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SERMON

PREACHED BEFORE THE

MAINE BAPTIST CONVENTION,

HOLDEN AT

BRUNSWICK, JUNE IG, 1846.

Bt REV. J. T. CHAMPLIN,
PROFESSOR IN WATERV1LLE COLLEGE.

PORTLAND :
PRINTED BY CHARLES DAY & CO.
1846.

Portland, June 17, 1846.
Rev. and Dear Sir :
It affords me pleasure to be the organ of communicating to you
the thanks of the Maine Baptist Convention for your Sermon,
delivered before them yesterday, and their unanimous request that
you will furnish a copy for the press. Allow me to add my own
hope that you will increase the usefulness of the principles of that
discourse, by allowing their free circulation among our ministers and
churches. A. Wilson, Pres. ofthe Conv.
Rev. J. T. Champlin.

Waterville, June 20, 1846.
Rev. and Dear Sir :
Your note communicating to me the vote ofthe Convention, re
questing a copy of my Sermon for publication, was duly received.
I am gratified to learn by this request, that it is thought to contain
sentiments of something more than temporary interest, and in the
hope that such really will be found to be its character, I herewith
place it at your disposal.
Yours very truly, J. T. Champlin.
Rev. A. Wilson, Pres. of Conv.

SERMON.

2 TIMOTHY 2 : 15.
"Rightly dividing the Word of Truth."
The Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus form
a peculiar species of sacred literature. Having been
originally written to two youthful preachers of the
Gospel, to whom the Apostle had committed impor
tant trusts, they naturally abound in minute personal
directions as to the proper manner of discharging
the duties of their office. Thus, while the other
portions of Scripture are mostly employed in stating,
illustrating and enforcing the great principles which
lie at the foundation of religion and are designed for
the guidance ofthe church at large, these brief Epis
tles are more especially devoted to the exposition of
the nature and duties of the office of those who were
to be the teachers of the church. Being designed
particularly for this class, I cannot but think, that they
deserve more special attention from them than they
have been wont to receive. While the Bible, as a
whole, is alone competent to inspire the preacher
with all the views and feelings which are suited to
his office, he will find in these Epistles an unusually
large number of passages bearing directly upon his

profession, and fraught with the weightiest matterfor
his consideration. A frequent and attentive perusal
of them, with special reference to their meaning and
spirit, could not fail to call the attention of ministers
to the nature and duties of their office, and correct
certain false notions, which have restrained the move
ments and crippled the energies of many of our
religious teachers.
The business of the preacher, if I may be allowed
the expression, has been regarded too little as an art.
It has been looked upon, not too much in its divine
aspects, but too little in its human bearings. The
solemn impressions under which all who have any
proper sense of its sacredness, enter upon the office,
and the awful power of God which appears to per
vade and direct the whole machinery of religion,
seem to say to them, "stand still and see the salvation
of God." But as God works by means, and as no
mere passive state can be in the highest sense virtu
ous, must we not conclude, that, even in this sacred
calling, while we rely most implicitly upon the divine
power to give the increase, we are at liberty — nay,
are under obligation, to plant and to water with all
the skill which we can summon to our aid ? How
else, to say nothing of other passages, are we to
understand the exhortation addressed to Timothy in
immediate connection with the words of our text ?
" Study to show thyself approved unto God, a work
man that needeth not to be ashamed."
Now the skilful preaching of the Gospel must con
sist, partly in bringing out in due proportion the

different features of Gospel truth, and partly in mak
ing a skilful application of them to the nature and
condition of man. The first of these ends, indeed,
is necessary to faithful preaching, and hence has
been more frequently attained than the second. But
the latter not less than the former, and if possible,
even more so, is essential to skilful preaching. In
describing, therefore, what I consider a right division
of the word, I shall embrace in my observations both
of these points.
The minister of Christ, then, if he would at the
same time approve himself to God, and be a work
man that needeth not to be ashamed, should rightly
divide the word:
I. In respect to its topics of excitement, edi
fication and consolation. These doubtless em
brace the principal subjects ofthe Gospel, as they
must of every system designed for the moral and
religious improvement of man. We need to be
roused to a sense of our duty, to be instructed and
trained in the course of duty, and to be consoled in
the various trials which we meet in performing it.
But while the fundamental elements of the Gospel
are thus limited in number, each of these elements
branches out into an endless variety.
The topics of excitement, — while they all tend to
one result, the rousing of men from that awful apathy
to their religious interests, which is aptly described
in the Scriptures as being dead in trespasses and
sins,— how varied they are in kind, in coloring, in
intensity, and in the principles of our nature to which

