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The Work of The Preacher 
 
 A Study of Homiletic Principles 
 and Methods 
 
 BY 
 
 LEWIS O. BRASTOW 
 
 Formerly Professor of Homiletics, Yale University 
 Author of The Modern Pulpit, Representative Modern Preachers, Etc. 
 
 THE PILGRIM PRESS 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
 c 
 
&% 
 
 Copyright 191 4 
 
 BY 
 
 Congregational Sunday School 
 and Publishing Society 
 
 THE PILGRIM PRESS 
 BOSTON 
 
 NOV 12 1914 
 ©G1.A387513 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It was only toward the end of his active service of twenty- 
 two years (1885-1907) as teacher of Practical Theology at 
 Yale that Dr. Brastow was persuaded to put some of the 
 material of his lectures into books. "Representative Modern 
 Preachers" appeared in 1904, and contained essays on nine 
 of the most famous preachers of the recent past. "The 
 Modern Pulpit: a Study of Homiletic Sources and Charac- 
 teristics," was published in 1906. It undertakes to analyze 
 the character and tendencies of the modern world, and in this 
 light to understand the present ideals and achievements of 
 various Christian communions in Germany, England, and the 
 United States. These biographical studies and historical 
 interpretations prepared the way for a more theoretical treat- 
 ment of the principles and methods of the preacher's art. 
 The present book was finished in 1908. A year and a half 
 of travel, and then two years of illness delayed its publication, 
 and it now appears as a memorial of a finished life. 
 
 The three books form indeed together a memorial fitting 
 and worthy of this preacher and teacher of preachers. They 
 indicate the range of his studies, the variety and freshness of 
 his methods as a teacher, and the striking qualities of his 
 mind. They are books which in an unusual measure embody 
 the personality of their author ; and his was a personality of 
 unusual force and distinction. It is not granted to many men 
 to leave in books so characteristic and adequate an expression 
 of their spirit and of their life work. These are not books 
 on the art of preaching only, but on the contents of the 
 preacher's message as well. They deal with the nature of 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 the Christian religion, with its fitness and sufficiency for the 
 moral and spiritual needs of our own age, and with the ways 
 in which it can be wisely and effectively applied to those 
 needs. To discover and develop in his pupils all the capaci- 
 ties, physical, mental and spiritual, that serve to make wiser 
 and more effective such application of the Gospel to living 
 men and to actual conditions, was the one aim of his life. For 
 the present volume his first and final wish would be that it 
 may help his many former pupils and others "to win men to 
 Christ and to build them into his moral completeness." 
 
 Frank C. Porter. 
 Yale University, 
 May, 1914. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 SECTION FIRST * 
 PRE-SUPPOSITIONS OF HOMILETIC SCIENCE 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Christian Conception of Preaching. ... 3 
 
 1. Christian Preaching as Related to Subject Matter, 
 
 p. 4. 
 
 2. Christian Preaching as Related to the Preacher, p. 6. 
 
 3. Christian Preaching as Related to the Audience, p. II. 
 
 4. Christian Preaching as Related to Form, p. 14. 
 
 II. The Aim of Christian Preaching 18 
 
 1. The Importance of Homiletic Aim, p. 18. 
 
 2. The Central and Inclusive Homiletic Aim, p. 24. 
 
 III. The Gifts of the Preacher, 33 
 
 1. Classification of Gifts, p. 34. 
 
 a. Mental Gifts, p. 34. 
 
 b. Emotional Gifts, p. 37. 
 
 c. Spiritual Gifts, p. 41. 
 
 d. Rhetorical Gifts, p. 42. 
 
 2. Culture of Gifts, p. 44. 
 
 IV. The Study of Homiletics 50 
 
 1. The Value of Homiletic Study, p. 50. 
 
 2. Methods of Homiletic Study, p. 60. 
 
 a. Study of Homiletic Principles, p. 60. 
 
 b. Study of Living Preachers, p. 63. 
 
 c. Analysis of Published Products, p. 64. 
 
 d. Personal Experiences and Criticism, p. 64. 
 
 SECTION SECOND 
 SOURCES OF HOMILETIC MATERIAL 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Biblical Sources of Preacher's Message. ... 69 
 
 1. Canonical Genuineness and Authenticity, p. 70. 
 
 2. Use of the Old Testament in Preaching, p. 73. 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 3. Use of the New Testament, p. 81. 
 II. Christian Quality of the Preacher's Message. . . 84 
 
 1. Presentation of the Personality of Christ, p. 86. 
 
 2. Presentation of the Personal Character of Christ, 
 
 p. 87. 
 
 3. Presentation of the Official Character of Christ, p. 88. 
 
 4. The Interpretation of the Teachings of Christ, p. 89. 
 
 III. Textual Basis of the Preacher's Work. 93 
 
 1. The Significance of the Text, p. 93. 
 
 2. The Value of the Text, p. 97. 
 
 3. Logical and Rhetorical Qualities of the Text, p. 103. 
 
 IV. EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE PREACHER'S WORK. . . . 108 
 
 1. The Historic Sense, p. 108. 
 
 a. A Textual Question, p. 108. 
 
 b. A Grammatical Question, p. 109. 
 
 c. A Contextual Question, p. no. 
 
 d. A Doctrinal Question, p. in. 
 
 e. A Historical Question, p. 112. 
 
 f. A Literary Question, p. 113. 
 
 g. A Religious Question, p. 114. 
 
 2. The Truth of the Text and its Value for Homiletic 
 
 Use, p. 116. 
 
 a. Historical and Biographical Texts, p. 117. 
 
 b. Prophetic Texts, p. 118. 
 
 c. Typical Texts, p. 119. 
 
 d. Allegorical Texts, p. 120. 
 
 e. Doctrinal Texts, p. 121. 
 
 V. Homiletic Correspondences in the Use of the Text. . 123 
 
 1. Correspondence of Thought, p. 123. 
 
 2. Correspondence of Tone, p. 135. 
 
 VI. Considerations Regulative for the Choice of Subjects. 140 
 
 1. The Needs of the Congregation, p. 141. 
 
 2. The Claims of Christian Truth, p. 144. 
 
 3. The Needs of the Preacher, p. 145. 
 
 SECTION THIRD 
 TYPES OF HOMILETIC PRODUCT 
 
 CHAPTER pAGE 
 
 I. The Expository Type j-n 
 
 1. The Conception of Expository Preaching, p. 152. 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 2. Homiletic Peculiarities of Expository Preaching, 
 
 P. 155- 
 
 3. Qualifications for Effective Expository Preaching, 
 
 p. 158. 
 
 4. The Value of Expository Preaching, p. 162. 
 
 II. The Doctrinal Type 172 
 
 1. The Conception of Doctrinal Preaching, p. 172. 
 
 2. Methods of Doctrinal Preaching, p. 176. 
 
 3. The Importance of Doctrinal Preaching, p. 185. 
 
 4. The Handling of the Doctrinal Sermon, p. 195. 
 
 III. The Ethical Type 202 
 
 1. The Conception of Ethical Preaching, p. 202. 
 
 2. The Christian Quality of Ethical Preaching, p. 206. 
 
 3. Methods of Ethical Preaching, p. 214. 
 
 4. The Need of Ethical Preaching, p. 218. 
 
 IV. The Evangelistic Type 230 
 
 1. The Conception of Evangelistic Preaching, p. 230. 
 
 2. The Need of Pastoral Evangelism, p. 231. 
 
 3. Evangelistic Culture, p. 236. 
 
 4. Evangelistic Motives, p. 247. 
 
 V. Types of Sermon Delivery 258 
 
 1. The Manuscript Type, p. 260. 
 
 2. The Extemporaneous Type, p. 266. 
 
 3. The Memoriter Type, p. 273. 
 
 SECTION FOURTH 
 METHODS OF HOMILETIC ART 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Introduction. 279 
 
 1. The Object of the Introduction, p. 279. 
 
 2. Methods of Introduction, p. 284. 
 
 3. Qualities of Introduction, p. 293. 
 
 II. The Theme 299 
 
 1. Its Significance and Importance, p. 299. 
 
 2. Its Formulation, p. 302. 
 
 3. Methods of Statement, p. 307. 
 
 4. Qualities of Form, p. 313. 
 
 III. The Outline. 318 
 
 1. Its Significance, p. 318. 
 
 2. The Methods of Outline, p. 320. 
 
x CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 3. The Necessity of Outline, -p. 326. 
 
 4. The Topics of the Outline, p. 329. 
 
 5. The Value of, the Outline, p. 336. 
 
 IV. The Development. 349 
 
 1. Methods of Development, p. 349. 
 
 2. Production of Material, p. 367. 
 
 V. The Conclusion 381 
 
 1. The Value of the Conclusion, p. 382. 
 
 2. Qualities of the Conclusion, p. 386. 
 
 3. Methods of the Conclusion, p. 391. 
 
 VI. The Rhetorical Form 402 
 
 1. The Claims of Rhetorical Culture, p. 403. 
 
 2. Professional Factors in Rhetorical Form, p. 413. 
 
 3. Methods of Rhetorical Culture, p. 421. 
 
I 
 
 SECTION FIRST 
 
 PRESUPPOSITIONS OF HOMILETIC 
 SCIENCE 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 
 
 Homiletics is that branch of practical theology which con- 
 cerns itself with the science and art of preaching. As a sci- 
 ence, or "way of knowing," it deals with the theory of preach- 
 ing, or the principles on which it rests. As an art, or "way of 
 doing," it deals with the methods by which it applies its prin- 
 ciples. In entering upon our investigation of these principles 
 and methods, let us at the outset note some preliminary con- 
 siderations touching the character of the preacher's work, 
 and his fitness and training for it. And in the first place a 
 proper Christian conception of his function seems necessary. 
 
 Preaching is speech, but not all speech is preaching. It is 
 a specific type of speech. To get at what is distinctive of it, 
 we must look at it in its different aspects. Christian preaching 
 has a fourfold interest, and must be contemplated in four 
 different relations. As related to its subject matter, it has a 
 specifically Biblical interest, or, more comprehensively, a dis- 
 tinctively religious and theological interest. As related to 
 the preacher, it has an official, or representative, and at the 
 same time a strongly personal, interest. As related to the 
 audience, it has a liturgical and an evangelistic interest. As 
 related to its form or method, it has an organic and a rhetori- 
 cal interest. All of these elements enter into our conception 
 of Christian preaching, for they are necessary to conserve the 
 interests of Biblical religion, of the preacher's personality, the 
 rights of the church, the edification and conversion of men and 
 the laws of logic and rhetoric. 
 
4 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 I. Christian Preaching as related to Subject Matter 
 
 Preaching is properly a function of the Christian Church, 
 and homiletics, as its science, is, as already suggested, a 
 branch of practical theology. From this point of view only 
 can it be adequately conceived and defined. If it were defined 
 as only a branch of general rhetoric, it might consistently ex- 
 clude all reference to the Christian subject matter of preaching 
 and all relation to the work of the church. But it has for its 
 background the thought and life of the church. Every branch 
 of Christian theology makes its contribution to the preacher's 
 science, and to his work. Exegetical and Biblical theology 
 take us into the original sources of the Christian preacher's 
 message. They reveal and interpret the substance, the spirit, 
 the aim and the method of the preaching of Jesus and of his 
 consecrated messengers, and they furnish guidance and in- 
 spiration to the preacher in his work in every age. Exegesis 
 and homiletics have been closely allied in every period of the 
 history of the church. Historical theology takes us into the 
 lives and the activities of the great preachers of the church. 
 It makes known the great commanding truths that have held 
 sway in different periods of Christian history, reveals the 
 influences that, in the changes of time, have wrought upon the 
 preacher in modifying his teaching and his method and dis- 
 closes the results that have attended the proclamation of his 
 message. Doctrinal theology interprets and formulates the 
 great central facts and truths of redemptive religion, of which 
 the preacher may and may well avail himself in his effort to 
 give intellectual expression to his Christian message. And 
 practical theology, having supreme reference to the present 
 practical, moral and religious needs of men, forages for its 
 material in all these realms of theological science and in all 
 other available realms of knowledge, and adjusts the preacher's 
 work to the conditions of thought and life of the age in which 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 5 
 
 he lives. Christian preaching thus presupposes a background 
 of Christian truth, of Christian history and of Christian 
 science. It is not the utterance of personal opinions based 
 on the intelligence or on the experience of the individual 
 preacher alone. Preaching thus based would have no authori- 
 tatively valid message and no accredited messenger. Preach- 
 ing is in the true and accepted sense of the term by authority. 
 Of course it makes its appeal to the individual and common 
 human conscience and experience. It presupposes a moral and 
 religious sense, without which it were fruitless. But it is 
 precisely the content of Christian fact and truth that quickens 
 and enlightens this moral and religious sense. Preaching, 
 therefore, reaches far back in to the very heart of Christianity. 
 This conditions the preacher's message. But by conditioning 
 the content of preaching, it also conditions our conception of 
 its nature, of its aim and largely of its form. It yields a 
 worthy conception of what it is to preach, why we preach, and 
 to a considerable extent it suggests how we should preach. 
 Even the question of form is far more than an ordinary rhetori- 
 cal question. If we examine the preaching of the early 
 church, if we look, in fact, at the preaching of the most 
 Christian type in any period, we shall see at once how it is 
 that its Christian content conditions the aim which the 
 preacher has in view and the form which his message takes. 
 In the first place, it will take the form of announcement. It 
 is the work of heralding. Christianity is the story of redemp- 
 tion. It is the good news of the redeeming grace of God. 
 It is first of all a revelation of redemptive facts. The preach- 
 er's primal aim is to bear witness to the facts. Preaching is 
 first of all a presentation of the message of grace. But it 
 also takes the form of teaching. For the facts and associate 
 truths of Christianity must be interpreted. Their significance, 
 their mutual interdependence and their adaptation and adjust- 
 ment to the intelligence of men must be made known. Preach- 
 
 
6 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ing is and always has been to a large extent the expounding 
 of the inner significance of the great facts and truths of 
 Christianity; i. e., it has taken the form of teaching. 
 
 It all ultimates, however, in the form of persuasion. For 
 promulgation and interpretation must have reference to 
 practical results. They must aim at the production of charac- 
 ter and the regulation of conduct. This practical enforce- 
 ment of the truth is persuasion. These three elements belong 
 to any worthy conception of Christian preaching. The mission 
 of Christianity itself demands them. Christian preaching, 
 therefore, may be provisionally defined as the declaration, 
 interpretation and persuasive application of Christian facts 
 and truths, that have been given in the religion of redemption 
 and are Biblically fixed. The effectiveness of preaching, 
 therefore, must depend largely upon its content. It is not 
 altogether how we preach, but it is first of all what we preach 
 that conditions its power. Without preaching the truth it- 
 self would indeed fail adequately to reach men. But it is 
 this very truth that is the primal condition of the preacher's 
 power. Without the pulpit the truth would fail. But without 
 the truth the pulpit itself would fail. 
 
 II. Christian Preaching as related to the Preacher 
 Preaching has a personal and an official or quasi-official 
 interest. The personality of the preacher includes what he is 
 and what he represents. He is a man but he is also a church- 
 man. He utters the truth of personal experience, but it is 
 common truth. Preaching is a strongly personal, but not a 
 private utterance. 
 
 i. Preaching is a representative utterance. Explicitly or 
 implicitly, the preacher speaks for others. His message has an 
 official or semi-official character. The function of the 
 preacher is at once prophetic and priestly. He speaks for God 
 and he speaks for men. As prophet, the preacher is the 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OIF PREACHING 7 
 
 mouthpiece of his Master. He brings a message. The mes- 
 sage presupposes an accredited messenger. Note the terms 
 that are applied to him in the New Testament. He is an 
 Apostle, — a man sent; one commissioned to speak the word 
 and do the work of another. He is an ambassador ; one who 
 represents a government; bears its credentials and speaks and 
 acts for it. He is a herald; one authorized to make a public 
 announcement. We may not over-press these terms, nor over- 
 accentuate their official significance. But they clearly suggest 
 a representative character in the preacher. 
 
 As prophet he represents God. The term has no adequate 
 meaning if it be not true that he speaks for God. It is God 
 who gives him his message and He who calls the messenger. 
 Whether one speak as evangelist, missionary or pastor, he is 
 a messenger and minister of Christ and holds his credentials 
 from him. But he is also a representative of the church. 
 As such his utterance has, in the proper sense of the term, a 
 priestly quality. He is as really a servant of the church and 
 speaks for it, as he is a servant of Christ and speaks for him. 
 Many of our Protestant churches hesitate to use the word 
 priestly as applied to the work of a Christian minister. But 
 in so far as he ministers worthily in the name of the church 
 and mediates the grace of which it is the depository, his func- 
 tion is nothing less than priestly. The Reformed churches 
 have laid full accent upon the preacher's representative func- 
 tion Godward. They have held in supreme honor the prophetic 
 function. But in minimizing the representative function 
 churchward, they have underestimated the priestly function. 
 In this the Lutheran and Anglican churches stand nearer the 
 truth of the matter. Every true preacher should in some way 
 be accredited by his church. His proclamation should not go 
 forth as a merely private utterance. The preacher himself 
 needs to feel that he speaks for the church, speaks for those 
 who share with him the common Christian truth and life, as 
 
8 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 he needs to feel that he speaks for God. The dignity and 
 sacredness of his work are conditioned by its priestly, as well 
 as by its prophetic quality. The church is responsible for its 
 message. It should not allow it to fall into the hands of pri- 
 vate individuals, who have no endorsement, explicit or implicit, 
 official or quasi-official, from it. This representative character 
 should be recognized in some appropriate way, as in fact it 
 generally is recognized even in the case of the lay evangelist, 
 at least by substantial endorsement. It fails, however, of 
 fullest endorsement without official recognition. Doubtless 
 Christ has commissioned many a man to bear his message, 
 who has not received the formal credentials of the church. 
 Undue emphasis of the preacher's dependence on and limitation 
 by the church may involve an undervaluation of Christ's own 
 primal commission, and may endanger the freedom and power 
 of preaching. But the claim that the preacher speaks only 
 for Christ and that as regards the church he speaks mostly 
 as a private individual and without responsibility to it, would 
 ultimate in the introduction of fanaticism and caprice and 
 would endanger the purity of public teaching and produce 
 schism between Christ and his church. The pastoral and 
 official quality in preaching, therefore, needs emphasis. The 
 distinction between preaching and prophesying is valid. 
 Prophesying may be a true lay-function. Preaching is an 
 official function. 
 
 2. But true preaching is an intensely personal utterance. 
 It is the expression not only of what is mentally appropriated, 
 but of what is cherished as a sacred moral and spiritual con- 
 viction. We sometimes satirize a man by saying that he 
 preaches. But we pay him the compliment of recognizing the 
 earnestness and genuineness of his advocacy. Preaching has 
 never been, and can never be, a mere exposition of objective 
 truth, but is a presentation of truth vitalized by personal moral 
 and religious experience. The truth may be taught after a 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 9 
 
 fashion, without being spiritually appropriated, but it cannot 
 be preached. "We believe and therefore speak," "We speak 
 that we do know and testify that we have seen." Preaching is 
 testimony now as at the first. The spirit of God works through 
 truth as appropriated by a living soul. Apostolic preaching 
 was a charism. For this reason the personal element was 
 prominent. In I Cor., Chapter II, Paul gives us the apostolic 
 conception of preaching. The two elements are knowledge 
 and utterance. Knowledge of God's revelation is product of 
 the working of God's spirit in the soul of the believer. "We 
 know the things that are freely given us of God." "The spir- 
 itual man discerneth * * * judgeth all things." And this knowl- 
 edge is communicated in words that are also product of the 
 working of God's spirit. "Which things [i. e., things freely 
 given of God] we also speak [speak as well as know], not in 
 words taught by man's wisdom [logic and rhetoric] but [in 
 words] taught by the spirit, combining spiritual things with 
 spiritual" [i. e., uniting a spirit-prompted utterance with a spirit- 
 taught knowledge]. Spirit-taught knowledge may not be com- 
 bined with a merely man-taught logic and rhetoric. The 
 meaning is clear. Experimental knowledge of God's truth, 
 product of God's spirit working within, expresses itself in 
 words that bear the marks of the same power that makes the 
 truth known. The preacher's words become fit instrument 
 for the transmission of the truth. The spirit of God is active, 
 not only in revealing the truth to the soul but in those emo- 
 tions and moral convictions and spiritual susceptibilities as 
 well that find utterance in communicating the truth. This is 
 the truth of verbal inspiration. It is not the inspiration that 
 fixed the record of revelation, but the inspiration that gave 
 power to its communication. It was not wholly the truth 
 communicated but the mighty energy of the communication 
 itself, that made apostolic preaching so effective. But shall 
 we assume that this inspiration was limited to the first Chris- 
 
io THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tian preachers? How then shall we vindicate the prophetic 
 quality in the preaching of our own day? How shall we 
 justify the claim that in every age the utterance of the true 
 preacher is a message ? We need not over-press the term, but 
 trie preacher who spiritually discerns and personally appro- 
 priates the truth and who utters it with the power of a sympa- 
 thetic moral conviction has the primal elements of inspiration. 
 It was not merely the re-discovery of the saving truths of Chris- 
 tianity, but their fresh appropriation in Christian experience 
 that made the preaching of the Reformation so powerful. It 
 was the divorce of the objective truth, that was formulated 
 in the creeds of the church, from Christian experience and the 
 disproportionate importance that was attached to doctrinal 
 formularies that devitalized the preaching of the post- 
 Reformation period. It is the restoration of the subjective 
 and personal element that gives character to the preaching of 
 our own day. The subjective and personal element is the 
 individualizing power in preaching. Individuality of form is 
 one of the marks of the preaching of all the great reform 
 preachers of the church. Preaching that is not the product of 
 vital, interior force tends to a formal, stereotyped method. 
 Christian oratory is the highest type of oratory, for the reason, 
 in part, that it is a product of such reverence for and sympa- 
 thy with the truth that it becomes a personal power in belief 
 and conviction and thus imparts personal force to the utter- 
 ances of the speaker. Classical oratory laid supreme accent 
 upon the relation of the speaker to his audience; Christian 
 oratory lays proportionate stress upon the relation of the 
 speaker to his subject. It was enough for the classical orator 
 that he seem to be interested in his subject, convinced of its 
 truth and honest in its enforcement. This is of supreme im- 
 portance chiefly in order that he may persuade his hearers. 
 But the Christian orator speaks to the moral judgments and 
 convictions of men, and he must not only seem to be moved 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OP PREACHING n 
 
 by the truth, he must be possessed by it and must speak what 
 he believes. It is this note of reality, of truth in the inward 
 parts, that has individualizing and supreme persuasive 
 power. 
 
 III. Christian Preaching as related to the Audience 
 
 Preaching is public address, not private conference. Ety- 
 mologically it suggests publicity, the presence of an assembly. 
 It presupposes an audience. This is generally a mixed assem- 
 bly. The original Christian assembly was homogeneous, and 
 preaching was an address to this Christian assembly by one of 
 its members on a subject of common Christian interest. 
 This element of common Christian fellowship gave character 
 to the address. It was a congregation of believers. The 
 speaker was identified with his audience and voiced the 
 common Christian feeling, faith, conviction. Hence the sig- 
 nificance of the word "homily" ( otuXCa ) as applied to the 
 preaching of the early Christian church. It means primarily 
 companionship, then conference among companions, and then 
 an address to an assembly of companions. Thus the notion of 
 homogeneity in the audience is recognized. It is this primitive 
 conception of Christian preaching which limits it to the work 
 of teaching and impressing a Christian congregation, to which 
 German homiletics has attached itself. It does not presuppose 
 a heterogeneous audience, and it treats evangelistic preaching 
 as an exceptional type of preaching and as demanding separate 
 consideration. But it is impossible for us to treat the question 
 in this manner. It ignores the miscellaneous character of the 
 ordinary congregation. If it were admissible to assume thaf 
 all our religious assemblies are composed of baptized church 
 communicants and that all these communicants represented in 
 full measure the realities of Christian experience, there would 
 be no call for any type of preaching other than what may be 
 designated as the pastoral type, whose aim is edification. But 
 
12 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the miscellaneous character of our congregations conditions a 
 call for two types of preaching. 
 
 i. The nucleus of every religious assembly is a body of 
 Christian worshippers. The audience is primarily a worship- 
 ping congregation. Preaching must recognize that fact. It 
 should have a liturgical quality. It should regard itself as a 
 part of public worship. It should know itself as an offering 
 of Christian faith and should aim at the promotion of a devout 
 spirit and at furthering the interests of the worshipping assem- 
 bly. We do not separate preaching from worship as we do not 
 separate the preacher from the liturgist or the pastor. Even 
 in mission preaching, we recognize the element of worship. 
 No street preacher would detach his address from song and 
 prayer and Scripture. The effectiveness of preaching, even 
 its rhetorical effectiveness, is conditioned largely by its associa- 
 tion with a Christian assembly, and by the influence of Chris- 
 tian worship. Preaching is the better for the worship, and 
 the worship for the preaching. In the best periods the close 
 connection between preaching and worship, between the pulpit 
 and the altar, has been recognized. Divorce between them has 
 marked a degeneracy in both. Luther insisted that there 
 should be no worship without preaching. "Where God's word 
 is not preached, it is better neither to sing, nor pray, nor come 
 together.'' Calvin laid stress upon the demand for preaching 
 in connection with the Sacraments. These reformers recog- 
 nized preaching as the centre of the worship. The value of 
 worship was conditioned by preaching. We need to recog- 
 nize the reverse as equally true. Preaching will be more 
 simple aid sympathetic, more spiritual and earnest and practi- 
 cal in its tone, more free and unconventional, in a word more 
 Christian. Worship will dignify preaching and preaching will 
 make worship more intelligent and real and substantial. In 
 a word worship conditions devout preaching and preaching 
 conditions intelligent worship. To make preaching and wor- 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 13 
 
 ship mutually helpful is an important homiletic problem. 
 Something is gained at the outset, to say the least, by recogniz- 
 ing the fact that the liturgical interest is an important part of 
 the homiletic problem, that preaching presupposes a Christian 
 assembly and that it has for its object the promotion of the 
 religious interests of that assembly. 
 
 2. But the entire audience is almost never a Christian con- 
 gregation in the full evangelical sense of the word. Hence 
 preaching should have an evangelistic as well as pastoral 
 quality. Evangelism is a homiletic problem. To win men to 
 the Christian life is as truly the preacher's aim as to edify 
 them in it. It is a false conception of preaching that would 
 limit it to the edification of a Christian congregation and would 
 rule out evangelism as a distinct and exceptional interest, 
 never to find place in the ordinary church service. It is based 
 upon the erroneous conception that the congregation must al- 
 ways be a baptized community and that preaching is for it 
 alone. The missionary element is essential to the complete 
 Christian's conception of preaching. It should never be per- 
 manently divorced from pastoral preaching. Men must be 
 won as well as built. It is the commission of the church to 
 present the Gospel through its servants to those who have not 
 received it into their practical lives. It is not an exceptional 
 work to be done by an exceptional class of men. It is not 
 necessary to divide the congregation in a formal manner. The 
 two types of preaching play into one another. Each influences 
 those for whom it is not primarily designed. But failure to dis- 
 tinguish between the two types and to recognize their dis- 
 tinctive objects and aims is a serious failure. Evangelistic 
 preaching will secure warmth and cogency to pastoral preach- 
 ing and pastoral preaching will condition the permanent value 
 of evangelistic preaching. Edification supports evangelism. 
 Evangelism gives incentive to edification. 
 
14 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 IV. Christian Preaching as related to Form 
 In material, spirit and aim, as is already apparent, Christian 
 preaching has certain distinctive qualities. And even in 
 method or form it demands some adaptation to these distinctive 
 qualities, just as in substance it demands adaptation to Chris- 
 tian thought and as in spirit and aim it demands adaptation to 
 what is distinctive in Christian principle and character. But 
 in its formal aspects in general, homiletics belongs to the 
 department of rhetoric and Christian preaching is, as to its 
 method, not substantially different from any secular oratorical 
 product. 
 
 I. The first rhetorical element demanding consideration is 
 structural order. The sermon is an address to be heard and 
 remembered. It must, therefore, have an orderly develop- 
 ment. Otherwise it would not fully satisfy the demands of 
 public address. It would lack rhetorical impressiveness. 
 Religious themes call for elevated, comprehensive and orderly 
 discussion. Unity of impression is dependent upon coherent 
 exposition. Fragmentary and desultory discourse fails to 
 meet the needs of our time and is unworthy of the great themes 
 of religion. It is inadequate to the needs both of preacher 
 and hearer. It is of course to be conceded that the preaching 
 of the early church was artless, and yet it moved men. The 
 discourse was delivered for the most part to small congrega- 
 tions within a limited area and was a free, spontaneous, 
 unartistic utterance. It was like a prayer meeting address or 
 a Bible reading. Possibly there were more elaborate addresses. 
 The tendency was increasingly in the direction of such ad- 
 dresses. It is probable that the discourses commemorative of 
 the martyrs, of which unfortunately we have no adequate 
 record or illustration, promoted this tendency. But the dis- 
 courses recorded in the New Testament, although probably 
 inadequate to illustrate worthily apostolic preaching, are with- 
 out rhetorical order. They did their work doubtless and met 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 15 
 
 the needs of the time. But they are not models for a later 
 age. Homiletics was an undeveloped science. In the changed 
 relation of Christianity and of the church to the world at 
 large, a better method was demanded. Patristic preaching 
 was less unelaborate than apostolic preaching. Cyprian and 
 Tertullian were orators. Origin marks another modification, 
 Augustine and Chrysostom still another, all in the direction of 
 a more orderly method. Without these changes preaching 
 would not have done its work. Nor without orderly method 
 will it do its work today. We are heirs to it. We are in re- 
 action, it is true, against the stately elaborateness of our homi- 
 letic ancestors, and greater simplicity of method is advocated. 
 But simplicity is not incoherence. An effective pulpit demands 
 something more than the homily. The mind is not at home in 
 chaos. The heart as well as the mind craves an orderly world. 
 Truth goes home along the lines of law. Orderly method is 
 more than a rhetorical interest. True rhetorical interests sub- 
 serve religious interests. There never was a time when 
 effective preaching was in greater demand than now. There 
 is as good a field as ever for the true preacher, and a rational 
 method is one of the most important problems. No man can 
 ignore the laws of the human soul and make his speech 
 effective. 
 
 2. Literary form is another rhetorical element in preaching. 
 Preaching is not lecturing. The lecturer may use the language 
 of science. The preacher uses the language of life. Preach- 
 ing is for the average mind, not for the exceptionally trained 
 mind; not for scholars, nor yet for children. It avoids the 
 extreme of intellectual elaborateness on the one side and of 
 intellectual condescension on the other. A preacher must 
 reach his audience. It is his calling to do it. He can not do 
 it without interpreting abstract thought in concrete form. 
 Popular preaching is not vulgar preaching. There is a true 
 and a false popular style. The preacher is an educator. He 
 
16 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 should respect the higher and the permanent interests of men. 
 But within the limits of Christian propriety the pulpit should 
 adjust itself to the capacity of the average man. The sermon 
 is not a treatise, nor a lecture nor an essay, nor a prose poem. 
 From all these it differs in its aim and so in its form. The 
 ethical aim of the sermon forbids that it come in the language 
 of the understanding wholly, that is, in a purely didactic form 
 as the treatise or the lecture may, or in the structureless form 
 of the essay or in the language of subjective emotion or senti- 
 ment or fancy as the poem does. It combines the language 
 of the understanding, of the emotions and of the imagination. 
 This is the popular style, combining dignity, cogency and 
 grace. Thus the sermon must be our ideal in the discussion of 
 homiletic problems. The ideal of the lecture with its didactic 
 substance addressed to the understanding, with its logical 
 method and unemotional style whose chief mark is intellectual 
 clearness, is inadequate. Inadequate is the ideal of the homily 
 with its scriptural material, its structureless method, its free 
 and unconventional style, whose mark is simplicity, speaking at 
 once to the mind and the heart. Inadequate the hortation, 
 with its emotional fervor, rapid movement and its concrete 
 style. Inadequate the essay with its freedom and remote 
 relatedness of thought, or the poem with its language of the 
 imagination. But the sermon may incorporate elements that 
 are common to them all. 
 
 To recapitulate, the best type of preaching combines the 
 Biblical, the representative, the personal, the liturgical, the 
 evangelistic, the structural and the literary interest. Under- 
 value the Biblical element and preaching will deteriorate. It 
 will lose vitality. It will fail in religious aim and the religious 
 interests of men will suffer. Undervalue the representative 
 element and it will become capricious and irresponsible. 
 Undervalue the personal element and it will lack in power of 
 conviction and persuasion. Undervalue the liturgical element 
 
CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 17 
 
 and it will fail to impress and edify the spiritual life. Under- 
 value the evangelistic element and it will lack in directness and 
 cogency. Undervalue the structural quality and it will fail in 
 cumulative impression. Undervalue the popular elements of 
 literary style and it will fail in concreteness and force. Com- 
 bine these interests and we get the best results of pulpit speech. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 
 
 The question of aim will constantly occur in our discussion 
 of homiletic problems. It is one of the most important ques- 
 tions with which the preacher must concern himself. Many 
 qualities of good preaching are dependent upon it. The tone 
 of a preacher and to a large extent his method are determined 
 by his aim. And if the subject matter of one's preaching 
 conditions the aim, it is equally true that the aim will be influ- 
 ential in the choice of material. How can one know what to 
 preach without an adequate conception of the general and the 
 specific object of his preaching and without a worthy purpose 
 with respect to his object? It is this practical significance of 
 the question that sanctions a preliminary discussion of its 
 importance. 
 
 I. The Importance of Homiletic Aim 
 
 i. The ethical significance of preaching suggests it. 
 Preaching is a moral act. Something is to be accomplished. 
 An impression is to be made. A result is to be achieved. 
 Someone calls it a "word-act." Vinet calls it a "combat." 
 Theremin calls it a "virtue." Without aim this ethical signifi- 
 cance is ignored. The theory that preaching is merely the 
 expression of a religious experience that is common to 
 preacher and hearer, and that it may be left to take care of 
 itself without any conscious aim in the preacher other than 
 that of giving expression to the realities of his own inner life, 
 is inadequate and misleading. The best type of preaching is 
 conscious of its object. It purposes to make an impression 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 19 
 
 and knows the impression it seeks. The preacher is bound to 
 make himself effective. The study of his art is largely a study 
 of his aim, and this is more than a matter of professional pride, 
 it is a matter of moral moment. This ethical or impressional 
 element gives preaching its distinctive place in the conduct of 
 public worship. No other part of the public religious service 
 is so conscious of its aim. Neither song nor prayer can be, or 
 should be, so conscious of the impression it would make. It 
 is true that every act of public worship may be measurably 
 impressive in intent, otherwise it were not a proper object of 
 criticism. But preaching seeks impression as no other liturgi- 
 cal act does. It is bent on bringing something to pass. It 
 is indeed a contest with man. Into no other service do we 
 put so strong an ethical purpose. It is confessedly easily possi- 
 ble to overdo it. But it may also be underdone. Aim then is 
 one of the primal elements in all effective preaching. An aim 
 at once broad and definite. Make the aim too broad and 
 preaching will lack definiteness and directness. Make it too 
 definite and it will lack scope. It will be narrow and may be 
 superficial. It should be broad enough to be educative, and 
 definite enough to be immediate and impressive ; broad enough 
 to cover all types of preaching, all the complex moral and 
 religious interests of the community, the church and the con- 
 gregation, and all varieties of ability in the preacher, and defi- 
 nite enough to be true to any specific type of preaching, to hit 
 the specific needs of the community, the church or the congre- 
 gation or of any particular class in the congregation, or 
 possibly of a single person at a particular time, or to meet the 
 demands of a particular truth or the needs of the preacher's 
 own personality at any particular time. Breadth and range 
 are essential to an educative pulpit. It will cover the complex 
 needs of the community and the complex interests of truth. 
 A non-educative pulpit will fail of its vocation. Reversely, 
 definiteness is essential to immediate moral and religious re- 
 
20 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 suits. Breadth and definiteness, comprehensiveness and in- 
 tensity find expression in corresponding types of preaching, 
 the pastoral and the evangelistic types, and meet a double need. 
 Pastoral preaching is comprehensive and educative. Evangelis- 
 tic preaching is definite and intense. A proper blending of the 
 two will secure range and vigor. It is not impossible measur- 
 ably at least to harmonize the two qualities. Pastoral preach- 
 ing may lack definiteness and fervor. Evangelistic preaching 
 may lack in scope. It may be narrow. When each influences 
 the other, the pastoral sermon will be the more vigorous in its 
 directness, will squarely hit its mark because it has a mark to 
 hit, and the evangelistic sermon will find a good background 
 of solid Christian thought and a good foreground of compre- 
 hensive, educative aim. It will have its setting in a broader 
 thought and purpose that will carry it beyond the immediate 
 impression and at the same time will not fail of such impres- 
 sion. It is the ethical quality in preaching that accentuates 
 the need of such combination. 
 
 2. The rights of the congregation tax the preacher's pur- 
 pose. The congregation is entitled to his respect. Its pres- 
 ence involves certain legitimate expectations. No man respects 
 its rights who preaches aimlessly. Nor can such a man win 
 its respect. A public speaker, and especially a Christian 
 preacher, can not safely ignore legitimate expectations. He 
 speaks to intelligent moral beings. As such they have claims 
 on him. A preacher should remember that he is a debtor to 
 his audience. Responsibilities are of course reciprocal. For 
 the audience is also a Christian congregation. But for the 
 preacher that congregation is an audience. The congregation 
 invites the minister to lead it in its worship. But the preacher 
 invites the congregation to become an audience and to listen 
 to him. He who does this should do it with a purpose. He 
 should give them what it is important for them to hear and 
 should show that, so far as depends on him, they shall hear 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 21 
 
 and shall have the avail of it. He who preaches, preaches at 
 something. A sermon that is good is good for something. 
 There is no good that is good for nothing. An audience 
 should never be over-taxed or disappointed in its confidence 
 in the strength of a preacher's moral purpose. The hearer is 
 entitled to know what the preacher means, what he is "driving 
 at." It is claimed that the preaching of our day lacks aim. 
 The truth of the charge may be questioned. There may be 
 a lack of certain aims, but this does not prove it to be aimless. 
 This charge is generally made by two classes of critics. They 
 are both onesided in their estimate. The professional evan- 
 gelist or revivalist criticises the preaching that does not aim in 
 every sermon at immediate evangelistic results. For such 
 preaching "the art of winning souls is a lost art." It is suffi- 
 cient to reply that the evangelistic type of preaching is not 
 broad enough to cover the entire field. It is doubtless true 
 that there is a lack of evangelistic aim in even the best of our 
 modern preaching. But there are other types of preaching 
 and other aims than the evangelistic, and what the evangelistic 
 field has lost the ethical field has won. The church dogmatist 
 on the other hand criticises the preaching that lacks the dog- 
 matic or doctrinal note. But preaching is not aimless just be- 
 cause it fails to be apologetic of a particular type of theology. 
 It is not the proper aim of preaching to prop or fortify any 
 school of theology. Doctrine is an instrument, not an end. 
 The man who works his truth and makes it available does not 
 lack aim. But it is certainly true that in so far as the preacher 
 of our day fails in any important aim or lacks in strength of 
 moral purpose, he fails in respect for the truth and for his 
 fellowmen. 
 
 3. Exposure to detrimental influences that endanger the 
 preacher's moral earnestness is a summons to renewal of moral 
 purpose. The ethical quality of preaching is always threat- 
 ened. Compromising influences are always at work. They 
 
22 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 vary with different periods, but are always a temptation to 
 moral weakness. We find them in our day. They should put 
 the preacher upon his guard. 
 
 The influence of secularism threatens the moral fibre of the 
 preaching of our day. Commercialism, of which we hear so 
 much, is a dominating power that has crept into the church. 
 The pulpit of a church that is commercialized is easily secular- 
 ized. In nothing is the secular tendency so readily manifest 
 as in the preacher's lack of moral purpose. No moral purpose 
 in the preacher means the presence, even though unconscious 
 or half-conscious, of an unworthy secularized purpose. The 
 agnostic spirit endangers the moral power of the preacher. 
 Preaching presupposes a positive basis. It deals with ascer- 
 tained results. It is not tentative or speculative or uncertain, 
 because it rests upon experimental truth. But the preacher 
 who lives in a realm of uncertainty, who is always rationaliz- 
 ing, always speculating and never reaching positive results, 
 will preach vaguely and aimlessly. There will always be a lack 
 of positiveness and definiteness about his work. A dominating 
 literary spirit endangers the moral purpose of the preacher. 
 The literary interest may compromise the ethical interest. 
 The sermon may become an end. Any man who is more 
 solicitous about the literary or artistic quality of the sermon 
 than about its practical moral effectiveness will preach without 
 a worthy moral aim. Preaching is indeed an art. But it is 
 more. It is a moral achievement. Art is subordinate to aim. 
 Or rather, aim is tributary to art. Moral purpose is one of 
 the most important considerations in the true artistic charac- 
 ter of a moral and religious address. The poet may speak for 
 the love of speaking, or for the love of artistic expression, or 
 with supreme reference to aesthetic impression. But the 
 preacher must aim at a moral result. And this aim is in fact 
 necessary to his art. 
 
 4. Practical results accentuate the importance of moral 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 23 
 
 aim in preaching. Strength of ethical purpose discloses itself 
 in such results, results in the preacher and in his work. The 
 effect on his personal and official manhood is manifest. The 
 whole tone of the man with respect to his preaching in general 
 and with respect to the individual sermon is affected. Such a 
 man is not in the pulpit as by dire necessity, but because he 
 has something to do there, and is "straitened until it be accom- 
 plished." He will bear himself as one who means to have a 
 hearing. Modestly of course, but in downright manly fashion. 
 One's moral purpose affects the whole tone of his manhood. 
 It purines, enriches and greatens his whole life. Such a man 
 can be neither a conceited pedant nor a fawning sycophant, but 
 a straight-forward manly man. 
 
 The effect on one's work will be equally notable. It will 
 condition the range of one's preaching. It will rule out all 
 matter and all method that are inharmonious with the highest 
 Christian conception of preaching. Moral purpose is an im- 
 portant factor in good rhetoric and oratory. The element of 
 will in public speech might well receive more attention than it 
 has received. A strong, steadfast, immanent purpose will lift 
 the tone of a man's entire inner life, mental and emotional, 
 and he will be the more effective as a public speaker, if he have 
 the gift of public speech at all. The words of Phillips Brooks* 
 touching the demand for cheerfulness, hopefulness, earnestness 
 and reality in the preacher are golden words. It is precisely this 
 strong ethical purpose that is associated with these qualities. 
 It will influence his method. The preaching of such a man 
 starts with the conviction and assumption that it is "worth 
 just what it effects." Such a preacher is interested in his work 
 not speculatively, but practically; not as related supremely 
 to thought but to life. The man who holds the theory that 
 he has no responsibility with respect to the results of his 
 
 *Yale Lectures on Preaching. Chap. VIII. "The Value of the 
 Human Soul." 
 
24 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 preaching, who simply says his say and lets come of it what 
 will, will preach aimlessly. Such a man can never fully an- 
 swer the question, "Why do I preach?" The truth is not an 
 end but an instrument. This conviction will influence a man 
 in his method of handling his material. It will not be a per- 
 formance in mental gymnastics. It will be full of warmth 
 and energy and will shape itself into good, effective rhetorical 
 and oratorical form. It will be a vigorous instrument for the 
 enforcement of the truth. 
 
 II. The Central and Inclusive Homiletic Aim 
 Preaching is only one of the many methods of applying 
 Christianity to the needs of men and as to its object it does 
 not differ substantially from other agencies. They all have 
 the same general object. Comprehensively stated the aim of 
 the preacher is the rescue and reconstruction of manhood. It 
 assumes that men need to be delivered from the dominating 
 lower life of the flesh, to be rescued to the higher life of the 
 spirit, and to be shaped into a spiritual manhood. Concretely 
 stated it is to win men to Christ, and to build them into his 
 moral completeness. 
 
 i. Note here a recognition of the individual and social factors 
 in the work. The rescue and reconstruction are not wholly of 
 individual men in their isolation from their fellows, but of men 
 in their associate life. It is the building in and the building 
 up of men into the body of Christ. We can not stop short 
 of this in our statement, and we cannot get beyond it. 
 Redemption as a work of rescue and of rebuilding must recog- 
 nize these two factors, which after all are practically one. The 
 preacher's object can not be the recovery and edification of a 
 few elect individual men. No man ever finds completeness in 
 himself. The aim of preaching is ultimately the completion 
 of the body of Christ, or the completion of the kingdom of 
 God, or the completion of humanity. We come to the perfect 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 25 
 
 man, to the perfect stature in Christ, only in our associate 
 life. Men must be won to a common life and built up together 
 in it. "And He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets 
 and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for the 
 perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto 
 the building up of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto the 
 unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
 unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ." * 
 
 2. Note here once more also a recognition of the two 
 actually existing classes in the congregation, i. e., those to be 
 won and those already won who are to be educated and trained. 
 The existence of these two classes creates corresponding de- 
 mands upon the preacher. We can not deny their existence, 
 and we can not ignore their claims. The preacher should 
 know with whom he deals, and should shape his preaching 
 with reference to actual needs, otherwise he will preach aim- 
 lessly. The ordinary congregation is not composed wholly 
 of baptized persons, or of those who by virtue of their baptism 
 are assumed to be Christians in the high and worthy sense, and 
 who, therefore, need only nurture and training. The object 
 of such preaching could only be to conserve and develop this 
 assumed already existing Christian life. Its object would be 
 edification in the restricted sense. This false assumption and 
 the object based upon it would be false to the facts and inade- 
 quate to the needs of the congregation. It would substitute 
 a part for the whole complex aim of preaching. Such preach- 
 ing might easily become formal and perfunctory. It would not 
 deal with living men as they actually are before the preacher, 
 and it would become unfruitful. There is no building up 
 without building in. But of course preaching should not be 
 prevailingly hortatory. We exhort men that they may be 
 persuaded. But after persuasion — what? The evangelistic 
 
 *Eph. 4: 12, 13. 
 
26 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 type of preaching can never be final. It would defeat its own 
 aim and prove fruitless in the end. "Winning souls" in 
 the narrow and sometimes unreal sense can never be 
 ultimate. The soul is not saved in the full Christian sense 
 till it is developed and trained into the completeness possible 
 for it. 
 
 3. Note further that this comprehensive conception of the 
 object of Christian preaching finds place for all the elements 
 involved in the complete conception of Christian preaching 
 itself. Augustine, following substantially the classical rhetori- 
 cians and orators, thus comprehensively states the object of 
 Christian preaching; "The Christian orator ought to teach, 
 to please, to persuade; to teach so as to instruct, to please so 
 as to hold, to persuade so as to overcome. Teaching for the 
 purpose of instruction secures intelligent hearing; pleasing 
 for the purpose of holding secures free listening; persuading 
 for the purpose of overcoming secures the obedient mind, 
 heart, conscience, will." No better statement of the aim and 
 characteristics of true Christian preaching could be made. 
 The obedient mind, heart, conscience, will — this is the ultimate 
 aim. To bring the whole man under the sway of the truth, 
 through the forces of personality and of truth that play 
 through human speech. All the elements of effective speech 
 are necessary to secure this result. The adjustment of these 
 elements, with which Augustine undertook to deal, in order to 
 achieve the result, is a rhetorical question with which we need 
 not now concern ourselves. Just here it is pertinent simply to 
 suggest that these elements ultimately resolve themselves into 
 the didactic and persuasive elements of speech, and, as we shall 
 see, they are both necessary to the work of rescuing and build- 
 ing men. To teach, to impress, to persuade men by the power 
 of the truth and of personality, the organ of truth, thus to 
 bring the whole manhood, mind, heart, conscience, will, under 
 the sway of truth and of the spirit of truth, — this is to rescue 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 27 
 
 men and to build them into Christian manhood. This is re- 
 demption. And this is the end of the preacher's work. 
 
 4. Note finally that we have here an adequate recognition 
 of the full significance of edification as the object of the 
 preacher's work. This notion of building is a New Testament 
 conception and is used somewhat variously. Let us look at it 
 in its relation to the work of preaching in its comprehensive 
 significance, following somewhat closely the natural and ety- 
 mological suggestiveness of the word. The first thing sug- 
 gested is an ideal to be realized. Building presupposes a plan, 
 a pattern, an ideal. Culture in its highest conception is the 
 building of manhood after a pattern. Christian culture pre- 
 supposes a Christian ideal, a Christian pattern, after which 
 the work proceeds. With this ideal the preacher deals. It is 
 his task to exalt, to advocate and to apply this ideal. For the 
 individual man this ideal, this pattern, this standard is the per- 
 fection of Christ. Preaching is the advocacy, and its aim the 
 production of a Christian manhood after the type of Christ. 
 For the community of individuals, for the church, for human- 
 ity collectively, the ideal is the kingdom of God. The final 
 purpose of the church is the realization of the ideal of a divine 
 society; i.e., the building together of humanity into a social 
 organism, after the pattern of a heavenly society. The ulti- 
 mate object of Christian preaching, therefore, is the spiritual 
 unity, — completeness and effectiveness of the church or of the 
 kingdom of God, which the church represents. 
 
 The second factor in this conception is the winning of the 
 material to be built. The material to be built is men. They 
 must be won before they can be built. They may be won 
 gradually, and unconsciously to themselves. But somehow 
 they must be won. They must be illumined, awakened, 
 changed in their moral dispositions, in a word won to Christ, 
 before they can be started aright and before they can be de- 
 veloped and trained into moral and spiritual manhood, or be- 
 
28 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 fore the processes of moral and spiritual development can go 
 most successfully on. The process of edification, therefore, 
 in so far as it involves the winning of material, the right start- 
 ing point, the right foundation of the spiritual structure, 
 includes all that is contained in the terms conversion and re- 
 generation as the initial point. This lifting of manhood out of 
 dominance to the lower life of the flesh, this modification of 
 the moral and spiritual manhood, which is called the new birth, 
 is the proper ground for edification into the manhood of 
 Christ. What has been called the process of sanctification is 
 only the process of continued growth into the completeness 
 of moral and spiritual manhood, which rests upon the founda- 
 tion of a moral charge. Preaching is, of course, only one of 
 the agencies through which the start is made. It takes a great 
 many moral agencies to renew men. But the work of the 
 preacher is prominent. It deals with all those truths, those 
 principles, those impulses and incentives that start character 
 aright. 
 
 A third factor is the process by which the building work 
 goes on from its starting-point and by which the ideal is 
 ultimately realized. It is a process of development in sym- 
 metrical upreach and outreach of Christian character till the 
 full pattern is realized. Again preaching is only one of the 
 agencies in the process, but it contributes much to the develop- 
 ment of such height and range and symmetry of Christian 
 character as brings manhood to its ultimate goal. It deals 
 therefore, as already indicated, with the whole man, mind, 
 conscience, heart, will. Men grow strongly, broadly, sym- 
 metrically only as religion touches the mental, moral and spirit- 
 ual manhood. The process includes also the growth of the 
 whole body of Christ into the unity and completeness of organ- 
 ized life. 
 
 But the final factor is the instruments or agencies employed 
 in the building work. There are many agencies but they in- 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 29 
 
 elude various types of preaching. Edification as the aim of 
 preaching in the broader sense accentuates the demand for 
 comprehensiveness in the work and so rescues it from a narrow 
 provincialism and one-sidedness. Two instruments especially 
 are employed in the work of preaching. They are — to use 
 Phillips Brooks' terms — truth and personality. In other 
 words the agencies or methods of preaching employed are 
 teaching and persuasion. And this brings us back once more 
 from another point of departure to the two chief factors in 
 preaching, to which reference has already been made. Let us 
 consider them a little more fully. 
 
 The work of building character presupposes a didactic 
 foundation. Foundations must be solid. We build character 
 on solid truth. Preaching presupposes the interpreting of 
 truth to the mind and conscience. At the outset edification 
 is not other than education. The truth that builds up Chris- 
 tian character must be Christian truth. Growth into the 
 likeness of Christ is the product of preaching Christ. 
 Such preaching deals with the person, the teaching, the work 
 of Christ. Christ the source, the inspiration, the pattern and 
 the aim of all Christian life. The entire message of the Gos- 
 pel is summed up in Christ. Christ only can build into Christ- 
 likeness. The personality of Christ and his message must be 
 interpreted. The preacher is fundamentally an interpreter, an 
 interpreter of God, of man, of life, of Providence, of history 
 in the light of revelation, and of all human life in the light of 
 redemption. But above all he is the interpreter of Jesus 
 Christ. He is primarily a prophet, not a priest. Christ's 
 preaching was largely teaching — the interpretation of spirit- 
 ual realities. So was apostolic preaching. Paul was pre- 
 eminently a teacher of religion. The prominence of the 
 element of truth and of teaching in the work of preaching 
 accentuates the need of an intelligent building of character. 
 It is claimed that Christianity is the only religion that has 
 
30 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 been or can be successfully taught, and that, therefore, it is 
 the only successful character-building religion. It appeals to 
 human intelligence. Men were impressed with the words of 
 wisdom that fell from the lips of Jesus. Solid character must 
 have an intelligent foundation. Paul discredited an over- 
 emotional type of preaching, and gave preference to the word 
 of instruction on the ground that it edifies character. His 
 bishop must be "didaktikos" — "apt to teach." He who aims 
 at the production of an intelligent religious life in his preaching 
 will appeal to the intelligence of men. This is the condition 
 of permanent success. Intelligent conviction is the basis of 
 solid character. Perversities of understanding abound in our 
 day. Men are precommitted in wrong mental judgments as 
 well as in wrong moral bias, and all this renders the preacher's 
 task the harder. It is sometimes said that men know the truth 
 better than they obey it. This is measurably true. But the 
 fact is that there is a vast amount of wrong headedness, even 
 among Christian people, as well as wrong heartedness. But 
 what sort of truth is edifying truth? Not all truth is edifying, 
 simply because it is truth. Not all preachers have learned 
 this. The impracticable preacher, who is always the unedify- 
 ing preacher, is the one who fails to adjust his truth to the 
 condition of his hearers. There must be a certain corre- 
 spondence between the truth presented and the state of the 
 hearer, just as there must be a correspondence between the 
 material that goes into a building and the character and design 
 of the building. Men are edified when the truth presented is 
 fitted to their needs. The matter of a discourse may be true 
 and its presentation good, but it must find the hearer, it must 
 come home to him, or he is not edified. The homespeaking 
 truth is the truth that meets a real need. 
 
 The work of edification presupposes an influence upon the 
 heart and will as well as upon the mind. Teaching presup- 
 poses the power of truth. Persuasion presupposes the power 
 
THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 31 
 
 of personality. Preaching includes not only the instrumental- 
 ity of truth but the effort of a living man. Truth and life. 
 There is no edification without persuasion. Men are neither 
 won nor built, neither built in nor built up without speech that 
 goes out of the intellectual into the emotional, affectional and 
 volitional parts of a man. That is not preaching that ends in 
 an appeal to the mind only. "We persuade men," persuade as 
 well as teach. The building is of human character. Growth 
 presupposes life. It presupposes the impelling energy of a 
 soul moved to its depths, if it will move other souls. Here 
 too, the principle of correspondence is necessary. There must 
 be a certain common ground between the speaker and the 
 hearer, as well as harmony between the quality of truth and the 
 needs of the hearer. We are not edified by what is strange 
 and foreign. A sort of Christian mind must be created be- 
 fore edification is possible. Men must become measurably 
 familiar with the truths and facts of Christianity before they 
 do their best work. The home truths are not the strange and 
 unfamiliar truths. The old truths intelligently and freshly 
 interpreted edify. And the old truths come home to us in the 
 language of common life, language that is familiar in its 
 imagery and its terminology. Men are not edified by a strange 
 and to them barbarous speech. To produce a state 
 of mind in the hearer corresponding to the preacher's 
 state of mind, the forces of his personality must find 
 a language instrument fit to translate and to transmit 
 these forces and so to impart themselves that they will awaken 
 what is correspondent in the soul of the hearer. It is this 
 element of persuasion that marks the distinction between 
 teaching and preaching. Teaching is a factor in preaching, 
 but it is not the only one. We teach that men may know. We 
 preach that they be and do. In teaching the ethical factor 
 is indirect and remote. In preaching it is direct and imme- 
 diate. The sermon is not for itself, not for its theology, not 
 
32 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 for the intelligence and culture of its hearers, but for the pro- 
 duction of character and the regulation of conduct. The best 
 didactic preaching, therefore, which aims at edification will be 
 persuasive. Just here is the unique power of the pulpit. The 
 press can teach. But it is only the living man that can preach. 
 When teaching is vitalized by the power of an earnest sympa- 
 thetic human soul, it becomes persuasive, and may be well 
 nigh irresistible. It is the truth that is borne along the cur- 
 rents of human feeling that subdues the souls of men. It must 
 be presented with a tone of cheerfulness and hopefulness. 
 The great hopes of the Gospel rally the preacher to a conta- 
 gious enthusiasm. Its lofty tone of authority summons him 
 also to a tone of moral certitude answering to it. Preaching is 
 not persuasive in proportion as it lacks moral conviction and 
 purpose. It appeals with assurance to the human conscience 
 and heart and will. The persuasive preacher is a modest and 
 devout man, but he does not potter with uncertainties, nor 
 give away his case. He speaks with the authority of positive 
 conviction. Christianity can not be persuasively presented if 
 the preacher allows himself or his message to be patronized by 
 the high and mighty democratic and agnostic twentieth century. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 
 
 There are certain qualities in every preacher, certain gifts, 
 on which the success of his work depends. They are gifts of 
 nature and of grace, developed by assiduous culture. The 
 man who undertakes to preach must have some of them or 
 he is no preacher. But an ideal combination of these gifts 
 has of course never been realized. There is no ideal 
 preacher, never has been and never will be. Indeed it is diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, to conceive the ideally-gifted preacher. 
 There are many conceivable ideals. To combine them all 
 into one supreme type, and to conceive of them as realized in 
 any one man is an impracticable, not to say an impossible 
 mental task. The best preachers represent different types. 
 They suggest typical ideals, correspondent, but they hardly 
 suggest the possibility, even ideally of combining them all 
 into one supreme type. No one man has ever combined all 
 the gifts of the great preacher. Augustine must have com- 
 bined many of them in generous measure. Tertullian, Cyp- 
 rian, Chrysostom and the Cappadocians in larger measure. 
 The classic preachers of the Gallic Church, Bossuet, Bour- 
 daloue, Massillon and Saurin among the Protestants, Luther 
 among the Germans, and among the moderns, Robertson 
 and Beecher — all these were great preachers. But how 
 varied and how different their gifts, so varied and so different 
 that their points of contrast are quite as striking as their 
 points of likeness. But it is not necessary that one possess 
 the gifts of these great masters, either in degree or in type 
 of combination, in order to be a respectable preacher. It is 
 
34 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 not necessary to be a great preacher in order to be a preacher 
 at all. The work of the church is done and well done by- 
 ordinary men. It is only the elect few that possess many 
 and great gifts for preaching and in well-balanced combina- 
 tion. The larger number have but few and meagre gifts, 
 and yet they are not without success in teaching and persuad- 
 ing men. Our task at present is the consideration of some of 
 those qualities that are highly important for any preacher 
 and that may be cultivated. 
 
 I. Classification of Gifts 
 
 i. Mental gifts. The preacher, as we have seen, is an 
 interpreter. It is his task to make intelligible and to vindi- 
 cate the rationality and moral value of what he proclaims to 
 be the truth. The interpreter must succeed in interpreting. 
 He must have the requisite mental gifts for his task. Many 
 and varied intellectual gifts are desirable in a preacher. But 
 there is a certain group of qualities that is of preeminent 
 importance. That the preacher should be a dialectician as 
 well as a rhetorician was Luther's estimate of his requisite 
 intellectual equipment. Luther meant that he should com- 
 bine power to think discriminatingly, connectedly and funda- 
 mentally with power to express his thought in effective popu- 
 lar speech. As a rational thinker he must speak convinc- 
 ingly to the mind and as an effective orator he must speak 
 persuasively to the emotions and will. Mental discrimina- 
 tion, mental coherence, and mental range should be combined 
 with vivid imagination, fervid emotion and practical tact. 
 This answers to the two chief demands of the audience that 
 the preacher do justice to the subject and to the object of the 
 discussion. The dialectician will do justice to his subject. 
 The rhetorician will do justice to his object. The one will 
 convince by a thorough grasp and handling of his theme, the 
 other will persuade by a complete identification of himself 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 35 
 
 with his audience and by an effective style of address. We 
 are dealing now with those mental gifts that are requisite for 
 the presentation of the subject. Of course we need not insist 
 upon using Luther's term dialectician, nor undertake to vin- 
 dicate the claim that it should stand for all that Luther would 
 have put into it. The scholastic dialectician does not get a 
 hearing in our day. But let us put our own meaning into 
 the term. Dialectic gifts may stand for mental discrimina- 
 tion, mental coherence, and mental range, for the requisite 
 sharpness of mind to distinguish the elements of thought in 
 a subject, for the requisite logical power to relate the thought 
 of the subject and for the requisite power to grasp the prin- 
 ciples of the subject fundamentally. It is certainly desirable 
 that the preacher have these mental qualities and that he 
 cultivate them assiduously. Let us consider them for a 
 moment. Mental discrimination. The preacher has to 
 make himself intelligible to the average audience. Whatever, 
 therefore, the quality of his thought, it must be clear and dis- 
 criminating. It may be subtle or it may be obvious and near 
 at hand, it may be ingenious or it may be commonplace, it 
 may be suggestive or it may be exhaustive, it may be pene- 
 trating or it may be discursive, it may be intuitive or it may 
 be argumentative, it may be imaginative or it may be philo- 
 sophical — whatever the quality of the thought it should have 
 the element of clarity in an eminent degree. No man can 
 vindicate his vocation to interpret Christian truth to human 
 intelligence, if he cannot make himself intelligible. The 
 prophet must succeed in getting his message out without 
 obfuscating his hearers. He must speak straight. His func- 
 tion as messenger and the character of his message demand 
 it. A foggy preacher is not a preacher. What a man is 
 summoned to make clear should not be muddled. The 
 truths of religion are important and they are not easy to 
 handle. The preacher owes it to his audience, to his subject, 
 
36 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 to his vocation and to himself that he train himself in habits 
 of clear, discriminating thinking to the utmost of his power. 
 Without such thinking no audience can be permanently, and 
 in the highest degree, profited. Especially if a preacher has 
 anything that he regards as new to present, and which his 
 hearers should clearly understand, is he beholden to them to 
 clear it up or let some one else undertake it, or wait until he 
 is able at least to speak intelligently. It is unfortunate that 
 much of what calls itself "new theology" is unintelligible, 
 even to those who are not inhospitable to it. If this quality 
 of unintelligibleness were inherent in the theology itself it 
 would discredit it. But if it is in its advocacy, it discredits 
 the preacher. Any new theological movement in the 
 churches is a summons to the preacher to exceptionally clear 
 thinking and clear speaking. The members of our churches 
 have a right to know what a preacher is "driving at." We 
 do not think of John Calvin as a great preacher. He was not 
 an orator. Nor was he a rhetorician. He met only a single 
 aspect of Luther's conception of a preacher. But he met 
 that with conspicuous success. It was not merely that he 
 was a master of dialetic. He was master of what it stands 
 for. In a wonderful measure he had the gift of mental per- 
 spicacity. It was a substitute for the gifts of the rhetorician 
 and orator. His preaching was a notable triumph of the 
 Christian understanding. There is of course more than one 
 way of realizing the homiletic virtue of intellectual perspi- 
 cacity. Preachers, who, unlike Calvin, present the truth 
 suggestively, or illustratively, rather than analytically or 
 dialectically, may be clear preachers. It is not the clearness of 
 scientific exactness or definiteness but of rhetorical lumi- 
 nousness. The most effective modern preachers are of this 
 type. But, however it may be realized, perspicuity is the 
 demand. 
 
 With mental discrimination is associated the power to 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 37 
 
 hold thought in its logical relations. An address de- 
 mands connated and coherent thought. An essay may be 
 fragmentary and remote in its relations of thought. An 
 address must have a manifest unity. To discuss a subject in 
 a public address is to unfold it in its logical relations. It is 
 to discover the different centres or groups of thought that 
 lie hidden beneath the subject and to bring them out to view. 
 This demands the training of the consecutive thinker. A 
 writer of pulpit essays is not the best type of preacher. No 
 one can successfully interpret Christian truth who fails to 
 present it in its inner connections of thought in the form of 
 a connected address. With all this is still further connected 
 the power to grip a subject fundamentally, to grasp its essen- 
 tial principles, to trace it in its wide ranging and fundamental 
 relations. The best type of interpretation consists in grasp- 
 ing the central principle of a truth and in showing how it 
 ranges in various realms of experience. The best preachers 
 of our day deal thus with the fundamental principles of Chris- 
 tian truth, and take them out for illustration into various 
 spheres of human life. This capacity of mental insight, of 
 mental coherence, and of mental grasp and range may be 
 cultivated. He who would vindicate his vocation as an inter- 
 preter will not fail to do it. 
 
 2. Emotional gifts. Sympathy is the fundamental emo- 
 tional quality that is requisite. The true preacher is preemi- 
 nently a man of fellow feeling. The gift of sympathy is the 
 capacity of self-identification with objects external to our- 
 selves. Turned Godward it becomes the prophetic gift. It 
 is by the power of sympathy that the prophet becomes con- 
 sciously identified with God. It is more than mental self- 
 identification. It is through the consciousness of moral and 
 emotional as well as mental alliance with God that the 
 prophet appropriates and becomes identified with his mes- 
 sage. It is this consciousness that is involved in the estate 
 
38 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of prophetic inspiration. Any man who is intelligently con- 
 scious of fellowship with God, 'who recognizes the truth he 
 preaches as having its source in God, and who is thoroughly 
 committed to it, as his message, speaks for God, and such a 
 man knows something of the prophetic spirit. Such a man 
 will not fail to speak with power. There will be the ring of 
 reality in his utterance. The more strongly the truth, re- 
 demptive truth, as related to personal beings, gets hold of a 
 man, the more masterful he will be. To recognize the truth 
 as God's, something held in trust to be communicated to 
 one's fellowmen, to know that one enters into sympathetic 
 alliance with God's great purposes, that one thinks God's 
 thoughts of mercy after Him, and that in uttering them he 
 gives God's message, this is a condition of moral power in 
 the preacher's work. Christian oratory of the highest sort 
 has a basis not unlike that of dramatic art. The power of 
 the dramatic actor is in the fact that he is for the time 
 identified with the character he impersonates. In ef- 
 fect he is that character. He who reaches his fellow- 
 men must leave the impression that he is completely 
 identified with what he claims to represent. His speech 
 should have an earnestness and reality correspondent to 
 the weight and importance of what he says. The man who 
 speaks in the enthusiasm of a great inspiration may make mis- 
 takes. The spirit of the prophet is not always subject to 
 the prophet. But it is far better to make mistakes than 
 in one's unsympathy to leave the impression of moral 
 unreality. 
 
 But not until sympathy is turned manward does it realize 
 the full measure of its power. It becomes preeminently an 
 oratorical requisite. The preacher moves men by entering 
 into their needs with an intelligent sympathy. He has the 
 capacity to be wrought upon on the one side by the truth 
 presented, and on the other side by the human beings to 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 39 
 
 whom it is presented. The more a man loves his fellowmen, 
 the more he can be moved by them and, other requisites 
 given, the more he can move them. True oratorical feeling 
 is reproductive. We move men by sharing the state of mind 
 that we wish to produce in them. The true preaching 
 impulse is the impulse of a loving mind. The special pleader, 
 the arrogant dogmatist, the man who loves himself, or who 
 loves his opinions, more than he loves his fellowmen, cannot 
 be a true preacher. He may be a stalwart pulpiteer, but he 
 lacks the sympathies of a preacher. I do not say that a 
 preacher must be a man of quick and fiery emotion. Some 
 of the great preachers of the church have indeed been such. 
 But sympathy has many ways of expressing itself. In some 
 way, however, it must make itself felt or no man can move 
 his fellowmen. It is not enough to have it, one must impart 
 it. Sympathy is the source of homiletic tact. Tact is sus- 
 ceptibility to another's touch, the sense of touch, thence 
 capacity to touch others, that is, capacity or facility of self- 
 adjustment or self adaptation of such sort as enables 
 one to touch others. The basis of this susceptibility is 
 sympathy. He who is susceptible to impressions from 
 others, because he loves them, is the one who with skill will 
 adjust himself to them. The most earnest and devoted and 
 effective preachers tell us that they cannot grip the souls of 
 their hearers without a feeling of sympathy that is a great 
 compassionate yearning of heart for them. That Paul was 
 able to "become all things to all men" is a disclosure of his 
 homiletic tact, whose source was sympathy. He identified 
 himself with men and adjusted himself to them that he might 
 win them. This is not a matter of mental skill merely, of 
 intellectual nimbleness. It is a matter of fellow-feeling. 
 The homiletic impulse is a combination of the didactic and 
 the sympathetic impulse. To the intellectual impulse to 
 impart to others the truth that has become a conscious per- 
 
40 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 sonal treasure, in order that they may share the treasure, is 
 added the impulse of sympathetic' feeling that desires spiritual 
 fellowship. Trained Christian feeling is far more important 
 in the work of the preacher than may at first appear. With 
 the sympathetic spirit is naturally associated the optimistic 
 spirit. Love is optimistic. A loving estimate of men in- 
 volves the necessity of idealizing them. Christian optimism is 
 precisely the love that "believeth all things" and "hopeth all 
 things." And this is the basis of a cheerful spirit. Cheer- 
 fulness is not wholly a matter of temperament. It may be 
 cultivated, and it needs culture. Men need the uplifting 
 power of cheerful, hopeful preaching. There is nothing 
 better to say of any man than that he is an uplifting, helpful 
 preacher. And this may be said of the best preachers of our 
 day. They are men who not only bring to their tasks a 
 hopeful and cheerful Gospel, but who bring hopeful and 
 cheerful souls. A preacher who indulges in low and de- 
 pressing views of human nature or of human life, and who 
 brings any touch of the pessimistic spirit into the pulpit is 
 foredoomed to failure. Of course that light-headed and 
 light-hearted optimism that ignores the sin and misery of 
 life has no place in the Christian pulpit. Preaching that 
 treats lightly the solemn realities of life will be unfruitful. 
 But redemption is the stock of the preacher's message, and 
 he who does not know it in all its grandeur and who is not 
 lifted by it into a great height of noble Christian feeling is 
 not the man the world is looking for. With cheerfulness and 
 hopefulness is allied courage, strong-heartedness. He who 
 is profoundly sympathetic with and hopeful for his fellowmen 
 will hold tenaciously to the tasks of his beneficence. The 
 real preacher has always been bold to speak what was given 
 him to speak. In his love of men and of the truth he pro- 
 claims he has always been able to forget himself. The trim- 
 mer, the man who is always on the lookout for personal 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 41 
 
 consequences, will never make an influential, effective or suc- 
 cessful preacher. 
 
 3. Spiritual gifts. No unique spiritual qualities that dif- 
 ferentiate him from other men, are needed in the Christian 
 preacher, or should be expected of him. All Christian 
 graces and virtues are tributary to his equipment. But 
 some are doubtless more closely identified than others with 
 that peculiar spiritual power for which the pulpit stands, and 
 it is rightly assumed that the preacher will possess them in 
 more than ordinary measure. For example, what Dr. Bush- 
 nell calls the "faith talent" is preeminently the preacher's 
 gift. It is this that holds him in open vision of invisible and 
 spiritual realities. Faith is spiritual insight. It is this that 
 lifts one above the things that are seen and temporal. The 
 realization and the interpretation of super-sensuous realities 
 are possible only to a cultured Christian faith. The germinal 
 spiritual gift, in which are contained all best emotional gifts, 
 is love, and it is the culture of the affections that conditions 
 persuasive preaching. Reverence too as of one who deals 
 with the august realities of God, of the human soul, and of 
 the eternal life, is a quality that conditions the most weighty 
 and impressive type of speech. But the point to be empha- 
 sized here is that these spiritual qualities do not appear 
 directly in the preacher's pulpit work. They are all neces- 
 sary to develop the gifts of nature upon which, as thus 
 developed, the effectiveness of preaching depends. And the 
 spiritual factor in quickening native preaching gifts needs 
 emphasis. There is no mere "clerus naturalis." It is the 
 supernatural or spiritual factor that exalts nature into a fit 
 instrument for the service of God. Hence the New Testa- 
 ment everywhere gives prominence to the gifts of grace. Its 
 preaching is a charism. A charism is a gift in which grace 
 blends with nature and which, because it adopts and domi- 
 nates nature, receives the emphasis. There is no effort to 
 
42 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 discriminate between nature and grace or to differentiate 
 them. Here, as everywhere, the religious point of view takes 
 precedence and the gifts of nature are manifest in the higher 
 light of their consecration. This is a fact worthy of most 
 serious consideration as related to the culture of preaching 
 power. It is impossible to fix a limit to the power of grace 
 in its development of the gifts of nature. To divorce the 
 gifts of nature from the gifts of grace would impoverish the 
 pulpit. 
 
 4. Rhetorical gifts. A full discussion of rhetorical cul- 
 ture would include the consideration of all those mental gifts 
 — gifts of imagination, feeling, affection, will — and of all 
 those moral and spiritual qualities, whose culture lies behind 
 all most effective pulpit utterance. These gifts are all neces- 
 sary to the interpretation of religious thought and to its 
 persuasive presentation. They are all significant for differ- 
 ent types of preaching and for different qualities of literary 
 style. The treatise is yet to be written that shall do full jus- 
 tice to this subject. But it is the present task simply to 
 direct attention to a few important rhetorical virtues which 
 any preacher should possess and cultivate. 
 
 And first I suggest the ability to transmute the material of 
 thought, whatever its quality or source, into sermon pabu- 
 lum. I mean, in a word, capacity for moral and religious 
 ideas, capacity to turn one's mental resources toward homi- 
 letic aims. I call it a rhetorical gift, for the form of one's 
 thought lies back of the form of its expression. The preach- 
 ing gift is largely a gift for coining thought in the mint of 
 the moral and religious nature. All great preachers have 
 shown this facility for turning thought into moral and relig- 
 ious uses fitted to the practical needs of men. It is mental 
 productiveness as stimulated by moral and religious impulse, 
 and held within the moral and religious domain. It is intelli- 
 gence vitalized by ethical and spiritual energy. It is a form 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 43 
 
 of the so-called homiletic mind. It is more than the teach- 
 ing impulse. It is the impulse to turn the truth to practical 
 advantage. There are minds that work productively and 
 clearly. But they lack the preacher's tact and facility to 
 develop and apply the truth to ethical and religious interests. 
 The real preacher is the man who habituates himself to the 
 turning of all truth into preachable forms and who acquires 
 facility in it. 
 
 Ability to translate abstract thought into concrete forms is 
 another rhetorical requisite, forms adapted to the habit and 
 capacities of the average mind, and thus fitted for effective 
 use. A preacher should know theology, for theology is the 
 mental form of religion and is, or should be in some large 
 measure, the preacher's subject matter. But theologizing is 
 not preaching. The thinker must be a speaker. It is not 
 easy to think abstractly and to speak concretely. It is a 
 difficult task to form the habit of thinking scientifically and 
 at the same time to form the habit of turning one's thinking 1 
 into a popular rhetorical form. But precisely this is the 
 preacher's problem and he who cannot master it will not be 
 a preacher. 
 
 Facility of speech is another rhetorical gift, ability to use 
 language freely as well as clearly, correctly and forcibly. 
 There is doubtless a great difference in preachers in this re- 
 gard. Some have a native gift for speech, and easily train 
 themselves into facility in its use. Others, although not 
 without a slumbering capacity for it, seem to attain to it as 
 by the hardest. What is said of Canon Mozley leads us to 
 infer that he belonged to the latter class. He was not a 
 gifted preacher in the sense that he had not the gifts that 
 condition popular impression, although he was the writer of 
 profoundly impressive sermons. He was slow in overcom- 
 ing the barriers that seemed to hinder freedom of utterance. 
 But he is an inspiration to any preacher who knows himself 
 
44 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 as slow of speech and is willing- to do hard work. For he 
 attained not only to great productiveness of thought but to 
 notable facility of expression, although it was not of the pop- 
 ular type. On the other hand there are those whom we call 
 "natural preachers." Mr. Spurgeon was one. Many of 
 the Scotch, Welsh and French preachers are such. They 
 have clearness of thought, earnestness of purpose, an impulse 
 to interpret the truth to the mind and apply it to moral uses, 
 and facility of expression. This is the outfit of the "natural 
 preacher." One who is thoroughly deficient in these gifts 
 will not make a successful preacher. This is especially true 
 of one who has no handling of his mother tongue and cannot 
 express his thoughts with ease and facility. 
 
 II. Culture of Gifts 
 
 Two practical suggestions are my only contribution to this 
 topic : 
 
 i. It were well for every preacher to cultivate assiduously 
 his ow T n most distinctive and individual qualities. Every real 
 preacher has his own strong points, which nature and grace 
 alike invite him to train. In one class of preachers the in- 
 tellectual activities are prominent. Their intellectual move- 
 ments are nimble, penetrative, intuitive, gripping promptly 
 the heart of a subject, or they are discursive, dialectical, specu- 
 lative, grasping a subject in its wholeness or in its implica- 
 tions. The preaching of such men will inevitably bear their 
 distinctive mark. The teaching quality will be prominent, and 
 their success will lie in this line. In another class the ethical 
 qualities predominate. The ethical as distinguished from the 
 didactic aspects of the truth solicit such preachers. Such 
 men are effective in impressing the moral judgments and im- 
 pulses of their hearers. The man who is strong in his own 
 moral impulses will inevitably be an ethical preacher. In 
 another class imagination, or sentiment, or affection or feel- 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 45 
 
 ing abounds. Such men will be rhetorically impressive 
 preachers. They will have skill in stimulating the feelings of 
 their hearers, or in chastening their sentiments or affections 
 or in influencing them to action. Thus we have different 
 types of preachers according not only to the demands of the 
 preacher's work but according to the peculiarities of his gifts. 
 But those that belong to the same general class or type have 
 only a very general resemblance. They differ individually 
 not only in degree but in kind. Preachers are didactic, dia- 
 lectical, speculative, ethical, imaginative, sentimental, emo- 
 tional, practical, rhetorical in different sorts as well as 
 degrees. There are as many sorts in these different lines as 
 there are individual preachers of mark. Dr. R. W. Dale, for 
 example, was an eminently intellectual preacher. But so 
 was Canon Mozley. So was Robertson and so was Bush- 
 nell. But how different in intellectual type. The measure 
 or degree in which the ethical impulse, or sentiment, or feel- 
 ing, or imagination touched their intellectual activities left 
 as its result a distinct intellectual product. Augustine and 
 Chrysostom had extraordinary power in dealing with the 
 conscience and the emotions, but they were no more alike 
 than Jonathan Edwards and Henry Ward Beecher. Dr. F. 
 W. Krummacher and Dr. Edward Payson were sentimental 
 preachers and of extraordinary power of persuasion, but 
 while belonging to the same general school of preachers, they 
 were no more alike than Claus Harms and Horatius Bonar. 
 Dr. R. S. Storrs is to be classed as a rhetorical peacher. So 
 are Dr. Joseph Parker and Dr. Thomas Guthrie. But how 
 greatly different in their rhetorical qualities. It is not a 
 question of degree but of quality, and every man's strength 
 lies with his own form of the gift. Success will depend upon 
 developing and training that gift. Of course there is need 
 of a broad basis for homiletic as for all other training. But 
 this basis should support what is special to the man. One 
 
46 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 will not succeed equally well in all types of preaching. The 
 development of individuality secures reality and effectiveness. 
 No one preaching gift, or group of gifts, is of supreme im- 
 portance. Every man should be content to do what he can 
 best do, and it is idle to attempt to do what someone else can 
 do better. Men succeed in what God clearly intended they 
 should do. 
 
 Richard Baxter was preeminently a pastoral preacher. 
 President Finney primarily an evangelistic preacher. Dr. 
 Dale was an educative preacher and lamented what he re- 
 garded as his deficiency in evangelistic power. Dr. Joseph 
 Parker was a popular, impressional preacher and interpreted 
 the truth chiefly through the imagination. Canon Mozley 
 was an apologetic and ethical preacher and never would have 
 succeeded with an uninstructed and immature congregation. 
 Dean Stanley was skillful in presenting his themes in a simple, 
 pictorial manner and could interest children as well as adults. 
 Bishop Brooks' preaching attracted and impressed those 
 who were perplexed and oppressed by the mysteries and 
 burdens of human life. Dr. R. S. Storrs was a rhetorical 
 artist and preached most effectively to a cultivated con- 
 gregation already persuaded to the truth of evangelical 
 Christianity. 
 
 Dr. John Hall preached expositorily with notable success 
 to business men. So did Dr. Wm. M. Taylor. Henry Ward 
 Beecher with his rare power of pathos, inimitable wit, cheer- 
 ful and hopeful temperament, courageous spirit and broad 
 human sympathies, was an animating and comforting 
 preacher and strengthened men for the battle of life. Father 
 Taylor of Boston seemed born to preach to sailors. These 
 are only a few illustrations taken at random. Each signifi- 
 cant preacher has his own gift, is successful in his own line, 
 and it would be idle to discredit it in favor of another. Every 
 variety of gift is needed and may be utilized in realizing the 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 47 
 
 comprehensive results of preaching. No one man can do 
 everything or succeed equally well on every line. Each must 
 contribute his modicum to the total result. 
 
 2. Yet a certain symmetry of homiletic development is 
 desirable. A thoroughly one-sided man weakens the effec- 
 tiveness of his own best gift. A judicious combination of 
 qualities is consistent with individuality and strength and 
 success in any particular line. The claims of individuality 
 limit and regulate culture, but do not supersede the demand 
 for range. Such range of culture is needed especially in the 
 early part of one's professional career, when homiletic habits 
 are in process of formation. It is thus only that a preacher 
 is likely to find his strong point. It is a matter of experi- 
 ment. Every preacher should train himself to preach more 
 than one kind of sermons. Such training may be measurably 
 successful without compromising individuality. Preachers 
 are likely to overwork their specialty. Dr. Guthrie culti- 
 vated himself too exclusively in a pictorial and dramatic style 
 of preaching. Doubtless it was his strong point, although it 
 is said that he did not discover it at the very outset of his 
 career. The discovery was in a sort incidental, and after the 
 discovery was made, training in it was a matter of deliberate 
 choice and of persistent effort. And thus he over-worked it. 
 He was too much of a Scotchman not to have succeeded in 
 the training of his rational faculties. If he had done that, 
 his pictorial and dramatic qualities might have served him to 
 even better use than they did. He might well have gone to 
 school to such preachers as Robertson. Rhetoricians like 
 Dr. Joseph Parker need to moderate the exuberance of their 
 imagination and emotion. They should go to school to men 
 like Dr. Dale in whom the rational faculties are predominant. 
 I grant the extreme difficulty of the task. It is asking a 
 good deal of a man to take himself in hand and moderate and 
 modify himself. But when habits are forming it may be 
 
48 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 done, and it should be done before it is too late. By patient, 
 intelligent effort men find that they succeed better than they 
 could have imagined in lines that are seemingly foreign to 
 them. It should be remembered that many needs are to be 
 met by the preacher. There are but few large and wealthy 
 churches that can secure variety in preaching by increasing 
 the number of preachers. In most of our churches one man 
 must meet the various needs of the same congregation. If 
 he stays any considerable length of time, he must measurably 
 well satisfy those needs, well enough at any rate to hold the 
 congregation as a whole. Preachers in our day find it more 
 difficult than ever to meet the wants of a large number of 
 people of different classes. This is one reason why the 
 pastorate is so short. It explains also why congregations 
 rally about the preacher as a centre and sift themselves and 
 become homogeneous by a process of natural selection. The 
 so-called institutional churches and all large churches of the 
 centralized communions, like the Roman Catholic and Episco- 
 pal, are able to supply their congregations with preachers of 
 different types. There are great advantages in this. The 
 Methodist church was obliged to adopt the itinerant system, 
 in order to meet the needs of its constituency, and although 
 it will inevitably be modified, it seems probable that it will be 
 obliged to hold on to it and that it will find its advantage in 
 it. The churches that have a permanent pastorate will find 
 themselves obliged increasingly to secure, if possible, preach- 
 ers who have some range of homiletic culture and some va- 
 riety in their homiletic products. Modern culture will force 
 the ministry into broader homiletic training or force the 
 churches into the employment of more than one preacher for 
 the same congregation. Preachers, in the consciousness 
 that their preaching fails to meet all the needs of their con- 
 gregations, sometimes make frequent exchanges of pulpit 
 with their brother ministers. Something may be done in 
 
THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 49 
 
 this way. But the upshot is likely to be a permanent ex- 
 change. By trying one's hand in different lines one may find 
 resources of which he was unconscious. Men do not know 
 what they can do till they have tested the matter. Circum- 
 stances often call out men's latent powers. Note men's ex- 
 periences in extemporaneous preaching. Not infrequently 
 circumstances push preachers on to a platform, where they 
 must try their powers of extemporaneous speech, and then 
 they find that what they regarded as impossible becomes 
 easy. Experimenting on different lines is a good thing. It 
 is this that at last discloses the secret of one's strength, and 
 when one has found it, it will receive the support of training 
 in other lines. This is true especially in the earlier years of 
 one's ministry. No preacher should ever permit himself to 
 tolerate any serious defect in his preaching, if it be possible 
 to correct it. No vocation demands so many-sided a culture 
 as that of a Christian preacher. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 
 
 If preaching is the most important of all ministerial func- 
 tions, homiletics must be the most important branch of prac- 
 tical theology, and the intelligent study of homiletics the 
 most important of all practical ministerial interests. The 
 claim to supremacy of this function has indeed been chal- 
 lenged in our day, but not with success. A new recognition 
 of the importance of other lines of ministerial work is doubt- 
 less the outcome of the discussion. But attempt to exalt the 
 value of one line of work by minimizing the significance of 
 another is a poor style of advocacy. Much that is of value 
 has been said in depreciation of certain conceptions of homi- 
 letic science and of certain methods of homiletic study. But 
 nothing that has been said in disparagement of the suprem- 
 acy of the preacher's work is worthy of a moment's consid- 
 eration. I shall assume that the preacher's place is vindi- 
 cated and shall spend no time in discussing it. It is the 
 importance of the science of homiletics that partially justifies 
 the American and British custom of detaching it from its 
 acknowledged background and base in practical theology and 
 of giving it separate consideration. The two topics I pro- 
 pose for discussion are the value and the method of homiletic 
 study. 
 
 I. The Value of Homiletic Study 
 
 I. It furnishes a basis of knowledge for the work of the 
 preacher. Not all the knowledge that is possible of course, 
 but a basis of knowledge, knowledge at least of the theory. 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 51 
 
 Preaching is an art. Like all art, it rests upon a science. 
 Homiletics does for preaching what any science does for the 
 work it represents. A man may know a thing without know- 
 ing how he knows it, as he may do a thing without knowing 
 how he does it. That is, he may have a genius for it. 
 Genius is unconscious, or half-conscious, of its method. One 
 may have a genius for preaching. But even such a man may 
 well covet to know all that it is possible for him to know 
 about his work. Such men are generally in fact most eager 
 students of their art. Good preaching is not so easy for any 
 man that he can afford to treat the conditions of success with 
 indifference. But it is of special importance to those who 
 are not "born preachers," if there be any such class of human 
 beings. In order to know, one must have a way of getting 
 at his knowledge. This is science. The first thing for a 
 preacher to know is what to say. The next thing is to ar- 
 range what he says. The last thing is to express what he 
 has thought and planned. Substance, arrangement, expres- 
 sion. Homiletics gives the preacher a well-based knowledge 
 of these problems. The study has value with respect to these 
 three interests. Let us consider them. 
 
 The study is a guide in the choice of subject matter. 
 Homiletics, like general rhetoric, is not creative but regula- 
 tive. It is a formal, not a material science. As a science it 
 has no subject matter of its own. It assumes it as given 
 from other sources. It avails itself of these sources and 
 teaches how to use the material thus secured. Its sources 
 are various, Scripture, theology, ethics, science, history, lit- 
 erature, experience, in a word, whatever may contribute the 
 material of thought that may be converted into homiletic 
 pabulum. The problem is to select such material as is perti- 
 nent to the object sought and then to use it appropriately. 
 The material is to be adapted not only to the work of preach- 
 ing in general, but on particular occasions, on particular sub- 
 
52 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 jects, to particular classes of people, to particular types of 
 sermon, and to the particular sermon in hand, whatever its 
 type, its audience, its subject, or its occasion. And as it does 
 not produce but only regulates the choice and use of mate- 
 rial, so it does not produce but only regulates the mental 
 energy that handles the material. But, as we shall see later 
 on, the regulation of mental energy may serve to intensify 
 it. It may stimulate the inventive powers. But the point in 
 hand just here is that the selection and use of material must 
 be regulated by considerations that are in harmony with the 
 principles of homiletic science. 
 
