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pecial reference to the mental, moral and religious character of his contemporaries. Now the intellectual and the spiritual necessities of the present time, differ from those in the time of the inspired penmen. Consequently, the style of address for the modern pulpit, must be in some respects unlike that of the first preachers. Many passages of the Bible are of local and temporary application. Not only may we refuse to make them a pattern which is to be literally copied, but we may also introduce a new mode of address, which has no exact resemblance to any specific model in the Scriptures but is accommodated to our local and temporary peculiarities. Unless we be allowed to deviate. thus from the biblical manner, we shall lose so much of our mental freedom that eloquence will be impossible. For example, when Jesus says of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, that it cannot be forgiven, he alludes, first, to a class of men who saw his miracles, but still did not acknowledge the divine influence in their production, and secondly, to the views prevalent in his day with regard to the demoniacal operations to which his miracles were ascribed. His words, then, are not exactly applicable to those, who have not the above named views of the action of demons, nor the above named ocular evidence of his miraculous power. When Paul inveighs against the practice of requiring all Christians to obey the Jewish ceremonial law, and all heathen converts to be circumcised, and when in Col. 2: 18 he condemns those converts from the Essenes who rendered divine homage to the angels, he cannot be specifically imitated by his successors in the ministry, for they have no occasion for reiterating such reproofs. On the other hand, they are called to refute errors which the biblical writers had no necessity for canvassing, and to frown upon crimes which were not committed, and of course not rebuked in the days of the apostles. We have the same reason for discountenancing the now prevalent sin of neglecting the Lord's supper, which Paul had for reprimanding those abuses of the feasts of charity which occurred in his time. It is indeed to be borne in mind, that the Bible has given us general principles, which apply to our own as well as to every other period. It has prescribed universal rules, in which all our specific regulations are involved, and has issued certain interdicts, which enclose all the peculiar remonstrances that are needed for our times. The Bible is, in its essential features, a model for the whole world and for every age, but in some of its details it was precisely adapted to the men for whom it was originally written, and can

not be minutely imitated by men, whose character, position and necessities are different from those of the ancient orientals. The character, too, of the biblical writers authorized them to adopt a method of address which we cannot make our own without irreverence and presumption. It may, however, be propounded as a rule, that the style of pulpit eloquence, as well as the substance of it, should be distinctively Christian; that although the modern preacher may write in a more systematic manner and may prepare himself more elaborately for his discourses than the sacred penmen chose to do, still he should make frequent use of their phraseology, and should present their doctrines in the form which was originally given them, so far as that form is congruous with the uninspired character of modern writing, and with the necessities of the present age. The votary of any science will prefer to express himself, if he can do so with perfect propriety, in the language of those who originated the science; for this language is apt to have an unequalled freshness, vivacity and pertinence.

13. The design of a Sermon.

It seems to be an opinion of many, that the object of all sermons is barely to impart instruction; the opinion of many more, that this is the sole object of some sermons. Now it is true, that a discourse from the pulpit must communicate knowledge; still it does not attain its legitimate end when it is merely didactic. It must present truth to the mind, but more; it must also recommend this truth to the heart; it must induce men not only to love it but likewise to act in obedience to it. The school is designed for instruction, the church for moral improvement. Pedagogues and professors teach; pulpit-orators persuade to the voluntary practice of the religion which is taught. The grand design of a sermon is to edify the hearers. Our Saviour compares a true Christian to a wise man building his house upon a rock, Matt. 7: 24-27; he speaks of his church as builded upon a rock, Matt. 16: 18; Paul describes the friends of Jesus as God's building, 1 Cor. 3, 9—17; and as the temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 6: 19; as the temple of the living God, 2 Cor. 6: 16; as a holy temple and as a habitation of God, Eph. 2: 21, 22. He speaks of Christ as the foundation of this temple, 1 Cor. 3: 10 seq. Now it is evident that mere knowledge does not constitute man a fit habitation for the Holy Ghost; it is knowledge conjoined with love and obedience; it is faith, hope, charity, but the greatest of

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these is charity. Edification, then, consists in the improvement of the whole man; in his intellectual, but more especially his moral advancement. To edify the soul is not merely to lay the foundations of a good character, not merely to raise the superstructure, but to improve the spiritual being in every excellence. The prophesying spoken of in the New Testament, was altogether distinct from simple teaching; see Acts 2: 17, 18. 1 Cor. 11:4. 13: 9. 12: 28, 29. It was an impassioned religious address, and the design of it was to build up the intellect, heart and will, to the stature of a perfect man; especially to animate and strengthen the Christian virtues; see 1 Cor. xiv. If, then, the design of a sermon be not merely to impart instruction, but also to vivify the religious principle, it follows that a sermon is one-sided, ill-proportioned, imperfect if it do not exhibit the Christian faith in its union with Christian love, if it do not incline the heart to cherish the truth which is believed by the intellect, if it do not unite with the prayers and praises of the sanctuary to produce one effect, the symmetrical and harmonious development of the whole Christian character.

§ 14. Eloquence essential to a Sermon.