6
they are addressed ! At one time we are appealed
to by considerations which relate to the present, at
another by those which relate to the future ; at one
time we are frozen into horror by the terrors of the
Lord, at another are melted into tenderness by the
love of Christ ; now we are excited to hope by win
ning words, and now are made to quake with fear by
terrible denunciations ; here the feelings are gently
touched, and there they are stirred to their lowest
foundations ; on the one side are placed the joys of
heaven, and on the other the agonies of hell.
The methods of instruction too, how numerous and
varied! We are instructed by precept and by exam
ple, by symbols and by narrative, by Providence and
by history, by prophecy and by miracles, by learning
and by rustic simplicity, by men of varied tempera
ments and intellectual habits, and, above all, by the
Lord of glory himself—" line upon line and precept
upon precept, here a little and there a little."
In the topics of consolation, also, we find the same
variety. No condition of trial can be conceived of,
which is not furnished with its appropriate support.
There is consolation for the sick, for the bereaved
and for the dying, for the down-cast and for the
down-trodden, for the poor and for the persecuted,
for hope in all her dejections and for virtue in all her
struggles, "A sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial for our fears."
It will be seen, then, that few and simple as are the
general subjects embraced in the Scriptures, there is

in detail an endless variety. Just as any particular
country is characterized, in general, by a few prom
inent features : by a mountain-ridge here, a spreading
plain there, and a swelling river yonder ; while, upon
minuter inspection, these mountain-ridges are found
to branch off into innumerable ramifications of all
possible shapes and sizes, and these plains to sink
into vallies and retire in smiling dales and nooks
among the hills, while the rivers spread out like a net
as they are traced towards their sources, until they
pervade the whole land.
Here surely is scope enough for any one, but the
question is, in what proportion should these various
topics be presented to the mind? In the same,
doubtless, in which they are found in the Bible. Now
of the three classes of topics which have been referred
to, there can be no doubt that those of a didactic
nature are the most numerous and the most extend
ed. And from this I infer, that the minister, while
he gives due attention to the other topics, ought to
make the largest part of his preaching didactic. By
didactic, however, I do not mean simply, nor princi
pally, the abstract discussion of doctrines and duties,
but along with this, and indeed, engrafted upon it, a
vivid and practical view of the various duties of the
christian life, — a steady inculcation of religious
sentiments and holy exercises, a constant endeavor to
show men that religion is co-extensive with all the
acts of the life, and thus to produce a living, opera
tive faith.
Is this generally done ? You will all agree with

me, I think, that it is not. 1 know not how others
may feel, but I have for a long time felt, that too
large a proportion of the preaching in our pulpits was
devoted to the exciting element in religion, and not
enough to the didactic, — in short, that we have
preached too much simply for conversion, and not
enough for the edification and training up of the
church in holiness. This, I am aware, is a delicate
point to touch upon, and one may well shrink from
giving utterance to sentiments which are so liable to
misapprehension ; but I am persuaded that it must be
touched upon and the error be corrected, before the
ministry will exert that high moral influence which it
was designed to exert. Why, what is religion, my
hearers ? A gush of feeling, an agony of conviction
and a transport of joy ? No, but a life devoted to
God. A life, it is true, bursting forth in the troubled
waters of agitated feelings, but flowing on in a tran
quil stream, widening and deepening as it advances,
and every where reflecting the image of God. Of
this life, the most important moment, undoubtedly,
is conversion, but, what it is important to remember,
it is but a moment,-^-the mere beginning of what is
to be carried out in action ever after.
The great deficiency in religious character, which
pervades alike all the branches of the church, is want
of steadiness and continuity, — a sad deficiency of
religious sentiment and principle in the every-day
pursuits of life. There is no want of pretension to
what is technically called " religious experience,"
but how lamentably small is the number of those who

uniformly breathe a devout and humble spirit? whose
religious principle you would feel safe to trust under
any circumstances of trial, and whose daily walk is
above reproach ? — who live, in short, as if continu
ally under the " great Task-master's eye ?" Now I
fear that this type of christian character has been too
much fostered, unintentionally, of course, by the style
of preaching, and may I not add, as I would include
myself among the number, by the style of living
adopted by the teachers of the church. O, my
brethren, I tremble when I think ofthe responsibility
which rests upon the ministry in this respect ! We
live in the midst of a great and prosperous people,
free to licentiousness, with avenues to wealth and to
pleasure, opening on every side, without the restraint
even of established forms, either in society or religion,
and the god of this world enthroned at the corner of
every street. What is to save this eager, bustling
mass of humanity from that fatal spirit of worldfiness
which seals up the eye and the heart to every thing
beyond the precincts of time ? How are these world-
gods to be wrested from them, and the God of heaven
to be enthroned as the controling divinity of their
hearts ? How is that impetuous current of thought
and feeling to be diverted from its turbid course and
to be guided into the channels of devotion ? Under
God, this great work devolves upon the church, and
more especially upon the teachers of the church.
And can this be accomplished wholly or principally,
even, by awakening the religious feelings of men
2