 It is a guide in organizing the material of thought. As in 
 the choice of material homiletics gets back into Biblical and 
 other sources, so in organizing it, it gets back into the 
 science of rhetoric, and rhetoric gets back into the science of 
 logic, for logic is the science that deals with the relations of 
 thought. Rhetoric appropriates the results of investigation 
 in the science of thought. It prescribes those methods of 
 ordering thought that conform to the ascertained laws of 
 thought. But here rhetoric and logic rest not merely on 
 theory but on experience. Homiletics discusses those meth- 
 ods of ordering thought in the domain of Christian speech 
 that have been found most effective in producing the legiti- 
 mate results of such speech. It develops a method of its 
 own that is adapted to the specific nature of the work of 
 preaching, and does not slavishly follow the canons of gen- 
 eral rhetoric. 
 
 It guides in the expression of Christian thought. It 
 teaches how to express thought in a style appropriate not 
 only to the laws of the human soul in general when it ex- 
 presses itself in speech, but to the nature and object of Chris- 
 tian preaching. It avails itself of whatever will aid in the 
 cultivation of a style of speech that is specifically appropriate 
 to the pulpit. In all this it, of course, presupposes the gifts 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 53 
 
 and the training essential to the use of language. The prob- 
 lem is to turn these gifts and products of education in a right 
 homiletic direction, so as to produce a type of speech that 
 becomes an effective instrument in presenting the truth of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 2. It becomes tributary to the awakening of the preach- 
 ing impulse. It is a universal fact that all knowledge, 
 whether general or specific, awakens the powers of the soul. 
 It is true in this particular branch of knowledge. Homiletic 
 study prepares the way negatively and indirectly for such 
 quickening by disclosing defects. Homiletics holds before 
 the mind an ideal in the light of which one beholds his imper- 
 fections. It is no inconsiderable part of our education to 
 disclose such imperfections and to awaken self-dissatisfac- 
 tion. The first thing and the best thing to do for any man 
 is to place before him a standard in the light of which he may 
 see his own limitations. We are stirred to self-improvement 
 by the goad of discontent. 
 
 But the positive result is the awakening of aspiration. 
 Any slumbering impulse or energy is evoked as well as 
 guided by vigorous intellectual commerce with those exter- 
 nal concrete objects that are set over against the impulse or 
 energy, and with the principles that are bedded in these ob- 
 jects. Mechanical inventiveness, or the awakening of the 
 mechanical impulse, for example, is produced by being 
 brought into immediate and vigorous contact, not only with 
 the best mechanical products, but with the principles that are 
 hidden under them. It is the study of the principles as well 
 as of the products of mechanics, that produces skilled work- 
 men. Artistic impulse and invention are quickened by con- 
 tact not only with the best concrete products of art but by 
 familiarity with the principles of art. Thus in the work of 
 preaching. Knowledge not only of the best sermon products 
 but of the principles that should guide one in the choice of the 
 
54 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 subject matter of preaching tend,s to quicken and to develop 
 the power to produce such material as is appropriate to one's 
 work. It is vigorous agitation of principles as well as famil- 
 iarity with products that quickens homiletic inventiveness. 
 
 So too as regards the question of method. Mental free- 
 dom and force are conditioned by the orderly development 
 of thought. Show the mind the right track and it will move 
 in it freely and, therefore, productively and forcefully. Study 
 of the laws of mental action tends to quicken mental action 
 itself. Thus also with regard to the expression of thought. 
 Whatever makes manifest the conditions of free, forceful, 
 clear, graceful expression tends to the quickening of all those 
 activities of thought, feeling, imagination upon which suc- 
 cessful speech depends. 
 
 3. As securing a basis of knowledge and as quickening 
 the preaching impulse, it follows that the study of homiletics 
 will condition the most effective use of all available resources. 
 It teaches and empowers one to marshal and handle rightly 
 and effectively all the material of one's culture and training, 
 mental, moral, spiritual, even physical. It aids one in the 
 handling of one's mental resources. One may be a good 
 thinker, a good theologian, a good scholar, and may treasure 
 abundant mental resources from all quarters and yet he may 
 not be able to make a proper use of these resources in the 
 pulpit. Something more than knowledge is necessary to 
 make a preacher. The preacher must know how to handle 
 his learning. He must not only think and acquire and know, 
 he must convert his treasures into effective pulpit force. The 
 art of preaching consists precisely in the effective handling of 
 one's self, and of one's knowledge and training and culture in 
 the pulpit. It is only the thorough study of the art that will 
 enable one to do this. 
 
 It aids one in the study of models. Models give us homi- 
 letics in the concrete. Every good preacher illustrates posi- 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMITETICS 55 
 
 tively important homiletic principles. Every defective 
 preacher illustrates negatively. But one must have some 
 understanding of the preacher's task, some understanding of 
 the principles embodied in his work, in order to get the value 
 of the illustration. To know what to appropriate from one's 
 model, one must have some test of its worth, and to know 
 what to reject and avoid one must test the thing to be avoided 
 by some valid principle. All study of models presupposes 
 the application of some sort of test that brings into judgment 
 the one-sidedness, the limitation, or defect of one's work. 
 Otherwise instead of study we should have only a slavish imi- 
 tation. 
 
 It aids one in the best use of personal experience in the 
 work of preaching. All good preaching of course comes out 
 of the school of experience. But the worth of the experience 
 depends on the kind of experience. What if one gets into the 
 wrong school of experience? Experience simply as such has 
 no value. There is bad as well as good experience. There 
 is a false as well as true individuality in preaching. A 
 preacher is rightly jealous of the rights of his personality in 
 the pulpit. Loss of true individuality is loss of power. Bet- 
 ter, indeed, keep one's individuality, even though it be very 
 defective, than affect a merely formal correctness. Such cor- 
 rectness is forceless. It is the man, the man himself, that 
 preaches. If one loses what is vital out of his manhood, his 
 work will be crippled. But in speaking of individuality it is 
 pertinent to ask which one, the true or the false? It is the 
 preacher's task to train up and train in the true, and to train 
 down and train out the false individuality. Preaching will 
 go wrong unless regulated by principles that are valid. Be- 
 hind the art is the science. Experience in the practice of 
 medicine is valuable, but not without medical science behind 
 it. Experience in preaching may be mischievous unless 
 properly regulated. One may get only the more deeply set 
 
56 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 in bad ways. It is true that a man of genius may cut out his 
 own path and by a sort of instinctive conformity to the prin- 
 ciples of his art succeed unconsciously. But the average 
 preacher, who hasn't the instincts of genius and who knows 
 nothing about the principles of his work, is as really a charla- 
 tan as a physician who knows nothing about the science of 
 medicine or a lawyer who knows nothing about the princi- 
 ples of law. Men of genius have a certain sort of success in 
 many lines without a thorough basis of scientific knowledge. 
 But in these days we are not encouraging experiment in this 
 sort of success. After all every man who truly succeeds best 
 must in fact be a student of his business. 
 
 It is hardly too much to say that the study of homiletics 
 conditions the use of one's spiritual resources. It is indeed, 
 the presence of the divine spirit in the preacher that makes 
 his preaching spiritually effective. Human resources iso- 
 lated from the divine are not adequate to the work. But it is 
 equally true that one's training as a preacher may condition 
 the effectiveness even of the spirit of God within one. The 
 divine spirit makes best use of the best instruments, and good- 
 ness is not the only effective instrument in the pulpit. We 
 know that our moral attitude with respect to the Holy Spirit 
 conditions the effectiveness of his work in regeneration. We 
 may be equally sure that the preacher's mental attitude and 
 activities with respect to his work will condition the use the 
 Holy Spirit may make of his resources. We know that dis- 
 tinctively spiritual experiences are necessary to effective 
 preaching. But it is not too much to say that the homiletic 
 value of these experiences is conditioned by the use we are 
 able to make of them in our homiletic training. Fra An- 
 gelico thought his art as painter a purely supernatural gift. 
 It was the spirit of God that gave him those angelic faces as 
 he traced them upon the walls of his monastery at Florence, 
 and he never changed them. But we know that his religious 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 57 
 
 inspiration was conditioned as to its effectiveness by the per- 
 fection of the artistic instrument through which it wrought, 
 and that it was the skill as well as genius of the painter that 
 made available the higher inspirations of the saint. And do 
 we not also know that it is the skill of the trained preacher 
 in part that makes available for the highest ends the influence 
 of the divine spirit that works within him? Knowledge of 
 the work of preaching, impulse to exercise it, and skill in using 
 it — this is what the study of our science does for us. 
 
 If this be so, it follows that the study may be of value in 
 rescuing the work of the pulpit from degeneracy. There are 
 always influences that are conducive to the deterioration of 
 the preacher's work. Schleiermacher found them in his day 
 and gave himself to the task of counter-working them. He 
 suggests not only the need of strong and effective preachers 
 and of a more earnest religious life to counter-work degener- 
 ate tendencies, but of fresh interest on the part of all preach- 
 ers in the study of their work in order to rescue it from the 
 loss of a worthy ideal and to restore its effectiveness. These 
 deteriorative influences are many, and every age is exposed 
 to them. In periods that are past it has been a one-sided 
 intellectualism. The degeneracy of the pulpit during the 
 period of German rationalism is well known. Not only the 
 substance of preaching, but its spirit, and form deteriorated, 
 as will always be the case when the substance deteriorates. 
 If the church loses a strong religious life and becomes ration- 
 alistic and speculative, its pulpit will lose evangelical fervor 
 and power. Schleiermacher found the German pulpit in this 
 degenerate condition and he sought to restore not only a 
 more spiritual type of theology, but a more religious life in 
 the churches, and it is notable that he began his work in the 
 pulpit. He not only furthered by his own preaching the 
 development of a more devout and spiritually earnest tone in 
 the German pulpit but he awakened fresh interest in the 
 
58 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 whole subject of preaching and in practical theology in gen- 
 eral. Much of the one-sided intellectualism that has in time 
 past characterized some types of American preaching has 
 vanished. The preaching of all schools is more earnest and 
 religious in its tone. But in so far as the American pulpit is 
 endangered of detachment from a strong and genuine super- 
 naturalism, the threat of degeneracy is over it, and it will 
 require more than a "new theology" ; it will demand fresh 
 study of the preacher's message, of his spirit, of his aims and 
 methods to rescue it. A one-sided devotion to doctrinal the- 
 ology has been another deteriorative influence. When 
 theology becomes an abstract science and ceases to be a vital 
 interest in human life, when men care more about thought 
 than about life, about truth than about men, about a scientific 
 than about a working theology, the pulpit becomes degen- 
 erate. In order to counter-work this there has been needed 
 not only a modification in theology but new interest in the 
 practical application of truth to human life, new interest in 
 the rescue of the pulpit from false ideals. And it is a fact 
 that whenever in the history of the church there has been 
 any increase or decrease of interest in the practical work of 
 preaching, any increase or decrease of desire to make it ef- 
 fective, there has been a corresponding increase or decrease of 
 interest in the study of the science and art of preaching and 
 such increase or decrease has been accompanied by a corre- 
 sponding result in the work. Note the increase of interest in 
 preaching and the bettering of its quality during the period 
 of the Reformation and during different periods subsequent 
 to the post-Reformation. But dogmatic confessionalism no 
 longer endangers the vitality of preaching. It is rather an 
 equally one-sided reaction against doctrinal theology and a 
 barren agnosticism that threatens to eviscerate it of positive 
 content. 
 
 Various forms of secularism are influences that endanger 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 59 
 
 the effectiveness of the pulpit in our day. A secular temper 
 and tone and habit of mind will devitalize and demoralize any 
 pulpit. It will affect not only the aim and tone but the very 
 substance and form of preaching. Genuine religious awak- 
 enings not only evoke new preaching power, but stir new 
 interest in the whole subject of preaching. We have seen 
 this in the religious awakenings of the eighteenth and nine- 
 teenth centuries. In resisting the tide of modern secularism 
 that sets against the pulpit, it is necessary to keep before the 
 mind the proper aim and spirit of preaching, not less than its 
 proper substance and form. 
 
 The inherent difficulties of the preacher's task are another 
 source of influence that endangers diminution of power and 
 they summon the preacher to grapple the more valiantly 
 with his problem. Professor Shedd in the second chapter of 
 his Homiletics has touched upon this in an effective manner. 
 He presents three reasons for the careful study of the science 
 and art of preaching, viz. ; the dignity and importance of the 
 subject, its difficulties and the demand of the public upon the 
 pulpit teacher. Only a word with respect to the difficulties 
 is admissible here. These difficulties arise partly from the 
 great varieties of need to be met, partly from the limitations 
 of range in the methods of presenting the truth, and partly 
 from the obscurity on the one hand and the familiarity on the 
 other hand of the themes with which the pulpit deals. For 
 any man, however gifted to make luminous and attractive 
 the themes of religion, which touch upon the realm of mys- 
 tery at every point, but have become familiar by ages of dis- 
 cussion, to keep within the proper limits of pulpit advocacy, 
 and to adjust them to the needs of all classes of people, is no 
 easy task. Of course a study of homiletics alone will not 
 enable one to do this. But it gives one an insight into his 
 problem. It furnishes suggestions as to what is needed. It 
 starts one upon the work of training oneself for his task and 
 
60 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 puts him in possession of some of the instruments necessary 
 for it. 
 
 II. Methods of Homiletic Study 
 
 Four methods are available: investigation of fundamental 
 principles, observation of living examples, analysis of pub- 
 lished products and personal experience and criticism. 
 
 i. Study of homiletic principles. I begin here, because 
 other methods of study avail only as fundamental principles 
 are mastered. Preaching of course does not begin with 
 science. Science is the product of experience. But experi- 
 ment is more effective in the light of science. Principles are 
 the summation of the results of inductive processes of inves- 
 tigation. They are the registry of generalized facts. They 
 are available for use. It is not necessary to go through all 
 the processes of inductive investigation in order to get the 
 results. We may avail ourselves of such as are ready at 
 hand. Homiletics as a science is a way of getting at the 
 essential things, the fundamental, the bottom things, the 
 things that make preaching what it ought to be, i. e., its prin- 
 ciples. It detaches the principles that are bedded in the 
 work and holds them up to view, makes them objects of 
 observation and reflection, and thus secures a knowledge, or 
 a measure of knowledge, of the nature of the work. In all 
 this study familiarity with other methods is of course presup- 
 posed, otherwise the scientific would discredit the artistic 
 aspect of the problem and result in a conventional and stereo- 
 typed product. The importance of native gifts and the sig- 
 nificance of personal peculiarities are especially recognized. 
 The personal factor is always presupposed and homiletics can 
 not discredit or displace it. As Bishop Brooks says: "Per- 
 sonality is the soil out of which preaching grows." This is 
 not the whole truth, but it is an important truth. The 
 quality of preaching as a personal product will depend upon 
 the quality of the soil of personal manhood. It is not 
 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 61 
 
 preaching if it be not the product of a living, human soul. 
 There is no absolute and universal model or ideal of preach- 
 ing. Every man is summoned to find and develop his own 
 strong point as a preacher, and he must learn largely by ex- 
 periment. It is a fresh problem to every new comer. But 
 after all the science of homiletics' does not deal merely with 
 the individual preacher. It does not at the outset attempt 
 to answer the question: "How should I preach?" It deals 
 with a broader question : "How should any man preach?" By 
 answering the latter question, however, it has done much to- 
 wards answering the former question. That is to say, there 
 are certain general principles that are valid for all preaching, 
 and to which any man who would be a good workman must 
 conform. No man can be a complete law unto himself in 
 homiletics any more than he can in ethics. The personal 
 factor is doubtless more flexible in art than it is in morals. 
 But even ethics has its individual factor. Ethical science 
 can not, by a general law, determine beforehand how each 
 human being, in every conceivable particular case, should 
 behave. Even casuistry is inadequate to meet all possible 
 cases. But ethical science has, by its formulation of general 
 principles, taken the individual to a very large extent under 
 its regulation. And it is so with homiletic science. It ab- 
 stracts from concrete reality an ideal of preaching and holds 
 it up before us. Every preacher must avail himself of it in a 
 general way. But each man does it under certain limita- 
 tions, each in his own way and only to a limited extent. One 
 can only approximate a general ideal. But this general ideal 
 furnishes a background and basis for the personal ideal, 
 which the preacher abstracts from the ground-work of his 
 own personality. An available ideal for preaching therefore, 
 will be a blending of the general and the personal ideals. 
 That is, it will recognize those principles upon which good 
 preaching in general rests, and at the same time it will recog- 
 
62 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 nize the demands of one's own personality. But the stress- 
 point just here is that every preacher must get back beyond 
 his own personality in order to answer the question how he 
 should preach. And this takes him a good way back. It 
 takes him into relation with the Scriptures, and this 
 conditions his subject matter. It takes him into relation 
 with the Church, whose minister he is, and this con- 
 ditions his message and his aim and tone. It takes 
 him into relation with the science of rhetoric, and this 
 conditions the method of ordering and expressing thought. 
 Here one gets a basis for preaching that is scientific. Per- 
 sonality may modify one's work. It will not, can not, be the 
 duplication of another man's work. But it does not create 
 the primary ideal. Now it is true that men of homiletic 
 genius are of great value as illustrating homiletic principles 
 in the concrete. These men perceive intuitively, sense in- 
 stinctively, and apply unconsciously or half-consciously, the 
 principles of their art. The principles are there, if the 
 preaching is what it should be. And in a sort they regulate 
 the preaching. But they do it unconsciously. Such men do 
 not always know their art. They are half-consciously im- 
 pelled from within. It is from such men that homiletics ab- 
 stracts its principles to best advantage. At any rate it may 
 well go to recognized masters of the art and not to inferior, 
 second rate men. But seeing how homiletic principles are 
 illustrated by masters of the art, it is necessary to preserve 
 them in scientific form for the benefit especially of those who 
 are obliged to work consciously and laboriously in order to 
 work successfully or perhaps in order to work at all. A 
 good deal has been said by writers on art about the value ofc 
 unconscious and unreflective work, as if the nearer men get 
 to savage life the better work they are likely to do. Ruskin 
 glories in this sort of savagery and illustrates from the art of 
 coloring among semi-civilized as contrasted with civilized 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 63 
 
 peoples. "It is their glorious ignorance of all rules that 
 does it," he says. But whatever may be said in favor of 
 spontaneity in the art of coloring, which is largely an imita- 
 tive art, and is doubtless largely dependent on the uncon- 
 scious training of the eye and of the artistic tastes, it is 
 certainly not true of the art of public speech. Of course the 
 art is not acquired by the perfunctory application of external 
 rules, although all ignorance of rules could hardly be called 
 "glorious." But nothing can supersede the mastery of 
 homiletic principles. They give one an insight into his 
 problem. They give one the necessary teaching as to what 
 he has to do and how to do it. 
 
 2. The study of living preachers who are models of their 
 art. Good models are of immense value especially to a 
 young preacher. It is a great blessing for young men to 
 have had the privilege in early years of listening to able and 
 accomplished preachers. The writer has had abundant op- 
 portunity to note its results in students of preaching. It is 
 noteworthy that most men who attain to eminence in the 
 pulpit recognize and acknowledge their dependence for 
 inspiration upon preachers whom they regarded as models 
 in early years. It is well to listen only to the best preachers 
 that are within reach, and it is well to listen to many preach- 
 ers and of different types. Thorough study of living models 
 makes it impossible for any man to become an unconscious 
 or a conscious imitator. Nor will such study merely lead 
 one to yield oneself up sympathetically to the preacher. This 
 is necessary in the best study of living preachers. One has 
 on hand the task of analyzing and criticising without any 
 loss of respect for the preacher, or for his work, or loss of 
 responsiveness to the truth which he presents. It is necessary 
 to cultivate the habit of combining clear mental judgment 
 with personal sympathy and respect and with reverence for 
 the sanctities of public worship. 
 
64 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 3. Analysis of published products. There is no influence 
 so potent for the youthful student of the preacher's art as 
 that of the living exemplar. But it needs supplementing. 
 The value of a habit of indiscriminate reading of sermons is 
 more than questionable. If it results in a dominance of the 
 reader's mind, it may be pernicious. It is doubtless of value 
 to absorb a sermon in an uncritical manner. By frequent 
 and even rapid reading without critical analysis one may 
 become familiar with a preacher's product and catch his 
 quality and method fairly well. One may come very readily 
 to detect his delicacies and subtleties of thought and feeling 
 and live in a kind of fellowship with his spirit. It is possible 
 and desirable to know a preacher in this way. It is a sort of 
 familiarity that lets one a long way into the inner life of a 
 preacher. There is much in a great preacher like Frederick 
 Robertson or Phillips Brooks that critical analysis does not 
 reach. Some things it never can reach. We come into 
 touch with a preacher's dominating spirit by letting him 
 speak directly to us through his product rather than by 
 effort, to reach it by the processes of critical analysis. 
 
 But analysis gives us much. It is an inductive process 
 that gives us the preacher's method. We find him here in 
 his workshop. We see how he handles his tools. It gives 
 one a knowledge of the preacher's range of subjects, of the 
 quality of his theological teaching, the sources from which 
 he draws his material, the characteristics of his expository 
 methods or his methods of interpreting thought to the mind, 
 and of his persuasive methods, or methods of presenting 
 truth to the feelings and the will, his methods of organizing 
 the material of his discussion, knowledge of the different 
 types of sermon that come from his hand, and therefore of 
 the school of preachers to which he belongs, and finally a 
 knowledge of the peculiarities of his literary style. 
 
 4. Personal experience and criticism. The skill of the 
 
THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 65 
 
 preacher is largely a product of experiment. Men learn to 
 preach by preaching. And confessedly it demands a good 
 deal of pluck and dash and eager enterprise and unconscious 
 absorption in the actual work of preaching in order to realize 
 the best results of experience. One needs a large measure 
 of freedom. It is fatal to be the bond servant of external 
 rules or to be hampered by a self-conscious correctness in 
 the free and noble service of the pulpit. And yet no man will 
 succeed without remorseless criticism of his own work. 
 There are two points in the genesis of the sermon where 
 rigid criticism will be of most avail. First at the outset in 
 sketching the plan of the sermon. One who has mastered 
 his line of thought will be ready to plunge into work without 
 being hampered in the process of production. The more 
 freely one works in the development of the sermon the better. 
 But no one will succeed in securing the requisite freedom of 
 production without careful preliminary work, and no one 
 secures this without severe preliminary criticism. 
 
 Another point is at the conclusion of the work. After one 
 has put his product outside of himself, alienated it and put 
 it at a certain distance from him, he can turn back to it and 
 as from without subject it to successful criticism. It is then 
 and thus that one may be able to eliminate imperfections 
 without much danger of devitalizing the product. The en- 
 thusiastic and aspiring preacher will also covet the criticism 
 of fellow students of his art. It is constant criticism that 
 keeps a worthy standard of excellence before the preacher; 
 it discloses the gulf between the product and its ideal, which 
 the preacher is endeavoring to bridge ; it evokes dissatisfac- 
 tion which is the goad of effort ; it is the necessary condition 
 of all improvement and of the cheer that comes of success, 
 and it constantly enlarges the scope of one's knowledge of 
 the whole subject and broadens one's reach in wider fields 
 of service. 
 
II 
 
 SECTION SECOND 
 SOURCES OF HOMILETIC MATERIAL 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE PREACHER'S 
 MESSAGE 
 
 The basis and largely the content of Christian preaching is 
 Biblical fact and truth.* Despite the ravages of Biblical 
 criticism the pulpit still holds, and doubtless will continue to 
 hold, to its Biblical sources. It is generally conceded that 
 the historico-critical method of dealing with the Bible has 
 not damaged it as a text-book for the preacher. It has been 
 found, in fact, greatly to have enhanced its value. Preach- 
 ers have frequently availed themselves of extra-Biblical 
 sources. It is no new thing in the history of Christian 
 preaching. Scholastic preachers drew from Plato and Aris- 
 totle, and from ecclesiastical authorities. Deistic and ration- 
 alistic preachers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 drew from works on physical science and from the writings 
 of literary men. But the custom has not generally been 
 regarded as an index of the wealth of the theology of the 
 church or of the dignity and power of its pulpit. In fact it 
 has often been regarded as a mark of degeneracy. In our 
 day the experiment is rare. And this fact may be regarded 
 as proof that the more freely and candidly we handle our 
 Scriptures, and the better our conception of them, the more 
 we respect them. It would be quite impossible for any self- 
 respecting preacher of any school in our day to turn pulpit 
 vagrant and to exploit extra-Biblical writers as homiletic 
 
 *There are of course, other sources available for the preacher, but 
 they are subordinate to the Biblical and are utilized as content for the 
 development of the sermon, not as basis for the discussion. 
 
70 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 authorities. Once in a while one may hear an extra-Biblical 
 passage quoted as motto to a sermon. Occasionally one 
 may hear an extract from what is called secular literature in 
 connection with the Scripture readings of the church. There 
 is no objection to this so long as no dishonor to the Biblical 
 sources is intended, although apparently citations from out- 
 side sources would be far more effective in the main body 
 of a discourse. In occasional discourses in connection with 
 exceptional religious services, in the discussion for example 
 of some theme in comparative religion, it may be desirable 
 to place a passage from the ethical and religious writings of 
 paganism beside a Biblical passage as text, although as 
 already indicated it would seem to be far more effective when 
 introduced into the main body of the discussion. But in 
 connection with the ordinary services of Christian worship it 
 seems much preferable to hold closely to the Biblical sources. 
 The preacher is in general precommitted to such sources, and 
 his commission presupposes that he will not stray widely into 
 extra-Biblical fields. His relation to the Bible, which is rec- 
 ognized as by preeminence the record of revelation, to the 
 Church as the body that is responsible for the communica- 
 tion of Biblical truth through preaching, his relation to the 
 religious needs of men and to the aim to be realized by his 
 calling — all condition his sources. It would lower the stand- 
 ard of the pulpit, it would discredit his proper sources ; it 
 would, whether intentionally or not, minimize their value, 
 and would result in the introduction of a subject matter not 
 adapted to the nature and object of his work. Church 
 preaching rightly presupposes a canonical basis. With respect 
 to this canonical basis, however, there are some questions 
 that call for practical consideration. 
 
 i. The first question is that of canonical genuineness and 
 authenticity. What practical questions in homiletics Bibli- 
 cal criticism may yet raise we do not know. Hitherto there 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 71 
 
 has been but little practical difficulty, save in the hands of 
 crude and ill-balanced men. Neither the higher nor the 
 lower criticism has yet very seriously affected Christian 
 preaching. Theological changes have had far more serious 
 results. Textual criticism, however, is a problem of prac- 
 tical homiletic interest. Only a pure text can be the best 
 sort of text. Spurious passages, demonstratively such, 
 should be ruled out of the pulpit. The preacher should know 
 what they are. The revised version of the Scriptures may be 
 relied upon as a guide here, but the preacher should be able 
 to rely upon the results of his own investigation. We draw 
 freely from deutero-canonical writings in cases where ques- 
 tions of authenticity and genuineness are of but little practi- 
 cal importance. But in all most important questions the 
 proto-canonical writings will have the preference. If it were 
 important to quote from Paul as an unquestioned authority, 
 the proto-Pauline writings should have the preference. In 
 such case one would not quote from the letter to the He- 
 brews, although without doubt one would be quoting from 
 the Pauline school of thought. The whole problem of ca- 
 nonicity may undergo considerable revision, although it 
 would seem to be rather late to revolutionize the canon. But 
 in any event the following considerations are for the preacher 
 worthy of attention. 
 
 (1) The preacher's attitude towards the canon is naturally 
 and properly one of good faith. It is in the best sense of the 
 word conservative. Homiletics may well be, and in fact 
 must be, more conservative than critical exegesis, or than 
 any form of criticism high or low. Criticism can not and 
 should not accept the authority of tradition as a guide in its 
 critical processes, although it should be no hardship or dis- 
 credit to treat it with decency. Criticism is necessarily radi- 
 cal. It has but one question: What are the facts at hand, and 
 what are the legitimate inferences from the facts? Of course 
 
72 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 in a sphere involving the religious interests of men it should 
 be duly cautious and balanced in its judgments and good 
 tempered, but in any event it must follow its facts. But 
 homiletics has a prevailingly practical rather than scientific 
 interest. It has behind it the historic church. Its primary 
 task is to perpetuate, to conserve, to enlarge and enrich its 
 life and not chiefly to revolutionize its thought. All changes 
 of thought in ecclesiastical life are properly slow and gradual. 
 The best and most permanent results are secured when they 
 follow normal, evolutionary processes, rather than leap into 
 manifestation by violent revulsion. Homiletics is, there- 
 fore, more conservative than criticism. It is more tolerant 
 of tradition. It seeks to interpret, to conserve and perpet- 
 uate the truth of tradition. This is done most effectively by 
 a gradual exposure of the errors with which it has been asso- 
 ciated, not by violent, radical and revolutionary attack upon 
 them and by disintegrating the forms in which they have 
 appeared. This difference of attitude towards tradition in- 
 volves no ethical contradiction between homiletics and criti- 
 cism. There is here no necessary compromise of truth and 
 integrity. It is largely a question of method. It is the preacher's 
 task to adjust himself to the requisitions of both disciplines. 
 (2) It is confessedly difficult to secure thoroughly reliable 
 results from criticism in entire independence of tradition. 
 External and historic evidences are more important than the 
 literary critic, who is likely to follow his subjective preposses- 
 sions is able to see. This may be seen perhaps in critical 
 discussions about the fourth Gospel. A larger respect for 
 tradition should at any rate follow late critical judgments as to 
 the dates of the synoptic Gospels. But in any event until 
 competent critics secure more harmonious results with respect 
 to the more important questions of Biblical criticism, e. g., 
 questions relating to the date and authorship of the fourth 
 Gospel, and of the Epistles that bear the name of Paul, the 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 73 
 
 preacher may well suspend judgment, or at least be cautious 
 of snap judgment. Only fools rush in where critics "fear to 
 tread." Some of the best critics of the day call a halt and 
 bring confusion into the camp of the pell mell gentry. 
 
 (3) The harmony of contested Scriptures with the 
 Christian circle of ideas is a matter of practical importance 
 for the preacher. Even doubtful Scriptures may well be re- 
 tained and used in the pulpit if they clearly echo the original 
 Christian tradition. It is on this ground that many otherwise 
 questionable passages find standing in the canon, e. g., the first 
 eleven verses of the 8th Chapter of John. The deutero — 
 canonical writings will doubtless hold their ground for this 
 reason. 
 
 2. A second question relates to the use of the Old Testa- 
 ment in preaching.* The Old Testament has been found to be 
 of immense value for homiletic use. Instead of being a drag 
 upon the pulpit, as has been claimed by men who are not 
 authorities upon the question, it has proved rather to be a 
 source of great power and profit. Doubtless it has been mis- 
 used. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries natural 
 religion, so-called, found touching points with it. The book 
 of Proverbs for example, was a fruitful basis for a sort of 
 preaching then much in vogue. It did good service in its way, 
 doubtless, but it was far from a worthy type of Christian 
 preaching, if indeed it could be called Christian at all, and was 
 fruitless of best results. Mystical preachers, who have been 
 afflicted with what has been somewhat coarsely called the 
 "typological concupiscense" have affected Old Testament texts. 
 This extravagant typologizing or its modification, allegorizing, 
 this wild search for the mystical sense is of Jewish origin, and 
 the conception of the Bible behind it is Jewish. It was ap- 
 propriated by the Roman Catholic Church, and was passed on 
 
 *For a full discussion of this question see Die Bedeutung, des Alten 
 Testaments fur die Christliche Predigt. von Ernst Binderman, Pastor. 
 
74 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 into Protestantism. As this conception has prevailed there 
 has been a disproportionate as well as perverted use of the 
 Old Testament in the pulpit. This was the case prior to the 
 Reformation. Little distinction, if any, was made between 
 the Old and New Testament points of view in the handling of 
 texts. The Reformation restored the New Testament to its 
 proper place. But it did not reform men's conceptions of the 
 Bible. It checked and modified, but did not destroy, the "typo- 
 logical concupiscense." Luther used the Old Testament ex- 
 tensively. Its rhetorical suggestiveness was of great value to 
 him. He highly estimated also its apologetic value. In 
 theory he recognized the importance of getting at the historical 
 sense of the Scriptures in preaching. But he still allegorized. 
 He still held the mystical sense of Solomon's Song. One of 
 the chief reasons probably why the Old Testament has been 
 so largely used in preaching is that it yields itself so readily 
 to the allegorizing method. It has wrought powerfully in the 
 imagination and emotions. It is rich in its rhetorical re- 
 sources. It has furnished a great amount of fruitfully sugges- 
 tive but misleading preaching. Luther's allegorizing was 
 doubtless a rhetorical interest largely. Modern criticism, that 
 has restored in exegesis the historic sense of the Old Testa- 
 ment, has alienated the pulpit somewhat from it. But misuse 
 is no argument against right use. A critical reaction against 
 the use of the Old Testament would result in a very serious 
 loss to the pulpit. It is too rich in homiletic material to be set 
 aside. Homiletic use takes us far beyond the limits of strict 
 exegesis. The question is so important for the work of the 
 pulpit that we may well linger with it. 
 
 (i) The Old Testament is of great value to the preacher 
 in the abundance of its general religious subject matter. Here 
 are found the truths of universal religion. All those doctrines, 
 which have been called the doctrines of natural religion, are 
 found in the Old Testament. They are assumed, not indeed as 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 75 
 
 doctrines of natural religion, but as doctrines of Old Testament 
 revelation, to which natural religion readily responds. And 
 this doubtless accounts for the sense of affinity to Old Testa- 
 ment religion recognizable in all forms of deistic and rational- 
 istic religion. But these truths of universal religion are 
 available in the Christian pulpit for most fruitful and practical 
 use. Here also are the germs of some of the most important 
 New Testament teachings. They appear, of course, in Old 
 Testament form. But they are genuine historic germs. In 
 the light of them we understand New Testament teaching 
 better. Teachings relating to the attributes of God, his mercy, 
 justice, fidelity, integrity, — teachings touching his creative 
 activity, providence, sin, redemption, justification, resurrec- 
 tion, immortality, punishment, — all appear in the Old Testa- 
 ment in many forms and have historic connection with the 
 forms in which they appear in the New Testament. Many 
 of them are illustrated at large in historic form and are ac- 
 centuated in the Old Testament in such ways as were not 
 possible in the New Testament. Thus for example the doc- 
 trine of the covenant so prominent in the Old Testament. It 
 lies at the basis of Old Testament religion, and is illustrated 
 in a profoundly interesting manner in the history of the cove- 
 nant people. All these teachings become a foundation for 
 New Testament teachings. 
 
 (2) The concrete historic form of the Old Testament is 
 of immense value to the preacher. All its teachings have a 
 historic background. Its truths run back into the realm of fact. 
 Hebraism is a historic, not an abstract religion. It may be to 
 a considerable extent idealized history, but its idealistic forms 
 are a most valuable method of conveying truth. Pictorial 
 representations of God are especially valuable for pulpit use. 
 God appears here, not as an abstract conception of the mind, 
 but in the processes of personal historic self-revelation. Here 
 all his qualities emerge and are made known and felt in his 
 
76 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 personal relations with his people. Here is the living God, 
 the covenant God, the jealous God, the faithful God, the com- 
 passionate God, the righteous God, the holy God. All these 
 qualities are more than conceptions or objects of thought. 
 They appear as realities in God, who enters into fellowship with 
 his chosen ones. Anthropomorphic doubtless they are, and 
 for this very reason the more valuable for the preacher. 
 Nothing can be more vivid than these representations of the 
 divine personality and of its active presence in the world. 
 God's manifestations in Providence and in the historic move- 
 ments of his kingdom are presented in the most powerful 
 manner conceivable, and in forms of representation well fitted 
 for pulpit use, for they appeal to the imagination. Human 
 virtues and vices, individual, domestic, social, political, com- 
 mercial, industrial are here set forth in living, historic illustra- 
 tion. Few passages in the New Testament are comparable 
 with these Old Testament passages, as basis for the discussion 
 of human virtues and vices. Recall the book of Proverbs, the 
 books of the Psalms, the books of the Prophets, and the his- 
 torical books with respect to their portraitures of personal and 
 public vices. Robertson's discourses from the books of Samuel 
 illustrated the resources of the Old Testament for the discus- 
 sion of the ethical aspects of social and political subjects. 
 Some of the best moral instruction from the pulpit, has been, 
 and always may be, presented in biographical and historic 
 form from Scriptures brought from the Old Testament. For 
 the preacher no literature in existence is comparable in many 
 of its features with the biographical and historical literature 
 of the Old Testament. It is of immense interest and profit to 
 all classes of human beings. 
 
 (3) The vast range and variety of Old Testament themes 
 are another element of value for the pulpit. It is in part its 
 concrete, historic form that secures this range and variety. 
 Note its wide range of personal and national experiences. 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 77 
 
 Preachers generally go to the Old Testament for their texts, 
 when, on special occasions they discuss public questions. 
 Even Schleiermacher, who undervalued and, I venture to add, 
 misunderstood, the Old Testament, and who on ordinary oc- 
 casions, never drew his texts from that source, turned to the 
 Old Testament whenever he discussed political and patriotic 
 subjects. The war in defense of the American Union illus- 
 trated the wealth and variety of Old Testament material for 
 the discussion of national and patriotic themes. In its wealth, 
 range and variety of material, as well as in its concrete, his- 
 toric form, it is especially well adapted to historical, biograph- 
 ical and ethical discourses. It illustrates a great variety of 
 ethical principles in historical and biographical form. Luther 
 noted and remarked upon the fact that people always listened to 
 sermons that dealt with this sort of Old Testament material. 
 All preachers of experience have had occasion to note the same 
 phenomenon. 
 
 (4) The exuberance of its rhetorical forms is also of excep- 
 tional value to the preacher. This too is involved in its concrete, 
 historic quality, but is worthy of special consideration. The 
 diction of the Old Testament is largely that of passionate feel- 
 ing, and of poetic or semi-poetic imagery. Its forms are those 
 of the imagination rather than of reflective intelligence. It is 
 ecstatic in its emotional freedom and unrestrained in its poetic 
 license. The moral passion that marks the utterance of the 
 Hebrew prophets finds no parallel in the New Testament. Our 
 Lord's moral denunciations and warnings were often terrific, 
 but their moral poise was the most striking quality in their 
 dreadfulness. Paul's rhetoric was exuberant, often reaching a 
 great height of emotional and imaginative eloquence, but as 
 compared with that of the Hebrew prophets, his utterances 
 were words of soberness. Only when he is caught up into the 
 third heaven does he see things that are unutterable. Then only 
 there are no words for his ecstasy. Christianity was, doubtless, 
 
78 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 in the language of Dr. Bushnell, "a gift to our imagination," 
 but it is more strikingly true of Hebraism. Recall the gorgeous 
 imagery of the Book of Job, of the Psalms ; of the Canticles, 
 of the prophet Isaiah. The New Testament has nothing com- 
 parable in pictorial and dramatic quality. The Apocalypse is 
 more akin to the literature of Hebraism than to that of Chris- 
 tianity. Its lofty and sometimes grotesque imagery is Hebraic 
 in origin and quality. The Old Testament has profoundly in- 
 fluenced the eloquence of the Christian pulpit. Chrysostom, 
 Basil, Augustine, Luther, Bossuet, and moderns, like Robert 
 Hall, and I might add Theodore Parker, have quickened 
 their emotions and kindled their imaginations from these 
 sources. Bushnell's sermon, "Spiritual Dislodgments," and 
 Brooks' "The Conqueror from Edom," disclose the powerful 
 influence of Old Testament rhetoric upon these masters of 
 English style. 
 
 Having directed attention to the value of the Old Testament 
 for the preacher, let us briefly note some considerations, regu- 
 lative for its use. 
 
 (a) Books that approximate most nearly to the religious 
 and ethical spirit of the New Testament, or that represent most 
 fully the theistic spirit that is common to Judaism and Chris- 
 tianity, may well have the preference in the choice of texts, 
 for they are most profitable. They readily adjust themselves 
 to the needs of the Christian pulpit. There are portions of the 
 Psalms of which no Christian preacher can make use, save in 
 the way of contrast, and there are passages in the books of the 
 prophets that can be used only by careful adjustment. But 
 taken as a whole they are among the most desirable portions 
 of the Old Testament for homiletic use. As by a homiletic 
 "divination," to use Richard Rothe's term as applied to Augus- 
 tine's exegesis, the best preachers in different periods of the 
 history of the church have turned to them, have found them- 
 selves easily domesticated there, and in their use of them have 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 79 
 
 found their hearers and met their religious wants. In the apos- 
 tolic and patristic periods they were valued for their supposed 
 messianic character. They doubtless have less value in this 
 regard in our own day, for modern criticism has modified our 
 conception of their Messianic quality. But this does not in the 
 slightest degree lessen their religious and ethical value. Origin 
 drew largely from these scriptures. So did Augustine and 
 Chrysostom. Later Luther, and later still the Puritan 
 preachers of England. Spurgeon's "Treasury of David" is 
 valueless for the student of Biblical exegesis, but it is of very 
 great value as disclosing the wealth of homiletic material the 
 Puritan preachers found in the Psalms. 
 
 (b) Old Testament Scriptures need adjustment to the New 
 Testament point of view. It is of course not always necessary, 
 for not infrequently the points of view are sufficiently alike 
 for practical use. But whenever necessary, it is the preacher's 
 task to make the adjustment. And it is not difficult to pass 
 from the earlier to the later stage of revelation. Sometimes 
 it may be done in the way of contrast. Note for example the 
 contrast between the earlier and later Hebrew conceptions of 
 death and between the Hebrew conception in all periods and 
 the Christian conception. The only good reason, if indeed 
 there were any good reason at all, for choosing an Old Testa- 
 ment passage as basis for a sermon on the resurrection would 
 be the opportunity it would afford for contrasting the Hebrew 
 with the Christian conception of it in its formal and in many of 
 its material aspects. In some such way as this it would be 
 easily possible for the preacher to familiarize his hearers with 
 the contrast between the earlier and later stages of revelation 
 without scandalizing them or disturbing their faith. There are 
 strong contrasts between the ethical points of view of the Old 
 and New Testaments. These contrasts need to be pointed out 
 in the pulpit. It demands something more than Biblical learn- 
 ing to do this successfully. It needs a well-balanced judgment 
 
80 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 and the saving grace of common sense, and, above all, respect 
 for one's fellow men. 
 
 But the adjustment may be made positively as well. There 
 are many Old Testament Scriptures that illustrate religious and 
 ethical truths and principles that are universal. Experiences 
 there recorded find their counterparts in all time. The prin- 
 ciples of God's providential and redemptive revelation are 
 illustrated here at large. The old becomes type of the new, be- 
 cause substantially the same general principles of providence 
 and redemption are at work.* But it is necessary to bear in 
 mind the distinction between the homiletical and the exegetical 
 use of the Old Testament. Its homiletic suggestiveness may 
 very easily be overworked. It is very fruitful in the domain of 
 feeling and imagination. Analogy is easily overdone. Poetic 
 resemblances may obscure fundamental differences. Typology, 
 a form of the application of the principle of analogy to exegesis, 
 is doubtless an important principle for homiletics as well as 
 exegesis, but it has been badly overworked in both departments. 
 Analogy may run wild into allegory. The preaching of earlier 
 periods was badly vitiated by it. It found its worst abuse in 
 doctrinal preaching. But this homiletic caprice has not yet dis- 
 appeared. It finds a most singular exhibition of itself in a 
 modern school of Biblical literalists and especially among pre- 
 millenarians. They combine a mystical and pietistic fanciful- 
 ness and emotiveness with an extreme literalness in their use 
 of Scripture. They import into the text the wildest fancies, 
 and at the same time claim that they hold to the literal sense. 
 They take the Bible "just as they find it" and make it "inter- 
 pret itself," and then they proceed to pull out what they have 
 already smuggled into it. And what a mess they make of it ! 
 
 (c) In line with the preceding, it follows that distinctively 
 Christian doctrines or teachings are not found in the Old Testa- 
 ment. The preacher should remember that the Hebrew Scrip- 
 
 *See Tholuck's Das Alte Testament im Neuen Testament. 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 81 
 
 tures belong to a primary and subordinate stage of revelation, 
 and should use them accordingly. Effort to find Christian 
 teachings there has resulted in "wresting the Scriptures" to 
 their own injury and to men's hurt, if not destruction. It is an 
 anachronism. No Christian doctrine of the Trinity, of the 
 Divinity of Christ, of justification by Faith, or death, of the 
 resurrection, of the abode of the dead or retribution is found 
 there. A recognition of this fact is very important for the 
 preacher. 
 
 3. Another question soliciting brief consideration is the use 
 of the New Testament. Christian preaching rests of course 
 mainly upon the New Testament. As set in the sphere of 
 Christian worship, and as designed to propagate the Chris- 
 tian Gospel of Redemption, it is pre-committed to a Christian 
 content. It should take us into the very heart of the Gos- 
 pel. It should deal with the interests of redemption and with 
 those facts and truths that are fitted to the production and de- 
 velopment of redeemed and regenerate character. Only the 
 "truth as it is in Jesus" has supreme saving power. The New 
 Testament has had precedence in the best periods of the his- 
 tory of the church, periods of the most intelligent knowledge 
 of the Bible and of Christianity; periods especially of most 
 intelligent religious revival. The Reformation especially was 
 influential in restoring the New Testament to supremacy. The 
 reformers were driven to it for standing-ground in their battle 
 for justification by Faith. Luther in his apologetic preaching 
 relied largely upon it, especially upon the writings of Paul. 
 Modern criticism that has fully restored in exegisis the historic 
 sense of the Bible has turned the preacher again to the New 
 Testament and it has become nominative for the use of the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 But what portion of the New Testament may well have the 
 preference? Of course no preacher selects his texts simply 
 because they are found in a particular portion of the Bible, or 
 
82 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 for the purpose of testifying his respect for that particular por- 
 tion of it. Preaching thus based would be likely to be very 
 unprofitable. We choose our texts because they are what we 
 want to fit the themes discussed, or because they are in them- 
 selves weighty and fruitful and are what we need. And for 
 precisely this reason we give the New Testament the prefer- 
 ence. But among the New Testament Scriptures perhaps the 
 most fruitful and spiritually helpful texts are found in the 
 Gospels. We go most readily to him "who spoke as never man 
 spake." For narrative and descriptive texts we naturally turn 
 to the Synoptists. The fourth GospeHs doubtless rich in this 
 material, but it is especially weighty in the discourses. The 
 historical passages in all the Gospels furnish very fruitful texts 
 for a class of sermons of which we hear too few in the Amer- 
 ican pulpit; viz., didactic sermons, that make use of historical 
 material in a descriptive and pictorial manner. Popular in- 
 terest in the life of Christ which has been evoked by such works 
 as those of Geikie and of Farrar, not to name those of a still 
 more weighty character, may suggest the value of discourses 
 on the life of Jesus, in which the narrative and descriptive style 
 is introduced. Books like "Philochristus," which undertakes 
 to portray the life of Jesus from the assumed point of view of 
 his contemporaries, suggest the same thing. The miracles of 
 our Lord furnish material of immense wealth of suggestion. 
 Their apologetic value is doubtless not what it once was. All 
 the more reason why their homiletic value as parables in action 
 of great religious and moral realities should be the more fully 
 appreciated. The Parables are peerless in value for the 
 preacher. The fact that they are unquestionably a part of 
 the original Gospel tradition, their unity, their wealth of sug- 
 gestion, their pictorial form and the analogies that appeal to 
 the imagination, all adapt them preeminently to homiletic use.* 
 The use of the Gospels in Scriptural selections, for example 
 
 *See Lisco's Die Parabeln Jesu, exegetishchehomiletisch bearbeitet. 
 
BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 83 
 
 in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, may suggest their value 
 for the work of preaching. They have long had a certain prec- 
 edence here as a basis for Scripture readings and for texts. In 
 the Anglican and American Episcopal churches the congrega- 
 tion always rises when the Gospels are read. German preachers 
 give them the preference in their selection of texts. They 
 might well have more abundant and varied recognition among 
 the preachers of all communions. We find here the heart of 
 the Gospel of redemption. Outside the Gospels we naturally 
 go to Paul and John for the weightiest doctrinal texts. They 
 develop Christianity most fruitfully and fully and centrally on 
 the didactic side as James and Peter on the ethical and practical 
 side. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE PREACHER'S 
 MESSAGE 
 
 We have seen that the Christian sermon will have a prevail- 
 ingly Christian content. It will deal with such facts and truths 
 as are designed for and fitted to the production and develop- 
 ment of redeemed and regenerate character. What these 
 facts and truths are in detail it will be unnecessary here to con- 
 sider. They are contained in one all-comprehending Christian 
 theme. That theme is Christ. Christian preaching may be 
 summarized, therefore, as preaching Christ, the presentation of 
 him as the inclusive substance of the preacher's message. Its 
 content is redemptive fact and truth as incorporate in him who 
 is himself the fact and truth of redemption. Truth in New 
 Testament usage means redemptive truth. It is the content of 
 the revelation of God in Christ, the hidden purpose of God in 
 redemption at last revealed. The Greek word akrjdeia — 
 truth — etymologically suggests the Christian conception of 
 redemptive revelation. It embodies the notion of a disclosure. 
 Truth is something no longer hidden ; it is something that has 
 emerged from obscurity and become an object of knowledge. 
 This conception is realized in Christianity. But the object un- 
 covered and brought to knowledge is concrete, not abstract. 
 It is God, God in Christ in his purpose and work of redemp- 
 tion. This is New Testament truth. It is concrete reality, 
 reality in a person. It involves the uncovering of God Him- 
 self. God in Christ. Truth is truth in Christ. Therefore he 
 said, "I am the truth." I am the reality of God in redemption, 
 the reality of his person, of his mind, of his purpose, of his 
 
CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE MESSAGE 85 
 
 character as righteous, but above all as gracious, the reality of 
 His redemptive love, the reality of redemption itself. To 
 preach Christianity, therefore, is to preach Christ. But what 
 is it to preach Christ? There is a broader and a narrower 
 conception of it. The narrower conception would concentrate 
 wholly or chiefly upon a fragment of his person or upon a 
 single aspect of his personal self-disclosure as the redeemer of 
 men, that aspect which involves his priestly functions, and the 
 facts and truths that fall within their limits. Preaching Christ 
 will confessedly sometimes have, and may well have, a certain 
 narrowness of range. Religion itself is in one aspect of it a 
 narrow thing. But it is world-vast in its significance, content 
 and result. If, however, it be true that Christ is the central 
 reality of revelation, of theology, and even of moral and reli- 
 gious history, then to preach Christ must have a broader 
 significance. To preach Christ thus is to preach along all 
 the lines that lead up to him and run out from him. Preaching 
 along the lines that lead up to him solicits great range in the 
 use of the Old Testament. Preaching along the lines that run 
 out from him solicits great range in the discussion of all ques- 
 tions that relate to the complex interests of men in their in- 
 dividual and associate lives and relations. Our conception of 
 Christian preaching must grow with the enlargement of our 
 conception of Christ, and of his centrality and supremacy in 
 the world, with the growth and development of human society, 
 and with the enlargement and intensification of human inter- 
 ests. This growth of the conception the Christian church has 
 witnessed. It is manifest in the early Church in connection 
 with the efforts of Christianity, to adjust itself to the expand- 
 ing and multiplying interests and relations of men. Com- 
 pare for example the earlier with the later preaching of Paul, 
 if, as doubtless we may, we regard his preaching as illustrated 
 by his letters. Compare the eschatological Christ of the Thes- 
 salonian letters with the cosmic Christ of the Ephesian and 
 
86 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Colossian letters. But it is given to our own age to preach 
 Christ more comprehensively than to any preceding age. Let 
 us now note some of the elements of this broader conception 
 of preaching Christ. 
 
 i. The root conception involves the presentation of his 
 personality. He in his own person is the concrete historic 
 embodiment and exponent of Christianity. The presentation 
 of Him as such is fundamental not only in our conception of 
 preaching Christ, but of Christian preaching itself. This in- 
 volves the proclamation of Him as he is presented in the New 
 Testament, for this is our only primal source of knowledge of 
 his historic reality. Doubtless the Christ of the New Testa- 
 ment needs interpretation, and much modification in the forms 
 in which his image is presented to us there is possible. Men's 
 conception and definition of the supernatural element in his 
 historic personality and in the events associated with his life 
 may be subjected, as is already the case, to much revision. 
 But some form of this conception of a supernatural personality 
 must forever attach itself to his manifestation as it emerges 
 in the New Testament. This only is the Christ of the New 
 Testament, and the very existence of the church is identified 
 with this personality, so unique in its quality and relations. 
 In this unique personality centre all the unique historic facts 
 that are connected with the manifestation of his earthly life. 
 This proclamation of a supernatural, historic person of itself 
 gives Christian preaching vast range. Christ turned his 
 preaching back upon himself. He himself is the revelation. 
 He himself is the revealer of God. He, therefore, knows him- 
 self always as in vital relation with all he says and all he does. 
 He is not to be abstracted from it, as if, apart from who and 
 what he is, it has any worthy significance. Nor yet is he to be 
 entangled in all he says and does and thus become a morbidly 
 subjective character. With clearest and most tranquil certi- 
 tude of immediate knowledge, he recognizes himself as the 
 
CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE MESSAGE 87 
 
 God-sent, and he as the God-sent is of more significance and 
 importance than aught else. What he says or does is of but 
 relatively little importance or import apart from himself. But 
 he himself has chief significance only as related to Him that 
 sent him. To accept what he says, therefore, and not to 
 accept him, is not to the purpose. And to accept what he did 
 apart from what he was as the God-sent is of relatively little 
 importance. To accept supernatural events even, apart from 
 him, who was himself the supreme supernatural and spiritual 
 reality was no high form of Christian believing. This fact 
 that Christ is the object to be preached demonstrates that he 
 is vastly more than an ethical ideal or a homiletic model. He is 
 the very substance, the very heart, the very pith and marrow of 
 the Gospel with which the preacher deals. This promulging 
 of Christ as a supernatural personality was the center-point 
 of the preaching of the apostolic age. The heart and life, the 
 matter and motive of it all was the person of Christ. His per- 
 sonality gave character to all the facts. He was so much 
 bigger than any or all of the facts that they all seemed natural, 
 no matter how astounding they might be to men of little faith. 
 Those stories of tremendous events did not seem distorted, 
 disproportionate, or inharmonious, because he was large 
 enough to support them. To preach those astounding facts 
 aright, therefore, was simply to preach him who was in them 
 all and gave them significance and character. They did not 
 raise critical questions about them for he supported them. 
 Hence the astounding stories of his birth, his miracles, his 
 resurrection and ascension. All these facts were gathered up 
 in him and in their proclamation they called it all preaching 
 Christ. 
 
 ii. The presentation of his personal character is 
 also involved. This entered variously into the apologetic 
 of the early church. It supported the arguments in 
 defense of his claims and even in defense of some 
 
88 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of the chief historic facts. The story of the conqueror of 
 death was simply a perpetuation of the story of the conqueror 
 of sin. In our own day, however, it perhaps receives more 
 attention than it has ever received before. Ethical preaching 
 finds its norm and its impulse in Christ as an ethical ideal. As 
 such he is more fully presented than ever before. Christian 
 preaching is apparently destined to entrench itself more and 
 more in the personal character of Christ. It will fall back 
 upon that character as the ground for its defense of Christian- 
 ity itself. As at the first, it is apparently destined to have 
 supreme apologetic significance. The time has come again, 
 and under wholly new conditions, when we must summon 
 Christ to the defense of Christianity. It will no longer avail 
 to rest the defense of miracles upon external evidence. We 
 must summon Christ to their defense. It will no longer avail 
 to rest our defense of the resurrection of Christ upon historic 
 evidences. We must summon him to the vindication of the 
 fact of his own last triumph. What he was as the holy one 
 of God, who conquered sin, renders it the more easy to believe 
 that he was also the conqueror of death. What Jesus Christ 
 was as a historic character, as interpreted also and vindicated 
 in the experiences of his disciples for almost two thousand 
 years, is in general one of the strongest defenses of Chris- 
 tianity. His miracles do not so much support him as he them. 
 Hi. The presentation of him in his official character is 
 another aspect. Hereabout have to a large extent gathered 
 the distinctive doctrines of grace, which have generally been 
 regarded as the Christian doctrines distinctively and preemi- 
 nently. Here are found the doctrinal presuppositions of Chris- 
 tian ethics. With these doctrinal presuppositions, including of 
 course the facts beneath them, as a foundation, ethical preach- 
 ing must have very wide range. To be more specific, Chris- 
 tian preaching as related to the prophetic function of Christ, 
 to his function as an authoritative teacher, deals with the 
 
CHRISTIAN QUALITY OiF THE MESSAGE 89 
 
 matter, the spirit and the manner of his teaching, of which in 
 another connection a fuller word. As related to his priestly 
 functions, or to his representative and mediatorial character, 
 it deals with that whole group of doctrines and facts that relate 
 to the reconciliation of God and man, doctrines and facts that 
 have had vast significance in the historic development of 
 Christianity and rightly interpreted are not of less significance 
 and importance today. 
 
 As related to Christ's regal functions, it deals with 
 his centrality and supremacy as a moral and judicial 
 authority, and as a controlling moral and judicial power. 
 It deals with the exalted Christ, "exalted to be a Prince and a 
 Savior." It deals with the kingdom of God as related to his 
 earthly and super-earthly reign. The doctrine of the Holy 
 Spirit is connected with the regal function of Christ, for it is 
 this doctrine of the exalted Christ carrying on his redemptive 
 work by the agency of the spirit that reincarnates him in hu- 
 manity. Modern preaching, as related to the official functions 
 of Christ, covers much more ground than formerly. It deals 
 not so exclusively, and it deals more cautiously and realistically 
 it may be believed, with his priestly functions. It deals more 
 widely with the ethical aspects of his teachings, more broadly 
 with his life as an exemplification of his teachings, and more 
 fully with him as a regal authority, and as a vitalizing moral 
 force in the human race. 
 
 iv. To preach Christ is also to interpret his teachings. 
 We may discriminate between the presentation of the person 
 of Christ as an authority in the domain of truth, and the inter- 
 pretation of those teachings that are the product of his teach- 
 ing function, although the relation between them is in fact 
 inseparable. For, as suggested above, the teachings of Christ 
 have supreme significance and value at last only from their 
 relation to his person. For he himself is at once the revela- 
 tion and the revealer. But much of the preaching of our day 
 
90 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 deals with what Christ said. Much of it, doubtless, ignores its 
 relation to his personality, or finds no special significance for 
 it in its relation to his personality, and in so far as this is the 
 case, it is superficial and is shorn to a large extent of its chief 
 moral power. Jesus can not be successfully abstracted from 
 his truth for he is in it to vitalize it with moral and spiritual 
 power. The words he spake are spirit and life, for he who is 
 spirit and life is in them. His teachings relate to God and to 
 man and to the relation between them and to their relation to 
 the order of the world. His teachings concerning God relate 
 chiefly to his spirituality, to his moral integrity, but above all 
 to his Fatherly benevolence. But this is not abstract teaching. 
 What he says about God is interpreted and accentuated by his 
 own personal disclosure of the significance of his message. 
 What he says about the high nature and value of man is braced 
 by his own personal disclosure of a perfect manhood, a man- 
 hood which is the type and norm of all true manhood. What 
 he says about man's relation to God and God's relation to man 
 is interpreted by his own disclosure of himself as mediator 
 between God and man, and those ethical teachings which must 
 furnish the norm for the regulation of men in their relations 
 with each other are all illustrated in his own perfect moral 
 character and life. The range of such preaching is evident. 
 To preach Christ in this comprehensive sense is to present 
 the entire content of Christianity as related to the person, the 
 character, the functions and the teachings of Christ. He only 
 will think it a small, a narrow or a limited task who has never 
 tested it. 
 
 Upon the basis of what has already been said, the following 
 suggestions are pertinent: 
 
 And first, to recur to what has already been said, all preach- 
 ing that is based upon the Old Testament is summoned to give 
 the truths derived from it a distinctively Christian direction, 
 otherwise it will lack the Christian tone and character. Such 
 
CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE MESSAGE 91 
 
 use of the Old Testament, as already suggested, is possible. 
 We do not preach as Hebrews or Jews, nor from the Hebrew 
 or Jewish points of view, any more than we preach as inde- 
 pendent speculators of this boasted twentieth century, who are 
 inventing a new religion and a new theology. 
 
 Again all material from extra-Biblical sources, and the range 
 of such sources may be well-nigh boundless, will appropriately 
 have a Christian aim, will be converted into Christian uses 
 and take a Christian tone and color. All roads upon which the 
 Christian preacher journeys will lead to Christ. All material 
 drawn from any department of human knowledge, from his- 
 tory, from science ; from philosophy, ethics, art, industry, 
 politics, should be used to illustrate Christian truth, or the 
 principles of Christian morality, and should be subservient to 
 the moral and religious interests of men. All things are ours 
 as Christian preachers, but only under the condition that we 
 are Christ's as Christ was God's. 
 
 The pulpit must of course interest itself in questions that 
 are called secular, questions that do not of themselves belong 
 to the original message of Christianity, nor to its central circle 
 of truths or facts, but only to their practical applications. 
 There are questions that touch the domain of physical science, 
 of social and political science, of philosophy, education, art, 
 industry. The Christian preacher is interested in them, as a 
 preacher, only in so far as they relate themselves to the moral 
 and religious welfare of men, and more especially to the de- 
 velopment of a Christian type of manhood, and thus the 
 realization of the final purpose of Christianity. The Chris- 
 tian pulpit must take its central truths and facts out into their 
 practical relations with and adaptations to the earthly interests 
 of men, and it must interpret those interests in the light of 
 these truths and facts and must fit them to every human need. 
 All such questions may be brought within the reach of applied 
 Christianity. All discussion of them should have for its ulti- 
 
92 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 mate aim the building of a broad Christian manhood, the 
 enlargement and enrichment of the life of the church, the 
 dissemination of the Christian conception of all human life, 
 and the progress of the kingdom of God. This surely will 
 not fail to secure for Christian preaching an educative power 
 in human society. 
 
 The Christian content of the sermon, as thus conceived, 
 will depend largely upon the preacher himself, or upon the man 
 behind the preacher. It will depend upon his conception of 
 Christianity as a Gospel, upon his conception of Christ as the 
 heart and life of that Gospel, it will depend upon his theologi- 
 cal tendencies in general, upon his conception of the proper 
 aim of preaching, on his general and specific purpose with re- 
 spect to the interests of his fellow men, it will depend upon 
 his moral fibre and his common sense. No amount of homi- 
 letic skill will produce a Christian sermon. A preacher may 
 have a text that palpitates with Christian life, he may always 
 choose such texts, he may win themes that are Christian from 
 them, he may have a good road for his journey, productiveness, 
 suggestiveness and training enough to grapple with the task of 
 putting his material into sermon form, but without a personal 
 and professional purpose to handle his material Christianly, 
 with personal loyalty as a preacher to his master Jesus Christ, 
 his preaching will go wrong, it will fail in Christian quality 
 and will be unproductive as to the great end of all preaching, 
 the Christianizing or in the larger sense, the humanizing of 
 men. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE PREACHER'S WORK 
 
 The general topic introduced here is the text — as related 
 to the subject matter of preaching, and it includes two 
 branches, the significance of the text and the value of the 
 text for the preacher. 
 
 I. The Significance of the Text 
 It has a double significance and may serve a double purpose. 
 It is primarily the source of the material of the sermon. It 
 is with this just here that we chiefly concern ourselves. As 
 source it holds somehow, either explicitly or implicitly, the 
 germ of the sermon. No matter how it yields its material, 
 whether directly or indirectly; no matter what form the 
 sermon takes, whether textual or topical, its primal import is 
 the same. But the text has a formal as well as material 
 significance and purpose. It not only furnishes the matter 
 of the sermon, it regulates its development. It conditions the 
 movement and so the form of the sermon, and it does this 
 largely by conditioning its material. In the textual or exposi- 
 tory sermon, the movement is directly conditioned by it. 
 Matter and form are both immediately dependent upon the 
 text, but the movement of the topical sermon as well is con- 
 ditioned by it. It limits the material of the sermon, it condi- 
 tions its specific quality of thought, it restricts its range and 
 should influence its tone. But in doing this it has a certain 
 influence upon the form of the development The text, there- 
 fore, is as significant in a formal as it is in a material sense, 
 as significant for the topical as for the textual or expository 
 
94 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 sermon. Upon the basis of this statement what follows may 
 become the more evident. 
 
 i. We see that the text is a part of the organism of the 
 sermon. As containing explicitly or implicitly its subject 
 matter it is completely identified with the organism. This is 
 etymologically suggested. It is what is woven into and all 
 through the sermon. It is its texture, its tissue. The product 
 is somehow spun out of it. The main thought, or it may be 
 some subordinate thought contained in or suggested by the text, 
 is the raw material of the product. Sermon preparation con- 
 sists in working out or working over in fit form this raw 
 material into a new fabric — the sermon, or it may be the 
 homily. It does not stand merely at the head of and outside 
 the organism, it enters everywhere as a pervasive presence 
 into its material and formal development. Between the text 
 and sermon, therefore, there is always demanded a manifest 
 material connection and to a limited extent a formal connec- 
 tion. A text that stands wholly outside the sermon, that is 
 not even a figurehead or guide-post to indicate its movement 
 is a radical modification of its original significance. Those 
 who advocate the topical ideal for the sermon, generally re- 
 gard the text as a "rhetorical device." If this were the mean- 
 ing of the text, it might be and often would be thrown wholly 
 outside the sermon. It is evident that this view might and 
 often would very seriously affect the character of a man's 
 preaching. Those, however, who advocate the textual or ex- 
 pository ideal of preaching must regard the text as the very 
 pith and marrow of the sermon. So wholly absorbed in the 
 substance of the sermon is it, that some writers, like Claude, 
 for example, do not treat it as a differentiable part of the ser- 
 mon at all. Homiletic analysis begins with the introduction. 
 The text is lost in the body of the sermon. 
 
 2. We may infer also the proper position of the text. 
 Some forms of scholastic preaching placed the text after the 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 95 
 
 introduction. There were in fact three introductions. The first, 
 after the manner of the classical exordium, was of a "general" 
 rhetorical character. The second was an explanatory intro- 
 duction, dealing with the text and context and was called 
 "special." The third was a transitional introduction connect- 
 ing the exposition with the theme, and was called "most 
 special." Thus the text stood between the first or general 
 and the second or special introduction. German preachers in 
 former periods have been in the habit of putting the text after 
 a general introduction. Contemporary German preachers, 
 however, have abandoned the practice and follow the British 
 and American method of beginning with the text. If one 
 wishes to use a general introduction or wishes to start his 
 homiletic movement from a distance, it may be well enough 
 or even desirable to place the text after it. It may seem to 
 justify the preacher in a greater range, if that may be regarded 
 as an advantage. It permits the preacher to move up to his 
 text from any quarter, and then after having reached it to 
 move out from it to his theme. Thus text and theme are 
 brought and kept in close proximity. It is well to follow this 
 method occasionally for the sake of variety, but in general the 
 significance of the text settles the question of its position as 
 at the head of the sermon. As part of the organism of the 
 sermon, introduction and all, everything by supposition being 
 drawn out of it, it should in general stand at the head. 
 
 3. It becomes the more evident, also, why preaching has in 
 the history of the church been prevailingly expository. Or 
 better, perhaps, the prevailing method of expository preaching 
 explains the conception and use of the text as the source of the 
 material of the sermon. Such was the preaching of the Jewish 
 Synagogue. An Old Testament passage was the text for the 
 day. Preaching was an explanation and application of it. It 
 was a Scripture reading with a running commentary. In 
 the Apostolic churches an Old Testament messianic passage 
 
96 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 was frequently the text, and preaching was merely an exposi- 
 tion and application of it. Gradually the New Testament 
 writings came into use in the public service and were handled 
 in the same way. This is said to have been the origin of the 
 New Testament Canon. Writings that had become fixed in 
 this homiletic use came to be regarded as canonical. If this 
 be the fact the New Testament has a strictly homiletical and 
 practical, rather than a theological or scientific significance 
 and value. Preaching was prevailingly textual and expository 
 from the Apostolic to the scholastic period. Scholasticism 
 did not fully originate, but it developed, the topical method. 
 The expository method was modified or dropped. The Re- 
 formation restored it. The reformers' discourses, resuscitat- 
 ing an old scholastic term, were called "postils," that is, things 
 that come after, ■/. e., after the Scripture readings, namely — 
 the exposition and application, i. e., the sermon, or more prop- 
 erly, the homily (postilla, i. e., verba). This indicates what 
 the prevailing idea of preaching was. It was simply the inter- 
 pretation and application of Scripture truth. Hence exegesis 
 and homiletics were closely allied. The word text is used in 
 both disciplines. In exegesis it is the basis for exposition, i. e., 
 for note and comment. In homiletics it is the basis for practi- 
 cal suggestion and application as well. The two processes 
 have freely, perhaps too freely, commingled in both depart- 
 ments. There has been a good deal of homiletic work that 
 has been exegetical and there has been much more exegesis 
 that has been homiletical. Modern Biblical science has 
 brought us to a better use of the text. In such use we have 
 come to a better type of Christian preaching. 
 
 4. It is evident that topical preaching is a departure from 
 the primitive type. It is, in some sort, a concession to secular 
 culture. It may have had its origin in the eulogistic oratory 
 of the patristic and post-patristic periods, or in the discourses 
 commemorative of the martyrs of the church. It was more 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 97 
 
 fully developed, as above noted, by scholasticism. Modern 
 culture has appropriated it. It is a necessary and legitimate 
 concession to it, but it is a concession. Classical oratory fur- 
 nished the original type of the pulpit oration, and classical 
 rhetoric furnished the original theory of it. The culture of 
 our day has modified this to meet the demands of modern 
 types of rhetoric and oratory. Topical preaching is artistic 
 preaching. It furnishes a sphere — and at its best a good one — 
 for the legitimate arts of the rhetorician and orator. Many of 
 the most brilliant and effective sermons of the modern pulpit 
 have been pulpit orations and most of the great doctrinal ser- 
 mons of the last three centuries have been topical. They were 
 orations or rhetorical disquisitions or addresses on religious 
 themes. The use of a single passage as text is connected with 
 the topical method, and was not common before the scholastic 
 period. Preaching without any text is relatively modern. It 
 is one of the developments, if not one of the abuses, of the 
 topical method, is exceptional and questionably experimental. 
 There is demand for topical preaching. It has enhanced the 
 power of the pulpit, but its value will depend upon the spirit 
 and the method of the preacher. It is here that the personal 
 factor in preaching has free range. This may be a great gain 
 or a great loss. It depends on the man. It may at least be 
 said that whenever Christian preaching has wandered from a 
 Christian basis, it has generally followed the topical method. 
 This may be illustrated by the preaching of the deistic and 
 rationalistic schools of theological thinkers. 
 
 II. The Value of the Text 
 The text is not a fetish. To treat it as such is demoralizing. 
 A superstitious veneration of the Bible, or a conservative 
 homiletic habit furnishes no good reason for attaching it to 
 one's sermon. If a preacher has no use for a text, there is 
 no use in his having it. The man who thinks he must have a 
 
98 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 text is likely to twist it, no matter how pious his purpose. The 
 question before us is one of positive value, not of conventional 
 or superstitious use. No preacher has the vocation to defend 
 the use of texts unless he finds them worth while. 
 
 I. The significance of the text settles in general the ques- 
 tion of its material value, and its material value is the chief 
 thing. That the text is a guide to the sermon is an important 
 consideration, but that it is in any sense the source of the mat- 
 ter of the sermon is still more important. I am inclined to 
 think that the more Biblical, especially the more Christian, 
 one's conception of the nature and object of one's preaching is 
 — the more important the text will appear. Reversely also, it is 
 possible that an intelligent estimate of its value may favorably 
 affect the whole tone of one's preaching. The text at any 
 rate binds one to a Biblical content of truth. If the text 
 were wholly abandoned, it is likely that we should in no long 
 time see the result in the character of preaching. The text 
 demands something distinctive of the preacher. It puts him 
 under certain limitations. Preaching must have some sort of 
 anchorage. Biblical anchorage, at any rate, holds one within 
 Biblical limits. Preaching that has anchored directly back to 
 dogmatic theology, or to naturalistic ethics has never given 
 texts a fair chance. Coming back to a Biblical anchorage 
 ground, preaching has given texts a better chance to show 
 what they can do for it, and what they can do for the preacher 
 as well as for the hearer. The preacher is much less likely to 
 stray into outside fields who recognizes himself as anchored to 
 a Christian text. Preaching of this sort is in harmony with 
 the needs of a worshipping assembly, and will perhaps be less 
 individualistic, or rather erratic. Preaching without texts has 
 often been of a degenerate type. Not infrequently it has been 
 divorced from worship. The preaching monks of the Latin 
 church, in degenerate periods have done this and have 
 harangued the populace in addresses without texts. The ex- 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 99 
 
 ample would not be a valuable one, and its influence upon the 
 Protestant pulpit could not fail to be detrimental. Scholastic 
 preaching sometimes abandoned texts. Scholastic proposi- 
 tions could easily be deduced independently of them. They 
 were of but little dialectical value. I direct attention once 
 more to the fact that our better modern knowledge of the Bible 
 has increased rather than diminished the preacher's respect 
 for Biblical texts. It is hardly worth while, therefore, for the 
 preacher of our day to follow in this matter degenerate periods 
 and degenerate usage. 
 
 2. But it has a formal as well as a material, a rhetorical 
 as well as a logical value. Its use, for example, promotes 
 concentration and unity in preaching. For it binds the sermon 
 back upon some definite center, and binds its parts together. 
 The thought derived from it, or suggested by it, or at least so 
 passed through it as to take substance and color from it, being 
 pervasive of every part of the sermon, it conditions a process 
 of homiletic limitation throughout. The first limitation is, 
 of course, in the text itself. One can not get all there is in a 
 text out into a sermon, even in the textual use of it. This 
 is especially true of the topical sermon. One selects either the 
 main thought or some subordinate thought as the basis of 
 discussion, and excludes all else. The limiting process starts 
 here. Then it passes over into the theme. For one can have 
 no more in his theme than he selects from his text. The 
 limitation appears also in the introduction. For one selects 
 here only what properly introduces his subject, as based upon 
 the limitation of text and theme. Then it appears in the plan 
 and discussion. For one can use here only what is legitimately 
 drawn out of his theme. And, of course, one wants nothing 
 in the conclusion but what is legitimate to the discussion. The 
 whole movement from text to conclusion, although a process 
 of expansion is also a process of limitation. Nor are the limits 
 too narrow. For they condition concentration and unity, and 
 
ioo THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 so strength as well as definiteness of impression. A sermon of 
 this sort may range very widely, but it will be within legitimate 
 limits. Thus by conditioning concentration and unity, the text 
 becomes tributary to rhetorical effectiveness. A loose, mis- 
 cellaneous range in preaching does not promote effectiveness. 
 A straggling, disjointed sermon is the weakest sort of sermon. 
 
 The use of the text also promotes variety, variety in sub- 
 ject matter, but also variety in form. Each text furnishes 
 its own proper theme, hence there will be as many themes as 
 texts. Hence wide range in preaching. Here again limita- 
 tion involves range. To select what is distinctive in the text 
 as basis for the discussion is to give one's preaching broad 
 scope. Every text, if it is worth using as a text, suggests 
 some phase of a subject. In general, it is a good homiletic 
 device to recognize and select just this phase for discussion. 
 The use of the passage as a text at all, so far as this is prac- 
 ticable, seems to call for it. Consider for a moment the many 
 and various aspects of a single important truth that may be 
 presented by following the natural suggestiveness of indi- 
 vidual texts. In general it were well if didactic preaching 
 especially were to follow the lead of such texts. Texts 
 are for the most part concrete and specific, not abstract and 
 general. They take color from their environment. The 
 use of them in their individual characteristics, therefore, pro- 
 motes not only concreteness and definiteness but variety also. 
 What has been said relates largely to variety in subject matter. 
 But it has a bearing upon form, for we get as many types of 
 sermons, as well as specific subjects, as there are texts, e. g., 
 the historical, biographical, doctrinal, ethical, aesthetic, descrip- 
 tive, evangelistic, textual, topical, according to the quality of the 
 text. The text conditions form and type. And all this condi- 
 tions tone also, for the sermon, if it is true to its text, will echo 
 its spirit. Now all this enriches preaching. 
 
 And this leads to the suggestion that the use of the text 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 101 
 
 promotes productiveness in preaching. It quickens thought, it 
 stimulates the imagination, it intensifies emotion, and thus 
 promotes invention. One of the interesting things in the study 
 of modern preachers is the variety, wealth and suggestiveness 
 of their preaching as conditioned by their use of Biblical texts. 
 It is a notable characteristic that they are inclined to select 
 quickening texts, texts that suggest thought by some fruitful 
 principle of mental association. Examine the products of 
 almost any characteristic modern preacher and it will be seen 
 how greatly the preaching is enriched by it. Even the old 
 allegorizing preachers of the better and more temperate sort 
 have their lesson for us. No professional man does so much, 
 so varied and so difficult intellectual work as the modern 
 preacher. It would be utterly impossible for him, without the 
 use of suggestive texts, to produce the same amount and 
 quality of material that is now produced every week. No man 
 but a rhetorical genius could do it. Men like Cardinal New- 
 man have preached exceptional sermons to exceptional congre- 
 gations without texts. Pastoral preachers have rarely, if 
 ever, done it. No man, in our day, especially, can spin out of 
 his own personal, independent, inner resources two religious 
 orations, or disquisitions or addresses every week and 
 expect to live or to be effective for any considerable length 
 of time. 
 
 The above considerations, it may be submitted, in general, 
 answer the objections that have been brought against the use 
 of texts. These objections have been to a large extent from 
 the rhetorical point of view, and the topical method has been 
 assumed as the basis of judgment. Three classes of critics 
 have questioned their value. There is the man of a strongly 
 individualistic tone. The pulpit individualist wants more 
 rhetorical swing than he fancies will be possible when anchored 
 to a text. There is also the preacher that has been trained 
 in the topical method and is a rhetorician. He too wants 
 
102 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 scope for his rhetorical impulses. Then there is the preacher 
 of a rationalistic bias, and he is impatient, not only of his limi- 
 tations as to rhetorical form and as to the aesthetic interest of 
 the sermon, but of his assumed limitations of material that 
 diminish the didactic effectiveness of the sermon. To sum 
 up the main objections; they are as follows: Texts can not 
 be found to fit the necessary themes. If the fit is made, in 
 many cases it must be by forcing it. The use of texts thins 
 out preaching. Limited by his text, the preacher unduly ex- 
 pands his matter. The use results in stereotyped method. 
 Lack of range from text limitation involves lack of variety. 
 Hence stereotyped method. The use limits the range of truths 
 discussed. Thus modern themes are excluded. It will be 
 noticed that some of these objections are from the material 
 point of view. The text limits the use of material. But most of 
 them are based on the assumption that the use of texts limits 
 the rhetorical effectiveness of preaching, and on the assump- 
 tion that the topical method furnishes the only adequate criti- 
 cal point of view. It will be seen also that they are really a 
 reaction against an abuse of the textual method. Well, if one 
 allegorizes his text, he will, of course, force it to fit his theme, 
 and may do it illegitimately. But a proper study of methods 
 of correspondence will show that this is by no means neces- 
 sary. If one selects unsuggestive or small and barren texts, 
 his preaching may be thin. But it may be the man rather 
 than the text that is responsible for this quality. If one uses 
 all texts in about the same way, and that an unsuggestive, un- 
 imaginative way, of course the preaching will be stereotyped. 
 But here too it is the man, not his texts, that is responsible. 
 If one uses his texts in a prosaic manner, if he has no skill 
 in adjusting them to the current thought of his day, he may 
 shut out modern themes. But all these objections fall flat 
 before the right conception and habit in the use of texts, 
 whether after the textual or the topical method. What has 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 103 
 
 been said seems to me conclusive as to the rhetorical value of 
 texts, and equally conclusive as to their material value. 
 
 But any man may settle it practically. One has only to 
 examine it in the light of the best modern preaching. Take 
 the sermons of any good preacher of our day, and examine 
 carefully the influence of his texts upon the matter, structure, 
 tone and rhetorical style of his sermons. If it is perfectly 
 evident that these texts make little or no con- 
 tribution to the preaching, if the preaching might 
 conceivably be equally wealthy in its suggestiveness, if 
 just as good matter, form, tone, style were possible without 
 them, then the case of the critic will stand. But I submit 
 that no man who knows the facts can successfully defend the 
 case of the critic. Test the question by critical investigation. 
 If this is not satisfactory, test it by personal experiment. 
 
 III. Logical and Rhetorical Qualities of the Text 
 By the logical qualities of the text is meant the relations of 
 thought within the text itself, or the form of the text as related 
 to its connections of thought. By its rhetorical qualities is 
 meant those qualities that are essential to clear, definite and 
 forceful impression. 
 
 1. The logical demand upon the form of the text is com- 
 plexity, — that is the text must contain more than a single 
 thought. It must be so complex in character that it may be 
 put into some form of statement. By it some definite related 
 thought must be expressed. It must contain the elements of 
 a proposition. It must, therefore, have the elements, not 
 necesarily the full form but implicitly at least the elements 
 of a grammatical sentence, with subject and predicate. A 
 single word, therefore, is never a proper text. It suggests no 
 relation of thought within itself. It is a single unrelated con- 
 cept. The writer once heard a sermon from the word "there- 
 fore." The theme, if memory serves correctly, was the use 
 
104 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of reason in religion. The sermon had no text. It furnished 
 a remote basis for suggestion, but it contained no definitely 
 suggested thought. It affirmed nothing, denied nothing, in 
 fact suggested nothing specifically. It had no relations of 
 thought. It led no whither. One might as well have taken 
 the word "Universe'' as a text. Bishop Huntington has a 
 sermon entitled "Names and Elements of the great change," 
 based on the word "conversion." It is not a text, it contains 
 no affirmation that affords a basis for discussion. It simply 
 opens a boundless range of thought in all conceivable direc- 
 tions. It contains no suggestion that it is one of the names 
 of the great change. Much less does it suggest other names 
 or elements of the change. It does not cover what is discussed 
 in the sermon. Regeneration would have been more fully in- 
 clusive of Faith, Repentence, and Reformation, as well as of 
 Conversion itself. But that would not have been a text. Nothing 
 in the way of conciseness is gained by the use of a single 
 word as text, or as someone has called it, pretext, as this ser- 
 mon shows. What the preacher needs in his text is a complex 
 of related thoughts. This demand for complexity is regu- 
 lative for the use of two or more passages as text. In such 
 use the common difficulty is that they do not readily furnish a 
 single complex unified thought as theme. They are likely to 
 furnish isolated and ununified thoughts. Take as an example 
 of proper use, Bishop Huntington's sermon entitled "The 
 Cross a Burden and a Glory," from Matt. 27, 32. (Simon 
 bearing the Cross) and Gal. 6: 14 ("God forbid etc."). This 
 is one complex theme if we understand the burden and 
 the glory as one complex contrasted thought to be discussed 
 in its contrasted relations under each topic of the sermon, 
 rather than discussed under different topics, i.e., first, the 
 burden and then the glory. For this contrast between the 
 burden and the glory must be manifest throughout the sermon. 
 The theme suggests the contrast and the sermon should keep 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 105 
 
 the contrast always before the mind. The preacher uses the 
 text in this way. It is, therefore, legitimately used. Take 
 also the sermon by the same preacher entitled "Christ Our 
 Prophet, Priest and King," from John 6: 14 (Prophet). Heb. 
 2:17 (Priest). John 18:33, 36 (King). The preacher 
 discusses each of these functions separately, each passage 
 furnishing a separate topic. A phase of the entire theme is not 
 discussed under each topic, but only a fragment of it. In fact 
 it is not the theme but the divisions that are discussed. The 
 statement of the theme is rather a statement of the topics of 
 the theme. The theme is a complex thought embracing all 
 three elements. These elements should have been discussed 
 in their relations. The threefold function of Christ or Christ 
 in his threefold relation to men would be a proper statement of 
 the theme. From this as a basis, each topic might legitimately 
 be discussed separately. 
 
 2. The rhetorical demand upon the form of the text is 
 that it shall express its thought clearly, definitely and force- 
 fully. By which is meant that only so much of a passage may 
 well be taken as will promote those rhetorical interests. There 
 are writers who insist that a complete grammatical structure 
 is always necessary in the form of the text. It should be a 
 complete grammatical sentence. The point of view is the 
 textual and expository method. It is a reaction against the 
 use of single words, that mean nothing,* or of disjointed frag- 
 ments that pervert the meaning of Scripture. Of course 
 textual and expository preaching demands the full form of the 
 text passage. But some who hold the topical point of view 
 make the same claim.f The ideal here is the statement of the 
 theme in logical or propositional form. This certainly 
 demands a complete grammatical sentence. Otherwise it is 
 not even desirable. Some of the best texts are short f rag- 
 
 *Claude. "On the Composition of Sermon. 
 tSee Phelps. "The Theory of Preaching." 
 
106 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ments. They are properly the basis of themes stated in rhe- 
 torical form, e. g., Heb. 7 : 26, "Separate from sinners" 
 (Brooks). James 1 : 27, "Unspotted from the world.'" 
 "Spotted Lives" (Brooks). Rev. 1:9, "The Kingdom and 
 Patience of Jesus Christ" (Bushnell). "A Man in Christ." 
 "Without God in the World." These passages are clear, defi- 
 nite, pithy, although mere fragments. They encourage a vig- 
 orous, sententious, suggestive type of preaching. Preachers 
 like Bishop Brooks, who put their themes in rhetorical form 
 use such texts. Neither, as has been claimed, is the whole of 
 a connected passage necessary. In discussing 2 Cor. 1 : 3, 4. 
 Claude insists that the entire passage should be used. To use 
 only a fragment would mutilate it. He is, of course, right 
 from the textual point of view. But Professor Phelps, whose 
 point of view is topical, insists that no part of a connected 
 passage should be left out. This is arbitrary in a topical 
 preacher. If one does not need the whole passage, why pre- 
 tend to use it as text? If one can get a clear, definite 
 thought out of it, why not use it as a fragment? e. g., 
 2 Pet. 5 : 6, "add to your faith * * * temperance." This 
 conveys a perfectly clear, definite thought and expresses 
 it forcefully. Brevity is necessary to forcefulness as 
 well as in general to clearness and definiteness. Vigor- 
 ous preachers who affect the rhetorical form in state- 
 ment of the theme, and who are not expository 
 preachers, as Dr. Joseph Parker was, or textual as Robert- 
 son was, choose short texts. For the topical preacher such 
 texts are highly desirable. They are strong, incisive, impres- 
 sive texts, e. g., "The blood of sprinkling that speaketh." "I 
 have called thee by thy name." "Christ who is our Life." 
 Short, pithy, energetic. They are homiletically suggestive and 
 disclose the wealth of the Scriptures for pulpit use. Con- 
 crete, especially figurative or poetic texts are tributary to 
 forcefulness and impressiveness, and for the most part to 
 
TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 107 
 
 clearness. Not only the attractiveness, but in large measure 
 the impressiveness of Bishop Brooks' preaching is conditioned 
 by his selection of short and largely of concrete, figurative 
 texts. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE PREACHER'S WORK 
 
 The proper subject matter of preaching can not of course 
 be determined independently of exegesis. In its homiletic 
 relations exegesis deals properly with two main questions. 
 The first question concerns itself with the original, historic 
 sense of any given passage of Scriptures, i. e., the sense as 
 it lay in the mind of the writer. The second question con- 
 cerns itself with the truth and value of the passage for homi- 
 letic use. First the true, original meaning of the text. Sec- 
 ond, its worth as truth for preaching use. Exegesis and 
 criticism answer these questions. Without an answer to 
 them no one can be sure that he has a proper theme for his 
 sermon. It is expected of the preacher, therefore, that he 
 will be a competent exegete and critic. He is a popular 
 interpreter. But popular exposition must be based on scien- 
 tific exegesis. Let us, therefore, look at these exegetical 
 and critical problems. Their homiletical bearings will justify 
 the discussion. 
 
 I. The first question relates to the historic sense. Modern 
 exegesis has anchored here. But for the preacher exegetical 
 investigation has wide range. It is a very complex problem. 
 
 i. It is first of all a textual question. It starts here. For 
 the preacher textual criticism has a very practical interest. 
 We must, if possible, get at the original form of the text. An 
 unsound textual basis is so far forth an unsound homiletic 
 basis. Some textual corruptions are, indeed, of no practical 
 importance. There may be no material change in the mean- 
 ing of the passage, or a better meaning may have been se- 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 109 
 
 cured by the change, or at least a meaning equally good and 
 true. The original meaning of the passage may be uncer- 
 tain, but it may not in either form be compromised for pulpit 
 use. Romans 12:11 may read "Serving the Lord," or "Serv- 
 ing the Opportunity," i. e., serving the Lord with a fervent 
 spirit, or making earnest judicious use of the opportunities 
 of life, and so being wise as well as fervent. Either reading 
 makes a good text. It does not matter which one selects, 
 unless it becomes perfectly clear which is the original reading. 
 But apologetic and ecclesiastical changes are more serious. 
 What sound criticism rejects here, the pulpit should reject. 
 The Revision has led the way in securing a pure text for the 
 pulpit. It is well to follow it in choosing texts. But the 
 preacher can not justify himself in failing to make a careful 
 examination of all important contested passages. 
 
