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 Dr. GRIFFIN'S ORATION. 
 
ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED JUNE 21, 1809, 
 
 ON THE DAY 
 
 OF THE AUTHOR'S INDUCTION INTO THE OFFICE 
 
 °F 
 
 BARTLET PROFESSOR OF PULPIT ELOQUENCE, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 DIVINITY COLLEGE, 
 
 AT ANDOVER. 
 
 J 
 
 BY EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D. D. 
 
 PUBLISHED «!' REQl HS1 OF THE TRUSTEES. 
 
 fl 
 
 BOSTON, 
 
 PUBLISHED BY FARRAND, MALLORY AND CO. 
 SUFFOLK BUILDINGS. 
 
 BELCHER, PRINTER. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 On this occasion, and before such an au- 
 dience, I rise embarrassed : but I rise with a 
 mind affected and animated by the interesting 
 scene. Brought hither by the exertions of 
 beneficence, of which the occasion forbids me 
 to speak, I am come, to co-operate, as the feeble- 
 ness of my powers will permit, in measures 
 which originated in prayer, and were dictated, as 
 I believe, by the Spirit of God. I am come, 
 with what ability I have, to second exertions 
 which, distinguished already with signal success, 
 have the honour of preparing the way for what- 
 ever is yet to follow. 
 
 However I may tremble under a sense of in- 
 competency to discharge the duties assigned 
 
me, I know that the expression of my feelings 
 would appear like affectation. I shall, therefore, 
 only congratulate myself on the candour which 
 I am sure to meet, the wisdom and talents 
 around me to which I can resort, and the ability 
 with which the concerns of this institution, inde- 
 pendently of my aid, will be conducted. 
 
 The noble efforts which have been made to 
 erect this school of the prophets, — to bring forth 
 this child of prayer, — have formed a new era in 
 the American Church, and turned the publick 
 eye, with eagerness and hope, towards this place. 
 Already are our brethren sending up prayers to 
 heaven, from every part of our country, for the 
 prosperity of this infant seminary. Already 
 
 with tears they have blessed the men but I 
 
 must consider where I stand. I may, however, 
 be permitted to say, that the distant churches of 
 our country are animated with joyful expecta- 
 tion that this institution will prove a fountain 
 to make glad the city of God. 
 
I stand, this clay, upon sacred ground ; on 
 ground where the fathers of New- England have 
 often prayed ; on ground which has been conse- 
 crated by faith, hope, and charity, to the living 
 God ; which supports an institution designed 
 to perpetuate the faith of our ancestors, and to 
 bless an unborn offspring. What reverence be- 
 comes the place ! Shall I take off the shoes from 
 my feet ! I bow before the majesty and sacred- 
 ness of the object to which this ground is devo- 
 ted ! The business to be conducted here is, in 
 the highest degree, benevolent ; and will have 
 incalculable influence on the present and future 
 happiness of men. This is not the place to form 
 generals for fame and for carnage ; but youthful 
 Gideons, to lead "the sacramental host of God's 
 elect" to fight the battles of their King ; — to 
 fight with tears, not with swords ; to wield the 
 weapon of prayer, instead of spears ; and to car- 
 ry to the assailed mercy, instead of death. This 
 is not the place to form statesmen, to settle the 
 little concerns of nations ; but ministers of 
 Christ, to manage, under their king, the interests 
 
8 
 
 of an immortal kingdom, — a kingdom which 
 will shine with the splendours of heaven, when 
 all the kingdoms of men shall be no more. This 
 is not the place to elicit the sparks of forensick 
 eloquence, or to raise up men to shine in national 
 debate ; but to fit young evangelists to pour the 
 strains of immortal truth, and to plead before a 
 dying race the cause of God, and His anointed 
 Son. Generals may conquer, and statesmen 
 may rule ; but there is no work so great or so 
 good, as that of a gospel minister. If the me- 
 mory of a Howard is blessed, for visiting the 
 prisons and lazarettos of Europe, to relieve tem- 
 poral distress, surely they ought not to hold a 
 thankless office, who spend their lives in efforts 
 to deliver their brethren from the prison of 
 endless despair, the lazaretto of eternal disease. 
 
