for 
 the higher grades of society, if it had been more univer- 
 sally followed by our English clergy. That a great 
 improvement in this respect has taken place since that 
 period, and especially during the last twenty or thirty 
 years should be acknowledged with thankfulness to that 
 gracious Being who has made our national Church, eveu 
 in these troublous times, " for a name and a praise in 
 the earth." 
 
 ( 15 ) Page 185. As the subject of this chapter is of 
 vast importance, the reader will not object to be detained 
 by an attentive perusal of the following weighty observa- 
 tions from " Cecil's Remains.''" ' Christ is God's great 
 ordinance. Nothing ever has been done, or will be done 
 to purpose, but so far as he is held forth with simplicity. 
 All the lines must centre in him. I feel this in my own 
 experience, and therefore I govern my ministry by it: 
 but then this is to be done according to the analogy of 
 faith — not ignorantly, absurdly, and falsely. J doubt 
 not, indeed, but that excess on this side is less pernicious 
 than excess on the other ; because God will bless his 
 own especial ordinance, though partially understood, and 
 partially exhibited. There are many weighty reasons 
 for rendering Christ prominent in our ministry : — 
 
360 NOTES. 
 
 ' 1 . Christ cheers the prospect. Every thing connected 
 with him has light and gladness thrown round it. I look 
 out of my window : — the scene is scowling — dark — frigid 
 — forbidding : I shudder, my heart is chilled. But let 
 the sun break forth from the cloud— I can feel — I can 
 act — I can spring. 
 
 ' 2. God descending and dwelling with man, is a truth 
 so infinitely grand, that it must absorb all other. ' You 
 are his attendants ! Well ! but the king ! There he is 
 — the king ! ' 
 
 '3. Out of Christ God is not intelligible, much less 
 amiable. * * * A sick woman said to me, ' Sir! I 
 have no notion of God. I can form no notion of him. 
 You talk to me about him, but I cannot get a single 
 idea that seems to contain any thing.' ' But you know 
 how to conceive of Jesus Christ as a man ! God come 
 down to you in him, full of kindness and condescension.' 
 ' Ah, Sir ! that gives me something to lay hold on. 
 There I can rest. I understand God in his Son.' But 
 if God is not intelligible out of Christ, much less is he 
 aimable, though I ought to feel- him so. He is an object 
 of horror and aversion to me, corrupted as I am ! I 
 fear — I tremble — I resist — 1 hate — I rebel. 
 
 ' 4. A preacher may pursue his topic without being led 
 by it to Christ. A man who is accustomed to investi- 
 gate topics is in danger. He takes up his topic and 
 pursues it. He takes up another and pursues it. At 
 length Jesus Christ becomes his topic, and then he 
 pursues that. If he cannot so feel and think as to 
 bend all subjects naturally and gracefully to Christ, 
 he must seek his remedy in selecting such as are more 
 evangelical. 
 
 ' 5. God puts peculiar honour on the preaching of Christ 
 crucified. A philosopher may philosophize his hearers, 
 
NOTES. 361 
 
 but the preaching of Christ must convert them. John 
 the Baptist will make his hearers tremble : but if " the 
 least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he," let 
 him exhibit that peculiar feature of his superiority — 
 Jesus Christ. Men may preach Christ ignorantly — 
 blunderingly — absurdly : yet God will give it efficacy, 
 because He is determined to magnify his own ordinance. 
 6. God seems, in the doctrine of the cross to design 
 the destruction of man's pride. Even the murderer and 
 the adulterer sometimes become subjects of the grace of 
 the Gospel, because the murderer and adulterer are more 
 easily convinced and humbled : but the man of virtue is 
 seldom reached, because the man of virtue disdains to 
 descend. " Remember me," said a dying malefactor! 
 ** God, I thank thee," condemned a proud Pharisee ! 
 