 2. It is a grammatical question. "Grammar," says 
 Immer,* "is and must remain the foundation of all exegesis." 
 It is a question of words and sentences, of vocabulary and 
 syntax. There is no ghostly science that can teach us the gram- 
 matical sense of sacred words. "The Scriptures," says Me- 
 lanchthon, quoted by Immer, "cannot be understood theolog- 
 ically unless they are understood grammatically." We know 
 what is meant only when we know what is said. The best 
 exegetes of our day are grammatical exegetes, Meyer, Pflei- 
 derer, Ellicott, even Alford. Far better than homiletic or 
 theological exegetes, like Lange and Olshausern, are Cremer, 
 Wiener, Buttman and Trench. They are of great value for 
 the pulpit. We make a beginning with grammatical exegesis. 
 With this as a foundation, the theological exegetes, who deal 
 with the course of thought, may be of value. We owe Ger- 
 man scholarship a great debt of gratitude for the work it has 
 done in textual and grammatical criticism. It is true that 
 in preaching one may move far from the historic sense of the 
 
 *Hermeneutics, page 99, passim. 
 
no THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 text, provided he moves on a legitimate line. But no one 
 can know where he is going, or whether he is going in a 
 legitimate direction, without knowing his starting-point. No 
 preacher can fully justify his theme unless at the outset he 
 knows what the writer meant to say. The historic sense is 
 always the proper starting-point. Here the Revision comes 
 to the preacher's aid. It has ruined some old translations, 
 corrected some old readings, and has wiped out some hymns, 
 e. g., Acts 26:28, "Almost persuaded." The first question in 
 homiletics is the question of exegetical legitimacy and without 
 grammatical comprehension, there can be no assurance of 
 such legitimacy. 
 
 3. It is a contextual question. Individual thought is 
 known only by related thought. A text-passage is part of a 
 larger whole. Biblical theology has enlarged the scope of 
 our investigation into the context. It is often necessary to 
 get at the scope of an entire document in order to get the full 
 sense of a single passage. Biblical introduction is increas- 
 ingly important for the work of the pulpit. The preaching of 
 Robertson strikingly illustrates the value of mastering the 
 course of thought for the use of particular passages. He 
 knew Paul's "root-thoughts." Hence he knew better the 
 meaning of individual passages. His method of investigation 
 was a combination of analysis and synthesis, e. g., the tracing 
 through in detail of the thought of a book and then reversing 
 the process and bringing to bear upon these details once 
 more the knowledge of it as a whole thus gained. This is, 
 of course, the only adequate method for an expository 
 preacher. Robertson mastered Paul's theology as a whole, 
 mastered the whole course of thought in a particular docu- 
 ment, was able to compare it with other documents, and so 
 was the better able to interpret and use wisely and sugges- 
 tively individual passages. He who knows the aim of the 
 whole can best interpret the parts. This is one reason why 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK in 
 
 Robertson is so reasonable, so clear and so helpful a preacher. 
 
 The defect, on the contrary, of such preachers as Spurgeon, 
 is that they have no solid exegesis under their preaching. It 
 does not edify intelligent students of the Bible. It does not 
 edify because it does not correctly instruct. Such preachers 
 ignore the context, or misapprehend it. What they can get 
 out of the individual text by some process of fruitful sugges- 
 tion is the important thing. No matter whether legitimate 
 or not, so it be fruitfully suggestive. The text is isolated and 
 treated independently and is made to mean anything the 
 preacher's fancy is pleased to find in it. It is often, doubtless, 
 very ingenious preaching, but often grotesque and offensive 
 to sound exegetical, as well in fact to sound homiletic judg- 
 ment. It is not in harmony with the sobriety and rationality 
 of our better exegetical and homiletic methods. This was 
 the sin of the old allegorical method. It ignored the context. 
 It assumed that the individual passage contained an absolute 
 fullness of inspiration, even to the words and punctuation. 
 Each passage, indeed, had several meanings. To develop 
 these hidden meanings and to bring out for edification this 
 fullness of the mind of the spirit was the task of the preacher. 
 Whatever, by any most remote principle of mental associa- 
 tion, or by mere verbal suggestion, that has no mental associa- 
 tion, is suggested by the individual passage, is included in 
 the inspired word. This, of course, is based, not only on 
 false notions of exegesis and homiletics, but of the Bible 
 itself, as well as of revelation and inspiration. It is mastery 
 of the course of thought that saves preaching from this sort 
 of fancifulness. 
 
 4. It is sometimes a doctrinal question, doctrinal in the 
 Biblical sense. Biblical writers must interpret themselves 
 and help interpret each other. In order to understand them 
 we must first isolate them, examine their teachings by them- 
 selves and then compare them. Biblical theology is based 
 
ii2 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 upon this principle. How will one understand adequately 
 Paul's teachings, for example, in the E'phesian and Colossian 
 letters, if we may regard them as Pauline, without comparing 
 or contrasting them with the teachings of the Thessalonian 
 or the Roman and Galatian letters? But we have the task 
 also of comparing one writer with another. This gives the 
 old exegetical principle of the "analogy of faith" a new mean- 
 ing. It is the analogy of Biblical, not dogmatic faith, and 
 this demands thorough Biblical investigation. But the stress- 
 point here is that only by such investigation shall we secure 
 the fullest guidance for the interpretation of particular doc- 
 trinal passages. Expository preaching from Paul's writings, 
 for example, would be inadequate and unsatisfactory without 
 such investigation. Texts are properly studied independently 
 of dogmatic theology, but never independently of Biblical 
 theology. The analogy of dogmatic faith, upon which such 
 stress has been laid in times past, has perverted the use of 
 texts. The old doctrinal proof texts are for the most part 
 worthless. We make the Biblical writers interpret them- 
 selves and each other, and this furnishes a basis not only for 
 a system of Biblical theology, but in general for more correct 
 as well as more practical and useful work in the pulpit. 
 
 5. It is a historical question. That is, it involves study 
 of the conditions under which the Biblical writers wrote, the 
 conditions that affected their education and habits of thought. 
 It makes use of Biblical Introduction. We know more in 
 our day than was ever known before about the Holy Land, 
 and oriental countries contiguous, about the Hebrew race and 
 commonwealth and their history, about contemporary 
 nations and civilizations, about other religions, about early 
 Christianity and the early church and about the influence of 
 contemporaneous philosophic and theologic thought upon 
 them, about those to whom the early Christian writers wrote 
 and about their conditions. In a word, we know more about 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 113 
 
 time, place, circumstances, conditions, environment. That is, 
 we know the Bible historically as it has never been known 
 before. This knowledge, coming from a very great variety 
 of sources, has been a long time accumulating and a great 
 amount of it has become a common possession. The Bible, 
 therefore, is a more real book to intelligent Christian people 
 than it has ever been before. Knowledge of these things 
 makes exegetical and Biblical science more real, and it makes 
 preaching more real. It makes the life of Christ more real. 
 The realistic biography of Christ is a product of our age. All 
 this throws light upon the meaning of Scripture texts, and 
 preaching, influenced by this historic spirit, method and pro- 
 duct, becomes more reasonable. Even a modicum of this 
 knowledge will make itself known and felt in the pulpit. All 
 intelligent preachers of our day are under its influence. 
 
 6. It is a rhetorical, or better, a literary question. A lit- 
 erary sense is an important factor in exegetical and homi- 
 letic sense. No one knows the Bible aright, and no one 
 can use it aright without knowledge of its literary and rhe- 
 torical character. The rhetoric as well as dialectic of the 
 Bible is distinctly oriental. Theology and especially preach- 
 ing has been greatly enriched by the recognition of this fact. 
 The influence of Herder and of the German romanticists 
 marked an epoch not only in Biblical investigation, but in 
 preaching. In the most attractive and impressive manner, 
 it directed attention to the poetic character of the Bible, 
 especially of the Old Testament. One of the best products 
 of the genius of Prof. Park of Andover was an article, orig- 
 inally a sermon entitled "The Theology of the Intellect and 
 the Theology of the Feelings," in which the poetic and emo- 
 tional character of the Biblical writings is recognized. One 
 of the most striking of Dr. Horace Bushnell's products is 
 his article "Christianity a Gift to Our Imagination." It con- 
 tained a recognition of the literary character of the Bible 
 
ii4 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 which was a premonition of genius. The only good work in 
 theology Matthew Arnold ever did was in directing attention 
 to the literary character of the Bible and to the need of lit- 
 erary sense in interpreting it, and it is this chiefly that makes 
 "Literature and Dogma" respectable. The influence of men 
 like Renan, whatever our estimate otherwise of their critical 
 work, has been strong, and in much salutary in this direction. 
 Biblical critics in this country, like Prof. Briggs, indeed all 
 the more intelligent teachers of Biblical theology in our theo- 
 logical institutions have made this a commonplace among 
 intelligent preachers and even among intelligent laymen. In 
 all intelligent communities it affects the work of the pulpit. 
 An investigation of the rhetorical and dialectical methods of 
 the Bible, particularly of the books of the Old Testament, 
 and especially of the books of Job and of Isaiah, and in the 
 New Testament of the writings of Paul would be a most 
 interesting and fruitful line of investigation for any preacher. 
 7. It is a religious question. A religiously sympathetic 
 spirit in the study of the Bible is of great importance with ref- 
 erence to results in pulpit use. Christian preaching is im- 
 possible without assumptions. One of the preacher's assump- 
 tions is that the Bible contains a word of God. One's early 
 education pre-commits one to this pre-supposition. It will 
 not, indeed, dominate any intelligent and candid man in his 
 Biblical investigation. The Bible should be studied as any 
 other book is studied. But the result of one's study as well 
 as one's early education will surely be in the case of any 
 devout theist the intelligent conviction of the exceptional 
 religious character of the Bible, and this will constitute a 
 homiletic assumption. One cannot begin his work in the 
 pulpit, without the assumption, or if one please, the intelligent 
 conviction, that he is dealing with the religion of revelation 
 and of redemption. This religion is to be applied to the 
 needs of men, else why do we use the Bible at all? We may 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 115 
 
 appropriate this assumption in our investigation for pulpit 
 use as the saintly Bengel did for exegetical use. The preach- 
 er's attitude toward the Bible is, therefore, somewhat pecu- 
 liar. He investigates it for preaching use in the main as Jhe 
 would any other book, but in some respects in a different 
 way. He begins, continues and ends his work in special 
 sympathy with its exalted character and purpose. Only in 
 this state of mind may one properly enter the pulpit. The 
 preacher's aim is precisely the aim of redemptive revelation 
 itself. This, of course, does not require that one should 
 suspend all critical judgments. Biblical criticism is subject 
 to the same canons that govern all other lines of critical 
 investigation. But without the religious spirit, sympathetic 
 with the spirit of the Book, it is impossible even to understand 
 the meaning of the truths investigated. Indeed, without it, it 
 may be impossible adequately to get at the meaning of the 
 Scriptures, that record these truths. Especially necessary is 
 this spirit in enabling the preacher to interpret the ideal con- 
 tent of revelation behind the historic form. The presupposi- 
 tion of the ideal content is the presence of God in human his- 
 tory, his presence especially in the history of Israel, in the 
 way of redemptive revelation. It is this that furnishes the 
 key to the interpretation of the connection between the He- 
 brew and Christian Scriptures. Only by the assumption of 
 this ideal content in the Bible is it saved to best use in the 
 Christian pulpit. 
 
 Now, of course, the kind of work here outlined will require 
 a lifetime for its accomplishment. It need hardly be said 
 that it cannot be successfully applied in detail to the study of 
 individual Scriptures. It is not a programme for textual 
 investigation. In the long run and in the large result it will 
 be found that the best study of the Bible for pulpit use is a 
 general and comprehensive study of it and not merely a study 
 of individual texts. This comprehensive study will furnish 
 
n6 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 an ever-enlarging and enriching basis for pulpit work. The 
 more comprehensive and thorough one's general exegetical 
 studies, the greater ease and facility will one acquire in apply- 
 ing their results to the investigation of individual texts. It 
 is constant and varied exegetical practice that develops exe- 
 getical tact and facility in the homiletic interest. 
 
 II. The second exegetical problem, or problem in Biblical 
 criticism, concerns the truth of the text and its value for 
 homiletic use. The question is, how much weight shall be 
 attached to the thought or sentiment of a given passage, 
 either in its historic and primary, or in its secondary or 
 hidden sense, if indeed it have such sense, which is itself a 
 critical question. The preacher can not settle offhand the 
 question whether the Bible has an ideal content. He may 
 idealize his text, he may give it a homiletic turn that is quite 
 remote from its original meaning. But the question whether 
 the idealizing process entered the Scriptures themselves is a 
 critical, not a homiletic question. Now one must be able to 
 answer this critical question if he would secure the best homi- 
 letic use or even the right use of texts. Particularly impor- 
 tant is this in didactic preaching, in which the success of the 
 sermon depends on correct teaching and on securing correct 
 mental judgments. We may not assume that a given text is 
 of unconditional homiletic value simply because it is found 
 inside the covers of the Bible. In fact it has never been 
 assumed practically, however it may have been theoretically, 
 even in very dark periods, that any given passage of Scrip- 
 ture is the very word of God simply because it is recorded 
 there. An infallible inspiration of the record could never 
 change the quality of a thought or sentiment. It could not 
 make it true if it were false in itself, or good if it were bad. 
 Nor could it dominate our estimate of it, so long as we have 
 a Christian conscience and Christian intelligence left. Texts 
 differ widely in their weight and worth. And the range is 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 117 
 
 all the way from the absolute in value down to the worthless 
 and possibly positively pernicious, if not rightly understood 
 and used. Now it is the task of criticism to test the value 
 of texts as regards the quality and measure of their truth and 
 as regards their fitness for pulpit use. We must apply the 
 proper doctrinal, ethical and historical, critical and exegetical 
 standards for the purpose of testing their validity and worth. 
 These standards are furnished in part by processes of induc- 
 tive investigation into the phenomena of the New Testament 
 Scriptures. They are made available by the science of Bibli- 
 cal theology which gathers up its results from Biblical criti- 
 cism. The one supreme doctrinal, and ethical and so practical 
 historic standard that is available for the purpose is found 
 in the New Testament. The mind of Christ as it appears 
 in the life of Christ and is disclosed in the New Testa- 
 ment and as interpreted according to sound exegetical prin- 
 ciples is our test for the worth of all possible Biblical 
 texts. 
 
 It would be impossible to classify Biblical texts exhaus- 
 tively and to apply this test with reference to the question of 
 use and thus to determine their value in such way as would 
 be universally satisfactory. It may, however, be possible to 
 suggest a few classes of texts with respect to which an intelli- 
 gent preacher will find it necessary to apply the proper criti- 
 cal tests in order to determine their worth for homiletic use. 
 
 1. Historical and biographical texts. One may not as- 
 sume unconditionally and uncritically that all Biblical pas- 
 sages which in form have the appearance of being historical 
 are really such in objective fact. It is a well-substantiated 
 critical discovery that the Bible abounds in what is called 
 idealized history. The historic form is adopted as a literary 
 device for the purpose of conveying, not historic truth, but 
 moral and religious truth. Such, it is claimed, is the book 
 of Jonah. This question can not be settled by dogmatic 
 
n8 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 affirmation, or by blind adherence to tradition. Whether in 
 a given passage or book we have idealized history or whether 
 we have truth under the form of myth is a critical and a lit- 
 erary question. We must apply the requisite critical and 
 literary tests in order to answer that question. This becomes 
 practically important especially in all cases where correct 
 Biblical teaching is involved. It is not safe in the long run, 
 or in the short run for that matter, to claim more for any 
 portion of the Bible than the case will justify. It is not safe 
 to confound ideal with actual history. 
 
 2. Prophetic texts. There are Scriptures in both the Old 
 and New Testaments that claim to be prophetic in the sense 
 of predictive. If a correct report of his words has reached 
 us, our Lord interpreted the words of Psalm no as such. 
 But it is evident enough that the so-called predictive passages 
 vary very greatly in their approximations to historic fact, in 
 their conceptions of the Messianic King to whom they are 
 supposed to relate, and in their correspondences to the reali- 
 ties of his historic personage. The value of these Scrip- 
 tures must be determined ultimately in the light of the New 
 Testament revelation of Christ. It is necessary to find out 
 in what sense and to what extent they are predictive. It is 
 necessary, also, to judge how far New Testament writers 
 were right or wrong in attaching a predictive significance to 
 them. In order to do this satisfactorily, we must have and 
 apply some knowledge of the nature and conditions of pre- 
 dictive utterance, and of the place which prediction holds in 
 the gift of prophecy. Critical exegesis as applied to both the 
 Old and New Testament Scriptures, that contain prophetic 
 elements, gives us the knowledge we need. The value of 
 these Scriptures for homiletic use will depend on the correct- 
 ness of our conception of their prophetic character. They 
 have, without doubt, done duty somewhat indiscriminately, 
 uncritically and illegitimately in times past. They should do 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 119 
 
 duty more discriminately in the future, and it is perfectly 
 evident that they will do so. 
 
 3. Typical texts. It is a difficult thing for the ordinary 
 student of the Old Testament to resist the impression that 
 there is therein a typical or ideal element. Personages, 
 events, experiences, institutions, ordinances are regarded as 
 typical of what is to emerge in future periods of God's King- 
 dom. It is a very radical, destructive, and, one may be per- 
 mitted to add, an extremely capricious criticism that would 
 deny it. It is only a form of historic parallelism. There is 
 a certain inner principle of harmony between the old and the 
 new life and order, although differing widely in form. One 
 age contains types or ideals of future ages, because we have 
 a historic development of redemptive revelation. Our Lord 
 seems to have recognized and authenticated this ideal con- 
 tent in the Old Testament. What emerged under the old 
 order never fully realized itself historically under the old 
 forms. Many Old Testament Scriptures seem to be typically 
 prophetic of the Messianic King and of his experiences. Most 
 New Testament citations from the Old Testament are from 
 this class of Scriptures, among them some of our Lord's 
 citations. But it must be acknowledged that they vary in 
 value, in theological value and especially in homiletic value. 
 In the hands of many New Testament writers they have 
 doubtless been over-worked. This is the case especially with 
 the author of the first Gospel, and of the Epistle to the He- 
 brews. It is entirely possible to over-press them and to find 
 types where none exist. The Christian pulpit has outdone 
 the New Testament writers. It is easy to confound an ille- 
 gitimate allegorizing with a genuine and legitimate typolo- 
 gizing. Even genuinely typical Scriptures differ as to the 
 sort and measure of their inner relation with their anti-types. 
 Critical exegesis settles for us the limit and the value of 
 typology. A sound knowledge of Biblical typology, won in 
 
120 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the light of all the best and the fullest that may be ascertained 
 in our day, is necessary to determine the value of typical 
 Scriptures for pulpit use. It is especially important for the 
 preacher to remember that what may be available for him in 
 the pulpit by way of homiletic adaptation in accordance with 
 some legitimate principle of associated ideas may not be avail- 
 able for him exegetically. What may be true in homiletics may 
 be false in exegesis. 
 
 4. Allegorical texts. There is unquestionably in the New 
 Testament an allegorical use of the Old Testament. That is, 
 we find a fanciful and strained use of analogy. It appears 
 in the Gospels, especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and 
 even in the writings of Paul. There is a marked difference, as 
 Tholuck has shown,* between Christ's use of the Old Testa- 
 ment and that of the New Testament writers in general. It 
 is the difference between real and fanciful likenesses, between 
 a connection of thought that is internal and near at hand, and 
 one that is relatively external and remote. The suffering 
 servant of Jehovah (Is. 53) may be regarded as a true 
 analogue of the suffering Messianic King. But Hagar and 
 Ishmael as related to Sarah and Isaac in Paul's use in the 
 Galatian letter are allegorized. They are fanciful analogies 
 of the two covenants. Judiciously-used allegorized texts may 
 be of value in preaching. But allegorizing should always be 
 recognized as such. It may have its rhetorical uses. But it 
 has no didactic value. A failure to recognize it as a rhetor- 
 ical device has wrought much mischief in the pulpit. Now it is 
 the science of New Testament Hermeneutics that will furnish 
 a test of value for allegorizing, and we shall find in Christ's 
 use of the principle of analogy a safe guide. No one is likely 
 to make a legitimate use of the parables of our Lord in 
 preaching who does not know that in exegesis they cannot 
 be allegorized. He who recognizes this exegetical principle 
 
 *Das Alte Testament im Neuen Testament. 
 
EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 121 
 
 is much more likely to make legitimate use of the analogies 
 they contain. 
 
 5. Doctrinal texts. Whether a given text may be used 
 didactically, or whether it may be used to teach definite and 
 explicit doctrines, is a critical question which must be settled 
 in part by a knowledge of the literary or rhetorical character 
 of the passage and perhaps of the book in which it is found. 
 It is necessary to distinguish between the language of imagi- 
 nation and feeling, the language of poetry or fiction and the 
 language of the understanding, the language of mental judg- 
 ment whose object is to convey a definite explicit teaching to 
 the mind. Poetry and fiction should not be used to teach 
 doctrine unless it be recognized as poetry or fiction, and 
 unless the teaching is recognized as an inference from it 
 conveyed to the mind through the imagination. Moreover, 
 whether a given passage is true, or in what seems true, or to 
 what extent true, is a critical question. The teaching of 
 Christ in general furnishes a test for one's estimate of Old 
 Testament teaching and of its worth for Christian preaching. 
 "The truth as it is in Jesus" tests all half truths and all false 
 utterances that are sometimes found in the Old Testament 
 and in the New Testament as well. The value of the book of 
 Ecclesiastes and of Job for direct, authoritative teaching, 
 however striking their utterances, is quite limited. Their 
 teachings should be recognized for what they are, and no 
 false estimates should be tolerated in the pulpit. The 
 preacher should know their value as sources of religious 
 knowledge, and as a correct basis for preaching, before he 
 can use them properly. When he understands them cor- 
 rectly, then he is in position to use them legitimately. 
 
 6. Ethical texts. The ethics of Christ to which the mind 
 and conscience that are trained in the school of Christ always 
 respond is the preacher's test for all Biblical ethics. Old 
 Testament ethics needs constantly to be brought to this test, 
 
122 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the imprecatory Psalms for example. Within the limits of 
 this test, whatever there is in them of ethical value may be 
 made use of by the Christian preacher. There are texts in 
 both the New and Old Testament that in spirit and sentiment 
 are grossly immoral, but in form they may convey valuable 
 ethical suggestions. The words of Caiaphas for example, in 
 John 1 1 : 49, 50, recall Robertson's sermon from them. The 
 words of the Jewish ecclesiastics at the cross "He saved 
 others; himself he cannot save." The words of Judas; "To 
 what purpose is this waste?" Such texts have been used 
 with good effect. But their real significance should never 
 be ignored. Contrast is the only principle that makes them 
 admissible. In a word, there is no assignable limit to the 
 scope of the preacher's use of Scriptures that are doctrinately 
 and ethically defective, provided their real character be duly 
 recognized and provided they be adjusted to the Christian 
 point of view. Robertson's sermon above referred to illus- 
 trates the value of such texts. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES IN THE USE OF 
 
 THE TEXT 
 
 Exegesis, as we have already seen, guides but does not fix 
 our limits in the homiletic use of texts. A text may receive 
 a homiletic turn and use of which exegesis knows nothing 
 whatever. The one supreme and inclusive interest in the use 
 of the text is an adequate correspondence between the text 
 and the sermon. As already suggested, the matter of the ser- 
 mon must be drawn somehow legitimately out of the text or 
 drawn through it so as to take fibre, color, shape and direc- 
 tion from it and thus a correspondence be realized between 
 the text and the substance, sentiment and object of the 
 sermon. 
 
 There are two correspondences that should be realized, cor- 
 respondence of thought and correspondence of tone. We 
 will consider them in order. 
 
 I. Correspondence of thought. The thought-matter of 
 a sermon must be evolved somehow from the thought-matter 
 contained in or somehow suggested by the text. The sermon 
 in its developed form harmonizes at every point with the 
 thought that lies in the text, or is drawn out of it, or drawn 
 through it by some legitimate process of suggestion. This 
 correspondence may be direct and immediate, or it may be 
 indirect and remote. The text may yield the material of 
 thought by explicit declaration or by some process of infer- 
 ence, deduction or suggestion. One may carry the thought 
 of the text, the main or some subordinate thought straight 
 over into the theme, or one may deduce it by some process 
 
124 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of mental association, or by some sort of literary adaptation. 
 Let us examine these two methods of correspondence, the 
 direct or explicit and the indirect and implicit. 
 
 i. The direct or explicit correspondence. The text states 
 the theme in definite and explicit terms, sometimes in almost 
 identical terms, e.g., James 4: 17, "To him that knoweth to 
 do good," etc. Theme: "The sin of omission." James 
 2:10. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law," etc. 
 Theme : "Sin a violation of the law in its totality." Here the 
 text at once determines the theme. One would not readily 
 think of any other theme. Some other might be excogitated, 
 but it would come by an indirect process. Reversely, the 
 theme asks for just this text. Probably no other passage in 
 the Bible would fit the theme so well. Such texts, if they 
 can be found, are desirable in the discussion of weighty 
 ethical or doctrinal subjects. That is a perfect text for such 
 use of which you can say that it explicitly suggests but this 
 one theme and that its theme could have but this one or at 
 least no better text. It contains nothing less than the theme, 
 and nothing from without is to be mentally supplied. It 
 contains nothing more and nothing is to be thrown out as 
 irrelevant. It contains nothing other, and nothing is to be 
 modified and adjusted. John 3 : 7, "Ye must be born again." 
 Theme : "The Necessity of the New Birth." The exact 
 thought. Compare John 3 15, "Except a man be born of 
 water and of spirit," etc., or John 3 :6, "That which is born of 
 the flesh is flesh," etc. The two latter passages contain the 
 necessity of the new birth inferentially ; at least they do not 
 affirm it explicitly. And they contain many other possible 
 themes, e.g., The Value of Baptism; The Need of the Holy 
 Spirit in Regeneration ; The Conditions of Participation in the 
 Kingdom of God, may come from John 3 15. The Law of 
 Heredity ; The Possibilities of Ancestral Piety may come 
 from John 3 :6. Relatively few texts furnish but a single 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 125 
 
 theme, most texts are complex in thought and we are obliged 
 to resort to them. Most of our doctrinal texts even are used 
 inferentially. The truth does not come to us in explicit doc- 
 trinal propositions. Revelation reaches us indirectly. A 
 categorical text is doubtless a valuable possession. John 3 \J 
 would be preferable to all other texts in discussing the need 
 of the new birth. These texts are valuable because they are 
 weighty and emphatic and have a certain tone of authority 
 as conditioned by their categorical character. They have 
 the weight of propositions. Moreover, in the use of them, 
 there is no possibility of subordinating what is primary to 
 what is secondary. Such subordination is often necessary in 
 the choice of texts that contain several themes, e. g., Matt. 
 18:3, "Except ye be converted and become as little children," 
 etc. The necessity of conversion is often deduced from this 
 text. But this is only an incidental thought and it subordi- 
 nates what is primary to what is secondary. The child-like 
 disposition as condition of entering the Kingdom of Heaven 
 is the primary thought. Another and subordinate thought is 
 childlikeness as the mark of a converted man. The necessity 
 of conversion is a still more subordinate thought. These 
 explicit texts, although limiting the range of themes, do not 
 limit the range of discussion, nor do they necessarily result in 
 stereotyped treatment. They may be treated in a variety of 
 ways ; some of them textually, as Robertson would do it, 
 more frequently topically as Bushnell would do it. They 
 may be treated ethically, evangelistically and especially doc- 
 trinally, and always didactically, whether doctrinally or not. 
 It is possible that the decline of doctrinal preaching may 
 in part account for the relative non-use of this class of texts 
 in our day. Most preachers incline to the use of texts in a 
 rhetorically suggestive way, as illustrated, e. g., by a sermon 
 of Bishop Huntington's on the "Economy of Renewal," 
 Micah 2:10, "Arise ye and depart; for this is not your rest." 
 
126 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 The sermon reminds us of Bushnell's "Spiritual Dislodg- 
 ments." It is a figurative or an accommodative use of the 
 text that secures the theme. Judah's threatened displace- 
 ment from their native seats as a resting place suggests fig- 
 uratively the dislodgments needed in the renewal of character. 
 There may be a certain gain, and there often is in deducing 
 themes for didactic discussion in this indirect way. It may 
 result in a more interesting, animating, and persuasive type 
 of didactic preaching. A rhetorically suggestive text pre- 
 supposes a rhetorically suggestive method of handling it. 
 But it is also possible that one may be trapped into straining 
 his text, and the rhetorical manner of treatment may not 
 seem harmonious with the strictly didactic object of the ser- 
 mon. Harmony of tone may be violated. In general a defi- 
 nitely didactic discussion demands a definitely didactic text, 
 if it may be had. At any rate the thing to avoid in the rhe- 
 torical or semi-poetic use of a text is a fancifulness that is 
 inharmonious with the sobriety of a didactic discussion. 
 
 2. The indirect or implicit correspondence. Here the 
 text yields the theme by some process of indirection, some 
 process of deduction, or inference or oblique mental sugges- 
 tion. It would be very difficult to classify such processes, 
 for they are as numerous as the categories or classifications 
 of thought and the methods of mental association. Many 
 of these processes of deduction are based on the principle of 
 local contiguity or on the logical relations of thought, i. e., the 
 interior and necessary relations of thought. But most of 
 them are based on the principle of likeness, or consan- 
 guinity of thought or the family resemblances of thought. 
 These principles yield vast varieties of method. Let us ex- 
 amine and illustrate a few of these possible indirect methods. 
 
 (i) There is the process of logical inference. The corre- 
 spondence between the text and theme is the correspondence 
 between cause and effect, or effect and cause, or it may be 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 127 
 
 some form of contiguity of thought, like antecedent and con- 
 sequent or the reverse, e. g., Bishop Brooks' sermon, Acts 
 8 :8, "And there was great joy in that city." Theme : "The 
 Christian City." The declaration of the text is simply that it 
 was a joyful city. Civic joy, or some such theme as that, 
 would be the generalized thought, if it were to attach itself 
 directly to the text. That it is a Christian city is an infer- 
 ence. It is a legitimate inference for the context shows that 
 the joy spoken of is Christian joy, joy namely which is evi- 
 dence of the presence of Christianity there, or joy of which 
 Christianity is the source or which was occasioned by its 
 introduction there. But besides this inferential process there 
 is the process of generalization. From the particular city of 
 the text, the preacher passes to the Christian city in general. 
 The relation of Christianity to this particular city is wholly 
 abandoned and some of the characteristics of the true Chris- 
 tian city in general are discussed, viz., Faith, Righteousness, 
 Charity. This sort of text is incorrectly sometimes called the 
 "motto text." But the relations of thought here are less ex- 
 ternal than in the motto text. The text furnishes something 
 more than a title to the sermon. Such inferential processes 
 are very varied. They have the whole field of cause and 
 effect, and of antecedence and consequence in which to range. 
 Texts thus used yield substantial and at the same time sug- 
 gestive preaching. They yield large and legitimate truths 
 that stand in the light of larger truths with which they are 
 logically allied. They yield themselves readily to a great 
 variety of themes. In connection with the above-cited text 
 for example we readily think of the principles that lie at the 
 foundation of a Christian civic life, of the consequences that 
 follow the introduction of religion into civic life, of the end 
 or object of Christianity as related to the elevation of civic 
 life. These themes and many others may be deduced, and so 
 limit the discussion. The inferential process is so easy and 
 
128 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 natural, preachers so readily form the habit of deducing 
 themes in this way, that it is hardly realized that it is being 
 done at all. But it is well for the preacher at the very outset 
 to form the habit of tracing his processes. 
 
 (2) There are the processes that are based upon the prin- 
 ciples of likeness. The methods of analogy are the most 
 fruitful methods of correspondence, and their use has great 
 range, (a) The process of generalization, t. c, the process 
 by which the specific truth contained in or suggested by the 
 text is broadened out and put in its most general form in 
 the theme, is based on the principle of analogy. Classifica- 
 tion of special objects of thought presupposes likeness. The 
 objects belong to the same family. The process of generali- 
 zation also involves a process of logical deduction, since we 
 pass from one object or class of objects to another along the 
 line of logically-related thought; e.g., 1 Tim. 4:16, "Take 
 heed to thyself and to thy teaching, continue in these things," 
 etc. The words are addressed to a particular person, who 
 had special functions in the service of the early church. The 
 injunction may be transferred to the present day and enlarged 
 and made applicable to all classes of persons in any kind of 
 official or unofficial service, pastors, evangelists, Bible teach- 
 ers. The text yields itself readily to textual treatment. 
 Theme: Conditions of successful Christian service. (1) Per- 
 sonal watchfulness. (2) Unflagging devotion. (3) Inspira- 
 tion of the future reward. 
 
 (b) The process of particularization. The general truth 
 of the text is applied to a particular case, or a particular phase 
 of the general truth is selected for the theme, or the truth 
 applied specifically in the text may be transferred in the 
 theme to another and a different but analogous, specific 
 object, e. g., Rom. 14 .7, 8, "For none of us liveth to himself," 
 etc. The text is generic. It proclaims a general truth. 
 Living to Christ is the general thought. In the context Paul 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 129 
 
 applies the principle to the question of unselfish abridgment 
 of Christian liberty. But it may be applied in almost any 
 direction. It readily adjusts itself to any phase of the Chris- 
 tian life, to any hardship, trial, sorrow, loss, joy, success. 
 Whatever it be, the Christian significance of it all is that in 
 it we are to live to Christ. Whether for better or for worse, 
 we are the Lord's. Here too it is to be noted that the spe- 
 cific application of what is general presupposes a basis of 
 likeness, or analogy, (c) Parity of principle. Here we have 
 the use of analogy for the purpose of teaching, and yet it 
 may be so used as to be very attractive and impressive teach- 
 ing. Dr. Bushnell's use may illustrate, e.g., John 10:3, "He 
 calleth his own sheep by name." Theme : "Personal love and 
 lead of Christ." A textual sermon. The analogy is sug- 
 gested by the text, and has didactic value. Luke 9:13, 
 "Give ye them to eat." Theme: "Duty not measured by 
 ability." The obligation of the disciples to obey Christ 
 despite their lack of food suggests by analogy, or by parity 
 of principle, that our obligation in general is not measured 
 by our personal ability at any particular time. Note that it 
 is parity of principle that makes this generalization possible. 
 John 20 :8, "Then went in also that other disciple." Theme : 
 "Unconscious influence." The lead and consequent influence 
 of Peter upon John in entering the tomb of the Lord on that 
 particular occasion is analogous to the influence which men 
 in general exert upon one another, analogous, i. e., in its 
 aspect of unconsciousness. The solidity and attractiveness 
 of Dr. Bushnell's preaching are in entire harmony with this 
 use of texts. Texts analogically used may also be connected 
 with the theme by way of contrast, and with striking effect, 
 e.g., Jer. 48:11, "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and 
 he hath settled on his lees and hath not been emptied from 
 vessel to vessel," etc. Theme: "Spiritual dislodgments." The 
 untroubled life of Moab, at ease from his vouth, like wine 
 
130 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 settled on the lees, suggests by contrast the troubled life of 
 Israel. This troubled life with its results is analogous to the 
 Christian life in general with its results in spiritual dislodg- 
 ment. Note the three processes. Contrast; Moab's ease 
 versus Israel's discomfort. Analogy; Israel's dislodgments 
 and their results correspondent to the Christian's dislodg- 
 ments and their results. Generalisation; the case of a single 
 people correspondent to that of all Christian people. This 
 use of contrast is homiletically justifiable, but it exacts skill. 
 Hebrew 11:8, 9, "By faith Abraham, when he was called, 
 obeyed to go out," etc. Theme: "The Illusiveness of Life." 
 Abraham went forth in response to a promise that proved 
 to be illusive. So analogically men in general go out into 
 life. Life promises, or seems to promise what it does not 
 fulfill. Hence the general principle, the illusiveness of life. 
 This is a characteristic of Robertson's preaching. It deals 
 with general principles, and the principle discussed is com- 
 monly a generalization deduced analogically from the text. 
 Texts thus used are among the most fruitfully suggestive and 
 useful texts. 
 
 (d) Figurative adaptation is another use of analogy. 
 There is a difference between that sort of analogy, which, by 
 sometimes stretching the meaning of the term possibly, may 
 be called parity of principle, and which may be used didac- 
 tically or for purposes of direct teaching, and that form of it 
 which is a figurative or metaphorical likeness, which appeals 
 chiefly to the imagination and is used for the purpose of 
 suggestive illustration. It is often difficult to state or even 
 to see the difference. It is sometimes felt rather than seen. 
 It is a difference in degree rather than in kind. In general 
 it may be called the difference between a prosaic and a semi- 
 poetic use, although it must be acknowledged that many 
 preachers who teach from a parity of principle which they 
 find in the analogy of their texts use them in a semi-poetic 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 131 
 
 way, e. g., BushneH's sermon on "Unconscious Influence," 
 and Robertson's "On the Illusiveness of Life." This use of 
 analogy for the purpose of teaching requires much sobriety 
 of judgment lest it degenerate into frivolous figurative re- 
 semblances. Analogy used rhetorically and in a semi-poetic 
 way for the chief purpose of illustration, suggestion and 
 impression, may have very wide range. Take e. g., Matt. 
 8 : 27, "And the men marvelled saying what manner of man is 
 this," etc. Theme: "The surprises of a complete conscious 
 Redemption." There may be no close inner connection of 
 thought, or of principle between the surprise of the disciples 
 at their rescue from the storm on Galilee Lake, and the 
 assumed or imagined surprise of a redeemed man awakening 
 to the full consciousness of his redemption either in the pres- 
 ent or the future life. But the one may be made suggestive 
 of the other, not on a basis of parity of principle, but by a 
 certain figurative likeness. It is a metaphorical adaptation, 
 in which the likeness is somewhat remote, but it is a true like- 
 ness and speaks to the imagination, if not to mental judgments. 
 A thing may be true to the feelings, sentiments and imagina- 
 tion, and not true to the critical judgment. Again, John 19: 41, 
 "And in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet 
 laid." This passage has served a somewhat varied poetic use 
 in the Christian pulpit. The same generic thought variously 
 modified has been deduced from it. The general thought is 
 that there are dark spots in the brightest scenes of life, sorrow- 
 ful experiences in the midst of its pleasures and beneficences. 
 The Grave in the Garden of Life. In some such way, Henry 
 Ward Beecher has used the passage. So, also, the Rev. Dr. 
 George L. Walker. Each uses it in his own distinctive way, 
 with much fertility of invention, felicity of illustration, beauty 
 of diction and persuasiveness of impression. Christ's walking 
 on the Galilee Lake has been frequently used as figuratively 
 suggestive of his spiritual presence in the tempests of life. It 
 
132 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 was thus used by Tholuck. Whether an analogy amounts to 
 parity of principle or is merely figurative adaptation depends 
 somewhat on the way in which it is used. It may be made to 
 suggest likeness of principle, or it may be used as an appeal 
 to the imagination, but we generally recognize the difference 
 between an expository or argumentative use of analogy, one 
 which is for the purpose of instruction or to convince, and one 
 that has a mere rhetorical or illustrative value and that aims 
 chiefly to vivify and enrich thought and make it more im- 
 pressive. The figurative or metaphorical use is endangered 
 of fancifulness. It may result in a lack of virility and of 
 mental and possibly of moral sobriety in preaching. It is likely 
 to affect artificial resemblances and to degenerate into allegory. 
 It demands sobriety of judgment, but properly used, as the 
 preaching of Bishop Phillips Brooks demonstrates, it greatly 
 enriches the work of the pulpit. This leads us to consider 
 another and an extreme form of analogy. 
 
 (e) Allegorical adaptation. The extremest form of fig- 
 urative adaptation. It is not easy sometimes to detect the dif- 
 ference between them. Metaphorical and allegorical likenesses 
 are both forms of analogy. Paul in his allegorizing of the 
 story of Isaac and Ishmael assumes a certain correspondence 
 between the relations of the two children and the relations of 
 the two covenants, a correspondence to him so striking that 
 he claims the right, a poetic right, doubtless, to make the one 
 the analogue of the other. Luther translates Paul's words, 
 Gal. 4 : 24, "Which things are an allegory/' "Die Worte 
 bedeuten etwas," i. e., the words have an inner significance 
 beyond the external significance of the historic personages and 
 facts. This significance is doubtless an invention of the He- 
 brew imagination, for who but a Hebrew would have imagined 
 it ? It is a strained analogy, and that is allegory. But after all 
 there is an element of likeness here. What differentiates the 
 allegorical use of analogy from other forms of analogy is that 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 133 
 
 it does not deal with the prominent features of the likeness 
 suggested and those that come easily and naturally from it, but 
 are rather fancifully created by the imagination. To illustrate : 
 The Exodus in its main features may be properly used as typ- 
 ically analogous to spiritual redemption. Entrance into the 
 promised land legitimately suggests entrance into the heavenly 
 rest, but when these historic experiences are minutely individ- 
 ualized and made typically analogous to assumed corresponding 
 spiritual experiences in detail, then the process of allegorizing 
 begins. Paul, therefore, allegorizes in making that smitten 
 rock the type of Christ. The suffering servant of Jehovah in 
 Is. 53 may legitimately suggest the suffering Messianic King. 
 It is a genuine analogy. But when Matthew finds minute in- 
 dividual experiences recorded in the Old Testament fulfilled 
 in assumed corresponding minute individual experiences in 
 the life of Christ, he allegorizes. The parables have been 
 allegorized in this minute way. But it is a principle of modern 
 exegesis, which homiletics should appropriate, that the value 
 of the analogy of the parable for purposes of teaching is lim- 
 ited to its main thought and does not extend to its subordinate 
 thoughts. Any metaphor is useful only for the main thought 
 of the resemblance suggested. When the elements of resem- 
 blance are atomized and traced out in detail, the metaphor is 
 allegorized. Allegorical likeness is of but little value to the 
 preacher. What the preacher wants is the inner and generic, 
 not the outer and specific points of likeness. But after all 
 allegory may legitimately be used in preaching, if done with 
 sobriety and with definite recognition of its rhetorical use. In 
 this case it does not differ from any figurative or poetic use of 
 analogy. It is only a difference in degree. Bishop Brooks in 
 his sermons on "The Cherubim" and on "The Sea of Glass" 
 allegorizes his texts. If in Gal. 4:24 or 1 Cor. 10:4 Paul 
 undertakes an exegesis, he is doubtless in error. But if he 
 speaks as a homilist, if he uses these instances as rhetorical 
 
134 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 adaptations, uses them illustratively, it is a perfectly legitimate 
 use and does not differ from any rhetorical use of analogy. 
 Exegetically Philo, of course, went wild in interpreting Old 
 Testament characters as simply types of ethical qualities, e. g., 
 Abel of devotion, Noah of righteousness, Abraham of holiness 
 won by striving, Isaac of natural piety, and in attaching no im- 
 portance to their reality as historic characters. But homileti- 
 cally what better use could be made of them ? Only, of course, 
 if thus used in biographical discourses, the use should be rec- 
 ognized as rhetorical adaptation. 
 
 In fact at a time when critical exegesis exacts so closely 
 upon homiletic freedom, preaching may lose something of its 
 rhetorical suggestiveness. Within the limits of mental and 
 moral sobriety, we may allegorize in the pulpit. We may get 
 a great deal more out of the Bible, as we may out of Shakes- 
 peare's works or any work of poetic productiveness, than ever 
 went into it. If preaching were to anchor rigidly to modern 
 exegesis it would lose much of its quickening power. 
 
 There is a species of correspondence that lies beyond the 
 realm of allegory, but which allegorizing preachers have often 
 used, viz., verbal correspondence. It is a mere verbal sug- 
 gestion without any remotest correspondence of thought. Such 
 use has generally marked a degeneracy of the pulpit. Preachers 
 of the Roman Catholic Church have sometimes used their 
 texts as puns. Claude seems to have had preachers of this 
 sort in mind when he writes,* "The preacher must be wise, 
 sober, and chaste. I say wise in opposition to those im- 
 pertinent people, who utter jests, comical comparisons, quirks 
 and extravagances, and such are a good part of the preachers 
 of the church of Rome." Not only a frivolous but a lascivious 
 use of Scripture texts was possible. The Puritan preachers 
 of England were not above this frivolity. Mr. Spurgeon never 
 
 ♦Composition of a Sermon. Chap. II, page 62. 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 135 
 
 used his text as a pun, but in his early years he used the Latin 
 word for Jesus in the light of a pun, and made it mean "I ease 
 you." Roland Hill sometimes allowed his wit to get the better 
 of him in his use of Scripture. Dean Swift's moral shallow- 
 ness and insobriety are apparent in that case which has become 
 classic for frivolous pulpit procedure, in which he addressed a 
 congregation of tailors from the text "A remnant shall be 
 saved." It would be impossible in our day for any educated 
 preacher to do this, despite the freedom with which we use the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 II. Correspondence of Tone. By this is meant harmony of 
 feeling, sentiment, spirit, taste, literary quality, between text 
 and sermon. Correspondence of thought is possible without 
 this correspondence of sentiment. The character and object 
 of the sermon exact upon the tone of the text that is chosen, 
 and reversely, the tone of the text conditions the tone of the 
 sermon. Lack of harmony here must result in an impression 
 of ineptitude, which no amount of rhetorical skill would be 
 able to overcome. Harmony of tone in the art of preaching 
 is no less important than in the art of music. The ground- 
 tone of the text demands an echo in the ground-tone of the 
 sermon, and reversely. There are two sorts of tone corre- 
 spondence between the text and the sermon which should be 
 considered, the literary or rhetorical and the ethical. 
 
 1. It is a generally-accepted rule that a didactic aim and a 
 prosaic quality in the material of a sermon demand a literary 
 or rhetorical quality in the text that corresponds. The method 
 of handling the sermon may modify the rule. For a rhetorically 
 suggestive method of accomplishing the didactic result may 
 admit of the choice of a rhetorically suggestive text. Such a 
 text should certainly be treated in a way corresponding to its 
 quality. He, however, should be a skillful rhetorician who 
 would attempt it. But a prosaic discussion, a discussion that 
 aims primarily at convincing the understanding certainly calls 
 
136 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 for a corresponding text. If the object of the sermon be 
 ethical, an ethical quality in the text that corresponds is needed. 
 An emotional text commits the preacher to the effort to excite 
 an emotion corresponding in the congregation. A poetical text 
 presupposes an appeal to the imagination in the use of a type 
 of diction that is harmonious. The writer once heard a ser- 
 mon from Is. 63: i, "Who is this that cometh from Edom," 
 etc. It was a somewhat dull and distinctly prosaic and com- 
 monplace discussion of sin. The preacher had not caught the 
 tone of his text. Contrast in this regard the use of the text 
 by Bishop Brooks in the sermon entitled, "The Conqueror 
 from Edom." The inspiration of the text is apparent in the 
 elevated tone of the entire sermon. The dullest hearer would 
 not fail to note the harmony of tone. No preacher who knew 
 his task, or even a man of ordinary sentiment and sensibility, 
 would select Matt. 1 1 128, 29, "Come unto me all ye that labor," 
 etc., as the basis of a prosaic discussion of salvation as in- 
 volved in subjection to Christ's yoke, although the substance 
 of that thought may be found in the text. John 17:20, 21, 
 "Neither for these only do I pray," etc., is a very difficult text 
 for a sermon on the unity of the Christian church, as the 
 writer has found by testing it. It is not easy to preserve the 
 tone of the utterance. It is a part of our Lord's high-priestly 
 prayer. The sermon should never forget this, or at least 
 should never dishonor its sanctity of tone. In choosing an 
 elevated text, one highly emotional or poetic or rhetorically 
 suggestive in its character, one should never flat out into com- 
 monplace. It is better to enrich a prosaic text than to impov- 
 erish a poetic text in one's handling of it. Emotional texts or 
 texts of sentiment that have become identified with cherished 
 Christian experiences are specially exacting upon harmony of 
 tone. Texts, for example, that relate to the sufferings of 
 Christ, or the joys of the heavenly world. The problem of se- 
 curing harmony of tone is not merely an aesthetic problem, 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 137 
 
 but is as well the ethical problem of conserving the exception- 
 ally elevated and impressive character and influence of such 
 texts. German preachers, who, in general, speak more largely 
 to the feelings, affections and sentiments, than American or 
 English preachers, recognize this principle of harmony ex- 
 ceptionally well. They choose their texts with excellent judg- 
 ment and taste, and treat them with propriety after they have 
 chosen them. This principle of harmony of tone has, as Prof. 
 Phelps has pointed out, served to fix for us a class of texts 
 that appeal to our highest emotions and sentiments and are 
 used largely in evangelistic preaching. It is tone as well as 
 thought that has secured for us these texts that speak so per- 
 suasively to the heart and will. Evangelistic preachers of the 
 higher class have always selected their texts with reference 
 to their fitness to further the aim of evangelistic impression. 
 Theological changes and particularly changes in pulpit use of 
 the Bible, have brought out a new crop of evangelistic texts. 
 But the old texts will still demonstrate their power and will 
 still be available for varied use. 
 
 Timeliness is involved in part in this question of corre- 
 spondence of tone. The object of the sermon, as conditioned 
 by the occasion, exacts upon the time-note of the text. The 
 occasional preacher is obliged to exercise skill in his choice of 
 timely texts. The old English preachers, Tillotson, Taylor and 
 South, and the New England Puritan preachers exhibited this 
 skill in the choice of texts for their occasional sermons. 
 
 2. Ethical correspondence. We touch here more specifi- 
 cally the ethics of homiletic propriety. The use of the text is a 
 moral question, as well as one of good taste. The text should 
 be ethically worthy of the preacher's calling, of the object of 
 his preaching, of the occasion, of the audience and of the 
 sanctities of public worship. Texts in themselves unobjection- 
 able are often made objectionable by their use. The following 
 classes of texts are morally improper. They are such as 
 
138 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Claude reprehends in the preaching of the Roman Catholic 
 church of his day, and against whose use he warns the Protes- 
 tant churches of France. 
 
 Odd texts are morally objectionable. A text in itself simple 
 and clear may be made fantastic by twisting it from its historic 
 sense and use. A manly man, with a manly object, will have 
 a manly text, and such a man will have a manly sermon. It 
 was in part the homiletic sin of the old allegorizers that they 
 twisted their texts till they become fantastic. It reached its 
 lowest point of degradation in the preaching of the Roman 
 Catholic church prior to the Reformation and had not van- 
 ished in the post-Reformation period. But this sort of thing 
 has almost wholly disappeared from the Christian pulpit. Oc- 
 casionally a pulpit mountebank indulges in it, but it is gen- 
 erally regarded as vulgar. It marks a great advance in the 
 ethical as well as aesthetic tone of the pulpit that this is no 
 longer possible. A better conception of the Bible secures a 
 more serious estimate of it as a text book. Wit and humor 
 are by no means inappropriate in the pulpit. Many great 
 preachers have made use of them. But there is a great differ- 
 ence between flashes of wit such as Luther sometimes indulged 
 in, and which were not uncommon and sometimes seriously 
 objectionable in the preaching of Henry Ward Beecher, and a 
 deliberate, sensational attempt to commit a whole sermon to 
 frivolity by the use of a fantastic text, or by the fantastic use 
 of an honest text. An intelligent estimate of the Bible tends 
 to correct and regulate the moral judgments in the use of wit 
 and humor in the pulpit. 
 
 Censorious texts are ethically objectionable. The classical 
 illustration and admonitory example is that of the man, who, 
 on leaving his church, flung as a Parthian arrow Ps. 120:5, 
 "Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among 
 the tents of Kedar/' Such a man is guilty of a grave moral 
 offense. Nothing can justify a Christian minister in the in- 
 
HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 139 
 
 diligence of petty spite. It is doubly offensive to draught the 
 Scriptures into alliance with it. There are no Scriptures avail- 
 able for such use, except the imprecations of the Old Testa- 
 ment, and such use of them would be an anachronism and a 
 violation of the first principles of Christian morality. 
 
 Puzzling texts are also morally objectionable. They are 
 generally the special property of preachers who affect subjects 
 of merely speculative interest and that are morally unfruitful, 
 or of those who affect rhetorical sensation. The allegorizing 
 habit has allied itself with the use of this class of texts. It. 
 has always marked a degeneracy in the moral and spiritual, 
 and I may add, the aesthetic tone of preaching. The preacher 
 who in our day would affect the puzzling process in his use of 
 texts would be regarded as a homiletic crank. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS REGULATIVE FOR THE CHOICE 
 OF SUBJECTS 
 
 Most preachers select their own texts and themes. In 
 Churches that follow the course of the Christian year, the gen- 
 eral subjects to be presented have been prescribed by the 
 ecclesiastical authorities. They are fixed by the different 
 periods into which the church year is divided, and the preacher 
 is limited by them. There are conceivable disadvantages in 
 this. It seems to be a severe tax upon the preacher's ingenuity 
 and suggests a premium upon repetition and commonplace. For 
 the indolent and unproductive preacher it seems to promise a 
 safe retreat, while it also seems to pledge superficiality and un- 
 fruitfulness. But in general it is a seeming rather than a real 
 difficulty. It may be that the preaching of churches thus lim- 
 ited lacks somewhat the spontaneity, the independence, and 
 fruitfulness of the preaching of those churches that are free 
 of such limitations. But observation indicates that there is no 
 real restriction here for the better class of preachers. And the 
 necessity of keeping before the mind of the people the great 
 facts and truths of historic Christianity is a distinct gain. The 
 gain is the greater that only subjects and not specific themes 
 and texts are thus prescribed. But in the larger number of 
 Protestant churches neither subjects nor texts are prescribed. 
 The preacher in such churches needs, therefore, an intelligent 
 basis of selection. He needs to take into account the complex 
 demands of his vocation. There seems to be no good reason 
 why the individual sermon should be wholly isolated from sub- 
 jects chosen for presentation during a considerable period of 
 
THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 141 
 
 time. Isolation is, of course, necessary to a certain extent. The 
 preacher must adjust himself to the broken, fragmentary lives 
 of his people, whose needs he is called to meet. But in general 
 individual selection may well be conditioned by one's larger 
 plans for the work of the pulpit. A habit of storing themes 
 and texts is necessary for any successful preacher. Out of 
 such a treasury one may readily make out a list of subjects, 
 and of texts, at least in a provisional way, for a considerable 
 period of time, six months perhaps, three months at least. To 
 such subjects, especially in the earlier period of one's ministry, 
 it may be possible fairly well to adhere. Intelligent hearers 
 often criticize the lack of unity of impression in the work of 
 the pulpit, the lack of continuity in the subjects chosen and the 
 failure of an intelligent basis of selection so often apparent in 
 the preacher's work. The question, "What shall I preach?" 
 should never be left to the answer of caprice, or of transient 
 impulse. There are rational considerations regulative for 
 choice. What demands then should be taken into account in 
 answering this question in a broad and intelligent manner? 
 The following are among the claims to be met in the work of 
 selection. 
 
 I. The needs of the congregation always have the first claim 
 upon the preacher. Timeliness in preaching is necessary to gen- 
 eral effectiveness, especially necessary to edification. A word 
 spoken in season has a double power. To its own intrinsic 
 weight is added the weight that comes from the occasion or 
 from the condition of the congregation or even a portion of it. 
 Such timeliness presupposes a reference to the real needs of 
 the congregation. The man who has an intelligent and definite 
 purpose to meet these wants in his preaching will not fail to 
 be timely. What interests the congregation is not an unimpor- 
 tant consideration, for their wishes are often an index of their 
 needs. The desirable and the profitable may be united, and al- 
 ways will be united when it is evident that what people desire 
 
142 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 expresses a real want and will therefore become tributary to 
 real profit. It is true that people are not always interested in 
 what is best for them. And a responsible preacher will never 
 permit a congregation to settle for him unconditionally the 
 question of their real and permanent needs. The preacher's 
 estimate of what is profitable should, therefore, have preced- 
 ence. Experience and observation will settle the balance be- 
 tween what interests and what profits. No general rule will 
 settle it. It may be questioned, however, whether preachers 
 in general sufficiently consider what people want to hear, or 
 what they really wish, although they may not be more than 
 half conscious of it. The habit of soliciting suggestions from 
 the congregation is a good one. Very urgent wants have 
 often been recognized and met in this way. Many a preacher 
 has to acknowledge that he is indebted to his parishioners for 
 some of his best texts and most important subjects and 
 they may often thank themselves for some of his best 
 sermons. 
 
 But, of course, what clearly profits independently of all ca- 
 pricious desire, is, as already suggested, the main consideration. 
 The chief reason for interesting people is that their real needs 
 may be the more effectively met, the needs even of a limited 
 section of the congregation, sometimes perhaps even of a single 
 person. This is pastoral preaching. The Pastoral Epistles lay 
 accent upon what "profits the hearer." "Striving about words 
 to no profit" is sharply rebuked. The things to be constantly 
 affirmed are "the things that are good and profitable." It is a 
 very easy thing for a man to become a pulpit crank by selfish 
 devotion to a hobby and a lack of sympathy with the congre- 
 gation and of devotion to their moral welfare. The building of 
 religious character and the bettering of the religious life is the 
 inclusive interest. But many things are involved in this. It 
 must start in the valley of decision where men choose Christ 
 as the master of life. Ordinary preaching should enter this field. 
 
THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 143 
 
 But there are times when concentration is demanded. One will 
 need to summon into use the arousing, converting, saving truths 
 of Christianity. There are such truths and the preacher must 
 find out what they are. But a large part of the preaching that 
 profits will have for its aim the growth and enlargement of the 
 Christian life. Such preaching will deal with those truths of 
 grace that produce growth in Christian character. It is the 
 effective presentation of Christ as the source and the pattern of 
 life that develops Christian character. 
 
 But Christ is also the inspiration and the aim of life. To 
 incite men, therefore, to the choice of the highest ideals of 
 life, to quicken them into Christian activity, to urge them to the 
 cultivation of those productive virtues of the Christian life on 
 which the advancement of the Kingdom of God depends, this 
 also is involved. 
 
 There will be times also when the congregation as a whole or 
 in part will need the cheer and comfort of the Gospel of 
 alleviation. The burdened and the careworn are the larger 
 number. And the preacher who would profit must know his 
 Scriptures as a storehouse of comforting truths and facts. No 
 opportunity to say the word of cheer should ever be lost. He 
 who applies sympathetically and skillfully the cheering and 
 comforting truths of the Gospel to those who are oppressed by 
 the burdens of life will win an ascendency which were other- 
 wise impossible. If done in manly fashion, a minister will not 
 fail to make himself necessary to his people. His life will be- 
 come identified with their lives and he never can become an 
 object of indifference to them. But the end of comfort is en- 
 richment of character. The end of parenetic truth is that it 
 should become edifying truth. Place should always be left in 
 one's selection of subjects for the providences of the people's 
 lives. Here then are four classes of need, decision, edification, 
 inspiration, comfort, and there are four types of truth corre- 
 spondingly available for the preacher; evangelistic, didactic, 
 
144 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ethical, parenetic. They overlap. It were well, if all were to 
 appear in ordinary preaching. But there will be times when 
 each will need to receive special emphasis. 
 
 II. Corresponding to the needs of the congregation, are the 
 claims of Christian truth. For what meets the needs of the 
 people should meet the claims of truth. But it is an object that 
 demands specific consideration. Christianity should be inter- 
 preted to men with an approximation to completeness. A state- 
 ment of the contents of Christianity and of their demands upon 
 Christian preaching would readily furnish suggestions as to the 
 scope of the preacher's presentation. 
 
 Themes that cover the chief historic facts of Christianity 
 have the first place. The facts are back of the truths. The 
 truths cannot be worthily apprehended apart from the facts. 
 Here is the value to the preacher of the Christian year. It 
 brings these facts to his attention and summons him to make 
 use of them. The life of the Church is dependent upon them. 
 Advent season, Passion week, Easter, Whitsuntide, All Saints' 
 Day, should never fail of recognition in any Christian com- 
 munion or in any Christian pulpit. 
 
 Themes inclusive of the most important doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity, especially the doctrines of grace, will also find place in 
 the pulpit whose aim is the highest profit of the hearer. There 
 are the great central groups within which the doctrines of grace 
 are found. They are but few, and may be grouped as Bib- 
 liology, Theology, Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, 
 Pneumatology, Ecclesiology and Eschatology. Within these 
 limits lies the entire content of the Gospel message. Of 
 special importance is the recognition of vital truths or facts 
 that have been neglected or obscured because they have been 
 underestimated and undervalued, either generally in the 
 churches or in the church or community where providence has 
 placed one. One might still further add, as an important con- 
 sideration, the selection of themes whose material will be 
 
THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 145 
 
 adapted to different types of sermons, e.g., expository, textual, 
 topical, historical, biographical, doctrinal, ethical, evangelistic, 
 prophetic, parenetic. These suggestions, of course, only indicate 
 the general scope of our enquiry. They certainly cannot be 
 crowded into the limits of the work of a single year. They are 
 considerations that are properly regulative of one's entire 
 ministry. 
 
 III. But the needs of the preacher himself are not an insig- 
 nificant consideration. For the personal factor conditions ef- 
 fectiveness. It is assumed, of course, that there will be no 
 caprice or self-indulgence in selecting themes. Only with this 
 proviso is it worth while to consider it. But the working re- 
 lation of the truth to one's own personality is of vast impor- 
 tance in the whole work of preaching. 
 
 Personal interest perhaps comes first. Every thoughtful, 
 studious preacher will have his favorite themes. He will be 
 more thoroughly interested in them than in others equally im- 
 portant, perhaps, or possibly even more ^important. That one 
 can handle most effectively what interests him most is a good 
 reason why one should prefer and should choose such themes 
 rather than those even that might be regarded by many as more 
 important. One is strongly moved by that only which inter- 
 ests him strongly, and one moves others only as one is himself 
 moved. It is true that proportion and perspective may be 
 easily disregarded. One may make a hobby of his subjects, 
 and wrong his congregation by withholding subjects of more 
 vital importance. But for the preacher whose homiletic 
 interests are Christian, this basis of choice is legitimate as it 
 is important. 
 
 Personal aptitudes are another consideration. One may well 
 discuss what he is best fitted to discuss. One's intellectual, 
 emotional, ethical, aesthetic tendencies and habits and training 
 condition one's choice of themes. One man naturally affects 
 didactic themes, because the teaching gift is strong in him, an- 
 
146 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 other ethical themes and aims, another is at home in the sphere 
 of emotion and sentiment. An extreme of one's speciality is, of 
 course, objectionable, but one is strongest in his own realm, 
 and in the long run one's own speciality is pretty sure to domi- 
 nate one. What one naturally affects will surely influence one's 
 choice. 
 
 Personal familiarity is another consideration. A subject well 
 mastered will be the more effectively handled. Every intelli- 
 gent preacher may be assumed to have such themes in hand, 
 themes of living, timely interest, Biblical, theological, ethical, 
 social, whatever they may be. With such he is at home. The 
 importance of investigating those subjects that are of primary 
 importance is evident here. Those of secondary importance, 
 in which people are but little interested and which are of but 
 little practical value, should certainly be avoided. A preacher 
 cannot afford to spend time in storing useless knowledge. One 
 who does this will be an unfruitful preacher and will win the 
 reputation perhaps of a pulpit crank. Things that do not profit 
 should have the "go by." From the very outset of one's min- 
 istry themes of primal importance to the Christian life should 
 be chosen for investigation. He is the best preacher whose 
 personal tastes and aptitudes harmonize with the interests of 
 the congregation and with the claims of Christian truth. One 
 is always safe in choosing the chief themes of Christianity and 
 in making them centres about which one's thought and study 
 may rally. 
 
 Preaching regulated as to the choice of subjects by the above 
 considerations will be secured against caprice. It will be intel- 
 ligent, discriminating, proportionate preaching. The ground is 
 covered. Experience and good judgment will fix the balance 
 between different demands. How to meet these demands is now 
 a practical question more easily answered. Having in hand the 
 needs to be met, knowing one's people, and their necessities, 
 knowing one's self, respecting the truth of which one is a 
 
THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 147 
 
 steward, one will the more easily determine what to preach and 
 in a reasonable, practical way. 
 
 Thus will be secured, moreover, deliberation in the choice 
 of the particular theme for the particular sermon. One is not 
 shut up to one thing. Selection is possible from what seems 
 most pertinent at the time. Present necessity or present in- 
 clination will, indeed, sometimes dominate one. One must do 
 simply what he can, or what he is inwardly self-impelled to do, 
 irrespective of all other considerations. But the less of this the 
 better. Here one has a broad and reliable basis for his work. 
 Out of this the individual sermon will the more readily come 
 and with intelligent deliberation. A preacher who works from 
 a basis so broad will always have something to say. It is the 
 "hand to mouth" preacher that will be left without anything to 
 say. And such a preacher may find himself degenerating into 
 the performance of those rhetorical antics that are the agonies 
 of mental and moral poverty or into a commonplace stupidity 
 equally impoverished of mental, ethical, spiritual or genuinely 
 emotional quality. 
 
 Freedom and fitness of invention too will result, i. e., in the 
 discovery, choice and development of the thought-material of 
 the individual sermon. Such production must always be con- 
 ditioned by a good general conception of the scope of preaching 
 and good plans for the realization of such conception. Surely 
 the preacher who shapes the general plan of his preaching with 
 reference to the right sort of results, will be pretty sure to keep 
 this in mind in the process of the development of the individual 
 sermon. For the question is not merely what does this text, 
 theme, plan and development demand, but what do Christian 
 interests demand, what the welfare of men, what is demanded 
 by the truth, what of me as a Christian preacher, not only here 
 and now, but all through and always. 
 
Ill 
 
 SECTION THIRD 
 TYPES OF HOMILETIC PRODUCT 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 
 
 Sermons may be classified in a variety of ways. A very 
 comprehensive classification would give us the didactic and the 
 practical types of sermon, or the argumentative and the per- 
 suasive, or the pastoral and the occasional. But this is too 
 general for purposes of close analysis. The method of develop- 
 ment would be another basis for classification and this would 
 give us the textual and topical types. But the method of de- 
 velopment belongs properly to formal homiletics. The struc- 
 ture of the sermon can not be discussed without considering the 
 form it takes. The most external classification would be based 
 upon the method of delivery and this would lead us into a 
 discussion of the manuscript, extemporaneous and memoriter 
 types of preaching. This basis we cannot ignore. Our dis- 
 cussion will, therefore, include these three types. But the most 
 complete and satisfactory classification will centre in the con- 
 tent and object of the sermon. Following this method of 
 classification, we first find the sermon whose content is Biblical 
 material and whose object is exposition and practical applica- 
 tion. We find secondly the sermon that contains the substance 
 of some formulated doctrine and whose aim is the interpreta- 
 tion or the defense and enforcement of some teaching of church 
 theology. Thirdly, we have the sermon that relates to moral 
 duties and virtues and whose object is moral inculcation in the 
 interest of a practical realization of the claims of Christianity. 
 And then fourthly we come to the sermon that concerns itself 
 specifically with the claims and promises of the Gospel of re- 
 demption, and whose object is to persuade men to their 
 
152 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 acceptance. Scriptural truth, dogmatic truth, ethical truth, 
 evangelistic truth ; Biblical exposition, systematic indoctrina- 
 tion, ethical inculcation, evangelistic conquest. Many sub-di- 
 visions under each class are possible. Moreover any sermon, 
 whatever its class, may include elements that belong to all 
 these classes. The truth may be Biblically interpreted, argu- 
 mentatively discussed, ethically enforced and evangelistically 
 applied, all in the same sermon. Perhaps on the whole that 
 is the best kind of sermon for ordinary pastoral use that com- 
 bines in some measure elements that belong to all these types. 
 It is however the prevailing quality of content and the leading 
 object that determine the classification. According to the two 
 methods of classification, then, we have before us seven types 
 of homiletic product. We begin with the expository type. 
 
 I. The Conception of Expository Preaching 
 It is the interpretation, illustration and practical application, 
 in appropriate order and form, of a portion of Scripture. As 
 to its basis, the expository sermon rests upon a larger portion 
 of Scripture as its text, than any other type of sermon. In this 
 it differs from textual preaching. The older preachers and 
 writers on homiletics are inclined to identify the textual and 
 expository methods, treating single passages expositorily. 
 Claude would call any method of drawing out the related 
 thoughts of a single passage and expanding them, expository, 
 and what we in our day would call a topical treatment, he 
 would call expository. But properly the textual method in- 
 terprets the content of but one or two passages, while the 
 expository method deals with a larger amount of Scripture. 
 In its content of development it is, of course, immediately 
 Scriptural. It ranges less widely for its material all through 
 than any other type of sermon. The body of thought comes 
 directly from the Scriptures. Only what illustrates it comes 
 from without. 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 153 
 
 As to its method, it is primarily explanatory. It may be 
 much else, but whatever the nature of the discussion and what- 
 ever practical use may be made of the truth, it is all based 
 immediately upon the exposition. As to its structure the ex- 
 pository discourse has, or may have, a larger measure of free- 
 dom than any other type of sermon. It is less controlled by 
 logical and rhetorical considerations. The expository sermon 
 proper has indeed the normal structural form, although even 
 this has large freedom. But other forms are not at all answer- 
 able to the demands of structural homiletics. 
 
 We are thus led to consider some of its methods. Most of 
 the methods possible fall somewhere within the four following 
 classes. We have first the expository lecture. It may or may 
 not have structural form. Like the Biblical homily, it may 
 follow the order of thought in the text or like the sermon it 
 may have a logical method of its own, rearranging the material 
 structurally to suit that method. Its chief peculiarity is that 
 it has a prevailingly didactic rather than practical interest. 
 Chalmer's lectures on the Epistle to the Romans and Dale's lec- 
 tures on the Epistle to the Ephesians may illustrate. These 
 lectures are without sermon form and vary greatly in method 
 of treatment. We have next the Biblical homily; a running 
 popular commentary on and practical application of the text. 
 In form it may correspond to the lecture, but in its character 
 it is more popular and practical. Dr. Joseph Parker's preaching 
 was largely of this sort. The modern Bible reading is much 
 like the old Biblical homily. 
 
 The expository biographical and historical discourse is an- 
 other class. This may be handled in an almost unlimited variety 
 of ways. The text need not be a continuous passage, and it 
 may vary greatly in its length. Take the following illustrations. 
 They are all concrete examples.* 
 
 *See Classical Library. Expository sermons and outlines on the 
 O. T. English. 
 
154 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Here we have the discourse that takes a single verse as a 
 heading and uses other portions of Scripture as material for 
 expansion. The text is only a figurehead, e. g., Sermon 14, on 
 David.* Text: 2 Samuel 12: 7, "Thou art the Man/' The text 
 only hints at a single phase of David's character and life, with 
 which somewhat comprehensively the discourse deals. All bears 
 remotely upon the fall, but there is much that does not 
 relate to it. The preacher has exercised his freedom to the 
 utmost. 
 
 Then there is the discourse that has an entire chapter as text, 
 bringing in also, in a supplemental way, other Scriptures bear- 
 ing upon the general subject in the process of discussion. The 
 topics for discussion are suggested by the salient features of 
 these Scriptures in their relation to the general subject, e. g.. 
 Sermon 16. "Elijah's Flight," 1 Kings ig.~f Plan: (1) Circum- 
 stances of the time in which Elijah lived. (2) Flight. (3) 
 God's treatment of him, concluding with two inferential prac- 
 tical suggestions. Here too we have an illustration of homiletic 
 freedom. 
 
 We have too the discourse that has no text at all. x\n ex- 
 ample may be found in Dr. Joseph Parker's discourse on 
 Judas Iscariot.J The material is gathered from all the pas- 
 sages in the New Testament that refer to Judas. The first part 
 is expository, the second practical. All these are illustrations 
 of wide possibilities. And these possibilities are not limited 
 to biographical and historical discourses, although they may 
 have a wider range in these spheres. 
 
 We have finally the expository sermon proper. It is like any 
 topical sermon, with the difference that it gets all its material 
 from the Scriptures. It has all the parts of a topical sermon, 
 introduction, theme, divisions, orderly development and con- 
 
 ♦Archdeacon Farrar. 
 
 fDr. Davidson. 
 
 t'Things Concerning Himself," page 349. 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 155 
 
 elusion, all bound together in topical unity. This is the method 
 of Frederick W. Robertson, with the limitation that he failed 
 to formulate his theme. It is a valuable method. It is not so 
 distinctively didactic as the expository lecture, nor so distinc- 
 tively practical as the homily, but has the same combination of 
 the didactic and the practical that any textual or topical sermon 
 has or should have. It is a method that may have very wide 
 range. It may involve doctrinal preaching, for it is likely to hit 
 upon the fundamental teachings of Christianity. It may in- 
 volve ethical preaching, for Biblical material is largely ethical. 
 Its material may be biographical or historical. Much exposi- 
 tory preaching is necessarily of this sort. It may be evangelistic 
 in its character, involving exhortation and appeal, for its con- 
 tent may be the central message of the Gospel. It is used 
 largely in the evangelistic preaching of our day. The possi- 
 bilities of expository preaching as regards its range are a 
 strong recommendation of it. It may combine many and 
 varied elements of effective preaching. 
 
 II. Homiletic Peculiarities of Expository Preaching 
 All types of the topical sermon are treated in much the same 
 way, but there are some distinctive features in the handling 
 of the expository sermon that demand special attention. This 
 may anticipate somewhat the discussion of formal homiletics, 
 but only in a very limited measure. 
 
 As regards the text, unity of content demands special em- 
 phasis. The text is likely to be too large and cover too much 
 ground. It is complex and varied in its content of thought. 
 It is desirable, therefore, that it be reduced so that it may be 
 made to contain but one complex leading thought or group of 
 cognate or related thoughts capable of being gathered into one 
 theme. If the text covers too much ground, the theme, if a 
 theme be secured from it, will be too large, and the discussion, 
 therefore, inadequate or interminable. If a single theme be 
 
156 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 not found to cover the content, the discourse may lack unity. 
 It will be a homily, not a sermon. 
 
 As regards the introduction, it is naturally briefer than that 
 of the ordinary topical sermon. It enters less into explanation, 
 for the whole sermon is explanatory. A long expository intro- 
 duction to a sermon that is from beginning to end expository 
 would be a gratuitous contribution. If the sermon is part of a 
 series, the introduction will naturally aim to hold the continuity 
 of exposition and will necessarily be brief, because it will only 
 recapitulate the course of thought in the last discourse or 
 possibly in the entire series up to this point. 
 
 As to the theme the demand is that in size it be neither too 
 large nor too small to fit the content of thought discussed. The 
 theme is likely to be too large, for the reason that there is 
 likely to be a large amount of text behind it. It is difficult to 
 state the theme of such a sermon, because it covers so much 
 ground. The more care, therefore, is needed in the statement. 
 On the other hand in reducing the theme one is likely to throw 
 out important material that should be included in the discus- 
 sion. Exceptional care in securing and stating the theme will 
 aid in grouping the content of the passage, which lies in con- 
 fusion before the mind of the hearer, about its central thought. 
 The whole sermon will then open out before the hearer with 
 the greater definiteness, and mental confusion will be avoided. 
 
 With respect to the topics or divisions of the sermon, care 
 is needed in two directions ; first in analyzing, sifting and se- 
 lecting material for discussion, so as to secure and group only 
 the chief, salient points of the passage ; and secondly in fixing 
 upon some simple, clear order in which these points or topics 
 may be presented. Sometimes the passage itself will furnish 
 the order that is desirable. It is likely, however, that the 
 thoughts or topics will need rearranging. 
 
 Touching the development or expansion of topics, the sug- 
 gestive, rather than the exhaustive method is needed. The 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 157 
 
 material is so abundant that it must be touched lightly, only 
 the chief, germinal thoughts being seized upon. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to suggest that the conclusion can 
 afford to be brief, and may well attach itself, as often in the 
 preaching of Robertson, to the last topic discussed. An elab- 
 orate applicatory conclusion would be inappropriate in a dis- 
 course which is largely applicatory from beginning to end. 
 
 The expository sermon of the biographical and historical 
 sort invites special attention. There are two possible methods 
 of handling the material of such sermons. There is first the 
 method of combining exposition and application in each division 
 of the sermon. Here the application is attached directly to the 
 exposition in the process of discussion. For such sermons this 
 should seem to be the better way. One thus secures the greater 
 clearness and definiteness of impression. One may thus take as 
 text a single fragment that suggests what is most character- 
 istic in the whole passage used, get a theme out of it and then 
 discuss and apply the material as above suggested. To take 
 a large passage would tax the memory in its effort to carry it 
 along and keep connection. The second method separates the 
 expository from the applicatory section, dealing first with ex- 
 planation and then under a separate division deducing lessons 
 or making practical application. This method seems better 
 adapted to the doctrinal, than to the biographical or historical 
 expository sermon. By discussing first the doctrinal material, 
 one secures for it a clear, continuous and cumulative impres- 
 sion. Then one is ready to make a practical application of it. 
 The hearer does not care to have the preacher stop in his dis- 
 cussion to moralize on his subject. He prefers a continuous, 
 uninterrupted discussion. He is ready for the moral at the end. 
 Not so, however, with the historical and biographical sermon. 
 To be obliged to carry along the whole mass of biographical 
 and historical material to the end of the exposition and then 
 recall it all in the application would be too heavy a tax upon 
 
158 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the memory of the hearer. It would seem better to give the 
 exposition in installments in connection with the application. 
 
 III. Qualifications for Effective Expository Preaching 
 
 The same general qualifications are of course needed in all 
 
 types of effective preaching. But expository preaching has some 
 
 special exactions. The following suggestions may be made. 
 
 1. Discriminating judgment is perhaps the primal requisite 
 in successful expository preaching. This is taxed in the selec- 
 tion and use of material. A sense of proportion, of propriety, 
 of fitness, of adaptation, is needed in determining just what 
 should be selected for use, and just what and how much re- 
 jected. It is the germ thought, the gist of the passage that is 
 wanted. One needs a firm grasp of the passage as a whole, a 
 clear understanding of the central and most important thoughts 
 and then good judgment in dealing with only that which is nec- 
 essary to the realization of one's object in the sermon. If the 
 exegetical dominates the homiletic mind, the preacher will surely 
 fail to discriminate between what is important and what is un- 
 essential to his purpose. The exegetical mind is a very differ- 
 ent product from the homiletical mind. The one is accustomed 
 to minute analysis. It subjects all parts alike of a given pas- 
 sage to investigation. The other simply uses what is practically 
 important. Skill is needed in homiletic analysis, then skill in 
 combining the results synthetically. The first thing to do is to 
 sift the elements of thought in the passage and then to select 
 what one needs for homiletic use. Less skill in invention is 
 needed here than in ordinary topical preaching, for the reason 
 that the material in crude form lies near at hand in the text. 
 But a great deal of skill in analysis is needed, skill in sifting 
 out, selecting and ultimately in combining into unity the subject 
 matter of the sermon. 
 
 2. Historical and literary sense also is a necessary gift for 
 the expository preacher. One needs to cultivate the ability to 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 159 
 
 get behind a writer's language, to enter into his spirit, to make 
 real to one's self the conditions of his thought, to get the flavor 
 of what he says, to catch what is distinctive in it and to inter- 
 pret him in a large and generous and suggestive way. In a 
 word there is demanded the gift of the interpreter. No one 
 has that gift who fails to see that the Bible must be studied as 
 a literary product, just as any other book is studied, only more 
 sympathetically and devoutly than any other book is entitled to 
 be studied. It is very easy to foist one's own thought upon the 
 writers of the Bible. Men of lively imagination, of nimble 
 mental movement are very likely to do this. One must have 
 care to bring out in a legitimate way what belongs to the writer, 
 what he naturally suggests or what he furnishes as a natural 
 basis for suggestion, rather than what is forced from him by 
 some process of exegetical or homiletical twisting. A Biblical 
 writer may prove suggestive far beyond his original intent, as 
 any productive writer may. But far-fetched suggestions tor- 
 ture the historic sense. No type of preaching exacts so. closely 
 upon a well balanced judgment and upon a chastened taste, 
 such as are inseparable from sound historic and literary sense. 
 The attempt to modernize the Scriptures demands extreme 
 care. Professional evangelists and preachers who are un- 
 trained thinkers are very likely to deal in crude anachronisms 
 in their expository preaching, that is, they deal unhistorically 
 with Scripture scenes and characters, which is to say that they 
 handle them without good exegetical as well as homiletical 
 sense, or without properly translating the Scriptures into and 
 applying them to the real present. The applications are 
 strained. The scenes and characters masquerade in grotesque 
 guises. Mr. Moody, despite his strong common sense and clear 
 judgment and quickness of insight, was sometimes led into 
 such anachronisms. All this results from the lack of a trained 
 historic and literary sense. One needs the ability to transfer 
 oneself into other times, to get into the lives of the men of other 
 
160 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 days, and to live them over with them. It demands also a 
 knowledge of the people and the conditions of our time. Thus 
 only may one successfully and correctly translate the past into 
 the present. The Bible may be made a new book in the hands 
 of a master of interpretation, like Frederick Robertson, who 
 knows how to discover and to appropriate and apply its lessons 
 to his own age. All this demands trained perception of his- 
 toric analogies, so that one may interpret what is specific in 
 history or experience by what is generic, or may interpret what 
 is generic by what is specific. 
 
 3. Aptitude for moral ideas, t. e., a trained facility in appre- 
 hending and applying truth with reference to ethical interests, 
 is another valuable quality in the expository preacher. 
 Preachers differ greatly in this regard. Some seem to have re- 
 ceived the gift, and some have cultivated it more fully than 
 others. Important as a homiletic gift in general, it is particu- 
 larly so here. Scotch and Welsh preachers are preeminently 
 gifted in this aptitude for moralizing. It is possible that the 
 expository habit in preaching has developed the gift. They 
 have cultivated the skill to interject practical, admonitory or 
 edifying suggestions into their exposition. The Puritan preach- 
 ers were trained in the exercise of this gift. It is susceptible 
 of indefinite cultivation and will prove a valuable posses- 
 sion for any man who would be successful in this type of 
 preaching. 
 
 4. Power of vigorous, concentrated statement may also be 
 named as a valuable expository gift. The great amount of ma- 
 terial at hand necessitates the gift of condensation. The ex- 
 pository preacher has an "embarrassment of riches." Success 
 depends on condensation and concentration on what is of chief 
 importance. Hence the value of the sermon form. With a 
 well-conceived and well-stated theme, orderly plan, and careful 
 method of development, one can realize to better advantage 
 the requisite clearness and compactness of statement. 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 161 
 
 5. Facility in the handling of descriptive and narrative ma- 
 terial is sure to have carrying power in the expository dis- 
 course. A great amount of this material is found in the Old 
 Testament and this is one reason why it is so well adapted to 
 and is so much used in this type of preaching. This facility is 
 of special value in the historical and biographical discourse. 
 The Scriptures in general strongly appeal to a picturesque and 
 vivid literary style. 
 
 6. Candor in dealing with difficulties is an important ethical 
 gift in this type of sermon. One is summoned to the exercise 
 of candor in this as in no other sort of preaching, for the ex- 
 positor is sure to meet difficulties which he cannot honestly 
 evade. Caution, of course, is needed. A preacher should be 
 wise in dealing with what honest and worthy, and intelligent 
 people, although possibly uninstructed in the vexed problems 
 of Biblical criticism, have regarded and do regard as sacred. 
 There is in general no need in our day of scandalizing anybody 
 in interpreting the modern view of the Bible, save the rather 
 exceptional man, who is so dense in his ignorance and preju- 
 dice that he is incapable of illumination. But no special plead- 
 ing is tolerable. The word of God should not be handled de- 
 ceitfully but in such way as to commend it to every man's con- 
 science, as well as intelligence, in the sight of God as well as 
 of men. No hopeless dogmatic precommittals here, no mini- 
 mizing of real difficulties, if also no parading of imaginary or 
 relatively insignificant difficulties. This type of preaching tends 
 to foster candor in the preacher, and this is a strong argument 
 in its favor. It gives the preacher an opportunity to deal with 
 Biblical difficulties, especially those of an ethical sort, in such 
 way that the people will receive no shock. In no type of 
 preaching can a man so well afford to deal with entire, but 
 judicious frankness. Difficulties are taken up in a perfectly 
 natural way and as a matter of course and are not dragged 
 into or paraded in the sermon. 
 
162 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 IV. The Value of Expository Preaching 
 
 i. He who cultivates it will be in line with much of the 
 most effective preaching of other days. It may be justly 
 claimed that it has been the prevailing type of preaching in the 
 history of the Christian church. Doubtless to the theological 
 or homiletic radical the antiquity of anything is no argument 
 in its favor. But it is natural for a person of sound judgment 
 to infer the value of expository preaching for the future from 
 its value in the past. It is interesting to see that in fact mod- 
 ern Biblical investigation has turned the attention of preach- 
 ers in this direction. Early Christianity was propagated by 
 Biblical preaching. It rejected the dialectical and rhetorical 
 methods of classical antiquity and won its victory without 
 them. It needed new methods, methods that were its own. 
 It is true that it developed a dialectic and rhetoric that were 
 peculiar to itself, and that it ultimately appropriated them, as it 
 appropriated a philosophy, from outside sources. But it won 
 its first conquests by the power of the spirit that dwelt within 
 it and was native to it, and by a subject matter that was its 
 own, rather than by an imported subject matter or, what is 
 specifically to the point in hand, by the form of its presenta- 
 tion. And it is a method, which, in its artlessness, has always 
 proved effective in any new awakening of the religious life. 
 We get back to Biblical sources and methods as to the ever- 
 fresh fountains and streams of religious life and power. It 
 is then that preaching strikes out for itself simpler and more 
 direct methods and more in accord with the genius of Chris- 
 tianity. By far the larger part of Luther's and of Calvin's 
 discourses are expository. In the Methodist revival of the 
 eighteenth century the topical method was used by Wesley, 
 who in this as otherwise followed customs that were common 
 in the Anglican church. But this method was used success- 
 fully in the interpretation of the Biblical material of the topical 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 163 
 
 sermon, and the expository method itself became increasingly 
 common. In the English revivals of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries this was largely the method by which they 
 were furthered. The Puritan preachers were largely Biblical 
 preachers, as were the non-conforming preachers of a subse- 
 quent day. Baxter was a notable example of a fruitful Biblical 
 preacher. Scotch preachers have to a large extent followed 
 the expository method. German preaching in its best periods 
 has renewed its Biblical tone and form and today it is largely 
 expository or textual. French Protestant preaching has 
 adopted this method to a considerable extent and in its early 
 period almost wholly, and that despite the fact that French 
 preaching in general is more largely topical than British or 
 German, for the reason that it has been more fully subject to 
 rhetorical culture. Saurin, the greatest of French Protestant 
 preachers, generally made the first division of his discourse ex- 
 pository, although his method would be called topical. In our 
 own day, as in the past, we notice a tendency in periods of 
 special religious awakening to a more Biblical basis for 
 preaching, which has greatly enhanced its power. 
 
 2. In line with the preceding consideration, one may note 
 that in fact it is an acceptable method. It is in harmony not 
 only with the needs, but with the wishes of the people. It is 
 in line with the Biblical study of our day and with increasing 
 interest in Biblical literature. The preacher knows, or should 
 know, more about the Bible in many respects than preachers 
 have ever known before. He has a more comprehensive estimate 
 of it, critical, historical, literary, ethical and theological and 
 has, or should have, a more intelligent interest in the study of 
 it. Sunday school instruction, which has largely displaced pas- 
 toral catechetics that was formerly based on the theology of 
 the church, has done much in preparing the way among the 
 people for Biblical preaching. The preacher may have there- 
 fore, the greater confidence in the willingness of the members 
 
164 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of his congregation to listen to it. Popular preachers like Dr. 
 Joseph Parker have found that they can effectively reach men 
 in this way, and in the presence of promiscuous assemblies 
 have not been afraid to trust themselves to it. The career in 
 New York City of preachers like Dr. William M. Taylor and 
 Dr. John Hall, who have interested great congregations com- 
 posed largely of men by a simple, straight-forward practical 
 exposition and application of the teachings of the Bible, is 
 noteworthy. All this indicates, and it is a very hopeful indica- 
 tion, that there is increasing interest in this wonderful book. 
 If one will watch a congregation in its reception of the truth 
 presented in an effective expository manner, he will see and he 
 will be impressed anew with the fact that the Bible is a pro- 
 foundly interesting book to people of average intelligence, and 
 the preacher who has tested this will have the greater confi- 
 dence in attempting to utilize the fact. 
 
 3. Another consideration is that it is a method which is in 
 harmony with the preacher's primary function. The preacher 
 is an interpreter of Biblical truth. Like all public speakers, 
 he is indeed an advocate. But he is an interpreter before he is 
 an advocate. One may interpret truth without expounding it 
 Biblically. But in leaving the Scripture text and discussing the 
 theme independently the preacher introduces a new factor into 
 his work. He interprets indirectly and it may be meagrely. 
 But let one make the Scripture passage the immediate basis of 
 one's work and he will realize more immediately and more 
 fully the interpreting function. It is well to oblige oneself, by 
 the use of the expository method in a measure at least, to keep 
 the interpreting function before the mind. It may be of ad- 
 vantage to the entire work of preaching by holding other forms 
 more closely to the Biblical basis. 
 