 Here such men are to be formed : — not your 
 fustian declaimers, — not your dull retailers of 
 Seneca and Plato ; but men, we hope, of faith 
 and of a sound mind, valiant champions for 
 the truth, animated with the spirit of mar- 
 
9 
 
 tyrs, and ready, in the name of the Lord, to 
 meet a world in arms ! Blessed institution, if it 
 may prove the alma mater of such a generation 
 of men ! Happy visitors, happy trustees and 
 professors, who are employed in rearing a semi- 
 nary for a purpose so divine ! But blessed 
 beyond others are they whose hands have laid 
 the foundation ! But I forbear ; their record is 
 in heaven. 
 
 This day I have the honour to enter upon 
 the duties of this highly responsible station, and 
 the happiness to form an affectionate union with 
 my reverend colleagues. We shall have but 
 one heart, and one mind ; and shall find min- 
 gled with our labours the comforts of mutual 
 friendship : but, without higher support, we 
 shall sink with the exclamation on our tongues, 
 Who is sufficient for these things ! If the office 
 of a gospel minister is loaded with responsi- 
 bility, which causes the firmest mind to trem- 
 ble, what is the charge of preparing men for 
 that sacred office ! What am / to do ! Am I to 
 teach others how to preach the adored name of 
 Jesus ! I have scarcely learned to lisp that name 
 
10 
 
 myself. May it please Him who separated me 
 from my mother's womb, and made me what I 
 am, to reveal His Son in me, to guide this stam- 
 mering tongue, and touch these lips with a coal 
 from His altar ! 
 
 The gospel is committed to earthern ves- 
 sels ; for a reason which gives delight to every 
 pious heart, — that the excellency of the power 
 may be of God, and not of us. It is not the ob- 
 ject of divinity-schools to take this power out of 
 the hands of God, nor to mould any other than 
 eathern vessels. After all the pains which may 
 be employed to shape and polish them, they arc 
 earthern vessels still ; and still the excellency of 
 the power must be of God alone. 
 
 Preachers of the gospel can do no more 
 than to set before their brethren motives to vir- 
 tue and godliness. But the only motives which 
 God has appointed, are those which His word 
 contains: no others, therefore, are ministers 
 commissioned to employ. That eloquence only 
 is worthy of the pulpit, which consists in dis- 
 
11 
 
 playing and enforcing, to the best advantage, the 
 various truths contained in the sacred scriptures. 
 
 These truths, and these alone, are the srvord 
 of the Spirit— the fire and the hammer that 
 breaketh the rock in pieces. They are the 
 grand weapons which God employs to subdue 
 the world : and in proportion to the dexterity 
 with which they are wielded by His servants, is 
 ordinarily the extent of the conquest. Often, 
 indeed, are these truths preached without any 
 accompanying influence to give them effect; 
 and they are sometimes made more effectual in 
 the hands of the weakest instruments, than, at 
 other times, when illustrated and enforced by 
 the most splendid talents. This is wisely or- 
 dered to abase the pride of man, and to show 
 him his absolute dependance on sovereign 
 grace. It is designed to utter a language 
 which cannot be too often repeated : Not by 
 might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the 
 Lord. I admit, also, that humble dependance 
 on God, accompanied with earnest desires for 
 the salvation of men, and fervent prayer, will 
 
12 
 
 have more influence on the success of a minis- 
 ter, than the most persuasive eloquence. But 
 after all these concessions, such is the manner 
 of divine operation, that, other things being 
 equal, the success of the gospel is ordinarily in 
 proportion to the clearness and force with which 
 it is preached. This is true, or why do minis- 
 ters exert themselves to preach in a persuasive, 
 or even an instructive manner ? Why do they 
 preach at all ? If truth be not a divine instru- 
 ment, preaching is in vain. If it be, its effect 
 may be expected to bear some proportion to the 
 skilfulness with which is it handled and applied. 
 This important conclusion, while it affords mi- 
 nisters abundant encouragement to preach the 
 gospel, equally encourages them to study the best 
 manner of exhibiting its sacred truths ; and en- 
 courages them as fully as though success de- 
 pended on the mere power of moral suasion. 
 