10
without guiding and strengthening them ? Have we
accomplished our work, have we discharged our
commission as ministers of the Gospel, when we have
got men into the church ? Let the present state of
the church answer. It is time, my brethren, that we
became aware of our responsibility here.
The restrained position into which we have been
thrown in this country, as opposed, on the one hand,
to Romanism, with which religion is little else than a
sentiment, — a sentimental training to reverence for
forms and institutions, and to Unitarianism on the
other, with which religion is merely a correct moral
deportment, has blinded us to the importance of these
elements as important parts of religion. I would not
have the desire less intense to see men converted,
nor bate a jot from the fundamental importance of
the doctrine of a change of heart, but I would have
added to this an equally earnest desire to see men
trained up in the principles and sentiments of religion.
How else can we expect to see the legitimate influ
ences of the Gospel exerted upon those who enjoy its
privileges ? How can we expect to see the church
rise to that position of moral grandeur and command
ing influence which it was designed to occupy, and
which is absolutely essential to save this great people
from political and eternal death, until we see her
ministers, to say nothing of her members, ascending
to the lofty elevation of a daily devout and holy life,
and with the earnestness and perseverance of intense
piety, striving, by the inculcation upon their flocks
of sound doctrine and pious sentiment, to raise them

II
to the same elevation ? Ye Christian Pastors, whom
1 see before me in so great numbers, are you pre
pared to take this position, and spend yourselves in
these pious labors to save the church and the world ?
God give you grace so to do, for I know that you
need no common unction to prepare you for this
work. II. The christian minister should rightly
divide the Word in respect to its sterner and
milder features. The wisdom of God has happily
varied the tenor of Scripture in this respect also. We
have the Law as well as the Gospel, commands as
well as promises, threatenings as well as invitations,
denunciations as well as expostulations. Just as in
all the works of God, the stern and the lovely are
blended. But it is important to observe, that the
harsh features are employed only by way of relief, —
in order to heighten and set off the lovely. So of
Scripture truth, there is just enough of the severe
and the denunciatory to prepare us for the appreci
ation and reception of the mild and the winning, —
" the law is our school-master to lead us to Christ."
We must think, then, that it is a great mistake in
preaching, to give any considerable prominence to
the exhibition of the terrors ofthe Lord. Such exhi
bitions, doubtless, are sometimes useful, — they are by
no means to be wholly dispensed with. In the prop
agation of religion, as in all moral enterprizes, there
are some cases which cannot be reached by moving
appeals, — like certain diseases, they require a severer

12
treatment. But let this treatment be reserved for
such cases alone. Let the melting accents of divine
love be addressed to all, but the threatenings of the
divine vengeance only to the hardened and the rep
robate ; just as in a shower, the rain descends upon
every thing alike, while the lightning strikes and
shivers to pieces, only the craggy mountain and the
gnarled oak, which lift themselves up in defiance
against the clouds.
What, as preachers, we want to have impressed
upon our minds here, is, that in nearly all cases, if
we are ever the means of winning men to Christ, it
must be by the heart-felt, affectionate, melting exhi
bition ofthe love of Christ, — by leading rather than by
driving men to the Saviour, — by exciting their hopes
rather than by awakening their fears, — by holding up
the promises rather than by exhibiting the threaten
ings, — by descending to men in their degradation,
and laying upon them a gentle hand, and kindly whis
pering into their ear that there is hope for them yet.
Whoever will faithfully and perseveringly carry out
this course of treatment in the cure of souls, cannot
fail to be owned of God as an honored instrument in
their recovery. Let it not, however, be supposed,
that in order to this, it is necessary for one to be
a novice. All things considered, who has been
more successful, as a minister of the Gospel, than
Jonathan Edwards, and yet who is farther from a
novice ? I know that such is the power of an affec
tionate presentation of the truth, that feeble powers

13
have often effected, in the reformation of men, what
the greatest powers have failed to do.
" The coarsest reed that trembles in the marsh,
If Heaven select it for its instrument,
May shed celestial music on the breeze,
As clearly as the pipe whose virgin gold
Befits the lip of Phasbus ;  "
But while we freely admit this, and see in it a proof
of the wisdom of God, in placing it within the power
of any one, however humble his capacities, to be
eminently useful in the church ; still it is not to be
denied, that talents and attainments, if only the proper
spirit can be secured, have their influence here as
well as elsewhere.
The truth is, the style of preaching here advocated,
in order to its highest success, requires these accom
plishments, more, perhaps, than any other. It is in
its nature simple, and hence is in danger of becom
ing trite. In order to commend it, with the greatest
effect, to worldly-minded and hardened men, it needs
to be dignified by character and varied by learning.
He who is determined to know nothing among men
but Jesus Christ and him crucified, is in danger of
being regarded, by the self-conceited worldling, as a
man of but one idea. To prevent the obstacle which
such a conception of him will interpose to his useful
ness, he needs to study his theme profoundly in all
its bearings, till its features, one after another, rise
to his view, like the features of a landscape under
the discriminating eye of an artist. This done, he
needs to bring to the illustration and enforcement of
these various views, all the knowledge of the world

