ance, or holiness. There are two ways of doing this, one formal, in turning the subject to moral uses, and so applying it to the hearers; the other in the simple choice of the things spoken; for if they be good, solid, evangelic, and edifying of themselves, should no application be formally made, the auditors would make it themselves; because subjects of this kind are of such a nature, that they cannot enter the understanding without penetrating the heart. I do not blame the method of some preachers, who, when they have opened some point of doctrine, or made some important observation, immediately turn it into a brief moral application to the hearers; this Mr. Daillé frequently did: yet I think it should not be made a constant practice; because, 1st, what the hearer is used to, he will be prepared for, and so it will lose its effect; and 2dly, because you would thereby interrupt your explication, and consequently also the attention of the hearer, which is a great inconvenience. Nevertheless, when it is done but seldom, and seasonably, great advantage may be reaped.

But there is another way of turning doctrines to moral uses, which in my opinion is far more excellent, authoritative, grand, and effectual: that is, by treating the doctrine contained in the text, in a way of perpetual applica tion. This way produces excellent effects, for it pleases, instructs, and effects all together. But neither must this be made habitual, for it would fatigue the hearer, nothing being more delicate, nor sooner discouraged, than the human mind. There are fast-days, Lord's-supper days, and many such seasonable times for this method. This way, as I have said, is full of admirable fruits; but it

This subject being fully handled in Chap. VII. the Translator omitted one page of Mr. Claude here, because its substance is repeated in the chapter referred to. He was fully justified in taking such a liberty with this posthumous work of Mr. Claude's: and similar liberties are used by the Editor, with a view to the real improvement of the treatise itself.

e Docente te in ecclesia non clamor populi sed gemitus suscitetur; lachrymæ auditorum laudes tuæ sint. Jerom. ad Nepot.

Optimus est enim orator qui dicendo animos audientium et docet, et delectat, et permovet. Docere debitum est, delectare honorarium, permovere necessarium. Cic. de Orat.

must be well executed, with power and address, with choice of thoughts and expressions, otherwise the preacher will make himself ridiculous, and provoke the people to

say,

Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu?
Parturiunt montes; nascetur ridiculus mus.

6. One of the most important precepts for the discussion of a text, and the composition of a sermon, is, above all things, to avoid excess: Ne quid nimis.

1. There must not be too much genius; I mean, not too many brilliant, sparkling, and striking things; for they would produce very bad effects. The auditor will never fail to say, The man preaches himself, aims to display his genius, and is not animated by the spirit of God, but by that of the world. Besides, the hearer would be overcharged; the mind of man has its bounds and measures; and as the eye is dazzled with too strong a light, so is the mind offended with the glare of too great an assemblage of beauties. Farther, it would destroy the principal end of preaching, which is to sanctify the conscience; for when the mind is overloaded with too many agreeable ideas, it has not leisure to reflect on the objects; and without reflection the heart is unaffected. Moreover, ideas which divert the mind are not very proper to move the conscience; they flatter the imagination, and that is all. Such a preacher will oblige people to say of him, He has genius, a lively and fruitful imagination: but he is not solid. In fine, it is not possible for a man, who piques himself on filling his sermons with vivacities of imagination, to maintain the spirit all along; he will therefore become a tiresome tautologist: nor is it hard in such sermons to discover many false brilliances, as we see daily.

2. A sermon must not be overcharged with doctrine, because the hearers' memories cannot retain it all, and by aiming to keep all, they will lose all; and because you will be obliged either to be excessively tedious, or to propose the doctrine in a dry, barren, scholastic manner,

This style of writing or preaching is no where exemplified to greater advantage than in a late publication, entitled Scripture Characters, written by the Rev. Thomas Robinson.

which will deprive it of all its beauty and efficacy. A sermon should instruct, please, and affect; that is, it should always do these as much as possible. As the doctrinal part, which is instructive, should always be proposed in an agreeable and affecting manner; so the agreeable parts should be proposed in an instructive manner: and even in the conclusion, which is designed wholly to affect, agreeableness must not be neglected, nor altogether instruction. Take care then not to charge your sermon with too much matter.

3. Care must also be taken never to strain any particular part, either in attempting to exhaust it, or to penetrate too far into it. If you aim at exhausting a subject, you will be obliged to heap up a number of common things without choice or discernment; if at penetrating, you cannot avoid falling into many curious questions, and unedifying subtilties; and frequently in attempting it you will distil the subject till it evaporates.