 These, then, are the positions which lie at 
 the foundation of all instruction in this depart- 
 ment ; that the power is of God, that God works 
 by the instrumentality of His own truth, that He 
 
13 
 
 applies no other instrument to the heart, and 
 that the effect is ordinarily in proportion to the 
 clearness and force with which that truth is 
 preached. 
 
 It results from these positions, that the per- 
 fection of pulpit eloquence consists in display- 
 ing the most affecting gospel truths, in the 
 most impressive manner. The highest efforts 
 of eloquence can achieve no more than to 
 bring these truths into contact with the con- 
 sciousness of the mind, and the feeling of the 
 heart, — to lodge them, as it were, among the 
 sensibilities of the soul. 
 
 The great question is, How can this be 
 done ? It is evident that a preacher's manner 
 may be such as to awaken attention, and draw 
 his hearers to a nearer and more steady view 
 of the truths which he wishes to exhibit. By 
 the skilfulness of his address, he may also re- 
 move prejudices, and leave nothing to encoun- 
 ter but opposition to the truth itself, in- 
 stead of forming an unnecessary combination 
 against him. 
 
14 
 
 But this is not all. He may avail himself 
 of the aid of some of the secondary powers of 
 our nature. That these powers were created 
 for handmaids to religion, will be manifest to 
 any one who will consider the purpose of di- 
 vine wisdom in the institution of sacred musick; 
 or who will trace those elevated flights of ima- 
 gination, and those strong appeals to the pas- 
 sions, which are found in the poetick parts 
 of scripture. 
 
 The imagination is a reflecting glass, which 
 casts a fuller light on the objects that pass be- 
 fore the eye. By the aid of this faculty, a 
 more vivid sense of divine objects is produced, 
 and all the motives which the scriptures pre- 
 sent are more deeply impressed on the mind. 
 
 The natural affections, also, may be pressed 
 into the service ol the preacher. Daily expe- 
 rience teaches us that these affections are ave- 
 nues to the soul, through which divine truth is 
 introduced. When a parent hangs over the 
 bed of a dying child, he feels the worth of a 
 
15 
 
 soul, as he never felt it when looking upon 
 the children of the streets. The abstract truth, 
 that the soul is of immense value, has found 
 its way to his heart through the avenue of the 
 natural affections. The impression respects 
 not his child alone ; it brings with it an increa- 
 sed sense of the value of souls in general. It 
 conies coupled with other truths, — the worth 
 of the gospel, the unspeakable love of Him 
 who died for our redemption. These, and other 
 kindred truths, are felt as they would not be, 
 were the parent standing by the dying bed of 
 a stranger. 
 
 A child has disobeyed and grieved an af- 
 fectionate mother. No remorse seizes him, 
 till through some aperture he sees her tears fall- 
 ing in secret. The sight pierces him to the 
 heart. At once the sin of disobedience to pa- 
 rents rises before him, and is felt as it never 
 would have been, had she who bore him been 
 less beloved. 
 
 In the same manner all the leading truths of 
 
16 
 
 divine revelation may be introduced through 
 the avenue of the natural affections. This ave- 
 nue, then, will not be overlooked by a pious 
 minister, anxious to find all the passes which 
 lead to the hearts of his hearers. 
 
 Divine truth may enter through the me- 
 dium, also, of sympathy. When the counte- 
 nance, the tones, the action, of a preacher, all 
 express a solemn sense of everlasting realities, 
 those realities are more deeply felt by his hear- 
 ers ; for the same reason that the example of 
 a virtuous and devout man is the most con- 
 vincing and impressive preacher on earth. 
 