14
and all the stores of learning which he can command.
Look at the apostle Paul, whom, certainly, we all
regard as a model. He was determined, he says, to
know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and him
crucified. And yet how varied his theme ! He turns
it in every direction, throws upon it every conceiva
ble coloring, urges it by every motive, runs it up to
its source, runs it out to its consequences, now pre
sents its different features separately, now blends
them in ever-varying proportions, now presents it
doctrinally, now practically, now as a mystery, and
now as a motive ; but it is always the Cross of Christ.
My brethren, let us learn a lesson from his method.
III. The minister should rightly divide the
Word in respect to the moral constitution of
man. As already observed, we should have refer
ence, in preaching, not only to the elements of di
vine truth, but also to the elements of human nature.
Of these, the moral element is the most important to
the preacher. While, therefore, the preacher should
have reference, in the presentation of the truth, to all
the elements of our nature, he should have special
reference to the moral element. The direction upon
this point has usually been, that the minister should
preach to the conscience. But this direction seems
to me too indefinite. For while this, doubtless, in
the mind of a philosopher, who has analyzed and
generalized the various impulses of the human soul,
may comprehend the chief principles of our nature
to be specially addressed by the preacher, yet to most
minds, it must convey but a very indistinct notion of

15
the duty enjoined. But by whatever name you may
call them, there can be no doubt that those principles
of our nature are to be specially addressed by the
preacher, which render us capable of being religiously
affected, and lie at the foundation of all religious sen
timent. And are not these the following ? — The
consciousness of possessing a mortal body and an
immortal soul : The consciousness of accountability
to a higher power.: A sense of dependence upon a
higher power : and, The desire of happiness. Let
us pass these principles in rapid review before us.
1. The consciousness of possessing mortal bodies
and immortal souls. We are of a compound nature,
made up of body and spirit. The body we know to
be of substantially the same materials as the sub
stances by which we are surrounded, and which we
daily tread under our feet, — the only difference being
that it is animated by a living and quickening spirit.
We observe the changes in this body, from tender
infancy to vigorous manhood, and from vigorous
manhood to decrepid age, — we see it pass through
a series of transformations, to serve as a theatre for
the display of the indwelling spirit under different
aspects, and finally descend gradually to the tomb
and mingle again with its native earth. The spirit
also changes ; but with this, change is only develop
ment. In mind, the man is but once a child. No
decrepitude ever steals upon and benumbs the spirit.
From the opening bud of infancy to the full bloom of
manhood, and on to " the sear and yellow leaf" of
age, its only change is progress. This progress, it is

16
true, is not always so apparent in old age, on account
of the shattered condition of the tenement in which
it dwells ; but even then, how often it triumphs over
the body, and in the last moments, as its connection
with the body becomes less close, how often, like
the last flare of a candle which has burnt into the
socket, it blazes forth with surpassing brightness!
Thus, while the one element of our nature seems
evidently to tend to decay and death, the other not
less obviously seems to be rising by progressive steps,
and to be pluming its wings for an endless flight.
This is the impression which human life makes upon
every thoughtful man, — he feels conscious of pos
sessing an immortal spirit in connection with a mortal
body. He knows that he must soon quit this ten
ement of clay, while he feels scarcely less confident
that he shall live forever. Death and eternity seem
both to lie before him, and each tends to make the
other more solemn. Hardened as men are by sin,
and dead as they are to the sentiments appropriate
to their condition, can it be supposed that there are
any wholly insusceptible to feeling upon this point ?
Dwelling as they do amid scenes of death, and con
scious that death is at their door, — death which ter
minates all their earthly plans and opens before them
such unlimited scope for hope and fear for the future,
may we not safely calculate that, by the blessing of
God, we may reach their hearts at this most suscep
tible point?
% The consciousness of accountability. There is
obviously inwrought into our nature a feeling, that