 Every minister should therefore inquire, ' What is for 
 me the wisest way of preaching Christ to men ? ' Some 
 seem to think that in the choice of a wise way there lurks 
 always a trimming disposition. There are men, doubt- 
 less, who will sacrifice to self, even Christ Jesus the 
 Lord; but they, of all men, are the farthest from the 
 thing. There is a secret in doing it, which none but an 
 honest man can discover. The knave is not half wise 
 enough. We are not to judge of one another in these 
 things. Sufficient it is to us, to know what ire have to 
 do. There are different ways of doing the same thing, 
 and that with success and acceptance. We see this in 
 the Apostles themselves. They not only preached 
 Christ in different ways ; but what is more, they could 
 not do this like one another. They declare this fact 
 themselves, and acknowledge the grace of God in their 
 respective gifts. " Our beloved brother Paul writes," 
 says St. Peter, " according to the wisdom given unto 
 him." But theie are Peters in our days who would 
 
 R 
 
362 NOTES. 
 
 say—' Paul is too learned. Away with these things, 
 which are hard to be understood. He should be more 
 simple. I dislike all this reasoning.' And there are 
 Pauls, who would say, ' Peter is rash and unguarded. 
 He should put a curb on his impetuosity.' And there 
 are Johns, who would say, ' They should both discharge 
 their office in my soft and winning manner. No good 
 will come of this fire and noise.' Nothing of this sort ! 
 Each has his proper gift of God ; one after this manner, 
 and another after that ; and each seems only desirous to 
 occupy faithfully till his Master come, leaving his 
 brethren to stand or fall to their own Master. 
 
 Too much dependence is often placed in a system of 
 rational contrivance. An ingenious man thinks he can 
 so manage to preach Christ, that his hearers will say — 
 * Here is nothing of Methodism ! This has nothing to 
 do with that system ! ' I will venture to say, if this is 
 the sentiment communicated by his ministry, that he has 
 not delivered his message. The people do not know 
 what he means, or he has kept back part of God's truth. 
 He has fallen on a carnal contrivance, to avoid a cross, 
 and he does no good to souls. The whole message must 
 be delivered, and it is better it should be delivered even 
 coarsely than not at all. We may lay it down as a 
 principle, that if the gospel be a medicine, and a specific 
 too, as it is, it must be got down such as it is. Any 
 attempt to sophisticate and adulterate, will deprive it of 
 its efficacy, and will often recoil on the man who makes 
 the attempt, to his shame and confusion. The Jesuits 
 tried to render Christianity palatable to the Chinese, 
 by adulterating it, but the Jesuits were driven with 
 abhorrence from the empire. If we have to deal with 
 men of learning, let us show learning so far as to demon- 
 strate that it bears its testimony to the truth. But 
 
NOTES. 363 
 
 accommodation in manner must often spring from humi- 
 lity. We must condescend to the capacity of men, and 
 make the truth intelligible to them. 
 
 If this be our manner of preaching Christ, we must 
 make up our minds, not to regard the little caviller who 
 will judge us by the standard of his favourite author 
 or preacher. 
 
 We must be cautious too, since men of God have been 
 and ever will be, the butt and scorn of the world, of 
 thinking that we can escape its sneers and censures. It 
 is a foolish project — to avoid giving offence : but it is our 
 duty to avoid giving unnecessary offence. It is neces- 
 sary offence if it is given by the truth : but it is unneces- 
 sary if our own spirit occasion it. 
 
 I have often thought that St. Paul was raised up 
 peculiarly to be an example to others, in labouring to 
 discover the wisest way of exhibiting the gospel : not 
 only that he was to be a great pattern in other points, 
 but designedly raised up for this very thing. How does 
 he labour to make the truth reasonably plain ? How 
 does he strain every nerve, and ransack every corner of 
 the heart, to make it reasonably palatable ! 
 
 We need not be instructed in his particular meaning 
 when he says, " I became all things to all men, if by 
 any means I might save some." His history is a com- 
 ment on the declaration. 
 
 The knowledge of Jesus Christ is a wonderful mystery. 
 Some men think they preach Christ gloriously, because 
 they name him every two minutes in their sermons. But 
 that is not preaching Christ. To understand, and enter 
 into, and open his various offices and characters — the 
 glories of his person and work — his relation to us and 
 ours to Him, and to God the Father, and God the Spirit 
 through Him — this is the knowledge of Christ. The 
 
 R 2 
 
364 NOTES. 
 
 Divines of the present day are stunted dwarfs in this 
 knowledge, compared with the great men of the last 
 age.' 
 