 But through whatever medium an impres- 
 sion is made on the mind, it mast be made by 
 divine truth, or it is made in vain. And it 
 must be made by the power of God. We do 
 not expect, nor desire to send forth preachers, 
 with powers of persuasion competent of them- 
 selves to triumph over human ignorance and 
 opposition. Paul may plant, and Apollos mar 
 water ; but it is God who gives the increase. 
 
17 
 
 Ministers may indeed convince the under- 
 
 standing, and affect the passions, without any 
 
 special interposition of God. They may preach 
 
 what the divine Spirit may effectually apply to 
 
 the heart. But the success of the gospel is 
 
 ensured, not by human eloquence, but by the 
 
 interpositions of omnipotent grace. This is 
 
 true in the fullest and most absolute sense. It is 
 
 as true as that the sound of trumpets did not 
 
 demolish the walls of Jericho ; as that the three 
 
 hundred men, standing still in their place, did 
 
 not destroy the hosts of Midian ; as that the 
 
 God of the armies of Israel, and not the sling 
 
 and the stone, prevailed against the champion of 
 
 the Philistines. 
 
 These are some of the ways through which, 
 with dependance on God, divine truth is to 
 be introduced to the apprehension and feeling 
 of men. But how to manage the different 
 powers of the mind, in subserviency to this 
 end, is one of the nicest points to be examined 
 in the study of pulpit eloquence. 
 
18 
 
 The understanding, as the leading faculty, 
 must chiefly be addressed. But the labour 
 of the preacher does not end here, as though 
 the soul were nothing but intellect. There 
 is a conscience to be affected. Men must 
 not only possess speculative knowledge ; they 
 must feel the pungency of divine truth, — 
 the conviction of obligation and ill desert. 
 Their conscience must be assailed by the so- 
 lemn application of truth to themselves. The 
 affections must indeed be reached through the 
 understanding and conscience ; but not by a 
 cold dissertation on abstract propositions, — they 
 must be touched by objects placed in their most 
 affecting attitudes, and by truth tenderly ap- 
 plied to the heart. No attempt to excite the 
 affections ought to be made, except for some 
 useful end. Addresses to the passions merely to 
 melt the mass, without seizing the. occasion to fix 
 the stamp of truth, is an artifice infinitely be- 
 neath a preacher of the everlasting gospel. In 
 a mind properly disciplined, the imagination will 
 keep pace with the affections. It must never 
 outstrip them. When the imagination of a 
 
19 
 
 preacher gets unharnessed from the affections, 
 and runs wild, it leaves an audience with no 
 better emotion than wonder, mingled perhaps 
 with contempt. The power of sympathy must 
 also be brought into action ; but for this pur- 
 pose the preacher himself must feel. No imi- 
 tation of passion, no substitution of ardour for 
 real feeling, will avail. He must feel; and he 
 must express his feelings in the language, 
 tones, looks, and gestures of nature. No thea- 
 trical starts, no affectation or grimace, no pomp 
 or turgidity, may be employed. Nature is not 
 less the perfection of this art, than of painting, 
 statuary, and descriptive poetry : and one of 
 the essential attributes of nature is simplicity. 
 
 The basis of pulpit eloquence, then, is 
 good sense and real feeling ; — good sense in- 
 structed by the word of God, and real feeling 
 excited by His Spirit. Between the eloquence 
 of thought and the eloquence of words, the dif- 
 ference is as great as between gold and dross. 
 The eloquence of thought bears away the soul ; 
 the eloquence of words may please the ear, 
 
20 
 
 but it never reached the heart. It is a pitiful 
 device to gain popularity, unworthy of any man 
 of sense, and in a preacher of the gospel, ut- 
 terly contemptible. It is nothing better than 
 a detestable species of clerical foppery. How 
 infinitely different are such effeminate effusions, 
 from the dignity and solemnity of Christ's ser- 
 mon on the mount ! The disgust which has 
 been often produced by this spurious eloquence, 
 has excited prejudices, even in good men, a- 
 gainst every attempt to improve the eloquence 
 of the pulpit. But this is rushing to the other 
 extreme. Was not Aaron eloquent ? Was not 
 Apollos eloquent ? Was not Paul eloquent ? 
 W T as not Jesus of Nazareth eloquent, who spake 
 as never man spake ? 
 