 4. Its value for the work of religious instruction is entitled 
 to special consideration. It yields an abundance of fresh and 
 varied material. All advocates of it lay stress upon this point, 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 165 
 
 and all preachers who have tested it have found it to be true. 
 It is an economical use of preaching force, for it necessitates a 
 thorough contextual study of the Scriptures and thus furnishes 
 a large amount of material for preaching ready at hand. No 
 wonder Dr. Joseph Parker was so fertile a preacher. His 
 preaching was simply the product of continual Biblical study. 
 In possession of all this material, one has an immense advan- 
 tage at the outset. Out of such study, sermons are easily pro- 
 duced. Recall individual sermons of Frederick Robertson, 
 e. g., Jacob's wrestling, from the book of Genesis, and God's 
 Revelation of Heaven, and many others. It is questionable 
 whether we should have had these sermons in their present 
 richness, suggestiveness and helpfulness without the previous 
 expository study that was given to the books from which they 
 come. In fact all of Robertson's preaching seems to have been 
 based on his Biblical studies. And this is one of the sources of 
 his great helpfulness as a preacher. Moreover this type of 
 preaching is likely to secure more correct teaching than the 
 topical method. The material is likely to be more reliable as 
 well as abundant and varied. No studious man in our day can 
 preach expositorily to any considerable extent, or with much 
 success, without making use of modern methods of Biblical 
 investigation. That the results of this investigation give the 
 preacher an opportunity and an incentive to ground his people 
 in a better knowledge of the Bible, is a strong argument in 
 favor of this method. One who preaches expositorily upon the 
 books of the Bible will as of necessity discuss their distinctive 
 characteristics. In this way the uninstructed will come to 
 understand them better, and thus the more readily measure 
 their value for the religious life. This must have been the result 
 of such expository discourses as those of Dr. R. W. Dale on 
 the Letter to the Ephesians and those of Robertson on the book 
 of Genesis, the books of Samuel, the book of the Acts and the 
 Epistles to the Corinthians. Thus the human side of the Bible 
 
166 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 will emerge to view the more naturally and the divine side will 
 be the more intelligently apprehended. One will be put upon the 
 necessity of doing justice to the historic sense of the Scriptures 
 and of educating one's congregation away from those false 
 conceptions of them that are still prevalent. In this way, the 
 Bible may become a more valuable book in the entire parish, for 
 this sort of preaching will become tributary to the work of re- 
 ligious instruction in the home and in the Sunday School and 
 in the catechetical class. 
 
 The teaching thus communicated is likely also to be the most 
 weighty sort of teaching. It gets back to the fountain head of 
 the Christian revelation. It is no product of subjective specu- 
 lation. There is but very little doctrinal preaching in our day 
 of any sort. But no topical preacher of the doctrinal type, 
 even if we had him, could be as weightily instructive as the old 
 New England doctrinal preacher in his day and according to 
 his kind. That preaching was based on a well-defined system 
 of doctrinal theology. It was after its sort doctrinally instruc- 
 tive. It did its work, in its way a grand work. From the basis 
 of our present homiletic and theologic standards, it is easy to 
 criticise it. Of course it would not succeed in our day. There 
 is no call for just that sort of preaching. The modern didactic 
 sermon in order to be successful most be rhetorically attrac- 
 tive. We no longer preach our systems of theology, even if 
 we have them, and we should not preach them probably if we 
 had them at hand more fully developed than we now have 
 them. Preaching by suggestion rather than by elaboration best 
 satisfies the modern congregation. But shallow, flippant crit- 
 icism of our homiletic fathers is unseemly. That old doc- 
 trinal preaching was instructive in its way. The hearer was 
 strongly indoctrinated. And in our day there may be a great 
 loss in the instructive, edifying quality of our preaching, unless 
 we find some substitute or supplemental method of conveying 
 solid religious truth. Where shall we find it? It is the Bibli- 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 167 
 
 cal expository method that will do this work of instruction and 
 to better purpose than the old doctrinal method. There is no 
 reason why we should swing to the opposite extreme and decry 
 doctrinal preaching in the distinctive sense. It is to be remem- 
 bered also that in the presentation of Biblical truth in non- 
 dogmatic form the results of one's study in doctrinal theology 
 will appear and may well appear. But after all the Biblical, 
 which is namely the non-dogmatic method of preaching, pre- 
 sents religious instruction in the best manner. Not only is 
 the substance weighty but the form may be made attractive. 
 It may lay the foundation for a better and more successful 
 type of doctrinal preaching, a type that will be more fully 
 in harmony with the .tastes and culture of our time. Biblical 
 science has become tributary to doctrinal theology, in fact has 
 laid new foundations for it, and put it in line with present 
 habits of thought. And just so a broader and a more correct 
 expository and practical use of the Bible in the pulpit may lay 
 the foundations for a better type of doctrinal preaching. 
 
 It is contained in what has already been said, that the Bib- 
 lical type tends to secure for preaching in general a desirable 
 objective quality. It will be not only more fresh and varied 
 and more correct and weighty teaching, but it will be less ex- 
 posed to the manifold defects of subjective caprice, or sub- 
 jective speculation.* As preaching strays from a Biblical 
 basis, it tends to subjectivity. It may become rationalistically 
 subjective or mystically subjective or aesthetically subjective 
 according to the preacher's prevailing tendency or the ten- 
 dency of his time, or of the circle to which he belongs. The 
 restoration of the Biblical quality involves a restoration of 
 objective quality both in susbtance and form. 
 
 5. Its value to the religious life of the congregation com- 
 mends it to our favor. The religious life can not grow unless 
 
 *See Prof. Shedd's Homiletics and Pastoral Theology. Chap. I, 
 page 21 ; Chap. Ill, page 75 ff. 
 
168 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 it is fed. It is Biblical pabulum, judiciously served, that is 
 most wholesome and nutritious. In abandoning the Biblical 
 type, preaching is likely to run into one-sidedness. It settles 
 into ruts and it becomes unprofitable. In reaction it pushes 
 from one extreme to another, all one-sided and ultimately un- 
 profitable. This may be illustrated copiously. The Biblical 
 method of the Reformation, for example, was abandoned for 
 the dogmatic method of the post — Reformation, which was a 
 survival and revival of the topical scholastic type. Then came 
 a reaction against its unfruitfulness in favor of a mystical or 
 pietistic, which was an extreme of the sentimental and emo- 
 tional type of preaching. This too ran itself down and out 
 into equal unfruitfulness. Now the interesting thing is that 
 after these reactions, there is a return to Biblical preaching. 
 The extremes of dogmatic and of pietistic sentimental 
 preaching give place to the Biblical basis which is notable in 
 our own day. Take as an illustration the preaching of the 
 United States. The old doctrinal type had its run in New 
 England. At one time there was almost nothing but doctrinal 
 preaching of the topical or propositional type. Against the 
 doctrines of this preaching and naturally against its method 
 liberalism so-called reacted. As a result there emerged a type 
 of preaching, modified in substance and form that was ration- 
 alistic and ethical. It had better literary quality. This 
 rationalizing, ethical, aesthetic or literary quality has charac- 
 terized the preaching of the so-called liberal churches ever 
 since. Other influences, with which we need not linger, have 
 been at work modifying American preaching, securing for it a 
 more sympathetic, a more ethical, a better literary quality and 
 greater rhetorical effectiveness. And now the thing to be 
 noted is that, amid all these movements, we see a tendency 
 back to the Biblical type which tends to check the one-sided- 
 ness and to correct the unprofitableness of any one dominant 
 tendency. And it may be believed that all this indicates a rec- 
 
THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 169 
 
 ognition of the needs of the religious life of the churches. For 
 the churches have always thriven on such preaching. It tends 
 to check extremes and furnishes nutriment for the religious 
 life. It is a type of preaching that furthers the interests of 
 the worshipping assembly. The pulpit orator and the pulpit 
 oration have their place. But for the ordinary Christian con- 
 gregation a large amount of Biblical preaching, shaped indeed 
 with reference to rhetorical effectiveness, but still Biblical in 
 substance and method, will prove most helpful to the religious 
 life. 
 
 6. But not the least important consideration is its value to 
 the preacher himself. Take the case of Frederick Robertson 
 as an illustration. Its value to him in a variety of ways is 
 most notable, but especially in anchoring him to objective his- 
 toric truth. By reason of his somewhat morbid and strongly 
 subjective tendencies, thrown as he was into an age of dislodg- 
 ment from the old foundations, he was in danger of a wreck 
 of faith. No one can feel sure where he would have landed, 
 if he had not been held by objective, historic, Biblical truth. 
 His Biblical method of preaching may have secured him also 
 from an extreme of the dialectical or dogmatic method, at least 
 it may have been influential in arresting and checking such 
 tendency. For it is noteworthy that Robertson was not only a 
 man of very strong convictions, but of very resolute will and 
 might easily have become a polemist. Moreover, he was a 
 man of great dialectical ability and might have developed as 
 much dialectical skill as Newman. If he had trained himself 
 as an advocate of Church theology, he might have become a 
 most powerful popular dogmatist and apologist, as much so as 
 Robert South, and he might have become a bishop in the 
 Anglican church! For he was by far the most powerful 
 preacher the church of England produced in the last century. 
 But he chose the better way, better for himself, better for his 
 church, better for all who have felt his power, better for the 
 
i;o THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 world, and he has left a more lasting influence than otherwise 
 might have been possible. He chose the good part that never 
 shall be taken away. 
 
 7. A final word should be spoken in behalf of its rhetorical 
 effectiveness. Much expository preaching has doubtless lacked 
 such effectiveness. But preachers like Robertson and Parker 
 illustrate its rhetorical possibilities. The Biblical material of 
 sueh preaching is rich in rhetorical and poetic suggestiveness. 
 It must be concrete and illustrative preaching. What has been 
 said about the rhetorical value of texts in general for the work 
 of preaching, may be said with increased emphasis of the use 
 of the Scriptures in expository preaching. The Bible deals 
 with human life in its most intense reality. Preaching from 
 such a book naturally cultivates the concrete habit of mind, 
 and it will speak to the imagination and emotions. It deals with 
 the human as well as the divine heart. Preaching that moves 
 in such a realm will naturally be simple and practical and 
 human, for its aim will be primarily to interpret the truth with 
 reference to the interests of common human life. It does not 
 call for great oratory. It calls for simple, clear, straight, vig- 
 orous, sometimes pungent, cumulative indeed, but plain, un- 
 artistic presentation, with reference to the interests of a purer, 
 nobler, more intelligent indeed, but above all a more practical 
 Christian life. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 
 
 I. The Conception of Doctrinal Preaching 
 There is in our day a strong reaction against what is known 
 specifically as doctrinal preaching. To meet this prejudice and 
 in the interest of effectiveness, it were well for us at the out- 
 set to secure a limit for our conception of it. We will limit 
 it then to the presentation of those truths that are properly 
 articles of a Christian creed. 
 
 Doctrinal preaching is the preaching of doctrine. Its ma- 
 terial is doctrine, its object is to convince, its method is proof. 
 But what are we to understand by doctrine as the term is used 
 here? It is natural to think of it in the first place as a truth 
 that does not stand by itself alone. It does not find its com- 
 plete significance in itself. It is a related truth. It exists in 
 organic connection with other truths. It is part of the system 
 of Christian thought, which is evolved from the thought con- 
 tent of Christianity. 
 
 It is a truth, therefore, that is central and fundamental. It 
 is its importance for Christian thought and life that fixes its 
 place. Not every Christian truth may be elevated to the rank 
 of a central and fundamental doctrine. The sort and size of 
 the truth must be taken into account. A doctrine in the sense 
 intended here is not secured by throwing any sort of relatively 
 insignificant Christian thought into the form of a proposition. 
 It is a truth selected on account of its importance from a large 
 number of minor truths and lifted into prominence. It thus 
 becomes a significant article of Christian faith. The doctrine 
 
172 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of the atonement, e. g., is selected from a group of truths re- 
 lating to the saving significance of Christ's work. A doctrine 
 then, as understood in this discussion, embodies what is cen- 
 tral and fundamental in Christianity and is of supreme interest 
 for Christian faith and life. Such a truth is capable of being 
 expressed in terms of rational thought. It can be formulated, 
 provisionally at least. A doctrine is a truth, but not every 
 truth is a doctrine. Any unformulated statement of Christian 
 thought may contain a truth. Many of them perhaps. But 
 the discussion of such a truth would not be doctrinal preaching 
 in the sense intended here. A truth becomes a doctrine when 
 it can be put into a complex proposition. The atonement for 
 example may be a fact, or a truth or a doctrine. The fact is 
 that the life and death of Christ had relation to human sin. 
 It is a fact independently of any accurate or complete concep- 
 tion of its significance, or any formal statement of its rationale. 
 It is Christ's work, it is God's work and is objectively valid 
 independently of any theory of its validity. But to preach 
 the fact of the atonement, simply as a fact, is not to preach 
 the doctrine. The truth of the atonement belongs to our con- 
 ception of the meaning of redemption and relates to Christ's 
 living and dying as a redemptive provision. But this does not 
 necessarily involve any formulated statement as to the method 
 by which his sacrificial life and death become valid for our 
 redemption. The doctrine properly deals with this question. 
 It is a question of method, of the inner relation of the atone- 
 ment to redemption, the rationale of its saving significance. 
 The doctrine at any rate has, with whatever success, or lack of 
 success, undertaken to answer this question. One may preach 
 the fact or the truth, and it may not be necessary to formulate 
 it into a doctrine and present it from the pulpit. It is gen- 
 erally regarded in our day as unnecessary. But it would seem 
 to be desirable that an educated and intelligent Christian min- 
 ister should be able to tell his hearers what is meant by the 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 173 
 
 saving significance of Christ's life and death, should be able 
 to interpret its rational and moral value and should be able 
 to furnish an intelligent basis for believing and accepting it. 
 A doctrine then, as intended here, is a related, fundamental, 
 formulated truth. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that doctrinal preaching is something 
 more and other than didactic preaching. All instructive 
 preaching is didactic, whatever its subject matter or method 
 of presentation. All helpful preachers are instructive but not 
 necessarily doctrinal. There are but very few doctrinal 
 preachers in our day. But no man would be worthy of his 
 position who could not instruct his congregation. Even the 
 preacher who aims chiefly at ethical and emotional incentive, 
 in so far as he elucidates the truth, is at the same time a 
 didactic preacher. 
 
 Neither is doctrinal identical with dogmatic preaching. The 
 word dogmatic has a variety of meanings and is a little diffi- 
 cult to define. In general it suggests something authoritative. 
 The proper and in theological circles the accepted meaning of 
 dogma is the formulated statement of a doctrinal concensus. 
 It bears the mark of some sort of agreement. And this, if 
 nothing else, secures for it a certain note of authority. It may 
 be the authority of ecclesiastical statute law. It may be the 
 authority of what may be called common ecclesiastical law or 
 the tacit agreement or consensus of those who belong to the 
 same communion or church. It is an authority that may or 
 may not be enforced. But in any case there is a certain sug- 
 gestion of authority about it. It may only be rational or moral 
 authority. But all who accept dogma are expected in a general 
 way at least to adhere to it. They at any rate accept it "for 
 substance of doctrine." Dogma then belongs to the doctrinal 
 foundations of a church, sect or denomination. It is probably 
 this notion of authority associated with the word, although it 
 may be a very shadowy sort of authority, that, in this demo- 
 
174 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 cratic age, makes it offensive. It may not be ecclesiastically 
 enforced at all, and yet there lingers about it a certain note 
 of positiveness, of assurance as of something that should be 
 accepted, even if upon nothing more than rational and moral 
 grounds. But there may be to some an offense even in this. 
 Accordingly, when we speak of a dogmatic preacher, we gen- 
 erally mean one whose tone is rather more positive, or con- 
 fident or authoritative than we like, as if he expected us to 
 accept his teaching as a matter of course. But doctrinal 
 preaching need not be dogmatic in tone in any offensive, over- 
 authoritative sense. Surely it should not be regarded as of- 
 fensively dogmatic because it is positive. Much less need it 
 be dogmatic in the proper ecclesiastical sense of the term, 
 i. e., as containing the teaching that somehow bears the mark 
 of church authority. For one may not fully accept the doc- 
 trinal standards of his church, may not accept them at all save 
 upon the basis of most liberal construction, as is the case in all 
 Protestant churches that still retain their doctrinal standards. 
 Or one may minister to a church that has no enforced or en- 
 forceable standards, as in the Baptist or Congregational com- 
 munions. Or one may accept the doctrinal statements of his 
 theological school or teacher. Or he may formulate his own 
 statements of doctrine. They need not bear the mark of 
 ecclesiastical authority or even of church consensus. Doctrinal 
 and dogmatic preaching may indeed be identical. And why 
 should one object? It does not injure a doctrine, or render it 
 less true or valuable or worthy of acceptance that it has been 
 formally accepted by a church, and so become its dogma, pro- 
 vided its acceptance by its members is not enforced uncon- 
 ditionally or rather is not enforced at all ecclesiastically, or 
 by the church as claiming to be a doctrinal authority. Why 
 should one be afraid of the word dogma, so long as it stands 
 for the right thing, and is used in the correct sense ? But doc- 
 trinal preaching need not be dogmatic, even in this mild 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 175 
 
 sense. And in general it is better to discriminate between 
 them. 
 
 Moreover, doctrinal preaching need not be rationalistic or 
 speculative preaching. Elements of speculation doubtless must 
 enter into all doctrinal preaching. To speculate is to examine, 
 to investigate. It involves analysis, comparison, classification, 
 arrangement of the data of a subject, Out of these data, an- 
 alyzed, sifted, collected, classified, hypotheses, or provisional 
 theories are formulated, /. e. t rational statements of the results 
 of investigation. Then these provisional theories are put into 
 relatively permanent form and they are ready for use. In our 
 investigation of theologic truth we follow, or should follow 
 substantially this method. In all this there is speculation. 
 Even in presenting the results of investigation, and it is re- 
 sults that the preacher does present, whether by the inductive or 
 deductive method, and the deductive is generally the preacher's 
 method, and in presenting proofs and illustrations of the truth 
 of the doctrine discussed, one enters measurably upon a specu- 
 lative, a rationalizing process. In a word speculation is in- 
 volved in all rational investigation. But this is not what we 
 mean when we speak of speculative preaching. We mean that 
 the preacher bases his teaching upon inadequate data, data of 
 revelation, or of experience, or of fact, •. e., he rationalizes 
 or he theorizes too much, i. e., his theories are not adequately 
 verified. They are hypotheses. Too large an element of un- 
 certainty is thus introduced into his work. In a word when 
 we say that a preacher is too speculative, we mean that he is 
 an un-Biblical rationalist or an irrational or visionary theorist, 
 who has no respect for his data of facts. Such preaching is 
 of course unreliable, as being based on too much unverified 
 theorizing. But doctrinal preaching need not and should not 
 be speculative in this objectionable sense. Preaching, of 
 course, can never be infallible, could not be though based on 
 an inerrant book. Any human statement of doctrine, though it 
 
i 7 6 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 might have behind it the authority of an infallible book, or 
 an infallible church, would have elements of imperfection, un- 
 less the teacher were himself infallible. Statements of doctrine 
 can only be approximately correct, and need revision. But 
 doctrines based on sound Biblical data, and supported by ade- 
 quate arguments, i.e., by appeal for verification to rational, 
 ethical and spiritual experience, can not be called rationalistic 
 or speculative in any objectionable sense. Nor can the preaching 
 of such doctrines be speculative in any objectionable sense. 
 
 II. Methods of Doctrinal Preaching 
 The object of the sermon determines its method of treat- 
 ment, or its class or type. In all preaching of this sort, the 
 ultimate aim is the same. But in reaching this the immediate 
 aim may vary. The immediate object may be simply to sup- 
 port the doctrine, assuming no opposition and no antagonist. 
 Or the object may be to defend it, assuming that it is 
 challenged and needs defense. Or the object may be to 
 attack the contrasted error, and the antagonist who 
 supports it, assuming the necessity of fighting down 
 error in order to establish the truth. The ultimate aim 
 is the same. It is to convince and persuade and thereby to 
 establish truth and character in and by the truth. But the vary- 
 ing methods yield three types of doctrinal discourse. It gives 
 us the sermon that is positive and declarative in method, one 
 that is defensive and apologetic and one that is aggressive and 
 polemical. 
 
 i. In the declarative method the aim is simply to interpret, 
 and to support by interpretation, the doctrine discussed. It is 
 an expository, not a defensive or belligerent task. It assumes 
 that the doctrine is obscure in itself, or in its evidences and 
 only needs interpretation, and the support thus furnished. It 
 does not assume that the truth of it is generally challenged or 
 doubted or denied, or if it does assume it, the assumption is 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 177 
 
 obscured. Of course there are Christian doctrines enough that 
 are denied. But there are many that are simply ignored, or 
 neglected or forgotten or if accepted at all accepted in a con- 
 ventional, matter-of-course manner. To assume or to give 
 credence to the assumption that people are spending their time 
 and energy in fighting all the great truths of Christianity might 
 put both hearer and preacher in an objectionably defensive or 
 antagonistic or polemical temper of mind. There may be a 
 certain strength in the assumption, or even in the seeming of 
 the assumption, that they are not and can not be successfully 
 contested. There may be apologetic value in ignoring such 
 denial when it is known to exist. The doctrinal preacher 
 should be adroit and skillful as well as sincere. It is especially 
 important to recognize the fact that some important truths of 
 Christianity are forgotten or neglected or ignored, rather than 
 questioned, denied or rejected. People sometimes suppose 
 themselves to reject what they simply ignore. In periods of 
 religious controversy, doctrinal preaching will necessarily take 
 the apologetic or polemic form. Too much of it has taken 
 the latter form. But controversy subsides, and once contested 
 truths fall into neglect. They are either accepted as a matter 
 of orthodox course or are set aside as of no practical or 
 theoretic significance or importance and become objects of in- 
 difference. Other truths come into discussion. This is the 
 case in our own day. A large class of valuable Christian 
 truths are simply ignored. There is no interest in them. It is 
 these truths that may well be treated in the expository or de- 
 clarative method. Their chief need, or men's chief need with 
 respect to them is interpretation and evidence. Put before men 
 in a positive, declarative manner, they may win the readier 
 response and acceptance. There is no apologetic interest 
 hostile to them, and when once their practical significance 
 for the Christian life becomes clear, they may be the more 
 easily welcomed. There is a large group of teachings centering 
 
178 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 in the supremacy, priority and sovereignty of God, that were 
 once prominent in theology and in preaching. These truths 
 might well be resuscitated in new form. They might be pre- 
 sented as topics in Biblical theology and interpreted in the 
 clearer light of present knowledge. The minds of people are 
 no longer set against them in a controversial interest. Their 
 value for the Christian life may easily be presented and made 
 manifest and all this would prove favorable to their practical 
 acceptance. There are a large number of Christian teachings 
 that might well be presented in the same way. The doctrine 
 of sacred Scripture or phases of the doctrine, the doctrine of 
 future probation and future punishment might well be dis- 
 cussed in this way. If one permits himself to assume a mani- 
 fest apologetic attitude in his investigation and discussion par- 
 ticularly of subjects about which there is a good deal of sensi- 
 tiveness, he may easily become an advocate, when he should 
 be only an interpreter. He will have a case to make out, rather 
 than a truth to expound. The traditionalist easily becomes an 
 adversary, and the apologist a polemist. A preacher of this 
 sort may stir up and involve in difficulty about as many ques- 
 tions as he answers and may perplex about as many minds as 
 he convinces. There is some basis for the claim that the de- 
 fense of the great truths of Christianity may well be left not 
 wholly of course, but to a considerable extent to the theological 
 school and the religious press and that the pulpit may well give 
 itself, not wholly of course, but largely, to the non-polemical, 
 or even non-apologetic method of interpreting and inculcating 
 them. And yet there is place and demand for apologetic 
 preaching. 
 
 2. This brings us to the second method. The demand for 
 apologetic preaching is involved in the broader question of the 
 demand for Christian apology in general. Christianity has been, 
 is and will be attacked. Should it be defended? And is a 
 theory of defense needed ? That is, is that branch of theology 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 179 
 
 known as apologetics needed? Is it of any value? There can 
 hardly be a doubt as to the proper answer. Apologetics is a 
 legitimate, a necessary branch of theology. The theological 
 school at least needs it. But does the pulpit need it? It is 
 sometimes assumed that it does not. Let the school and the 
 press keep in hand the work of defense, but let the pulpit pre- 
 sent the claims of Christianity in a positive, affirmative way; 
 let it deal with the beneficent results of Christianity. This is 
 all the defense needed from the pulpit. Christianity can make 
 its own defense, if it is well presented and well exemplified. 
 But if the pulpit does nothing more than point to the effects of 
 Christianity it defends it. It is one of the most effective 
 methods of apology. And the pulpit needs it. The world 
 needs it. But it needs more. Let us, then, consider this more 
 fully. 
 
 (1) Christianity has been attacked and it has been suc- 
 cessfully defended. What might have been the result, without 
 such defense is hardly uncertain. It would have been crushed 
 out, as Protestantism was, or nearly so, in France. Contro- 
 versy is often bad, but it is simply a historic necessity. The 
 history of Christianity and of the church is largely one of con- 
 troversy. Our Lord defended not only himself, but his teach- 
 ings, and his teachings more vigorously than himself. The 
 sermon on the mount is an apologetic discourse. It is a de- 
 fense as well as exposition of his conception of the kingdom of 
 God, as a kingdom of personal righteousness, in contrast with 
 the conception of the conventional religionists of his day. 
 The parables are apologetic, often polemical. They stung 
 the Pharisees to the quick, because they saw and felt 
 that they were attacked, and they set themselves against 
 him. They are a most adroit, truly oriental and mightily 
 effective method of defense and attack. The Apostles 
 defended not only themselves but their teachings and 
 their religion. Against heathenism thev defended their 
 
180 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 religion. Against Judaism they defended their peculiar 
 teachings. Paul had and defended what he called "My 
 Gospel." In the Roman and Galatian letters, he defends 
 Christianity as a universal religion against Judaism, a religion 
 of narrow particularism, of external legal ceremony and of 
 special privilege. In the Ephesian and Colossian letters he de- 
 fends a spiritual universalism against materialistic speculations 
 that would limit and degrade it. In the Corinthian letters he 
 defends not only his apostolic calling, but important Christian 
 teachings, like the Resurrection, that had been assailed. The 
 letter to the Hebrews is an apology, a defense of Christian uni- 
 versalism. Christianity is Judaism completed, sublimated in the 
 form of a universal and absolute spiritual religion. The pre- 
 scriptions of the pastoral epistles are apologetic, largely polem- 
 ical. There is a quasi-apologetic element even in the Gospels. 
 They are each adjusted to some interest in a semi-apologetic 
 manner. The "tendenz" theory as applied to the book of the 
 Acts is not without basis. It is an advocacy of Pauline Chris- 
 tianity. It intends to magnify it. The work of the post-Apos- 
 tolic church was largely apologetic. It carried on the defense, 
 which the Apostolic church had begun against Judaism on the 
 one side and heathenism on the other. The medieval church 
 defended Christianity with scholastic weapons and the schol- 
 astic awakening was, in the church, largely an awakening to 
 the rational defense of its Christianity. The Reformation 
 period was one not only of apology but of polemic. The post- 
 Reformation in its defense recalled once more the scholastic 
 method and with modifications it held its own for more than 
 two centuries. It strongly influenced the preaching of English 
 and Scotch Protestantism and reached on even into the last 
 century in the preaching of New England. Recall the con- 
 troversies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and of 
 the American churches in the early part of the nineteenth. 
 We have our apology today, but of a greatly modified char- 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 181 
 
 acter. And we have our science of Apologetics. It is some- 
 times treated as a branch of dogmatic theology, and properly. 
 Thus largely in the United States. It enters into historic theol- 
 ogy and necessarily. And sometimes it is a branch of prac- 
 tical theology. Thus in Scotland. Here Apologetics is brought 
 into connection with homiletics. Apology is assumed as nec- 
 essary for the work of preaching. No preacher is properly 
 trained for the pulpit who is not trained in apology. This may 
 be overdone. Perhaps it has been. But the basis of the as- 
 sumption is correct. That the science of Apologetics is thus 
 assigned to different branches of theology may suggest its 
 significance. But the point in hand is that as Christianity has 
 been and must have been defended, so will it and must it be in 
 the future. 
 
 (2) The conditions of our own age accentuate the demand 
 for apologetic preaching. Consider, for example, the charac- 
 ter of American life. It has all the faults and is exposed to 
 all the dangers of an extreme democratic life. Speech is free, 
 libidinously and anarchistically free. The press is free, often 
 vulgarly and vilely free. Attacks on religion are freely bruited 
 about and popularized. The American people are a reading 
 people, and everybody knows the latest scepticism and 
 heathenism. The same conditions may exist in other coun- 
 tries, but hardly to the same extent, and the relation of the 
 pulpit to the general public is somewhat different in this coun- 
 try. Now, how shall the democratizing of criticism and 
 scepticism and negation be counterworked, if not by the 
 pulpit? 
 
 Consider also the insidious character of this spirit of ne- 
 gation. The prevailing naturalism of our day is almost effu- 
 sively religious in its tone. It is sentimental, rather than 
 scornful, as it was in the eighteenth century. It wishes to be 
 regarded as preeminently the friend of genuine Christianity, 
 i. e., the Christianity which it regards as in harmony with the 
 
182 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 culture of the age. It simply wishes to relieve it of its sur- 
 plus beliefs, which are assumed to be stumbling blocks in men's 
 way. They are external to Christianity, have grown with its 
 later development and do not belong to the original stock. No 
 man can deny the sincerity of this naturalistic spirit, nor ques- 
 tion the genuine religious character of many of its subjects. 
 The various forms of rationalism claim to be preeminently 
 patrons of a rational, intelligent and intelligible Christianity, 
 such as the progress of the age demands. 
 
 Agnosticism would have us understand that it exercises pre- 
 eminently the virtues of religious modesty and reverence and 
 truthfulness, and self poise. It magnifies the importance of a 
 religion that respects verifiable facts and is satisfied only with 
 verifiable truth. It is the critic and sworn enemy of all rash- 
 ness and immodesty in the concerns of religion. 
 
 Pantheism is devout and human and aesthetic, even if non- 
 moral. Even atheism has a respectful tone and habit and finds 
 a place for subjective religion. It develops reverence for hu- 
 manity and it sentimentally worships "our Father man." This 
 insidious character, as it may be called, however unconscious 
 of deceit, should be recognized, and it should be met by a type 
 of apologetics that will adjust itself to its methods and skill- 
 fully counter-work it. 
 
 Consider further the somewhat concessive tendency of those 
 who would be regarded as liberal-minded men towards the 
 critical and disintegrating temper of our time. Men affect 
 broad views of religious and theological questions. They are 
 inclined, therefore, to make generous and liberal concessions 
 to the agnostic and destructive spirit and they are likely to 
 over-do it. Concessions, of course, must be made, for criti- 
 cism has scored many important points. But there is a limit. 
 And the fact that we are obliged to concede so much may well 
 put us on our guard, lest we give away our whole case. We 
 need bracing. We must make concessions to naturalism, but 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 183 
 
 we may and should do it without giving away our super- 
 naturalism. Naturalism begins with a high assumption, the 
 assumption of the impossibility or rather of the unbelievable 
 possibility of miracles. But why may not the supernaturalist 
 have his assumption? Sober-minded, scientific and philo- 
 sophical thinkers among naturalists concede in fact that, from 
 the theistic point of view, miracles are not antecedently im- 
 possible but are even easily thinkable. Why then may not 
 the Christian theist assume, and reasonably, that as related 
 to the unique personality of Jesus Christ, miracles are ante- 
 cedently probable and are certainly easily thinkable. The 
 Christian theist surely has as much ground for his assumption 
 of probability as the agnostic for his concession of possibility. 
 Consider, moreover, the needs of the practical life of the 
 church in our day. Without positive preaching the church will 
 suffer, and a careless habit of mind with respect to the grounds 
 of Christian belief and the basis of defense for Christianity 
 will inevitably appear in a lack of positive preaching. Such 
 preaching will be over-concessive. It will leave the impression 
 of a hisses faire habit of mind and of general uncertainty 
 about vital questions. And who can doubt the result of this 
 upon the practical life of the church, and especially upon its 
 missionary interests. An era of general unsettlement and of 
 uncertainty with respect to the great facts and truths of Chris- 
 tianity would be sure to result in a serious loss of missionary 
 life. Conceptions and statements of truth of course change. 
 Apologetic methods change, and there can be no doubt that 
 the missionary work of the church calls for a better apologetic 
 than any to which it has entrusted itself in times past. But 
 no apologetic at all means failure of missionary life. No man 
 needs so good an apologetic, particularly so good a theodicy as 
 a missionary. A large part of his work must be apologetic as 
 related to the difficulties and objections that are brought 
 against the religion he advocates. But the church at home as 
 
184 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 well as the missionary at the front needs a positive tone in the 
 preacher for the bracing of its practical life. 
 
 3. In defending the truth, or what is regarded as such, 
 it is sometimes necessary to attack the opposing error. By ex- 
 posing the falseness of its opposite the truth may be seen in a 
 clearer light and its value may be enhanced by disclosing the 
 mischievous character of error. There is a place, therefore, 
 for the polemic and in a modified form even for the philippic 
 in the pulpit. It is conceivable that a time might come when 
 there would be demanded a vigorous onset upon the grosser 
 forms of error, intellectual as well as moral. If one were to 
 attempt it, he would better make thorough work of it. But it 
 should be rarely attempted. There has been too much polem- 
 ical preaching and of the bad-tempered sort. It may have 
 been of some value, but it has done much harm and the evil 
 as well as good results remain. One may indeed preach polem- 
 ically in a generous, manly and even thoroughly gracious 
 manner, and if we are to have it at all, this is the sort needed. 
 But we best meet the temper of our time by the non-polemic 
 habit. The attitude of opponents in our day is genial. The 
 respectable critic cherishes the non-polemical temper. A man 
 like Robert Ingersoll is exceptional. He is an anachronism. 
 He belongs to the vulgar crowd of scoffers common in the 
 eighteenth century. Violent and vulgar attacks are not the 
 fashion. The tone is patronizing rather than polemical. The 
 preacher should adjust himself to this temper and tone. 
 
 Moreover the spirit of the church is in general hostile to 
 this method. It is catholic and tolerant in so far as it is in- 
 telligent and the impression is widely prevalent that polemical 
 preaching fails to realize its object. Men are inclined to look 
 for the truth that lurks behind error, far more so than was 
 once the case. The best modern preaching follows this 
 method. 
 
 But the chief objection against polemical preaching is tfiat it 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 185 
 
 is likely to be unjust. One becomes an advocate who has ;a 
 case to make out, and ceases to be a reliable interpreter. The 
 advocate easily becomes the special pleader. He is identified 
 with his case. The opponent easily becomes a personal enemy. 
 He is identified with the error he advocates. It is the more 
 important therefore, by all legitimate and even illegitimate 
 means, to make out a case against him. In such condition of 
 mind fair treatment is impossible. No one can do justice to 
 what he regards as an error, if he has no care to get at the 
 truth that lurks behind it. No one can do justice to an op- 
 ponent, if he has no care to get his point of view and no moral 
 ability or perhaps only a crippled mental ability to interpret 
 what the opponent is trying to express. The polemist is likely 
 to make a personal matter of his advocacy. It is his cause 
 quite as much as the cause of truth. Hence originate arro- 
 gance and ill temper. The very word has become suggestive 
 of the fighting spirit and of bad temper. It is a battle, ft is a 
 war, in which this defender of the faith is engaged, not of 
 truth with error, but between two men or two parties. The 
 influence on the men and hardly less on the cause of truth is 
 bad. 
 
 III. The Importance of Doctrinal Preaching 
 Its importance as a type of homiletic product may be con- 
 sidered from three points of view, those of substance, form 
 and tone. 
 
 1. The value of doctrinal preaching as related to its subject 
 matter. 
 
 (1) Consider its apologetic value, its value in getting the 
 important truths and facts of Christianity definitely before the 
 minds of men. It clears up difficulties. It is said that men 
 know more about Christianity than they are willing to appro- 
 priate and apply. This is measurably true. Moral rather than 
 mental perversity often blocks their way to the light. But if 
 
1 86 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 this dictum implies or is meant to imply that those who re- 
 ject Christianity always have adequately clear conceptions of 
 it and do not need to know more about it in order to act in- 
 telligently with respect to it, it is false. The fact is that the 
 great realities of Christianity are often invested with much 
 obscurity. A well-defined conception and clear statement of 
 them and of the evidence on which they rest, are none too 
 common, even among intelligent and educated people of 
 virtuous and honorable lives. It is not unlikely that a min- 
 ister may, without being aware of it, be surrounded by those 
 who are silently perplexed by difficulties that may result from 
 wrong or inadequate conceptions of Christianity. They reject 
 it, or at least many of its truths, because they, like the late 
 Professor Huxley, have found no satisfactory way of meeting 
 their difficulties. Preachers in our day have to deal with 
 people who do not know Christianity adequately. Wrong 
 statements of truth may be responsible for this. A wrong 
 statement of a truth or fact that it declared to be fundamental 
 may work immense harm. Much of a preacher's work, and 
 perhaps more in our day than ever before, consists in removing 
 difficulties of various sorts that block or are assumed to block 
 men's way into God's Kingdom. Among these difficulties in- 
 adequate or perverted conceptions of Christian truth may be 
 most serious in their consequences. The value to a preacher 
 in such a day as this of a good apologetic method, especially 
 the value of a good theodicy, the value of a worthy conception 
 and statement of doctrines that are held to be fundamental, 
 can not be overestimated. The need of familiarity with the 
 mental perplexities of men and of a training that will fit one 
 to meet these perplexities is also obvious. 
 
 Doctrinal preaching also aids men in discriminating between 
 what is primary and what is secondary in Christian truth. It 
 will expound what is primary and will show men how to es- 
 timate at its true value what is secondary. And so when theo- 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 187 
 
 logical discussions arise in the churches, as they have arisen 
 and will again, and when men are likely to be thrown into a 
 panic, those who are grounded in what is primary and funda- 
 mental will be able to estimate the significance of the dis- 
 cussion and will know how to judge its important features, 
 Much doctrinal preaching in days past has failed to discrim- 
 inate between what is primary and what is secondary or even 
 to recognize the existence of such a distinction. Relatively 
 unimportant doctrines have been thrust into the foreground 
 and magnified as of fundamental importance, upon which sal- 
 vation itself may depend. Preaching based on controversial 
 creeds is quite likely thus to err. The controversial creed lacks 
 theological perspective. Preaching based on such creeds has 
 a like disturbance of balance. Hence the value of creeds that 
 belong to non-polemical periods or that have been sifted and 
 revised and made more catholic in substance and tone. Such 
 creeds will summarize the primary articles of the Christian 
 faith. It is a desirable thing for the preacher to study such 
 formularies with reference to pulpit discussion. 
 
 Such preaching begets confidence in the reasonableness of 
 Christianity. It will, at least, aim at this, and if intelligent 
 preaching, it will realize its aim. Rationality is not rational- 
 ism. Rationality becomes rationalism, and the rational be- 
 comes the rationalistic only by a one-sided use of reason. A 
 broadly rational estimate of Christianity will take into account 
 its adaptation to the whole complex nature of man, not to his 
 intelligence alone. It will find its verification and vindication 
 not merely in the conceptual or speculative understanding, but 
 in the moral and religious nature as well. The word reason 
 covers more ground and has a fuller content than it once had. 
 But religion must commend itself to intelligence as such. 
 Otherwise it will not win acceptance. Intelligence has been 
 active in the domain of religion for many centuries. Doctrinal 
 preaching will respect the results of such activity in religious 
 
188 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 investigation. It assumes that human intelligence may venture 
 to deal with the facts of revelation and of religious experi- 
 ence and bring back valid results. It assumes that what com- 
 mends itself to moral and religious manhood will somehow 
 become domesticated in intelligence, and that what commends 
 itself to sound mental judgment will also commend itself to 
 the heart and conscience and win assent. Science is as im- 
 portant in the domain of religion as in any sphere where 
 thought is active. It has secured results that are of great value 
 to the church, and for a minister to cherish and express con- 
 tempt for the science with which his profession deals is dis- 
 tinctly discreditable to his intelligence and his moral manhood. 
 It is a mark of ignorance or perversity or both and is a bad 
 habit. Of course, the sphere of truth is vastly larger than 
 the sphere of doctrine. No statement of doctrine can be final. 
 But doctrine has its place in the pulpit, defective though its 
 statements may be. 
 
 (2) Note its indirect value for purposes of strong im- 
 pression as well as definite instruction. It deals with a quality 
 of teaching that edifies, enriches and ennobles character. It 
 grapples with vital questions. They are the bottom questions 
 on which a religion that claims to be absolute and universal 
 rests. We are exalted and ennobled by that which is above 
 us. It is the great truth that greatens both preacher and 
 hearer. No man can get into a realm so large and wealthy 
 without being enlarged and enriched by it. It intensifies and 
 expands one's mental activities. It quickens the imagination. 
 It stirs and enriches the emotional life. We are in the habit 
 of sneering at scholasticism. But with all its defects it gave 
 preaching a new and strong impulse. The pulpit needed a 
 new instrument. It found it in scholastic logic and it has had 
 a very powerful influence in various ways upon the preaching 
 of the church. It has been a very productive type of preach- 
 ing and has been wide in its scope. Puritan preaching, as a 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 189 
 
 survival of the scholastic method, was doubtless rhetorically 
 defective. But in its way it was powerful preaching. What- 
 ever else may be said about it, it was not weak. It handled 
 great themes, and its processes of reasoning were close and 
 cogent. No one can even read the product without being 
 strongly impressed by it. A large theme always opens deeply 
 and broadly in the hands of a strong and well-trained man. 
 It is inexhaustible. The capacity of such a theme for in- 
 ference or deduction is evidence of its productiveness. Much 
 remains to be said after the main discussion is ended. The 
 richest practical suggestions are secured by tracing the bearings 
 of a great Christian truth and it is precisely the opening up of 
 this truth in its doctrinal aspects that adequately discloses the 
 practical lines along which it runs. The preacher who enters 
 this field with the best results of modern training and who 
 applies the modern homiletic methods will find his whole man- 
 hood enriched. 
 
 Moreover, it is this type of preaching that furnishes a basis 
 for effective ethical preaching. No complete system of Chris- 
 tian ethics is possible in entire independence of Christian dog- 
 matics. Christian doctrine furnishes a basis for fully devel- 
 oped Christian ethics. In like manner doctrinal preaching fur- 
 nishes a basis for the best sort of ethical preaching of the 
 Christian type. How can one present effectively any duty or 
 any virtue or any law or any supreme aim of life in entire 
 independence of the fundamental truth or teaching or prin- 
 ciple on which it rests ? When we speak of a moral life from 
 the Christian point of view, whether as related to the supreme 
 aim of that life as its highest good, or to its governing law, or 
 to its duties, or to its virtues, we pre-suppose the revelation of 
 Christ as related to those factors in our conception of a Chris- 
 tian moral life. And the first thing to do is to find out what 
 that revelation is, i. e., what its doctrinal concepts are, its doc- 
 trinal content. Christianity is a revelation of facts and truths 
 
190 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 that have practical relations and applications. But in order 
 to apply them we must first know them. They must be in- 
 vestigated as teachings provisionally at least, before they can be 
 adequately conceived and stated in their ethical form, as in- 
 volving a supreme ethical good or a supreme ethical law or as 
 containing ethical duties and virtues, and before they can be 
 applied in the most thorough way to character and conduct. 
 Consider for example the doctrinal and ethical aspects of the 
 atonement. How can one know in the fullest sense the moral 
 claims of the atonement without knowing measurably well at 
 least what the atonement is? And how can this be known 
 without doctrinal investigation? 
 
 2. Consider the value of doctrinal preaching as related to 
 its form. 
 
 Doctrinal preaching must be preeminently methodical 
 preaching. One must state his truth clearly and exactly, illus- 
 trate it convincingly as well as persuasively, argue it cogently, 
 and conduct the work of proof in an orderly manner. Its suc- 
 cess depends on the clearness, exactness and orderliness of 
 method from beginning to end, upon its unity, proportion and 
 progress. Everything in its place and the whole thing must 
 move on to a measurably successful, if not victorious issue, or 
 collapse in humiliating defeat. Other sermons may have a 
 certain sort or measure of success, though they come through 
 chaos. But this must be organized and the builder must be 
 able to look upon his finished work and behold that it is "very 
 good." No one reasons well who reasons ramblingly. A 
 preacher of powerful imagination may set logic at defiance, 
 but his vocation is not in the sphere of doctrinal teaching. He 
 who undertakes to set a great truth before the mind, lay bare 
 its foundations, trace it in its relations of thought, clear up its 
 obscurities and leave a well defined conception of its greatness 
 and of its reality must do it methodically. 
 
 But doctrinal preaching has significance for rhetorical as 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 191 
 
 well as structural form. I venture the suggestion that it de- 
 mands and tends to the culture of three important qualities of 
 rhetorical style in the preacher, precision, clearness and force. 
 As regards clearness and precision the case is evident at once. 
 The character and object of the sermon exact preeminently 
 upon these qualities. There are sermons, indeed, of a rhetorical 
 character that do not and need not and perhaps can not be 
 marked by a scientific precision of statement. They are pre- 
 cise enough suggestively to answer the purpose. They are 
 clear without being intellectually exact. They are what we call 
 suggestive sermons. Such sermons are, of course, desirable. 
 The largest part of one's preaching may well be of this sort. It 
 is quickening and helpful preaching. But a preacher may well 
 aspire to do more and other than this. It is questionable 
 whether it is well to preach nothing but rhetorically suggestive 
 sermons. It is in fact a bad thing to overwork one's rhetoric. 
 The understanding, the logical faculties, need cultivating for 
 the work of the pulpit, and intellectual clearness and precision 
 are the qualities that result. 
 
 As regards vigor the case may not at first be quite so mani- 
 fest. But it is possible that clearness and precision may be 
 associated with force and tributary to it. If one states the 
 truth clearly and discriminatingly, he is likely to state it 
 strongly. Men without notable rhetorical power have often 
 spoken with great effectiveness. There is cogency in clear- 
 cut statements. The preaching of John Calvin in a way illus- 
 trated this. If the truth grips the mental energies of a 
 preacher, it is pretty sure to stir some emotional interest and 
 this will give energy to one's utterance. One may, indeed, have 
 a mental, and even an emotional interest in the truth of a sort, 
 which may not involve a moral and religious interest in it, and 
 consequently the expression may lack moral and religious 
 cogency. But it is in general difficult to see how one is going 
 to get the best ethical and religious interest in the truth and 
 
192 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 in its effects, without an emotional interest. And how is one 
 going to get the best and most permanent emotional interest 
 without an intellectual interest ? And when one has an ethical 
 and religious interest which involves also an emotional and 
 mental interest one is likely to get a combination of clear-cut, 
 exact and cogent speech. It is this combination that is im- 
 portant for intelligent minds. A strong character can not be 
 interested in the truth without being intellectually interested. 
 The non-masculine minds in the congregation should, of 
 course, not be neglected. They have their claims on the 
 preacher. But the masculine mind must be satisfied, and this 
 is the mind that is interested in discussion. If such a mind is 
 carried into a state of mental and emotional interest by a clear 
 and vigorous discussion of a great truth, it will be the more 
 likely to be carried on and over into moral and religious re- 
 sponsiveness to it. 
 
 Who can even read Canon Mozley's sermon on "The Re- 
 versal of Human Judgment," without experiencing this com- 
 bination of mental, emotional and moral excitement? Let one 
 stop and analyze the effect and he will see how dependent the 
 emotional and ethical impression is on the mental. And he 
 will also find that all these impressions are dependent on qual- 
 ities in the expression of the thought, which disclose the en- 
 ergies of the preacher's personality, e. g., precision, clearness, 
 terseness and energy of statement. The sermon that handles 
 in appropriate rhetorical form a great truth will move strongly 
 on, and will grow as it moves with ever-increasing moral 
 momentum. 
 
 3. Doctrinal preaching has relation to the question of tone. 
 By tone in preaching, we generally mean harmony between its 
 quality of thought or sentiment and its quality of form, or 
 between the rhetorical quality of the text and the discussion. 
 But in this type of sermon it may receive a more specific appli- 
 cation. It may suggest harmony between the strong qualities 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 193 
 
 of the subject matter and the qualities of the style in which it 
 is presented. It may suggest a clear, strong, resonant, manly 
 tone of utterance. The pulpit that has no such tone is, to use 
 Cranmer's expression "the bell that has lost its clapper." It 
 strikes no full, strong note. There are, indeed, minor notes in 
 preaching, notes of gentleness, pathos and delicacy of senti- 
 ment, appropriate to the more gracious and delicate forms of 
 revelation, that need cultivation. Many of the truths and facts 
 of the Gospel do not call for the masculine tone in the 
 preacher. Preaching should be persuasive as well as strong. 
 But the type of preaching in discussion must be masculine. 
 It must be robust and virile in its intelligence and moral 
 tonicity. To grapple with a great truth, to discuss it discrim- 
 inately, to support it valiantly against all comers, or even to 
 interpret it non-apologetically and non-polemically, to carry it 
 up, in whatever manner, to the crown heights of victorious 
 argument — this develops manly strength. This sort of preach- 
 ing has rallied and developed strong men. Even an ordinary 
 man will grow in the process. Doubtless the apologetic value 
 of much of the argumentative preaching of the church has 
 been overestimated. But as to its value to the preacher as 
 mental gymnastics there can be no doubt. It may not always 
 convince or persuade. This depends on its method and temper 
 and tone. But it must at least command the mental respect of 
 men. This has given us a virile Christianity in 
 the pulpit. We are greatly indebted to the manly 
 men who have pushed Christianity through their strong and 
 virile minds, and have brought it out in bold strong forms. 
 And the men who after them have undertaken to handle these 
 truths have in like manner found themselves greatened in men- 
 tal power and trained in mental skill. Think of Paul and 
 Augustine, and Calvin and Edwards, and other great thinkers 
 of the Church. Their work was not final, nor without grave 
 defects. Much of it will not stand. But they developed the 
 
194 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 masculine side of Christianity. The preacher of our day 
 should remember that Christianity must rally and find scope 
 for the mental energies of men or in an age of light and knowl- 
 edge it will be ignored or rejected. 
 
 I direct attention to a work entitled "The Decay of Modern 
 Preaching," by Prof. Mahaffey.* I do not agree with much 
 that the author says, nor do I commend the somewhat dogmatic 
 or over-confident and assertive manner of his utterances. The 
 very title of the book is in my judgment a misnomer, and in- 
 volves an ungrounded assumption. It is too sweeping. But 
 some things said by the author, although they may be extreme 
 statements, are at any rate worthy of serious consideration. 
 He says:f "If in such a time (as the present) a preacher 
 avoids dogma, he is not likely to produce any permanent ef- 
 fect." Again ;J "The world has been reformed not by preach- 
 ing morals, but by preaching dogma." 
 
 "What converted the world was not the example of Christ's 
 life, but the dogma of his death. His divinity and the atone- 
 ment formed the real substance of early Christian preaching." 
 These are doubtless extreme statements. What the aufhor 
 says is not true in the formal sense of the earliest type of 
 Christian preaching. His conception of dogma is defective, 
 and what he says of dogma in the sense in which he under- 
 stands it is not strictly true. But it must be acknowledged that 
 there is a solid basis of truth in his estimate of the value for 
 the pulpit of the formulated teachings of Christianity. It has 
 been rightly claimed that it is the didactic quality that largely 
 distinguishes Christianity from other religions. It is a re- 
 ligion that can be taught, that can be preached. It is not pri- 
 marily a teaching, but teaching is inseparable from it and dis- 
 tinguishes it. It is the religion that has produced a church and 
 
 *The Decay of Modern Preaching. 
 fPage 79. 
 JPage 116. 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 195 
 
 a teaching ministry, and it has put an intelligent and intelligible 
 and communicable content of religious thought into the hands 
 of its ministers to be proclaimed to the intelligence as well as 
 conscience and heart of the world. Other religions, of course, 
 have their teachings and their teachers. But in the importance 
 attaching to the truth and to the teachers of truth Christianity 
 is far in advance of them. And it is this that differentiates 
 pulpit from secular oratory to a large extent. All popular pub- 
 lic speech has an expository basis. It aims to convince and it 
 ultimates in persuasion. What distinguishes the speech of the 
 Christian pulpit is the fact that its basis is more essentially 
 didactic. Christianity is taught in the form of doctrine. In a 
 time when all branches of knowledge are in process of de- 
 velopment, the preacher should be able to grapple with a sub- 
 ject matter that belongs substantively to his profession and 
 should be able to handle it with skill and force. The preacher 
 who does this will hold the respect of the community and will 
 make Christianity respectable in the eyes of thinking men. 
 "We are elevated by that which is above us," says Jean Paul 
 Richter, referring to that type of preaching in which the great 
 truths of religion are presented to men. 
 
 IV. The Handling of the Doctrinal Sermon 
 The decline of doctrinal preaching is not wholly due to a 
 decline of interest and of faith in doctrinal theology, or to 
 changes in theological belief, although this in part. It is due 
 also to the difficulty of handling it successfully. There is a 
 good deal of popular prejudice against it, due measurably per- 
 haps to the uninteresting character of such preaching in times 
 past, and the tastes of the people are not in line with it. The 
 preacher therefore, although he would willingly do it, dreads 
 to venture upon so difficult a task. Moreover it is not an easy 
 sort of sermon to handle at any time and under the most fa- 
 vorable conditions. 
 
196 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 It is not my purpose, however, to undertake to show how 
 this difficult task may be made easy. That were impossible. 
 But I would like to suggest some simple and more or less 
 familiar considerations which the preacher in our day may 
 well take into account in his effort to present doctrinally the 
 great truths of Christianity to his people. And these consid- 
 erations relate both to substance and form. 
 
 1. With respect to its thought-material, the doctrinal ser- 
 mon will be distinctively Christian. It is, indeed, admissible 
 to present from the Christian pulpit the doctrines of so-called 
 natural religion like the being of God and the immortality of 
 the soul. There may in fact be an advantage in discussing 
 from the basis of the testimony of the reason and moral and 
 religious sense of men doctrines that find response even in our 
 perverted human nature. It is important to know what may 
 be said for these great truths from a basis that is independent 
 of their Christian evidences and of the Christian forms in 
 which they appear. But is it not on the whole better to under- 
 take to show how Christianity, in its presentaion of these 
 truths interprets all best witnessing of our nature and in fact 
 completes and perfects both the doctrines and the evidences 
 for them? This at least would seem to be the more appro- 
 priate for the Christian pulpit. Is it not easier to show that 
 Christianity is natural, than to show that nature is Christian? 
 This, moreover, is in harmony with the spirit and method of 
 our day. Christian thinkers do not attempt to draw a hard 
 and fast line between natural and revealed religion. It seems 
 better, therefore, for the pulpit to approach natural religion 
 through Christianity. 
 
 The teaching of the doctrinal sermon, if it is to be success- 
 ful, will also be in harmony with what is best in the thinking 
 of our time and with its assured results. Such preaching will 
 be positive in its quality of thought. It will seek to find the 
 important working truth that any statement of doctrine repre- 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 197 
 
 sents. It will recognize what is good and true and of practical 
 worth in the theology and the polity of different sects, will seek 
 and lay stress upon points of agreement, and will look towards 
 a possible basis of cooperation. The preacher who defends the 
 theology and the polity of his church in the positive, affirm- 
 ative, rather than in the polemical manner, will show himself 
 to be in sympathy with the spirit of his age. The sectarian 
 polemist is discredited. The preacher who is more of an ad- 
 vocate than of an interpreter, who makes the impression that 
 his chief aim is to make out his case, will part company with 
 his congregation, if it be an intelligent Christian congregation. 
 
 A reasonable adjustment to theological changes is especially 
 needed in any type of successful doctrinal preaching in our 
 day. In some Christian communions there has ceased to be 
 a correspondence between modern preaching, and even be- 
 tween the best type of preaching in these same communions, 
 and the substance of the creeds to which they still nominally 
 hold. When the theoretic and practical aspects of Christian 
 theology are out of harmony it is always the practical aspect 
 that ultimately carries the day. The theological thinking of 
 our day is strongly influenced by the realities of life, and the 
 doctrinal preaching that touches the realm of life will freely 
 adjust itself to this habit of thought. The pulpit is summoned 
 to appropriate the historic method in dealing with the person 
 of Christ, and to a large extent it has heeded the summons. 
 Following this method from the point of departure of his 
 humanity and the perfection of his human character, the in- 
 telligent preacher will build up his conception of Christ's 
 unique personality. 
 
 In the apologetic presentation of the alleged miraculous ele- 
 ments in Christianity due allowance will be made for modern 
 and more correct views of the relation of the realm of the nat- 
 ural to the realm of the supernatural, for critical difficulties 
 in the records of the miracles and for the difference between 
 
198 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the New and Old Testament points of view in their general 
 estimate of miracles. 
 
 In the defense of supernatural Christianity in its broadest 
 and most comprehensive aspects, the doctrinal preacher will 
 not be afraid of critical, historical tests. He will give full 
 weight to the importance of thorough critical and historical 
 investigation into all the phenomena of what calls itself super- 
 natural Christianity, as the best modern apologists, like Prof. 
 Bruce, have done. Nor will he shrink from assigning to the 
 sphere of nature what clearly belongs there any more than he 
 will shrink from exalting to the sphere above nature what can 
 render a no less worthy account of itself. 
 
 In discussing eschatological questions doctrinal preaching 
 will adjust itself to the spirit of moderation and reserve that 
 marks the modern method of investigation of these problems, 
 to our better knowledge of the significance of eschatological. 
 Scriptures, to our more rational and realistic conceptions of 
 punishment, and to the larger and more humanitarian sym- 
 pathies and tastes that characterize our time, and that involve 
 an intensified sense of the misery and bondage as well as guilt 
 of human sin. But the preacher of strong ethical mind will 
 wish to assure himself that these considerations are in har- 
 mony with just and serious views of the guilt of sin and with 
 the true moral welfare of men. 
 
 The practical moral bearings of the facts and trutfis of 
 Christianity, as contrasted with the results of the teachings of 
 its opponents, will naturally be dealt with by the skillful Chris- 
 tian apologist. The uplift that supernaturalism has given the 
 world, as contrasted with the nervelessness of the crass nat- 
 uralism and materialism of modern life, has immense apolo- 
 getic value, whose significance the preacher cannot afford to 
 minimize. What the supernaturalism of Christianity has 
 wrought in all departments of thought and life and what might 
 be the effect, or what might have been, upon the world, upon 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 199 
 
 its art, upon its literature, especially upon its poetry and upon 
 its religion, of a complete loss of faith in this higher element 
 in Christianity — all this is of value to the preacher who would 
 rally and support the faith of his people. 
 
 The relation of Christianity to the broader view of the world, 
 to those conceptions of an illimitable and vastly flexible spirit- 
 ual universe, that are the heritage of our age, is an aspect of 
 modern apology which no preacher can afford to ignore. In 
 the presence of such a universe and with it as the native coun- 
 try of the human spirit how petty and insignificant seems that 
 view of human life that would regard it as a closed sphere, a 
 little existence shut up within itself and with no touching- 
 points with the vast illimitable of a supernatural sphere! 
 
 2. As regards the homiletic form of the doctrinal sermon, 
 it is clear first of all that no type of sermon demands more care 
 in the choice of texts. A New Testament text is needed for a 
 New Testament doctrine. The New Testament interprets the 
 Old. The Old interprets the New, but not adequately. Read- 
 ing New Testament doctrines into Old Testament Scriptures 
 has been one of the serious defects of doctrinal preaching. The 
 text may well contain explicitly the germ of the doctrine dis- 
 cussed. There are types of didactic preaching, as already inti- 
 mated, that may well use their texts suggestively. But this 
 type of didactic discourse should rest upon the exact thought 
 of the text or at least should not be deduced by any remote, 
 inferential process. It is one of the homiletic sins of this type 
 of preaching that it has abused texts by using them without 
 a legitimate basis for the doctrine discussed. 
 
 The introduction will naturally be explanatory, or will give 
 itself to the task of relating text to theme or of bringing text 
 and context up into manifest connection with the theme and so 
 justifying it. If it starts with a general thought or from some 
 phase of the general subject, it will naturally run into and 
 through the text in reaching the theme. 
 
200 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 It is presupposed that the preacher will follow the deductive 
 method. In his investigation and preparation he may have fol- 
 lowed the inductive method. But he must reverse this in the 
 pulpit. One cannot spend time to reproduce his process of 
 investigation in the pulpit. He deals with results and his 
 process is rather the unfolding than the infolding process. The 
 theme, therefore, will be a statement of the subject in hand 
 and whether in propositional or in rhetorical form will depend 
 upon the method of the discussion. 
 
 The plan of the sermon consists of the arguments that sup- 
 port the thesis. The chief logical interest is the weight and 
 cogency of the arguments. The chief rhetorical interest is 
 the order of their presentation. No type of sermon demands 
 such clearness and precision of statement and such orderly 
 arrangement. 
 
 The development will depend upon the character of the 
 topics or upon the method of argument. It may be abstract or 
 concrete according to the method pursued in the presentation 
 of proofs. If one looks for rhetorical effectiveness in his dis- 
 cussion, his development will be concrete and illustrative and 
 so the more persuasive if not the more convincing. It Is not 
 the habit of preachers in our day to handle abstract topics in 
 processes of argument. 
 
 The conclusion will naturally recapitulate, and will then deal 
 with the ethical enforcement of the truth of the discussion, 
 which will come in the form of inferences, ending perhaps with 
 appeal. 
 
 Thus the object of the doctrinal sermon gives us the scope 
 of the demand. The object will be first to state and interpret 
 the doctrine, assuming, as one must, that the preacher will 
 generally follow the deductive method. Secondly, to present 
 the evidences of its truth, by whatever method of proof. These 
 methods of proof will necessarily vary with the character of 
 the doctrine presented, with the character of the audience, 
 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 201 
 
 and with the method of handling the sermon. Thirdly, to il- 
 lustrate it. Fourthly, to enforce it, i. e., to inculcate those 
 practical duties and interests that are involved in the ethical 
 aspects of the truth in hand. First, a clear apprehension and 
 clear statement as to what the doctrine is. Hence explanation 
 and definition. Then it can be the more successfully argued. 
 But by illustration in the process of argument, it can be the 
 more persuasively presented, and successfully established. In 
 all this the object sought is not merely an intellectual but a 
 moral interest in the subject. With this advantage, it can be 
 the more effectively enforced. Here then we have three chief 
 interests. First an expository interest, which appears in the 
 introduction and theme; secondly, a dialectical interest, which 
 appears in the processes of the discussion; thirdly, an ethical 
 interest, which appears prominently in the conclusion. The 
 rhetorical attractiveness of the discourse is limited to no par- 
 ticular part of it and is always an instrument for successful 
 transmission. This is not a program. Every preacher will have 
 his own method and every modification in homiletic habits will 
 affect the style of doctrinal discussion. But the considerations 
 suggested at least present the main points of the homiletic 
 problem, whatever the method of its realization. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE ETHICAL TYPE 
 
 I. The Conception of Ethical Preaching 
 All preaching is in the broad sense ultimately ethical in so 
 far at least as it aims at the production of character and the 
 regulation of conduct by influencing the will to the choice of 
 moral ends or ideals. But the term is used here in a more 
 specific sense. In this specific sense ethical preaching is the 
 exposition, inculcation and practical application to character 
 and conduct of moral ideals of duty and of virtue. As thus 
 defined it is a distinctive type of preaching. Just how it 
 differs from the types of preaching already discussed is ap- 
 parent at once. Both of them may have ethical substance and 
 an ultimate ethical aim. Expository preaching, e. g., from the 
 epistle of James would necessarily be ethical in its content and 
 aim. But the ethical sermon is not limited to Biblical material. 
 It has wider range. Some Christian doctrines are essentially 
 and preeminently ethical in their subject matter. They are 
 doctrinal as related to the content of revelation and to the 
 content of Christian thought involved in their interpretation ; 
 but ethical as related to practical realization, in character and 
 conduct. For example, the doctrine of Faith, Repentance, and 
 Conversion. A doctrinal sermon on either of these subjects 
 would be ethical in substance and aim. In fact all doctrine has 
 its ethical aspects, and there can be no doctrinal presentation 
 of the proper sort without ethical aim. But the doctrinal ser- 
 mon is not ethical in the sense of our definition. The distinc- 
 tion between Christian dogmatics and Christian ethics defines 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 203 
 
 the difference. Dogmatics deals with the Godward side of 
 truth, Ethics with the manward side. The former deals with 
 the objectively-given truths of revelation, which have become 
 subjects of human reflection, the latter with the duties involved 
 in the application of these truths and the virtues realized in the 
 fulfillment of these duties. Thus doctrinal preaching lays 
 the foundation for ethical preaching. How can one sucess- 
 fully discuss Christian duties and virtues without some 
 understanding of the fundamental truths on which they 
 rest? 
 
 We may differentiate ethical from what is commonly called 
 practical preaching. All ethical preaching is practical, but not 
 all practical preaching is ethical in the closer sense of the term. 
 Practical preaching aims at the production of practical results 
 in the most comprehensive sense, religious as well as moral. 
 Any kind of sermon, expository or doctrinal, that is so shaped 
 as to produce practical results of any kind, whether in thought, 
 in conviction or in action, is a practical sermon. A persuasive 
 sermon that aims without much exposition or didactic dis- 
 cussion, at the practical results of persuasion, is preeminently 
 a practical sermon. The ethical sermon, however, aims at a 
 distinctively and a specifically ethical result. The practical ser- 
 mon may attempt to secure faith or to promote a receptive 
 attitude of soul with respect to the grace of God. But the 
 ethical sermon, of the more distinctive sort, will aim to secure 
 those virtues that belong to faith and will inculcate the duties 
 that are realized in such virtues. "Add to your faith virtue" 
 is an ethical injunction. The practical sermon may aim at its 
 result by influencing the emotions as for example the evan- 
 gelistic or the parenetic sermon does. But the ethical sermon 
 will aim at its results by influencing the conscience primarily 
 or preeminently. The one may deal with the promises or com- 
 forts or admonitions of the Gospel, the other with the demands 
 of the Gospel and with the obligations that are set over against 
 
204 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 these demands. In a word the one may deal with the privileges 
 the other with the duties that are presented by the Gospel. 
 
 Ethical preaching, moreover, may be differentiated from 
 what has been known as revival preaching. In its ultimate in- 
 tent and scope, revival preaching is, of course, ethical, for it 
 has refernce to righteous character and conduct and, there- 
 fore, aims at reaching the conscience and will. But it differs 
 in the following particulars. Revival preaching seeks to re- 
 fresh the spiritual life of the church, the life of renewed 
 fellowship with Christ. On the other hand ethical preaching 
 aims at the development of those Christian virtues that are the 
 product of the spiritual life, justice, patience, humility, tem- 
 perance, fidelity, covenant virtues perhaps especially. Revival 
 preaching, like all preaching of the evangelistic type, aims also 
 at the conversion of men, i. e., at the production of faith, re- 
 pentance, and obedience to Christ, but ethical preaching aims 
 at the realization of the fruits of all this in the imitation of 
 Christ's example. Revival preaching looks at results in the 
 totality of life, i. e., to religious as well as moral results and on 
 a wide field. Ethical preaching looks at life in the details of 
 its practical moral development, e. g., the development of 
 specific virtues, and the discharge of specific duties. 
 
 Ethical preaching may also differentiate itself from what 
 was formerly called law-preaching, i. e., preaching of an 
 ethico-evangelistic type, which was regarded as necessary prep- 
 aration for revival work. To preach "the law" is to present 
 its Godward and manward claims. The claims of law involve 
 implicitly certain duties. These duties are realized in virtues. 
 In the content of its conception ethics involves the notion of 
 law. Natural or philosophical ethics involves the notion of 
 law as related to the natural conscience; Hebrew ethics, law 
 as revealed in the Hebrew religion; Christian ethics, law as 
 revealed and realized in Christ. Law theistically and Chris- 
 tianly conceived is God's will touching a man's disposition, 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 205 
 
 purpose, action, character as related to Him and to his 
 fellow men. That right disposition, purpose, action, 
 character realized is virtue in its comprehensive 
 conception. Realized distributively in the manifold re- 
 lations of life, it produces the different forms of virtue, it 
 develops the concrete qualities of a practical moral life. To 
 preach law, therefore, is to preach ethically. Yet ethical 
 preaching in the sense here intended is not the exact equivalent 
 of law preaching. It differs as follows : Law-preaching was 
 accustomed to accentuate the divine side, God's rights, God's 
 claims, God's sanctions. Ethical preaching lays accent upon 
 the human side mainly, what we owe, why we owe it, the re- 
 sult of failure to discharge the obligation. In a word, note 
 once more, it lays its stress upon our duties and upon the vir- 
 tues that, in various forms, are developed in the discharge of 
 the obligation. Law-preaching, moreover, has for its stress- 
 point the claims of God in their unity and totality, i. e., the 
 great, inclusive law of love, the root-principle of all moral law. 
 Ethical preaching fixes attention upon specific duties or classes 
 of duty and upon those virtues that spring out of and are 
 inseparably associated with the great law or principle 
 of love. 
 
 I have lingered with these discriminations and distinctions, 
 not for the purpose of multiplying points of differentiation, 
 but for the purpose of fixing a limit to our conception of ethical 
 preaching, nor yet for the purpose of unduly limiting it, but 
 for the purpose of fixing specific attention upon it as a type of 
 preaching, which rightly conceived is relatively new and highly 
 important, and for the purpose, if may be, of conditioning its 
 greater effectiveness. Certainly its effectiveness will be meas- 
 urably conditioned by a definite and vigorous conception of it 
 and of its possibilities as a type of preaching. But still further 
 in the interest of effectiveness, let us advance our discussion 
 a little. 
 
206 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 II. The Christian Quality of Ethical Preaching 
 
 In some circles that are called evangelical, there is, or per- 
 haps I should say has been, a prejudice against ethical preach- 
 ing. It has been regarded as even antagonistic to evangelical 
 preaching, and as such has been much criticised. This preju- 
 dice has been based upon a totally wrong conception of it. It 
 has been confounded with the deistic or rationalistic moraliz- 
 ing of a former period, when morality was substituted for re- 
 ligion, and ethics for theology, when the necessity and reality 
 of revelation were denied and men's relations to their fellow 
 men were divorced from their relations with God. This was 
 the preaching of so-called "natural religion," based on natural- 
 istic ethics, and was indeed in a measure antagonistic to the 
 religion of redemption. In this sense it was opposed to evan- 
 gelical preaching and it must be confessed it was relatively un- 
 fruitful preaching. 
 
 But let it be understood that the ethical preaching advocated 
 in this discussion is distinctively Christian in its quality. It 
 rests upon the revelation of God in Christ. Its basis is the 
 grace that is revealed to us and the grace that is appropriated 
 by us, a two fold basis, objective, as related to what God has 
 done for us, subjective, as related to what we have done in 
 the inward appropriation of God's work. 
 
 Let us examine this two-fold basis and see what lies back 
 of the ethics with which in the main the Christian pulpit must 
 deal. 
 
 I. Ethical preaching of the Christian type has for its ob- 
 jective basis the law of God as related to the grace of God. 
 The law that exacts obedience is the law of Christ, the law of 
 God as revealed, interpreted and realized in Christ. 
 
 It is first of all a law that is related to the forgiveness of 
 sin, as revealed and proclaimed by Christ. An absolutely per- 
 fect moral life from the Christian point of view, is practically, 
 although not theoretically, unattainable here below. A moral 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 207 
 
 law, therefore, that should exalt a perfect obedience, without 
 association with some provision by which the defects of moral 
 life may be overlooked and by which men may still be kept in 
 favor with God, would be an impracticable law. It would be a 
 law that could not be preached, with any expectation that it 
 would ever be fully realized. How can one preach an absolute 
 morality unless such morality be somehow available or realiz- 
 able, or unless there be some provision found or disclosed by 
 which moral defects may be cancelled in the process of its 
 realization? In point of fact an absolute morality has prac- 
 tically never been insisted upon. It is only presented as an 
 ideal. The human race has never been under sheer law, a law 
 unrelieved by any purpose or provision of grace, hidden or 
 revealed. There has always been an element of grace in or 
 behind all moral law. Paul shows that back of the old Jewish 
 and antecedent Hebrew or patriarchal revelation there was a 
 hidden purpose of grace. But this law of grace is revealed in 
 its fullness only in Christ. Now this is the objective basis, or 
 one of the elements of an objective basis for practical Chris- 
 tian ethics. The Christian moral ideal, therefore, must be pre- 
 sented in its relation to the grace of God. Otherwise it is not 
 a Christian ideal at all and is a hopeless ideal. The obedience 
 that is inculcated by the law of Christ and the virtues that are 
 demanded by it are rendered practicable, are made realizable 
 by the grace of God as revealed in Christ and that first of all 
 proclaims the forgiveness of sin. No one can successfully 
 preach a virtue that is practically beyond every man's reach. 
 Such preaching would only evoke hostility, or would result in 
 complete disheartenment. We take hold of the future hope- 
 fully only as we see that our relation to the past has been 
 adjusted. 
 
 The Christian moral law is also a law that has been fully 
 realized and exemplified in the personal character and life of 
 Christ. This exemplification illustrates and in effect proclaims 
 
208 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the possibility of its ultimate fulfillment by every human being 
 who works in moral alliance with Christ. Christ's preaching 
 is largely ethical, but it is all based on the assumed vital re- 
 lation of ethical truth to his own person. It is his entire per- 
 son, his entire complex self-revelation, and not simply his doc- 
 trines or teachings, i. e., the revelation of his mind alone, that 
 constitute the back-ground of all ethical preaching. This is the 
 reason, largely at least, why Christ preached himself so con- 
 stantly. He could not otherwise make his morality available. 
 The peculiarity and it is a very striking, in fact a unique pe- 
 culiarity, of Christian ethics is just this: It exacts nothing, 
 the perfect exemplification of which has not, in its essence or 
 principle, been found in the obedience of Christ's own life. 
 The command is : "Be this, for this is what I am" ; "Do this, 
 for I did it"; "This is my commandment that ye love one 
 another, as I have loved you." And this is why it is a new 
 commandment. It is new in its realization and exemplifica- 
 tion. 
 
 The Christian moral law is, moreover, a law that is related 
 to the promise and to the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise 
 and the gift of moral power by which the spirit of loving obe- 
 dience is secured and by which the actual obedience of life is 
 developed. That is to say, the exactions of Christian ethics are 
 offset not merely by the external revelation of a gracious pro- 
 vision of reconciliation and by an external exemplification of 
 its realization in Christ, but by a revealed provision through 
 which the requisite ethical motives may become inwardly op- 
 erative and personally effective. Nothing is demanded by God 
 which He is not willing and able, by the power of his spirit 
 working within, to aid in executing. This helpful provision 
 is a revelation of the Holy Spirit as a working force in life. 
 It is a part of Christianity as an objective revelation of God. 
 And in Whitsuntide the coming of the Holy Spirit as a new 
 power in moral life is commemorated by the Christian church. 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 209 
 
 From what has already been said it is sufficiently evident 
 that ethical preaching of the Christian type will always be 
 grounded in the fundamental facts and truths of Christianity 
 as the religion of grace and redemption. Success in it will 
 ultimately depend on one's success in making these facts and 
 truths of grace real to the mind and impressive to the heart and 
 conscience. It will depend on what has preceded it and what 
 lies under it. Only in so far as the pulpit is clear and forcible 
 in its presentation of the facts and truths of grace, will it be 
 successful in its presentation of the moral demands of Chris- 
 tianity. And perhaps this may answer the question, which will 
 naturally occur, as to the proportion of ethical preaching which 
 may be expected. There can be no doubt that there is great 
 need, and need of a great deal, of ethical preaching. 
 
 But if one must make his preaching of grace do the work 
 of preparation, and if success in ethical exposition and incul- 
 cation will depend on foundations already laid, it follows that 
 the preaching of ethics must be subordinate to the preaching 
 of grace, and the ethical note must be subordinate to the evan- 
 gelical note. The proclamation of Christianity as a revelation 
 of redemptive grace must have precedence of the proclamation 
 of it as a revelation of moral law. 
 
 And what has already been said may furnish a general an- 
 swer to the question as to how ethical preaching may be prac- 
 tically and specifically adjusted to the preaching of grace. It 
 is adjusted to it by being made dependent upon it. But an 
 additional suggestion is pertinent. It is easily possible that 
 into the most practical part of an ethical sermon there may be 
 introduced a definite reference to the provision of God's grace 
 as Christ. 
 
 Bishop Brooks was very skillful, very Christian and very 
 persuasive in bringing Christ, as an ethical ideal and source of 
 moral power into immediate relation with the somewhat lofty 
 and often difficult ethical themes discussed by him. This is 
 
210 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 one of the chief sources of the exceeding helpfulness of his 
 preaching. He presents high ideals. This is one of the dis- 
 tinguishing characteristics of his preaching. He was an ethical 
 idealist of extraordinarily high degree. But he always brings 
 Christ into practical relation with the ideals presented and he 
 endeavors to leave the impression, and succeeds in doing it, 
 that after all with Christ these are attainable ideals. 
 
 The attention of the reader is directed to a Prayer Meeting 
 Address by Henry Ward Beecher* in the year 1863 just be- 
 fore his departure to Europe to advocate before the English 
 people the cause of the American Union, in which he, in a very 
 interesting and instructive manner refers to the place which 
 Christ holds in his ethical preaching. 
 
 2. But all Christian morality is the product of an inner life. 
 The obedience demanded and the virtues to be realized are dis- 
 tinctively Christian in quality. This inner root of Christian 
 virtue is the subjective presuppositon of ethical preaching. It 
 is the interpretation and inculcation of a living, a real inner 
 virtue, and not a mechanical or heartless goodness. 
 
 The obedience of Christian morality is first of all the obed- 
 ince of love. There is, there can be, no obedience, no virtue, 
 that can be called Christian, which is not rooted in love. Love 
 is the life of it. To preach a heartless obedience, or a heartless 
 virtue is not Christian preaching. It may be ethical, but it is 
 not Christianly ethical. It is true that it may sometimes be 
 necessary and even desirable to inculcate human duties and 
 virtues from the point of view of the exaction of the natural 
 conscience, i. e., from the motive of prudence or personal 
 honor, or self-respect or social obligation, or a native sense of 
 right and wrong that has been untrained in the school of 
 Christ. All roads may lead to Christ. To inculcate for ex- 
 ample the virtue of temperance, or of business honesty, from 
 the motive of personal prudence may open into a larger view. 
 ♦Sermons 1860-1868 vol. I. page 447. 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 211 
 
 But such preaching in connection with the worship of a Chris- 
 tian congregation may well be exceptional. If one feels obliged 
 to take men on their own ground it may well be along a line 
 that will lead to the consideration of the higher Christian 
 motives. But to deal only with the lower motives is not ethical 
 preaching of the Christian sort at all. In the presence of a 
 Christian congregation it is the wiser way to approach all moral 
 subjects from the distinctively Christian point of departure. 
 It is not the preacher's vocation to preach non-Christian ethics. 
 Such preaching would impoverish the Christian pulpit, as it 
 was impoverished in the eighteenth century. Morality must 
 have a living root. Men need an underlying principle of 
 morality that will disclose itself in all their relations with their 
 fellow men. This needs emphasis in our day. It is needed 
 especially in connection with the discussion of social subjects. 
 It will be ultimately fruitless to discuss the duties of the dif- 
 ferent social classes to each other, unless they can be made 
 to see and feel and appropriate the truth that these duties rest 
 on some comprehensive principle that must dominate the whole 
 life. That principle is unselfish philanthropy, and it is 
 grounded in religion. An earnest and vigorous presentation of 
 the character and life of Christ is essential to the most success- 
 ful ethical preaching. Any man who, like the late Bishop 
 Brooks, gives his life to the work of presenting Christ in his 
 practical working relation with men, who every Lord's day 
 holds before their minds the significance of his character and 
 life for their own character and lives, and who is able to im- 
 press upon their hearts and consciences his wonderful inspiring 
 power, is doing a great and needed work in the interest of the 
 unification of the different contending classes and factions of 
 human society. He will do far more than the pulpit dabbler 
 in economic and social science. Not that one may undervalue 
 the preacher's interest in these sciences. In the nature of the 
 case, however, the man who deals so largely with the funda- 
 
212 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 mental principles of the Christian life, and whose field of ap- 
 plied Christianity is so vast, can not have very great success 
 in an effort to exhaust any one branch of social ethics. More- 
 over it is not necessary. In order to deal successfully with 
 Christianity as applied to the vexed industrial and social prob- 
 lems of our day, it is not necessary for a preacher to have an 
 exhaustive technical knowledge of the economic or social 
 sciences. Knowledge enough he indeed will need to secure him 
 against serious mistake in the practical application of questions 
 in social Christian ethics. But beyond this he need not go. His 
 chief sphere is the ethical, not the economic or sociological. 
 
 The obedience of Christian morality is also the obedience of 
 faith. It is an obedience, it is a morality that is worthily real- 
 ized in and by faith. Faith is the initial point, it is the condition, 
 the sine qua non, as love is the root, the life, the sub- 
 stance of all Christian virtue. "In your faith supply in addi- 
 tion virtue" (2 Pet. 1:5). The entire series of virtues starts 
 from and is realized through faith. This is the New Testa- 
 ment conception, and it is that of James as well as of Paul. 
 Christian virtue, then, is as to its source religious virtue. The 
 religious life is at the foundation of the moral life. The re- 
 ceptive activity is back of the out-going and out-giving activity. 
 And as there is no Christian ethics which is not at bottom re- 
 ligious, so there is no ethical preaching of the Christian type 
 which is not at bottom religious. Hence broadly and rightly 
 conceived, there is no preaching that is more characteristically 
 Christian than this. All preaching must, as already suggested, 
 end in the ethical quality. The aim of Christianity is not 
 reached till it is transumated into character and conduct. Nor 
 is the aim of Christian preaching reached till by the power 
 of Christian persuasion enforced by the spirit of Christ, it 
 produces the virtues that Christianity demands. 
 
 Since now all Christian moralities are grounded in the prin- 
 ciples of love and faith, all ethical preaching, of the Christian 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 213 
 
 type, must deal somehow with these principles. Somehow and 
 somewhere the preacher must at last get back to the top-root 
 of Christian morality. All this will save ethical preaching 
 from the pettiness that attends the work of prescribing merely 
 external and formal rules of conduct. Even Christian casu- 
 istry, a branch of Christian ethics with which the preacher, but 
 especially the pastor, might well be more familiar, is in this 
 way rescued from triviality. It is necessarily ennobled by its 
 relation to the fundamental principles of the Christian life. 
 
 From the foregoing it follows that the success of ethical 
 preaching, from the point of view of its subjective basis, will 
 in the long run depend on one's success in getting this double 
 root of Christian virtue fairly and fully before the minds of 
 men and strongly impressed upon their hearts and consciences. 
 One's ordinary preaching of the Gospel, which is but the proc- 
 lamation and interpretation of the grace of God, as related to 
 faith and love in the recipient thereof, will furnish a basis 
 of preparation for ethical inculcation. 
 
 But the question naturally arises how more specifically 
 may ethical preaching be adjusted in the individual 
 sermon to what lies behind it? How can it be 
 adjusted to fundamental principles? It is pertinent to 
 suggest that the conclusion of the sermon, which is 
 the most practical part of it, may readily touch the bearings 
 of the inner principles of the Christian moral life upon the 
 subject discussed. This is in line not only with the demands 
 of effective ethical preaching but of good homiletic science. It 
 may easily be done in a simple, unconventional, practical way 
 without theological terminology and without leaving the im- 
 pression that it is dragged into the sermon in an external and 
 formal manner. A skillful preacher, and every ethical preacher 
 especially may well train himself in skillfulness as well as in 
 moral earnestness, will do this in a free and effective manner. 
 After having held up before a congregation a high Christian 
 
214 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ideal of character and conduct, after having shown what it is, 
 shown the need of it, and after having urged it upon men's 
 acceptance, it is a sort of moral anticlimax for the preacher to 
 fail to remind his hearers that all this is possible to the be- 
 lieving, trusting, loving, obedient heart, and that the possession 
 of right inward principles and motives makes all a not impos- 
 sible task. "His commandments are not grevious," not only 
 because they are his, but because men trust and love him, who 
 has first loved us. "His yoke is easy and his burden light," 
 not only because it is the yoke and the burden of him who has 
 himself borne them, but because men willingly take them and 
 bear them in his strength. All this at any rate must be intelli- 
 gently presupposed by the preacher who would successfully 
 accomplish his moral task. 
 
 III. Methods of Ethical Preaching 
 The question of method is quite as important here if not 
 more so, as in other types of sermon, for it is no insignificant 
 task for any man to undertake to bring men's hearts and con- 
 sciences and wills into subjection to the Christian moral life.* 
 Neither is it an insignificant task for any man to undertake to 
 be a guide to his fellow servants in such a ministry. The 
 writer can claim neither the experience nor the theoretic knowl- 
 edge in this, as in other homiletic realms, that would make him 
 competent for such service. Let us, however, venture upon a 
 few suggestions, and such as are made will be recognized as in 
 line with approved modern ethical methods. 
 
 i. The analytic method is not uncommon, and may be made 
 most effective. In discussing a public vice especially it becomes 
 necessary to delve into, to analyze, and to hold attention 
 to its sources. It is the historic method. It is a 
 valuable method in the discussion of any individual vir- 
 
 *See Dr. Gustav Schulze's "Uber moral predigten." page 10 ff. 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 215 
 
 tue or vice, but especially those that are public. It discloses 
 the moral conditions of social life and makes manifest the 
 process by which the moral or immoral life of the community 
 develops. We see it in its natural history. The preacher is 
 thus the better able to point out and make manifest its social 
 and moral significance and from this as a basis to discuss the 
 more effectively its consequences and the remedies demanded. 
 The value of thus disclosing the elements and the processes of 
 a vice like intemperance is evident. Scientific investigators in- 
 to this difficult problem find the need of such a method of 
 inquiry. A sketch of the processes by which the public con- 
 science is depraved, or by which class antagonism as between 
 capitalists and their employees, is generated, or by which the 
 character of a particular class in the community is developed, 
 like that of the Pharisees in the time of Christ, or like the 
 modern political boss in our American life, or by which indi- 
 vidual character, good or bad, of any particular type is pro- 
 duced, — this is a method by which an intelligent and skillful 
 ethical analyst and interpreter may render an important public 
 service. Modern ethical preachers are skillful in moral analy- 
 sis. One might cite Canon Mozley, who in this particular, as 
 in others, reminds us of Bishop Butler of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. In dealing with all forms of moral good or evil the first 
 thing to do in fact is to understand it in its sources and in its 
 nature. 
 
 2. The method of contrast is a valuable one for the ethical 
 preacher. It used to be said by our homiletic fathers that 
 preaching to sinners was often a very effective way of preach- 
 ing to saints and reversely. We thus reach them indirectly. The 
 value of the Christian life is thus set before men by way of 
 contrast. It is a process by which the Christian moral ideal is 
 set before men, and by which they may test themselves. The 
 test is not applied to them directly by another hand. It comes 
 to them from across the border, from the country which they 
 
216 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 are accustomed to regard as foreign, but which they find more 
 native to them than they thought. Because the test was not 
 ostensibly designed for them, they may be the more ready to 
 apply it to themselves. It is a phase of the positive method. 
 Our fathers were in their generation in many ways wiser than 
 the children of homiletic light in our own day. Modern preach- 
 ing is often deficient in ethical skillfulness. Ordinary pastoral 
 preaching which deals so largely with the duties and virtues, 
 with the satisfactions and rewards of the Christian life, and 
 which exalts the Christian ideal of character and conduct, is 
 pretty sure to leave some salutary impression upon those in the 
 congregation who do not profess and call themselves Chris- 
 tians. The same principle holds good as regards any type of 
 ethical preaching. The presentation of some duty to one class 
 proves to be a most successful reminder of duties that belong 
 to another class. The inculcation of a virtue furnishes a 
 powerful admonition against the contrasted vice. It is a proc- 
 ess that avoids all direct antagonism. It may be necessary in 
 exceptional cases to make a direct attack on some one man in 
 the congregation, or upon some one class of men represented in 
 the congregation, but in general it is not the wiser or the more 
 successful method. A preacher may sometimes touch and in- 
 fluence the wealthy men of a congregation, who are the em- 
 ployers of workmen, by going a long way around through 
 other sections of the congregation in order to get at them and 
 by advice which is ostensibly wholly unrelated to them. The 
 seemingly irrelevent is often the most pertinent. 
 