If the object of a preacher were merely to instruct, then he might adopt the style of simple prose. In the didactic parts of his discourse he does employ this style; but as in other parts he aims to influence the feelings and the will, he must also have recourse to the language of poetry and of eloquence. The advocates of the Philosophy of Identity have advanced the idea, that religion is in its nature the same with poetry and the fine arts in general, and that the only fit style of expressing religious truth is the poetic. Sauer has asserted, that all religious communications in the church should be made in song, rather than in speech. But although religion is, in some respects, identical with the fine arts, especially with poetry, it is in other respects essentially dif ferent from them. First, like them it springs from feeling, from a desire of harmony with one's self: but the union which is aimed at in religion is one of the intellect, affections and will; whereas the union aimed at in the poetic and other fine arts, is merely one of the imagination and the feelings. Secondly, the religious man is, during his devotional exercises, the subject of a kind of inspiration, like that of the poet and artist; but the enthusiasm of the former is regulated by the judgment and reason more than

that of the latter. Thirdly, religion resembles the fine arts in the fact that it looks above the sensuous world for its appropriate objects; but it looks higher than to the favorite sphere of those arts. It looks to that which is purely spiritual, whereas they are satisfied with mere refinements and ideal combinations of objects of sense. It looks also to that which is real, whereas poetry and the other fine arts are satisfied with what is imaginary. Religion is pervaded and governed by the truth; the poetic and similar arts, by the principles of taste. Hence religion, differing thus from poetic feeling, cannot be expressed in the language of simple poetry; in other words, this is not the distinctive and proper style of a sermon. Still, it is one element of that style. Religion exercises all the faculties of the soul. Originating from a desire of harmony with one's self and with God, it suggests at once certain definite ideas of truth, and thus it employs the reason. These truths are made more obvious and vivid by a connection with ob. jects of sense, and they become connected with such objects by the imagination. When thus bodied forth they exert a lively influence upon the affections, and through the affections upon the will. In this way all the faculties, the intellect, imagination, feelings and will are interested in religious action; and we have already seen that the language of all those principles united is that of eloquence. The intellect employs simple prose. The imagination and the affections employ poetry. The will employs simple prose and poetry in a certain combination, for a certain end, and forms a new style, that of eloquence. This must be the style of a sermon; for the sermon teaches; it also invests its teachings in an attractive garb; it likewise rouses the affections; and with the aid of the intellectual, the imaginative and the pathetic, it appeals to the will, and persuades it to act in harmony with the laws of the universe. Thus it addresses the whole soul for the purpose of securing its voluntary union with God. It cannot, therefore, employ any other form of address, than that which aims to persuade the will by means of a symmetrical appeal to all the spiritual faculties. This form of address, is eloquence, as already defined. The preacher is under the influence of religious feeling, and has a religious motive; therefore he cannot be satisfied with the style of the mere prose writer, or of the mere poet. He must be more animated than the former, and must have a more definite aim than the latter. If his sole object were to teach theology, he might be satisfied with the simple prose. As, however, his object is to interest the feelings in theological truth, he

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must combine with the prosaic element the poetic also. And further, as his ultimate design is to make the will harmonious with this truth, he must resort to a form of speech still higher and more comprehensive than that of poetry, to eloquence. If he intended simply to effect a change in the will, he need not be eloquent; but he must persuade to voluntary action by means of an impassioned interest in religious truth; and the definition of eloquence is the art of moving the will by an excitement of the feelings and the imagination in view of the objects of the intellect. To secure faith alone, or love alone, or works alone does not necessarily demand eloquence; but to secure the true faith, combined with the right love and thus leading to good works, requires the highest kind of eloquence; that of the pulpit. It has been already stated, that the sermon must be written in the spirit of the Bible, and this is the spirit of eloquence; in the style of the Bible also, so far as this style is congruous with our character and circumstances, and this is the style of eloquence, not indeed of scholastic, artificial, labored, but of simple, natural, artless, and so much the more effective eloquence. The sermon must be written in the benevolent temper of a practical Christian, and we know it to be an ancient adage, pectus est, quod disertum facit. It is said by Töllner, that a sermon must not be rhetorical but instructive and edifying. Now any address, that is religiously edifying must in its very nature be eloquent; for it must build up the soul in faith, love and obedience. Töllner and others regard eloquence as designed merely to play upon the feelings, and as distinct from poetical effusions in the bare fact of its having a smaller degree of ornament than they. But if eloquence be the art of employing all the faculties of the soul for the purpose of exciting right volitions and cherishing holy principles, then it is, in kind as well as degree, different from poetry, and has a far nobler object than mere passionate excitement; then it is more appropriate to a sermon than to any other kind of composition; it constitutes the very element of a pulpit discourse; and not only must the highest standard of eloquence be that of the preacher, but also there can be no proper and true preaching which is devoid of real eloquence, and even the most exalted form of it.

15. The Popular Style of Sacred Eloquence.

The ancient Romans applied the term popularitas to that mode of conduct which was designed to please the people, (see Taci

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