 The masterly specimens of Paul's elo- 
 quence, before the court of Areopagus, on the 
 stairs of the castle Antonia, and before Agrip- 
 pa, leave no ground to wonder at his being- 
 ranked, even by a heathen writer, among the 
 three most distinguished orators of antiquity. 
 But the eloquence of Paul was the eloquence of 
 
21 
 
 thought. His preaching was not with the en- 
 ticing words of man's wisdom ; but in demon- 
 stration of the Spirit, and of power. He came 
 not with the excellency of * speech, not with the 
 wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should 
 be made of none effect. He did not indeed 
 deem it improper to seek out, like the royal 
 preacher, acceptable xvords ; but the force 
 of his eloquence lay in the greatness of his 
 conceptions, poured from a heart warmed by 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Against such eloquence who will venture to 
 object ? And indeed on what principle can you 
 exclude eloquence from the pulpit, while you 
 admit it at the bar, and in deliberative assem- 
 blies ? The preacher of everlasting truth has cer- 
 tainly the noblest subjects that ever elevated and 
 enkindled the soul of man ; — not the intrigues 
 of a Philip, — not the plots of a Cataline ; — but 
 the rebellion of angels, — the creation of a 
 world, — the incarnation and death of the Son 
 of God, — the resurrection of men, — the dis- 
 solution of nature, — the general judgment, — 
 
22 
 
 and the final confirmation of countless millions 
 of men and angels in happiness or misery. — No 
 subjects are so sublime ; — none so interesting 
 to the feelings of a reflecting audience : no 
 orator was himself ever so deeply interested in 
 his subject, as a godly minister is in the truths 
 which he presses upon his hearers. If on any 
 topick he can become impassioned, and be car- 
 ried beyond himself, it is on the theme of im- 
 mortal love, and the everlasting destinies of men. 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that there is 
 a material difference between the eloquence of 
 the pulpit, and that of the bar, or popular as- 
 semblies. Cicero, set to manage concerns of a 
 worldly nature, and having to address himself 
 only to feelings natural to men, found the pas- 
 sions which he wished to move already existing : 
 Paul went forth as an instrument to create new 
 tastes, and to awaken feelings which nothing but 
 a supernatural influence could create. Cicero 
 could rouse the selfish passions, — could give 
 private interest a tongue to plead his cause ; and 
 never appealed to any thing in man superior to 
 
23 
 
 the natural love of justice, or the love of coun- 
 try : Paul, commissioned to spread the triumphs 
 of universal benevolence, aimed to excite none 
 but holy feelings. Cicero sometimes found it 
 his interest, by unlawful means, to enlist the 
 prejudices of the judges. He would introduce 
 the accused, with his wife and children, clad in 
 habiliments of mourning, to awaken passions 
 which had no connexion with the justice of his 
 cause : Paul presented nothing but the truths 
 of God. Cicero's object was to make men act : 
 Paul's aim was lost unless they acted from holy 
 motives. Cicero had nothing to do with the dis- 
 positions of men, further than to carry a point : 
 Paul's point was the disposition itself. Cicero 
 relied on his powers of persuasion, as he depend- 
 ed on any of the stated operations of nature ; 
 for there was a natural connexion between the 
 motives which he urged, and the emotion or 
 action which he wished to produce : Paul saw 
 no such connexion between his preaching and 
 the salvation of men ; and he went from coun- 
 try to country with an eye of dependance im- 
 moveably fixed on the throne of God. And 
 
24 
 
 yet Paul was not the less eloquent. He knew 
 
 that he had as good a right, and he found as 
 much encouragement, as the Roman orator, to 
 
 employ all the arts of persuasion ; only he con- 
 fined himself to the exhibition of divine truth. 
 And it was not in vain that he was more elo- 
 quent than other men. Not only did he charm 
 the ear, and chain attention to his lips ; not 
 only did he command the natural avenues to 
 the soul ; but, by the flashes of his eloquence, 
 he threw light upon the understanding and con- 
 science, as another man could not have done. 
 