17
our actions will one day pass in review before an all-
seeing eye, and that we shall receive an award cor
responding to their character. This feeling may be,
and often is, obscured by disregarding its warnings,
but there can be no doubt of its universal existence
in man. What else is it that makes the conscientious
man, when solicited to a course of action of the
moral character of which he is doubtful, pause and
consider, and endeavor to decide the case in such a
manner as he believes will be well-pleasing to God ?
What causes him in the every-day pursuits of life, to
feel that the eye of God is upon him, and to desire to
walk humbly and softly before him ? Or what else is
it which causes that awful perturbation and fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation in the
bosom of even the most hardened wretch, when bent
upon some horrid deed, or after he has accomplished
it ? You may say that this is fear of detection and
punishment by the powers that be ; but this is not a
satisfactory explanation. It undoubtedly is this in
part ; but, then, why should he fear punishment from
them ? why should he not expect to be able to stand
forth boldly and convince his arraigners of the cor
rectness of his conduct, and thus arrest the punish
ment ? Why should he feel that what he meditates
doing, or has just done, is wrong and deserves pun
ishment ? Because there is something within him
which tells him that the God who made him looks
with indignation upon such conduct, and that all who
have any virtue or goodness in them must abhor it
too. The truth is, we have all in common been
3

18
endowed by God with a sense of accountability to
him, which never can be wholly effaced from our
minds. There are none who do not, at times, have
a solemn sense of this accountability, or from whose
hearts it may not be evoked by appropriate appeals.
The minister of the Gospel, therefore, may always
safely calculate upon the existence of some trace of
this feeling in the human heart, and may reasonably
hope, that suitable appeals to it will not be lost.
3. A sense of dependence. The feeling that we
are not, in all respects, our own keepers, 1 take to
be as universal as the sense of accountability: It
exists, like that, in different degrees, in men of differ
ent degrees of moral cultivation, but there can be no
doubt of its being a real element of our nature. And
not only has it a foundation in our nature, but the
experience of life is all calculated to foster and con
firm the sentiment. How often do the best directed
efforts fail of accomplishing their object ! How often
are the most wisely laid plans frustrated ! How
often the most dearly cherished objects snatched
away ! and even life itself, to which we cling with so
much tenacity, how little is it under our control !
The providence of God, directed by a wisdom which
keeps steadily in view the great ends of an all-com
prehending government, pursues its stately course
above us, crushing and grinding to powder all our
petty hopes and schemes which do not coincide with
it. Indeed, disappointment enters so largely into the
experience of life, that life itself seem to be little else
than a series of bright anticipations and bitter disap-

poiutments, glowing hopes and painful realities, — a
vale of tears, a season of sorrow, sickness and death.
Who, on encountering such experience, and finding
himself so limited and circumscribed on all sides, does
not feel that he is dependent, — a mere pensioner
upon the divine bounty ?
But this feeling of dependence lays the foundation,
also, for another sentiment, which the preacher may
always calculate upon, — the sentiment of gratitude.
As gratitude is the feeling entertained towards a
benefactor, it may well be supposed that something
of this feeling will be found to exist, or may be
awakened by appropriate appeals, in man, who is so
dependent upon God, upon whose bounty he daily
subsists and by whose protection he is preserved from
danger and death. I am aware, that, in our present
fallen state, there is a lamentable deficiency of this
feeling in man, still it is obvious that there is a foun
dation for it laid in our nature and condition, and
thereby one of the most promising fields opened for
the pathetic appeals of a christian pastor. In the
weak and deeply dependent condition of man, there
fore, we find another source of religious feeling.
4. The desire of happiness. It is the intense desire
of happiness in man that makes the experience of
the present life so unsatisfactory, and hence to this
desire, the preacher may hope to address with effect
the hopes of a better life. It has been questioned
whether the minister of the Gospel is at liberty to
appeal, to any considerable extent, to this principle.
But I see not why we may not avail ourselves of this

20
principle of our nature as well as of others. It is
certain that the Bible makes great use of it, and let
us not attempt to be wiser than our Maker. We
need, however, to discriminate a little here. Without
doubt, the highest and surest motive (if we can only
ensure its existence,) to any course of conduct, is a
love for that kind of action. In other words, the
highest motive to virtue is the love of virtue, and the
highest motive to the service of God, is the love of
his service. As preachers, then, we should aim in
all our instructions to bring men to this state of mind.
But can we hope to succeed in this, with such imper
fect beings, by a direct course ? Is this the method
of divine grace ? 1 think not. To an unconverted
heart, even the Saviour, all lovely as he is in the eyes
of a christian, is like a root out of dry ground, without
form or comeliness. May we not, then, quite as
confidently expect the divine co-operation in appeal
ing in a proper way to the love of happiness in men,
as to any other principle of their nature ? And may
we not hope, that if through such appeals, we can
succeed by the divine aid, in enlisting them in the
service of God, they will soon advance to higher
views, and that in this, as in other things, which
possess inherent excellence, the service of God will
become more attractive by practice, and what was
at first entered upon with but imperfect views, will
come to be regarded in its true light ? Just as a
child is at first urged to study by such motives as he
can be made to feel, though far from being the high
est, who afterwards, by the very act of study, learns