 3. The descriptive and dramatic method has proved most 
 effective in moral discourse. Henry Ward Beecher was most 
 skillful and most powerful in a species of semi-dramatic rep- 
 resentation of moral processes and results. It was the de- 
 scriptive style applied with great passion in the psychological 
 and ethical realm. His "Lectures to Young Men," which are 
 among the most brilliant and successful discourses he ever de- 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 217 
 
 livered or published, although much too exuberant in rhetorical 
 quality and too tropical in imagery for the literay tastes of our 
 day, abound in this descriptive and dramatic style. In a most 
 vividly concrete way they depict the processes and the rewards 
 of vice and of virtue as well. In them are disclosed Mr. 
 Beecher's Shakesperian gifts. Just here very largely was the 
 secret of the power of the preaching about heaven and hell, 
 which prevailed in former days. Of course, a reproduction of 
 just that type of dramatic method would not avail in our day. 
 It would be regarded as insincere, unreal and artificially over- 
 wrought. But this scenic method in general, chastened by the 
 modern severities of aesthetic taste, might be used most effec- 
 tively in delineating the strictly natural outworkings of good 
 and evil in the present life. The preacher who is skillful in 
 making real to his hearers the present curse of sin and the 
 present blessing of goodness, may well leave to the God and 
 Father of all men the outcome thereof in a world of which he 
 knows but little, 
 
 4. Dignity of treatment is important in any method. It is 
 itself a method. The so-called moral sermons of the eighteenth 
 century, were objectionable on account of their pettiness. Sub- 
 jects of small ethical import like a person's manners, or per- 
 sonal habits, like the wearing of long hair, or like the occupa- 
 tions of life, such as gardening or farming, were treated with 
 great minuteness and prolixity of detail. The best way to treat 
 small, relatively small, ethical subjects is to do it in connection 
 with the discussion of some larger subject and in a seemingly 
 subordinate and incidental way, thus reaching the hearer in- 
 directly. Just here is preeminently the value of the expository 
 method of preaching. One may thus touch upon relatively in- 
 significant subjects without seeming to make too much of them. 
 Thus small subjects get new meaning and importance from the 
 larger and more comprehensive and more general circles of 
 truth with which they are indirectly associated. They become 
 
218 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 especially weighty, as being brought into relation with funda- 
 mental principles. And they are the more effectively handled 
 by being touched briefly. 
 
 5. A tone of manly persuasiveness is necessary in what- 
 ever method. An offensive harshness will injure the effect of 
 any sermon that would awaken the conscience and change the 
 course of life. A preacher may use great plainness of speech. 
 He may be severe in his moral earnestness. He may on oc- 
 casian even evoke the thunders of moral wrath. But all moral 
 severity should have a background of human kindliness and 
 graciousness and unselfishness. The ethical preacher needs the 
 angel of mercy to stand sentinel over his heart and his lips 
 need the guardianship of wisdom and sobriety and philan- 
 thropy. He who interprets and enforces the law of Christ will 
 doubtless above all else need the grace of fidelity, but it is a 
 fidelity that should be tempered with the grace of Christian 
 sympathy and courtesy. It is the fidelity of a Christian gentle- 
 man. 
 
 IV. The Need of Ethical Preaching 
 The example of our Lord may well suggest the vocation of 
 every preacher in whatever period or nationality or communion 
 to interpret and inculcate the moral claims of Christianity. 
 They are claims that are always urgent and they appeal to the 
 common intelligence and conscience — to the common humanity 
 — of the race. Christ's preaching was largely ethical. It had 
 indeed, for its back-ground his own personal revelation of God. 
 It had a distinctly religious basis. It all centered in his re- 
 ligion of grace and redemption, and it never strayed beyond its 
 borders. But the fact that Christ was a preacher of morality 
 should never be ignored or minimized. Christianity is, indeed, 
 in its substance far more than "sublimated ethics," and Christ 
 is far more than an ethical teacher and guide. But while 
 Christianity is grounded in religion, it ultimates in moral 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 219 
 
 character and moral life, and the ethical factor is of supreme 
 significance. Christ's preaching is not only broadly but specifi- 
 cally ethical. It deals with fundamental and wide-reaching 
 principles, principles that lie at the basis of all worthy human 
 character and conduct and are universally valid, but it does 
 not lose itself in general principles. It applies them to de- 
 terminate lines of conduct and to specific acts. The Sermon 
 on the Mount, which is from beginning to end an ethical dis- 
 course or a compendium of ethical expositions and inculca- 
 tions, does not lose itself in generalities. It deals, indeed, with 
 the broad features of the kingdom of God and with the funda- 
 mental principles of righteous character and conduct in its sub- 
 jects, but it applies these principles to the details of practical 
 life. If Christ had given himself simply to the task of laying 
 down ethical principles for the subjects of his kingdom, he 
 would have appeared in the role of the ethical philosopher. 
 But he adapted'his moral teachings to specific needs and obli- 
 gations, as conditioned by the specific relations of his hearers. 
 In this he showed himself to be the preacher and proved that 
 he had the conscious vocation of the preacher. It is a funda- 
 mental homiletic principle that preaching shall adapt itself to 
 the present, specific needs of individual men and classes of 
 men. Christ recognized this principle, and in this he is the 
 preacher's example although he is far more than a homiletic 
 model. There is doubtless a large field for ethical preaching 
 of a somewhat general and comprehensive character. Charac- 
 ter building, in a broad and inclusive sense, is a problem with 
 which the modern pulpit in its theories of religious and ethical 
 life deals more largely than the pulpit of other days. Such 
 preaching will deal with general ethical principles, it will be 
 positive and affirmative, rather than critical and negative; it 
 will trust to the development of time for its results; it will 
 deal with ethical exposition rather than with ethical inculca- 
 tion, and in general it will move far from the realm of ethical 
 
220 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 polemics. Ethical preaching of this sort, as illustrated by such 
 preachers as the late Canon James B. Mozley, is of the most 
 fruitful and ennobling character. But the ethical preaching of 
 our day cannot linger wholly in this broad field. There is 
 urgent need in our time, and especially perhaps in this country, 
 of a more specific and critical type of ethical preaching. The 
 conditions of life demand it. There is need of more searching 
 work with the conscience. The pulpit itself needs it, in the 
 interest of its own virility and moral power in the community. 
 Ethical preaching that is definite, critical, searching, is manly, 
 straightforward preaching, and it should do much in securing 
 the pulpit from a onesided intellectualism or didacticism on the 
 one hand, and from an over-emotional or sentimental quality 
 on the other hand. 
 
 But the thing to be accentuated here is the practical moral 
 needs of men in our day and especially in their associate lives. 
 The vast field of social ethics is open to the pulpit as never be- 
 fore. One shrinks from entering this field with his homiletic 
 nostrum, or with his professional advice, and especially with 
 his critical polemic against the evils of his day. For one runs 
 the risk of seeming to look too exclusively at the dark side of 
 life, of undervaluing the good that lingers and still reigns and 
 of seeming to sanction a negative and belligerent attitude to- 
 wards the community of which he is a part. But let us look 
 fairly at the field and see straight and listen as we look to the 
 summons that calls for the prophetic voice. 
 
 Beginning with the church, what do we find here ? A living 
 Christianity still, no doubt. Vast philanthrophy and enter- 
 prising activity unlimited. But in much it is a Christianity that 
 caricatures the religion of Christ. As represented by the 
 church, the Christian life is notably defective with respect to 
 ethical comprehensiveness. It is such in every age no doubt, 
 for that which is complete is far away. But it is a defect that 
 is exceptionally characteristic of the church life of our day. 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 221 
 
 The active Christian virtues are many of them cultivated. 
 Christian benevolence in an eminent degree. Perhaps the 
 present surpasses all other periods in the scope of its benevo- 
 lent activities. But it is a onesided development. The prin- 
 ciple, the law of self-denial for others' sake, which is the very- 
 heart of Christian benevolence, is not cultivated comprehen- 
 sively. Many forms of selfishness, sometimes refined, but 
 often gross and coarse, mar the symmetry of Christian char- 
 acter and corrupt and cripple the life of the church. Selfish- 
 ness in the form of self-assertion. The grace of humility is 
 not carefully and delicately cultivated. It is an age when man 
 is exalted. Our fathers exalted God, in his greatness, maj- 
 esty, righteousness, and holiness. The littleness, the weakness, 
 and sinfulness of men was proportionally accentuated. An 
 erroneous because a onesided estimate of man no doubt it was. 
 But the age has swung to the opposite extreme. And we need 
 a type of ethical preaching that will recall the fact of human 
 weakness, and perversity and guilt, that will lead men to see 
 their littleness and meanness and sinfulness, and that will pro- 
 mote the nurture of humility. 
 
 Selfishness in the form of unreined ambition has invaded 
 church life. The political spirit is not an unfamiliar mani- 
 festation in the church, the spirit of intrigue, the spirit that 
 seeks to accomplish desired ends by subtle indirection, by 
 manipulating majorities in the deliberative assembly, rather 
 than by open, free and manly Christian discussion; the spirit 
 that would vote up or vote down by sheer numerical force 
 some of the gravest questions that concern the interests of 
 God's kingdom. In political life the wire-puller and the party 
 boss sneer at debate and at the intelligent deliberations of the 
 representative assembly, set at naught the opinions and inter- 
 ests, the will and the suffrages of responsible citizens and seek 
 to carry the most important questions of legislation, or meas- 
 ures that are not worthy to be brought to the attention of any 
 
222 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 civilized legislative assembly, by a species of bulldozing, by 
 "fixing" votes through caucus pressure, or by "trading," 
 or by bribery. And something of this spirit the 
 church has caught, not in its most corrupt and degraded and 
 degrading forms, of course. But with too much truth it may 
 be charged, as it has been charged, that some of our ecclesias- 
 tical assemblies manipulate the suffrages of its members rather 
 than carry their measures by the power of argument and per- 
 suasion. And at times they have ceased to be deliberative as- 
 semblies. Votes that are won by a species of caucus manipu- 
 lation sometimes displace the suffrages of rational and respon- 
 sible men. And all this in the name of Christ and in the name 
 of the church and of the kingdom of God! Denominational 
 rivalries in decadent rural communities perpetuate the un- 
 economic folly and the moral disgrace of ecclesiastical schism 
 that is to a considerable extent responsible for the decreasing 
 power of religion and for its failure to meet the higher needs 
 of men and to promote the general moral welfare of society. 
 Metropolitan churches compete for financial leadership, for 
 numerical supremacy, for social prestige, and preachers are 
 sometimes crushed by the exactions of this ecclesiastical 
 ambition or are demoralized by its tax upon the sensation- 
 alism that supports and perpetuates the unholy competition. 
 The commercial spirit is in the churches. Men of unsavory 
 repute in business life have leadership in their councils, and 
 institutional prosperity is often substituted for vital religious 
 welfare. 
 
 Selfishness in little things that compromises the grace of 
 Christian fidelity, and that issues in thoughtless neglect or in 
 deliberate repudiation of the claims of the Christian covenant 
 is well-nigh universal in Protestant Christendom. Selfish- 
 ness in the form of self-indulgence is wide spread and most 
 baleful in its power of demoralization and corruption. It is, 
 indeed, very common and it is very easy to give money for 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 223 
 
 objects of charity and benevolence. People have more to 
 give, indefinitely more than our fathers had, and the habit 
 of giving is general. But it is also increasingly common for 
 members of Christ's church to pamper themselves. The old- 
 fashioned virtue of economy, the companion virtue of thrift, 
 which was the pride of our fathers, is no longer widely cul- 
 tivated. There is lavish freedom and unlimited range in 
 expenditure for worldly indulgences, which cut into the spirit- 
 ual life of the church. There is a vast amount of fashionable 
 conventionalism, of social insincerity, of ostentatious vanity 
 and of vulgar display even in ecclesiastical circles among the 
 American people. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye 
 and the vain glory of life" abound in our day as of old. Peo- 
 ple are not content to live simply. "High thinking and plain 
 living" were the characteristic virtues of our fathers. We 
 have lost much of their homely manhood. Despite our liberal- 
 ity in giving, despite our increasing practical as well as theo- 
 retic interest in social and industrial questions, there is still 
 in the churches of the land a vast amount of indifference to 
 the needs, the wrongs and the sufferings of the unblessed 
 classes. It is easier to give money than to go out of one's 
 way to look up and personally to interest one's self in those 
 whose chief need is human sympathy and who might be 
 reached and blessed thereby. 
 
 Looking again at domestic life, do we not find scope for 
 ethical preaching of most searching sort? The Lord's day is 
 not what it once was in the life of the family. One can not 
 very well magnify or defend many aspects of the old Puritan 
 Sabbath. Its observance was wrong in theory and in many 
 respects in practice. Too much emphasis was put uoon the 
 external religious sanctions of the day, if it be permissible to 
 speak of any sanction as religious which is external. Too 
 little stress was laid upon its moral and in general its prac- 
 tical as well as inwardly religious significance and value. 
 
224 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 But with all its defects it was a day of power in the life of 
 the family. The secularizing of the day, lack of respect for 
 its moral and religious meaning, loss of its opportunities, ne- 
 glect of its institutions and failure relatively to differentiate 
 it from other days in the habits of domestic life have had 
 very serious results in the homes of the people. One thing 
 is sure ; it would be a most beneficent thing if the pulpits of 
 this country were to direct attention to and to advocate more 
 fully and more forcibly the immense practical value of the 
 Lord's day for family life. There is, it is to be feared, a 
 general neglect of family worship, and consequent loss of 
 that staying and sanctifying power that is necessary to pro- 
 tect the modern household against the corruptions of life. 
 Religious teaching, nurture, training, discipline, is at dis- 
 count in the domestic circle. We find a measurable loss of 
 a sense of the domestic vocation. Those household virtues 
 that are necessary to fit one for the larger and more res- 
 ponsible place in civic and ecclesiastical life are not ade- 
 quately cultivated. Extravagance in family life abounds. 
 Lax ideas of marriage and of divorce threaten the very ex- 
 istence of the family. All this suggests lines of ethical teach- 
 ing, and admonition relative to family life that are urgently 
 demanded. 
 
 Looking at commercial life, what do we see? Not, as has 
 been claimed, an essentially corrupt system, in accordance 
 with which the business of the world is conducted. Corrupt 
 business men cannot successfully plead that they are the prod- 
 uct of a corrupt system. They are the product of a cor- 
 rupt commercial greed and ambition, not of essentially vicious 
 commercial principles. The principle of competition is not 
 vicious. The social foundations are not wholly awry. Methods 
 are corrupt, procedure is corrupt only because men are cor- 
 rupt. There are thousands of business men who keep their 
 commercial integrity — who are not conscious of working un- 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 225 
 
 der a vicious system, and who know that they are not tempted 
 simply by being brought into antagonism with competition. 
 What we behold is a habit of commercial recklessness, wide- 
 reaching in its wreckage of character and reputation, that is 
 the product of human greed. We see the looting of banks 
 and of business corporations, the ruin of railroad stocks, in 
 men's insane self-indulgence and in their ambition to store 
 colossal private fortunes; the dishonest handling of trust 
 moneys, product of the gambling spirit of commercial spec- 
 ulation, by men who have the nerve to attempt to vindicate 
 their diversion of other men's properties from legitimate 
 uses, as a species of philanthropy. We see the ambitions 
 of wealthy men to control the industries and the markets; 
 we see them over-reaching, circumventing, crowding, crush- 
 ing, ruining their competitors, without an apparent twinge 
 of conscience, without an emotion of human pity in their 
 breasts or a blush upon their faces. And these are men too, 
 that hold places of trust and honor in the churches of Christ, 
 men, some of them clean in their private morals, but without 
 a commercial or a social conscience, and others of them no- 
 torious for their moral lasciviousness and general corruption 
 of personal character. We see reckless stock gambling, the 
 bribery of legislatures, attempted bribery even of the judici- 
 ary, the retaining of prominent lawyers by public utility cor- 
 porations to keep them within the technical limits of the law, 
 and to save them in their ravage of other men's property, 
 from the penitentiary. We witness the paying of tribute by 
 wealthy corporations to political bosses in compensation for 
 legislative privileges, which are knocked off at auction by 
 men who themselves may owe their legislative offices to the 
 commercialized political influence of these same corrupt boss 
 leaders of men; we see unblushing bribery in elections by 
 these conscienceless political charlatans, and by corporations 
 that are financially interested in the choice of candidates to 
 
226 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 public office. We see the practical bribery of Congress by the 
 protected industries of the country in behalf of increase, or 
 "stand pat" defense of schedules of duty ; we see a cynical 
 indifference on the part of wealthy lordlings and world- 
 mongers with respect to the unblessed classes, and in reac- 
 tion we see these classes themselves deteriorating in man- 
 hood, perverting the standards of industry, combining, and 
 recklessly plotting against public order and all unwittingly 
 against their own higher interests. Has the pulpit of the 
 country no vocation? Has it no voice, as against such cor- 
 ruptions, corruptions that endanger the very existence of 
 the republic? 
 
 If we look at political life more specifically, and not wholly 
 in its commercial aspects, we find the rule of party that 
 often discredits honest patriotism, that with hypocritical pre- 
 tence and with the swagger of loud-mouthed bluster prates 
 of its Americanism, that agitates in the national legislative 
 assemblies with jingo recklessness unto the disturbance of 
 international harmony, that exalts notoriously corrupt men 
 into positions of public trust and holds them there, that dis- 
 credits the patriotism of high-minded citizens, who insist 
 upon the right of honest voting; when men of independent 
 character are nominated by unpartisan citizenship, it cries out ; 
 "We cannot afford to have the precedent established that a 
 handful of citizens can go ahead and make nominations re- 
 gardless of the nominating machinery of our party." And 
 thus it comes about that the party standard is elevated above 
 the Christian standard of citizenship and political morality. 
 We find political parties carried into power upon the basis of 
 promises issued in political platforms that are shamelessly 
 disregarded in subsequent political action, the fulfillment of 
 which in fact was never honestly intended. And intelligent 
 and honest Christian citizens are expected to stand this and 
 they do stand it, and despite the rapid development of in- 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 227 
 
 dependent citizenship, there are too few still to withstand it. 
 We find the lobby and we find notorious lobbyists elevated to 
 important places of public trust. The boss and the bulldozer 
 and the briber have been let loose and party allegiance has 
 turned the government away from some of the most cher- 
 ished traditions of our fathers. 
 
 And then if we look at the newspaper press, we see in 
 many of its representatives, a reflection of the lower tastes 
 of the populace, and unblushing defiance of the higher senti- 
 ments and higher morality of the civilized portion of the 
 community. We see more than a facile tolerance of evils 
 that should be nameless and hidden. Phases of life that 
 all decent people should agree to relegate into silence and 
 obscurity are paraded in a dirty species of literature that 
 masquerades under the guise of what calls itself realism. 
 Private vices are exploited by filthy realism and are pictured 
 to the imagination in a low type of pictorial or descriptive 
 art unto the degradation of the moral tastes and sentiments 
 and conviction of youths. And this unblushing indecency 
 calls itself enterprising journalism! We see here a greed 
 for coarse sensation, a taste for low, coarse, grotesque drollery, 
 misnamed humor, a relish for the insinuations of evil that are 
 often worse than open slander, and we find here a shameless 
 invasion of the sanctities of the home and of the rights of 
 personal manhood and womanhood. 
 
 These are some of the objective points towards which ethi- 
 cal preaching may well be judiciously directed. It may seem 
 a dark picture that has been given. It is a picture which, 
 even if only approximately correct, may easily suggest the 
 question whether the moral stamina of the American people 
 be not already to a large extent undermined, and its moral 
 fibre already in process of very distinct deterioration. The 
 question has already been raised and to some, indeed to 
 many, it has seemed to be true of no inconsiderable section 
 
228 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of the American people. But, of course, there is a better 
 side that no broad-minded, large-hearted, generous-spirited 
 preacher will permit himself to ignore or forget. People are 
 often not so bad as they seem, and are often better in their 
 individual than in their associate lives. Reckless violence is 
 better than dry rot. There is rallying and staying power 
 still left. Looking at the Christian section of the nation, with 
 all its defects, there is ground for hope. A genuine Chris- 
 tianity, the Christianity of Christ, is still represented by the 
 church and the influence thereof is still very great. The 
 preacher who would come to his fellow men with a message 
 of hope will have no sympathy with that wholesale denun- 
 ciation of the church which comes from a class of men that 
 have lost their footing and who deny that the church is 
 entitled to the claim to represent the kingdom of God on 
 earth. 
 
 What has been said is simply to indicate that the depart- 
 ment of social ethics furnishes an abundant sphere for the 
 work of the pulpit on the critical side. There is no need, 
 however, that the evils sketched be the object of direct po- 
 lemic attack. The question of method is an independent 
 question. It may be possible to present the positive side and 
 to bring these evils to the light and to place them in judgment 
 before it. The value of the ethical polemic will depend on 
 many things, on its tone, its skill, its form, relative infre- 
 quence, upon who handles it, and when and where and how. 
 The young preacher has perhaps, hardly the requisite ob- 
 servation and experience of the moral evils of his time and 
 may lack the trained skill requisite to the most effective work 
 in this line. It is not, perhaps, advisable that, in the early 
 period of his ministry he should preach to any very consid- 
 erable extent upon these social evils. At least it may well be 
 only an occasional task. It is easily overdone. There is a 
 large field for ethical preaching that lies outside the ethical 
 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 229 
 
 polemic. The inculcation of Christian duties and virtues as 
 related to individual life and to the more limited sphere of as- 
 sociate life may well be a large part of one's ordinary preach- 
 ing. Attack on social evils that appear on the wider fields 
 of life may well be reserved for exceptional occasions, and 
 when attempted it should be done with a merciless thorough- 
 ness, and with full command of facts. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 
 
 I. The Conception of Evangelistic Preaching 
 It is the presentation of the Gospel with reference to the 
 immediate, definite result of winning men to the allegiance of 
 Christ. It presupposes some knowledge of Christ on the 
 part of the hearer, and is, therefore, to be distinguished from 
 missionary preaching. All forms of "mission preaching," 
 whose object is to convince men of the truth of Christianity 
 and of the reasonableness of Christ's claim to their allegiance 
 and to persuade them to accept such allegiance may be re- 
 garded, as it is by German preachers, as belonging in a com- 
 prehensive sense to the evangelistic type of preaching. It is 
 at once apologetic and evangelistic, apologetic in its imme- 
 diate method, evangelistic in its ultimate aim. English 
 preachers sometimes classify apologetic with evangelistic 
 preaching. Its object being to convince the mind, and by 
 such convincing to lay the foundation for such persuasion 
 as will win men in personal allegiance to Christ, it "should 
 be penetrated with an evangelistic spirit."' In discussing 
 evangelistic preaching Dr. R. W. Dale deals to a considerable 
 extent with methods of apology.* In the United States, how- 
 ever, it is generally regarded as belonging distinctively to 
 the persuasive type of preaching, whose object is the con- 
 quest of the will, rather than to the apologetic type, whose 
 aim is primarily to convince the mind. It is assumed that 
 the work of convincing has already been accomplished. But 
 
 *Nine Lectures on Preaching, Lecture VII. Evangelistic Preach- 
 ing pp. 182-282. 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 231 
 
 it is a specific kind of persuasive preaching. In the compre- 
 hensive sense all preaching, as has already been frequently 
 intimated, must be persuasive. No apologetic preaching 
 can be effective which is not persuasive. Paracletic preach- 
 ing, as dealing with the promises and comfort of the Gospel 
 is nothing if not persuasive. All ethical preaching, which 
 aims to bring the will into subjection to the Christian law of 
 righteousness, is in its very conception persuasive. All re- 
 vival preaching, which would promote religious awakening, 
 seeking thus to refresh the spiritual and moral life of the 
 church, as well as the conversion of men, must be charac- 
 teristically persuasive. But the evangelistic type of preaching 
 is persuasive in the specific sense that it aims at the im- 
 mediate result of winning men in faith and obedience to the 
 personal acceptance of Christ as their redeemer and master. 
 To summarize then; Defined as to its subject matter, it is the 
 presentation of the Gospel message of grace. It deals with 
 the very heart of Christianity. It may have great range and 
 variety of content, but it all centres in the great message. 
 This is doubtless the original substance of Christian preach- 
 ing. It is nearest the original apostolic type of preaching 
 and nearest the original message of our Lord. Defined as to 
 its object, it is to win men to the discipleship of faith, repen- 
 tances, obedience and love by the power of persuasive speech 
 or by the presentation of appropriate motives, with such ef- 
 fectiveness as to persuade them to yield to the grace and au- 
 thority of Christ. 
 
 II. The Need of Pastoral Evangelism 
 Whether the church in our day needs the evangelist who is 
 not a pastor may be an open question. There is doubtless a 
 place for the professional evangelist. But his value will de- 
 pend on the kind of evangelist he is. It is not, however, my 
 purpose to discuss this question. The sure thing is, and it 
 
232 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 can be no open question, that we do need the pastor who is 
 also an evangelist, or at least who can preach evangelistically. 
 Every man who enters the Christian ministry should train 
 himself to preach thus. It is a serious mistake for a minister 
 to spend time in pursuits that are of secondary importance to 
 him as a minister and to neglect his message. It is his first 
 duty to learn to handle the Gospel of Christ effectively. It 
 is not creditable to him that his church should be obliged to 
 look to a special class of men for this type of service. The 
 churches have to a large extent lost faith in the ability of 
 educated ministers to do the work of the evangelist. In a 
 general, wide-reaching religious movement in a community, 
 the services of the right sort of professional evangelist are 
 without doubt of great value. But this should never super- 
 sede the evangelism of ordinary pastoral service. Upon the 
 question before us, I suggest the following considerations. 
 
 I. The demand for pastoral evangelism is involved in 
 the claims of Christianity upon men, Christ presents himself 
 as an object to be received in an act of personal allegiance. 
 The beginning of practical, working relations with Christ is 
 an act of faith. No man makes a beginning with the claims 
 of the Gospel upon his allegiance without a willing response 
 to it. All other demands presuppose this. All preaching 
 that presents the weighty truths of Christianity with reference 
 to edification or moral incentive assumes a discipieship al- 
 ready secured by the presentation in some way of the claims 
 of the Gospel upon personal allegiance. The first thing, not 
 the last thing, then, for a minister to do for those who have 
 not entered upon Christian discipieship is to present Christ 
 to them as an object of personal faith and allegiance. This, 
 of course, may be done, and done effectively in connection 
 with the processes of Christian nurture. But so long as there 
 are those in any congregation, who have grown to maturity 
 without having entered upon the life of Christian discipieship, 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 233 
 
 so long will there be a demand for some form of the evange- 
 listic type of preaching. 
 
 2. The pastoral commission involves the evangelistic com- 
 mission. Edification is not the sole pastoral function. The 
 original apostle was not a permanent pastor. He was an 
 evangelist. The earliest preaching was evangelistic, not pas- 
 toral. The original preacher's commission was that of the 
 evangelist, not of the pastor. Christ chose and commis- 
 sioned evangelists, not pastors. The pastor was a later pro- 
 duct of church life. A special class of men was needed for 
 the work of spreading Christianity. A special class may be 
 needed in our day, and those who enter upon such a work 
 must vindicate their calling and prove their credentials by 
 their training, their consecration, their wisdom, their unself- 
 ish devotion, and by their success in their work. But the 
 modern pastor should not fail to represent, in some form 
 and in some measure, the evangelism of the apostle. The 
 apostle is a fisher of men, and if the modern pastoral 
 preacher represents in any worthy material sense what is 
 left of the evangelistic phase of the apostolic commission, 
 he can not cease to be a fisher of men. The flock of God 
 must be fed, but those who are not of the Good Shepherd's 
 fold must also be won. Building up and gathering in should 
 go on together, and the gathering in can not be effected 
 wholly by the slow processes of Christian nurture. The 
 church receives those whom Christ receives, and who re- 
 ceive him, and those who receive him are not all nurtured 
 into his grace. Many, indeed, who enter the church from 
 the catechetical class are brought to the conscious reception 
 of Christ by the presentation of his claims evangelistically. 
 More of the subjects of Christian nurture might enter the 
 church with a more thorough consecration to Christ and to 
 his church, if these claims were more definitely and urgently 
 presented. But what shall we say of those who have long 
 
234 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 been under the power of evil habit and who need the presen- 
 tation of stirring motives? This class is increasing even 
 while the work of religious education is enlarging its scope. 
 The pulpit will lose power with the church and with the com- 
 munity if it is untrue to its evangelistic commission. 
 
 3. The needs of the ministry are involved here. We talk 
 about the homiletic mind. It should be understood that this 
 involves the evangelistic mind. The cultivation of the evan- 
 gelistic mind, as a part of one's general homiletic culture, 
 would have a beneficial effect in various ways upon one's 
 ministry. It would aid one in discriminating as to the prac- 
 tical importance of the themes he presents from the pulpit. 
 The evangelistic mind is a source of evangelistic divination. 
 It is the evangelistic preacher who will deal with the very 
 heart of the Gospel. One may indeed not always know what 
 the heart of the Gospel is. One may fancy he has it, when he 
 has it not. He may cultivate the "Gospel of Going On" in- 
 stead of the Gospel of staying with Christ. But the true evan- 
 gelistic mind involves a condition of insight into the Gospel, 
 and whatever one's apprehensions or misapprehensions as to 
 the Gospel, it is this that he wants. No by-play for this man. 
 He will have, he must have, a Gospel of promise and hope 
 and help that can be preached and must be preached. The 
 pastor who cultivates the evangelistic habit of mind is pretty 
 sure to find himself led toward an evangelistic centre and he 
 will not be content to play upon the outskirts. It has often 
 been this man with an evangelistic mind that has rediscovered 
 the Gospel for the pulpit. Luther had it, and he was an evan- 
 gelistic preacher, such as of necessity, and it was he who redis- 
 covered the Gospel of redemption. When theology becomes 
 petrified and can be no longer successfully preached, who is 
 it that comes to the front with a new way of stating old truths, 
 or even with a new theology that can be preached? It is the 
 evangelistic preacher. Take the case of Jonathan Edwards. 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 235 
 
 He made the theology of his day more preachable and he 
 preached it with amazing power. Take the case of the Ten- 
 nants in the Presbyterian church. These men were "new 
 light" men. They were antagonized by the men of pastoral 
 routine and of orthodox conformity. But they preached with 
 new power, because they on the whole got a little nearer to 
 the heart of the Gospel. Take the case of President Finney. 
 He too was a "new light" man. He had new views of human 
 accountability and of every man's possibilities with the Gos- 
 pel, and he had great power in reaching the consciences and 
 wills of men. It is not the true evangelistic mind that loses 
 its grip of the Gospel of redemption for needy men, and that 
 identifies Christianity with a species of "sublimated ethics." 
 It is this too that fosters positiveness in preaching. It 
 is the positive tone that lifts any type of preaching into 
 its best. In the early and mid-period of his ministry, 
 the evangelistic preaching of Henry Ward Beecher was 
 positive and incisive, and one fancies that this was tribu- 
 tary to positiveness in his preaching in general. His didactic 
 and ethical preaching was of a higher order than it was sub- 
 sequently. Different types of preaching influence each other. 
 Didactic preaching influences ethical preaching and evangelis- 
 tic preaching influences them both. The evangelistic mind is 
 preeminently positive. 
 
 It will elevate the spiritual tone of one's preaching. It will 
 even affect its rhetorical quality in the best sense of the word. 
 It is, as of necessity, definite in its aim and is fervid and sym- 
 pathetic in its spirit. How can a habit of definiteness and of 
 earnestness and of sympathetic fervor in one type of preach- 
 ing fail to appear in other types? And how shall it fail to 
 make the preacher more powerful rhetorically? How shall 
 it fail to uplift the entire work of preaching and the conduct 
 of public worship as well? 
 
 And finally it will be felt in the entire work of one's minis- 
 
236 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 try. It recognizes the duty of a minister to win men to 
 Christ. If one's preaching is wholly unevangelistic, the en- 
 tire work of the parish is likely to correspond. The con- 
 verse is also true. And this spirit of the herald, of the fisher 
 of men, will lift the spiritual life of the whole church and will 
 quicken all its missionary activities. It will thus supplement 
 the educative work of the church in the community. The 
 church has to deal in our day with an increasingly large num- 
 ber of people, who can be reached and won only by efforts 
 whose inspiration is the very heart of the Gospel, the very 
 heart of an apostolic ministry, the passion to rescue men. 
 
 III. Evangelistic Culture 
 
 In evangelistic, as in all other types of preaching, special 
 gifts will doubtless win special success. Some preachers are 
 unusually gifted with that power by which they easily find 
 their way to the hearts, consciences and wills of their hearers. 
 The great evangelist is doubtless a special product and a 
 special gift of and to the church. Such a one is pretty sure 
 to find his way into the work of the professional evangelist, 
 or into a pastoral ministry that will be a perpetual evangelism. 
 Undue stress is sometimes laid upon these special gifts. Dr. 
 R. W. Dale regretfully regarded himself as deficient in evan- 
 gelistic gifts and in some things he has said leaves the im- 
 pression that but little can be done without a special evange- 
 listic endowment.* This is rather discouraging to the preacher 
 of ordinary equipment, who would be a fisher of men. Every 
 preacher should cultivate, and may cultivate with a measure 
 of success, such gifts as he may have. Any man who may 
 be a preacher at all may achieve something in this field. 
 
 Let us consider some of the qualities that are important in 
 this type of preaching and that may and should be cultivated. 
 
 *Yale Lectures ; Lecture VII. Page 182. 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 237 
 
 1. Culture of the feelings and affections is a necessary 
 condition of evangelistic power. In modern religious peda- 
 gogy this receives a good deal of attention. It may well 
 receive stronger emphasis in pastoral culture. Culture of 
 the feelings and affections is just as important as mental and 
 moral culture, and will show its results. The ministerial 
 calling is prolific of agencies for such culture. There is a 
 Christian literature that expresses the strongest and purest 
 emotions of the human heart and the preacher has access 
 to it as none other has or can have. Christian poetry, and 
 especially the religious poetry of the Bible, enriches the emo- 
 tional and affectional life. There are also the ordinary means 
 of personal religious nurture, prayer, meditation, social wor- 
 ship and Christian intercourse and fellowship. These means 
 of grace, which are the preachers' special possession in a 
 sort, deepen and enrich the life of religious sentiment and 
 feeling, or should and will if worthily used. There is also 
 contact with the sinful, sorrowful, suffering world. There is 
 nothing like familiarity with the tragedy and pathos of hu- 
 man life to make one human. Men differ in their emotional 
 susceptibilities. There are different types of feeling, as there 
 are different mental types, and different ways of manifesting 
 feeling. Emotion need not be mercurial in order to be real. 
 But the true preacher, and preeminently the evangelistic 
 preacher, always has some capacity, whatever the type or 
 method of it, of being emotionally wrought upon by those 
 to whom he speaks. Successful evangelistic preaching 
 presupposes this. Consider the object of the evangelistic 
 sermon. It is to reach the will and secure action. To accom- 
 plish this it is necessary, indeed, to convince the mind, or 
 to be able to assume that it is already convinced, and to win 
 the conscience to the approval of the claims of duty and to 
 condemnation of its neglect or violation. But more. It is 
 necessary to make the object, that is presented as an object 
 
238 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of choice, desirable. This can only be done by awakening 
 an emotional interest in it. There are many ways of stirring 
 such an interest and of awakening a sense of the desirable- 
 ness of the object presented. But one thing is of supreme im- 
 portance. It is that the preacher himself should be moved 
 by the object he advocates. No right feeling can be awak- 
 ened, and no right desire quickened in the hearer, unless the 
 preacher himself have the feeling corresponding to that 
 which he would awaken. Capacity for such feeling can be 
 indefinitely cultivated. 
 
 2. Cultivation of the imagination is another requisite. 
 It is not easy to make invisible things real. In the largest 
 and best sense they are, indeed, native to us, and every man 
 has some capacity for the ideal. But it is badly overlaid by 
 the sensuous life. The invisible can not be made real with- 
 out the use of the imagination. The images of things visible 
 represent things that are invisible, and such representative 
 images move the emotions. A minister's calling furnishes 
 abundant material for the culture of the imagination. He 
 deals with the ideal side of human life, and with the lofty 
 ideal realities that lie beyond. The literature that is tribu- 
 tary to his professional life in general is especially tribu- 
 tary to the culture of the imagination. Biblical truth is 
 presented largely through the forms of the imagination. The 
 Biblical method of teaching is the poetic method. The diction 
 of our Lord is poetic, not scientific. Life also furnishes a 
 school for the training of the imagination. The preacher 
 deals with the dramatic aspects of human life, with the 
 tragedy of sin and suffering, with the defeats of life, and with 
 its joys and triumphs. Over against his ideal life stands 
 life's reality. All this is a powerful stimulant to the imagina- 
 tion. The preacher is an idealist; he is also a realist. And 
 his familiarity with actual life, not less than with ideal life 
 necessitates the culture of the imagination. In this prosaic 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 239 
 
 world of actuality this ideal realist may be a moving 
 force. 
 
 3. The culture of moral earnestness is of central signifi- 
 cance. Note some of its elements. Sincerity is the heart of 
 it. Moral earnestness can not be successfully simulated. 
 The speech of the insincere man will bewray him, and this 
 will be fatal to any man who undertakes to preach evange- 
 listically. The self-seeker can not win men. A positive, en- 
 terprising, aspiring man is exposed to the temptation to self- 
 seeking. One must live on guard and cultivate an unselfish 
 temper of mind. Nothing, except positive, open vice, will 
 so soon destroy the influence of a preacher of the Gospel 
 as any disclosure of personal selfishness. No one ever 
 doubted the entire sincerity of Mr. Dwight L. Moody, and 
 here was one of the sources of his power. The professional 
 evangelist especially is exposed to the temptation to self- 
 seeking, and particularly the temptation to self-aggrandize- 
 ment. 
 
 Elevation and cheerfulness of spirit is another element. 
 One who lives in his emotions, who is earnest to win men, 
 but especially one who is earnest to win success in his efforts, 
 is likely to be subject to revulsions of feeling. If he does 
 not succeed according to his expectations he may easily fall 
 into the habit of complaining. Professional evangelists are 
 greaty exposed to this temptation. They complain of the 
 deadness of the church, with much reason doubtless, and 
 they have a very lively sense of human depravity. But the 
 true fisher of men will live on guard against a censorious 
 spirit and a bitter tongue, for they will cripple his power. No 
 man needs so cheerful a soul as the one who is bent on 
 winning men to Christ. The discouragements are very 
 great. One will need all the hopefulness and kindliness and 
 sweetness of temper he can command. It is all necessary to 
 his moral earnestness. 
 
240 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Force of will is another element. Men must be made to 
 feel the strength of the preacher's purpose. There is a 
 mighty contagion in a consecrated resolution. Of course, 
 this is something that can not be paraded. One must be 
 adroit as well as resolute. But one's purpose must be felt. 
 He who would succeed in winning men must learn to handle 
 men. This ability may be cultivated by any man who has the 
 gift of a leader. One must be able to rally men. He must 
 concentrate his force upon the one point towards which he 
 aims and drive for it with all possible energy. Men will feel 
 the power of such a man, and he will win their respect and con- 
 fidence. This power may be cultivated. No successful evan- 
 gelistic preacher has ever failed to cultivate it. Power to 
 grip a congregation and to wrestle with men in his effort 
 to win them to Christ was one of Mr. Moody's great evan- 
 gelistic gifts. It was a superb illustration of moral force. 
 
 4. Culture of a strong and positive faith is a condition 
 of evangelistic power. The specific truths to which faith 
 especially attaches itself will necessarily vary in different pe- 
 riods. The phases of truth with which, in the changing con- 
 ditions of Christian thought and experience, the evangelistic 
 preacher deals, will vary accordingly. In the Reformation and 
 post-Reformation periods the central truth was Justification 
 by Faith only. In the English Wesleyan revival, it was Re- 
 generation and the Witness of the Spirit. In American revi- 
 vals of the mid period of the last century the freedom of the 
 will and personal responsibility in the work of conversion 
 received special attention. In line with this movement in 
 our day the ethical element in faith, by virtue of which men 
 surrender themselves to Christ as the master of life and 
 enter into fellowship with his spirit and his work, is made 
 prominent. To receive the inspiration of Christ and to fol- 
 low his example are the prominent features of the Christian 
 life that are kept before us. And Christ is exalted as the 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 241 
 
 ideal of all complete human character as well as the power 
 by which it is realized in men. 
 
 But the background of all successful evangelistic preaching 
 has at all times been a recognition in some form of the two 
 great facts of sin and redemption. They have been con- 
 ceived variously. Different aspects of these realities have 
 been accentuated at different times. But the facts them- 
 selves have in some form been at the basis of this type of 
 preaching in every period of Christian history. 
 
 The fact of sin is the presupposition of the fact of redemp- 
 tion. Any denial of sin involves a denial of redemption. If 
 the word sin has lost its meaning, there is no meaning left 
 in the word redemption. The reality of the one stands or 
 falls with the reality of the other. Whether it be the guilt 
 of sin, or its bondage, or its delusion, or its meanness, or its 
 misery that is made prominent, it has always been appre- 
 hended as sin, as an abnormal and perverse manifestation 
 of personal freedom, and it has been thus proclaimed with 
 great force of conviction in every period of most effective 
 evangelistic preaching. It is not necessary, nor is it possible, 
 for us to linger with it and dwell upon it and belabor it, as 
 our fathers did. One need not speculate much about its 
 genesis, nor debate much about its nature. But one must 
 deal frankly and fairly with the fact and when the fact is 
 pushed upon men's attention, it should be done with such ef- 
 fectiveness that they will see it and feel it. It is not so much 
 a question of quantity in the presentation as of force of con- 
 viction and force of statement. The quality of this sort of 
 preaching is of far more importance than its quantity. 
 
 Redemption also as a fact accomplished in Christ is the 
 very heart of evangelistic preaching. It is a redemption ob- 
 jectively complete in its provisions as being God's work; a 
 redemption sincerely offered to all men and for the applica- 
 tion of which abundantly helpful provision has been made. 
 
242 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 All this also presupposes faith in the capacity of men for a 
 religious life and the possibility that any man may put away 
 his sin and enter that life. And this again presupposes strong 
 confidence in the ethical and religious significance of that act 
 of faith by which men enter the Christian life, as involving 
 emancipation from the guilt and power of sin and as con- 
 taining in germ the possibilities of all Christian virtue. With 
 respect to these things the evangelistic preacher may not 
 waver, the fact of sin, the fact of redemption, the possibilities 
 of all men in Christ, and the saving significance and availing- 
 ness of faith. Men may differ about many things even here 
 within this circle of facts and truths. But if they hold hard 
 by the main lines, their differences need not compromise their 
 message. Theological and philosophical difficulties will pre- 
 sent themselves to all men who think. The young preacher 
 of our day is quite likely to fear that these difficulties may un- 
 fit him for this type of preaching. And he may find those 
 who will endeavor to persuade him that he is right in this 
 fear and that his only hope is in accepting their view of the 
 facts, or their theories about them. But it would be an al- 
 most devilish device that should succeed in persuading a sin- 
 cere and earnest young preacher, who holds to the main 
 lines of the evangelical faith, that unless he accept some one's 
 theology that calls itself orthodox he will fail as an evange- 
 listic preacher. Men's views on many phases of an evangeli- 
 cal theology have changed and the evangelistic nerve has 
 not been cut, and it may not be cut if they are still further 
 changed. No earnest man, who knows that, despite the dog- 
 matic dictum of the theological partizan, he is in a large and 
 generous sense an evangelical man, holding to the heart of 
 the Gospel, should ever allow himself to be moved from his 
 evangelistic purpose by any theological difficulties or by rela- 
 tively insignificant variations from the current theology of 
 his time. The preacher who knows that men are sinners, that 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 243 
 
 they need redemption, that they have it freely and sincerely 
 offered, that men may and should accept it whenever clearly 
 made known to them, and that whenever accepted in an act 
 of self surrender, they enter upon the beginning of a re- 
 deemed life that contains the promise and potency of all forms 
 of holy virtue — the man who knows this or who strongly be- 
 lieves it, whatever his opinions with reference to contested 
 and doubtful secondary points of belief, is the man who has 
 a Gospel and he can preach it with effectiveness, if otherwise 
 he have the fitness. And it is greatly to be hoped that in a 
 time of unsettlement no young preacher will be put to confu- 
 sion or turned aside by his mental perplexities. It is not 
 necessary for one to be omniscient in order to be evangeli- 
 cal, or in order to preach the Gospel of grace to needy men. 
 But it is necessary to believe that one has a Gospel to preach 
 and that men need it here and now. There is no evidence 
 that Paul thought himself omniscient. He was not wholly 
 certain about eschatological questions, and was manifestly 
 fallible in one point of eschatology, about which he was 
 quite confident, the immediate coming of our Lord. But it 
 is generally conceded that he was fairly orthodox and that 
 he preached his Gospel with a fair measure of success. 
 
 5. Culture of the religious life. Bad men have some- 
 times preached effectively. So long as they were believed 
 to be good men, they have won men to Christ. One may for 
 a time conceal his moral unsoundness, and no barrier of 
 doubt in the minds of others may impede the transmission of 
 truth through him. But it is an altogether exceptional thing 
 that a man of immoral and even of unspiritual character, ever 
 succeeds in the preaching of the Gospel. He has neither the 
 capacity to apprehend it aright, nor the motive to present 
 it unselfishly. It is the man of spiritual power that preaches 
 effectively. The spirit of God works through the consecrated 
 energies of the human soul. A fresh religious experience 
 
244 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 is sure to impart new moral and spiritual power in the pro- 
 clamation of the Gospel. The case of Dr. Chalmers is often 
 cited in illustration of this. But this is only one amid un- 
 numbered instances. 
 
 6. Culture of the evangelistic spirit, to which reference 
 has already been made, a spirit namely that is consonant with 
 the spirit of the Gospel and with the object for which it is 
 presented. This is more than a spirit of earnest devotion. Many 
 a man of deep and earnest piety has failed with respect to the 
 right evangelistic spirit. Wisdom as well as piety is in de- 
 mand. Contact with men for the purpose of knowing them 
 and of finding ways to reach them is necessary to the cul- 
 ture of the evangelistic spirit. Men are known individually. 
 Every heart has its own door. Tact in handling men comes 
 of contact; capacity to touch men skillfully is product of 
 touching them practically. Preliminary observation of and 
 contact and acquaintance with successful evangelistic preach- 
 ers will be of value to any man who sets his heart upon the 
 winning of men. It is a misfortune for any man to begin his 
 pastorate without such preparatory observation and acquain- 
 tance. The tone of one's religious services may be made 
 tributary to evangelistic effort. One may not expect to 
 preach evangelistically with success whose conduct of public 
 worship lacks the evangelistic or missionary quality. One's 
 devotional meetings may become a sphere of preliminary 
 training. Brief, direct, earnest prayer and speech further the 
 evangelistic interest. One who has fallen into the habit of 
 long, dull, monotonous circuitous prayer and address will 
 find it hard to work out of them when he comes to put forth 
 direct effort to persuade men. 
 
 But the culture of the evangelistic spirit involves pre- 
 eminently a sense of one's own spiritual needs. This condi- 
 tions the receptive posture of the soul to the grace of God. 
 All men of evangelistic power have known what Paul meant 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 245 
 
 when he said, "When I am weak then I am strong." And 
 this includes strong conviction of the needs of other men. 
 No preacher can ever afford to forget that he deals with 
 those who are needy, whether they know it or not, needy in 
 sin and needy in infirmity. It is a strong sense of this need 
 that awakens a great yearning of heart to be helpful in bring- 
 ing them to Christ. 
 
 7. Culture of such homiletic qualities as are adapted to 
 this type of preaching. The cultivation of sound judgment, 
 moral intensity and power of concrete representation and 
 correct taste with reference to the emotional impressions 
 sought, is an important consideration. It is not an easy task 
 to handle a sermon that aims at persuasion. It is easier to 
 teach than to persuade. Persuasion attaches itself to that 
 part of human nature that is most intractable and unreliable, 
 the emotions and the will. It also deals with a class of truths 
 and with moral aims that exact closely upon the conscience, 
 and it has to concern itself with those who may be indifferent 
 or hostile to the claims which the preacher presents, and per- 
 haps indifferent or hostile to the preacher himself. The tone 
 and quality of the themes themselves also with which the 
 evangelistic preacher deals are very exacting upon his powers 
 of persuasion. These themes are the great realities of the re- 
 ligion of redemption. Sometimes they speak as by their own 
 power. There are times in the experience of men when very 
 humble and ineffective agencies may readily transmit these 
 truths and disclose their power. But in general it requires 
 rare skill to greaten what is great and to intensify what is 
 intense, and this is what the evangelistic preacher must do. 
 He must greaten and intensify the claims of the Gospel in 
 the apprehension and in the feelings and convictions of men. 
 These difficulties intensify homiletic exaction. The text is 
 important. It may well be an impressive text and as closely 
 adapted as possible to the nature and object of the sermon. 
 
246 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Harmony of tone is especially desirable. Whatever the char- 
 acter of the text, whether command or claim, promise, cheer- 
 ful incentive, or solemn admonition and appeal, the right 
 sort of sermon will catch its tone as well as thought and 
 make it effective. 
 
 The introduction will be specially solicitous to win and 
 fix attention and interest at the outset. Whatever will make 
 the thought or sentiment or feeling of the text impressive at 
 the start, is a good introduction and whatever makes the oc- 
 casion, or the theme or the aim of the sermon, or the solici- 
 tude of the preacher for his hearers impressive will be good 
 introductory material. The theme, whether causal or final, 
 i. e., whether it give the subject or instead the object of the 
 sermon, will be stated with exceptional simplicity, directness, 
 definiteness, clearness and brevity. Such statement promotes 
 forcefulness and impressiveness. 
 
 The outline and discussion demand cumulative impression. 
 If one aims at a decisive result, he naturally aims at a rhe- 
 torical climax. Anticlimax is fatal to decisive effects. The 
 conclusion is naturally shorter, more compact and concen- 
 trated in form than that of the didactic sermon. The last 
 word will be especially weighty and impressive, and 
 if done naturally and simply and sincerely may well be de- 
 tached by a slight pause and given with deliberation and 
 emphasis. 
 
 The culture of the rhetorical qualities of naturalness and 
 directness is especially important in evangelistic preaching. 
 For even naturalness may be cultivated. These qualities 
 have characterized the style of the great evangelistic preach- 
 ers, especially directness. This is the style of Mr. Spurgeon 
 and of Mr. Moody, and earlier of Prof. Finney. The style of 
 Whitefield would not be natural in our own day, but it was 
 natural for him, was familiar to his hearers, and in harmony 
 with the rhetorical culture and taste of his age. There is 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 247 
 
 nothing in the discourses of these great evangelists that in- 
 sures their perpetuity. But they express what is real to them 
 and they bear the evidence of reality in their directness and 
 pungency. A religious awakening is likely to bring a re- 
 vival of naturalness, simplicity, directness, compactness and 
 cogency of speech. The very form partakes of the new, 
 fresh life that penetrates it. 
 
 Culture of good perspective, of balance of parts, and econ- 
 omy of force, is another important interest. One needs to 
 know not only what to say, but how much and when and 
 where, and how to stop. The adequate evangelistic sermon 
 carries no surplus material. It eliminates padding. It wastes 
 no words. It is dangerous to say too much. He who speaks 
 to the feelings of his hearers may easily cause a revulsion. A 
 little over-doing spoils the impression. Just here, directness 
 of aim becomes the more manifestly important. The 
 preacher who aims straight will keep within bounds. 
 
 IV. Evangelistic Motives 
 The most important study in evangelistic preaching is 
 perhaps the study of motive, or a study of the various 
 methods by which the will is moved. Skill in the use of 
 motive is skill in the art of persuasion. Motive is what 
 moves. What moves men varies. It varies not only with 
 individual men and classes of men at any given period, but 
 it varies with the changing conditions of time. Considera- 
 tions that move men in one age fail to move them in the 
 new conditions and habits of another age. The field of mo- 
 tive enlarges as men's conceptions of the Christian life en- 
 large, as their conceptions of Christianity enlarge, and as 
 the Gospel takes broader and more varied relations with the 
 lives of men in the changes of time. The age in which we 
 live is one of vast complexity. The experiences of men are 
 conditioned by this complexity. There is a greater variety 
 
248 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 in religious experience than was once the case. There is larger 
 range in the types of religious experience. There are more 
 ways recognized and made available of bringing men to 
 Christ. The parable of the hidden treasure and that of the 
 merchantman suggest and were designed to suggest variety 
 in the ways by which men enter the kingdom of God. They 
 thus suggest the varieties of motive to which men are sub- 
 ject. Dr. R. W. Dale in his Yale Lectures* has touched upon 
 this subject in an interesting manner and has directed atten- 
 tion to some of the evangelistic motives that are especially 
 available in our day. I shall touch a portion of the ground 
 he has traversed, but only a portion. Let us undertake to 
 classify some of the motives that are available in the evan- 
 gelism of our day. 
 
 \ i. There is what may be called the intellectual motive. 
 Some men are much more easily reached than others by the 
 presentation of the truth convincingly to the mind, par- 
 ticularly by the presentation of Christ as the one who an- 
 swers certain intellectual needs and meets their intellectual 
 difficulties. To convince the mind is the surest way to reach 
 the hearts, consciences and wills of some men. Convince- 
 ment is the larger part of persuasion. Most men know 
 Christ as the source and inspiration of life. But there are 
 those for whom Christ as "the truth" has supreme attrac- 
 tion. It is important for the preacher to know that Christ 
 may be preached evangelistically as "the truth," the truth 
 of God, the truth of man, the truth of life. Christianity is the 
 great and the only adequate religious interpreter of the 
 being and character of God, of the exaltation and worth of 
 humanity and of the inner meaning of the world and of life. 
 The Christian world-view is the only one that can satisfy not 
 only the hearts and consciences but the higher intelligence 
 of thoughtful, serious-minded men. It answers to that sense 
 
 ♦Nine Lectures on Preaching, page 204 ff. 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 249 
 
 of moral value which is not only an ethical instinct but an 
 intellectual conception. The Gospel that bears the name of 
 John was the early response of Christianity to the intellec- 
 tual needs of men in the realm of religion. Not only in 
 substance but in form it was peculiarly fitted to meet the 
 needs of all those who in that early age sought a deeper 
 knowledge of God and of his Christ. In many of its funda- 
 mental conceptions it is adapted to the mental needs of men 
 in every age, and is far more significant for the intellectual 
 as well as spiritual necessities of the church than many of 
 the critics know. There have been a few modern evangelists, 
 notably the late Professor Drummond, who have presented 
 Christ with great success to intellectual and cultivated men. 
 The older preachers always sought to make a strong, clear 
 mental impression before they could hope to make the 
 requisite ethical and emotional impression. They presented 
 the claims of Christianity to the mind. They plied the in- 
 tellectual motive. And just here apologetic preaching be- 
 comes evangelistic preaching, or enters into close alliance 
 with it. It may become more and more necessary to make 
 evangelistic preaching apologetic in a sort, especially, as in 
 the preaching of Prof. Drummond, in effort to win educated 
 young men. As mental life in the realm of religion develops 
 and as men come under the power of modern culture, it will 
 be necessary to appeal to the higher intelligence, to the 
 higher mental wants and to urge those motives that reach the 
 will through the mind. 
 
 2. The aesthetic motive. That the realm of religion lies 
 contiguous to the realm of aesthetics is an altogether familiar 
 fact. No modern religious teacher has more clearly con- 
 ceived the relation, or more attractively interpreted it, than 
 Frederick W. Robertson. That the realm of the ethical and 
 of the aesthetic also are closely allied has been made apparent 
 by modern philosophical writers. It is the teaching of 
 
250 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Ulrici* that the primal sense of moral obligation is both 
 ethical and aesthetic. There lingers in the soul of every hu- 
 man being an ideal of what one ought to be and the con- 
 scious or unconscious striving for self-realization is but the 
 striving for the realization of this ideal, however dimly or 
 however clearly defined it may be. This notion of the 
 "ought"' then, which involves the notion of a striving of the 
 soul for the realization of a moral goal, is both ethical and 
 aesthetic. A right character is not only the realization of 
 moral rectitude but of moral beauty. It is easy to see that 
 the sense of an ideal goodness is both ethical and aesthetic. 
 There are those who have a strong sense of the attractions 
 of goodness. They carry about with them an ideal of what 
 God intended them to be. This ideal of manhood lingers 
 with them and haunts them. Conscience condemns them 
 for failure to realize the standard that is set for them. Their 
 lives are, therefore, lives of self-dissatisfaction. It is largely 
 this that distinguishes men of high and of low type of pos- 
 sible manhood. A Christian civilization nurtures this sense 
 of ideal goodness. It is thus that men of the finer mould, 
 who are subject to such elevating influences, are the more 
 easily reached by the presentation of Christ as the embodi- 
 ment of the loftiest ideal of human goodness. It is the 
 moral beauty of the character and life of Christ that will 
 draw such men to him. There is perhaps a broader field to- 
 day for the use of such a motive especially among educated 
 young men and women, who have been the subjects of early 
 Christian nurture, than in former periods. 
 
 3. The paracletic motive. The sorrows, disappointments, 
 hardships and dissatisfactions of life prepare many for the 
 reception of Christ as the one who brings comfort, strength 
 and peace. There are in our day increasingly large num- 
 bers of those who carry great burdens in life, who are 
 
 *Gott und der Meusch. Zweiter Theil. Einletung III Seite 68 ff. 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 251 
 
 wearied and dissatisfied with life and who seriously enter- 
 tain the question whether it is "worth living." Doubtless the 
 external conditions of men in all civilized and prosperous 
 countries is constantly bettering. It is doubtless true that 
 the "rich are growing richer," but there is no basis for the 
 cry, which has become a species of sentimental cant, that 
 the "poor are growing poorer." Doubtless they know their 
 poverty and feel it and are discontented with it as never be- 
 fore, but the very dissatisfaction is an accompaniment of 
 bettered conditions. The dissatisfactions of life are increas- 
 ing. While the outer conditions of life are bettering, the 
 inner life is more restless and burdened, even among those 
 whose lives are otherwise full of comfort. It is said to be a 
 matter of observation that the sufferings and hardships of 
 life do not to any large extent bring men to Christ, that they 
 harden rather than soften them and make them responsive 
 to the call of God's grace and compassion. The attitude of 
 the broken-down section of society towards religion seems to 
 confirm this. But it is possible that the comforting Christ 
 is not brought to such men as he might be and should be, 
 and it is certainly true that in the case of a great many the 
 sufferings of life condition a certain religious susceptibility 
 to the influences of a higher world, and it were a very serious 
 mistake for a shepherd of souls to assume that the victim 
 of life's hardships can not to any considerable extent be led 
 into a longing for higher forms of good, for peace with God 
 and for the assurance of heavenly blessedness. 
 
 4. The emotional motive. There are those who may be 
 reached by an appeal to fear. It has proved itself to be a 
 powerful motive, and it still may be effective. It is a legiti- 
 mate motive and was freely used by our Lord himself. Men 
 need to be warned of the results of sin, not to their characters 
 alone, but to their happiness. Christ appealed to a love of 
 the higher well-being. It is said that men in our day are 
 
252 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 not responsive to this motive. Doubtless they are not 
 responsive to it as it was once presented. But there never 
 was a time when the consequences of sin could be more 
 powerfully and effectively presented than now, and it is idle 
 to suppose that human nature has so radically changed and 
 that men have so wholly lost all sense of well-being that they 
 cannot be made to dread sin and its consequences when they 
 are properly presented to them. The preacher need not 
 deal with visions of the future wrath of God against sin in 
 order to lead men to dread it. He has only to deal with its 
 present consequences ; he has only to deal with the facts, the 
 awful facts of life. No imaginative picture of future wrath 
 can equal the appalling facts of present ruin. 
 
 Yet in itself fear is not a moral motive. There is no more 
 virtue in dreading suffering of soul than there is in dreading 
 suffering of body. No one is ever morally changed by the 
 influence of fear alone. The value of it as a motive is that 
 it arrests for a time the wrong action of the soul and gives op- 
 portunity for other motives to take hold. But it is these 
 other motives, operating unconsciously or half-unconsciously 
 it may be, that do the work. A man can never be simply 
 frightened away from sin into a life of holy virtue. A love 
 for the soul's true good itself must first spring up in the 
 heart because it is recognized as such. One may be startled 
 in his bad way so as to be made afraid of God. But no 
 one is ever a changed man morally simply by being made afraid 
 of God. One may be terrified at the consequences of sin, 
 but if he does not come to hate it, he will not turn from it. 
 Fear, however, may give faith and love a chance to become 
 operative in the soul. Dread of results in suffering may at 
 last lead one to hate the sin that causes the suffering, that 
 is hateful in itself, and hateful to God. But he who 
 still tolerates sin in his heart and is only afraid of its 
 consequences will still adventure in his bad way, and 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 253 
 
 will dare the worst, notwithstanding his dread. Such a man 
 is not a changed man, nor will fear alone ever change 
 him. 
 
 But there are those who are less responsive to the motive 
 of fear than to motives of an opposite character. They may- 
 be moved by an appeal to the heart. There are those who 
 always, even from early years, seem to live under a sort 
 of constraint from the love of Christ or are at special periods 
 peculiarly responsive to it. The pathos of his sorrow and of 
 his suffering love has been a mighty power in the evangelism 
 of the church. Periods of religious awakening have attested 
 its power as a motive. The mystical preachers of the church 
 of Rome, St. Bernard, Berthold, Francis of Assisi, attest it. 
 Witness also the pietistic preachers of the Protestant 
 churches. Recall the Moravian Zinsendorf, whose motto 
 was, "I have but one passion, it is He and He only." The 
 sufferings of the Redeemer have been a prominent theme in 
 Moravian preaching and have demonstrated their power to 
 nurture the feelings and affections. We may not forget that 
 the great Schliermacher was in early years a pupil in schools 
 of Moravian piety, where the suffering love of Christ was 
 powerfully delineated, and that this nurture shaped his 
 future life. We may not forget that Frederick W. Robertson 
 and John Henry Newman were educated in the pietistic 
 school of Anglican Evangelicanism, the school that laid great 
 emphasis in its theology and its preaching upon the suffering 
 love of Christ. The marvelous success of the Methodist 
 Church in its evangelistic work is due in large measure to 
 its powerful presentation of this motive. From the founding 
 of this church and ever on, the love of God, as disclosed in 
 the cross of Christ, has been the favorite theme of its preach- 
 ers. Few preachers in any age have equalled Bishop Simp- 
 son in power of pathos in dealing with the love of the cru- 
 cified Redeemer, and with the glory and blessedness of the 
 
254 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 heavenly life as the crown of our earthly conflict in the fel- 
 lowship of his sufferings. These were the motives he liked 
 most to urge. When he reached them in his discourses he 
 always rose to the supreme height of a well-balanced elo- 
 quence and was then at his best. Here he showed himself 
 to be at home and was able to sustain himself in the most 
 exalted flights of emotional eloquence, as in a genuine in- 
 spiration. His very diction became more simple and natural 
 and forceful, and even more exact. Henry Ward Beecher, 
 especially in the early years of his ministry, had amazing 
 power over the hearts of men. His first and mid-period 
 preaching had an evangelical tone which that of the later 
 period lacked. The motives which he urged and which 
 were appropriated as the product of his own religious ex- 
 periences were those that appeal to the heart, and they 
 mightily searched the hearts to which they appealed. In 
 his later life he aspired to be the teacher rather than inspirer 
 of men and there was a distinct loss in that power which was 
 distinctively his own. A favorite method of fostering the 
 religious life in the Roman Catholic church, to which there 
 is something corresponding in some of the Protestant 
 churches, is the "retreat." Its prevailing method is to keep 
 before the mind, and largely through pictures for the imagi- 
 nation, the sufferings of Christ. An increase in such meas- 
 ures for quickening and chastening the Christian life might 
 be profitable in all the churches of our day. How has it 
 come about that so much of the preaching that we hear fails 
 to move the heart? Is it that preachers are losing their hold 
 of the religion of redemption, losing their hold of the heart 
 of religion, losing the dynamic of suffering love in the incul- 
 cation of a Christianity which is summarized as a law of life, 
 'whose chief significance is the exaction of moral tasks rather 
 than as a revelation of the grace of God? Is it connected 
 'with the fact that the evangelistic type of preaching is not 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 255 
 
 cultivated as once it was? And if so, why is this? Is it that, 
 in the sittings and eliminations of our critical processes, the 
 irreducible remainder of our Christianity appears as only a 
 system of ethics? The culture of our day is largely intellec- 
 tual, aesthetic and ethical. The religious feelings and affec- 
 tions are not adequately cultured. And why is this? Are 
 we perhaps cultivating ourselves away from the heart's purest 
 and sublimest inspirations? 
 
 5. The moral motive. It is possible to work directly 
 upon the results of the early training of the conscience, 
 upon a trained sense of obligation to Christ, in which the 
 conscience has been precommitted. And it is here that the 
 moral allies itself with the aesthetic motive, or a sense of 
 moral obligation with a sense of the attractiveness of the 
 Christian life. The value of early religious education is con- 
 spicuous here. It creates a conscience for Christ. It pre- 
 commits the moral nature and secures a bias towards him. 
 There are those who can be reached by appeal to a certain 
 sense of honor, to a moral sentiment and judgment that res- 
 spects a character and life that are worthy of a man, and the 
 possibilities that are opened up in Christ before them. The 
 very fact that men are called to be the children of God, that 
 in all their degradation they are his children, the very height 
 of the calling, the very vastness of the fact, here is an appeal 
 to manhood. It is a motive that should appeal to any manly 
 young man. The contrast between what one is of right and 
 privilege, and what one has become in fact — what one was 
 made to be and called to be and what one has made oneself 
 — is a startling contrast. Aspiration is awakened by opening 
 up the hopes of the Gospel. Christ won men largely by 
 showing them that in him a better manhood is possible. 
 Assurance of the good stirs the consciousness of the bad. It 
 was the returning consciousness of sonship and the hope of 
 welcome as a son at the old home that won the prodigal, and 
 
256 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the power of the parable is in its illustration of this possibility 
 of a recovered child and home consciousness. 
 
 6. The social motive. Personal example, various forms 
 of personal influence, are powerful factors in winning men 
 to Christ. The social motive is strong in early years. It 
 operates powerfully in periods of religious awakening. In 
 all evangelistic effort in the interest of the young this should 
 never be forgotten. That one shares with others a common 
 good makes it easier to appropriate it as a personal good. 
 The dread of losing the power of a sacred social influence, of 
 being left behind and alone by the comrades one loves, the 
 conviction that the accepted time and the day of salvation is 
 the time when God makes it easy by the power of cooperat- 
 ing sympathies to yield allegiance to Christ. All this is 
 operative in the evangelistic interest. And there are al- 
 ways those in any community where the fruits of Christian 
 education abound, who, more sensitively conscientious than 
 others, reflect regretfully upon their own past influence, and 
 who wish to make amends therefor. The possibility that 
 one may influence others to enter the Christian life, and that 
 one may be measurably responsible for others' failure, is a 
 potent motive to a manly youth. Recall the case of Dr. 
 Horace Bushnell, who returned to his own allegiance to Christ 
 under the pressure of a burdening sense of social responsibil- 
 ity as a teacher of college men. It is a singularly interesting 
 illustration of the power of the social conscience in a man 
 of tremendous personal force and of unique individuality. 
 In a time when the social aspects of Christian morality are so 
 strongly accentuated and when men are made to feel their 
 social obligations, it is a motive that may be urged with great 
 effectiveness. The attractions of a common service in the 
 kingdom of God was a motive which Prof. Drummond 
 urged with skill and power in his evangelistic effort on be- 
 half of educated young men. This was the distinctive fea- 
 
THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 257 
 
 ture in the evangelism of the Rev. B. Fay Mills. It was 
 surely not the failure of his evangelistic method that brought 
 about his retirement from the evangelistic field. 
 
 The motives above outlined, of course blend and co- 
 operate. Many streams of influence flow into the current of 
 any man's Christian life. Combinations of motive are nec- 
 essary to move men. To find out to what motives men are 
 most likely to respond is the evangelistic preacher's task. 
 He must study men, not only masses of men, but individual 
 men. He needs to study the use of motive by successful 
 evangelistic preachers. Pastoral knowledge is tributary to 
 pastoral evangelism, and here the professional evangelist is 
 at a certain disadvantage. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 
 
 The best method of sermon delivery, best in general or 
 best for any particular preacher, can not be determined 
 off hand. Xo one method is universally best. One 
 method is best in one respect and for one man; another 
 best in another respect and for another man. Each has 
 its advantages. It is a concrete question, not to be 
 answered by an appeal to general principles. It is 
 settled at last by experiment. But in applying the test 
 of experiment some general considerations may come into 
 discussion. 
 
 The personality of the preacher is a consideration of im- 
 portance. A preacher's method, and his success in it, here 
 as elsewhere, depend on the peculiarities of his endowment 
 and training. There are certain habits of mind that are 
 better adapted to one than to another method. There are 
 also questions of temperament that demand recognition. 
 Gifts of speech or lack of such gifts, are to be considered. 
 One's physical condition in general or at any particular time 
 is not an insignificant matter. One's personal training de- 
 mands recognition. A preacher may easily become a slave 
 to a particular method, so as to become incapacitated for 
 any other, although originally as well fitted for one as for 
 another. Scottish and New England preachers have fur- 
 nished many examples of this tyranny of habit. There 
 are preachers who never discover their possibilities till they are 
 pushed to the test. 
 
 The subject or theme of the sermon demands considera- 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 259 
 
 tion. Some themes are more easily, more appropriately and 
 more successfully presented in one than in another 
 method. 
 
 The object of the sermon challenges attention. The ques- 
 tion may always well be raised; can I accomplish my 
 purpose best by writing out fully what I have to say and 
 reading it, or by carefully thinking my subject through 
 and trusting to the occasion for its rhetorical form 
 or by writing and memorizing, in whole or in part, 
 or can I best realize my aim by combining the three 
 methods? 
 
 The character of the audience may determine the answer 
 to the question. The exceptionally intelligent and cultivated 
 audience perhaps generally prefers and is best edified by the 
 sermon that is written and read, or memorized. This is 
 not always the case. But in some sections of the United 
 States it is true. The audience of only average intelligence, 
 however, generally prefers the extemporaneous method. One 
 would hardly take a manuscript into a country school house, 
 or town hall, or opera house or camp meeting. The character 
 and conditions of the audience would forbid it. Bishop 
 Brooks was a manuscript preacher, but before a promis- 
 cuous audience he almost never appeared with his manuscript. 
 He knew that he could speak more effectively without it. 
 And yet this is largely a matter of habit and custom. 
 Some of the most intelligent and cultivated audiences are 
 adapting themselves to extemporaneous preaching. The 
 whole question is relative. There is no absolutely best 
 method. 
 
 But let us take up the three methods in succession and 
 consider their claims and limitations. The subject has been 
 very fully discussed, there is a great amount of literature 
 bearing upon it, and there is no need of entering upon it 
 at lensrth. 
 
260 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 I. The Manuscript Type 
 
 We will consider its conditions of value and its limitations. 
 
 I. The use of the manuscript seems to be best adapted 
 to the mental bias, habit and training of some preachers. It 
 is also best adapted to their literary style and general habit 
 of preaching. The late Prof. George Shepard of Bangor 
 Theological Seminary is an illustration. His mental movement 
 was deliberate and strong. Until aroused by his subject and 
 audience, he was a little heavy. He was exceptionally grave, 
 serious and impressive. His style was compact and forceful 
 and rose to a high elevation of emotional vigor at the end 
 of the sermon. It was concentrated energy. It was his pur- 
 pose to handle the commonly-accepted truths of evangelical 
 Christianity in such a way as to make them as effective as 
 possible upon the heart and conscience, and so upon the will. 
 He trained himself carefully along this line. His speech was, 
 in extraordinary measure, concentrated, direct, forcible, but 
 deliberate, weighty, dignified. He never threw himself out 
 upon the broader, freer lines of movement, never gave him- 
 self wide range, but aimed straight at a near and definite 
 centre. It is difficult for any one who understood the charac- 
 ter of his preaching to imagine that he could have been as 
 effective without as he was with the manuscript. There was 
 an interesting correspondence between the quality of his 
 thought, his diction and his elocution, and it was the man- 
 uscript that largely conditioned that correspondence. 
 
 The essay type of mental habit, if one may so call it, is 
 in general best served by the use of the manuscript. The mind 
 that deals naturally and habitually with the minute details 
 of thought, that does not grasp it in its broad outlines, nor 
 hold it in close relation, but moves freely from one thought 
 to another along the line of relatively remote suggestion, 
 always takes kindly to the manuscript. This is the reason 
 doubtless why Emerson was always obliged to read his ad- 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 261 
 
 dress and could never even memorize it. Considering his 
 mental habit, his habit of producing and writing, it is just 
 what we might expect. It was for much the same reason, 
 perhaps, that Chalmers was a manuscript preacher. His ser- 
 mons were rhetorical and oratorical essays, close-wrought and 
 defective with respect to broad, clear, bold outlines. 
 
 One can readily see why the late Prof. Swing of Chicago 
 and why Dr. Parkhurst of New York must use the manuscript. 
 They belong to the class of pulpit essayists. Their discourses 
 are essays turned measurably into the form of addresses. 
 The manuscript is of value to the preacher of abstract habits 
 of thought, i. e., whose mind deals habitually with abstract 
 truth. It is of value to the preacher whose temperament is 
 phlegmatic, whose speech is slow moving, the preacher who, 
 like the late Canon Mozley, lacks linguistic facility. It is 
 difficult to conceive of Mozley as anything but a manuscript 
 preacher. It is of value for the discourse in which close and 
 discriminating thought is demanded, whose object is the elu- 
 cidation of a difficult subject, and the edification of intel- 
 ligent hearers by increase of knowledge. In all cases where 
 exceptional exactness of conception and of statement is de- 
 manded and where the success of the sermon depends on 
 such exactness the manuscript is desirable. There are but 
 very few extemporaneous preachers that can speak with 
 an exactness equal to that of the manuscript preacher. I 
 venture the suggestion that the manuscript promotes variety 
 in preaching. It does not tend to a uniform and stereotyped 
 method as does the extemporaneous habit. Compare Robert- 
 son with Bushnell in this regard. Robertson's variety is in 
 the substance of his thought. His method is stereotyped. 
 Bushnell has variety in both substance and form. The 
 manuscript sermon is likely to anchor itself more closely to 
 the text than the extemporaneous sermon. It is careful study 
 of the text and close adherence to it that will secure a de- 
 
262 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 velopment that is pertinent to it and to the subject deduced, 
 and thus we have a variety corresponding to the variety of 
 texts and subjects. The manuscript sermon is generally the 
 more carefully prepared, and it is the more carefully pre- 
 pared discourse that is likely to have a character and form 
 of its own. The less carefully prepared sermon is likely 
 to take the form with which the mind of the preacher has 
 become familiar and in connection with which it works most 
 easily and readily, because of this familiarity with a limited 
 number of topics. In the written sermon the development 
 runs out more fully into the details of thought. Thought 
 is more fully expanded. This expansion of thought con- 
 ditions variety of thought. The farther one strikes out from 
 the main stream of thought into the back country, the more 
 rivulets of thought he taps. The farther one gets into a 
 mine the more wide-ranging run the veins. It is in part per- 
 haps for this reason that the manuscript sermon is likely to 
 meet a larger variety of needs. It is perhaps possible for the 
 preacher to sustain himself longer in a parish with a manuscript 
 if properly used, than without it. The superior literary form 
 of the manuscript sermon is one of the stock arguments for 
 it. He is a rare extemporaneous preacher who can express 
 himself in as good literary form as the manuscript preacher. 
 The value of this superior literary form will of course de- 
 pend on the use that is made of it. If it fosters a tendency 
 to make the sermon an end, an artistic product rather than 
 an effective rhetorical instrument, it is pernicious. But in 
 any event the written sermon has an advantage in the clear- 
 ness that follows deliberation and exactness of statement, 
 in the forcefulness that follows conciseness of state- 
 ment, and in the finish that belongs to the more carefully 
 wrought product. A larger number of good literary qualities 
 are cultivated by the use of the manuscript. It is for this 
 reason that the written product abides. Extemporaneous ser- 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 263 
 
 mons generally are short-lived. It is to a large extent the 
 literary quality of sermons that gives them perpetuity. In 
 so far as the possession of the manuscript in the pulpit 
 insures deliberation and self-poise and self-assurance and 
 ease of mind, it becomes tributary to an edifying public 
 worship. The man who takes his manuscript into the pulpit 
 will leave his homiletic burdens behind. He who carries 
 his sermon in his mind and carries anxiety and perplexity 
 with it, cannot be wholly at his ease or at home either in 
 preaching or in the conduct of worship. These are all familiar 
 defenses of the manuscript. They are all at best relative 
 and one-sided. They show clearly enough how much may be 
 said for it. But it is possible that most of these defenses may 
 be counter-weighted by arguments in favor of other methods, 
 and especially by its own limitations. 
 
 2. Limitations of the manuscript. Its physical limitations. 
 It is a tax upon physical energy. The men who break down 
 in the ministry are largely slaves of the pen. The men who 
 do their work at night are generally the manuscript preachers. 
 Protracted work under great physical disadvantages, such as 
 are involved in the writing and reading of sermons, will sap 
 a man's energies. 
 
 Its intellectual limitations. It consumes time that might 
 be given to broader study and training. The manuscript 
 slave cannot grow as he otherwise might. He is likely to 
 become a mere sermonizer, a sermon monger, and to lose 
 the influence that a broader culture might secure. He is 
 an authority upon no subject, because he does not find or give 
 himself time for thorough investigation and study. This is 
 one of the chief reasons why men of intellectual aspirations 
 are in our day emancipating themselves from such servitude. 
 
 Its possible moral limitations. The preacher who always 
 writes and reads his sermons easily overestimates the lit- 
 erary or artistic form. In so far as this is the case, the proper 
 
264 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ethical aim of preaching may be lost sight of. Hence defect 
 in the moral purpose of the preacher. Excessive devotion to 
 form limits moral aim and moral power. Thus the sermon 
 fails to do its work. In times of religious awakening the man- 
 uscript is likely to disappear, in part and for a time at least. 
 Any method of preaching may of course have its moral 
 limitations. But the moral limitation of an excessive artistic 
 ideal is peculiarly the product of manuscript preaching. 
 
 Its oratorical limitations. The reading of a manuscript 
 limits a man's oratorical powers. The limitation of posture, 
 pantomime, use of eye and of vocal organs is evident. It is 
 pretty sure that the conversational tone and method which 
 are normal for the public speaker, are more readily cultivated 
 by the extemporaneous preacher. One talks straight at 
 his audience. Hence it is a more natural method of 
 preaching. It is pretty sure also that the emotions have freer 
 play. 
 
 Its professional limitations. Enslavement to the manuscript 
 limits the influence of the pulpit in these democratic days. 
 Pulpit oratory can not hold its own with other forms of 
 oratory. The greatest triumphs of oratory have been in the 
 field of free utterance. The pulpit can never reach its best 
 till it is emancipated. Everybody likes to see a public man 
 stand up in a free, manly way, and say out what is in him 
 to say in a straight manner. The manuscript is relatively 
 modern. It is on the whole the exceptional thing. In the 
 early church it was wholly unknown. Dr. Dale says that 
 the arguments are overwhelmingly against it. This is too 
 strong a statement perhaps. For there is a place for the 
 manuscript. It originated in an honest effort to better the 
 teaching quality of the pulpit. It accentuates its didactic 
 function. It is not a perversion. It has been perverted and 
 overdone. It has been made tributary to agnosticism, nat- 
 uralism, and dogmatic orthodoxy. The evangelistic spirit 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 265 
 
 of Methodism has dealt it some heavy blows, and its power is 
 broken. But its origin is not anti-Christian, and it has had 
 a powerful and beneficial reign. Equal results could not have 
 been accomplished without it. The pulpit of the last three 
 centuries, indeed of the last six centuries, would have been the 
 weaker without it, and modern theological and religious liter- 
 ature would have been impoverished. But a change has come. 
 The pulpit returns to the earlier method of freedom. It gives 
 full scope to all the preacher's powers. The energies of his 
 personality will never find full expression in the pulpit till 
 he is emancipated from the slavery of the pen. Personality 
 as the organ of truth and of the spirit of truth, is at its best 
 only when free. The preacher needs a chance to throw into 
 his speech all his power of feeling and of will, evoked and in- 
 spired by the audience and the occasion as well as of thought 
 evoked and inspired by the truth. Fettered to the manuscript 
 he is often like a chained eagle, flapping his wings and striv- 
 ing to soar, but held in restraint. The will, especially, can not 
 have full, free play upon an audience with the manuscript. 
 One can hardly conceive of a thoroughly successful evangelis- 
 tic preacher in our day as subject to its restraint. 
 
 But the manuscript will still be used and within limits should 
 be used. How then may it be used to best advantage? It is 
 clear enough that a manuscript sermon is not properly written 
 to be read, to be read as an essay or a book is read. It is 
 properly written for delivery, and should be delivered. A 
 product prepared as an address is very different from one 
 prepared as an essay, or a treatise. The Scotch have been 
 accustomed to call the manuscript sermon "the book" and 
 appropriately, for Scottish sermons are often read as a book 
 is read. Chalmers did not read, although he held to the manu- 
 script, and it was the glow of his rhetoric and the fiery en- 
 thusiasm of this delivery that rescued it from ineffectiveness. 
 Bishop Brooks has spoken of "extemporaneous writing," and 
 
266 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 he himself was an example of extemporaneousness in the best 
 sense. It is possible to write with nearly as much freedom 
 as one would speak extemporaneously, and without the defects 
 of the extemporaneous form. This should be the aim of the 
 manuscript preacher. It is possible to give the sermon an 
 easy, natural, colloquial, flexible movement. One who pre- 
 pares with the audience in mind and as if he were actually 
 addressing an audience will realize this result. One who 
 thus writes will write with deliberation but with fervor, and 
 in subsequently pruning the manuscript he will not cut into 
 the quick. Of course one can not deliver a sermon that can 
 not be easily read, that is not written in clear, bold hand, and 
 properly paragraphed, nor can it be read unless the preacher 
 is perfectly familiar with it. It doubtless requires some effort 
 to deliver a manuscript sermon naturally, but it is a goal that 
 may be reached. One may at last speak almost as naturally, 
 as simply, as directly and as freely with a manuscript or with- 
 out it. If the sermon is written with rhetorical freedom and 
 with reference to delivery, it will invite the conversational 
 type of address which only is normal for the public speaker. 
 
 II. The Extemporaneous Type 
 The term extemporaneous has considerable range. It is 
 sometimes applied to the address that is premeditated 
 both as to thought and diction, and that is repro- 
 duced as prepared, although not in strictest sense mem- 
 orized. There are public speakers, or have been, who 
 are able to reproduce their products in about the same 
 language in which they were thought out and without con- 
 scious effort. The speeches of Wendell Phillips seemed to 
 be of this sort. And such perhaps were the speeches of 
 Edward Everett. Of course no sermon can be premeditated 
 as to its substance without relation to its rhetorical form. For 
 thought takes shape in words. But it is the sermon that is 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 267 
 
 not reproduced in the pulpit in the exact literary form in which 
 it first shaped itself, that is properly called extemporaneous — 
 extemporaneous at least in the commonly-accepted sense. 
 The great amount that has been written upon this subject 
 would render a full discussion gratuitous and unprofitable. I 
 venture only a few suggestions with respect to the conditions 
 of success in this type of preaching. 
 
 1. Among the mental conditions must be named a habit 
 of clear, discriminating thought. Necessary in all preaching, 
 it is preeminently so here. The extemporaneous preacher 
 has three problems to master, three that are of special impor- 
 tance, the problem of discriminating, the problem of relating 
 and the problem of expressing thought. Any man who has 
 analytic skill, and trains himself to discriminate clearly, who 
 has the ability to grasp his subject in its main and subordinate 
 features and to relate and develop them in an orderly manner, 
 who can express himself readily, clearly and forcibly, may 
 make an extemporaneous preacher, if he have the ordinary 
 susceptibility of feeling and oratorical impulse. Upon all 
 these conditions the exercise of memory, of imagination and 
 of feeling largely depends. But of all these requisites, mental 
 discrimination is of chief or at least of primal importance. A 
 muddy thinker needs the homiletic crutch. 
 
 Consider for a moment again the value of mental range. It 
 is natural that the extemporaneous preacher should give him- 
 self pretty free scope in the development of his theme. The 
 written product generally has a narrower field, because it deals 
 with the finer points of the subject and develops them more 
 fully. Productiveness and range are the salient qualities in 
 Henry Ward Beecher's preaching, and the former is connected 
 with the latter. The theme opens broadly, the main topics 
 contain a large amount of matter and spring naturally and 
 readily from the subject and are always such as can be dis- 
 cussed in an extemporaneous manner. If one finds himself 
 
268 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 shut up within narrow bounds and is forced to close work in 
 the development of material, he is likely to find that he lacks 
 the requisite facility and freedom of mental action, which 
 would be quickened in a larger field of thought. One can 
 take a single complete thought whose elements are closely re- 
 lated and write about it more easily than he can speak about 
 it without writing. It is easy to reproduce upon one's feet 
 a wide-ranging, methodically-outlined sermon shaped in the 
 form of a rhetorical address. It is this ease of reproduction 
 that conditions success in the extemporaneous and I may add 
 the memorative sermon. Just here, however, is one of the 
 possible defects of this type of preaching. There is a tempta- 
 tion to generalize too widely, to cultivate breadth at cost of 
 depth, thoroughness, and definiteness. One may easily form 
 the habit of dealing with topics that are too big and general 
 without thinking the subject through. One thus becomes thin 
 in proportion to his range. But the general principle is valid. 
 Free-ranging and orderly-related and developed thought is a 
 pre-requisite of extemporaneous preaching. One can see why 
 Robert Hall should have been a successful extemporaneous 
 preacher. He took a broad survey of a subject and discussed 
 it in its logical relations. Compare him with John Foster, 
 the "essay preacher." One can not think of Edmund Burke 
 as dependent on a manuscript. The habit of extemporaneous 
 speech cultivates the mental habit above specified, and with 
 good results, provided thoroughness and insight are associated 
 with breadth. 
 
 A judicious selection of texts and themes is important for 
 the extemporaneous preacher. Texts and themes differ, as 
 previously suggested, in their adaptation to extemporaneous 
 preaching. Of course men differ, and what may be difficult 
 for one may be easy for another. Familiarity with the theme, 
 whether difficult or not, or whether adapted to the extempora- 
 neous method or not, is also an important consideration. But 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 269 
 
 some texts and themes are in their nature better adapted to 
 all classes of extemporaneous preachers. For example, texts 
 that are readily developed after the textual method are in 
 general better adapted to extemporaneous preaching than 
 those texts that call for topical development. In the effort 
 to train oneself in the extemporaneous method one may well 
 begin with the textual development. The theme that calls 
 for exhaustive treatment naturally asks for the manuscript. 
 The theme that justifies the suggestive method of develop- 
 ment, the outline of which calls for free handling rather than 
 exhaustive expansion, naturally asks for the extemporaneous 
 form. 
 
 No extemporaneous preacher will ever succeed without such 
 thorough mastery of his subject as gives him a free and 
 familiar handling of it. Scarcity of material will never do 
 here. The preacher needs a surplus. "To him that hath 
 shall be given and he shall have more abundantly. But from 
 him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he 
 seemeth to have." Preaching of this type must be free. 
 Constraint is homiletic paralysis. Only the master can be 
 free. It is a great joy to preach when one knows that he is 
 ready for it. Temptation to negligence and to inadequate 
 preparation is no objection to the method but to a failure to 
 meet its demands. There is no excuse for a negligence that 
 results in a superficial, stereotyped, slavish, diffuse method of 
 preaching that lacks all freshness and fullness. The tempta- 
 tion to neglect should put one upon his guard. 
 
 The cultivation of the homiletic mind is of special impor- 
 tance to the extemporaneous preacher. The manuscript 
 preacher is not so dependent on the habit of storing material 
 and turning it into the homiletic mill. He can work slowly; 
 he can wait. But the extemporaneous preacher must rely 
 upon material that is abundant and ready at hand. One of the 
 arguments for this method is that it is promotive of the habit 
 
2;o THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of constant preparation under all conditions. The man who 
 turns all the material of thought, gathered from a thousand 
 sources into homiletic pabulum is pretty sure, like Henry Ward 
 Beecher, to be an extemporaneous preacher. 
 