 These remarks are intended, in some 
 measure, to illustrate the importance of pulpit 
 eloquence ; and to show the utility of a course 
 of instruction which may convey to our youth 
 some just ideas of this sacred art. I could wish 
 that more talents and piety, that more learning 
 and taste, were combined in this department. 
 But the small portion of these qualifications 
 which has fallen to my lot, will, I hope, be 
 steadily devoted to the object in view. If, by 
 divine aid, I may be so happy as to give a 
 
25 
 
 moderate degree of satisfaction to the friends of 
 the institution, and render some service to the 
 cause of Zion, my highest hopes will be an- 
 swered, and my reward will be great. 
 
 But whatever may be the result of efforts 
 in a particular department, I am persuaded that 
 God has great designs to answer by this institu- 
 tion. On Him it is the duty and happiness of 
 founders, visitors, trustees, and professors, to 
 place their whole dependance, while they reve- 
 rentially wait for His blessing. Without Him 
 we all know that we can do nothing. Without 
 Him, I trust, we do not desire to do any thing. 
 From Him be all the strength, and to Him be 
 all the glory ! Encouraged, however, by the 
 smiles with which He has already deigned to 
 regard the institution, — encouraged, moreover, 
 by the prayers which He is calling forth from 
 the thousands of our Israel, — and, I may add, 
 by the manifest accordance of our object with 
 His revealed will, we venture to hope, — to hope 
 with humble confidence, that He has great 
 designs to answer by this seminary. We 
 
26 
 
 trust that He will here cause to be taught a 
 system of correct theology, and will here assist 
 to develope the sound principles of sacred li- 
 terature. Here our youth, we hope, will catch 
 that spirit of prayer by which this infant semi- 
 nary was conceived. I look down the descent 
 of years, and see the blessed influence of these 
 measures upon our churches. I see, in every 
 place, a pious and learned minister, preaching 
 the truth as it is in Jesus, exerting himself, with 
 apostolick fervour, for the salvation of men, 
 forming among his people associations for 
 prayer, and weeping for joy to behold the tri- 
 umphs of redeeming grace. I see aged Si- 
 meons, with every desire accomplished, ready to 
 depart ; and children climbing a father's knees 
 to hear of Christ. I hear the loud hosanna, the 
 shout, the praise, the joy, of thousands ! My 
 soul is borne away in fancied visions ! May 
 that Saviour who formed this whole design, and 
 
 laid the corner stone of yonder edifice, may 
 
 that Saviour to whose honour those walls, and 
 all that they enclose, are forever consecra- 
 ted, make the vision real ! 
 
27 
 
 Spirits of our ancestors, hail ! I am come 
 to the land of my fathers. I am come to the 
 region which received the pilgrims, when they 
 fled for the cause of Christ. I have gazed, as I 
 have passed along, upon enclosures which, I 
 supposed, might contain their venerable dust. 
 I felt something like inspiration as I heard, or 
 seemed to hear, the tones of their dying prayer : 
 " God of mercy, to whose arms we are com- 
 ing, bless our offspring ! Preserve the churches 
 which, by our means, thou hast planted in this 
 
 new world !" 1 arrived on this ground; I 
 
 looked upon yonder newly erected walls ; I 
 saw the prayers of our fathers answered ; I saw 
 their sons toiling to support the very truths for 
 which the pilgrims suffered. I anticipated the 
 glorious result. In the vale of future years, I 
 saw our pious and venerable fathers living again 
 in their posterity. I saw the resurrection of 
 our Eliots, our Cottons, our Mathers, our 
 Phillipses. The vision was transporting. Di- 
 vine Saviour, whose honours men have taken 
 from thee, make the vision real ! 
 

 
 

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