21
to love his books and study from love to it. Certain
it is, however wc may account for it, that the love of
happiness in man has often been made use of to the
best effect, and hence should always be kept in view
by the minister in his ministrations.
Here, then, we have an outline of some of the
more hopeful points of our character in its present
impaired state. The picture, I am aware, would be
far more promising, were it not for the taint of
depravity which rests upon our whole nature, and
has blunted, in many cases almost to insensibility,
even these sensitive points. Still, I deem the exis
tence of these principles, in however impaired a state,
a ground of encouragement to the minister of the
Gospel, and deserving to be continually kept in view
by him. Let the preacher, then, in humble depen
dence upon the divine aid and blessing, be in the
habit of appealing more especially to these princi
ples of our nature, — let him address men as dying
yet immortal beings, as accountable beings, as depen
dent beings, as beings possessed of an unquenchable
desire for happiness. Let it be his aim to reproduce
before them, and bring out with distinctness, their
indistinct notions and feelings on these points, and
teach them their significancy. Let him frequently
follow men in all their secret thoughts of death and
of a future state, painting before them their feelings
at the loss of friends and neighbors, pointing them
forward to the still more solemn hour of their own
dissolution, and passing with them through the mental
struggles of that scene to the bar of God, and the

22
awards of eternity. Let him take his stand upon the
conscious accountability of men, and unfold to them
the principles by which that accountability is regu
lated, showing them the universal claim of God upon
their services, the demand which he makes upon
them for the first and best place in their hearts, their
infinite and continual short comings, their sinful
and lost condition in consequence, and pointing them
to Christ as the only remedy. Let him describe
to them the absoluteness and extent of their depen
dence upon God, showing them how they are limited
on all sides by his power, and even in what they seem
to do, act only by his permission and as his agents ;
how, all their life time, they are fed by his bounty
and clothed by his munificence, upheld by his provi
dence and indulged by his grace, till they have
contracted a debt of gratitude which they can never
repay. And finally, let him show them that their
highest happiness, — the highest peace of mind and
elevation of character, indeed, the only true happi
ness both for time and for eternity, depends upon
their entering the service of God ; till they shall see,
that all the most weighty motives and all the better
principles of their nature, unite with the voice of
God, in urging them to religion by the most con
straining power.
IV. The minister should rightly divide the
Word in respect to the social state of man. By
the operation of their natural instincts, men are asso
ciated in families and in neighborhoods, in cities,
towns and villages. Such being the natural consti-

23
tution of society, it becomes the minister to avail
himself of it in his enforcement of duties and applica
tion of truth. As each minister is connected with a
particular community thus associated, his first busi
ness, doubtless, is with them. This is eminently his
field of labor, — the flock for which he is responsible
before God. If now he casts about him for the
most effectual mode of reaching the hearts of his
people and doing them permanent good, 1 think he
will soon discover, that the grand lines of operation
have been marked out for him in the very principles
upon which they are associated. There is first the
family and then the community of families, — let him
have these relations primarily in view in all his
labors. The family has justly been denominated the prima
ry form of society, — the nucleus around which the
great society of man is aggregated. Here the stream
of life takes its coloring, here the habits and feelings
are formed, which reappear on a larger field in the
great world and form the tone of society. How then
can this most central and most sacred spot in the
whole fabric of society be neglected by the minister
without detriment to the church ? For my own part,
I see not how much progress, in any thing good, can
be made among men, until this throbbing centre of
life, whose pulsations are felt through every member
and every fibre of society, is put in a better condi
tion. Just attempt to conceive of the most effectual
way of curing any evil in society, and see if you are
not led back to the necessity of attacking it in the

24
family circle. Is it intemperance ? Where else
than at the domestic hearth can those principles be
instilled and those habits be formed, which will effec
tually prevent it ? On the broad theatre of common
life, in the intricate mazes of general society, it is
perpetually eluding the grasp, and when suppressed
in one form breaking out in another. The experi
ence of many years has but too plainly taught us this.
Useful as have been the labors put forth in this cause,
it cannot but be evident to all, that their results have
been but small in comparison with the exertion, and
that the evil is still rife among us. Indeed, the history
of temperance among us, very much like that of
religion, and as I conceive from a similar cause, has
been little else than a history of spasmodic struggles
and lethargic supineness, sudden bounds forward and
as sudden recoils, with but little sustained, well direct
ed effort, and consequently but little progress. Or
is it hcentiousness, or profaneness, or falseness, or
covetousness, or any other evil of society which you
wish to cure, how can you hope effectually to eradi
cate it, without beginning in the family ?
This, then, is the point about which much of the
labor of a christian pastor should centre, — he should
avail himself to the utmost extent of the family rela
tion, in establishing religion in the hearts of men. I
do not mean by this, that he should intrude himself
into the privacy of families, and attempt to interfere
with their internal regulations, but rather, that he
should bring much of his'public as well as private
instruction to bear upon the family relation, — upon