 2. Among the rhetorical conditions of success is a con- 
 crete habit of mind. It is in the realm of the concrete that the 
 mind moves most freely without a manuscript. It furnishes 
 images for the imagination, and intensifies the action of the 
 emotions. The abstract thinker needs a manuscript. French 
 preachers naturally follow the free method for the reason that 
 they are natural rhetoricians and orators, who are familiar' 
 with concrete realities that appeal to feeling and imagination. 
 Connected with this is the culture of the oratorical tempera- 
 ment. The preacher who is not responsive to his audience 
 will need the pulpit crutch. But the man who, while he is 
 self-poised and deliberate and does not allow his emotions to 
 dominate or conquer him, is sympathetic with his hearers and 
 readily responds to impressions from them, is the one who 
 succeeds here. A free and facile use of language is a neces- 
 sary element in the equipment of the extemporaneous 
 preacher. The lack of linguistic facility drives one to the 
 manuscript. Such facility is dependent on many things, on 
 the character of one's mental movement, and on tempera- 
 ment. The Frenchman's mental and temperamental habits fit 
 his for this type of speech. In linguistic gifts he is in general 
 superior to the German, English and American preacher. But 
 all this is largely a matter of culture. A large and varied 
 vocabulary is important. The vocabulary of the pulpit is in 
 general too limited. That of the average extemporaneous 
 preacher is probably more limited than that of the manuscript 
 preacher. The latter is likely to exercise more care in the 
 choice of diction. The free preacher needs especially to be 
 a diligent student of language. A general habit of accuracy 
 of speech is tributary to extemporaneous power. Writing 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 271 
 
 cultivates this. The best free speech rests upon the manu- 
 script. Writing has laid the foundation. Most preachers 
 who have succeeded here have begun with the manuscript. 
 Mr. Beecher and Dr. R. S. Storrs are examples. Good habits 
 of speech in daily intercourse, even with the illiterate, will 
 stand by one in the pulpit. The lack of such habits will dis- 
 close itself in spite of oneself. 
 
 3. As to ethical conditions, which are among the must sig- 
 nificant, must be named a strong and earnest purpose to real- 
 ize as fully as possible the legitimate results of one's ministry. 
 Of course all preachers, whatever their method, need this and 
 are supposed to have it. But the man who is supremely bent 
 on reaching men and on bringing them into subjection to the 
 truth, and especially the evangelistic preacher, will be su- 
 premely solicitious with respect to the question of method in 
 approaching them. I incline to the opinion that the ex- 
 temporaneous sermon is especially dependent on the preacher's 
 moral earnestness. One may hold an audience by a thought- 
 ful, lucid, elegant essay-like style of manuscript preaching. 
 But it is difficult to see how an extemporaneous preacher, 
 who must measurably sacrifice literary excellence, can hold 
 his audience and do the work he should do, without making a 
 strong impression of moral power. It is he who should have 
 by preeminence the mark of moral force. A strong moral 
 purpose will quicken and ennoble the action of all the faculties. 
 Concentrated force of will, power of feeling and affection and 
 the vigor of a strong and healthy conscience should disclose 
 themselves preeminently in this type of preaching, and if the 
 preaching be of the right sort, they will disclose themselves. 
 The man who preaches on this wise gets nearest to his audience 
 and subjects them to his power. He can be tremendously 
 wrought upon by his hearers. He commits himself to his 
 hearers with self-abandonment. He is lifted into self-forget- 
 fulness and into moral elevation and effectiveness in such sort 
 
272 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 as the man who is chained down to a manuscript may not be. 
 Connected with the above is a strong purpose to succeed in 
 this method of speech. A thorough trial of it, and a prompt 
 beginning are to be recommended. Many begin too late, fail 
 to put it to the full proof and give it up before they have 
 demonstrated that they can not succeed in it. The testimony 
 of those who are committed in principle to the method and 
 who begin early is worth considering. Preaching without 
 manuscript half the time from the very first will probably 
 realize the best results. One will have better matter, better 
 method, better style, and in general better habits of careful- 
 ness, thoroughness and facility in preaching by following both 
 methods for a considerable period of time. 
 
 Training in self-possession is an important feature in ex- 
 temporaneous preaching. And this is an ethical consideration. 
 Moral purpose has much to do with the handling of oneself 
 and of one's subject in the pulpit.* He who forgets himself 
 in the subject that masters him and in the object at which 
 he aims will win freedom. One's general habit of self- 
 command, which is a moral achievement, will stand by one 
 and save one from the embarrassments that bring confusion. 
 Physical conditions are involved here. The extemporaneous 
 preacher should have special care to enter the pulpit, in just 
 as good physical condition as possible. But it is moral purpose 
 that is above all else important. A sense of vocation, re- 
 sponsiveness to the power of the truth, love and devotion to 
 one's fellow men; these are conditions of free utterance. 
 
 Special spiritual preparation, always important in entering 
 the pulpit, is especially so for the extemporaneous preacher, 
 for it is a condition of self-possession and of freedom and 
 cogency of speech. He who is lifted into a great height of 
 spiritual inspiration is a free man. The extemporaneous 
 preacher needs the tranquillity of the upper realm. He is 
 
 *Sce Dr. Alexander's Thoughts on Preaching, page 165. 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 273 
 
 subject to many disturbing influences. He needs the uplift of 
 spiritual power to place him above them. It is conceivable 
 that one may enter the pulpit in such condition of spiritual 
 freedom and power that no earthly influence can disturb him. 
 
 III. The Memoriter Type 
 
 There is more to be said in favor of memoriter preach- 
 ing than might at first be supposed. It is the least 
 common of all methods, and there is a good deal of preju- 
 dice against it, especially among American preachers, who 
 rarely make use of it. But it may be advocated as a de- 
 sirable method in the occasional or exceptional sermon, 
 where freedom of delivery may be combined with carefulness, 
 thoroughness and accuracy of thought and diction, and in the 
 use of old written sermons, which may be freshened by the 
 free introduction of new material along the old line of thought. 
 
 In defense of this method it should first of all be recalled 
 that it has proved successful in the hands of some of the best 
 preachers of the church. Witness the preachers of the Ger- 
 man, French and to a limited extent of the Scottish church. 
 Tholuck, Christlieb, Lacordaire, Massilion, Vinet, Monod, 
 Coquerel, Guthrie. Whether they would have been as effective 
 in any other method may be doubted, certainly not in the use 
 of the manuscript. It is not an impracticable method. It is 
 not difficult to acquire facility in the use of memory. Secular 
 orators, like Charles Sumner, as well as preachers, have not 
 only begun their public careers but continued and ended them 
 by carefully writing and memorizing their speeches. 
 
 It combines thoroughness with freedom, precision with im- 
 pressiveness, finish with force. And this is the common argu- 
 ment for it. The material of the sermon is well digested and 
 the literary form good. At the same time the preacher can 
 adjust himself to the occasion by interjecting fresh material 
 without disturbing the course of thought, as Dr. Guthrie fre- 
 
274 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 quently did. The more thorough the previous preparation has 
 been, the more readily suggestive of fresh material it will be. 
 It is this thoroughness of preparation, which lies back of free- 
 dom in delivery, that naturally commends it to German and 
 Scotch preachers. It is its freedom and finish upon a ground- 
 work of well-digested material that naturally commends it to 
 French preachers. The time and labor of committal are the 
 chief objections. But the memory may be trained to do its 
 work with wonderful facility and rapidity. What takes at 
 first parts of three or four days, is at last easily accomplished 
 in an hour on Sunday morning as in the case of Prof. Christ- 
 lieb and of Dr. Guthrie. The objection made by Dr. Robinson 
 that the task cultivates the memory disportionately, injuring 
 the powers of imagination, of feeling, judgment and of pro- 
 ductive thought, by concentrating too much energy upon the 
 work of remembering, is hardly supported by experience. If 
 one writes with reference to delivery without the manuscript 
 and with the audience in mind, writes as he would speak in his 
 best manner, with a free hand, and with clear outline, he will 
 easily memorize it and without any disproportionate exercise 
 of memory. Memory may be so cultivated as to act with unem- 
 barrassed freedom. The mere act of remembering in course 
 of time becomes wholly insignificant, so insignificant that 
 one is hardly conscious of it as an effort. And this may answer 
 the objection that the memoriter sermon always betrays itself 
 and can not have the same effect upon an audience that an 
 extemporaneous sermon has. The objection assumes that one 
 will never be able to free oneself from the appearance of effort 
 in memorizing, and that it will always seem like a recitation. 
 If this were true, it would doubtless be a fatal objection. But 
 this is not a necessary result. The alleged fact that the 
 memoriter sermon is soon forgotten is adduced as evidence 
 that the mind is injured by the process of memorizing. It is 
 assumed that it must be an unnatural and so injurious process, 
 
TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 275 
 
 else it would not be so easily forgotten. But this proves too 
 much. That one easily forgets is no proof that the process 
 which secured the transient result to the memory was unnat- 
 ural and injurious. But the truth of the assertion that the 
 memoriter sermon is easily forgotten, more easily by implica- 
 tion than other types of sermon, may be challenged. It is at 
 any rate true that it is very easily recalled. 
 
 One of the defects of the manuscript sermon, in the hands 
 of a preacher especially who lacks rhetorical and oratorical 
 impulse, is its temptation to run into an over-didactic dis- 
 cussion and into an essay method. It is written to be read, 
 not delivered. It is thus likely to lack the rhetorical and 
 oratorical quality that belongs to an address. But the sermon 
 that is written to be delivered without the manuscript, will as 
 of necessity have the character of an address. Note the re- 
 sult in the preaching of Dr. Guthrie. One can hardly cite 
 him as an example of supreme success in memoriter preaching. 
 But in this respect he was successful ; he wrote with reference 
 to freedom of address and with reference to committing to 
 memory and this secured for his product the requisite oratori- 
 cal quality. 
 
 The chief defect of the extemporaneous sermon is, as al- 
 ready suggested, that it is likely to run into generalities, to 
 lack closeness and deflniteness of thought, variety of form, 
 compactness, brevity and precision of statement. It is at 
 least clear, whatever else may be said about it, that the 
 memoriter method will correct these defects. 
 
IV 
 
 SECTION FOURTH 
 
 METHODS OF HOMILETIC ART 
 
METHODS OF HOMILETIC ART 
 
 We are here introduced to what is technically designated 
 as Formal Homiletics, and we shall find ourselves chiefly inter- 
 ested in the organic or structural rather than in the rhetorical 
 form of the sermon. It is thus that the artistic aspects of 
 preaching become prominent. Assuming, as we have done, 
 that the text belongs more properly to material than to formal 
 homiletics, let us follow the usual analysis of the organism of 
 the Sermon. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. The Object of the Introduction 
 I. It is to fix attention on what is coming. "If the in- 
 troduction be not pertinent," says a Welsh preacher, "the 
 preacher does not know where he is going, and if the 
 inferences be not pertinent, it is evident that he does 
 not know where he has been." The same is true as re- 
 gards the hearer. The introduction shows the hearer 
 where the preacher is going. When he arrives at his 
 landing place, which becomes a new point of departure, 
 the hearer sees how he landed there. The introduction 
 wins and fixes attention on this part of the journey. It is 
 to render one's hearers at the outset "attentos" to use the 
 classical term, in order that afterward they may the more 
 readily become "dociles" as regards the subject and perhaps 
 "benevolos" as regards the preacher. The text is but a gen- 
 eral starting-point. It suggests the subject only in a general 
 and perhaps wholly obscure manner. A transition is needed 
 from this general starting-point to a definite, specific theme, 
 and thence onward. By advancing from this undiscriminated, 
 complex text-thought to the discriminated, specific theme- 
 thought, the preacher shows his hearer the method of ap- 
 proach. It is a process similar to that which he followed in his 
 own work of preparation. He thus takes the hearer along 
 with him. Or if he gets his theme independently of the text, 
 the introduction helps him put text and theme in manifest 
 relation. This process holds attention. If an equivalent re- 
 sult could be secured at the start by dumping the theme upon 
 
280 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the audience, the preacher might begin at once. Sometimes 
 this may well be done. Abruptness is sometimes of great 
 rhetorical value. Surprise is an element of interest. But 
 this is exceptional. In general, attention is not satisfactorily 
 secured by asking for it at the start, or by assuming that one 
 has it as of course. It must be won. And it is well to secure 
 the best kind of attention and to secure it at best advantage. 
 It is thus that the introduction adapts itself to the condition 
 of the hearer. It has, therefore, a psychological significance 
 and value. It approaches its object in such way as will 
 most effectively secure for it the requisite mental and emo- 
 tional point of contact with the hearer. 
 
 2. In fixing attention, the introduction also stimulates in- 
 quiry. Instead of thrusting the subject upon the hearer sud- 
 denly and without any cooperation of his own, the preacher 
 takes him into a sort of mental and moral copartnership, leads 
 him on step by step in such way as to secure the exercise of 
 his faculties and to anticipate for himself measurably perhaps 
 the subject ahead. A mental process is thus quickened. We 
 take in objects of thought in their relations. One thing leads 
 up to another. Each thought becomes the more significant 
 and impressive by reason of its relation to other thoughts. 
 We grasp the whole by following the details. "Invention" 
 would be impossible, if we took in everything at once and in 
 a lump. Every body is more or less inquisitive at the start. 
 The introduction avails itself of that fact. It says ; Look out 
 for what comes next. Here is the zest of it. Skillful rhet- 
 oricians know how to stimulate this mental search. Dr. 
 Guthrie was accustomed to work up his introductions artisti- 
 cally. He began abruptly and with something that is striking. 
 He quotes some proverb, presents to the imagination some 
 material phenomenon that has life and movement, a crawling 
 worm or a ship entering the harbor under full sail. He touches 
 some human experience that interests us all, like the process 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 281 
 
 of growing old. He tells a story. He approaches with a 
 short, sharp, abrupt question. "Hast thou faith"? He thus 
 rivets attention and in doing so stimulates the imagination 
 and puts the hearer upon the search for his objective point. 
 He starts at a distance from his subject, as Chrysostom used 
 to do, and as the classical orators did and as the classical 
 rhetoricians advised in their discussion of the Exordium. The 
 audience becomes thus increasingly interested and alert as the 
 preacher approaches his subject, and when they have it, he 
 has them. 
 
 3. In fixing attention and stimulating inquiry, the introduc- 
 tion also secures a specific interest for and in the subject. 
 Attention and inquiry are essential to interest. What the 
 preacher wants is a definite mental and emotional interest in 
 what he is at. He wants the hearer to start with him and 
 share something of his own interest. He himself wins this 
 interest partly by getting at the subject in a gradual way. He 
 has not plunged into it at once. Opening up the subject as it 
 opened itself to the preacher, the hearer will the more readily 
 share his interest and capturing him at the start the preacher 
 will be the more likely to hold him to the end, and thus the 
 purpose of the sermon is the more likely to be realized, namely 
 the reception of the truth. Apart from this purpose the intro- 
 duction and the sermon itself as a whole can have no su- 
 preme significance. The ultimate purpose of the introduction 
 is precisely that of the sermon itself. In effect the preacher 
 says : I want to discuss an important truth, and to win your 
 attention, quicken your activities, secure your interest and 
 thus realize my object. I open some preliminary phase of the 
 subject to you as clearly and as attractively as I can; I want 
 you to see the beginning of our juorney ; I want you to follow 
 me step by step, so that you may discover the path along 
 which we move, and by which we arrive at our objective point. 
 I want you to test the legitimacy of my process, so that you 
 
282 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 may apprehend it the better and perhaps value it the more. 
 Therefore I come to you introducing my subject step by step, 
 leading the way to it and for it into your minds and I hope 
 your consciences and hearts. The ways of doing this are 
 various, but the end is the same, it is to put the hearer most 
 advantageously in possession of the truth. 
 
 Thus as having reference to the final moral purpose of the 
 sermon the introduction has ethical significance. The object 
 being to reach and influence men, the introduction will enable 
 the sermon to do this the more effectively. With this ethical 
 significance is associated an artistic significance. By con- 
 tributing to the unity and symmetry of the sermon it satisfies 
 the desire for completeness. This, of course, is a subordinate, 
 but it is not a wholly insignificant, consideration. The sermon 
 is an organism. The introduction is a part of it and is neces- 
 sary to its symmetrical development. Or to change the figure, 
 it is a piece of rhetorical architecture. The introduction is 
 as necessary to its symmetry as the beginning of any artistic 
 product. This does not mean that as a work of art it has no 
 end beyond itself. No work of art is properly an end 
 to itself. The end may not always be consciously present 
 in the mind of the artist, but it will have some end, and, 
 therefore, some ethical significance. The good in art as 
 elsewhere is always the "good for something." One of the 
 elements of perfection in any art product is its adaptation 
 in all its parts to some appropriate end. It is preeminently so 
 in any product of rhetoric art. The sermon is a rhetorical 
 instrument. The perfection of the instrument is the complete- 
 ness of its adaptation to its end. The artistic significance of 
 the introduction, therefore, is ultimately in its contribution 
 to the work of the sermon, and the artistic becomes allied with 
 the ethical interest. 
 
 Primarily then, the introduction is for the sake of the sermon 
 and of the hearer, not for the sake of the preacher. It intro- 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 283 
 
 duces the subject, not the man. The chief interest is here. 
 Even in modern secular oratory the speaker must look out 
 for the handling of his subject rather than for the handling 
 of his audience by the tricks of oratory. In this pulpit oratory 
 has led the way. Allegiance to the truth, not personal as- 
 cendency over men, is the object. Early Christian preaching 
 laid supreme stress upon this. It knew nothing of rhetoric 
 and oratory. It distrusted and discredited them. The dis- 
 course was artless. It was part of the service of a worship- 
 ping congregation. Neither the speaker nor the discourse 
 needed introduction, for the worship had prepared the minds 
 and hearts of the congregation for the discourse, which was 
 the exposition and application of a given passage of Scripture. 
 But advancing culture brought rhetoric and oratory into the 
 pulpit. Hence the exordium. As the sermon displaced the 
 homily, the exordium became a rhetorical necessity. When- 
 ever the pulpit has returned to the homily, as in the period 
 of the Reformation, it has dropped the introduction. Luther 
 used the homily, and he speaks slightingly of the introduction, 
 declaring that he does not know how to preach artistically. 
 Nature taught him his art. But in displacing the homily, the 
 sermon has not displaced exposition. The exposition of the 
 text in the introduction takes the place of the homily, in so far 
 as it was explanatory. Hence the sermon some times has both 
 introduction and exposition. The introduction is a general 
 approach to the subject. The exposition is a specific and 
 explanatory approach to it by clearing up the meaning of the 
 text and showing how the theme comes from it. Some homi- 
 letic writers still distinguish between introduction and exposi- 
 tion. But it is needless. Exposition is one of the best sorts 
 of introduction. What explains the text best introduces the 
 subject. It also prepares the hearer for it and leads him into 
 it. Whatever the method of the introduction, its chief object 
 is to put the hearer most successfully in possession of the sub- 
 
284 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ject. To announce the subject abruptly, either before or after 
 giving the text, does not generally succeed in doing this most 
 advantageously. Something to aid the hearer in appropriat- 
 ing the subject intelligently and in apprehending its significance 
 adequately, is generally desirable. Exposition may not always 
 be necessary, for the text may be clear and simple. But some 
 method of approach is of value for the apprehension of the 
 subject. Even those who announce the subject at the outset, 
 do not get on without the introduction, for they turn back 
 and start over again. A prompt announcement of the subject 
 is well enough, but having done this, one would better 
 push on. Why should one in effect say to the congregation; 
 Brethren, I have been a little precipitate in getting this thing 
 before you. I take it all back; let us turn about and begin 
 anew ? 
 
 But preparing the subject for the hearer involves preparing 
 the hearer for the subject. Skill in opening the way to the 
 subject may prove to be an effectual way of winning the hearer 
 to that good will, attention and docile interest in the subject 
 that is the chief aim of the sermon itself. In a word ; do jus- 
 tice to the subject and you will be the more likely to do justice 
 to the audience. 
 
 II. Methods of Introduction or Points of Departure 
 Specific methods are innumerable. For convenience let 
 us group them about certain centers, which furnish 
 points of departure for the work. Five of them may be 
 named. 
 
 i. The preacher may be the center, or point of departure. 
 What relates to the man, eliciting or concentrating interest in 
 his personality or his experiences, may be a valuable method 
 of approach. Secular orators avail themselves of this device 
 and show skill in it. Pulpit oratory need not be ashamed 
 of it. Preachers like Chrysostom, trained in the schools of 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 285 
 
 classical rhetoric, and noted for rhetorical power, have ex- 
 celled in this. But modern preachers also have known the 
 personal introduction. An interesting sermon by Saurin 
 illustrates this.* The text is from John 14: 15, 16, 
 "Christ's Valedictory Address to his Disciples." The 
 preacher relates the circumstances under which he had selected 
 his text, half apologizing for making the pulpit the vehicle 
 of such confidential communications. It was the exhibition of 
 extraordinary Christian patience on the part of a brother 
 minister during a painful sickness. This sick brother had 
 found comfort in those words of Christ. "I was struck with 
 this discourse," says the preacher, he means in connection 
 with the above-mentioned experience ; "I immediately thought 
 of you, my dear brethren, and I said to myself, my hearers had 
 need be furnished with this powerful consolation, etc. Today 
 I execute my design. Condescend to concur with me in it. 
 Come and meditate on the last expressions which fell from the 
 lips of the dying Saviour." The introduction centers wholly 
 in this personal experience. Evangelistic preachers are accus- 
 tomed to avail themselves of the personal introduction. Their 
 success as evangelists gives weight to it. Mr. Spurgeon knew 
 well how to avail himself of his hearers' interest in him, in his 
 experiences and his accomplishments. In a sermon from John 
 3 : 16, he begins by referring to the fact that he had been look- 
 ing over the texts he had used and that he had failed to find 
 this one among them. Then he refers to the character of his 
 preaching and what he wishes it to be and calls them to witness 
 that it has all been in line with this text. He refers to what 
 an aged minister had said to him about preaching. It corre- 
 sponded with what he himself had just said to them. This is 
 the entire introduction. It might seem egotistical. Some 
 preachers certainly would not tolerate it. But it may be effec- 
 tive. Most people are interested in this sort of thing. They 
 
 *Vol. VI, Sermon II. 
 
286 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 like to hear about such matters as centre in their preacher. 
 They are interested in persons, even if they are somewhat 
 conceited or self-conscious persons, as Mr. Spurgeon seemed 
 to be. But the more simple and natural and genuine a man is, 
 the more effective the personal introduction will be. Mr. 
 Moody was such a man, and with great effectiveness he often 
 introduced his sermons, in a very straight forward and every 
 way proper manner, with a reference to some observation or 
 experience that served his purpose. In ordinary pastoral 
 preaching the personal introduction will be relatively infre- 
 quent. One notices but few of such introductions in volumes 
 of ordinary pastoral discourses. 
 
 2. The occasion may furnish a basis for the introduction. 
 The occasional introduction befits the occasional sermon. It 
 gives an appropriate festal tone to an Easter or Christmas 
 sermon to bring the introduction into connection with the 
 joyous nature of the occasion. Special missionary sermons 
 frequently open with a reference to the occasion. Bishop 
 Brooks recognized the note of timeliness in it and sometimes 
 accentuated the significance of his missionary sermons by the 
 use of the occasional introduction. Bishop Simpson recog- 
 nized the principle of adaptation in it. Bishop Huntington's 
 sermon, dedicatory of Appleton Chapel at Harvard, entitled 
 "The House of Prayer," opens with a history of the building. 
 The occasional introduction may heighten the importance of 
 the occasion, of the sermon, of the truth, perhaps in the right 
 way of the preacher himself, in the estimate of the congrega- 
 tion. The more exceptional and important the occasion, the 
 more natural and impressive such an approach will be. Public 
 funeral discourses may win special impressiveness by intro- 
 ductory reference to the solemnity of the occasion. It would 
 be almost a mark of singularity in a sermon on some great 
 public calamity that it should fail to open in this way. The 
 writer recalls the notes of sympathy and of awe that rang 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 287 
 
 through the opening utterances of discourses preached on the 
 Sunday following the assassination of President Lincoln. 
 
 Chrysostom was accustomed to catch the note of the occa- 
 sion in his introductory words. In one of his "Homilies on 
 the Statues" preached in Antioch, on the occasion of the de- 
 vastation of the city by order of the Emperor Theodosius I, he 
 opens with a reference to the circumstances of the assembly. 
 In another he refers to the presence in the assembly of the 
 heathen prefect of the city. Again he opens with a vivid de- 
 scription of the desolations of the city. Extemporaneous 
 preachers are able to do this with facility. Ordinary sermons 
 even may sometimes avail themselves of this type of introduc- 
 tion. Mr. Beecher would sometimes smuggle into his opening 
 words some reference to what had been suggested to him as 
 he entered the church, or by incidents connected with the con- 
 gregation. The value of this type of introduction is of course, 
 conditioned by the way in which it is done, by its naturalness, 
 its good taste, and perhaps relative infrequency. But its 
 pertinency and timeliness are evident at once. 
 
 3. The approach to the theme may be through the worship. 
 German preachers affect the liturgical introduction. The 
 Scripture lessons or the hymn before the sermon frequently 
 furnish the point of attachment. This is the more frequent 
 with the extemporaneous than with the manuscript preacher. 
 Those who, in their preaching, follow the order of the Chris- 
 tian year, are much more likely to use the scripture lessons as 
 a point of departure. Canon Liddon illustrates this in his 
 Easter sermons. Trench in his advent discourse in the volume 
 entitled "Westminster Sermons/' Brooks in his discourse on 
 "All Saints Day" and on "Trinity Sunday." It has been the 
 custom of German preachers to make the so-called homiletic 
 prayer a part of the introduction to the sermon, sometimes 
 preceding and sometimes following the text. When it follows 
 the text it the more manifestly becomes a part of the intro- 
 
288 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 duction. Its object doubtless is to direct attention to the 
 close connection between the sermon and the worship, and to 
 accentuate the liturgical aspect of preaching. In this it ad- 
 mirably succeeds. It enhances the impressiveness of the ser- 
 mon and holds it to its appropriate place in worship. It is not 
 altogether in harmony with the habits or tastes of American 
 preachers, or with the general character of their worship, or 
 of their preaching or perhaps of their theory of worship and 
 of preaching. And so much the worse, one may be permitted 
 to say, for the worship and for the preaching and for the 
 theory. We see here how didactic or rhetorical considera- 
 tions have dominated liturgical considerations in the con- 
 duct of public worship. No one can hear or read the 
 homiletic prayers of German preachers, like those for 
 example of Schleiermacher, which one regrets to see are 
 passing into desuetude, without being strongly impressed by 
 them. 
 
 4. The topical is a frequent form of introduction. It at- 
 taches itself to the general thought of the theme and antici- 
 pates some phase of it. The text may suggest the theme only 
 in the remotest and vaguest manner possible, and it becomes 
 the work of the topical introduction to bring the theme into 
 manifest relation with the text. With the larger number of 
 topical preachers this is perhaps the point of departure. They 
 start with the general thought of the theme. Most introduc- 
 tions are suggested by the theme or the text. They are fruit- 
 ful sources. Bishop Brooks generally starts thus, picking up 
 the text before he finishes the introduction, and adjusting it 
 to the theme. Bushnell generally starts with the text rather 
 than with the theme. A study of topics will be of value in 
 connection with the study of the thematic or topical introduc- 
 tion. A very common method of starting the topical intro- 
 duction is along the line of generalization or its reverse, 
 particularization. The great master of this method in our day 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 289 
 
 was Phillips Brooks. Into this process he frequently and with 
 good effect introduced the principle of contrast. In the ser- 
 mon with the text "Unspotted from the World," the introduc- 
 tion begins with a series of reflections upon the changes men 
 undergo as they advance in life. The moral change in which 
 they become spotted by the world is one of them. Here we 
 have a contrast between the unspotted character of Jesus, 
 suggested by the text, and the spotted characters of men. 
 With this as a basis we are introduced to the general subject 
 of "Spotted Lives." In Bishop Huntington's sermon on Re- 
 vivals, entitled "Permanent Realities of Religion and Times 
 of Special Religious Interest," the introduction opens with 
 reflections upon the influence of names in discrediting or in 
 dignifying objects. The term Revival is an illustration of this 
 power of words. And this is the whole introduction. It be- 
 gins with what is general and passes to what is specific. It is 
 the theme, not the text, that suggests it. Analogy, which is 
 always involved in generalization, furnishes a good basis for 
 the topical introduction. Saurin in his introduction to a ser- 
 mon from 2 Pet. 3 : 8, "One Day is with the Lord as a thou- 
 sand years, etc.," on the "Eternity of God"* finds the Hebrew 
 shekinah a symbol or analogue of that aspect of the Deity 
 suggested by the theme. The shekinah was luminous on one 
 side and opaque on the other, so is it with the eternity of God. 
 It is dark in itself but bright in its practical value for our lives. 
 He was accustomed to cite analogous historical instances from 
 the Old Testament to illustrate the thought or principle which 
 he deduced from a New Testament text, thus making the Old 
 Testament support the New. Stories that contain an analogy 
 are valuable for introductory work, because they are interest- 
 ing concrete illustrations of principles. What better introduc- 
 tion were possible for a sermon from the text "What shall it 
 profit a man if he gain the world, etc.," whose theme will 
 *Vol. I, Sermon II. 
 
290 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 naturally be the priceless worth of the human soul, than the 
 Old Faust Legend? 
 
 There is vast range for general reflection in the intro- 
 duction that starts with the theme. A habit of generalizing or 
 of particularizing or of tracing analogies, that is, of applying 
 a general truth to specific cases or general principles to con- 
 crete specific instances, or of transferring what is true in one 
 realm of experience to what may be assumed to be true in 
 another and analogous realm, is a good one for the preacher. 
 This habit will appear in one's introductory work. Welsh 
 preachers are fruitful in general reflective material. So were 
 the English Puritan preachers. How often we find William 
 Jay saying at the close of his introductions, "These reflections, 
 my brethren, are intended to illustrate" thus and so ! 
 
 5. The most common point of departure perhaps is the 
 text, and perhaps the most valuable. The textual introduction 
 has a wide range of possibilities. They are all of an explan- 
 atory character, dealing with the context, with the meaning 
 of terms, with the writer, the circumstances, the time, and 
 place of his utterance and matters of such sort. It is a valu- 
 able kind of introduction in the treatment especially of difficult 
 texts and in the higher grade of didactic discourses. It clears 
 away obscurities, clears up difficulties and prepares the way 
 for intelligent apprehension of the significance of the theme. 
 It belongs to an educative pulpit, the pulpit of men like Robert- 
 son, Bushnell, Liddon, South. It is the explanatory process 
 that makes clear the method of securing the theme. It takes 
 the audience along with the preacher, as if he were saying 
 "I want to show my hand. I want to justify my homiletic 
 ways to you, so that there be no misunderstanding between us, 
 and no prejudgment that I have made a mistake." It is a 
 method that not only introduces the theme successfully and 
 so prepares the hearer for it, but it may furnish a favorable 
 introduction for the preacher himself by indicating respect 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 291 
 
 for the intelligence of his hearers and a purpose to be instruc- 
 tive and helpful, and perhaps by showing skill in deducing 
 pertinent and striking themes. The explanatory introduction 
 has wide range. Note some of its possibilities. Word- 
 explanation is common. Here the meaning of the central 
 or stress-word of the text is illustrated by comparing or con- 
 trasting its use in other relations and connections. Bishop 
 Huntington has a sermon from I Cor. 1 : 26, "Ye see your call- 
 ing, brethren."* The introduction explains the different uses 
 of the word "Calling," or the different spheres in which it 
 is applied, advancing thus to its use in the text. Narrative ex- 
 planation generally introduces the historical or biographical 
 sermon and prepares the way for the lessons or reflections that 
 are deducible from the material as thus presented. The im- 
 plicatory explanation will direct attention to what may be sug- 
 gested or intimated or implied but not explicitly stated in the 
 text. Such texts for example as Acts 4: 12, "Neither is there 
 Salvation in any others, etc." 
 
 Circumstantial explanation will have reference to anything 
 that heightens the significance of the text, as for example the 
 character or condition of the one who speaks in the text or is 
 spoken of, the time, place, occasion, object. 
 
 The comparison or contrast of cognate passages may throw 
 introductory light upon the import of the text, as for example 
 Matt. 18: 15, "If thy brother sin against thee, etc., compared 
 with Matt. 5 : 23, 24, "If thy brother hath ought against thee," 
 etc. So also the passages relating to the power of the keys. 
 
 A collocation of different passages illustrating various phases 
 of the main thought of the text may throw light upon its 
 meaning in a preliminary way: passages for example suggest- 
 ing different sorts of fear may aid in understanding the mean- 
 ing of the text; "The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
 Wisdom." The introduction to Robertson's sermon on "The 
 
 * Christian Believing and Living, Sermon I. 
 
292 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Loneliness of Christ" dealing with different kinds of loneliness 
 prepares the preacher to understand the better the loneliness 
 of Christ. A reference to anything that is striking or peculiar 
 in the text such as we find in Canon Mozley's introductions, 
 starts the hearer with a new impression of it. 
 
 A reference to the impression the text has made upon some 
 well-known person, as for example Paul's words : "So then 
 every one of us shall give account of himself, etc.," on Daniel 
 Webster, will very likely never be forgotten. 
 
 The use of analogy illustrates the significance of the text. 
 Take the introduction to Dr. Guthrie's sermon on "Early 
 Piety" from 2 Tim. 3:15, "From a child we." A man is likely 
 to be what his childhood indicates. We see the soldier, the 
 statesman, the poet in the boy. Nature has her prophetic 
 intimations. So has religion. The theme is thus a generalized 
 thought based on analogy, and the analogy is suggested by the 
 text, not the theme. 
 
 Contrast often furnishes a striking explanatory introduction, 
 as in Dr. Guthrie's sermon, "The Good Fight of Faith," from 
 2 Tim. 4:7. Contrast the spirit of Benhadad's boastful mes- 
 sage to Ahab about his military prowess and Ahab's reply, 
 "Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he 
 that putteth it off," with Paul's exultation in the words of the 
 text. Paul was obnoxious to no such reproach as was Ben- 
 hadad. 
 
 The text like the theme may be generalized or particularized, 
 and its import thus be the more clearly seen, as in Phillips 
 Brooks' sermon on "The Purpose and Use of Comfort," from 
 2 Cor. 1 : 3, 4. There are different ways of desiring comfort. 
 The quality of the desire will determine the worth of the com- 
 fort desired. The sort of comfort Paul desired is suggested. 
 Then comes an appeal to the hearer, when God comforted you, 
 did you desire to use it for others, as Paul did? If so, you 
 have the comfort Paul had. 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 293 
 
 III. Qualities of Introduction 
 I. The thought-qualities of the introduction are such as 
 relate to its proper subject matter. They are qualities of 
 thought that are appropriate to it as containing only intro- 
 ductory material. Pertinency is one of these. The thought 
 of the introduction is germane to that of the theme, or it is not 
 introductory. It may be so remotely, but somehow it must 
 bear upon the theme. Its starting-point may be distant, and 
 its course circuitous, but at last it must reach and rest in the 
 theme. Extemporaneous preachers, like Chrysostom, may 
 allow themselves great range in the introduction, but they are 
 sure to keep in view the objective point. That is not a proper 
 introduction that is as pertinent to one theme as to another. 
 The explanatory introduction is naturally most direct in its 
 pertinence. It runs straight out from text to theme. It sets 
 in line the whole movement of thought, and, therefore, is 
 better prepared before than after the sermon. Pertinency of 
 tone as well as of thought is important. The introduction is 
 a promise. It should justify itself. It commits the preacher. 
 It should not disappoint. 
 
 Preliminariness is another. It introduces the subject but 
 does not anticipate it. It opens the way, prepares for the dis- 
 cussion, does not begin it. It does not reach over into the main 
 body of the sermon and appropriate material that properly 
 belongs to it. It takes up what has a preparative bearing on 
 the subject, but does not discuss the subject itself. As being 
 preparative, it is distinctive. Introduction, theme and discus- 
 sion are not so run together that it is difficult to find the line of 
 demarcation between them. The introduction should be 
 known at once from its introductory quality. This is possible 
 without formal and obtrusive division. 
 
 Reversely, what belongs to the introduction cannot properly 
 be smuggled over into the body of the sermon. Its work is 
 to clear the ground. The explanatory introduction is pre- 
 
294 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 eminently the ground-clearing introduction. Robertson's 
 sermon on "The Illusiveness of Life" is defective here. In- 
 stead of finishing in the introduction the explanation of the 
 text and fully clearing up the matter, he carries it over and re- 
 introduces it in the first division of the sermon, as if he were 
 dissatisfied with his preliminary exposition. He turns upon 
 his track. He re-enters the harbor after reaching the open sea. 
 This is particularly objectionable in a sermon whose theme 
 takes us so wide afield from the original historic sense of the 
 passage as this does, and that puts us upon a wholly new line 
 of thought. "No step backward" is a good motto for the 
 preacher. 
 
 Coherency, or close and harmonious relation of thought 
 in the introduction is another quality. "The thoughts of the 
 introduction," says Claude, "must hold each other by the hand 
 and have a mutual dependence and subordination." Progress 
 is necessary to coherence. The introduction that moves in a 
 straight line, in an orderly, progressive manner, will be sure 
 to move connectedly and coherently. Bushnell's introductions, 
 in all ways admirable, are especially notable for this straight 
 line movement. Robertson's sermon on "Caiaphas' view of 
 Vicarious Sacrifice" is a good example of the progressive, 
 coherent introduction. It moves straight on, step by step, each 
 successive step bringing us nearer the theme; all the parts 
 support each other, and all throw light upon the coming theme. 
 They are all tributary to the preacher's purpose to show 
 Caiaphas' state of mind in uttering the words of the text. 
 
 2. The form qualities of the introduction are such as relate 
 to the expression of its thought. 
 
 Concreteness is one of them. This is, indeed, a quality of 
 substance as well as of form. It suggests the absence of 
 abstract forms of thought and abstruse forms of expression. 
 Such forms of expression are too remote for introductory 
 work. In the process of discussion the preacher will find 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 295 
 
 himself in the realm of abstract thought. No instructive 
 preacher, however illustrative his method, can wholly evade it, 
 nor should he wish to do so. But such thought, even in the 
 discussion, would better be expressed in concrete terms. In 
 the introduction it is of still greater importance. No hearer 
 is ready or willing to start in the realm of the abstract and 
 the abstruse. He is in no condition of mind for it. What is 
 said here must be readily apprehended. What is said may be 
 remote and for the moment obscure in its bearings, but if in 
 itself readily intelligible and expressed in concrete language, 
 it will awaken the greater interest. Technical exegesis may lie 
 behind the expository introduction, but it should never be ex- 
 pressed in technical language. A preacher should cultivate 
 literary skill in interpreting his text. A skillful paraphrase, 
 of which Dr. Bushnell was master, is an effective method of 
 exposition. In the introduction especially a combination of 
 what may be relatively remote in its bearings or even for the 
 moment obscure in its meaning, with what is familiar and near 
 at hand in its forms of expression and interpretation is desira- 
 ble. We have a liking for what is familiar, but the merely 
 familiar is the commonplace, and the commonplace does not 
 attract or move us. It is true that we have a curious liking 
 for what is unfamiliar and remote, provided we see, or believe 
 or suspect, that it has some relation to what is known. But 
 what is simply and wholly remote and unknown is so far away 
 from us that it fails to influence us. It is when we associate 
 what is familiar with what is relatively unfamiliar and possibly 
 obscure in itself or especially in its bearings that it becomes 
 interesting at once. Here lies the power of concrete language. 
 One can not make what is so remote as to be unknown or un- 
 intelligible interesting without associating it with something 
 that is better known, or so well known as to be familiar, just 
 as one can not make what is so familiar as to be commonplace 
 interesting without association with what is less well known. 
 
296 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 A story may be in itself so familiar as to be uninterestingly 
 common, but when introduced to illustrate a truth that is not 
 wholly familiar or is less familiar, or for the moment remote 
 in its bearings, it becomes interesting and impressive and in- 
 structive. The truth takes on a new meaning, and the story 
 itself has a new meaning. This is why a pertinent, well-told 
 story is valuable introductory material. 
 
 Simplicity is involved in concreteness, but may well be 
 specifically considered. It is the opposite, however, not only 
 of the abstract and the abstruse and the remote, the puzzling 
 and obscure, but of the artificial, or perf ervid or the bombastic. 
 It is associated with what is natural and genuine and self- 
 poised. An utterance that seems strained and artificial or 
 over-dramatic is everywhere intolerable in preaching. But it 
 is especially intolerable to start with a scream or with a strut. 
 One may indeed begin at high pressure. The subject, the 
 occasion, the preparation may sanction or even necessitate it. 
 Phillips Brooks began with a full volume of energy and kept 
 it up to the end. He was emotionally full of his subject at the 
 outset and it was all natural and genuine. But after all it 
 was largely a matter of delivery. The introduction as read 
 does not strike us as perfervid or lacking in reflective poise, 
 and certainly it is perfectly simple rhetorically, The normal 
 movement of an introduction is from a simple, quiet, self- 
 possessed and possibly somewhat reserved beginning to an 
 increase of emotional vigor. A natural deliberation and self- 
 poise, clear, distinct articulation and a simple, natural, 
 perspicuous type of diction always make a favorable impres- 
 sion at the outset. Robertson sometimes closed his sermon 
 in a tempest, but his introductions illustrate the power of sim- 
 plicity, of reflective deliberation and self-mastery. 
 
 Propriety is associated with simplicity. It is a question not 
 only of good literary or rhetorical, but of good ethical taste 
 and judgment. Nothing can redeem a sermon that starts with 
 
THE INTRODUCTION 297 
 
 a rhetorical blunder, which is often nothing less than a moral 
 blunder. If a preacher is going to blunder, if he must enter 
 the abyss of rhetorical indecency, he would better postpone it. 
 The sensational preacher, in his effort to be striking, is likely 
 to enter the abyss at once. It is the initial sin. He falls from 
 rhetorical grace, like Adam, at the start. No man in effort to 
 win attention and to be impressive has any vocation to become 
 an offense to those whose mental, aesthetic and moral tastes 
 and judgments are entitled to respect. 
 
 Brevity is in part a matter of form, and economy of diction 
 is tributary to it, as diffuseness is tributary to prolixity. Brev- 
 ity is necessary in introductory work, just because it is intro- 
 ductory. As to limits, no rule can be given. To fix upon 
 one-eighth of a sermon, or one-twelfth, as is sometimes done, 
 is arbitrary. Preachers vary in this matter in their own preach- 
 ing. Bushnell's introductions vary from one-eighth to one- 
 twentieth. Guthrie's, in one of his volumes, from one-fifth 
 to one-half. Robertson's from one-third to one-sixteenth. 
 The preachers of former days had the long introduction. 
 Tillotson and South and Barrow in the seventeenth century 
 were exceptions among their comtemporaries in the matter of 
 brevity and their influence in this regard, as in others, was re- 
 formatory. Modern preachers affect the short introduction. 
 The evangelistic discourse naturally has a shorter introduction 
 than the pastoral discourse. The proper mean is between an 
 extreme of abruptness and an extreme of prolixity. The re- 
 flective quality of the introduction tends to condensation of 
 style and thus to brevity. 
 
 No adherence to formal rules will secure good introductory 
 work, although intelligent appropriation of rhetorical princi- 
 ples may be effective. Nor will imitation do it. The work is 
 wrought largely in unconsciousness of rules or models. Still 
 both may be of value, especially in the early period of one's 
 ministry. The study of good modern introductory work is 
 
298 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of special value. But it is after all by constant and intelligent 
 practice that one at last becomes wholly unfettered and spon- 
 taneous in his work. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE THEME 
 
 I. Its Significance and Importance 
 The theme is the subject in its undeveloped form. It is 
 the germ of the sermon. Like all germs, it is complex, con- 
 taining more than a single element. It consists of a complex 
 of thoughts out of which in his discussion the preacher brings 
 such varieties as are adapted to the realization of his object. 
 The theme may always be put in the form of a definite, com- 
 plex statement. It contains explicitly or implicitly a proposi- 
 tion. Such proposition always contains the unified elements 
 of complex thought. Unity in complexity is, therefore, the 
 characteristic and proper test of a theme. The title of a ser- 
 mon may not be its theme. It may be much more comprehen- 
 sive and indefinite than the theme. A single word may be a 
 proper title, but it is never a proper theme. We suggest the 
 unity of the theme when we say that the sermon can have but 
 one subject. We suggest the definiteness of the theme, when 
 we say that it should be so conceived and stated as accurately 
 to condition the limits of its treatment. We suggest the com- 
 plexity of the theme when we say that the sermon should dis- 
 cuss more than a single phase of it. We suggest the complete- 
 ness of the theme as a unified whole when we say that it should 
 contain all that is to be discussed in the sermon. These may 
 be called the logical qualities of the theme, or those qualities 
 that are involved in its thought relations. 
 
 There are various terms used to designate the complex 
 thought that lies at the foundation of the sermon. They all 
 in some way suggest its unity. The most comprehensive term 
 
3 oo THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 is subject, i. e., what lies under the whole sermon, the one 
 foundation on which all rests. It is too broad a term. The 
 subject is not always the exact theme. Topic is too narrow a 
 term. It is the place where all the elements of thought in the 
 discussion are found and from which they are derived, the 
 storehouse where they are all gathered, and, as coming from 
 this one source, they are all interrelated and so are legitimate 
 to the discussion. But properly the topic is not identical with 
 the theme, for it is generally, although not always, applied to 
 a single phase of the theme. 
 
 Proposition is too distinctive a term. It is what is set be- 
 fore the preacher as the one object of his homiletic activity. 
 But technically the proposition is a particular kind of theme, 
 i. e., one stated in logical form, and with reference to logical 
 proof. Theme is at once definite and comprehensive. It 
 is what is laid down as the single basis of the sermon, 
 what the sermon is built on. All these terms in- 
 volve the conceptions of unity and complexity. Various 
 phrases also suggest this unity and complexity. The preacher 
 will speak "about" something. His thoughts will gather 
 around some centre, and in all their complexities, they are 
 held together in unity. He will address the congregation 
 "upon" or "on" some subject. That is, his discussion will 
 rest upon a single foundation. He will speak "of" or "from" 
 such and such a text or theme. What he says will, therefore, 
 have unity of source. His discussion is "concerning" this or 
 that. It is the one objective point with which his mental 
 activity concerns itself. Centralized thought is suggested by 
 fell these forms of expression. We use them freely without 
 reflecting upon their significance. But we use them legitimately 
 only as we are faithful to their implications. Something is 
 accomplished when this principle of thematic unity is duly and 
 securely fixed. It is a bad thing to be obliged to say of a 
 sermon what the Frenchman said of his book in the title given 
 
THE THEME 301 
 
 it; "Sur — je ne sais quoi." Upon — I know not what. Whate- 
 ley says :* "Experience shows that it is by no means uncom- 
 mon for a young and uninstructed writer to content himself 
 with such a vague and indistinct view of the point he is to 
 aim at — that the whole train of his reasoning is in consequence 
 affected with a corresponding perplexity, obscurity and loose- 
 ness." This may be true as regards the subject as well as the 
 object of the discussion. He criticises also,* as a common fault 
 of such writers, "entering upon too wide a field of discussion," 
 and imagining "that because they are treating of one thing, 
 they are discussing one question." Cardinal Newmanf on the 
 same general subject speaks as follows; "I would go the 
 length of recommending a preacher to place a distinct proposi- 
 tion before him, such as he can write down in a form of words 
 and limit his discussion by it and to aim in all he says to bring 
 it out and nothing else. Nothing is so fatal to the effect of a 
 sermon as preaching on three or four subjects at once." He 
 illustrates from the supposed case of an immature college boy 
 who has placed before him the task of writing upon the 
 proposition "Fortes fortuna adjuvat," and detaches the word 
 "fortuna" and makes that the basis of his thesis. "Fortuna is 
 not a subject," he says. "It would have been very cruel to 
 tell a boy to write on fortune ; it would have been like asking 
 him his opinion of things in general. Fortune is good or bad, 
 capricious, unexpected, ten thousand things all at once, and 
 one of them as much as another. Ten thousand things may be 
 said of it; give me one of them and I will write upon it. I 
 can not write on more than one," etc., etc. "Fortes fortuna ad- 
 juvat" is a proposition; it states a certain general principle, 
 and this is just what an ordinary boy would be sure to miss. 
 This is doubtless instruction for the primary grade. But ob- 
 servation proves that it is pertinent to those who are supposed 
 
 * Elements of Rhetoric, page 54. 
 
 t Lectures on University Subjects, page 100 ff. 
 
302 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 to have advanced far beyond it. To get a proper theme, then, 
 a definite, complex, unified thought, capable, although it need 
 not always be done, of being put into the form of a proposition, 
 — this is an important step in sermon preparation. A process 
 of analysis may be necessary in order to secure this. One 
 must find out the elements of thought that lie in the text, 
 must detach these elements, or such of them as one may wish 
 to select for use and then gather them by recombination into 
 some central, all embracing, unified thought. The product 
 of such analysis and synthesis should be a proper theme. If 
 one gets his theme independently of the text, some- 
 thing of the same process may be necessary. An 
 analysis and synthesis of both text and subject are com- 
 bined. The theme will then take shape and color from the 
 elements of both. 
 
 The importance of the theme can not be measured by the 
 space it occupies in the organism of the sermon. Like the 
 heart or brain in the human body, it is to be measured, not by 
 its size, but by its function. Prof. Phelps in his "Theory of 
 Preaching," devotes eighty-two pages to the discussion of it; 
 sixty pages to the plan and not quite thirty pages to the de- 
 velopment of the sermon. That is, the theme receives more 
 than one-third the amount of attention that is given to the plan 
 and almost three times as much attention as that given to the 
 development. The entire discussion is over-elaborate perhaps. 
 There may also be a disproportion in it. But at any rate it 
 suggests the centrality, the vitality, and the supreme signifi- 
 cance of the theme. 
 
 II. Its Formulation 
 This question receives but little attention in the preaching of 
 our day, and seemingly it is regarded as unimportant. Reac- 
 tion against the formal methods of a former period and de- 
 votion to the offhand, businesslike method with which we are 
 
THE THEME 303 
 
 all so familiar largely accounts for this. But as against all 
 this I insist upon its importance. From what has been said 
 it may be inferred that the theme should at any rate take 
 very definite form in the mind of the preacher. With 
 respect to this question the following suggestions are 
 pertinent. 
 
 1. The theme should have a prominence proportionate to 
 its importance. A distinctness of statement or a defmiteness 
 of suggestion or intimation adequate to a clear apprehension 
 on the part of the hearer is the chief demand. One may 
 put his audience in possession of his theme in a great variety 
 of ways. It may be done by formal announcement or by 
 facile intimation. It may be done propositionally or rhetoric- 
 ally, in exceptional cases, following the inductive method, it 
 may be done at the end of the sermon, or following the de- 
 ductive method, which is the more common homiletic method, 
 at the beginning. Facility and variety in the method of pro- 
 jecting the theme are desirable. It is well to awaken the 
 curiosity and inquisitiveness of the hearer in one's approach 
 to his theme. But however it may be done it should be done 
 with sufficient defmiteness for clear apprehension, and how- 
 ever one may reach his theme the hearer should know that he 
 has reached it, and should know what it is. If a preacher 
 doesn't propose to tell his hearers what he is going to talk 
 about, if he puts upon them the task of finding out for them- 
 selves, let them so understand it. But if he attempts to get 
 his theme before them, it is a proper thing for him to succeed 
 in doing it. In deliberative and judicial oratory the exact 
 question in discussion is of some importance. Respect for 
 himself as a public speaker, for his profession, for his au- 
 dience, for his case or question, respect for his success in carry- 
 ing his case or question, impels the secular orator to exactness 
 of conception and of statement. Is Christian oratory less 
 important? Respect for the truth and regard for effec- 
 
304 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tiveness accentuate the demand upon the preacher. When 
 he undertakes to get his subject before his audience, 
 he should succeed, so that there be no misapprehension 
 about it. 
 
 Especially necessary is this whenever there is liability to mis- 
 apprehension by reason of defect in the hearer. Immaturity, 
 ignorance, dullness, inattention and indifference are prolific of 
 misunderstanding, and hostility may readily pervert the 
 preacher's meaning. It is singular with what facility even in- 
 telligent hearers misinterpret the preacher. There are but 
 few preachers that have not had startling experiences in this 
 matter. Definite formal statement is desirable whenever one 
 anticipates such liability to mistake. For the sake even of a 
 small section of the congregation one is bound to clearness of 
 statement. One may respect his audience without over-taxing 
 it. It is idle to imagine that one may successfully throw the 
 responsibility upon the congregation, or that they will resent 
 the preacher's solicitude for clarity of statement. The 
 preacher is responsible that the hearer know just what he is 
 going to talk about. 
 
 Difficult subjects demand careful statement, subjects that 
 are in themselves weighty and demand careful discussion, or 
 that have difficult texts that require careful explanation, or 
 that are complicated or puzzling, or that for whatever reason 
 require close attention. Definite statement may even be con- 
 ducive to rhetorical effectiveness. 
 
 It is generally assumed that the textual sermon may treat 
 the theme with great freedom. But if the content of the text 
 is exceptionally complex, it may well be gathered into a theme 
 for the sake of unity. Robertson's themes are always included 
 in his topics. The topics cover the theme well enough, but not 
 .infrequently it would be better if the theme were detached 
 from the divisions and definitely stated. Then at a glance 
 theme and divisions would vindicate each other. 
 
THE THEME 305 
 
 It is also commonly taken for granted that the expository- 
 sermon needs no theme. But if the text content is large and 
 complex it were better if it were subsumed under one central 
 and inclusive thought. It is the statement of the theme that 
 differentiates the expository sermon from the homily. The 
 homily needs no theme, for it does not discuss one subject. 
 But it no longer satisfies the needs of the pulpit. The rambling 
 character of expository preaching, which is one of the chief 
 objections against it, would be obviated by the formulation of 
 a theme that contains its entire material, e. g., James 1 : 19 — 
 21,26. Theme : "The sins of the tongue." 1. Source, 2. Result, 
 3. Corrective. 
 
 A definite conception and statement of the theme is of value 
 first, in keeping the sermon in good form. It is the more 
 likely thus to be kept in the form of an address as distinguished 
 from that of an essay. At any rate, it imposes an additional 
 motive upon the preacher to keep within limits in his discus- 
 sion. One feels the pressure of necessity to do what one is 
 advertised to do. Secondly, it is of value in enabling the 
 hearer the better to retain the sermon. It puts him in definite 
 possession of the subject at the outset. All embarrassment of 
 uncertainity is thus avoided. Holding it at the start, one 
 keeps it to the end and tests the sermon by it at every step. 
 This may well offset all minor objections against the formality 
 of a definite statement. It should certainly discredit all caprice 
 and indifference about it. It should be no weighty objection 
 to the homiletic free lance that preachers of a former period 
 were careful to state their themes. Homiletic standards have 
 changed and the abandonment of doctrinal preaching doubt- 
 less lessens somewhat, the demand for formal statement. But 
 a rhetorical or literary taste that should discredit care in get- 
 ting important subjects somehow before the audience would 
 be shallow and meretricious. Rhetorical facility and effec- 
 tiveness are not dependent upon a slack grip of one's 
 
306 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 subject. The educative preacher will treat his theme with 
 respect. 
 
 2. But definiteness of apprehension is not unconditionally- 
 dependent upon formal statement. In unelaborate discourse, 
 elaborate statement is never necessary. Facile intimation may 
 be more appropriate. Formal statement would seem gratuitous 
 and perhaps pretentious. 
 
 The Text may adequately suggest the theme. If it is short, 
 simple, clear and presents at once a definite complex thought, 
 it is all that is needed. It would be more than needless to 
 formulate a theme from the words, "Christ who is our life," 
 or the words "One thing is needful." An offhand suggestion 
 in rhetorical form might be worth while, but even this is 
 needless. 
 
 Dr. Guthrie generally lets the text suggest his theme, e. g., 
 Hosea 7: 9, "Gray hairs are here and there upon him, etc." 
 Title; "Neglected warnings." This would be a good sugges- 
 tion of the theme. But the preacher assumes that the text has 
 done the work, and there is no stated theme at all. This is a 
 case where the "final theme" might well be substituted for 
 the "casual theme" if one were to suggest a theme at all, i. e., 
 the object rather than the subject of the sermon might be 
 stated, e. g., "It is my purpose to remind you of the danger of 
 unheeded admonition." But there is no need even of this. The 
 text is sufficient. Ps. 130:4, "There is forgiveness with Thee 
 that thou mayest be feared." The title would be a good theme. 
 "Forgiveness and fear." But Dr. Guthrie does not avail him- 
 self of it. He points out in the introduction the apparent in- 
 congruity between forgiveness and fear and attaches himself 
 at once to the text with the words; "In opening up the subject 
 of the text, I observe," etc. Is. 59: 1, "Behold the Lord's hand 
 is not shortened," etc. The introduction takes up the thought 
 of change. But God does not change, and it concludes thus : 
 "Therefore, speaking of Him, the prophet says 'Behold' " etc. 
 
THE THEME 307 
 
 The text as thus repeated together with the introduction fur- 
 nishes a sufficient basis for the discussion. The title would 
 make a good statement of the theme. But Dr. Guthrie is too 
 offhand to utilize it. His texts, however, are generally simple 
 and clear and readily suggest his subjects. 
 
 The introduction may adequately do the work of announce- 
 ment, especially if it be the expository introduction. Canon 
 Liddon generally makes his introductions do this work. His 
 texts are simple, his subjects come obviously from them, and 
 his introductions are explanatory and succeed in getting the 
 thought discussed clearly before his hearers. As we have seen, 
 Dr. Guthrie relies upon his introductions as well as texts in 
 this interest. So does Bishop Brooks. Here is the value of 
 good introductory work. 
 
 The occasion may furnish the theme. A funeral or a memo- 
 rial discourse speaks for itself. Such discourses have always 
 been characterized by homiletic freedom. Evangelistic dis- 
 courses are less dependent than pastoral discourses upon the 
 formulated theme. Direct impression rather than instruction 
 is the object. It is when we wish to make an impression in- 
 directly, i. e., through mental and moral judgments, that we 
 are careful to formulate the theme. Here we deal with the 
 subject in its related thought-elements. In the evangelistic 
 sermon, where the text is used for direct application rather 
 than for instruction a statement of the object may be better 
 than a statement of the subject. 
 
 III. Methods of Statement 
 All methods are included in the comprehensive division of 
 
 rhetorical and logical or propositional. We will consider them 
 
 in order. 
 
 1. The rhetorical method of statement is non-propositional 
 
 It contains no definite expression of judgment. It is adapted 
 
 to such discussion as seeks impression by rhetorical methods 
 
308 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 as distinguished from impression by argument, dialectic or 
 logic. Hence called the rhetorical method, e. g., Heb. 3:19. 
 "So we see that they were not able to enter in (to rest) be- 
 cause of unbelief." The unrest of an unbelieving Heart. 
 Matt. 16 : 26. "For what shall a man be profited," etc. The 
 priceless worth of the Higher Life. Hosea 7 : 9. "Gray hairs 
 are here and there upon him," etc. Neglected warnings. Is. 
 59: 1. "Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened," etc. The 
 Undecaying Power and Grace of God. Acts 10: 19. "While 
 Peter thought on the Vision," etc. Visions and Tasks. John 
 12 136. "Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whither goest 
 thou," etc. The Withheld Completions of Life. 
 
 2. The logical method is propositional. It is a formal ex- 
 pression of judgment and calls for proof. It is the method 
 that is adapted to argumentative processes. The discussion is 
 responsible to bring out the relations of thought contained in 
 the proposition. Hence called logical : e. g., "Unbelief is a 
 source of unrest. I am here to remind you that there is dan- 
 ger in unheeded admonition. There are no limits to the Power 
 and Grace of God. Vision realizes its purpose only as trans- 
 lated into Task. Human life never realizes its full fruition." 
 These are formal expressions of judgment, They call for 
 some sort of evidence. It may be argumentative or illus- 
 trative, according to the nature and object of the discussion. 
 The simpler subjects are naturally illustrated. But no theme 
 stated propositionally should fail of support by some sort 
 of evidence. The thought-relation between subject and predi- 
 cate must be maintained, e. g., the thought-relation in the 
 above-mentioned theme between unbelief and unrest of 
 soul. The possible range in the discussion of subjects 
 thus stated is very great and the possible limitations of 
 the subject varied, e. g., the reasons why unrest follows 
 unbelief, the forms of such unrest, the kind of unbelief, 
 whether mental or moral, that produce unrest. As to the 
 
THE THEME 309 
 
 method of discussion, one may argue from the constitution 
 of the human soul or may illustrate from example and ex- 
 perience. The introduction will lead up to the particular 
 theme that is chosen and the specific statement of the theme 
 will fix the general direction in which the sermon will 
 move. 
 
 3. The two forms may be stated affirmatively, negatively 
 or interrogatively. The title to one of Dr. Bushnell's ser- 
 mons, "Christ waiting to find room," illustrates the affirm- 
 ative rhetorical method. His statement of the theme; "The 
 very impressive fact that Jesus could not find room in the 
 world, and has never yet been able to find it" illustrates 
 the logical negative method. "No room for Christ" il- 
 lustrates the rhetorical negative method, and "Jesus waited 
 and is waiting still to find room" the logical affirmative 
 method. "No room for Christ?" and "Why is it that Christ 
 found no room and has never yet found room?" may il- 
 lustrate the interrogative method. "The unrest of the un- 
 believing heart." "Unbelief is the mother of unrest." "The 
 impossibility of rest for the unbelieving heart." "There is 
 no rest for the unbelieving heart." "Why unbelief means 
 unrest." "What rest for the unbelieving heart?" These state- 
 ments still further illustrate the affirmative, negative and 
 interrogative forms of the two methods. Each, it is evident, 
 will, if properly developed, result in a distinctive discussion. 
 The statement will condition the plan and development. 
 The affirmative is the more common form. It is general 
 and comprehensive in character. The other forms are more 
 specific. The negative form calls for a negative discussion 
 corresponding. The interrogative form is of value in dis- 
 cussing difficult or delicate or offensive themes. It may 
 encourage a certain delicacy of treatment, and may result 
 in a more persuasive type of preaching. It may also condi- 
 tion a more definite appeal. If these questions of form 
 
310 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 were more carefully considered, it is possible that preach- 
 ing would be more varied, more attractive and more 
 persuasive. 
 
 4. It is evident at once that the two forms are inter- 
 changeable. The possibility of such interchange is the mark 
 of a proper theme. The rhetorical form always contains 
 a potential proposition. 
 
 5. The choice of form will depend largely upon the char- 
 acter and object of the sermon. But the quality of the text, 
 the occasion, the audience, or the tendencies or capacities 
 of the preacher are also considerations to be taken into 
 account. 
 
 6. The points of relative value in the two forms may 
 well be considered. 
 
 The rhetorical form presents the theme in the most com- 
 prehensive and indefinite manner; the logical form more 
 limitedly and definitely. If one wishes range he will choose 
 the former, if close limits, the latter. 
 
 The rhetorical form admits of greater variety of treatment. 
 Range conditions variety. The only assignable limit is the 
 nature and object of the sermon. A great variety of 
 methods of treatment or of topics is, therefore, available. 
 Take once more Heb. 3 : 19. Note the possible methods, 
 e. g., discussion by reflection or deduction of inferential topics, 
 by illustration and example, by explication or analysis, by 
 practical application, by the interrogative process. The 
 logical form, because it invites a more definite formal dis- 
 cussion and hence limits the preacher, will not so readily 
 yield itself to a wide range and variety in treatment. By 
 limiting freedom, however, it may secure a more definite, 
 concentrated and vigorous discussion, and so secure a 
 more decisive result. Some themes demand closer treat- 
 ment than others and some sermons demand more definite 
 and specific aim than others. 
 
THE THEME 311 
 
 The rhetorical form is adapted to the simpler class of 
 sermons, the logical to the weightier class. No preacher of 
 good taste or judgment would think of putting into prep- 
 ositional form a theme from the text, "One thing is need- 
 ful/' The text, although in the form of a proposition is 
 so simple that it calls for discussion by way of reflection 
 rather than argumentative elaboration. The rhetorical form 
 is the only one admissible. 
 
 The rhetorical form, it follows in -this connection, is 
 adapted to what is called suggestive preaching, i.e., preach- 
 ing in which the material is used indirectly by some proc- 
 ess of reflection or illustration, or practical application, 
 rather than by an elaborate process of discussion. Perhaps 
 most Biblical texts are best adapted to this form. Revela- 
 tion does not come in propositional form. The Bible 
 is peculiarly adapted to the work of teaching by sug- 
 gestion. The larger number of preachers in our day, who 
 are known as suggestive preachers, choose the rhetori- 
 cal form. On the other hand the logical form readily 
 lends itself to the doctrinal or elaborately and closely 
 didactic type of preaching, and especially to such sub- 
 jects as deal with theological difficulties that must be 
 cleaned up. 
 
 It follows that the rhetorical form is adapted to sermons 
 that seek popular impression. This because they deal con- 
 cretely and suggestively with the truth. But much depends 
 upon the preacher. The preaching of Dr. Bushnell illus- 
 trates the possibility of discussing propositional themes in 
 popular form. His themes are generally thrown into the 
 logical form, and yet the discussion is highly attractive. 
 This because he was a rhetorician as well as logician. Most 
 preaching of this sort, however, as illustrated by the preach- 
 ing of New England, has been relatively deficient in popular 
 quality. Even the preaching of Bushnell would be re- 
 
312 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 garded in our day as too solid and elaborate for the aver- 
 age audience. 
 
 The rhetorical form in unskillful hands may involve it- 
 self in diffusiveness and ineffectiveness of treatment. This 
 because it is wide-ranging. Reversely, the logical form by 
 limiting surface or lateral range may force the preacher 
 inward and downward and so result in a more incisive 
 and intensive and effective treatment. He who is forced 
 to dig within a limited range for what he gets is likely to 
 work the more intensely. 
 
 There is a large number of passages that readily suggest 
 the exact rhetorical form demanded. Some of them are 
 fragments or incomplete grammatical sentences : e. g., Luke 
 10:42, The one thing needful. 2 Pet. 1:11, The abundant 
 entrance. John 20: 11, 12, Angels of hope at the tomb of 
 the risen Lord. I John 3: 2, The hidden Glory of the Sons 
 of God. Eph. 3: 8, Small saints or spiritual dwarfage. Acts 
 18: 15, The courage of Thankfulness. 2 Tim. 4: 7, The Good 
 Fight. From such texts one would hardly think of de- 
 veloping an elaborate propositional discussion. 
 
 The two forms are often combined and with good effect. 
 Dr. Bushnell often does this. It is in fact one of his hom- 
 iletic peculiarities, e. g., Job 32 : 8. "But there is a spirit 
 in man, etc." Theme; "My subject is The spirit in man' 
 or what is the same, the fact that we are, as being spirit 
 permeable and inspirable by the Almighty." John 6:30, "Ye 
 also have seen me and believe not." Theme. "I propose 
 a discourse on the reason of faith, or to show how it is that 
 we, as intelligent beings, are called to believe and how, as 
 sinners, we can in the nature of things be saved only by 
 faith." This combines a statement of the general subject 
 with the specific line of discussion and the specific object 
 of the sermon. It suggests indefinitely the general region 
 in which we are to travel and then the particular road we 
 
THE THEME 313 
 
 are to take in the journey and it suggests also the object 
 of the journey. It suggests the generic thought-material 
 and the particular use to be made of it, in the discussion. 
 It is as if Dr. Bushnell would say in the sermon on the rea- 
 son of faith ; as regards the general thought, the general 
 subject matter of my discourse, I rely upon your intellectual 
 interest as I attempt to clear it up and justify my theme. 
 But I assume that you have a moral interest in it as well. 
 I wish, therefore, to discuss it in such way as will leave not 
 only a mental impression of the reasonableness of the sub- 
 ject, but I wish to do it in such way as will leave as strong 
 a moral impression as possible. I want to prove, with refer- 
 ence to practical interests that we as rational beings are 
 called upon to believe and that as sinners we must believe. 
 Here the rhetorial form yields what is known as the "causal 
 theme," i. e., the theme as containing the general subject, 
 which' is the cause or the source of the sermon and which 
 furnishes its material of thought, while the logical form 
 yields what is known as the "final theme," i.e., the theme 
 as conditioned and shaped in its statement with reference 
 to the final purpose of the sermon. 
 
 IV. Qualities of Form 
 
 The literary form in which the theme is expressed is 
 not without importance. Its close connection with its 
 thought-qualities or logical-qualities renders it the more 
 important. There are four of such form-qualities that should 
 be considered. 
 
 1. Precision of form. Many otherwise good preachers are 
 careless with respect to exactness of statement. An exactness 
 of statement corresponding to exactness of conception is what 
 is demanded. A statement may be in exact English and yet 
 may be inexact as related to the theme and the discussion. 
 Canon Mosley sometimes fails here : e. g., Matt. 5 : 20. "Ex- 
 
314 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 cept your righteousness exceed, etc/' A sermon on the 
 Pharisees. Theme; "With these introductory remarks I 
 come to the subject of the text, viz., the Gospel language 
 relating to the Pharisees." This theme is not accurately 
 suggestive of the text or of the discussion. It is too large 
 for the text. It would not be an appropriate subject for 
 a sermon anyway. It would be unprofitable for practical 
 purposes. Who would venture to devote an entire sermon 
 to an exposition of Scripture passages relating to the 
 Pharisees? Canon Mozley certainly does not venture to do 
 it. This is not the subject discussed. It is rather some 
 characteristics of the Pharisees. Some of these character- 
 istics are suggested by some of the declarations of the 
 Gospels, but the Gospel language about them is a very un- 
 important factor in the discussion. The sermon is in fact 
 a skillful analysis of Pharisaic character. The terms of the 
 theme, therefore, do not accurately state the character 
 of the discussion and a certain confusion is introduced at 
 just that point when clearness and exactness are de- 
 manded. The statement may be grammatically exact, but 
 it is not logically exact. It is not an exactness of state- 
 ment that corresponds to exactness of conception. If a 
 preacher aims, as every effective preacher will, to get hold of 
 one clear, definite idea, or to let it get hold of him, and 
 to set it forth with all possible clearness and distinctness, 
 his theme is pretty likely to be definite and the statement 
 of it will have an exactness corresponding to this definite- 
 ness. Division of the elements of the theme in connec- 
 tion with its statement promotes definiteness and 
 precision, for the topics must be clearly justified by the theme 
 at the outset, e. g., a sermon by Prof. George Shepard from 
 John 1:4,* "And the word was made flesh," etc. Theme: "I 
 shall touch in a rapid, discursive way some of the items that 
 
 * Sermon XX. 
 
THE THEME 315 
 
 go to make up the completeness, the infinity of the glory 
 of Christ — greatness — mystery — condescension — love — 
 wealth — power — achievement." These "items" are topics 
 of the theme, and their statement promotes exactness. A 
 combination of the rhetorical and logical forms also 
 promotes exactness, as illustrated by Dr. Bushnell's 
 preaching. 
 
 2. Simplicity or unelaborateness of form, i. e., gram- 
 matical simplicity. The rhetorical form is likely to be the sim- 
 pler, although not as of course. The logical form, however, 
 as being propositional, demanding exceptional exactness and 
 calling for thorough discussion, is likely to be fuller and 
 more elaborate. But here too simplicity of statement is 
 desirable. Non-technical concrete language is simple, and 
 such may well be the language of the theme. Thus we find 
 it in preachers like Bishop Brooks, e. g., the sermon whose 
 title is "The man with one talent." Theme; "Let us speak 
 today about the one talented men, the men who are crushed 
 and enfeebled by a sense of their own insignificance." This 
 is not a concise statement, nor rhetorically climacteric 
 ("crushed and enfeebled" !) , but it is like most of the preacher's 
 statements, straightforward and business-like, although they 
 are sometimes needlessly diffuse and complex and once 
 in a while careless. 
 
 3. Compactness is a quality that promotes strength and 
 possibly vividness of impression. Short themes, like short 
 texts, are striking. Long, elaborate statements may be 
 complicated and obscure and so unimpressive, e. g., Bishop 
 Huntington's sermon from Rev. 2: 17.* Theme; "Let us 
 divide and state in their order the principal points of Chris- 
 tian truth, which seem to start for our practical instruction 
 and encouragement out of this mystical promise of the 
 Apocalypse." This is needlessly diffuse. Why not some 
 
 * Christian Believing and Living, Sermon XIV page 260. 
 
316 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 concise suggestion like this: Let us consider some of the 
 lessons from the mystical stone. The best preachers often 
 fail here. Even that master of compact style, Prof. George 
 Shepard: e. g., Luke n 41. "Give alms, etc."* A missionary 
 sermon on giving. Title ; "The Moral Discipline of Giving." 
 Theme; "I come to this, then as the main topic of my 
 discussion; giving of what God may have given us, as a 
 means of disciplining, purifying, elevating the character. 
 And I might speak of this discipline as both retrospective 
 and prospective." This is too diffuse and elaborate. The title 
 is a good theme. 
 
 4. Gracefulness is a rhetorical quality in the statement of 
 the theme, little cultivated by American preachers, but in 
 which German preachers are proficient. Kreummacher's 
 theme, "The Love that is above mother Love," will illus- 
 trate this. Preachers of the Latin Church, e. g., Leo the 
 Great, were accustomed to give their themes rhythmically. 
 Claus Harms, the popular German preacher, followed this 
 custom and the German, like the Latin assonance, is well 
 fitted for graceful impression. English preachers, like Wil- 
 liam Jay and earlier the Puritan preachers, cultivated this. 
 We find a trace of it in Mr. Spurgeon, e. g., a sermon heard 
 by the writer from Rev. 1:18, "I am he that liveth and was 
 dead, etc." Theme; "The Power of the Keys and the Key 
 of the Power." Figurative texts or texts used figuratively 
 are conducive to felicity of statement, e.g., John 19:41, 
 "Now, in the place where he was crucified there was a 
 garden and in the garden a tomb, etc." Theme; "The Grave 
 in the Garden of Life." Such statements of course will call for 
 a corresponding felicity of style in the treatment of the 
 theme. Sensational preachers overwork felicity and it be- 
 comes grotesque, e. g., the late Dr. Talmadge, and Rowland 
 Hill of Surrey Chapel, London. But it is as bad to err 
 
 * Sermon XI, page 122. 
 
THE THEME 317 
 
 on the side of the prosiac dullness and common place as 
 on that of extravagance and grotesqueness. A man of 
 literary taste and rhetorical skill will cultivate felicity of 
 statement. It is an important element in suggestive 
 preaching. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE OUTLINE 
 
 I. Its Significance 
 The outline is the expansion of the theme into its dif- 
 ferent centres or groups of thought. It is the process by 
 which the theme as the germ of the sermon begins to grow 
 and develop. As a result of this process every part should 
 find its proper place in the organism of the sermon, as in 
 the development of any organism every part should find 
 the place that belongs to it. Here we have the beginning of 
 structural form. Without it, we have only a germ or a 
 structureless mass of homiletic protoplasm. Changing the 
 figure, and, after the manner of the classical rhetoricians, 
 using a military term, the division is a part of the dis- 
 position (dispositio), i. e., it belongs to the scheme or dis- 
 tribution of parts. It suggests an arrangement of troops 
 in line of battle. The success of the battle is conditioned 
 largely by the skillful arrangement of forces, and the suc- 
 cess of preaching is conditioned in part by the skillful ar- 
 rangement of the elements of the subject. It is like the 
 skill of a general in handling his troops, each man being put 
 where he belongs and doing his duty at his post. We use 
 a variety of terms to designate the partition or division 
 of the elements of the theme. It is the "plan" of the ser- 
 mon, i. e., the arrangement of the different groups or centres 
 of thought contained in the theme, in accordance with some 
 scheme of arrangement so as to shape the discussion into 
 a complete whole, as we shape a building into architectural 
 
THE OUTLINE 319 
 
 unity in accordance with an architectural plan. We speak, 
 therefore, of the architecture of the sermon. 
 
 It is the "scheme," or varying the thought to make the 
 notion of unity and order the more emphatic, it is the "skele- 
 ton," suggesting an imitation of nature's most symmetrical 
 work. The divisions are the "heads" of the sermon. They 
 suggest the prominence with which the groups of thought 
 should stand out to the hearer's apprehension in the line 
 of development. They are those chief centres of thought, 
 in the content of the sermon, that contain all subordinate 
 elements and, as it were, stand above them as the head above 
 the body. 
 
 With like emphasis we call them "points" using nature's 
 definitiveness of outline to suggest the definiteness of out- 
 line that should mark the progress of the development of 
 the sermon or that should characterize its structural form, 
 i. e., they are prominent features of the subject that jut out 
 into view like salient points to mark the line or course of 
 thought. We might use Coleridge's term and call them 
 "landing places." The discussion is a stream of thought. 
 The divisions or "heads" are islands in the stream. The 
 preacher launches out from his point of departure and heads 
 toward these different landing-places in his course, passing 
 from one to another, till the last is reached and the course is 
 ended. They are "pauses," they are "rests" that mark 
 progress. They are "mile-stones" that mark the stages 
 of the journey. All these terms in their essential significance 
 suggest the nature of the work and by their variety per- 
 haps suggest its importance. Orderly method in the de- 
 velopment of the sermon is the prevailing suggestion, a 
 method that conforms to the relations of thought and to the 
 laws of the soul's action. With this is included the notions 
 of unity and progress in the discussion. These qualities 
 are necessary not only to clearness but are also conducive 
 
320 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 even to force and gracefulness as elements of rhetorical 
 effectiveness in the discussion. 
 
 II. The Methods of Outline 
 
 There are two chief methods of distributing the elements 
 of the text or the theme, which have already been brought 
 to our attention. They are the textual and the topical, or 
 the analytic and the synthetic, as they are sometimes called. 
 The former analyzes the elements of the text and distributes 
 them as textual topics in the divisions of the sermon. The 
 latter secures a theme from the text by a synthesis of its 
 elements, or by a synthesis of thoughts suggested by it, but 
 which may have a relative independence of it and then dis- 
 tributes these elements under certain topics or rubrics of 
 thought. Thus the textual method deals directly with the 
 elements of the text and distributes them and them only as 
 topics throughout the sermon. The topical method deals 
 indirectly with the text and directly with the theme, dis- 
 tributing its elements as topics in relative independence of 
 the text. The two methods result in two very different types 
 of preaching. Success in both methods presupposes train- 
 ing in them. 
 
 Let us examine them. 
 
 i. With respect to the textual method, a few general sug- 
 gestions relative to its use may be of value. 
 
 The character of the text is the first regulative considera- 
 tion. ^ A passage that is complex in its content of thought 
 lends itself readily to the textual method. The passage that 
 is short and simple and closely unified in its content of 
 thought is better adapted to topical treatment. 
 
 The textual method is adapted to the simpler subjects 
 and to the relatively uninstructed and uncultured class of 
 hearers. It is a simple method of preaching, dealing, as 
 it does, in an unartistic way, with the explanation and 
 
THE OUTLINE 321 
 
 applications of the elements of the text and requires chiefly 
 facility in popular exposition and practical suggestion. The 
 topical method is adapted to the weightier subjects, to the 
 more elaborate discussion and to the more cultivated audi- 
 ence. It exacts upon the artistic skill of the preacher. 
 
 It is a method that is easily mastered. It is, therefore, 
 of value to a hard-worked preacher whose productive powers 
 are heavily taxed. The topical sermon reacts more severely 
 upon the inventive powers and success in it is the more 
 difficult 
 
 It is an important consideration that it is the Biblical 
 method distinctively. The better modern knowledge of the 
 Bible invites the preacher to cultivate it. The topical method 
 admits, even demands, wider range, and it may be a possi- 
 ble range widely remote from the Biblical field of thought. 
 In many cases it proves itself to be a very helpful and sug- 
 gestive method of practical preaching. The thought basis 
 lies immediately before the preacher and stimulates his in- 
 ventive powers. The topical sermon may be the more 
 educative type of sermon, but, as presupposing the more 
 weighty and difficult class of subjects, more heavily taxes 
 the preacher's inventive power. 
 
 The textual method may be easily overworked, in de- 
 ducing thought from the text by remote processes of sug- 
 gestion. The preacher may easily impose upon the text, 
 or smuggle into it, what does not belong to it. There may 
 be a temptation to over-press every clause of the text and 
 as a result the whole sermon may suggest the strain of un- 
 reality. In the topical sermon the chief point of pressure 
 upon the text where it may be subjected to an overstrain, 
 is in deducing the theme from it. 
 
 A lack of unity of thought is one of the possible, and 
 easily possible, infelicities of the textual method. But the 
 formulation of a theme that will cover the thought content of 
 
322 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the text will obviate this. The topical-textual or synthetic- 
 analytic is the only satisfactory textual method. 
 
 The textual division may attach itself to the stress-words 
 or to the stress-thought of the passage. Passages whose 
 chief words are pregnant with meaning and are so related 
 as to secure unity of thought may become the basis of a 
 successful verbal development, c. g., Romans 8 : 28, "And 
 we know that to them that love God all things work to- 
 gether for good." Theme : What we may know of the gov- 
 ernment of God. 1. That God is at "work" in it. 2. That 
 His activities work cooperatively, "together/' 3. That they 
 work teleologically, work "for" something. 4. That they 
 work beneficently, or towards the "good." 5. That they 
 work conditionally toward this beneficence, "to them that 
 love God." Micah 6:8, "And what does the Lord require 
 of thee, but to do justly," etc. Theme: The Summary of 
 divine requisitions, 1. Justice. 2. Philanthrophy. 3. 
 Piety. James 5:16 (b), "The supplication of a righteous 
 man availeth much in its working. Theme ; Prevailing Prayer. 
 I. The type of prayer — the cry of human want. 2. Its 
 ethical quality. 3. The sphere of its prevailing efficacy. 
 It "avails" to accomplish objective results. 4. Its measure 
 and variety — "avails much." 5. The subjective conditions, 
 because it energizes within. The objection against this 
 method of treating texts is that it is likely to degenerate 
 into allegory, artificiality and lack of unity. The textual 
 division that attaches itself to the stress-thoughts of the pas- 
 sage may be identical with and not differentiable from the 
 topical method, e. g., Rev. 3: 20, "Behold I stand at the door 
 and knock," etc., may be treated according to the supple- 
 mental textual method, in which, as not infrequently in 
 Robertson's preaching, topics from without may be combined 
 with topics furnished by the text. 2 Cor. 5:14, "For the love 
 of Christ constraineth us," may be treated according to the 
 
THE OUTLINE 323 
 
 expansive textual method, i. e., by educing the elements of 
 thought involved in the constraint of Christ's love. 1. A 
 rational constraint. 2. A moral constraint, etc. John 6: 
 68, ''Simon Peter answered him: To whom shall we go," 
 etc., may be treated according to what may be called the 
 implicative textual method, i. e. y by educing the implications 
 of the text. 1. We must in religion go somewhere, must 
 get beyond ourselves. 2. Must appeal to a living personal 
 being. 3. It is to Christ or no one, etc. A passage like 
 Acts 16:30, "What must I do to be saved," may be treated 
 according to the grammatical textual' method, following 
 the subject, predicate and object. 1. The personal search. 
 2. The practical method. 3. The object sought. 
 
 2. As to the topical method, there are two classes that 
 should be examined. One deals immediately and directly 
 with the main thought of the theme and discusses it with 
 reference to the work of instruction. The other deals in- 
 directly with the thought of the theme and uses it in the 
 way of application and with reference to practical interests. 
 One lays stress upon the subject and the other upon the 
 object of the sermon. The former, as being expository 
 of the thought of the theme and aiming at instruction, may 
 be called the didactic topical method, and the latter, as de- 
 ducing inferences from the theme for practical use, may be 
 called the applicatory topical method. 
 
 (1) In the didactic plan or division of the theme, the 
 immediate object is to bring out the different groups of 
 thought that lie in the theme with reference to the work 
 of teaching. The subject is the important matter and must 
 be discussed on the basis of its importance as a subject. The 
 application may be made in connection with the discussion, 
 or subsequently in the conclusion. But whenever and 
 wherever made, it is based upon the discussion, and is in 
 a way subordinate to it. The immediate thing is to get the 
 
324 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 elements of the subject before the hearer in such way as 
 to increase or clarify or rectify his knowledge of it. Most 
 topical sermons of the weightier sort belong to this class. 
 Such was the old New England topical sermon. Its ob- 
 ject was indoctrination, and it was shaped with reference to 
 this end. Didactic methods vary. Those current in our day 
 differ from those of a previous period. But whatever the 
 method, the aim of the didactic sermon is the same. It 
 is edification by increase, or clarification or correction of 
 knowledge. So long as due attention is given to the moral 
 and religious aim of the sermon, the didactic method of 
 handling its material is very important. This is pastoral 
 preaching by preeminence. 
 
 (2) In the applicatory method, the material of the sub- 
 ject is handled in a practical and suggestive manner, and 
 with reference primarily to moral and religious incentive. 
 It takes up at once the bearings of the subject upon practical 
 interests. It may be in the form of inferences that have 
 a bearing upon men's beliefs, for truth may have a practi- 
 cal bearing upon one's opinions, or it may have a practical 
 bearing upon the formation of their characters or upon their 
 general conduct or upon some specific and immediate line 
 of action. It generally deals with inferential thoughts of 
 a suggestive, quickening character, e. g., Matt 20:28, "Even 
 as the Son of man came, not to be ministered unto," etc. 
 The subject suggested here is familiar and does not call for 
 elaborate didactic treatment. It is better to apply the sub- 
 ject by deducing inferential thoughts from it. 1. The 
 subject suggests the way in which Christ established his 
 ascendency over men. 2. It suggests our supreme want. 
 3. It suggests our supreme life task. This method need 
 not fail in discussion. The applications themselves are dis- 
 cussed. But it is discussion by the process of indirection. It 
 may rescue the sermon from unfruitful discussion or un- 
 
THE OUTLINE 325 
 
 profitable commonplace. Themes that demand thorough 
 explication and discussion call for the didactic method. 
 The simpler, the more commonplace, the more practical, 
 the more difficult perhaps, and I will add the more offensive, 
 subjects may best be handled by the applicatory method. 
 If the preacher seeks increase of moral and spiritual im- 
 pulse he will naturally choose this method. No one would 
 wish an elaborate, didactic discussion of Revelation 3:20. 
 A passage like Gal. 1: 8, "But though we or an angel from 
 heaven/' etc., would be difficult to treat by the direct didactic 
 method. It is offensive and should be treated by indirec- 
 tion, e. g., Theme: Paul's estimate of his Gospel. 1. It 
 suggests the value of positive beliefs. 2. The value of 
 hedging belief with strong conviction. 3. The value of 
 correct beliefs. 4. Justification of indignation against the 
 teaching and teachers of error. These topics are infer- 
 ential and applicatory and on the whole, taken together may 
 not be offensive. 
 
 An extreme of the didactic method is found in the scholas- 
 tic type of preaching. An extreme of the applicatory may 
 be found in some classes of the evangelistic type of preaching. 
 In the one case we have an excess of discussion without 
 sufficient practical use. In the other we have an excess of 
 application without the support of discussion. It is better 
 on the whole perhaps not to divorce them. The truth, when 
 necessary, should be adequately interpreted to the mind, 
 and at the same time the practical needs of the hearer should 
 not be forgotten. Justice to the subject and at the same 
 time justice to the object should be the aim. And yet it 
 may be necessary sometimes to separate them. A strictly 
 doctrinal and strictly evangelistic sermon are sometimes 
 necessary. In ordinary pastoral preaching, however, a hard 
 and fast line between discussion and application is hardly 
 necessary or desirable. 
 
326 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 III. The Necessity of Outline 
 No elaboration of this topic is called for. There are but 
 two suggestions. 
 
 I. There can be no sermon without outline, more or less 
 distinct. The textual sermon has, of course, the divisions 
 of the text. But how about the topical sermon? Must 
 it have divisions as well? I repeat no sermon is possible with- 
 out division. Why? Let us see. One has a theme. No theme, 
 no sermon, but homily. It may be hidden or at the surface, 
 implicit or explicit, held in solution or emergent in form. 
 But it is there, and it is one. And it contains groups of 
 subordinate thought. They are all wrapped up there in the 
 theme. The theme is capable of formulation in some sort 
 of proposition or affirmation or statement, and about it not 
 one thing but many complex things may be said. Now, 
 what will one do? Use or apply the subject, perhaps? Very 
 well. This involves partition or division into different as- 
 pects or phases of what is to be used or applied. One does 
 not use or apply the subject by saying one thing over and 
 over again in the same way in which it has been said in the 
 theme. There is no development of the subject in this. 
 There is no bringing out of the complexities of thought that 
 are hidden in the theme. The theme is applied only when 
 different applicatory aspects of it are brought out. But per- 
 haps one will discuss rather than apply the subject? It 
 may be done variously. No matter how. One will dis-cuss 
 it, i. e., etymologically one will shake it asunder into its 
 elements, one will break up that complex mass, the theme, 
 into its constituent elements. To discuss a subject is to 
 disintegrate it, and to examine, reflect upon and use the 
 parts of which it is composed. Otherwise one does not 
 discuss it, he fools with it. Now, here is division. It is a 
 manifest necessity. The only question is; what sort of divi- 
 sion? Or the further question: How definite and manifest 
 
THE OUTLINE 327 
 
 shall it be? Some sort there must be. One must know 
 those hidden — those possible groups of thought that lie 
 there, else one does not know his subject. What can one 
 do with it without knowing something about it? To know 
 and handle the theme, then involves division. Now, it needs 
 no argument, or should need none, that in general this 
 division process should in some way be made apparent, 
 at. least sufficiently so for the accomplishment of one's pur- 
 pose. The preacher must have some scheme of thought in 
 mind, and the audience ought to have the avail of it, if the 
 preacher will reasonably expect to do anything for them. 
 
 2. The character of the sermon, as determined by its sub- 
 ject and object, conditions the kind of divisions, as well as 
 their number and their defmiteness of outline. Let us look 
 then at the two types of sermon above referred to as related 
 to this question. 
 