 It is important, at the same time, to remember, that 
 in preaching Christ we are not at liberty to keep back 
 the " terrors of the Lord." The following observations 
 from an old writer are well deserving of consideration. 
 " Some men say that to proclaim the "terrors of the 
 Lord" has no other tendency than to make unwilling 
 hypocritical professors. This makes me remember how 
 I have heard some preachers of these times blame their 
 brethren for not preaching Christ to their people, when 
 they preached the danger of rejecting Christ, disobeying 
 him and resisting his spirit. Do these men think that it 
 is no preaching Christ (when we have for many years 
 told them the fulness of his satisfaction, the freeness and 
 general extent of his covenant or promise, and the riches 
 of his grace, and the incomprehensibleness of his glory, 
 and the truth of all) to tell them afterwards the danger 
 of refusing, neglecting, and disobeying him ? and of 
 living after the flesh, and preferring the world before 
 him ? and serving Mammon, and falling oft* in persecution 
 and avoiding the cross, and yielding in temptation, and 
 quenching the spirit, and declining from their first love, 
 and not improving their talents, and not forgiving and 
 loving their brethren, yea and enemies, &c. ? Is none 
 of this the Gospel ? nor preaching Christ ? Yea, is not 
 repentance itself (except despairing repentance) proper to 
 the gospel seeing the law excludeth it and all manner of 
 hope. Blame me not, reader, if I be zealous against 
 these men that not only know no better what preaching 
 Christ is, but in their ignorance reproach their brethren 
 for not preaching Christ, and withal condemn Christ 
 himself and all his apostles? Do they think that Christ 
 
NOTES. 365 
 
 himself knew not what it was to preach Christ ? or that 
 he has set us a pattern too low for our imitation ? I 
 desire them soberly to read Matthew v. 6, 7 ; 
 x. 25. Rom. viii. 4. — from the first verse to the 
 fourteenth Rom. ii. Heb. ii. and iv. and v. and x. 
 and then tell me whether we preach as Christ and his 
 Apostles did. 
 
 I say we do set forth God's love and the fulness of 
 Christ, and the sufficiency of his death and satisfaction 
 for all, and the freeness and extent of his offer and 
 promises of mercy and his readiness to welcome return- 
 ing sinners : this we do first, mixing with this the dis- 
 covery of their natural misery by sin, which must be 
 first known, and next we shew them the danger of neg- 
 lecting Christ and his offer. 2. When we find men 
 settled under the preaching of free grace in a loose con- 
 tempt or sleepy neglect of it, preferring the world and 
 their carnal pleasures and ease, and the indulgence of 
 their evil tempers before all the glory of heaven, and 
 the riches of Christ and grace, is it not time for us to 
 say, " How shall ye escape if ye neglect so great sal- 
 vation T" And " of how much sorer punishment shall he 
 be thought worthy, that treadeth under foot the blood 
 of the covenant," &c. Doth any of the Apostles speak 
 more of hell fire, and the worm that never dieth and the 
 fire that never is quenched than Christ himself doth ? 
 Alas ! what work should we make if we should smooth 
 and stroke all men with antinomian language ? It were 
 the way to please all the careless, sensual, ignorant 
 multitude, but it is wide of Christ's way to save their 
 souls. 1 am ready to think that these men would have 
 Christ preached, as the papists would have him prayed 
 to, who say, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, a number of times 
 together, and call this praying to him : so to have the 
 
366 NOTES. 
 
 name of Jesus Christ often in the preacher's mouth some 
 people think is rightly to preach Christ. 
 
 ( l6 ) Page 232. * A minister must cultivate a tender 
 spirit : if he does this so as to carry a savour and unc- 
 tion into his work, he will have far more weight than 
 other men. This is the result of a devotional habit. 
 To affect feeling is nauseous and soon detected ; but to 
 feel is the readiest way to the hearts of others. 
 
 The leading defect in Christian ministers is want of a 
 devotional habit. The church of Rome made much of 
 this habit. The contests accompanying and following 
 the Reformation, with something of an indiscriminate 
 enmity against some of the good of that church as well 
 as the evil, combined to repress this spirit in the Pro- 
 testant writings ; whereas the mind of Christ, seems in 
 fact to be the grand end of Christianity in its operation 
 upon man. 
 
 There is a manifest want of spiritual influence on the 
 ministry of the present day. I feel it in my own case 
 and I see it in that of others. I am afraid that there is 
 too much of a low, managing, contriving, manceuvering 
 temper of mind among us. We are laying ourselves out 
 more than is expedient, to meet one man's taste, and 
 another man's prejudices. The ministry is a grand and 
 holy affair ; and it should find in us a simple habit of 
 spirit, and a holy, but humble indifference to all con- 
 sequences.' — Cecils Remains. .; 
 
 THE END. 
 
 I 
 
 

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