the duties of husbands and wives, fathers and moth
ers, parents and children, brothers and sisters. It
should be borne in mind, at the same time, that these
are delicate relations, and therefore should be touched
with great delicacy and tenderness. Much will
depend upon the spirit with which the duty is per
formed and the faithfulness with which it is followed
up. The religious teacher here, even more than in
other cases, needs to put himself in the attitude of a
kind counsellor and fellow-helper. The relative
duties of the different members of a family, though
unquestionably the most important and the most
sacred of all the duties arising from our social rela
tions, are nevertheless attended with peculiar difficul
ties. The members of a family being constantly
together, and witnessing in each other all the little
outbreaks of passion and inconsistencies of conduct,
which will sometimes occur even in the best regulated
and most sanctified families, feel a peculiar awkward
ness' in -exhorting each other to higher attainments in
personal holiness. There are many pious parents
who are truly intent upon the spiritual interests of
their children, who yet feel themselves, from want
of suitable education, or some other defect, wholly
incompetent to the task of directing them. Such
need to be assisted and strengthened by the pastor,
while, at the same time, they are taught that the
faithful and conscientious discharge of the duties
which properly devolve upon parents, however im
perfectly performed, will inevitably be crowned with
4

26
the divine blessing. There are others, with similar
defects of nature or education, who from a more sad
defect of piety, willingly plead their deficiencies for
entirely neglecting the religious education of their
families. These, doubtless, need a somewhat severer
treatment, but still, even in these cases, a kind and
sympathizing faithfulness will be found to be the most
successful. There are pious husbands and wives and
children, also, in a similar condition with regard to
the peculiar duties which devolve upon them in the
family relation, who require a similar treatment. But
wisdom and discretion being mingled with a proper
spirit, what more promising field is there for the
labors of a christian pastor ? Where can he hope to
touch chords which will vibrate with greater intensity
and effect ? Who can train up a child in the way in
which he should go, if a father and a mother can not ?
Who can touch the callous heart of a worldly-minded
husband, if a wife can not ? Who can preach to a
hardened father or mother, like a gentle child ? And
where may a minister expect to be more usefully
employed, than in concentrating, guiding and sancti
fying the influences wliich thus cluster about tho
domestic hearth ? O, what an amazing transforma
tion would be wrought in the state of society, if all
these hallowed influences could be gathered up and
directed to proper ends !
Next to the family, and indeed as made up of the
aggregate of these families, the minister has to do
with his parish at large. I do not say that he has

27
nothing to do with any thing beyond this ; — he un
doubtedly has something to do with other persons
and things. But I do say, that at home is his princi
pal business, and that he never will be a very useful
man until he confines himself there. Just as a family
forms a most promising centre for religious action,
so a parish is bound together by peculiar relations,
and may be made to thrill by many chords which do
not exist otherwhere. The preacher and his people
are most aptly represented as the pastor and his flock.
" The true Shepherd knoweth his sheep, and is known
of them." This was the ancient doctrine, but lately
it seems in a great measure to have been reversed.
Ministers, in these days, seem to be too fond of a
magnificent theatre. Because the field is the world,
every one appears to think that he is bound to occupy
it. The consequence is, that a great amount of
religious effort is wasted, and passes off like the voice
on an extended prairie, into the vast air, without even
returning an echo, while religion itself is in a great
measure exiled from the warm hearth of home !
Let not these observations be misunderstood ; they
are not designed to put a damper upon the mission
ary spirit. I hold the missionary spirit in great honor,
when it springs from the unaffected piety of the
heart, and commencing with self-denying labors at
home expands with the expansion of religious feeling
in the soul to the whole world. But when I consider
how much easier it is to talk about religion, than to
practice it, to fire our minds with a passion for the