 As regards the didactic sermon, the demand is, of course, 
 that it be instructive. The audience, therefore, should be able 
 to take in and take away the whole sermon, to take it not 
 simply as a whole but in its parts and relations and thus in 
 fact be the better able to retain it as a whole. The success 
 of the sermon depends on this, not on a merely fragmentary 
 impression. The subject should stand out clearly in outline 
 in the mind of the preacher and this clearness of outline 
 should appear in his discussion. The sort of topics that are 
 adapted to the work of teaching should be chosen, or such 
 proofs as will carry his argument if it be an argumentative 
 discourse. They will be arranged clearly and methodically, 
 so that they may be followed easily. The divisions will be, 
 therefore, somewhat prominent and obtrusive. The theme 
 will be broken up into its parts, each part will be examined 
 by itself, and in its relations, and the whole subject as thus 
 analyzed, will be presented in a closely organized manner. 
 Not that the divisions must be mathematically formal. They 
 
328 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 certainly should not run on in a formal manner, each 
 topic in succession out of its predecessor, rather than directly 
 out of the theme, as the scholastic sermon did, till the 
 preacher had piled together an interminable mass of bulky 
 fragments, a hundred or more, as we find even in preachers 
 like Baxter and other Puritan preachers. But there will 
 be a clearly outlined discussion that will do the work of 
 discussion. The word "skeleton" has done duty in homi- 
 letics and it has frightened a good many modern preachers. 
 But one might say a worse thing about a sermon than that 
 it has a good skeleton, as one might say a worse thing 
 about the human body than that it has a symmetrical form. 
 It means that it is rationally and, in fact, aesthetically or- 
 ganized and that every one can see that it is. It does not 
 mean simply that it is fleshless and lifeless. A didactic ser- 
 mon, with a clear outline, need not be a skeleton in the ob- 
 jectionable sense that is is lifeless. A live sermon, just 
 because it is such, demands structural quality, as any liv- 
 ing organism of high grade demands it, demands it because 
 it is an organism of high grade. The higher the organism, 
 the more intricate and elaborate not only but the more 
 manifest its structure. The lower the organism, the less 
 manifest its structure. We speak of the "body" of the ser- 
 mon. The name suggests a structure manifest enough to 
 support the name. A structureless man of unorganized 
 homiletic protoplasm has no developed body. We know 
 the body of an organism from its parts. 
 
 (2) But with respect to the applicative or more practical 
 sermon the chief object is impression, not teaching. Such 
 impression is not wholly dependent on teaching. It is not 
 a strong, complete mental conquest, but a strong, urgent, 
 moral and emotional incentive, or succession of incentives 
 that is sought. The object is to carry into the mind one 
 simple, main thought, variously illustrated in such a way as 
 
THE OUTLINE 329 
 
 will leave impressions that will abide and do their work. 
 The preaching of Dr. Alexander McKenzie of Cambridge, 
 Mass., illustrates this method. In sermons of this sort it 
 is not necessary to develop very fully the different groups 
 of thought that lie in the theme, and lay them all out be- 
 fore the hearer in clear outline. It will only be necessary 
 to take the main thought of the subject, which is simple, 
 and illustrate and apply it in a variety of ways, somewhat 
 as Dr. Chalmers did, although his subjects were not sim- 
 ple, somewhat as Bishop Brooks did, and as Dr. Bushnell 
 never did. In this way there will, of course, be division, 
 for to illustrate and apply a subject in any way, no matter 
 how concretely, is in a sort to discuss it, for phases of 
 the illustrated subject are brought out in succession. The 
 leading thought will always be presented in different as- 
 pects. But such discussion will be relatively simple in the 
 material and formal sense. It will not be argumentative or 
 elaborately didactic. It may have but little of the formal, 
 structural quality. Such structure as it may have will be that 
 of the simpler class of organisms, in which the parts are 
 not obtrusively manifest. We have here more of the 
 synthetic process, as in the didactic sermon we have more 
 of the analytic process. Here we may have more of the in- 
 ductive, as there more of the deductive process. 
 
 IV. The Topics or Categories of the Outline 
 The Avord topic is a Greek rhetorical term in use before 
 the time of Aristotle, but more fully developed by him. It 
 means primarily the "place" where arguments or proofs 
 are found for the use of the rhetorician and orator. For 
 classical rhetoric and oratory dealt mostly with a type of 
 speech in which arguments were used, such arguments as 
 are appropriate to the sphere of probable as distinguished 
 from demonstrative evidence, i: e., popular rhetorical argu- 
 
330 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ments as distinguished from dialectical or philosophical 
 arguments. The idea suggested is that arguments in con- 
 nection with the subject, do not at once readily suggest them- 
 selves. They need to be hunted up. There is need of a 
 "place" where they may be stored and found when demanded. 
 Hence the rhetorical term "invention" which refers both 
 to the discovery of the material of thought and to the 
 methods of handling the material of thought. The study 
 of classical rhetoric, therefore, was designed as an aid to 
 public speakers in rinding material and method for the de- 
 velopment of their spteches. The orator's arguments or 
 possible methods of treating his subject were stored up, 
 i. e., were classified and, as it were, gathered into a treasure 
 house and there stood ready for use in this classified con- 
 dition when sought. 
 
 Then by metonymy the word was applied to the argu- 
 ments themselves. These arguments were known as the 
 commonplaces or special places of men's reasoning, i. e., the 
 general or special methods of handling subjects discussed. 
 Aristotle discusses twenty-eight of these general topics or 
 methods of argument. The Latin term "loci communes" 
 refers to the general method of conducting a popular ar- 
 gument, *. e. t methods that are common to any particular 
 type of public speech. In classical rhetoric — Greek and 
 Latin alike — there were three types of public speech, the 
 deliberative, a persuasive type of political oratory, the judi- 
 cial, a persuasive type of legal oratory, and the epideictic, 
 a highly emotional type of eulogistic oratory. There were 
 topics or methods of discussion especially adapted to each 
 of these species of oratory, just as in preaching there are 
 topics or methods of treatment that are adapted to the didac- 
 tic, the ethical and the evangelistic types of discourse. The 
 word topic, then, as applied to preaching means the methods 
 of handling the sermon, methods of introducing the subject, 
 
THE OUTLINE 331 
 
 methods of stating it, methods of developing it and methods 
 of concluding it. As used in our discussion it means methods 
 of developing the theme or of planning the sermon. Topics 
 then are the categories or classifications of thought used in 
 preaching. A study of these classifications is a study of 
 the principles of mental association or of those thought- 
 relations that one may follow in the treatment of a subject. 
 
 The study has generally been regarded as a valuable one 
 for a public speaker. The older writers on homiletics have 
 more to say about it than the modern. The concrete method 
 of study is particularly valuable, i. e., an examination of 
 the methods of different preachers in the handling of their 
 themes. The methods they follow will depend largely on 
 their mental bias and equipment. The preacher of a phil- 
 osophical or logical habit of mind will follow methods that the 
 man of imaginative or emotional or practical tendency will not 
 follow. There is no better way of learning the peculiarities 
 of a man's preaching or of getting at the preacher's lead- 
 ing tendencies than a study of his topics, or methods of 
 handling his subjects. But the study of the methods them- 
 selves independently of their concrete products is of value. 
 I shall discuss this in another connection. Just now I shall 
 simply direct attention to some considerations to be taken 
 into account in the choice of topics for the plan of the ser- 
 mon. 
 
 A sermon is not good simply because it has a recognized 
 plan. That depends on the sort of plan. The character of 
 the plan depends on the character of the topics chosen. 
 Note the following considerations. 
 
 1. The character of the topics should correspond with 
 the character of the sermon, i. e. f with the subject of 
 the sermon and with its object. The choice should not 
 be made capriciously. There are reasons in the nature of the 
 subject, and in the proper object, of the sermon and in the 
 
332 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 proper thought-relation between the subject and object why- 
 one should choose one rather than another class or group 
 of topics. Of course there is great range of possible choice. 
 One can not lay down any hard and fast rule here. But it is 
 evident enough that there are topics that are adapted to 
 different types of sermon, I will add different types of the 
 distinctively Christian sermon. There is a large variety 
 of topics that readily adjust themselves to Christian themes. 
 There are ways of looking at things that may be called pre- 
 eminently Christian. There are Christian categories of 
 thought, Christian commonplaces and special places. These 
 topics readily adjust themselves to different types of ser- 
 mons. For example, there are topics that are peculiarly 
 adapted to didactic sermons. A very large number of our 
 New Testament texts are didactic texts. They call for in- 
 terpretation. Preaching must be largely expository. Now 
 there are didactic topics that fit these texts and the subjects 
 deduced from them. They might be called philosophical 
 topics. They belong to the realm of abstract thought per- 
 haps, although they may be stated concretely or representa- 
 tively. In discussing such subjects we are likely to direct 
 attention to the nature of the truth in hand, its fundamental 
 principles, its characteristics, its implications, its necessity, its 
 grounds or sources, its evidences, the objections against it, etc. 
 In handling an ethical sermon we look for topics that are 
 adapted to ethical impression. Whatever touches the realm 
 of duty, of moral necessity, of moral privilege, of moral aim 
 or motive, whatever touches the domain of consequences, 
 the realm of moral utility, of moral dignity, or grandeur 
 or the realm of moral conviction, takes us at once into the 
 topics that are adapted to the work of ethical inculcation. 
 There are ethical topics that are distinctively Christian, 
 and are peculiarly fitted to the work of moral impression that 
 is characteristically Christian. 
 
THE OUTLINE 333 
 
 In dealing with the lighter class of sermons, sermons 
 in which feeling and imagination abound, or of the more 
 distinctively practical character, we look for topics that take 
 us into the realm of concrete reality, the realm of illustra- 
 tion, of example, of experience. But it is the object, as 
 well as the subject, that should determine the topics. Most 
 sermons, therefore, call for a combination of the didactic 
 and the practical class of topics. Let me illustrate from the 
 two following plans that admirably recognize the difference 
 between the didactic and the practical interest in preaching. 
 Matt. 13:44. Theme; The Hidden Treasure. Didactic plan. 
 1. The Nature of it. 2. The value of it. Here the lead- 
 ing object is an interpretation of the parable. In order 
 fully to understand it we must know the nature of it, we must 
 understand what this hidden treasure is. But the object 
 is not wholly didactic. It is partly practical. For this reason 
 the hearer should have the value of it set before him. But 
 the value is interpreted as well as inculcated. Therefore 
 even the second topic is in part didactic. Practical plan. 
 1. It is so hidden that it must be sought. 2. It is so 
 manifest that it may be found. 3. It is so valuable that 
 its worth can not be estimated. 4. Yet it is to be so greatly 
 desired that one must surrender all to get it. Now observe 
 that in the first plan the object, is edification by increase 
 of knowledge of the subject, first knowledge of the nature 
 of the subject discussed, and secondly of its value, the more 
 practical thought which, therefore, comes last. Note also 
 that in the practical plan the two main topics of the didactic 
 plan, nature and value, are not only expanded but are shaped 
 in the statement with supreme reference to practical im- 
 pression. It is a hidden treasure. But in the practical dis- 
 cussion the hidden quality of it is so shaped as to serve 
 an ethical purpose, i. e., because hidden it must be sought. 
 Again, it is not hopelessly hidden. It is so manifest that it 
 
334 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 may be found. Hence we are encouraged to seek it. It 
 is valuable. But it is so valuable that one can not worthily es- 
 timate it. It is, moreover, so valuable that one must sur- 
 render all to win it.* All this will illustrate the important 
 results that would follow careful discrimination in the choice 
 of methods. By such discrimination one will avoid a stereo- 
 typed method of handling the sermon. Each sermon will 
 have its own plan, as conditioned by its character and aim. 
 There is more involved in this whole matter than appears 
 at the surface or than the ordinary preacher understands. 
 
 2. The number of the topics, or the extent of the plan 
 will also be determined by the character of the sermon, 
 i. e.y by the aim of the sermon as well as the character of 
 the subject. The didactic and particularly the doctrinal 
 or argumentative sermon, that aims to do full justice to 
 the subject, in general, demands a more elaborate and ex- 
 tensive plan than the lighter and more practical sermon. 
 But no invariable rule can be laid down. Even here the 
 proper aim of the sermon will necessarily limit the extent 
 of the plan. Many didactic sermons, like the one above 
 cited, have but few main topics. They are likely, however, to 
 have a good many subordinate topics. Note in passing 
 that the didactic sermon in the hands of an unfruitful 
 preacher is likely to handle a certain limited number of 
 topics and so result in a stereotyped method. This may 
 be true of all classes of sermons in such hands. But it 
 is particularly true of sermons of this class. 
 
 Note also that the modern sermon of whatever class has 
 but relatively few topics. The plan is brief and simple. 
 This is perhaps due to the fact that it is less doctrinal and 
 therefore must be less elaborate. It is due also to the 
 influence of modern literary culture and to the practical 
 
 * These two plans are from some German writer on homiletics 
 whose name the author has forgotten. 
 
THE OUTLINE 335 
 
 tendency to combine the interest of the object with that 
 of the subject more fully than our homiletic ancestors did. 
 The older method secured doctrinally instructive preaching. 
 The newer method more suggestive and animating preach- 
 ing. It is a less formal, less stereotyped and a more vital 
 and organic method of handling the material of the ser- 
 mon. Note further that any plan presupposes the discus- 
 sion of more than a single topic or phase of the subject. 
 There are at least two main topics with subdivisions, and 
 perhaps three or four. One may, indeed, select a single 
 limited phase of a subject and treat it illustratively. But 
 this phase is the theme and the illustrations that present 
 it in a variety of aspects are in effect the topics. Moreover, 
 all the topics, whether many or few, should yield themselves 
 naturally to the preacher's pressure upon his theme and 
 should not be forced out by far-fetched association of ideas. 
 3. The topics all come out of the theme as a whole, and 
 do not represent a mere fragment of it. It is the theme 
 as a unit that yields each topic. One can not discuss a 
 part or a fragment of the complex theme at one point and 
 some phase of the whole theme at another point without intro- 
 ducing confusion and contradiction. That is to say; one can 
 not change or reduce or mutilate his theme in the process 
 of discussion. Moreover the topics should represent and 
 make manifest and felt the object as well as the subject of 
 the sermon. When they run out of the theme as conditioned 
 by the object, the whole sermon is held in unity and within 
 proper limits. One of the serious defects of the old scholas- 
 tic sermon was that the topics did not run back to the 
 theme as conditioned by the proper object of the sermon, 
 nor did they all run back to the theme as a unit. The suc- 
 cessive topics related themselves each to the other, one point 
 suggested another and that another and so the sermon drifted 
 away from the theme following the lead of successive divi- 
 
336 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 sions and in the process forgot its proper object. The topics 
 of the plan are normally related to each other. They prop- 
 erly do not overlap. They are mutually exclusive. Each 
 topic discusses a single phase of the theme at the exclusion 
 of all others, and each is of its own kind. One can not 
 discuss the "how" or the "why" under the category of the 
 "what." "Result" can not be discussed under the category 
 of "cause." Simplicity of content is the point. Each topic 
 has in the quality of its thought a relative independence of 
 all other topics. One can not turn back in the discussion 
 of a topic to pick up something that belongs to a previous 
 topic, nor reach forward to any subsequent topic and an- 
 ticipate the discussion of it. Such confusion of thought 
 wrecks the logic of the sermon. 
 
 4. The topics are arranged with reference to unity and 
 progress of impression. The didactic topics are naturally 
 arranged in logical order and with reference to unity and 
 progress of mental impression. The practical topics, or 
 such as are chosen with reference to rhetorical and practical 
 impression, are naturally arranged in what is called rhetorical 
 order, or with reference to unity, and progress of emotional 
 or ethical or more comprehensively practical impression. 
 It is not impossible, however, to combine the two objects, 
 arranging them with reference at once to unity and progress 
 of mental and of emotional and ethical impression. 
 
 V. Value of the Outline 
 
 The planning of the sermon consists in the choice and ar- 
 rangements of topics. The value of the plan is the value 
 of the topics in evolving, interpreting and applying the 
 thought content of the theme. The only way of getting 
 at the right topics and thus securing the right plan for the 
 sermon is to get at them from the inside rather than the 
 outside, i. e. y by analyzing and sifting the thought material 
 
THE OUTLINE 337 
 
 of the text and theme, getting at the groups or centres of 
 thought that lie there and then selecting such topics as 
 naturally evolve themselves from these groups of thought 
 and are adapted to the object of the sermon and arranging 
 them in order. The old method of storing up topics and 
 drawing on them at will as from an external storehouse was 
 very defective. It resulted in externality and artificiality 
 of treatment. It laid undue emphasis upon form as dis- 
 tinguished from substance. It resulted in stereotyped 
 method. The preacher who picks his topics from the out- 
 side, without entering into the elements of the subject, or 
 having respect to his object, who lays them on ab-extra, 
 or inserts them as in an artificial frame-work, will preach 
 mechanically and his product will be wooden. This will 
 result again in superficiality. What is formal is sure to be 
 superficial. Thoroughness is possible only for one who 
 evolves his topics after thorough investigation of his text 
 and subject. This external method also results in simply 
 taking out of the subject what one has put into it. If one 
 draws out his topics from the substance of thought in his 
 theme, if he analyses, classifies and groups his material ac- 
 cording to its natural thought-relations and according to 
 the demands of the object of the sermon, he will get what 
 is in the subject, and not what he imports into it. But 
 a proper selection and use of topics is simply a proper 
 planning of the sermon, and this is of supreme importance 
 in the work of the preacher. Some of the best preachers like 
 the late Dr. Magee, Anglican Archbishop of York, have 
 spent years in careful training with respect to the order- 
 ing of the thought of their sermons. What I wish to do is to 
 point out the importance of the careful planning of the ser- 
 mon from three points of view. 
 
 i. And first its value with respect to the production of 
 material, (i) A study of the plan, which is a study of 
 
338 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 topics, is necessary to disclose the resources of the sub- 
 ject. It results in a thorough knowledge of it. One knows 
 his theme analytically, knows it in its thought-relations and 
 so in its possibilities of development. One tests its pos- 
 sibilities by trying many methods. This discloses the re- 
 sources of the subject, and this aids in invention. Without 
 such analysis one can not know the possibilities of his theme. 
 The material of the sermon is locked up there. It is en- 
 tirely hidden until it is unlocked and brought to light. It 
 must be discovered, classified, grouped about its proper 
 centres. This done, one knows its scope and range, and 
 what it is worth for use. A mine, hitherto unknown, has 
 been opened. Its treasures run in veins that are concealed 
 until the preacher has entered and opened them up. That 
 is, there has been set in movement the action of mental asso- 
 ciation, and the thought-relations of the subject have been 
 laid bare. We speak of fruitful themes. What are they? 
 They are themes that open up to the mind their complex- 
 ities and wide-ranging relations of thought. There is doubt- 
 less a difference in themes in this regard. Some are in 
 themselves more fruitful than others. But it is largely a 
 relative matter, relative to the resources, the aptitude, the at- 
 titude, and the activity of the preacher. The only way to know 
 whether a subject is fruitful or not is to thrust in the probe 
 and test it by opening up its thought-relations in a well- 
 ordered plan. It is this tested capacity of the subject to 
 open itself up to the mind that quickens mental action. It 
 may also quicken the imagination and in so doing may 
 quicken the emotions and possibly the moral and spiritual 
 susceptibilities, as one gets inside of it. This is a condition 
 of homiletic productiveness. By the fruitfulness of a sub- 
 ject then, we mean its capacity to yield its treasures to 
 topical analysis and arrangement. One may find that sub- 
 jects, which at first seemed barren, will open with wonder- 
 
THE OUTLINE 339 
 
 ful interest and productiveness when subjected to the test 
 of analysis. The habit of sketching outlines along different 
 lines of mental association is a valuable one. The outlines 
 show the subject in different lights, in different relations. 
 And this agitation of thought in its various relations will 
 yield a wealth of material from which one may select for the 
 particular line at last chosen. (2) I have already sug- 
 gested that a study of the plan may quicken mental and 
 emotional activity. But it may be well to linger with it. 
 The mind is at home only in the realm of order. Get it 
 on to the right track, set it in movement along the right 
 line and it will move freely and vigorously. It must move 
 normally in the investigation of a subject, i. e., it must 
 move in line with its own laws. If it gets at cross purposes 
 with itself, it ceases to act. Every earnest thinker knows 
 the glow of enthusiasm with which he enters a subject, 
 when he sees that he is on the right track, that the way 
 opens up broadly and that he has free range as along 
 a great highway. Recall Robert Hall's declaration that he 
 could do nothing as a preacher till he had "cut out a 
 channel" for his thoughts. It is a grand experience for 
 a preacher to know the joy of mental and emotional and 
 spiritual freedom in moving along the lead of a great reli- 
 gious truth that opens up its broad avenues before him. 
 (3) A careful study of the plan is necessary for the selec- 
 tion of the right sort of material, material fitted to the par- 
 ticular sort of sermon in hand, or to the particular object 
 of the sermon, or to the audience. It rescues preaching 
 from caprice. We often wonder why preachers pitch upon 
 certain themes in their use of texts and why they handle 
 them as they do. Possibly they do not know thoroughly 
 well themselves, or do not know that they know or how 
 they know. It sometimes seems almost a matter of chance, 
 or of caprice. Suitable reflection and choice based on such 
 
340 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 reflection would secure pertinence and harmony in the dis- 
 cussion, for just the topics needed are available. Such re- 
 flection will secure variety in treatment. A stereotyped 
 method is the product of the preacher's unfamiliarity with 
 the possible categories of thought that might be evolved 
 from the subject. Familiarity with them would put the 
 preacher upon the work of developing the sermon variously. 
 One category suggests another. Reflection and choice se- 
 cure variety, — variety not only in the treatment of subjects, 
 but variety as to the types of the sermon. For it enables 
 one to distinguish between methods that are appropriate 
 to different classes of sermons. It is also an aid in dis- 
 criminating with respect to methods of handling, not only 
 the theme, but other parts of the sermon. It helps one in 
 the work of introduction, in deducing themes from texts 
 and in concluding the sermon. In this way, one acquires 
 facility in the handling of his sermons. But it is of special 
 value in shaping any sort of sermon with reference to the 
 realization of its proper object. Not everything may be said 
 in any sermon that might be said, or that one would like 
 to say, or that the audience might like to have one say, 
 or that the subject, in and of itself, and by itself might 
 sanction one in saying. For the sermon is not a thesis or 
 a treatise or a disquisition, not something for the eye to 
 be read and studied. It is an oratorical product for the ear. 
 It must be caught at once. It is limited by its character 
 and function as an address. It is designed to open up a 
 subject, not for the sake of the subject alone in its wide- 
 reaching relations of thought but for the purpose of in- 
 fluencing an audience. One may say, therefore, only what 
 the object of the sermon requires one to say. As to its 
 quality, quantity and method this material should be fitted 
 to the realization of this object. A process of selection, 
 therefore, is necessary. Now, it is the plan that conditions 
 
THE OUTLINE 341 
 
 this selection. It binds the sermon to the end in view. 
 One who has no well-planned method of conducting his dis- 
 cussion, not only does not know what to say with reference 
 to the demands of the subject but of the object as well. 
 He strikes wildly. In fact without a well-ordered plan one 
 can not have a well-considered aim at all. A house may 
 be built as easily as a sermon without a plan. Planning is a 
 process of "natural selection" and exclusion, the result of 
 which binds the sermon to its proper objective point. 
 
 2. The value of well-ordered arrangement with reference 
 to the logical qualities of the sermon or its organic relations 
 of thought. There are thought-relations that bind the ser- 
 mon and hold it in logical consistency. They secure har- 
 mony and preclude the possibility of logical discords. (1) 
 Unity is essential to harmony in the thought-relations of 
 a sermon. The sermon is one whole. It discusses one theme 
 and has one chief ultimate aim. The theme may be com- 
 plex and the aim may be complex, but there is only one 
 main thought and one chief aim. This thought should be 
 so presented to the mind as to leave unity of mental im- 
 pression in all varieties of thought and should be so shaped 
 that it will have unity of ethical impression in all its varieties 
 of ethical incentive. This double unity, unity of subject and of 
 object, of thought and of impression, should be wrought into 
 one harmonious whole. Unity of thought in preaching has 
 received chief emphasis. This has been regarded as homi- 
 letic unity by preeminence. This is because the didactic 
 element has been so prominent in Protestant preaching es- 
 pecially. The aim has been to do justice to the subject. But 
 the aim should also be to do justice to the object. Preaching 
 should include what is characteristic in dramatic impression. 
 Dramatic unity aims at one supreme resulting impression. All 
 the forces of character and of plot are brought to bear, 
 concentrate upon one point. Didactic unity seeks one supreme 
 
342 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 result in thought. It will hold all the elements of thought 
 bound back to one centre. But homiletic unity should also 
 pour all the forces of personality, as well as of thought, in 
 the handling of the sermon, concentrate upon one moral 
 result. The need of this double unity is grounded in the 
 constitution of the human soul. Let a speaker secure one 
 strong, leading mental impression and at the same time 
 one strong emotional and moral impression and he has 
 wrought a result which the soul by the very make of it, 
 craves, and which is conducive to its welfare, for it is con- 
 ducive to its quickening, enlargement and growth. We are 
 not at home with disharmony. The end of all high art is 
 unity and harmony. It is perhaps preeminently so in that 
 greatest and noblest of all arts in some aspects, the art of 
 effective public speech. The highest sort of moral quicken- 
 ing and enlargement may be conditioned by it. (2) Com- 
 pleteness is also essential to the harmonious thought- 
 relations of a sermon. Unity of subject and object commit it 
 to completeness, for it must bring out what there is in the 
 subject conceived as one whole and in such way and to 
 such extent as will realize its object. As the germ of the 
 sermon the theme should grow into the fully-developed 
 organism. Without the development of what belongs to 
 it and is procommitted to it by the theme, it is a mutilated 
 product, just as any organism would be mutilated that should 
 not contain what properly belongs to it and is pledged to 
 it by virtue of the fact that it is an organism. Complete- 
 ness, however, is relative, relative to the specific conception 
 and statement of the theme. For what is necessary to bring 
 out adequately the meaning of the theme as conceived and 
 stated is essential. It is relative to the line of thought 
 chosen. For what is essential to this line of thought should 
 be brought out. But completeness is also relative to the aim 
 of the sermon. For what will fit the sermon for the re- 
 
THE OUTLINE 343 
 
 alization of its object should come into discussion. Well 
 now, it is careful analysis that settles this to a consider- 
 able extent, at the outset. When once one has arranged the 
 elements of his theme according to a scheme that has 
 reference to a given impression, he will, of course, know the 
 better whether the sermon will discuss the subject as it 
 should be discussed. 
 
 (3) Symmetry also is necessary to harmony. A sermon 
 may have a certain unity and completeness, and yet lack 
 symmetry, i. e., proportion of parts. A single topic may 
 have a prominence and fulness of development dispropor- 
 tionate to its intrinsic importance, e. g., its importance as 
 a phase of the subject, or disproportionate as related to the 
 object of the sermon, so as to throw what is of equal or 
 greater importance into the background. The sermon is 
 a disproportionate whole. It is injured, not simply as a work 
 of art, but as an effective instrument. Unity of mental and 
 moral impression may be injured. A mechanical symmetry, 
 or a proportion of parts that satisfies the eye as it rests 
 upon the page or the ear as it listens to the sermon, a sort 
 of French artistic pedantry, is not the thing advocated, but 
 a proportion as related to mental and moral impression. 
 Now, this proportion is assured by a process of method- 
 ical arrangement of the elements of the theme. Without 
 a carefully-arranged plan in the mind one is likely to over- 
 elaborate one or two topics that interest him most at the 
 time and to leave too little time for the expansion of other 
 topics of equal or even of greater importance for the suc- 
 cess of the sermon. Preachers are likely to overwork the 
 first one or two topics and to crowd or mutilate the latter 
 part of the sermon, so that it lacks rhetorical effectiveness. 
 A methodical outlining of the whole subject based on a 
 careful survey of it at the outset might result in an avoid- 
 ance of this. 
 
344 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 (4) Finally progress is essential to harmony, an orderly 
 movement from one landing-place to another and from the 
 less to the more important topics of discussion. "A Sermon" 
 says Vinet, "is a procession, not a promenade." It may be 
 one, may be complete, may be proportionate, and yet dis- 
 orderly, the parts are all there, all related to the whole, all 
 there in symmetrical development, all running on to one 
 goal, and yet the parts may be displaced. A disorderly 
 or a disarranged whole is a monstrosity in art as in nature. 
 Each part of a sermon should have a relative complete- 
 ness of its own, while it somehow leads up to the next part 
 beyond it and so holds the hearer in the line of movement 
 to the end. Careful planning of the sermon distributes the 
 topics and sets them in their proper places. Progress is 
 an important mark of an oratorical product. The essay 
 may circle about a centre of thought and make no head. 
 The oration, the address, the sermon must move on. It 
 should be in some sort a triumphant movement. To reach 
 successfully the crown-heights of an oratorical process is 
 to secure the supreme impression sought. Cumulative power, 
 the power that adds stroke after stroke to the impression, 
 each successive stroke more effective than its predecessor 
 and the last most effective of all, this is essential to the best 
 oratorical effects. Now it is evident enough that careful 
 planning of the sermon will secure it against a zig-zag or 
 retrograde movement. No preacher can develop an effect- 
 ive plan and flat out in anti-climax. 
 
 3. The value of careful outline with refernce to rhetorical 
 expression. Logic is practically a part of rhetoric. In hom- 
 iletics it deals with the relations of thought not for its 
 own sake as a science, and not for the sake merely of re- 
 gulating the thinking of the preacher, but with reference 
 to practical use in the art of speech and with reference to 
 practical results in dealing with men. Logical effectiveness 
 
THE OUTLINE 345 
 
 is, therefore, a part of the problem of rhetorical effective- 
 ness. Other things being equal, the more effectively or- 
 dered thought is, the more effectively uttered it is likely to 
 be. Three elements of rhetorical effectiveness may be con- 
 ditioned by homiletic order, clearness, force, grace. 
 
 (i) Clearness. A clear expression of thought depends 
 not merely upon lucidity of diction, but upon clearness of 
 conception, and of arrangement. Perspicacity is necessary 
 to perspicuity. Thought can not be clearly uttered if it 
 be not clearly apprehended. But both clearness of appre- 
 hension and clearness of diction may be largely dependent 
 on clearness of arrangement. Disorderly method may in- 
 volve one in obscurity of thought and this will unfavorably 
 affect one's clearness of diction. The truth must be seen 
 in its relations. A subject is mastered only when it is 
 mastered in its relations. It is not well handled if it be 
 not handled in its logical relations. We take in groups of 
 objects in space, if we do it thoroughly, by individualizing 
 the objects in succession and then holding them in their re- 
 lations to the whole. And so we take in what moves in time, 
 as the sermon does, by objects that mark relation and suc- 
 cession. We get the whole by getting the parts. If one can 
 not arrange his thoughts under a definite subject he is not 
 yet ready to begin work. He has not attained to a well- 
 balanced conception and to a clear comprehension of what 
 he would be at. He should keep at it till his thoughts fall 
 into line like troops at an officer's command. Who can 
 fail to see that Frederick Robertson's clear-cut, incisive 
 preaching was due largely to his orderly method? He mas- 
 tered his subject. The result was that he said the right thing 
 in the right place. I believe that the crystalline clearness 
 of his style was largely conditioned by his grasp of the sub- 
 ject in hand. To say that a man is a clear thinker is to say 
 that he has thought his subject through, that he has a clear 
 
346 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 perception of it in its relations of thought, and that in so 
 doing he has mastered it. A clear style is dependent on 
 this. Not even inspiration itself could neutralize the in- 
 effectiveness of a shambling, inconsequential method of hand- 
 ling a subject. There are preachers, suggestive preachers 
 we call them, who do not care to expose their outline. 
 Their thought and diction may be clear enough, for obtru- 
 sion of outline is not always necessary to correctness and 
 clearness of outline. But one can not name an educative 
 and edifying preacher, whose work has permanent results, 
 whose sermons are seriously defective in structural quality 
 or who has no well-defined outline. Educative preaching, 
 which is in the fullest sense edifying preaching, whose mark is 
 clearness of thought and expression, will always value the 
 clearly-manifest division. If one aims also at immediate, 
 vivid, cumulative rhetorical impression of the best sort, he 
 will look out for his method. Recall the judicious words 
 of Phillips Brooks.* "Give your sermon an orderly, con- 
 sistent progress, and do not hesitate to let your hearers 
 see it distinctly, for it will help them first to understand 
 and then to remember what you say." This advice is perhaps 
 the more weighty that he was willing to give it in the face of 
 the fact that he was not always scrupulously faithful to it in 
 his own preaching. 
 
 (2) Force. Vigorous preaching is not wholly a matter of 
 incisive individual thought, or of intense rhetorical expression. 
 Essay-writers, like Emerson, have doubtless a vigor of their 
 own which is not dependent on clear order of thought. But the 
 vigor of the essayist is not that which is demanded in preach- 
 ing. Forcefulness of pulpit style is partly a question of 
 method. A vigorous sermon should be tense and cumula- 
 tive. It should be organized closely, move rapidly, and 
 rise as it moves. It should press straight on to its goal, 
 
 *Yale Lectures, Lecture V. Page 178. 
 
THE OUTLINE 347 
 
 and each part should push the movement vigorously on. 
 If one seeks strength of impression, he must say with himself 
 and mean it. 'This one thing I do: I press on." Now, 
 this means orderly movement. A discussion that flows on 
 at its "own sweet will" easily flows beyond proper bounds 
 and becomes ineffective, because it is straggling and thin. 
 But a thorough discussion, thorough in its order, with 
 thoughts marshalled as a general marshals his troops and 
 hurls them upon one point, is wonderously intense and ef- 
 fective. This is the Napoleonic strategy of the pulpit orator. 
 In forensic oratory most great triumphs have been won 
 in this way. The orator marshalls his material, pushes it on 
 toward one point, secures cumulative force for it as it 
 moves, gathers it all up at the end and as Theodore Parker 
 says of a great English orator, "lets the ruin fly." Many 
 of the triumphs of the pulpit — rhetorically speaking — have 
 been won in something the same way. The sermon that is 
 intense in its vigor, is condensed as being compacted together 
 and crowded upon its objective point, and it is compact 
 because methodical and methodical because thoroughly 
 thought out and planned. Theodore Parker, who knew the 
 great orators, knew the secret of their method and realized 
 something of it in his own preaching. "Nothing," we are 
 told,* "was commenced until a brief or scheme of it lay 
 complete upon his desk. When reading and meditation, tak- 
 ing copious notes meanwhile, had furnished him with a view 
 of the whole subject, so that he saw not only the end from 
 the beginning, but the details and subdivisions of each head, 
 he began to write ***** jj e never undertook to lay 
 his track until he had made a most careful and methodical 
 survey of the route he must travel. He was all the time 
 making statements and organizing thought. How many 
 
 * Weiss' Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, vol. ii 
 pages 8, 9, 12, 13. 
 
348 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 clergymen use their brains for bait, and wait in resigna- 
 tion for the nibble of a text." (3) Grace. Elegance of lit- 
 erary style is not merely a matter of syntax and vocabulary. 
 This is one of the commonplaces of rhetoric. A semi-poetic 
 diction and fluent syntax alone do not secure grace or 
 elegance of utterance. Nor is it wholly a matter of thought 
 and feeling. It is a question of method as well. Writers 
 on rhetoric and homiletics have not minimized this fact. 
 Prof. Shedd has some discriminating words upon it.* In 
 pulpit speech we need grace of form as well as of color. 
 Vocabulary may furnish color, but structure yields grace of 
 form. "Drawing gives the skeleton," says Balzac, "and color 
 gives the life; but life without the skeleton is a far more in- 
 complete thing than the skeleton without the life."f Order, 
 proportion, unity, harmony, progress, these are important 
 elements in grace of pulpit style. Mere verbal decorations 
 are tawdry. If a sermon lacks order, it lacks elegance. It 
 was not ornamentation alone that constituted the elegance 
 of Jeremy Taylor's pulpit style. Dr. Thomas Guthrie's 
 style had color, but his preaching lacked the highest qua- 
 lities of elegance. The sermon that has good method with 
 fresh and well-expressed thought will always be interest- 
 ing. We are carried along by a clear, steady, orderly move- 
 ment of suggestive thought. A disorderly sermon is sure to 
 lead to disagreeable surprises. One doesn't know what will 
 turn up next. It is a great mistake to imagine that an 
 aesthetic interest i9 promoted by abandoning clearness of 
 outline, as if it were of no importance. A man who is alive 
 will have no stiff, formal, artificial method in the pulpit, 
 but method he will have, method that is the product of life. 
 Such method will have grace of movement from beginning, 
 through all transitions, to the end. 
 
 * Homiletics Chap. III. 
 
 t Balzac on Painting in 'The Hidden Masterpiece," page 317. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The development is the expansion of the outline. It is 
 the outline brought into full form. It is not the direct 
 expansion of the theme, but of the plan. The structureless 
 germ, the theme, becomes structural in the plan, and the de- 
 velopment brings out the full-grown organism. It has been 
 called the "beginning of the battle." Carrying out this mil- 
 itary figure, we may call the choice of theme the selection 
 of the battle-ground, and the plan the disposition or ar- 
 rangement of forces, the battle-array. The development, 
 therefore, is the battle according to the arrangement of the 
 plan. The battle opening with the beginning of the de- 
 velopment, the introduction would be the skirmish line. 
 The development, therefore, belongs to structural as well 
 as to material homiletics. 
 
 I. Methods of Development 
 
 The development should, of course, produce the kind of 
 sermon and realize the object to which the theme and out- 
 line precommit it. Comprehensively stated, however, it should 
 always undertake to do two things. It should interpret the 
 truth in discussion to the mind, so far as it needs interpreta- 
 tion, and it should apply the truth to practical interests. 
 The development will, therefore, be of two general sorts. 
 It will be partly didactic and partly persuasive. Here once 
 more we come back to the nature and object of Christian 
 preaching in its most comprehensive conception. The two 
 interests may conceivably be separated. A sermon may be 
 
350 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 wholly didactic or wholly persuasive. But, as already sug- 
 gested, the ordinary sermon should have reference to both 
 of these interests. It is well if they interblend and are not 
 wholly separate. The teaching sermon may well have a 
 practical aim and a concrete form, and the impressional or 
 persuasive sermon may well presuppose and rest upon a 
 didactic basis. There need be no hard and fast line between 
 them. The best sort of sermon in general interprets to 
 the mind what needs interpretation and at the same time 
 makes practical application of it. It reaches as large a 
 number of the faculties as possible. It speaks to the mind, 
 to the imagination, to the conscience, to the emotions and 
 it impels to action. In different types of sermon, however, 
 there will naturally be preponderance of the one or the 
 other quality. There are three possible ways of introducing 
 these elements into a sermon. It may be done by separat- 
 ing them, as the scholastic sermon did, or its successor 
 the old New England doctrinal sermon. Here we have 
 first exposition, or discussion, or argument and then ap- 
 plication. This was largely the method of Saurin, the great 
 French Protestant preacher, of the preachers of the Angli- 
 can Church in the seventeenth century; South and Barrow, 
 whom Henry Ward Beecher followed in a measure in his 
 early preaching, and of Dr. Emmons of Massachusetts, who 
 always separated argument from application. It may be 
 done, secondly, by giving the sermon that is prevailingly 
 didactic a continuous practical turn, as well as by the in- 
 troduction of inferential and more distinctively practical 
 thoughts at the end. The method largely of Dr. Horace 
 Bushnell. Or thirdly, it may be done by giving the ser- 
 mon that is prevailingly impressional so vigorous a grip 
 upon the mind by the skillful use of expository methods 
 that it at once interests and instructs as well as moves the 
 hearer. This was characteristic of the preaching of Phillips 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 351 
 
 Brooks. But let us consider these two methods of de- 
 velopment in succession. It is, of course, understood that 
 the two are separated only for purposes of analysis. 
 
 1. The didactic development. (1) Consider first its 
 value. It is necessary to the practical effectiveness of preach- 
 ing. The preacher is a public teacher. He should wish 
 to be the intellectual leader of his people. It is a mis- 
 take to suppose that even common people, so-called, are 
 interested in preaching in proportion as it is uninstructive. 
 Properly handled, instructive preaching can not fail to be 
 effective. The average man is inquisitive, especially about 
 the problems of religion. A clear, vigorous, illustratively 
 persuasive handling of a religious theme will have attraction 
 for such a mind. The too common defect in didactic preach- 
 ing is that it does not come to the hearer in appropriate 
 popular form. The pulpit problem is not to say just as 
 little as possible, but to put substantial thought into at- 
 tractive concrete form. The element of success, if we may 
 speak of it as having any success, in so-called sensational 
 preaching, is not its poverty of material, but its vivacity 
 and concreteness of form. Such speech is attractive. But 
 it is a great mistake to imagine that good thinking is pro- 
 portionately unattractive. Preaching should never degen- 
 erate into a barren intellectualism. That is not preaching. 
 But it should be masculine in quality. It should have some 
 mental grip. Sentiment, fancy, feeling are necessary in 
 preaching, but they may degenerate into sentimentalism or 
 sensationalism of an offensive sort. True didactic preaching, 
 which is sound thinking put in concrete, popular form, 
 avoids the extreme of intellectualism on the one side and 
 of sentimentalism or sensationalism on the other. 
 
 It secures an intelligent faith and builds up strong cha- 
 racter. It deals with men as rational beings. It furnishes 
 intelligent and intelligible reasons for accepting the truth 
 
352 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 that is necessary to build character. It need not be po- 
 lemical, nor even apologetic, and yet somehow or other, 
 that which is felt to be the truth must be seen to be the 
 truth. (2) Consider, secondly, some of its methods. There 
 are various methods of expounding or interpreting the truth 
 or of getting thought out before the mind. Some of them 
 are particularly well adapted to the work of pulpit teaching. 
 Writers on rhetoric have discussed them copiously, and there 
 is no need to linger with them in their pulpit applications. 
 But a few of them may well be noted. The method of 
 generalization is employed by the most thoughtful and in- 
 structive as well as persuasive preachers of our day. I have 
 spoken of it in other relations, but it may well be touched 
 upon in connection with the development of the sermon. 
 Of course, the choice of topics conditions largely the didactic 
 method of the development. But to touch upon it in this im- 
 mediate connection is hardly repetition. It was the opinion 
 of Mosheim, the reformer of German preaching, that in 
 the higher class of didactic sermons a general view of the 
 subject or the comprehensive and under-running principles 
 of the truth in discussion should always be presented. It 
 is a matter of observation that those preachers who gen- 
 eralize their discussions, who show that the particular truth 
 in hand has wide-reaching relations and exemplifications 
 in various realms of thought and experience, are peculiarly 
 instructive, attractive and helpful preachers. They show 
 that Christian truth is not provincial, but cosmopolitan, and 
 they thus show its reasonableness. Particularization is the 
 opposite method. The use of it as an expository method 
 makes preaching definite and specific. It holds attention 
 for the time to but the one thing in hand and intensifies 
 impression. Inference or deduction or what is called re- 
 flection is another method. A large amount of expository 
 work, larger than one would imagine, consists in inferential 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 353 
 
 reflections upon the subject in discussion. We are always 
 running off into the rivulets of thought that flow from the 
 main stream. These inferential deductions are valuable 
 methods of interpreting a subject, for the reason that they 
 expand and broaden the significance of the main thought. 
 They suggest its productiveness. They show the subject 
 in its logical thought-relations. Contrast is another method. 
 Example another. Citation, which is a sort of appeal to 
 authority, is another. Expansion by iteration is still another. 
 In didactic discourse, which is not to be read but heard, 
 and must be taken in at once, iteration becomes necessary, 
 for thought needs expansion for the purpose of elucidation. 
 Repeating thought in various forms brings out its inner 
 significance. Lawyers know its value. And so do political 
 orators like Edmund Burke. Preachers like Dr. Alex- 
 ander McKenzie have learned the art of iteration and 
 thus make their discussions the more luminous and attractive, 
 • if not the more weighty. Observe, iteration avails itself 
 of antithesis and draws on the opposite pole of thought 
 for light. Various forms of analogy are valuable in the 
 teaching development. One thing is set in analogous rela- 
 tion with another. Each throws light upon the other, 
 because they belong to the same family. It shows how wide- 
 ranging principles are and how things at first seemingly 
 diverse are held together in the unity of a fundamental 
 law. Hence the possibility of classification and generaliza- 
 tion. The field of analogy is a wide one. It is furnished 
 by every department of knowledge. The point to be es- 
 pecially noted in the use of analogy, is, as Whateley has 
 pointed out,* that the likeness is in the relations of the 
 objects brought into comparison and not in the objects 
 themselves, and these objects belong to different spheres. 
 There may be little or no resemblance between the ob- 
 
 * Rhetoric, Chap. II, page 118. 
 
354 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 jects themselves that belong to these different spheres, but 
 in their relations they may be alike, e. g., the analogy in the 
 parable of the Prodigal Son is not primarily between be- 
 ings but between the relations of beings belonging to two 
 different spheres. The likeness is not primarily between 
 God and a human father but between God's relation to 
 man and a father's relation to his son. Any species of 
 analogy, except the strained analogy called allegory, may 
 be used in the didactic development. It has always been 
 an attractive and valuable didactic method. The pulpit 
 is heir to it. The man who is skillful in handling it gets 
 a hearing. Works like that of Prof. Drummond, "Natural 
 Law in the Spiritual World," secure an attention somewhat 
 disproportionate to their real merits, perhaps, because the 
 use of analogy is so attractive. And it is rather surprising 
 that a method of presenting the truth which is preeminently 
 a New Testament method, an almost distinguishing pecu- 
 liarity of the form in which Christian revelation appears, 
 a method that makes Christ quite unique as a teacher of 
 religion, should not be more generally cultivated in the 
 pulpit. A free use of analogy, both of the illustrative 
 and the augmentative sort, would be a very effective method 
 of conveying Christian truth. Argument as a method of 
 didactic development calls for brief consideration. Its im- 
 portance for the work of the pulpit has doubtless been 
 overestimated. The object of a sermon is the discussion 
 of truth with reference to practical results. All teaching, 
 therefore, should have some of the elements of persuasion. 
 It is the object of a convincing discussion that it should be 
 made a persuasive discussion. In fact a truly convincing 
 statement is in an important sense a truly persuasive state- 
 ment and argument is not always necessary to make a 
 statement convincing. Most Biblical truths are hardly 
 adapted to elaborate argument. Clear statement may be 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 355 
 
 a substitute. The most convincing preaching is often sim- 
 ply affirmatory of what is assumed, and may well be as- 
 sumed, to be generally recognized as true. It is an appeal 
 to what is common, to common sense, common conscience, 
 common sentiment, common observation and experience. 
 It may be a statement of fact or a statement of principle. 
 Whatever it be, the assumption is that the truth of what is 
 affirmed may somehow be recognized without being scienti- 
 fically demonstrated. It may take the form of exposition 
 or of illustration or of inference as well as of argument. 
 After all but relatively few are convinced of religious truth 
 by sheer argument. Belief is the product of a great variety 
 of influences. The example of Christ and of his Apostles 
 may be noted here. Christianity was not propagated by 
 logical argument. It refused to avail itself of such methods. 
 The arguments of Christ, so far as we may speak of his 
 teaching as argument at all, are not an attempt at demon- 
 stration. Of course, they furnish reasons for accepting the 
 truth, and so far forth they are proofs. But they are not 
 attempts at demonstration. So with the teaching of the 
 Apostles. They speak as by moral and religious authority. 
 Their arguments are of the popular, ad hominem sort. They 
 assume not only a common sense, or a common capacity 
 of mental judgement, but capacity of imagination of feeling 
 and of moral and spiritual conviction. They assume a 
 considerable measure of common experience with life, of com- 
 mon moral and religious training and of general prepara- 
 tion to receive the truth, when once it is rightly presented. 
 The object is to get at the inner life, to intensify moral and 
 religious conviction, to remove difficulties by a clear, sug- 
 gestive and persuasive presentation of the truth. It is not 
 to push the truth upon the mind by processes of logical 
 proof. The presentation is largely exposition in popular 
 form. The parable, as used by our Lord, is an expository 
 
356 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 method. It is exposition by illustration. It is also a sort 
 of argument. As it interprets it presents reasons for belief. 
 It reasons by exposition. Paul reasons from popular an- 
 alogies. Argumentative preaching is relatively modern. 
 It was not, in the scientific sense, known to the primitive 
 church. Scholasticism did not originate it, but it fixed it. 
 This involved, if not a false, an extreme conception of the 
 needs of the pulpit. Doubtless it did its work after a 
 fashion. But it is past. Biblical preaching corrects the 
 extremes of the dialectical methods on the one side and 
 of the hortatory or non-discussional method on the other 
 side. It unites in due proportion the rational and the ethical 
 and spiritual. The chief aim is to make Christianity seem 
 reasonable and natural an the sense of reasonable, and 
 this may be done without formal argument. It is hardly 
 worth while to discuss the argumentative method of develop- 
 ment. 
 
 And yet a few words may be desirable. There are three 
 points of view from which we may look at pulpit argument, 
 that of quality, order and tone. 
 
 As regards the quality of homiletic argument, it is de- 
 manded first of all that it be substantial and cogent. "A 
 lame and impotent conclusion" is likely to involve a 
 lame and impotent process of reasoning, which is a dis- 
 credit to the preacher. If one undertakes a line of rea- 
 soning, he should make it thorough. A preacher loses 
 influence by an ineffectual attempt at it. The weakness of 
 his argument is charged either to his own intellectual incom- 
 petency or to the weakness of his case, and in either event 
 he is discredited, in the one case personally, in the other pro- 
 fessionally. Processes of reasoning should also be adapted 
 to the capacities of one's audience. A line of reasoning 
 that will satisfy one class of people may not satisfy another. 
 What is sufficient for an untrained mind will not satisfy 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 357 
 
 the trained mind. What convinces the man of easy belief, 
 may not convince the sceptic. What reaches a candid 
 mind may not touch a prejudiced mind. What comes home 
 at once to a man of imaginative and emotional tempera- 
 ment may find no response from a hard-headed logician. 
 Reasoning from the Scriptures may have weight with a 
 Christian congregation, but to rely wholly upon such rea- 
 soning would be inadequate to its needs, and much more in- 
 adequate to the demands of an unbelieving congregation. 
 The ordinary hearer is impressed by analogical reason- 
 ing. But such reasoning is chiefly of negative value. It 
 does not satisfy all the demands of the mind and much of it 
 is wholly inconclusive. Argument from facts has increas- 
 ing weight. It is a form of appeal to experience. Christ 
 made his appeal to facts. He claimed that there were 
 certain patent facts that attested his messianic claims. Paul 
 defended his "Gospel" by an appeal to alleged facts, the 
 facts of Christ's resurrection and manifestation to him. 
 An appeal to common-sense judgment and to common or 
 personal moral sense, or to the best witnessing of religious 
 feeling is generally successful with those who have been 
 morally and religiously trained. But others may demand the 
 logical forms of premise, proof and conclusion. 
 
 As regards the structure or arrangement of argument, 
 the chief demand is that it shall be so ordered as to be 
 readily apprehensible. The order will depend on the sort 
 of argument. In moral reasoning that seeks a strong final 
 impression the cumulative process is necessary. The weight- 
 iest argument in the line comes last for the reason that the 
 ! last word is supposed to be the most weighty and impress- 
 ive and that it gathers unto itself and supports and gets sup- 
 port from all that precedes. Simplicity of order and of 
 statement is another requisite. Involved, laborious, long- 
 drawn processes of reasoning are outlawed in our day be- 
 
358 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 cause they are intolerably tedious. In days when peo- 
 ple had more leisure and more patience they would tolerate 
 them and seemed to thrive upon them. But no one follows 
 them now and their value at any time is questionable. The 
 weight of a man's arguments is of more importance than 
 the number. 
 
 With respect to the tone of one's reasoning, the primal 
 requisite is candor. No preacher who is a special pleader 
 or who shuffles or evades difficulties, can hold the confidence 
 of right-minded people. Candor is of special importance in 
 the discussion of religious problems and above all in the 
 /use of Scripture arguments. Unfair reasoning is heavily 
 discounted. There is a large element of personal faith in 
 people's acceptance of a candid man's reasonings. Assent 
 is often secured quite as much by confidence in the candor 
 of the man as by the cogency of his arguments. With 
 candor should be associated positiveness and strength of 
 conviction. The judicial, the positive and candid attitude 
 of mind seeks the truth for its own sake or as a positive 
 moral good. The apologetic is therefore more satisfactory 
 than the polemic method. Polemic discussion easily de- 
 generates into partisanship, into uncandidness and unfair- 
 ness and may readily become personal and bitter. The 
 fighting pulpiteer seeks a personal or partisan advantage, 
 rather than the liberation of truth and the conquest of 
 error. 
 
 (3) Some of the sources of the didactic development 
 may well be considered. The choice of topics will measur- 
 ably condition the thought-material of the development. 
 But it is also a specific question for the development itself. 
 There are general sources upon which the preacher relies 
 for his material of thought and of which he avails himself 
 in the use of various expository or didactic methods. All 
 the material of one's education and culture is, of course, 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 359 
 
 a source from which one continually draws. But just here 
 we deal with some of the specific sources. 
 
 The Scriptures are one of these sources. We use the 
 Bible, not only as the basis for our themes and as the 
 basis for topics, as in the textual method, but in the process 
 of development as well. We make an immediate use of it 
 and in ways other than as proof-texts. It is difficult to use 
 detached proof-texts wisely. A false or inadequate inter- 
 pretation is almost inevitable. For this reason they are 
 generally avoided in our day. But Scripture material may 
 be successfully used in a great variety of ways, e. g., by citing 
 its biographical and historical material illustratively, by 
 citing its acknowledged general truths and principles, by 
 citations and the use of its rhetorical and poetic diction. 
 If preachers were more familiar with their English Bibles, 
 they would probably make more copious use of it. It is 
 a source of very instructive and interesting material. Scotch 
 and Welsh preachers make abundant use of it and they 
 are for this reason among the most interesting and edifying 
 of preachers. The value of such use in giving the people an 
 acquaintance with the Bible can not be over-estimated. We 
 appeal to the Bible primarily because we assume that it 
 bears the authority of revelation. It presupposes also a 
 response in our moral and religious natures. On this basis 
 we use it even in speaking to those who are not professedly 
 Christians, and in fact even to those who may deny the 
 truth and authority of revelation. But its most successful 
 use, of course, presupposes Christian experience, i. e., the 
 witness of the inner life and of the teaching Spirit answering 
 to the witness of Scriptures without. To the response of native 
 intelligence, conviction, feeling, is added the response of 
 Christian faith. It assumes that Christian truth is verifi- 
 able in Christian experience. Hence, of course, Biblical 
 material will have greatest weight with the Christian sec- 
 
360 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tion of the congregation, and it is most appropriate in 
 pastoral preaching in connection with the worship of a 
 Christian assembly. But it does not always assume the 
 authority of revelation. The Bible is a body of human 
 literature as well as a record of divine revelation. It is 
 a treasure-house of human experiences as well as of heavenly 
 teachings. It is a source of illustration as well as of au- 
 thority, a store-house of suggestion as well as of proof. It 
 speaks to the imagination, the sentiments, the feelings as 
 well as to the mind and the conscience, and in the use of 
 it as such the preacher may be eminently instructive as well 
 as quickening. We use the Bible as a literary product. It 
 is a source of fresh, attractive material that may be used 
 suggestively as well as argumentatively and this is a didac- 
 tic use. It is noteworthy that the use of Scriptures by 
 Christ and the New Testament writers as a direct source 
 of proof in argument, is relatively infrequent. The more 
 common use is in the way of fruitful suggestion. It fur- 
 nishes analogies or pertinent inferential intimations in var- 
 ious forms that put the truth in stronger light and give 
 it fresh attractiveness and impressiveness. Most of our 
 didactic use of the Bible is literary in its character. It is for 
 illustration rather than argument. 
 
 History is another source. History belongs to the general 
 realm of human experience, and an appeal to it is one form 
 of the appeal to experience, but it may well have distinct 
 consideration. Historic facts greatly enrich a man's preach- 
 ing. Biblical history is illustrative of wide-reaching ethico- 
 religious principles. That so much of the old Testament 
 is historical, or has a historic back-ground, explains why 
 preaching of the right sort from it is so interesting. But 
 secular history as well is of great value to the preacher. 
 The historical sermon itself is of great interest and value. 
 But the use of historic material for purposes of illustration 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 361 
 
 or of discussion or of argument in the development of any 
 type of sermon is of equal interest and value. Preachers 
 might well utilize more abundantly as material for illustra- 
 tion and exposition their reading and study of history. 
 
 The impression which Prof. Drummond's "Natural Law 
 in the Spiritual World/' and which the skillful use by 
 preachers of scientific facts, has made upon the religious 
 public may well suggest the fruitfulness of the realm of 
 the physical sciences for the work of preaching. The anal- 
 ogies which these sciences suggest may have an ar- 
 gumentative significance for the sphere of religion, and 
 these facts are of great and varied illustrative worth. If 
 preachers would avail themselves more fully of their knowl- 
 edge of science, or would seek a fuller knowledge of it, 
 in the interest of their work, they might make religion 
 seem more real to men. 
 
 So-called secular literature is a much more common source 
 for the material of preaching than was formerly the case. 
 The best preachers of our day are familiar with it and use 
 it with great freedom. Literature, and one might add art, 
 are the flower of all best culture, and he who is familiar 
 with them is in touch with what is best in his time. How 
 greatly Robertson's acquaintance with Wordsworth and Ten- 
 nyson, and with literature in general, English and other, and 
 with the products of Christian art enriched his preaching! 
 Dramatic and romantic literature are especially fruitful 
 sources. Most of the notable preachers of our day are 
 familiar with the classic Greek and English drama, and there 
 are but few preachers of any grade that neglect the modern 
 novel. 
 
 Experience, in the broader or in the closer sense, is one 
 of the most common sources of appeal. It may be what we call 
 the common experience, or the experience of particular men 
 or one's own experience. It is a kind of appeal to facts, 
 
362 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 or what is assumed to be facts. It involves an appeal to 
 example or to concrete instances as illustrating a statement 
 of fact or principle. The attractiveness, impressiveness 
 and searchingness of the best type of modern preaching 
 are conditioned by such appeal. Personal experience 
 may furnish material for instructive as well as persuasive 
 preaching. Wisely handled, and it needs most judicious 
 use, it may become a valuable didactic source. Paul's per- 
 sonal experiences always had great weight with him in his 
 proclamation of his Gentile Gospel, and they had corres- 
 ponding weight with others. This is what makes the 
 Corinthian, Galatian and Philippian letters so profoundly 
 interesting and impressive. I wonder if we adequately 
 understand how potent in the furtherance of Pauline Christi- 
 anity the story of Paul's life and personal experiences was? 
 We talk about the force of Paul's personality. We mean 
 by it, or should if we speak understandingly, the power of 
 his personal experiences. They are experiences that are 
 made significant by the personal force of the man, but it 
 was precisely these experiences that evoked the power that 
 was in him. The experiences involved in his conversion were 
 in fact the turning-point in the fortune of early Christianity. 
 Personal experience was a most potent factor in the early, 
 successful proclamation in general of the Gospel and it 
 was the awakening of new personal religious experience, 
 rather than its logical defenses, that saved the Christianity 
 of the nineteenth century. The weight of the experience 
 will of course, depend largely on the weight of the man, 
 and the effectiveness of its use in preaching will depend 
 on its importance and on what it illustrates. It must have 
 weight in order to sanction its introduction into the pulpit. 
 Otherwise it will degenerate into frivolity or cant, and this 
 will always bring a reaction against it. It has doubtless 
 been overworked in some quarters. But judiciously used 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 363 
 
 it will not fail of effectiveness. It is the weight of the man 
 and the worth of what he has personally known and felt 
 that will condition right use. It may be the experience of 
 other men. We quote others' experiences because they in- 
 terst us, and because we know that they will interest our 
 hearers, because also they have an illustrative value. Stories 
 may have an illustrative and so a didactic value. They are 
 an appeal to fact as illustrative of principles. And this 
 should fix their limits. An excess of story telling is like 
 an excess in the use of figurative language. We lose sight 
 of the thing illustrated and an impression of intellectual 
 not to say moral weakness and frivolity is left with us. It 
 may be an appeal to common or general experience. Christ 
 appealed to man's judgments as based on common ex- 
 perience. The parables furnish such an appeal. Recall 
 his appeal on the Sabbath question; which one of you 
 does not in fact do the like of this very thing that I am 
 now doing, only in a lower realm? It is an appeal to what 
 we call common sense, observation and experience. It 
 pre-supposes familiarity with life and knowledge of the ways 
 of men. Preaching should deal copiously with actual life. 
 Life furnishes the richest sort of material. A knowledge 
 of men and of the world at large is in increasing demand. 
 A study of human life as illustrative of the great truths and 
 principles of religion lies behind the best preaching of 
 our day and it is this largely that makes religion seem so 
 much more natural and human. The study of dramatic liter- 
 ature as a portraiture of human life, has chief value just here 
 for the pulpit. 
 
 2. The persuasive, or, more comprehensively, the prac- 
 tical development. The word practical suggests an effort 
 to impress the conscience, and to secure action, rather than 
 to secure a strong mental impression. And the word per- 
 suasion suggests an appeal predominately to the imagina- 
 
364 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tion, to the emotions, and to the moral and religious sen- 
 timents. A full discussion of the art and methods of per- 
 suasion is not called for just here. It is sufficient, in general, 
 to say that all persuasive methods are based on the assump- 
 tion and presuppose that the object is first of all appre- 
 hensible. It is, therefore, supplemental to the expository 
 method, or assumes the work of interpretation as already 
 adequately accomplished. But the thing that is apprehen- 
 sible and adequately known must next be made to seem de- 
 sirable. Persuasion is, therefore, an effort to make the 
 truth attractive. But it cannot be made attractive unless 
 it is seen and known to be available. To show that the 
 object presented is within reach is an important element 
 in persuasion. But the crown point in the process of pre- 
 senting the apprehensibleness, the desirableness, and the 
 availableness of the object, is the enforcement of personal 
 obligation with respect to it. Hence it concentrates upon 
 the conscience and will. But with respect to persuasive 
 methods, the following suggestions are all that seem 
 necessary. 
 
 (1) The didactic development may become persuasive 
 and in the best sense practical by appropriate handling, and 
 such handling presupposes an effort to interpret the truth 
 with supreme reference to moral and religious interests. 
 Instruction may be so combined with definite, direct, moral 
 and religious inculcation that it may become persuasively 
 and practically impressive. And this is the best type of 
 instructive preaching. By the use of the forms of thought 
 and speech that appeal to the imagination and the emo- 
 tions one may so handle his expository matter as to reach 
 persuasively the heart and the will of the hearer. All the 
 expository methods, to which attention has been directed, 
 may become in skillful hands, practically effective. A 
 study of the didactic methods of popular and skillful preachers 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 365 
 
 like Henry Ward Beecher or Phillips Brooks, or Horace 
 Bushnell, not to name more recent preachers, would enable 
 one to get an insight into the secret of persuasive teach- 
 ing. This is better than an abstract discussion of the prob- 
 lem. Here one would find concrete illustrations of just 
 what one needs to cultivate. But such study would be of 
 value only in connection with a proper culture of the im- 
 agination and sentiments and feelings, and by a personal 
 vital appropriation of the truth as related to the practical 
 needs of men. With such study all the sources of the 
 didactic development above named, Scripture, history, 
 science, literature, experience, as well as all the methods 
 suggested, may become tributary to practical impression. A 
 concrete handling of the material of thought from any 
 source in skillful hands becomes cogent. 
 
 (2) More particularly an illustrative use of material be- 
 comes practically effective. The object of illustration is, 
 indeed, to make the truth more intelligible, i. e., as the word 
 suggests, to throw light upon it. Hence all illustration 
 may have didactic value. But it also aims at impressing 
 the imagination. Some preachers seem to have a native 
 gift for illustrative speech. But, after all, what we often 
 call a gift may be the product rather of assiduous culture. 
 This gift, although somewhat meagre, may be success- 
 fully trained. Many preachers, like Dr. Thomas Guthrie, 
 have shown but little indication of the gift in early pro- 
 fessional years. 
 
 (3) A pictorial style furthers a practical in so far as it 
 is a persuasive and an attractive style of preaching. The 
 ordinary pulpit language of many preachers, e. g., like Henry 
 Ward Beecher, or Dr. Joseph Parker, consists in word 
 pictures. A study of Old Testament diction, or of poetry 
 of any sort, becomes tributary to this style. An analytic 
 study of figurative language would not be without value. 
 
366 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 A mastery of grammatical, as well as verbal figures, may 
 further a dramatic intensity of style. The cultivation of 
 the descriptive style would make preaching more persua- 
 sive. Preachers of a graphic, dramatic style do much to- 
 wards neutralizing the defects of a barren worship. The 
 Bible abounds in material that is expressed in descriptive, 
 pictorial form, that invites the study of the preacher. 
 
 (4) The use of anecdotes, proverbs and citations, en- 
 riches preaching and becomes conducive to impressiveness. 
 Evangelists make abundant use of anecdotes. Luther dealt 
 out proverbs from the pulpit with lavish hand, and ad- 
 vocated their use particularly in preaching to uninstructed 
 people. They rivet attention and abide, and what they 
 illustrate is thus more likely to abide with them. Quota- 
 tion is, within limits, a valuable rhetorical device. The 
 idea of authority is at the bottom of it. One adds weight 
 to one's own thought or opinion or sentiment by quoting 
 from those whose names are known and have weight in 
 any department of knowledge or literature. It is an element 
 of persuasion. To the weight or the impressiveness of the 
 thought, or experience, is added the weight of the name. 
 If the literary form of the citation is peculiarly impressive 
 and pertinent it secures additional value. It has additional 
 weight in the realm of sentiment and feeling. 
 
 Citations of poetry, which in a prose product are nat- 
 urally somewhat restricted and which not infrequently would 
 better be presented in paraphrase, have rhetorical value 
 because of their poetic suggestiveness of thought, and im- 
 pressiveness of artistic form, and may be made much more 
 pertinent to the tone and sentiment of the sermon than 
 prose citations. Brief fragments of poetic citation are pref- 
 erable to long and continuous citation. Such may easily 
 become tedious and in the end lessen rather than intensify 
 impression. If one will have such a quotation it should 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 367 
 
 close the sermon. At the beginning or in the middle, it 
 is very objectionable. But the shorter and the more per- 
 tinent the better. 
 
 II. Production of Material 
 
 Planning and producing may be quite or nearly simul- 
 taneous. Yet they may be to a large extent separable. After 
 planning, producing and expanding are generally necess- 
 sary. Men differ greatly in their productive power. Some 
 generate thought with notable facility, but plan slowly and 
 laboriously. Others plan more easily than they produce. 
 The easy producer may easily run into disorder and super- 
 ficiality. On the other hand the sketching of outlines 
 may become a sort of knack. It is not at all difficult even 
 for very superficial preachers to acquire facility in the plan- 
 ning of sermons. The outcome of such facility may be 
 poverty of material. The sermon may be all skeleton. A 
 proper regard for both substance and form is needed. Pro- 
 duction, however, is much easier for any man, whatever 
 his facility or lack of facility may be, in proportion as the 
 preliminary work has been well done. If one gets hold 
 of his theme and lets it get hold of him, lets it open itself 
 out clearly before him, if he makes himself familiar with the 
 road over which he is traveling, it should not take him long 
 to make the journey. It should not in general be at the 
 longest more than a three days' journey. But production of 
 the right sort is no easy task for any man, however gifted. 
 The problem of production is part of the larger problem 
 of general education and culture, of training in professional 
 experience and of the larger pedagogy of life. And this 
 is far more than a homiletic problem. It can not, therefore, 
 be satisfactorily treated merely as such. But there are con- 
 siderations bearing upon this general question of training 
 and upon the more specific problem of homiletic produc- 
 
368 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tion with which homiletics may deal. These considera- 
 tions have a direct or indirect, an immediate or remote 
 bearing upon the problem before us. Let us look at some 
 of them. 
 
 i. I suggest first the need of a habit of mental con- 
 centration upon the actual work of sermon production. 
 Such concentration, within the limits of a proper range in 
 general culture, is necessary to effectiveness in production 
 and expansion. No preacher should ever be careless about 
 the specific task of sermon preparation. Without care and 
 concentration, his work will lack definiteness of aim and the 
 intensity, thoroughness and effectiveness that are condi- 
 tioned by them. We need the mental and the moral dis- 
 cipline of what Emerson calls "the stated task," the lack 
 of which in his own experience he lamented. A man who 
 does not feel the pressure of professional duty may easily 
 lose intellectual as well as moral stamina. A desultory habit 
 of life is a fruitful source of frivolity, superficiality and 
 mental and moral incompetency. The freedom of minis- 
 terial life from the stern exactions of stated hours of work 
 endangers the preacher of falling into such a habit. It de- 
 mands moral resolution to resist the danger. Every ser- 
 mon should aim at a definite, strong, impression. It should 
 represent, not only a general and comprehensive, but a 
 specific homiletic aim. The preacher should do his best, 
 within the given limits, in every sermon. That counsel 
 may be given with all possible emphasis. The sermon should 
 stand for a moral achievement, and it can not be moral 
 achievement if it be not a respectable mental achievement. 
 It is a wholesome thing for a man to grapple vigorously 
 with a definite mental and moral task. "Invention" is the 
 rhetorical term for production. It suggests that thought 
 is a discovery. It suggests a mental search. Men differ, 
 as already suggested, in their inventive and productive 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 369 
 
 powers, but no one produces without effort. Effort, how- 
 ever, is easier or more difficult according to the conditions 
 under which the effort is made. Such favorable conditions 
 as are possible should be secured. Let me venture to sug- 
 gest some of them. 
 
 (1) Methods of work suited to one's need. No one can 
 work freely and productively who works unnaturally. Effort 
 will be unnatural that counterworks one's native tendencies 
 and acquired habits. One must consider his habits as well 
 as tendencies, for habit is second nature. Men naturally 
 as well as habitually work in different ways. One man needs 
 a good deal of time for preparation. He must work slowly 
 and with deliberation or not effectively. Such a man should 
 never permit himself to be pushed into a corner, if he 
 can possibly prevent it. Concentration and continuity are 
 necessary for most men. They are especially important 
 for the man who must work slowly and deliberately. If 
 the current of thought is interrupted, it is difficult to re- 
 establish it. Such a one should not permit himself, without 
 weighty reasons, to be drawn away from his work. One 
 man works best with pen in hand, and in entire seclusion. 
 It is an unfortunate necessity for any preacher that he 
 should be obliged to work in that way. But some of our 
 best preachers have been seemingly shut up to this method. 
 Such a man should plan his work with reference to his ne- 
 cessities. Another man works vigorously while in contact 
 with his fellow men in the parish or in the open world and 
 in hours of exercise. It is a very desirable habit for a 
 hard-pressed pastor, and such a one should make the most 
 of that gift. In a word, then, every workman should find 
 out his own best method of work, should find out just how 
 he can work freely and productively, and effectively, and 
 should adjust his work to his real needs. I say "real needs" 
 for after all one may possibly train himself to work with 
 
370 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 a fair measure of freedom under difficulties that at first 
 might seem insurmountable. And it must be said that a 
 minister's tasks are of such sort that he will be obliged 
 to train himself to work under difficulties. But despite 
 these limitations every man has his own personal needs. 
 They are the result of constitution and temperament as 
 well as habit. They should be respected. One can not work 
 successfully under constant friction. 
 
 (2) Effort to be at one's best in hours of prepara- 
 tion, Perhaps no one is ever in just the same condition 
 (physically, mentally or emotionally on two different oc- 
 casions. We are subject to variant moods. Little things 
 affect us. It is surprising how little. We are more closely 
 identified with the world in which we live and our moods 
 are more dependent upon it than we suspect. These variant 
 moods disclose their results in work for the pulpit. We 
 detect them ourselves in different parts of the same ser- 
 mon or in the sermon as a whole, and if we fail to detect 
 them the watchful hearer does not. The preacher, it is 
 evident, was not at his best, in the preparation of the 
 entire sermon. The same text, theme, outline will yield 
 a different product on two different occasions. The preacher 
 is in a different condition productively. These variations of 
 mood are measurably unavoidable. It is every man's prob- 
 lem to reduce their bad results to a minimum, and to do the 
 best he can under existing conditions. They are partly under 
 control. At any rate, one can take his mood into account. 
 One should not force himself to work when at his worst. 
 But one can do more and better than this. By good 
 physical habits, proper habits of study and life in general, 
 proper choice of hours of work and methods of work, one 
 may keep one's self very nearly at one's best for hours 
 of preparation. 
 
 (3) Thoroughness in the preliminary work. Without 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 371 
 
 this one will find himself obliged, in the work of prepara- 
 tion, to pause and make needed corrections in his scheme 
 of thought. He may find it necessary to reflect further 
 upon his text and theme and to retrace his ground for the 
 purpose in fact of securing the mental guidance and quick- 
 ening which he should have already secured. If the ground 
 is thoroughly gone over at the outset the text and theme will 
 constantly disclose their treasures through the medium 
 of the plan. One will find that he has tapped a fountain 
 that will flow in the right direction, for he has opened a 
 channel for it. A free development presupposes such a 
 channel. One can not over-estimate the value for free and 
 fruitful production of a thorough previous study of the 
 subject in its topical contents and relations. New treasures 
 under such conditions will constantly come to view that 
 otherwise would never have been suggested. 
 
 (4) A firm grasp of the proper definite object of the 
 individual sermon. This conditions not only the pertinent qua- 
 lity of the development in general, but also facility of produc- 
 tion in detail. Definiteness of aim may be urged for the 
 sake of impulse in production. Every man who knows any- 
 thing about preaching knows this. The glow of enthusiasm 
 that is gendered by the stimulus of a definite, strong, earnest 
 and loving purpose can not fail greatly to facilitate produc- 
 tion. It is psychologically impossible that it should be 
 otherwise. Moreover, and this is one of the most important 
 practical considerations, the material of thought is readily 
 suggested by the concrete, practical relations of the ob- 
 jects that fall within the compass of one's homiletic aim. 
 The practical character of one's preaching is a condition 
 of fruitful invention. 
 
 (5) The presence of the audience with the preacher 
 during all the hours of preparation. This i/s necessary 
 not only to the production of a sort of material that will be 
 
372 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 adapted to the needs of one's hearers, and as incentive 
 to the production of a vigor and directness that were 
 otherwise impossible, but it will inevitably result in 
 a general quickening of all the productive activities of the 
 mind because they are inspired by the moral energies and 
 the religious sympathies of the preacher. The ethical and 
 spiritual conditions of "invention" are of even more im- 
 portance than the intellectual, and this is the chief con- 
 tribution that homiletics is likely to make to the subject. 
 
 2. I suggest secondly the need of broad and generous 
 as well as close mental discipline and culture. In advocat- 
 ing concentration one should lay proportionate stress upon 
 breadth. A general facility in the handling of one's facul- 
 ties and the storing of mental resources condition facility 
 and fertility in the specific work of sermon preparation. 
 The end of all mental training is freedom in the handling 
 of one's powers. Preaching becomes constantly easier in 
 the process of close, clear, comprehensive and vigorous 
 thinking. The problem of the individual sermon is the 
 problem of one's general training. In the long run the 
 preacher will fail without it. The sermon will always be 
 what the man is. In this matter of professional training 
 there are two extremes. One extreme would concentrate 
 all effort upon the specific work of preaching, upon the in- 
 dividual sermon, at the expense of the general training of 
 the man. The other would cultivate the man broadly and 
 comprehensively at the expense of the preacher and the ser- 
 mon. Both aims are necessary. Each, tends to limit the ex- 
 treme defects of the other. Either extreme is bad. This 
 combination I shall discuss farther on. Just now let us 
 consider some of the bad results of a narrow homiletic 
 training. These results accentuate the demand for breath 
 and range of culture. One bad result is poverty of mental 
 resources. No profession calls for so liberal and com- 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 373 
 
 prehensive a culture as that of the preacher. Freshness 
 and variety both in substance and form are impossible 
 without vigor and fulness of mind. A man of narrow cul- 
 ture will run dry. In course of time he will have but little 
 to say and that little will become monotonous. Men of genius 
 have, indeed, without very close or broad training disclosed 
 remarkable mental productiveness of a sort, and consider- 
 able variety of rhetorical form. But after all these men have 
 managed in some way to get more training and to store 
 larger mental resources than we might at first suppose. In 
 their way they have been very diligent students. They have 
 trained the gifts nature bestowed upon them with notable 
 diligence, and made the most of themselves. This was the case 
 with Mr. Spurgeon. It must be said also that these men, 
 like the prophet in contact with the widow's cruse, have been 
 able to make the resources of their relatively limited treas- 
 ury g° farther and yield more than the ordinary man 
 could do. But among preachers of only average ability it is 
 the scholarly man that has been most fertile, and this 
 fertility has been the product of generous and vigorous train- 
 ing from early years. Some one says that the man who 
 knows only one religion can not know that adequately. It 
 is more apparent in our day than ever before that the man 
 who in any line knows but one thing and is trained to do 
 only one thing can not know that adequately or do it ef- 
 fectively. A mere pulpiteer can not be the best sort of 
 preacher, for he is not the broadest, best-trained and most 
 productive sort of man. Men of mental vigor feel the nar- 
 rowing effect of a small range of professional studies and 
 duties, and they seek to broaden themselves by contact with 
 men and with the sources of culture outside their calling. 
 Every profession has its mental as well as moral limitations. 
 Hence the necessity of getting extra-professional points of 
 view. This perhaps is preeminently the need of the ministerial 
 
374 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 calling. It can not be specialistically exclusive and be suc- 
 cessful in the largest and best sense. 
 
 Another bad result of narrow professional training is narrow 
 sympathies. Broadmindedness is necessary to large-hearted- 
 ness and both are necessary to fulness of mental life. It 
 is true that a man may have a thoroughly trained mind whose 
 heart is left empty and sterile. But it is impossible that 
 such a man should have even the intellectual productive- 
 ness that a preacher needs. The best kind of mental train- 
 ing, while it broadens, enriches and stimulates the mind, pro- 
 portionately enriches the heart. Out of such soil we get the 
 best sort of fertility. The sermon should come out of a full 
 mind and a full heart, and generous culture is necessary 
 to both. A preacher should grapple with hard tasks. It is 
 a condition of mental and moral manhood. A lazy minister 
 is an anomaly and a disgrace to his profession. It is no 
 wonder that Phillips Brooks denied that the time could 
 ever come when a preacher, whose whole soul is in his work 
 and who is constantly training himself in the great school 
 of life, would have "nothing to say." The results of close 
 and generous training are cumulative, and they appear 
 in the afluence of one's preaching. One should not be 
 satisfied unless he sees that the task of preaching becomes 
 easier, and the quality of the product better. One who is 
 always training himself, always adding to his stores of 
 knowledge and experience, always increasing the facility 
 of his mental action, always enriching the treasures of his 
 heart, who has learned to think and is always thinking, has 
 learned to love and is always loving, will always have some- 
 thing to say that is worth saying and worth hearing. 
 
 I have thus advocated the need of mental and moral 
 concentration in the preacher's task and the proportionate 
 need of mental range. It is bad to cultivate breadth at 
 the expense of concentration and thus become unprofitable 4 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 375 
 
 in the ethical and spiritual quality of one's preaching. But 
 it is just as bad to cultivate concentration at the expense 
 of breadth and thus impoverish one's homiletic resources, 
 "Ne quid nimis." 
 
 3. I suggest thirdly and in line with what has already 
 been suggested, the need of cultivating what is familiarly 
 known as the "homiletic mind." This involves a combination 
 of range and concentration in one's mental and moral and 
 religious activities. But it involves something more. It 
 is more than generous, thorough, vigorous training in gen- 
 eral. It is more than concentration upon the individual ser- 
 mon, in particular. The effective preacher neither trains 
 and cultivates himself without reference to his professional 
 calling, nor does he train and cultivate himself with reference 
 to his calling in a narrow and particularistic way. "The 
 homiletic mind" is the mind that is trained, or that trains 
 itself, to make all resources, the general as well as the 
 specific, tributary to the work of preaching, or rather to the 
 great object of all preaching, the winning and the building 
 of men. The best preachers do not impoverish themselves 
 by a too specific professional concentration, nor do they 
 enrich themselves at the expense of their profession. The 
 rather do they enrich their professional service by devoting 
 all the wealth of their resources to it. Henry Ward Beecher 
 was a most notable example of this habit of mind among 
 modern preachers and indeed among all the preachers of 
 the church in every age. No preacher of his day, none 
 that this country has produced, few if any in any age, 
 are to be compared with him in this capacity for accumulating 
 vast stores of material from all departments of knowledge, 
 ancient and modern, particularly modern, and for the ac- 
 complishment of this under the dominance of the didactic 
 and ethical impulse to convert this material into homiletic 
 pabulum and to concentrate it upon the work of preaching. 
 
376 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Few preachers were ever so lavish of material, and few ever 
 wasted less. The noteworthy thing is not merely that 
 he was a man of transcendent genius, that he had a sur- 
 passingly productive, assimilative and intensely active mind, 
 all of which is true, but that preaching was with him the 
 all-absorbing interest, the passion of his life. He saw 
 and felt everything in its relation to its pulpit use, i. e., 
 to its ethical and religious significance and value. But to be 
 more specific, what does the cultivation of the homiletic 
 mind involve? Let us attempt a partial analysis of it. In 
 addition to what has already been suggested in general, 
 it involves the following particulars. First of all a large 
 conception of the work of preaching. He who has such con- 
 ception will see that it demands large resources to do the 
 work of preaching successfully, and such a one will be 
 stimulated to the acquisition of abundant resources in this 
 interest. To such a one, nothing that can be converted into 
 material for the pulpit will be insignificant. His motto will 
 be; "I am a preacher, and I regard nothing that is con- 
 vertible into pulpit pabulum as foreign to me." 
 
 And all this will involve a strong professional purpose 
 in general. I mean a dominating purpose to make the ser- 
 vice of one's professional life as effective as possible. Surely, 
 no man who underestimates his profession, who treats the 
 work of the ministry lightly or as if it were of secondary 
 or subordinate importance will ever be alert to crowd every- 
 thing into its service. 
 
 A compelling didactic impulse is essential, i. e., an im- 
 pulse to impart to others the truth as one sees it and feels 
 it. No one can be a preacher at all, much less a pro- 
 ductive preacher, without this. It is a necessary incentive 
 in winning from all sources material wherewith to illus- 
 trate and enforce the truth one seeks to impart. The mere 
 investigator is not a preacher. The preacher interprets 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 377 
 
 and imparts, and he investigates in order that he may- 
 interpret and impart. 
 
 Allied with this is the ethical impulse. This is not iden- 
 tical with the didactic impulse although the one is essential 
 to the other for its full realization. Every man, every preacher 
 especially, needs something to test the practical significance 
 and worth of his knowledge. He above all other men 
 needs an available practical knowledge in this "workaday" 
 world. He has the needed test in his ethical purpose, or 
 rather the needed motive to apply the test of the moral 
 needs of men. He will always ask, What am I to do with 
 my knowledge; what use can I make of it in the interest 
 of my fellow men? What kind of knowledge will be of 
 most avail? What am I to do with the fruits of my educa- 
 tion and culture? The man who asks and answers these 
 questions will be led to assimilate what is practically profit- 
 able and will crowd into the background all useless knowl- 
 edge and all aimless culture. The field of knowledge in our 
 day is so vast that no preacher can reasonably hope to attain 
 to much distinction as a specialist or an authority in any 
 branch of knowledge outside his own profession, and even 
 here it must be limited. Even here he will be obliged to dis- 
 criminate as to those branches of professional knowledge 
 that are most important for him as a preacher or more 
 broadly a minister. What he needs, therefore, is the pur- 
 pose and the skill to win such knowledge and such culture as 
 may be made most immediately and effectively available for 
 the work of preaching, or rather of the ministry and this in 
 order that his work may be the more profitable. 
 
 Alertness is, of course, a prominent trait of the homiletic 
 mind, an alertness namely that is stimulated by mental, 
 moral and emotional earnestness and that exercises the 
 imagination freely in the work of winning suggestive 
 material. 
 
378 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 
 The habit of fixing material that may be made available 
 for future pulpit use is one that finds its strongest motive 
 in the culture of the homiletic mind. In these days of 
 miscellaneous avocation that exacts upon the preacher, 
 taxing his time and strength, some useful method of stor- 
 ing material is absolutely necessary. No busy preacher un- 
 dertakes to get on without it. Dr. R. W. Dale has told 
 us his method.* It is a very judicious method. Many of 
 the helps of which preachers avail themselves are worse 
 than useless. They are demoralizing. But any method 
 that conserves the freedom and vitality of the preacher will 
 be a boon to the modern hard-worked pulpiteer. 
 
 4. The importance of religious culture in the interest 
 of production calls for specific mention. One's spiritual 
 condition in the hours of preparation not only but as 
 the habit of life may be more closely allied with 
 mental productiveness than at first might be imagined. 
 Its necessity for the right sort of productiveness is much 
 more 'evident and is still more marked. Impoverished 
 spiritual life means unprofitable preaching. It means de- 
 vitalized preaching. Mental life is notably quickened, 
 strengthened and enriched by the stimulus of the spiritual 
 life. A man will grow mentally, as well as morally and 
 spiritually, whose purpose is high and whose love for God 
 and men is strong. Men not highly gifted mentally or 
 rhetorically sometimes win distinguished success in the 
 helpful presentation of the Gospel. The man with full heart 
 and strong purpose, who also has diligence and good sense, 
 will always be likely to have something worth while to say 
 in the pulpit. Recall Luther's "Bene orasse est bene 
 studuisse." He whose spiritual life is exalted will see the 
 more clearly, and feel the more strongly and his purpose 
 to bless men will be the more intense and his love and 
 
 *Yale Lectures. Lecture III and IV. 
 

 THE DEVELOPMENT 379 
 
 sympathy the deeper. The most helpful preaching is pro- 
 duct of a devout frame of mind and the best type of it is 
 impossible without spiritual elevation in the hours of pre- 
 paration and delivery. The human soul is one. Mental 
 life can not safely be divorced from spiritual life. If one 
 would aim supremely at what is profitable in his preach- 
 ing, let him cultivate his spiritual life. It has been justly 
 said that the use of the Bible, as a basis for preaching, is 
 no guarantee for the Christian quality of the sermon. It 
 all depends on one's use of the Bible and this depends 
 on the condition of one's spiritual life. As a merely external 
 source it may be of no more value than the works of Plato. 
 It is a deep experience of the power of the grace of God 
 in Christ and the nurture of that grace that will secure the 
 pulpit from an unprofitable intellectualism and moralism. 
 Any divorce of spiritual from mental life will devitalize the 
 pulpit. He who loves the truth, not merely for its own 
 sake, but for the sake of its worth to one's fellowmen, will 
 never degenerate into an unfruitful dogmatist, nor into an 
 unfruitful rationalist and moralist. 
 
 5. The necessity of an intelligent and persistent habit 
 of producing is evident. Every newcomer must win his own 
 facility and must learn to produce in his own way. Right 
 habit will win. It is constantly easier to do what one has 
 tried to do well. The habit of writing should be perpetuated. 
 It should be diligently cultivated especially in the early part 
 of one's ministry. One would better write much, even 
 though he may not carry his product in its written form 
 into the pulpit. 
 