4. Figures must not be overstrained. This is done by stretching metaphor into allegory, or by carrying a parallel too far. A metaphor is changed into an allegory, when a number of things are heaped up, which agree to the subject, in keeping close to the metaphor. As in explaining this text, God is a sun and a shield; it would be stretching the metaphor into an allegory to make a great collection of what God is in himself; what to us; what he does in the understanding and conscience of the believer; what he operates on the wicked; what his absence causeth; and all these under terms, which had a perpetual relation to the sun. Allegories may be sometimes used very agreeably: but they must not be strained, that is, all, that can be said on them, must not be said. A parallel is run too far, when a great number of conformities between the figure, and the thing represented by the figure, are heaped together. This is almost the perpetual vice of mean and low preachers; for when they catch a figurative word, or a metaphor, as when God's word is called a fire, or a sword; or the church a house, or a dove; or Jesus Christ a light, a sun, a vine, or a door; they never fail making a long detail of conformities between the figures and the subjects themselves; and frequently say ridiculous things. This vice must be avoided, and you

must be content to explain the metaphor in a few words, and to mark the principal agreements, in order afterwards, to cleave to the thing itself.

5. Reasoning must not be carried too far. This may be done many ways; either by long trains of reasons, composed of a quantity of propositions chained together, or principles and consequences; which way of reasoning is embarrassing and painful to the auditor: or by making many branches of reasons, and establishing them one after another; which is tiresome and fatiguing to the mind. The mind of man loves to be conducted in a more smooth and easy way; all must not be proved at once; but, supposing principles, which are true and plain, and which you, when it is necessary, are capable of proving and supporting, you must be content with using them to prove what you have in hand. Yet I do not mean, that in reasoning, arguments should be so short and dry, and proposed in so a brief a manner, as to divest the truth of half its force, as many authors leave them. I only mean, that a due medium should be preserved; that is, that without fatiguing the mind and attention of the hearer, reasons should be placed in just as much force and clearness as are necessary to produce the effect.

Reasoning also may be overstrained by heaping great numbers of proofs on the same subject. Numerous proofs are intolerable, except in a principal matter, which is like to be much questioned or controverted by the hearers. In such a case you would be obliged to treat the subject fully and ex professo; otherwise the hearers would consider your attempt to prove the matter as an useless digression But when you are obliged to treat a subject fully, when that subject is very important, when it is doubted and controverted, then a great number of proofs are proper. In such a case you must propose to convince and bear down the opponent's judgment, by making truth triumph in many different manners. In such a case, many proofs associated together to produce one effect, are like many rays of light, which naturally strengthen each other, and which all together form a body of brightness, which is irresistible.

6. You must as much as possible abstain from all sorts of observations foreign from Theology. In this class I

place, 1. Grammatical observations of every kind, which not being within the people's knowledge, can only weary and disgust them. They may nevertheless be used when they furnish an agreeable sense of the word, or open some important observation on the subject itself, provided it be done very seldom and very pertinently.

2. Critical observations about different readings, different punctuations, &c. must be avoided. Make all the use you can of critical knowledge yourself; but spare the people the account, for it must needs be very disagreeable to them.

I add, 3dly, Avoid philosophical and historical observations, and all such as belong to Rhetoric; or if you do use them, do not insist on them, and choose only those, which give either some light to the text, or heighten its pathos and beauty; all others must be rejected.

Lastly. I say the same of passages from Profane Authors, or Rabbies, or Fathers, with which many think they enrich their sermons. This farrago is only a vain ostentation of learning; and very often they who fill their sermons with such quotations, know them only by relation of others. However, I would not blame a man who should use them discreetly. A quotation not common, and properly made, has a very good effect.

CHAP. III.

OF CONNECTION.

THE connection is the relation of your text to the foregoing or following verses. To find this, consider the scope of the discourse; and consult commentators; particularly exercise your own good sense; for commentators frequently trifle, and give forced and far-fetched connections all which ought to be avoided, for they are not natural; and sometimes good sense will discover the scope and design of a writer far better than this kind of writers.

There are texts, the connections of which (I own) it will be sometimes difficult to perceive. In such a case, endeavour to discover them by frequent and intense meditation, or take that which commentators furnish; and