28
conversion of the world, than to labor and pray for
the conversion of our families and neighbors, I must
not be blamed for calling attention to the paramount
importance of religion at home. This once right,
the missionary spirit is a natural and necessary con
sequence, but without it I am unable to see its bene
fits. When the waters of a fountain reach a certain
height, they flow off of themselves to other parts. So
when the christian feelings of a community gain a
certain intensity, they naturally burst forth on all
sides. But why draw them off artificially, till they
have reached that head ? Know ye not that this is
the way to make the fountain forever shallow ? I
must continue to think, then, that even with reference
to the ultimate conversion of the world, the matter of
the greatest importance to us as christian churches is,
the reviving and assiduous cultivation of religion
at home — the reclaiming of religion among us from
every thing vague and visionary, and domesticating
it at the hearth of every family, and in the heart of
every individual within our influence.
^t^The minister should rightly divide the
Word in respect to the particular condition of
his own people. This is the last step in that pro
cess of approach to the hearts and consciences of
men which it has been my object to describe — the
last attainment of art in the presentation of the truth.
The preacher, here, has to do with variable elements,
and hence the need of greater skill. Every parish
has its peculiar character, — its peculiar faults and

29 .
vices, its peculiar occupations and events. From
these the preaching of a pastor should always take its
coloring. While he may not for any cause neglect
the general harmony and proportions of divine truth,
he should never forget, that the particular circum
stances by which he is surrounded, call for particular
views and applications of the truth. Without this,
his preaching, however excellent in other respects,
will lose more than half its power. How many
sermons are preached in our pulpits from Sabbath to
Sabbath, which have no more reference to the age
and the community in which they are delivered, than
to the state of things in the fifteenth century, or
among the dwellers upon Nootka Sound ! But few
things are more needed in preaching, than the habit
of bringing the truth into connection with something
now existing and passing before us, and pointing it
with allusions and illustrations drawn from the exist
ing state of things. And how ample are the means
for doing this in every parish.
There are the peculiar faults and vices of your
people ; — let these receive their special 'treatment.
Look upon your audience, as they sit before you
from Sabbath to Sabbath, as a company sitting for
their portraits. Bring out these portraits, as you have
time, from week to week, either single or in groups,
as the case seems to demand, and hold them up
before them, that they may see their own features;
clearly reflected in the glass of truth, and learn what
manner of men they are.

30
Again, there are the peculiar occupations of your
hearers. These will often furnish you the means of
bringing home the truth with power to their hearts.
A minister who should preach to a company of sailors
in the same manner as to a collection of farmers or
mechanics, would be guilty of the greatest blunder.
Every trade and every class has its peculiar way of
thinking and feeling, its peculiar set of objects which
it understands, and its peculiar train of associations;
and unless the truth is presented under a form which
harmonizes with these, — unless it is conveyed to the
minds through these channels, it makes but little or
no impression. If then you would reach the hearts
of your people, you should study their way of think
ing and feeling, their pastimes and their occupations,
and adapt your preaching to these.
Besides, there are the peculiar events of your
parish to be improved. As the experience of no one
individual is precisely like that of any other, so the
experience of no community is exactly like that of
any other. The manifestations of Divine Providence
vary with the characters of men. Every community
has its peculiar embarrassments and deliverances,
its peculiar chastisements and blessings, its solemn
judgments and happy rescues, — now the hearts of
the people are opened by sudden or melancholy
deaths, and now by wonderful escapes from death,
now by loss of property, and now by loss of charac
ter. So that scarcely a week can pass by without
furnishing the minister, even among his own people,

31
with topics of allusion and illustration, wherewith to
point the truth and bring it home to their hearts.
Thus the preacher, furnished in the Bible with truth
adapted to all conditions of life, and guided in its
application by the character of his people, and the
Providence of God as manifested among them, is in
a condition not unlike that of the ancient Grecian
heroes on the field of battle, with not only a quiver
full of arrows, but an armor-bearer to hold before
him the protecting shield, adjust the arrow to the
string, and point out to him the direction in which
he should wca.//
Such, according to my conceptions, is a general
view of the proper method of preaching. I have
purposely abstained from all details. Neither the
occasion nor the audience seemed to demand these.
You have come up hither from your several churches,
of which many of you are the pastors, to strengthen
each other's hands by mutual counsel, and to impart
and receive impulses and principles, which may abide
by you as quickeners and guides through the year.
In the details of your office, it would have been folly
for me to attempt to instruct you, and it may be
deemed little less than this, to have attempted to
instruct you in its principles. But as the most inte
resting views of natural objects are quite as often
taken by mere lookers-on, as by those daily moving
among them and conversant with them in all their
parts, so a mere spectator, as 1 am, of the movements
of the moral and religious world, may have been

32
struck with some important views of the sacred call
ing, which have not been sufficiently dwelt upon by
those more immediately engaged in it. But of this
you are the best judges. Such as they are, I leave
them with you, with perfect confidence, that they will
receive all the consideration which they deserve.
God is my witness, that my grand object in this dis
course, has been to contribute something towards the
increase of the piety and efficiency of the pastors of
our churches, and I feel assured, that, if it really has
presented any important views, they will not be lost
upon those, whose office naturally leads them, to be
GOOD, AND TO DO GOOD.