 6. Some consideration of the arrangement of material 
 as it is produced with reference to rhetorical interests might 
 well close our discussion of the development. In doing 
 this, however, we should only traverse ground already pretty 
 thoroughly covered in the discussion of the outline. The 
 
380 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 only points that would need emphasis are those already dis- 
 cussed, vis.; unity, completeness, symmetry and progress in 
 the process of unfolding. But the discussion of these points 
 as related to the development would involve no new features. 
 It may be worth while, however, to suggest that it would 
 be well to pause at different stages of the development and 
 raise the question whether the whole discussion as it pro- 
 ceeds is bound directly back to the theme and to the topics 
 and whether it presses forward straight to its objective 
 point and whether, therefore, the whole thing is bound to- 
 gether in unity, each part with every other and with the 
 whole; whether the subject is being discussed with sufficient 
 fulness at each stage, whether the parts are rhetorically 
 proportionate, and symmetrical, and whether the sermon 
 has a straight-line movement in all its parts on to the end. 
 These questions do not answer themselves, nor can they 
 be successfully answered without profit to preacher 
 and hearer. They are not intrusive and need not disturb 
 the inspirations of the sacred hours of preparation. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE CONCLUSION 
 
 The conclusion corresponds to the introduction. Like the 
 introduction, it takes into account the hearer's mental and 
 emotional state. The problem of the one is to win interest 
 for the discussion. The problem of the other is to utilize 
 such interest after it has been won. It is in general not 
 utilized to best advantage by a sudden break and a dead stop. 
 The conclusion accentuates the practical significance of the 
 sermon. It may disclose the moral earnestness of the 
 preacher. The conclusion, of course, is not the only part of 
 the sermon where the truth may be practically applied, but, 
 as in the didactic sermon, it is generally the most appropriate 
 place for most effective application. It interprets, therefore, 
 the practical aim of the sermon. It has, like the introduc- 
 tion, an ethical value. It accentuates also the rhetorical 
 completeness of the sermon. Without it the sermon would 
 lack artistic unity. The conclusion is part of the organism 
 of the sermon. Without it there is a lack. It is more than 
 artistic incompleteness. An abrupt break in a discussion is 
 likely to result in a certain mental as well as aesthetic dissat- 
 isfaction. It leaves the impression of mental incomplete- 
 ness. It is an unfinished product. The more interested the 
 hearer is, the greater the offense of a sudden break in which 
 he parts company with the preacher. A conclusion may be 
 rapid. It may even be sudden. Better so in general than 
 a long-drawn conclusion. The best thing' one may be able 
 to do for an audience in exceptional cases is to part company 
 with it suddenly. But an abrupt break that leaves the sub- 
 
382 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ject unfinished and the whole thing hanging in the air is 
 another matter. In dramatic movement, we feel the shock 
 of a premature conclusion the more intensely because it is a 
 movement in action rather than in thought. The audience 
 is wrought up to a high pitch of feeling and is suddenly 
 dropped. If the plot is not properly ended, the artistic sense 
 is offended. It rightly demands completeness. In this dra- 
 matic art represents ideal reality. But as regards the ser- 
 mon the principle is the same. The conclusion, therefore, is 
 more than a device for announcing to the audience that the 
 preacher has reached the end of his discussion. It is a 
 device for getting through in the proper way, i. e., gracefully, 
 if you please, or better, in such way as will satisfy mental and 
 moral needs. Satisfaction for the artistic sense of unity and 
 completeness is a relatively insignificant consideration in a 
 moral product, like a sermon. But it may stand for some- 
 thing more important behind it. And here the aesthetic and 
 artistic represent the ethical interest. 
 
 I. The Value of the Conclusion 
 
 From what has been said it may be inferred that in general 
 the sermon, whatever its sort, may well have a somewhat 
 well-defined conclusion as well as introduction. There 
 would certainly be nothing gained from the artistic point of 
 view in lopping the head and tail of a sermon, and just as 
 little gained from the ethical point of view. 
 
 The value of the conclusion is first of all that it gives the 
 subject discussed a new turn. It throws new light upon it 
 and secures for it new impressiveness. It thus leaves a new 
 idea of what the subject is capable of in the way of fruitful 
 suggestion. This is of course eminently true of the inferen- 
 tial conclusion. But it is in a way true of all forms of con- 
 clusion. 
 
 It also carries the truth home with concentrated force. It 
 
THE CONCLUSION 383 
 
 is the stroke that has behind it the compact energy of the 
 whole sermon. 
 
 And it carries the final impression. There is nothing 
 beyond it, to weaken the impression, or to neutralize or dis- 
 sipate it. It is the preacher's last chance at his audience. 
 Here the gist of the sermon or some most vital and seriously 
 important suggestion from it is gathered up into a compact 
 mass and thrown, as a last shot, so to say, at the audience. 
 It is likely to go home. It certainly will if it be weighty in 
 itself, because it is loaded with the cumulative force of the 
 entire sermon. Last words stick, if they are what they 
 ought to be. This is the reason why importance should be 
 attached to them. The practical value of the conclusion may 
 be suggested by some of the terms applied to it. The clas- 
 sical terms are for the most part without much significance. 
 They are chiefly artistic terms suggesting merely the end of 
 the discussion, e. g., epilogue, peroration, conclusion. They 
 may suggest, however, final impression, and so accentuate 
 the practical interest of the discourse. The word "cumulus" 
 however, as suggesting the crown-point of the discussion, 
 may also convey the notion of gathering up the cumulative 
 force of the speech and of applying it at the end. The two 
 ideas of cumulative force and final impression were prevalent 
 in classical oratory in its conception of the function of the 
 peroration. The two chief forms were recapitulation, 
 designed to clinch the mental impression of the address, and 
 appeal, designed for final emotional impression. The con- 
 clusion by inference, which gives the subject discussed a new 
 turn in the way of final application and for the purpose of 
 fresh mental and ethical impression is chiefly characteristic 
 of pulpit oratory. The terms used by Christian rhetoric to 
 designate the work of conclusion suggests at once its prac- 
 tical character, e. g., "improvement," "use," "application," 
 and the terms that come through scholasticism from 2 Tim. 
 
384 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 3 :i6, "instruction," "reproof," "correction," "admonition" 
 and "encouragement." "Observation," "inference" and 
 even "recapitulation" suggest also the gathering up of a 
 subject or phases of it, with reference to practical use. Thus 
 the conclusion makes the practical aim of the sermon the 
 more apparent, and would make it the more decisively 
 felt. 
 
 The sort, amount and method of the conclusion will, of 
 course, depend on the sort of sermon. A didactic sermon 
 will naturally have a conclusion corresponding to its charac- 
 ter and aim. It will be fitted to help on its didactic purpose, 
 i. e., to leave as clear and strong an impression as possible of 
 the weight and importance of the subject discussed. An 
 ethical or evangelistic sermon will naturally have a conclu- 
 sion of a more emotional and hortatory character. But it 
 will be brief. The practical character of the sermon will 
 have been apparent throughout and there will be the less 
 need of extended practical application at the end. The need 
 of formal and carefully-defined conclusion, therefore, is 
 somewhat limited, limited, that is, by the character and aim 
 of the sermon. There are two classes of sermons that have 
 no special use for such a conclusion. There is the sermon 
 in which the subject is continuously applied in the process 
 of discussion, e. g., the textual or expository or biographical 
 or historical sermon. The truth in these types of sermons 
 is not always continuously applied. In the biographical and 
 historical sermon the application is sometimes separated 
 from the discussion. On the whole, however, that would 
 seem to be the better sort of textual, expository, biograph- 
 ical and historical sermon that applies the truth in the 
 process of discussion. In fact it is rather difficult to secure 
 an application at the end of such a sermon without injuring 
 its unity. In the hortatory sermon only a brief word of 
 conclusion is necessary, in general the briefer the better. A 
 
THE CONCLUSION 385 
 
 quick moving and even abrupt conclusion may not be inap- 
 propriate in a sermon in which emotion runs high all 
 through and that increases up to the end. Still a detached 
 last word is always best. The topical sermon also, and 
 especially one of the argumentative type in which the discus- 
 sion forms a climax in which the interest is cumulative, 
 may be less dependent on a distinct formal conclusion. The 
 last topic of the discussion, which reaches the crown-point of 
 the process, may often well constitute the point of attach- 
 ment for the conclusion. A brief final word in line with the 
 thought-impression of this last topic may be the most fitting 
 and effective thing. To pause and turn the thought of the 
 audience aside from this final impression by undertaking to 
 gather up reflections into a conclusion from the subject as a 
 whole might weaken the impression already produced. In 
 general, however, the topical sermon of the didactic sort 
 calls for a distinct conclusion based on the entire discussion. 
 The value of an effective discussion is generally best secured 
 by an independent application. In a weighty and absorbing 
 discussion the hearer does not wish to be perpetually dis- 
 turbed by the preacher's effort to apply what he is seeking 
 to elucidate. If one is interested in a discussion he does not 
 wish to stop to moralize. At the end, however, the intelli- 
 gent listener is ready for the application and he expects it. 
 In sermons with close-wrought unity, and rapid movement, 
 vividly illustrated and expressed with emotional vigor, all 
 necessity for pausing in the process for application is super- 
 seded. The application comes better at the end, where the 
 whole subject may be used effectively. In fact the didactic 
 topical sermon furnishes suggestions in the way of inference 
 or deduction that can in general be secured only at the end, 
 where the whole subject may be gathered up into a conclu- 
 sion. And yet in many cases the last topic may be the best 
 point of attachment for the conclusion. This must be left to 
 
386 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the ethical and rhetorical instincts of the preacher, and the 
 character of his discussion will furnish his basis of judgment. 
 
 II. Qualities of the Conclusion 
 Such qualities as are here discussed are in the main applic- 
 able to every sort of conclusion, whether of a didactic or 
 practical character. 
 
 1. Distinctness is first of all the mark of a good conclu- 
 sion. Like the introduction it may well be slightly detached 
 from the main body of the sermon. It is well if it be not 
 undistinguishably entangled in the discussion, as it some- 
 times was in the preaching of Chalmers. Where the last 
 topic of a cumulative discussion furnishes a basis for the con- 
 clusion, it is less likely to be detached, as we see not infre- 
 quently in the preaching of Chrysostom, of Robertson and 
 of Chalmers. But it is not well that any discussion run 
 without some pause, however slight, plump up to the end 
 and stop abruptly. It is better to make it apparent that one 
 is using the last topic as a basis for a conclusion, than to 
 leave the impression that he is running the discussing full 
 tilt up to the end. Not even a hortatory sermon should end 
 thus. Better some slight pause, accompanied by some 
 change of attitude, and some change in the tones of the voice 
 to indicate that the preacher would approach his audience 
 with his final word. Much of the preaching of our day 
 undervalues the conclusion, frequently ignoring it, altogether, 
 running the discussion straight to the end, making no prac- 
 tical use of the subject, not even applying it in the main body 
 of the sermon. The latter part of the sermon often shows a 
 falling off in mental and emotional vigor. There is a lack of 
 cumulative power, of which the conclusion should avail itself. 
 This is a serious defect. No great message can be effec- 
 tively conveyed if the preacher flats out in anticlimax. 
 
 2. Applicableness is another quality. The conclusion 
 
THE CONCLUSION 387 
 
 pre-supposes the end of the discussion. It is, therefore, the 
 close of the whole sermon. The rhetorical terms "perora- 
 tion" and "epilogue" seem to suggest this. The peroration 
 is that which completes the entire speech. The epilogue is 
 that which is added at the end of the discussion. This is true 
 even of the conclusion that attaches itself to the last topic 
 discussed. Thus the conclusion corresponds to the intro- 
 duction. As the one does not anticipate, so the other does 
 not end the discussion. Like the introduction, however, it 
 has a very close thought-relation with the discussion. It 
 takes up some aspect or aspects of the subject that have not 
 appeared directly in the discussion, but are naturally sug- 
 gested by it. It may be some aspect of the whole subject, 
 in which case the thought unity of the sermon is the more 
 adequately conserved. The whole discourse from beginning 
 to end is thus bound together. The introduction has led up 
 to the subject as a whole and the conclusion uses 
 the subject as a whole. In the didactic discourse this is 
 generally the case. And yet, as already suggested, the con- 
 clusion may take up the last point discussed. In this case 
 the sermon should be so shaped that the most important topic, 
 from the rhetorical point of view, should come last. Thus 
 the teleological unity of the sermon is conserved. 
 
 3. Pertinence is an allied quality. This does not take 
 care of itself. Ineptness is not an impossible homiletic sin, 
 and it is quite as fatal to harmony in the conclusion as it is 
 in the introduction. Better stop short than flat out. Better 
 violence than inconsequence. Ineptitude suggests that the 
 preacher does not keenly sense the import of what he has 
 been saying or what he now says, or that he is weary of the 
 discussion and doesn't care what he says next, so only he 
 may make an end of the discussion, and says what happens 
 to come into his head without reference to its pertinency. 
 One should be at his best in bringing the sermon to a close. 
 
388 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 In connection with this matter of pertinence two questions 
 occur that are worth a moment's consideration. 
 
 The first relates to the use of contrast in the conclusion. 
 The principle of harmony would on the face of it, seem to 
 reject contrast. One would say that the conclusion should 
 correspond in sentiment, feeling, tone, as well as thought, 
 with the discussion. If the sermon is admonitory or 
 severely ethical in tone the conclusion should correspond. 
 It should not be parenetic or paracletic. It should carry 
 through to the end the tone of ethical severity. If the ser- 
 mon is evangelistically emotional, the conclusion should not 
 be mentally reflective or didactic. In general this' may be 
 the correct view. And yet it is not safe to apply this as a 
 regulative law. Contrast is often more effective than corre- 
 spondence. In fact it may be in truest harmony with the 
 final purpose of the sermon. It was Schleiermacher's 
 opinion that no Christian sermon should ever end with a 
 tone of judicial or ethical severity. Every sermon, whatever 
 its character, should close with a tone of Christian hopeful- 
 ness and joyfulness. This opinion can not perhaps be fully 
 justified. But it is evident at once that it would often intro- 
 duce the principle of contrast, and doubtless with good 
 result. It is doubtless true that the note of hope and joy 
 is eminently Christian and indeed often rhetorically most 
 effective at the close of a sermon that has dealt searchingly 
 with the heart and conscience. What is most Christian is 
 likely to be most effective rhetorically. But Schleier- 
 macher's principle is rhetorically inadmissible after all, for 
 the principle of contrast may equally well demand that a 
 sermon end with a tone of solemn admonition. A preacher's 
 spirit should, of course, always be Christian. But ethical 
 and rhetorical pertinence may be a safer guide than even 
 Christian gentleness and graciousness in concluding a sermon 
 that has spoken hopefully to the heart. It is often necessary 
 
THE CONCLUSION 389 
 
 to leave the truth with the conscience, and the last word of 
 warning may be most pertinent to the moral purpose of the 
 sermon as well as most powerful, and no rule of Christian 
 sentiment should displace it. The contrast between grace 
 and severity may be as effective as that between severity and 
 grace. It is well to set hope in contrast with admonition. 
 But it may be equally well to set admonition over against 
 hope. Contrast here may be more effective than correspon- 
 dence. Much depends on the concrete conditions of the 
 case. 
 
 The second question relates to the use of prayer in the 
 conclusion. It may be even more impressive and pertinent 
 than in the introduction. From sermons of a prevailingly 
 didactic character, in which no very strong ethical or emo- 
 tional impression is sought or made, it is naturally excluded. 
 But the emotional sermon that seeks and secures strong 
 ethical and religious impression and that is cumulative in 
 emotional power may well end in prayer. It is very natural 
 in such a sermon to pass into a brief utterance of adoration, 
 or ascription, or petition. It may harmonize well with the 
 whole tone of the sermon. It may fall into line with the 
 character and design of worship. There is a closer connec- 
 tion between some types of preaching and worship, and 
 more specifically prayer, than may be apparent. To the 
 oriental it is more apparent than to the occidental mind. 
 We find this in the preaching of the New Testament. The 
 English preachers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- 
 ries were accustomed to close their sermons with an ascrip- 
 tion to the Trinity. It was a matter of form and often 
 lacked pertinence, but it accentuated the close connection 
 between preaching and prayer. German preachers, who in 
 general hold the sermon closer to worship than American 
 preachers do, often close, as they open, with prayer. Dr. 
 Horace Bushnell closes his sermon "Putting: on Christ" with 
 
390 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 the words, "Cover us in it" (i. c, thy righteousness), "O thou 
 Christ of God and let our shame be hid eternally in Thee." 
 Cardinal Newman sometimes did this with exquisite taste 
 and with intense earnestness, interjecting prayer into the 
 midst of the sermon as well as at the close. The tone of 
 the sermon should, of course, be exalted to sanction it. It 
 may be noted finally that closing with the words of the text 
 is a pertinent device. Dr. Joseph Parker and Mr. Spurgeon 
 often do this. The most appropriate thing one can do some- 
 times is to close with the same remark with which the 
 sermon opened, this binding the beginning and the end 
 together. 
 
 4. Conciseness is one of the qualities of a good conclu- 
 sion. It can afford to be concise because it is based on the 
 cumulative results of the discussion. This is true especially 
 of the sermon that is emotionally strong and that moves 
 rapidly to a climax. A compact, sententious conclusion is 
 the most fitting sort of conclusion for an audience that is 
 already aroused emotionally. Even an abrupt conclusion 
 may be most fitting. It depends, of course, on the sort of 
 sermon and the effect already produced. The reflective or 
 inferential conclusion that ends a didactic discussion is 
 naturally longer and more deliberate than a conclusion by 
 appeal. But compactness and brevity are the rule. Dr. 
 Bushnell, after some of his most vigorous discussions, dis- 
 closes the conviction that he has said enough, and that there 
 would be a loss of power in an extended conclusion, adding 
 as his nearly last word: "We need no conclusion." It is 
 noteworthy, however, that even after this he rounds out the 
 sermon with a distinct conclusion, brief though it be. Bush- 
 nell's preaching shows that the topical sermon, whic,h calls 
 for an inferential application of the subject, has naturally a 
 longer conclusion than the textual sermon. Conciseness in 
 the conclusion is in harmony with the tastes of our time. 
 
THE CONCLUSION 391 
 
 The long-drawn five-fold conclusion of the scholastic sermon 
 was appropriate to the character of that type of preaching. 
 It was a method of securing practical application, which was 
 almost wholly lacking in the main body of the sermon. The 
 brief, simple conclusion of our day is in harmony with the 
 character of its preaching. 
 
 III. Methods of the Conclusion 
 All methods may be grouped under two classes, the 
 didactic and the impressional. One speaks prevailingly to 
 the mind, the ot,her to the emotions. In classical oratory 
 the deliberative and judicial types of address attached im- 
 portance to the didactic conclusion, i. e., it sought first of all 
 to clinch and perpetuate the mental impression of the speech. 
 The epideictic type of address affected especially the emo- 
 tional or impressional conclusion. After recapitulation, 
 which may be called the didactic conclusion, there was also 
 added to the deliberative and judicial address an emotional 
 appeal. The character of the question, of the discussion and 
 of the audience would determine the character and extent of 
 the appeal. In general the emotional conclusion had a 
 prominent place, however, in classical oratory, for its task 
 was to arouse to action a populace that was dependent on ora- 
 torical excitement. The character of the conclusion some- 
 what strikingly suggests the difference between ancient and 
 modern and especially classical and Christian oratory. The 
 didactic conclusion perhaps may be called one of the distin- 
 guishing marks of Christian oratory. It does not appeal 
 primarily to the emotions or passions of men but to thought 
 and reflection and to emotion and will as influenced by intelli- 
 gence. Different types of Christian discourse are also dis- 
 tinguished by the character of the conclusion. The writer 
 agrees with Dr. Dawson that from the modern sermon, and 
 especially the American sermon the note of appeal has too 
 
392 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 largely vanished. But it is still true that the didactic conclu- 
 sion will always be characteristic of the pastoral sermon, 
 while the emotional conclusion or conclusion by appeal will 
 always be characteristic of the evangelistic sermon. 
 
 But let us look at some of the most common methods of 
 conclusion and at their adaptations. 
 
 I. Recapitulation, which is the summary of topics, or 
 resume, which is a fuller summary of the contents of the ser- 
 mon, is properly a part of the discussion rather than of the 
 conclusion. In fact it rarely ever concludes a sermon. 
 Something is generally added after it. Thus in the classic 
 oration. The conclusion was less than the peroration. It 
 was the end of it, and followed the recapitulation, making 
 use of it as a basis for appeal. The recapitulation, however, 
 was regarded as a part of the peroration, rather than of the 
 main body of the discussion. In homiletics it is generally 
 treated as a form or method of conclusion, and we will so 
 regard it. It may be easily detached from the discussion 
 and thrown across into the conclusion, as a preparation for 
 practical application. In two classes of sermons recapitula- 
 tion is especially desirable. 
 
 First in sermons without clearly-differentiated topics or 
 formal divisions, like those of Dr. Chalmers, Canon Mozley 
 and Cardinal Newman. Many at least of the discourses of 
 these great preachers would be of greater value even to the 
 reader with a brief resume of contents or recapitulation of 
 topics. If one does not care to obtrude his outline he is 
 beholden at least to the average hearer to make a summary 
 of his topics. There are, of course, sermons that need no 
 recapitulation, those for example, that are, like many of 
 Newman's, dependent upon rhetorical impression rather 
 than upon elaborate discussion, for their effectiveness. But 
 sermons without clear outline that discuss important themes 
 demand recapitulation as really as the old classic deliberative 
 
THE CONCLUSION 393 
 
 or judicial oration demanded it. Lawyers often express 
 surprise that preachers do not recapitulate more. A 
 preacher should surely be as intent upon carrying his case as 
 a lawyer, although the case to be carried and one's idea of 
 carrying it may be very different. What the lawyer means 
 by carrying his case is that he must get it so effectively 
 before the jury that he will carry them. Recapitulation 
 aids him in doing this. And what less can or should a 
 preacher mean by carrying his case than to put his subject 
 before his hearers just as effectively as possible with refer- 
 ence to the accomplishment of a moral and religious result? 
 The aim is to bring the hearer into subjection to the power 
 of truth. If recapitulation will aid one in getting his subject 
 more effectively before the hearer with reference to this 
 result, as it often will, why should he not recapitulate as the 
 skilful lawyer does? Of course there must be something to 
 recapitulate. It presupposes a discussion, although not 
 necessarily of an elaborate sort. We do not recapitulate 
 the utterances of sentiment and emotion that are dependent 
 on first impression and can not be reproduced by any reca- 
 pitulatory process. 
 
 The doctrinal, the argumentative or didactic discourse of 
 the weightier sort calls for recapitulation. If we were to 
 limit recapitulation to the doctrinal or argumentative type 
 of sermon, the pulpit would doubtless get on without it. 
 But all weighty-didactic discussion needs it. By the use of 
 it such discussion may thereby secure even a certain sort of 
 rhetorical cogency. To grip the truth and to condense it 
 into compact form is of itself an element of force, and a habit 
 of doing this may even become tributary to a more forceful 
 method of discussion. 
 
 2. Remark, observation or reflection. These terms all 
 have reference to the more practical use of the subject dis- 
 cussed which the conclusion calls for. A remark is a brief 
 
394 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 practical suggestion based on some aspect of the subject in 
 hand. An observation is a somewhat more extended and 
 carefully-considered suggestion based on what one observes 
 or discovers of the practical bearings of the subject in dis- 
 cussion. One pauses at the end and looks at the subject 
 from a new point of view in order to see what he may find 
 there that is practically useful in the way of suggestion. A 
 reflection means about the same thing. It is a suggestion 
 that comes as a result of turning the subject back upon the 
 familiar observations, experiences and thought-habits of life. 
 The observation is a species of inference, for it comes from 
 the subject or from some phase of it in an inferential way. 
 But it is appropriate to the simpler class of subjects or to 
 the simpler class of discussions. It is particularly appro- 
 priate to the biographical or historical sermon. It comes 
 in the form of practical application on suggestion. It aims, 
 not so much to magnify the subject to the intelligence of the 
 hearer, with reference to educative results by increase of 
 knowledge, as to make a practical impression upon the 
 heart and conscience and so upon the life of the hearer. 
 Prof. George Shepards' sermon, "Saul, the Regressive in 
 Piety" illustrates this. It closes with two observations, re- 
 flections or practical lessons : (i) We should be afraid of the 
 beginnings of sin; (2) the faults that wreck men are the 
 hidden, not the obtrusive ones. The sermon "The Giver of 
 the Two Mites" also illustrates : (1) The heart quality in 
 giving is the chief thing. We are responsible for this. (2) 
 The amount of good done is determined by this. (3) We are 
 in little danger of giving too much. These are indeed infer- 
 ences, but of the simple, practical sort and are designed to 
 perpetuate ethical rather than mental impression. 
 
 3. Inference. An inference is a remark that is based not 
 on a direct but indirect contemplation of a subject, i. e., on 
 some sort of logical deduction. It is a judgment based on 
 
THE CONCLUSION 395 
 
 the logical relations of thought in the subject. It is adapted 
 to the didactic sermon of the more weighty sort. It 
 addresses primarily the reflective faculties. It is a mental 
 and moral judgment based on the thought-relations of the 
 discussion. As if the preacher would say: Granting that 
 what I have said in this discussion be true, you can see for 
 yourselves that the following inferential judgments or sug- 
 gestive teachings must also be true; in view of all that has 
 been said, you can see as follows ! But although speaking 
 to the hearers' judgment, it may be one of the most effective 
 ways of reaching the convictions and emotions. It may 
 bring the subject home with great power. It puts one in a 
 dilemma: You approve of what I have said? You are con- 
 vinced and will not deny it? Well, then, this rational, this 
 logical and very practical conclusion follows from it, and you 
 cannot evade the import of it. Inference, therefore, may be 
 used with great practical effect. Its power lies partly in the 
 fact that it brings the truth to bear upon the hearer 
 indirectly. It gets at him by getting around him. Take as 
 an example the conclusion of Dr. Bushnell's sermon, 
 "Christ Waiting to Find Room." Note the inferences : 
 (1) From the basis of the discussion we see inferentially why 
 Christianity is not respected. "Our Gospel fails because we 
 so poorly represent the worth and largeness of it." (2) We 
 see why there is so much polemical theology. "The true 
 hospitality is that of the heart, not of the head, etc. If 
 only the great heart-world of the race were set upon to full 
 entertainment of Jesus, there would be what a chiming of 
 peace and unity in the common love." (3) We see why 
 Christianity makes so little head. No room for him in our 
 zeal. "Why does Christianity make such slow progress? I 
 answer Christ gets no room, as yet, to work and to be the 
 fire in men's hearts he is able to be." (4) We see why we 
 should grieve over the patience he is obliged to exercise 
 
396 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 towards us. "But what most of all grieves me is that Christ 
 himself has so great wrong to endure in the slowness and 
 low faith of so many ages." (5) We see why we should 
 hasten to make room for him. "All the sooner, brethren, 
 ought we to come to the heart so long and patiently grieving 
 for us." A most weighty conclusion not only in the realm 
 of judgment but in the realm of feeling and conviction as 
 well. Note the cumulative arrangement of the inferences, 
 ending with the most practical and personal. They come 
 with strong logical and ethical conclusiveness. We can not 
 escape this impression of conclusiveness. 
 
 Professor Shedd has directed the attention to the value of the 
 inference in the discussion of subjects whose importance lies 
 not wholly in themselves but in the truths that flow from 
 them.* That is, the power of the inferential conclusion is 
 best realized in the use of themes that naturally furnish 
 weighty and impressive logical conclusions and suggestions. 
 Its force depends on its close, logical, necessary connection 
 with the primary truth. The force of comparison lies in the 
 fact that it sets truths in their analogous relations, i. e., rela- 
 tions of likeness of principle. The power of contrast lies in 
 so setting the objects of thought over against one another 
 that we the more readily detect the relations of truth and 
 error. The power of inference or deduction is in the fact 
 that it sets truth in its logical and necessary relations, i. e., 
 in its relations of cause and effect or of antecedent and con- 
 sequent. It gives one an impression of the logical, gripping 
 power of the truth. It is the more effective that it comes 
 with rhetorical force upon the emotions as well as with log- 
 ical force upon the understanding. Note two more of Dr. 
 Bushnell's inferential conclusions, e. g., "Salvation by man."f 
 Christ saves us by getting into and abiding in corporate 
 
 * Homiletics, page 198. 
 
 f "Christ and his Salvation." XIII. page 271. 
 
THE CONCLUSION 397 
 
 relations with the race. This is the thought of the sermon. 
 Inferences : (i) We see that there is a power of perpetual 
 self-renewal In the race. (2) Responsibility of Christ's dis- 
 ciples. The world is saved through the Church. (3) En- 
 couragement to patience. The world must be saved slowly. 
 (4) God's delicacy in providing salvation not only for us but 
 by us. "The Insight of Love." * The value of insight above 
 that of dialectic or casuistry in dealing with religious sub- 
 jects is the thought. Inferences : (1) Insight is needed in 
 order to understand Christ. (2) In settling the perplexities 
 of the Christian life. (3) It is an impelling power as con- 
 trasted with selfish prudence. (4) It is a characteristic of 
 heavenly society. Note here the great range and variety of 
 truths wrapped up in the primary truth discussed and thus 
 brought out. All this greatly enriches preaching. Without 
 these inferential processes one would fail to see the scope 
 and the suggestiveness of the primary truth. And this 
 process is a most effective way of reaching the heart and con- 
 science as well, especially of the thoughtful hearer. 
 
 Two qualities are essential to effective inference. (1) The 
 logical element of pertinence. A deduction should come 
 naturally. It should be near at hand, not strained, remote, 
 far-fetched, nor yet so near at hand as to be too obvious and 
 thus commonplace. It should readily and naturally furnish 
 a new aspect of the subject, i. e., a somewhat more direct 
 and practical, although subordinate aspect than the discus- 
 sion has furnished, and yet it should not be so obvious as to 
 be platitudinous. (2) The rhetorical element of brevity and 
 conciseness. The multiplication and prolix elaboration of 
 inferences are not in harmony with the mental habits and 
 tastes of our time. There are many things that might be 
 deduced inferentially from the theme that may not be in 
 harmony with the aim of the sermon or with its limits. The 
 
 * "Christ and his Salvation." III. page 51. 
 
398 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 topics that are deduced should be presented suggestively 
 rather than expansively and exhaustively. 
 
 4. Exhortation or appeal. Recapitulation, observation, 
 inference seek the will largely through the mind. Exhorta- 
 tion includes all direct appeal to the feelings and to the 
 conscience, reaching the practical activities through the 
 emotions and moral convictions rather than through the re- 
 flective faculties. Inference and other forms of the didactic 
 conclusion perpetuate the mental appeal, and leave con- 
 science and will to appropriate the result. Exhortation 
 assumes the work for intelligence as already done, and moves 
 on with its assumed mental result directly upon the emo- 
 tional and moral sphere. Most people are somewhat de- 
 pendent upon appeal that stirs emotion. In fact everybody 
 is measurably dependent on it, although a sort of appeal 
 that reaches one man may not reach another. Certain 
 types of emotion are discredited in our day. Intelligent 
 people discount all emotion that is not based on or asso- 
 ciated with sane thinking. It is charged that the pulpit of 
 our day has measurably lost the power of appeal. And it is 
 a fact that there is but relatively little hortatory preaching. 
 One reason is doubtless that hortation has been overdone. 
 Another reason is, however, that the intellectual element in 
 religion has been over-accentuated. And another still is 
 that we lay more stress upon action than upon emotion in 
 the religious life. We see this measurably in modern evan- 
 gelistic methods. Thomas Carlyle, the great apostle of 
 action, whose influence on this line in the last century was 
 very great, has, in his semi- jocose, grotesque fashion, re- 
 corded his idea of practical preaching as follows: "If I were 
 a preacher," he says, "I would tell the people on Sunday 
 what to do, and then when they came back next Sunday I 
 would ask them, well, have you done that? How much of 
 it have you done? None? Then go home and do it." If 
 
THE CONCLUSION 399 
 
 this were to be taken seriously, as of course it is not, 
 although it is the Carlylean method of accentuating the 
 Gospel of work, we should have to regard it as pure charla- 
 tanism. If the man who uttered it expected his prescription 
 to be taken seriously, he would show himself to be neither a 
 philosopher nor an orator. It disregards the necessity of 
 recognizing tjie principles of duty as distinguished from mere 
 prescriptions of duty. A man must appropriate the principle 
 before he is likely intelligently to heed the prescription. It 
 ignores also the dependence of action on aroused conviction 
 and of conviction on aroused emotion. It is not the preach- 
 er's primal task to present the rules of duty in detail, but to 
 present and enforce the principles of duty and to stimulate 
 to action by stirring conviction and emotion. Much that 
 might be said about the hortatory conclusion were better 
 said in a discussion of the hortatory type of preaching in 
 general. But a few considerations are especially pertinent 
 to the conclusion. 
 
 (1) The most effective hortation rests upon a didactic 
 basis. Successful appeal presupposes a solid foundation. 
 Strong, well-directed, rational emotion, the only kind that it 
 is desirable to excite in a worshipping or in fact in any 
 other kind of assembly, cannot be secured without solid 
 ground in intelligence. A mental movement that increases 
 in strength is desirable. Neither preacher nor hearer is 
 ready for effective exhortation without suitable mental prep- 
 aration. We are disgusted with perfervid explosions that 
 seem to have no basis. We look with amazement and dis- 
 trust upon a man who has no rational justification for his 
 heat and sweat. It is unfortunate that what is called "pulpit 
 emotion" should be regarded as synonymous with unintelli- 
 gence and unreality. A worked-up emotion is a most unde- 
 sirable product because it is irrational and unethical. 
 
 (2) Definiteness and pertinence are essential in all effec- 
 
40o THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tive appeal. A direct appeal presupposes the direct appli- 
 cation of some particular moral truth or some specific phase 
 of it. The previous discussion must lay the foundation for 
 it. Exhortation on the basis of generality is wholly incon- 
 sequential. Something specific is presupposed with respect 
 to which the appeal is made. What is specific is direct and 
 what is direct is forceful. A generalized hortation has no 
 mark and no shot. 
 
 (3) Reality is the primal moral virtue of exhortation. 
 Appeal that is intelligent, pertinent, direct and specific will 
 be natural, and as natural real. No exhortation will ever 
 be effective that does not rest upon a psychological and 
 ethical basis. Mere intellectual enthusiasm, product of cum- 
 ulative mental excitation and interest in the subject discussed 
 is not enough, although this is presupposed and is of primal 
 importance. But there must be a genuine love of the truth 
 as working truth and a genuine love for men as well. Other- 
 wise we shall have only a species of professional hortation. 
 It is a genuine moral devotion to the truth, truth as a per- 
 sonal moral interest and loving devotion to the welfare of 
 men that are necessary to save preaching from profession- 
 alism. 
 
 (4) Concentration is essential to cogent appeal. If it be 
 direct and specific it is the more likely to be concentrated. 
 All conclusion may well be compact and succinct. Under 
 normal conditions it will be. The sentences are likely to be 
 shorter and more abrupt. We crowd more into them. 
 Note the last sentences of Robertson's sermons. The struc- 
 ture of the sentences, the vocabulary, the figures of speech 
 are more intense than in other parts of the sermon. Espe- 
 cially condensed should be the conclusion by appeal. It is 
 natural that it should be and naturalness is what we want, 
 for naturalness is reality. A few terse sentences dropped 
 like red-hot coals into the mind and heart may effect amazing 
 
THE CONCLUSION 401 
 
 results. Sometimes the most impressive thing possible is a 
 final repetition of the text, especially if it be in itself impres- 
 sive, and if it comes laden with the cumulative impressions of 
 the discussion. If a sermon does justice to an impressive 
 text it will come back upon the hearer with tenfold power 
 at the end. Sometimes a brief snatch of poetry, a line of 
 some hymn full of deep religious feeling, a passage of Scrip- 
 ture cognate with the text, a short utterance of hope or of 
 foreboding, a brief appeal to action, a short utterance of 
 prayer, an ejaculation, an apostrophe, — all this if the ground 
 be well laid may sweep the hearer up quite to the gate of 
 heaven. But whatever it be, its effectiveness will depend on 
 its brevity and concentration. If the sermon has already 
 done its needed work, the last thirty seconds will be laden 
 with the cumulative energy of the previous thirty minutes. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RHETORICAL FORM 
 
 Structural form is confessedly our chief interest in the 
 discussion of methods of homiletic art. But formal homi- 
 letics legitimately includes questions of rhetorical and ora- 
 torical expression. The latter receives but little, doubtless 
 too little, attention in our day. But it is best taught in the 
 class-room by modern experts in the art of expression and 
 a collation of oratorical commonplaces by one who knows 
 but little about the subject would be of small value to our 
 discussion. The study of rhetorical form also was formerly 
 regarded as of more importance than it is now. The reasons 
 are many. The study of language does not hold the place it 
 once held in our educational processes. In the widening of 
 the field of knowledge the pressure of other departments has 
 made itself felt in the sphere of linguistics. The physical 
 sciences have asserted their claims and now the so-called 
 social sciences are at the front. There is less time for rhe- 
 torical studies and less importance is naturally attached to 
 them. Men are after what they regard as more practical 
 branches of knowledge. What to say is of more importance 
 than how to say it. The study of ancient and foreign lan- 
 guages has largely displaced the study of our own, and even 
 in the recent revival of the study of English in our fitting 
 schools and colleges the literary interest in the comprehen- 
 sive sense dominates the more specific rhetorical interest. 
 It may be questioned whether educated men write and speak 
 English as well as educated men a hundred or even fifty 
 years ago. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 403 
 
 The newspaper press has had its influence. Thought 
 reaches us more fully through the eye than through the ear, 
 and what addresses the eye is differently expressed from that 
 which addresses the ear. He who writes without reference 
 to speaking, like a newspaper reporter or editor, may easily 
 fall into negligent habits in his use of language. There is 
 doubtless an improvement in newspaper English but in 
 general it is very poor English. We see the results in pulpit- 
 speech. What the preacher says is the chief thing of im- 
 portance. There is even a prejudice against the discussion 
 of pulpit style. There is a reaction .against rhetorical 
 standards, and the whole subject of rhetorical form falls into 
 neglect, as if it were no matter how a man says his say if 
 only he have something to say. Somehow it will manage to 
 say itself. The pulpit has generally been in conflict with so- 
 called secular rhetoric and oratory. Its history shows a 
 singular succession or series of approximations towards and 
 of revulsions from the secular standards. Questions of 
 matter and tone are, of course, always of supreme impor- 
 tance. Sincerity and reality are the cardinal virtues of the 
 man who speaks for Christ. But preaching that minimizes 
 the value of literary form can never be the best type of 
 preaching. The pulpit can not emancipate itself from the 
 laws of human speech as it can not from the laws of human 
 thought and feeling. Preaching is speech of the highest and 
 noblest type. It should be worthy of itself. Let us there- 
 fore consider this question a little more fully. 
 
 I. The Claims of Rhetorical Culture 
 
 1. The relation of thought to speech accentuates the 
 importance of rhetorical culture. The closeness of connec- 
 tion necessitates the culture of form in the interest of sub- 
 stance, as well as of the culture of substance in the interest 
 
404 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 of form. What one says has intimate connection with the 
 manner in which he says it. Ratio and oratio are two sides 
 of the same thing. One suggests substance, the other form, 
 but they are organically one. The science of language is 
 one phase of the science of thought. Max Miiller, the philo- 
 logian, wrote a work on the science of thought from the 
 philological point of view, and John Locke, the philosopher, 
 found it necessary in dealing with thought to consider its 
 relation to language. He says,* "I find that there is so close 
 a connection between ideas and words, and our abstract 
 ideas and general words, have so constant a relation one 
 to another, that it is impossible to speak clearly and distinctly 
 of our knowledge, which all consists in propositions, without 
 considering first, the nature, use and significance of lan- 
 guage." "Style" at first meant a man's pen-stylus. Then it 
 came to mean penmanship, chirography or manner of 
 writing with a pen. A close connection is etymologically 
 suggested here. Pen-man-ship. Pen, the instrument used. 
 Man, the agent using it. Ship, shape, form or method in 
 which the pen is used, as disclosed by the product of use. 
 Penmanship is the method in which a man uses the pen. 
 Here is a basis for the notion, often doubtless over-stated, 
 that a man discloses his personal peculiarities in his hand- 
 writing. But at last the word style naturally comes to mean 
 the way in which a man expresses himself in language. The 
 close connection between the man and his method of expres- 
 sion is thus taken up into this higher meaning. We have no 
 longer a merely physiological and relatively mechanical con- 
 nection between the man and his pen, but a psychological and 
 even ethical connection between the man and his speech. 
 Style, therefore, is more than a manner of expression. It 
 is a mental, moral, emotional, aesthetic product, formulated, 
 incorporated in language. In the Hebrew language a man's 
 
 * Essay on the Human Understanding. Book III, Chap. 37. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 405 
 
 name stands for the man himself. It is etymologically the 
 ''sign" of what is in the man. The close connection between 
 the man and the manifold forms of his self-manifestation, 
 among them his speech, lies at the basis of this word. The 
 Latin word "fatum" suggests this connection. The word 
 spoken is the fixed sign of the unalterable force behind of 
 which the word spoken is an embodiment. The Greek word 
 prjfxa means both speech and the thing spoken. The 
 word and the matter of the word are identified. Think and 
 thing are perhaps allied in significance. To think is to thing. 
 To think something is to do something. The product of 
 mental activity is the form in which the thought embodies 
 itself. The form is the thing thought as embodied in the 
 word uttered. The word is that in which the reality of the 
 thought is actualized. So then, we think ourselves out into 
 words and thus come to think in words. Limitation as to 
 capacity for expression in language involves limitation as to 
 capacity for thought. Absolute incapacity for speech, or 
 for some form of expression that is a measurable substitute 
 for it, would involve a corresponding incapacity for definite 
 thought. Mr. George P. Marsh reminds us somewhere in 
 his Lectures on the English Language that we remember 
 our thoughts more definitely than our sensations and emo- 
 tions for the reason that the former secure greater distinct- 
 ness in consciousness and so leave a stronger impression 
 upon us because of their connection with a definite form of 
 words. For the same reason perhaps our uttered words, 
 whether vocalized or written, are more distinctly recalled 
 than our unuttered words. It is said of Louis Napoleon that 
 he always wrote out on a slip of paper the object of thought 
 he wished to be sure of remembering, then read it over and 
 tore up the slip. This invariably fixed the thing in his mind. 
 Possibly too it is for something the same reason that our 
 acts stand out more definitely as objects of thought and are 
 
406 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 more readily recalled than the unformulated thoughts, feel- 
 ings, convictions and purposes that lie behind them. The 
 act objectifies what lies subjectively behind it. It puts it 
 into form. And it may be that for this reason in part the 
 outward act has a more powerful influence on character than 
 the unacted thought or purpose behind it. Some men, per- 
 haps most men, more readily commit to memory their 
 uttered or written thoughts than those that are unuttered or 
 unwritten. The contents of a manuscript that have been 
 orally uttered in the process of writing are more readily 
 retained in the memory than they would be if unvocalized. 
 It is for this reason that memoriter preachers vocalize their 
 sentences in the process of composition. The connection 
 between thought and speech is most intimate and vital in the 
 first moments of production. It may require positive effort 
 and perhaps changed conditions to reproduce subsequently 
 the same close connection. This is one reason why it is diffi- 
 cult to repeat an old sermon successfully. It demands some 
 change in the manuscript or a new congregation in order to 
 reproduce the first impression. The reason why Whitefield 
 could preach his old sermons with undiminished effective- 
 ness was that he always had a new audience and by the 
 power of feeling and imagination was able to re-wed thought 
 to the words uttered. We see the principle illustrated in 
 our confessions of faith. The reason why the old creeds fail 
 to affect us is that the words have no longer vital connection 
 with our religious thoughts, feelings and convictions. We 
 must have new confessions in order to hold the connection 
 between thought and words. The value of feeling and 
 imagination in vitalizing the relation between thought and 
 speech is illustrated by the successful evangelistic preacher. 
 Here in part is the power of poetic utterance. Thought 
 here secures a more vital connection with speech through 
 the energizing power of feeling and imagination. The 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 407 
 
 reason why an eye-witness is better than an ear-witness is 
 that by the stir of feeling and imagination he is able to repro- 
 duce what he has seen in more vivid language. He is able 
 to vitalize the relation of thought and speech. Here in part 
 is the secret of dramatic power. The actor not only repro- 
 duces inwardly an imagined state of mind and feeling, but 
 he makes them real and effective by an utterance correspon- 
 ding. He effects so close a unification of thought, feeling 
 and speech that he can talk as well as think and feel like 
 another person. 
 
 The cultivation of rhetorical form, then, is largely the 
 cultivation of what lies back of it and is vital to it. This is 
 significant for the culture of what may be called a pulpit style. 
 Such a style will have certain peculiarities of its own. This 
 point will reappear further on. The point just here is that 
 the importance of the culture of rhetorical form for the 
 pulpit is the importance of what lies back of it. It is easy to 
 lose sight of this close connection between substance and 
 form. This may in part account for the relative neglect of 
 questions of rhetorical form in preaching. If substance and 
 form may be treated as if they were independent of each 
 other, it is no wonder that substance should be valued at 
 the expense of form. It is indeed a creditable thing that an 
 educated man should not be willing to become a literary 
 pedant. For literary pedantry consists in disproportionate 
 attention to form as such and in treating it in a merely 
 analytical and external manner. We save the literary prod- 
 uct and the literary man, we elevate the whole tone of any 
 species of literature or form of utterance, we rescue it from 
 pedantry on the one side, and on the other side we rescue 
 the preacher from a supercilious contempt of questions of 
 rhetorical form, by reemphasis of the very familiar but 
 much-ignored fact that substance and form are inseparable. 
 The study of literary form becomes, thus, one of the most 
 
408 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 interesting and valuable studies in which a scholar can 
 engage. But it is to be borne in mind that one does not 
 become an effective preacher simply by cultivating his intel- 
 ligence, imagination, feelings and moral and religious life. 
 One may be a good thinker, a good theologian, and a well- 
 trained man in general and yet be a poor preacher. One 
 may be a very pious and devout and enthusiastic man and 
 yet be a poor minister of religion. One must study literary 
 form as such. In fact one who trains himself in the art of 
 expression may strengthen his capacity for exact thinking 
 by the very processes of his training. Emerson early formed 
 the habit of examining his thoughts with reference to their 
 expression. This involved the counter-process of examining 
 his expression with reference to his thoughts. Expression 
 was an important interest in all his culture. "It is not 
 knowledge we need," he said, "but vent." His thought was 
 conditioned by the form it was to take. His habit of reflec- 
 tion was conditioned by his habit of deliberate expression. 
 A man's style does not take care of itself. It must be 
 trained, and as it is trained it will affect what lies behind it 
 and must be transmitted by it. The good stylist will always 
 have the advantage of the man who fails in this respect, 
 although the latter may be superior in his native endow- 
 ments. It is not substance alone that makes a classic. The 
 classic is of chief value not for its matter of thought but fori 
 its perfection of form. The best classics with all their seem- 
 ing of spontaneity and freedom are the product of long 
 and laborious elaboration. Good form does not always 
 presuppose the weightiest and most original substance of 
 thought, although proper attention to form will surely 
 influence the quality of thought, and it is certainly true that 
 bad form indicates defective mental work. Inexact 
 and obscure speech always involves defective mental 
 discrimination. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 409 
 
 2. This leads to the suggestion that the preacher's 
 responsibility as a public teacher accentuates the claims of 
 rhetorical culture. No one can teach correctly who uses 
 languages incorrectly. We see the need of it in the legal 
 profession. No lawyer can succeed who does not express 
 himself in clear, accurate, forcible language. We see the 
 need in our legislative assemblies. They are composed 
 largely of half-educated men, who have no mastery of the 
 English language. Much legislation exhibits gross ignor- 
 ance not only of facts and principles but of language. It is 
 generally the trained lawyer of our legislative bodies that 
 saves them from the disgrace of crude legislation. It would 
 be well if all legislation were submitted for final revision to 
 a committee of linguistic experts, as the Constitution of the 
 United States was submitted. We need a more thorough 
 study of the English language, not merely of English litera- 
 ture, in all our public schools. No nation can remain a 
 worthy representative of civilization whose public leaders are 
 ignorant of their mother tongue. The degeneracy of our 
 public men in this, as in other respects, is bodeful. Pulpit- 
 speech is not technical, but the teaching of the pulpit de- 
 mands not only careful thinking but careful statement. The 
 correctness of a man's teaching depends on his use of lan- 
 guage. The truth the preacher presents is important. It 
 exacts closely upon the medium of its transmission. On 
 moral as well as aesthetic grounds the form should answer to 
 the quality of thought. There are certain qualities of speech 
 that are eminently appropriate to the pulpit. At an early 
 period in the history of the Christian pulpit, the special de- 
 mands of Christian truth upon its form of presentation were 
 recognized. Augustine's discussion* was based on solid 
 rhetorical principles and is not without value today. The 
 worthier one's conception of the importance of Christian 
 
 *De Doctrina Christiana, part IV. 
 
410 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 truth the worthier his conception of its form will be. The 
 object of Christian preaching also accentuates the signifi- 
 cance of form. It is the production of character and the 
 regulation of conduct by the presentation of truth to the 
 heart and conscience as well as to the mind. Other speak- 
 ers deal with relatively transient results. The preacher deals 
 with results that are permanent and he is responsible with 
 respect to the instruments that are fitted to produce these 
 results. By his words shall he be justified and by his words 
 shall he be condemned. It is "the King's English" that is 
 committed to him. Surely no man who worthily represents 
 the sanctities of human speech may "murder" or abuse or 
 degrade "the King's English." People have a right to de- 
 mand that the man who speaks to them on the weighty 
 matters of religion shall speak worthily, and in such a way that 
 they will correctly understand and feel the force of the truth. 
 The reason why some men not thoroughly educated speak 
 with great power not only to the so-called common people 
 but to people of the best culture, is that they have learned, 
 and never unlearned, to speak the English language in a 
 clear, idiomatic, simple and forceful manner. Abraham 
 Lincoln in political life and Mr. Spurgeon in ministerial life 
 are notable examples. Such men as John Bunyan show 
 what can be done with the English language. Greek and 
 Roman orators knew the love of the people for their native 
 tongue and they cultivated it with enthusiasm. Preachers 
 might well take a lesson from them. If one would win the 
 hearts of the people he must know something of the magic 
 of their language. A simple, clear, idiomatic, pithy type of 
 English would greatly strengthen the pulpit. Increase in 
 the extemporaneous method of preaching may result in 
 undervaluation of questions of rhetorical form. It is only 
 careful literary culture that will save preaching from 
 deterioration. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 411 
 
 3. The preacher's responsibility as a professional man 
 to the general public has by suggestion already been antici- 
 pated^ but may well receive additional recognition. The cul- 
 ture of some professions does not find its best expression in 
 public speech and the speaking professions vary in this 
 regard. But the entire training of the preacher looks 
 toward his function as a public speaker. He is properly 
 assumed to represent preeminently the results of liberal cul- 
 ture, especially in the domain of speech. No audience will 
 or should tolerate in the pulpit what is accepted in the court- 
 room, or in the legislative assembly, or on the platform or 
 stump or even in the lecture room. It is the character of 
 the vocation that exacts this superiority. 
 
 The relation of the pulpit to the press accentuates this pro- 
 fessional responsibility. Oral utterance has been and still 
 is a great power. Trained speech has done much of the 
 World's best work. Its power seems somewhat lessened in 
 •our day. But its insignificance is not demonstrated. The 
 press, powerful as it is, can never displace good public speech. 
 The ultimate value of the press itself will depend upon the 
 quality of public speech. The platform and the pulpit are 
 behind the press. If these great popular forces should fail 
 the press would sink into insignificance or degradation. 
 The pulpit is still the sphere for most effective public address. 
 It is still the throne of the church. Rhetorical and oratorical 
 standards have changed. The old standards will not be re- 
 called. But the need of effective speech in the pulpit has 
 not changed. 
 
 As an educated man, the preacher is responsible for the 
 preservation of the purity and power of his mother tongue. 
 It is a sacred inheritance, and is a special charge for those 
 whose vocation necessitates a constant use of it. The 
 preacher deals with the loftiest ideal realities. The exaltation 
 of his calling exacts upon the exaltation of his instruments. 
 
412 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 Language is at its best in its association with religion. 
 Religion should save it from degradation. A classic like 
 our English Bible is a treasure to be guarded and worthily 
 used. The tendency towards the corruption of language 
 intensifies the responsibility. Many agencies are at work in 
 this line. Mr. George P. Marsh* speaks of the connection 
 between the debasement of national character and the de- 
 basement of language as illustrated by the French and Italian 
 languages. In this country democratic life absorbs all de- 
 generative influences, the influence of foreigners, of the 
 ignorant classes, of commercial, political and industrial life, 
 and of the vicious classes. The press is one of the sources 
 of corruption in the use of language. Mr. Richard Grant 
 White charges that we are suffering from newspaper Eng- 
 lish. Restless, ambitious, self-conceited, vulgar, mercenary, 
 half-educated men, he charges, have to a large extent the 
 handling of our public journals. It is less true today than 
 when he wrote. But it is still measurably true. DeQuincy, 
 in almost savage style, makes similar charges against the 
 newspaper press of England. He charges that through this 
 influence "an artificial dialect has come into play as the 
 dialect of ordinary life." But it should be remembered that 
 the press reflects to a considerable degree the habits and 
 tastes of the general public. If the press is flippant and 
 irreverent and artificial, it is an index of the character of the 
 people that support it. If the people become flippant and 
 unreal, its language can not preserve its dignity and 
 strength and purity. The press has caught a certain tone 
 of flippancy and vulgarity from a class of literary men mis- 
 named realists. It appears in a droll, grotesque waggery 
 miscalled humor. Responsible men should rescue language 
 from such degradation. The pulpit is especially responsible 
 to resist the tendency to vulgarize it. 
 
 * Lectures on the English Language X and XL 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM ' 413 
 
 II. Professional Factors in Rhetorical Form 
 1. The Common Factor. There must always be a com- 
 mon use of a language that is common. All professions use 
 it in much the same way. All types of oratory have elements 
 that are common. The speech of the English Parliament is 
 much like that of the English pulpit. French pulpit oratory 
 is strikingly like French deliberative or forensic oratory. 
 French preachers have perhaps been more decisively influ- 
 enced by the standards of secular rhetoric and oratory than 
 those of any other nation. But we find something corre- 
 sponding in this country. There is an American type of 
 oratory. It is conditioned by the peculiarities of our 
 national character and life, temperamental peculiarities, read- 
 ing habits, influence of the public press, immaturity, free- 
 dom, bulkiness, lack of the habit of close discrimination, 
 political and commercial life. The pulpit discloses its par- 
 ticipation in what is common in our speech. It has certain 
 elements of freedom, of idiomatic homeliness, of range and 
 variety that are not so noticeable in the preaching of other 
 countries. Modifications in theology and in the methods of 
 preaching in different periods, in different sections of the 
 country and in different religious communions have resulted 
 in bringing American preaching to something approximating 
 a common type. The study of rhetoric in our day, as well 
 as the tendency towards ecclesiastical unification, is in the 
 direction of what is common. Modern rhetoric is simple 
 and unelaborate, it recognizes the fundamental principles 
 that underlie all species of public utterance and regards them 
 as substantially the same. The structure of a sermon is not 
 generically different from that of a secular oration or 
 address, and the same rhetorical qualities belong to each. 
 This is to say that the laws of thought and of speech are 
 much the same in all realms of speech. And thus in what is 
 called elocution. We object to what is known as a pulpit 
 
4H THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 manner. It should conform to the ordinary standards of 
 delivery. We have no sacred eloquence, no sacred gesture 
 or posture, and no sacred rhetoric, although the name still 
 lingers. And so of language. Its laws are the same for 
 pulpit and platform. There is no sacred grammar. Or if 
 there be, it is all sacred. -Language is not a class product. 
 It is a common possession. The fact that it is largely a con- 
 ventional sign accentuates this fact that we must use it every- 
 where in much the same way. And yet we may correctly 
 speak of a pulpit style. 
 
 2. There are specific professional elements of rhetorical 
 form. The sermon as a rhetorical product differs somewhat 
 from any form of so-called secular address. The difference 
 is conditioned partly by the themes with which the preacher 
 deals, by the object he has in view and by the relation of the 
 personality of the speaker to both. The theme is distinc- 
 tively ethical and religious according to a Christian type, and 
 is something more and other than a product of the preacher's 
 independent thinking. The secular address has no such 
 limitation. The object is to secure a distinctively Christian 
 result. Like all public speech, it seeks to persuade, but the 
 object of the persuasion is different. It seeks the advance- 
 ment of personal manhood and of the kingdom of God. The 
 secular address seeks the earthly welfare of the individual 
 and of the social body. The theme and the aim involve also 
 a different sort of audience. In the one case it is a worship- 
 ping assembly. The chief interest is not the speaker, nor 
 even the speech, but the worship. The speech is the instru- 
 ment, the worship is the end, or rather the object of this 
 worship is the end. In the other case we have an assembly 
 whose prominent interest is largely in the speaker, and in his 
 subject, but ultimately in the relation of both to some per- 
 sonal or social advantage. In the pulpit address, also, the 
 relation of the speaker to his subject and his object is closer 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 415 
 
 than in the case of the secular address. In the former not 
 only what is said and why it is said, but who says it is of far 
 more importance than in the latter. The subject and the 
 object exact more severely upon the organ of utterance. 
 A close harmony between subject, object and agent is de- 
 manded. The preacher's supreme concern must be with the 
 truth he brings, with the object he aims at, with himself as 
 the organ of truth and with the condition of his hearers. It 
 is not enough that he make the hearer believe that what he 
 says is true, whether it be true or not. Nor is it enough 
 that his truth be a mere opinion. He must bring what has 
 been brought to him and that truth must have a validity of 
 its own, independently of his own opinion, or his own skill 
 in presenting it, and it must at the same time, be truth 
 that commends itself to his own conscience and heart, and 
 to the conscience and hearts of his hearers. It is not enough 
 that he make the hearer believe that the object he seeks is 
 a good one. His object must stand the test of Christian 
 criticism. It must conform to the demands of Christ, in 
 whose name he speaks. It is not enough that he make the 
 hearer believe that he is a good man, he must be what he pro- 
 fesses to be, and what his master and his cause require that he 
 should be. Hence in pulpit speech the theme and the cause 
 are far more dependent on the man than in secular speech. 
 
 Now all this will necessarily and inevitably have a modify- 
 ing influence upon pulpit rhetoric all through. The theme, 
 the object, the occasion, the associations, the audience con- 
 dition a distinctive rhetorical product, and thus only does it 
 become fit instrument to the accomplishment of the work in 
 hand. 
 
 3. But how do the conditions of pulpit speech affect a 
 modification in it as a rhetorical product and what will be 
 its characteristics? 
 
 (1) They affect the preacher's vocabulary. Chris- 
 
416 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tianity has created and consecrated a type of speech fitted to 
 the work of the pulpit. There is a Christian vocabulary. 
 The ideas of Christianity are incarnate in words that express 
 their innermost reality. In its use of the Greek language it 
 put new significance into old words and consecrated them 
 to new service. There is hardly an important word used 
 that does not undergo modification. But it effects a like 
 modification in any language in which it may be proclaimed. 
 There is a Christian vocabulary of the English language. 
 We consecrate certain words to a specifically Christian use. 
 They do not often appear in secular oratory, and when they 
 do appear there they are accommodated. Their use in the 
 way of rhetorical accommodation and for political purposes, 
 like the cross and the crown of thorns of a well-known polit- 
 ical speech, seems semi-sacrilegious and we more than half 
 suspect the tricks of the demagogue in the use. We have 
 consecrated a vocabulary as we have the pulpit in which it 
 is used. In the progress of Christian theology the number 
 of these terms has greatly increased. Every profession has 
 its own terminology. That of the preacher has its own and 
 it can not get on without it. Words onCe technical have 
 ceased to be so, and the number of such words is increasing. 
 They have become the property of the pulpit and the con- 
 gregation and they serve their best uses here, although they 
 are freely used in the personal intercourses of the Christian 
 life. There is a "language of Canaan." Christian people 
 understand each other because they speak this language. 
 The criticism of the Christian vocabulary of the pulpit, of 
 which we hear much in our day, is irrational. If it were 
 cant, the criticism would be valid. But there is no cant in 
 the use of Christian terms that still have a meaning. If the 
 meaning changes, the preacher has only to interpret the 
 change. To deny himself the use of a term that is fairly well 
 understood, or can be easily interpreted, were folly. Of 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 417 
 
 course terms that are strictly technical do not belong in the 
 pulpit. It were worse than pedantry to use such terms. 
 But there is a large Christian vocabulary that has ceased to 
 be technical. The use of such a vocabulary, as illustrated by 
 preachers like Mr. Spurgeon, greatly enriches preaching. 
 What the preacher needs to do is to put fresh life into this 
 vocabulary, not to commit it to the rubbish heap. The first 
 thing Christianity does, when introduced to a pagan people, 
 is to consecrate its language. The language must be conse- 
 crated before the people can be. And the power of Chris- 
 tianity to rescue language and consecrate it to holy uses is 
 one of its marvels. It not only creates new words and con- 
 secrates old ones, but elevates the whole tone of language, 
 and the possibilities of any language, as of any man, for 
 enrichment are never fully realized till religion gets hold of 
 it. It elevates the speech of common life. It gives us the 
 "speech that is seasoned with salt." It operates so uncon- 
 sciously that we hardly realize it. But its power in the pul- 
 pit is especially marked. The themes with which the 
 preacher deals, and the tone which they produce, disclose 
 their influence not only in vocabulary but in the entire char- 
 acter of speech. 
 
 (2) The conditions of the preacher's work influence the 
 entire culture of the man and such culture is behind all the 
 forms of his speech. Paul believed in a sort of verbal 
 inspiration. The style in which the message is conveyed is 
 appropriate to the character of the message. We need not 
 press the term verbal inspiration, for it may be misleading. 
 But it is perfectly evident that a preacher's culture will inev- 
 itably condition the character of his speech. Let us see how 
 this may be. 
 
 (a) It may be done by influencing his mental powers. 
 The great realities of religion quicken and expand the mental 
 faculties. The mind itself is* greatened that grapples with a 
 
418 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 great religious theme. We see this even in ordinary men. 
 No one ever comes to his best intellectually without the 
 quickening of his religious manhood. Recall the testimony 
 of Dr. Bushnell with respect to the influence of his religious 
 awakening upon his mental powers and thus upon his literary 
 style.* What quickens, strengthens, enlarges and dignifies 
 the mind will disclose its results in one's speech. Such 
 speech will have a weight, force, dignity and suggestiveness 
 that were otherwise impossible. 
 
 (b) It may be done by influencing the imagination. The 
 great realities of Christianity of themselves powerfully appeal 
 to the imagination. They are supernatural realities. We 
 must interpret the term supernatural, and it must have a 
 greatly modified significance. But to deny its reality in toto 
 is to deny Christianity itself. Without supernatural realities 
 the imagination would never be adequately developed. The 
 choicest products of Christianity have appeared in the sphere 
 of the imagination. Supernatural Christianity is behind all 
 best Christian art. Note its idealistic quality as contrasted 
 with the realistic quality of Greek art. If the world were to 
 lose its grasp of Christian supernaturalism civilization itself 
 would suffer an irreparable loss. Not only the truths and 
 facts of Christianity, but the forms in which they appear 
 appeal to the imagination. They are themselves largely 
 forms of the imagination. How mightily all this affects 
 human speech ! It is because of the influence of religion 
 upon the imagination that pulpit speech becomes the noblest 
 form of the art of speech. Nowhere beyond the Christian 
 pulpit has human speech ever risen to such heights. No 
 man can live in familiar contact with such lofty realities and 
 with the forms in which they are embodied without catching 
 something of their inspiration and reproducing them in the 
 quality of his speech. The literary style of many great 
 
 * Life and Letters of Horace Bushnell, pages 199, note, and 207-210. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 419 
 
 preachers has been modeled under this influence. Such 
 preachers as Theodore Parker bear witness. A good pulpit 
 style is product of the dignity, sobriety, rationality, imagina- 
 tive symbolism and emotional fervor of the Christian reve- 
 lation. It is a combination of the intellectual, the ethical, 
 the emotional and imaginative elements of style. An excess 
 of imaginative and emotional exuberance in pulpit speech is 
 as foreign to a true method of interpreting Christianity as a 
 corresponding exuberance in the architecture and decoration 
 of our churches. A certain sobriety and chaste simplicity 
 are demanded in the one as in the other case. The aim of 
 religion is ethical and the imagination must always be the 
 servant of the truth. But an imaginative style is a normal 
 pulpit product. 
 
 The prophetic utterance was the best form of the speech 
 of the early Christian church. It was a combination of the 
 reflective, the imaginative and the emotional elements. And 
 this is the best type for our day. 
 
 (c) It may be done, as has already been indicated, by 
 influencing the emotions. Preaching is the work of a man 
 who has a strong emotional interest in what he is doing. 
 Religion stirs the strongest and purest emotions of the heart. 
 But it is rational emotion. "The spirits of the prophets are 
 subject to the prophets." It is not a normal influence of 
 religion that stirs the feelings without touching the intelli- 
 gence. The Pentecostal utterances of Christian speech were 
 doubtless highly emotional. It was a natural expression of 
 the new feelings that were stirring in the hearts of men. We 
 find, however, a constant tendency to regulate emotion by 
 reflection. The later and more approved utterance was in 
 the form of the "word of wisdom/' and "of knowledge." 
 And, as already suggested, of prophecy. Thus preaching 
 took a more reasonable and intelligent form, although with 
 no complete suppression of emotion. That would have been 
 
420 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 to "quench the spirit." Normal religious emotion is not 
 independent of the imagination, for an imaginative utterance 
 is an emotional utterance. But clear, correct vision steadies 
 emotion. The ranter is not a normal product of the Chris- 
 tian pulpit. He is more distinctively a heathen product. The 
 prophet who raves is not the Christian prophet. But neither 
 on the other side is a one-sided intellectual type of speech the 
 normal product of the Christian pulpit. The speech in 
 which vision and judgment regulate feeling and in which feel- 
 ing inspires insight and intelligence, the speech that is self- 
 poised, yet earnest and earnest yet self-poised, is the normal 
 Christian speech. 
 
 (d) It may be done by influencing the moral nature. The 
 pulpit is a sphere for the training and culture of one's moral 
 powers. The natural effect of preaching is the enrichment 
 and ennobling of character. It not only presupposes that 
 the preacher is, but it tends to make him, an earnest, sincere, 
 consecrated man. And what affects character affects speech. 
 "If a man would write in a noble style, let him first possess 
 a noble soul," said Goethe. We may add: No such soul ever 
 uttered itself in words that have wholly failed to suggest that 
 nobility. A man's speech can not disguise his character for 
 any considerable length of time. A base man can never 
 handle a noble type of speech. Reverence, dignity, sincerity, 
 benevolence, integrity, disclose themselves unconsciously 
 and inevitably in the speech of a man whose vocation fur- 
 nishes the best sphere for the culture of these qualities and 
 who allows it to work its legitimate results. All the higher 
 ethical qualities of style are naturally developed in the pulpit. 
 Note for example the effect of a strong moral purpose upon 
 energy of style. The man whose will is set strongly upon 
 his task will speak with concentrated energy. A nerveless 
 and ignoble type of speech is a perverted product of the 
 Christian pulpit. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 421 
 
 III. Methods of Rhetorical Culture 
 There is no ideal literary style, as there is no ideal preach- 
 ing in general. Every preacher's rhetorical method should 
 be his own. Which is to say that it should be natural. Style 
 is a concrete reality, not an abstract conception. It is this 
 quality of naturalness that should distinguish it. It is some- 
 thing, therefore, that can not be taught by rule, nor mechan- 
 ically imitated. We speak of the born orator. We mean 
 that back of all the training of such a man there is a reason, 
 in his make up, why he speaks as he does and as well 
 as he does, just as back of a man's physical and psychical 
 training there is a reason in his physical and psychical con- 
 stitution why he has his own facial expression and gait and 
 manners. One in whom the native forces that are essential 
 to good speech are strong we call a born orator. But within 
 the limits of nature style may be cultivated. The born 
 orator must become the trained orator. Good qualities may 
 be bettered and bad ones overcome. The history of oratory 
 shows what training may do. Richard Grant White says 
 that John Bunyan's literary style could not have been bet- 
 tered. But it was bettered. It is a great mistake to suppose 
 that there can be anything approximating literary or rhe- 
 torical or oratorical perfection, without most laborious 
 effort. Let us look at some of the conditions and methods 
 of the rhetorical culture. 
 
 1. It is natural first of all to think of personal training 
 and discipline. No man has a well-trained style in the fullest 
 and best sense who is not himself a well-trained man. A 
 speaker expresses not only himself in his style but the results 
 of his culture. Personality is at its best and expresses itself 
 at its best only when it is a well-developed and well-disci- 
 plined personality. Training from without is not enough. 
 There must be training from within. It is a vital process. 
 Without a free and vigorous handling from within of one's 
 
422 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 powers rhetorical study and training are sure to result in an 
 artificial and unreal product. 
 
 I touch here once more upon a sphere which previously 
 we have frequently entered. But it may have new signifi- 
 cance in its specific relation to the culture of rhetorical form, 
 (i) Mental culture is necessary to rhetorical culture. A 
 man's style is as his thought. But the thought is as the 
 mind that produces it. The culture of rhetorical form is 
 therefore primarily the culture of the mind that generates 
 the thought which is the matter of the form. Three mental 
 requirements are essential to good rhetorical form, and they 
 are subject to indefinite culture, mental freedom, mental pro- 
 ductiveness, mental order. 
 
 In our best and most effective utterances our mental fac- 
 ulties move freely. A hampered mind cannot express itself 
 naturally, because not freely. The mind must be awakened 
 from within. Recall the depressing effect of rhetorical criti- 
 cism upon the mind when it is conscious of not being awake 
 to seize and sift and appropriate the good of it. An excess 
 of external criticism is likely to result in a slavish imitation. 
 There comes a time in almost every man's mental history 
 when he awakes to a new mental experience. It may come 
 early in one's student life. It may come later. Often the 
 experiences of practical life are necessary to awaken men 
 from within. It may come suddenly as a sort of mental 
 regeneration. Better were it if it came earlier. Happy the 
 teacher who has the skill to awaken young men in student 
 days from their slumbers. Happy the man who finds the 
 teacher who can awaken him to a knowledge of himself and 
 can quicken him into new mental life. But in student days 
 most young men fail to understand themselves, fail to get at 
 the secret of their strength, fail to know what work they can 
 do best or how best to do it and fail to avail themselves to 
 best advantage of the training to which they are subjected. 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 423 
 
 We ofter hear men say that they have in subsequent years 
 been obliged to emancipate themselves from the rhetorical 
 and homiletical training they have received in college and 
 divinity schools. The explanation of all this is evident. 
 Their training was too formal, too external and it became a 
 fetter. It was the call of life that awakened them from 
 within, and forced them to form new judgments of their 
 already acquired knowledge. Then they began to work with 
 freedom and facility and satisfaction. They are at last upon 
 their feet. They have found themselves. Their methods of 
 working seem more natural to them because their innermost 
 powers have been awakened. They are emancipated from the 
 tyranny of external rules, and they work unconsciously in- 
 line with inwardly regulative principles. Such consciousness 
 of new freedom and power may be accompanied by too 
 strong a reaction against former teaching and training. But 
 their thraldom was partly their own fault. Ministers some- 
 times arraign the homiletic teaching and training to which 
 they were subjected in the divinity school. There is likely 
 to be a good deal of injustice in this. A large part of every 
 man's early training will almost necessarily be of a some- 
 what formal, routine sort. A great amount of drudgery with 
 small things is necessary to any man's equipment. We must 
 do a great deal that seems useless and the result of which we 
 cannot consciously appropriate at the time. It is a great 
 mistake to suppose that all this is utterly useless and that 
 time spent in such drudgery was wholly wasted. And yet 
 there is a good deal of waste in all our educative processes, 
 and largely for the reason that the student is not mentally 
 awakened. It is only the thoroughly awakened mind that 
 can make available to best uses the products of any kind of 
 training. Impatience with most scrupulous, painstaking, 
 toilful effort of any sort in one's rhetorical and homiletic 
 training in years of preparation would be a great mistake. 
 
424 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 But it would be a more serious mistake for one not to learn 
 that he must find out how to use his training, whatever it may 
 be, to best advantage. And it is greatly to be hoped that no 
 young minister will be obliged to wait till he gets out into 
 the work of life before he awakens to such knowledge of 
 himself, his gifts, capacities and needs as will enable him to 
 make useful unto the utmost whatever training he may get 
 in earlier years. Whatever, then, at any time awakens the 
 mind to freedom of action and to the concentration of its 
 forces tends to the production of those qualities of style that 
 are necessary to effectiveness in the pulpit. Such awaken- 
 ings often result in a sudden and marked change in one's 
 rhetorical style. Changes in the style of the preaching of 
 Chalmers, Robertson and Bushnell are classic illustrations. 
 We see something like this on a large scale in the revival of 
 a national literature. An awakening of the national mind 
 emancipates literature from its formal, imitative and lifeless 
 character, and makes it a new power among the people. An 
 age of literary pedantry gives place to an age of creative 
 activity. 
 
 Mental fulness and productiveness are a condition of good 
 literary form. The fuller one is of his subject, the better, 
 other conditions being given, will he express himself. Of 
 course men differ greatly in this matter. A man like Henry 
 Ward Beecher speaks with an ease, an affluence and a natural- 
 ness because of his enormous intellectual productiveness, 
 that were impossible for the ordinary preacher. But any 
 man of fair equipment may enlarge his mental resources, and 
 increase his producing power till he shall find increasing 
 facility of expression. We are told that the mind should 
 never be forced. Thought that has value will come freely. 
 But thought that is laboriously produced may win for itself 
 at last a free and easy expression, as the style of men noted 
 as hard workers demonstrates. A mind that is not over- 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 425 
 
 worked and jaded should be whipped into vigorous action. 
 One is not fully himself who is not the master of his mental 
 resources. An indolent habit of mind means a weak, con- 
 fused, unimpressive habit of utterance. A desultory habit 
 limits mental energy and productiveness, and so power of 
 expression. The mind should be held steadily and concen- 
 tratedly to its task. Mental concentration means mental 
 vigor. 
 
 Mental training by conditioning orderly thought also be- 
 comes tributary to rhetorical form. Orderly thought means 
 clear expression. Perspicacity is back of perspicuity. It 
 means also naturalness of expression, for there are no gaps 
 or unbridged gulfs of thought into which the mind plunges 
 and from which it must extricate itself by a blind struggle 
 that contorts rhetorical expression. It means also forceful 
 utterance, for thought that is held strictly and firmly will 
 express itself with a vigor corresponding. The force of 
 mental momentum imparts itself to the style of speech. As 
 thought kindles in its orderly movement, speech glows 
 correspondingly. Mental disorder is mental paralysis. A 
 mob is never in good righting trim. 
 
 (2) Moral culture is necessary to the best rhetorical cul- 
 ture. The aims and purposes of a man's life inevitably affectf 
 his speech. What lifts one's moral; and religious nature ele- 
 vates and ennobles his utterance. It may do it consciously 
 or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, largely unconsciously 
 and indirectly. Moral purpose is essential to effective 
 preaching. No true preacher can be indifferent as to results. 
 The best preachers are students of methods of effectiveness 
 on moral grounds. To produce and arrange thought is not 
 the whole problem. A man's way of putting his thought is 
 an important matter, and the man who makes a successful 
 study of this needs behind it all a direct, strong moral pur- 
 pose. People are ready for the man who speaks with a pur- 
 
426 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 pose and who, therefore, speaks effectively. The rhetorician 
 and the elocutionist may be dangerous teachers for the man 
 who subjects himself to them without putting strong moral 
 purpose into his work. A habit of moral earnestness may 
 be tributary to clearness of utterance. It knows itself as 
 responsible to be intelligible. Important interests demand 
 it. The man who honors the truth and loves his fellowmen 
 will wish to get his message clearly before those who wait 
 upon his ministry. It is associated with that quality we call 
 fervor, a species of which is unction, one of the qualities of 
 energetic utterance. It will be real, not professional emo- 
 tion. It will not be a hothouse exuberance of fancy, but it 
 will give imagination good range. Exactness of statement 
 may be a rhetorical virtue in the preacher. But the speech 
 of a man who is in dead earnest is not likely to be so severely, 
 so coldly exact as to be ineffective. Such speech is remote 
 from the ordinary audience, because defective in emotional 
 warmth and in moral cogency. It would discredit a certain 
 largeness and suggestiveness which the use of the imagina- 
 tion and feelings impart to preaching. There are preachers 
 that seem to be afraid of their emotions and of their imagina- 
 tions. They are afraid to let themselves out in a large and 
 suggestive way. They whip their thoughts soundly in order 
 to make them humble and tame. They shave them down to 
 the bone, so that no fleshly bloom is left upon them. They 
 get rid of all sail and all steam and they run their homiletic 
 craft under the bare poles. A strong moral purpose will 
 save a man from such ineffectiveness. It will save him on 
 the other hand from the exaggerations of the sensationalist 
 or the emptiness of the vendor of cant. It will produce a 
 genuinely earnest type of speech that is fervid without ex- 
 travagance or cant or without intellectual priggishness or 
 ethical diletantism. 
 And such speech will have moral pungency. No display 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 427 
 
 here, no self-consciousness. It is straight speech. The 
 form catches the reality, the vitality, of thought, feeling and 
 purpose that lie behind. Frederick Robertson was a 
 preacher of this sort. 
 
 Sincerity and sobriety also are qualities inseparable from 
 such speech. A preacher must be forcible, but he is respon- 
 sible for the sobriety of his statements. Insincerity and ex- 
 travagances were the vices of classical rhetoric that brought 
 it into disfavor with the Christian church. A genuinely 
 earnest man will not strain after emotional effects. Flip- 
 pancy is out of place in the pulpit. Men like Dean Swift 
 and Robert South were deficient in genuine moral earnest- 
 ness and sincerity. Some of the old Puritan preachers even 
 were deficient in this matter. 
 
 2. I suggest secondly study of the properties of good 
 pulpit style. One must know what such a style is, must have 
 some standard wherewith to test it. Knowledge of a rhe- 
 torical defect presupposes knowledge of what discloses it as 
 a defect and knowledge of a rhetorical virtue presupposes 
 knowledge of what vindicates it as such. A preacher should 
 know his rhetorical defects and should be intolerant of them. 
 It is easy to slip into faulty habits of speech. In the pres- 
 sure of modern life it is difficult to maintain a high rhetorical 
 standard. It is well for a preacher, especially in the early 
 period of his professional life while his rhetorical habits are 
 forming, to pause in his work and raise practical concrete 
 questions : Does what I am now saying express just what I 
 mean, or is it ambiguous? If I express myself in this way, 
 will my hearers, at any rate most of them, but better all of 
 them, understand me or understand me correctly? It is 
 clear enough to me, but is it proportionately clear to them? 
 Are they familiar with this terminology which is so clear to 
 me? Will they readily get the meaning of this sentence, 
 which is clear enough to me? Is it necessary to explain 
 
428 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 terms that express fine distinctions in thought? Is it neces- 
 sary to reconstruct this sentence in order to straighten it out 
 into simplicity and perspicuity? Shall I satisfy or offend 
 the tastes of my hearers, or shall I meet the claims of my own 
 profession upon me as an educated man or the exactions of 
 my own best taste and judgment, if I indulge myself in such 
 and such forms of expression? Am I succeeding in making 
 a sufficiently strong expression in my use of terms or in the 
 structure of my sentences? In such forms of expression am 
 I conscious of an unnatural effort or is it strictly normal? 
 Is my vocabulary or the architecture of my sentences strict 
 idiomatic English? It is well to raise these questions not 
 infrequently. It all means, of course, has my pulpit style the 
 qualities of exactness, clearness, elegance, force, natural- 
 ness and purity that are necessary to secure the best results 
 of preaching? It involves a study of the laws of language 
 as related to these properties. These laws have been inves- 
 tigated, registered and formulated in the science of rhetoric. 
 To come then to the science of rhetoric for the knowledge 
 of a good style is to come to the formulated results of obser- 
 vation and experience. It is to come to the standards of 
 intelligence and good taste. And this is valid for all types 
 of speech, all occasions, all themes, all speakers. But a 
 good pulpit style must meet specific as well as general de- 
 mands. Generic qualities must adapt themselves to specific 
 wants. Different themes call for and naturally secure dif- 
 ferent rhetorical forms. A style that speaks prevailingly to 
 the understanding will differ essentially from one that speaks 
 chiefly to the feelings and imagination. A man who treats 
 his subject argumentatively will speak differently from one 
 who presents it illustratively. The evangelistic sermon will 
 have a different rhetorical style from the doctrinal or ethical 
 sermon. The character of the audience also is involved. 
 What might be perfectly clear to one audience would be 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 429 
 
 obscure to another. What might strike one audience as 
 rude and vulgar would impress another as simply strong and 
 manly. What might captivate one would offend another. 
 Even the size of the audience may well be considered. A 
 small audience, especially of plain people, need plain speech. 
 An elaborate or elevated style of speaking to a small audi- 
 ence and on ordinary occasions would not be fitting, it would 
 not be in good rhetorical form. Rhetorical form has rela- 
 tion, moreover, to the condition of the preacher. No man 
 always preaches in just the same way. Style varies with sub- 
 jective conditions and external influences. It varies in the 
 same discourse. Extemporaneous preachers especially dis- 
 close a considerable range of variety in their pulpit style. 
 They frequently deliberately break up their style and shoot 
 suddenly down from the elevated to the homely and collo- 
 quial method of speech. They are also unconsciously ex- 
 posed to a great variety of unforeseen influences that break 
 in upon their speech and that often secures a momentary 
 freshness and pungency and power. Some of these in- 
 fluences are beyond the reach of investigation. But many 
 of them are subjects of study and he who could be a master 
 of assemblies will investigate them. 
 
 3. I suggest thirdly the study of models. Homiletic style 
 like homiletic structure is best studied in its concrete prod- 
 ucts. And in the study of the one as of the other three 
 methods are essential. (1) The process of analytic inves- 
 tigation is one method. The verbal and grammatical ele- 
 ments of a preacher's product or of any literary product are 
 important. Words and sentences can not convey all there is 
 in a man's style. They may suggest more than they them- 
 selves contain. But style is largely a matter of vocabulary 
 and syntax. Emerson was a student of the verbal and gram- 
 matical elements of English. His chaste and wealthy vocab- 
 ulary is product of minute, painstaking study of words. 
 
430 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 It was this sort of study that Dr. Johnson had in mind when 
 he advised students to give their days and nights to Addison. 
 Orators have studied in this manner. Demosthenes studied 
 Thucydides with reference to the vocabulary, and the order 
 and the rhythm of the sentences. There is a choice and 
 order of words that result in different qualities of style. All 
 artists have been analytical students of their art. The 
 experimental sketches of different parts of the human body 
 which one sees in the studio of Michael Angelo at Florence 
 indicate the artist's knowledge of anatomy. His statue of 
 Moses shows his genius for powerful effects in statuary, but 
 behind it stands most careful and painstaking and minute 
 analysis of anatomical structure. A public speaker, even 
 though he be what we call a born orator, will never be the 
 master of his art without study of the elements of his art. 
 Mere familiarity with the impressions that come from a lit- 
 erary product will not bring an adequate knowledge of the 
 sources of the impressions. The one who merely absorbs 
 impressions can give no rational account of them to himself 
 or to others. An analytical examination of vocabulary, 
 syntax, figures of speech, qualities of style, different species 
 of composition, will be of value to the preacher long after 
 the preparatory period of study. Ordinary reading can not 
 be a substitute for such examination. To read an author 
 is not to study him. 
 
 (2) The process of unconscious absorption, however, is 
 another method. Much that is best in a man's literary style 
 is caught by what we call the literary sense. There is an 
 unnamable quality that seems to lie back of a man's language. 
 It belongs to the man and language while it hints at it, does 
 not wholly interpret it. We get at it in a half-conscious way 
 by familiarity with it, just as by familiarity with our friends 
 and without much conscious reflection or critical analysis, 
 we detect in a thousand little manifestations what lies behind 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 431 
 
 their faces and forms in their characters, just as in our 
 observation of a landscape scene we take in unconsciously 
 and unreflectively a multitude of things that enter into the 
 sum total of our impressions. In Italy and Germany unedu- 
 cated people are in constant contact with the best products 
 of painting, sculpture and music, and they are often better 
 art critics than educated people in this country. We are 
 obliged to go abroad for the study not only of art principles 
 but art products. No American needs to go abroad to study 
 rhetoric and oratory. What we need, however, in this 
 country is a better use of the English language in common 
 life. One who lives in a good literary atmosphere uncon- 
 sciously forms correct habits of speech and a correct literary 
 taste. Literary sense is largely the product of unconscious 
 influence. Richard Grant White traced his literary tastes 
 and his use of the English language to the atmosphere of the 
 school in which he fitted for college, to the influence of his 
 teachers and school fellows in their use of English and to 
 his study of English classics. We can readily trace the in- 
 fluence of the English training-schools for boys, like Rugby 
 and Eton, upon the speech of the public men of England. 
 An idiomatic and energetic English style may be fostered 
 by habitual intercourse with the so-called common people, 
 especially those of native vigor of mind. The average, 
 every-day sort of man is accustomed to say what he means 
 in a simple, straight and forceful manner. But if one would 
 cultivate a refined use of language he will cultivate the 
 society of those who speak and write the better type of 
 English. The influence of the written literary product is 
 great, but the influence of the oral product is greater. And 
 yet absorption of the written product is a large part of a 
 preacher's literary culture, and especially of the best poets. 
 (3) Practice in writing connected with study is essential. 
 Thus only can the results of study be utilized to best advan- 
 
432 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 tage. The objects of our own investigation or of our intel- 
 lectual commerce are of chief value in calling out and direct- 
 ing our own activities. If they supersede our own activities 
 their influence is harmful. 
 
 With regard to practice, the following suggestions may be 
 made. With most of them all students of English are 
 familiar and they have found them of practical value : 
 
 The practice of examining specimens of English that are 
 defective with respect to the essential properties of style, 
 e. g., purity, exactness, clearness, elegance, force, etc., in 
 order to find out just where the defect lies or in what it con- 
 sists and then making the effort to correct the defect. The 
 practice of absorbing or memorizing the substance of the 
 thought of some writer noted for excellence of style, some 
 preacher by preference, and then incorporating it in one's 
 own language, and comparing the result. One sees by com- 
 parison where one's defect lies. One thus tests himself by 
 his model. Having the example immediately before one he 
 may in a free way avail himself of what it can do for him. 
 It is not done mechanically. 
 
 The practice of translating poetry into prose. This famil- 
 iarizes one with poetic diction and at the same time enables 
 one to turn it into its proper prose equivalent. A purely 
 poetic diction would be offensive in the pulpit. Yet the 
 semi-poetic or a prose-poetic diction is desirable in preaching. 
 The practice of turning poetry into prose is an aid in the 
 culture of such diction. This is the more important in the 
 early years of professional study. The scientific habit of 
 mind or the habit of mental abstraction leads to the cultiva- 
 tion of an abstruse and non-poetic diction. 
 
 The practice of translating from foreign languages. Such 
 practice habituates one to careful observation of the pecu- 
 liarities, either the excellencies or the possible defects of 
 any classic, in order to get not only the meaning but the 
 
THE RHETORICAL FORM 433 
 
 spirit of it. Careful observation of delicate shades of mean- 
 ing is essential to this. Such practice with a dead language 
 is more valuable than with a living language, because it is 
 more difficult. It is more difficult because the objects which 
 the words represent are for the most part no longer in 
 existence. We are obliged, therefore, to exercise the imag- 
 ination more largely, and it is such exercise that is of great 
 value in the study of language. Such practice also enriches 
 one's vocabulary. To reproduce fine shadings of thought 
 taxes vocabulary. It necessitates careful discrimination and 
 it is discrimination that enlarges vocabulary. It cultivates 
 ingenuity in the effort to overcome the difficulty of rendering 
 in idiomatic English what appears in a wholly foreign idiom. 
 Orators have been accustomed to this practice for the pur- 
 pose of mastering such difficulties and of enriching their 
 vocabulary. 
 
 Careful independent practice in writing. There are but 
 few, I imagine, who attain to a good use of English who 
 have not at some time habituated themselves to the com- 
 posing of each sentence of a written product carefully in the 
 mind, and to the uttering of it audibly before it is written 
 down. It may be of value to vocalize it vigorously before it 
 is written. At any rate it is not well to write the sentence 
 until it is clearly conceived and distinctly uttered. This will 
 be slow work, but it will pay in the end. One who is willing 
 to begin with care can afford to leave the question of facility 
 and rapidity to the future. They will come in due course. 
 Better spend a few months or even years in careful pains- 
 taking with the certainty of ultimate facility of excellence, 
 than begin with a careless habit with the certainty of a facility 
 of hopeless imperfection. 
 
 This last suggestion may need some limitation. Correc- 
 tions should not quench vitality. One should therefore, 
 compose in such way as will secure this. Proper care, how- 
 
434 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 
 
 ever, does not devitalize style. We do not find that any of 
 the great writers, who have, as we know, patiently and toil- 
 fully elaborated their English, have worked the life out of it. 
 But in the flow and fervor of production it may be difficult 
 to secure the perfection of form one would desire, without 
 losing something of the freshness that is so necessary to 
 effectiveness. One may be so wrought up that it may be 
 difficult to combine critical severity with emotional freedom. 
 In such case it may sometimes be best to run off one's work 
 at a single sitting. The work can be corrected, and often 
 best corrected after it has been for a little time laid aside. 
 In this way vitality may be protected and defects corrected. 
 One's best work, even with respect to literary form, is often 
 done under high pressure and with great rapidity. Sermons 
 written in such moments of exalted enthusiasm will hardly 
 need much change. Still one will wish to avail himself of an 
 hour of cool reflection in order to look up faults. But if one 
 can compose in the careful way above suggested and at the 
 same time keep the flow and flush and vigor essential to 
 effectiveness, he will best do so. 
 
 Writing in a tentative way is often necessary in order to 
 limber up the mind and get it into free action. It may take 
 time to get well started. The mind needs plenty of rope. It 
 is well to let it have its own way for a while, till it begins to 
 show that it is ready to begin work in good earnest. When 
 that moment comes one will throw the product into the 
 waste-paper basket and start anew. All this is simply to say 
 that in the right cultivation of rhetorical form it is necessary 
 to get the mind into free action, for one's true style is an 
 utterance of the mind when it works with least restraint. 
 
 
 
 

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