Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

LETTER IV.

HOW TO GAIN THE CONFIDENCE OF THE HEARERS.

THE end of preaching is, as we have seen-like that of all other speaking-persuasion. Your hearers are of all degrees of intellect, and of every shade of character; all you have a right to assume respecting them is, that they have natural feelings, conscience, and common sense. It is through the means of these faculties that you have to influence the will. These are the avenues by which you are to reach it. The will is the fortress which you have to take, and it will require all your skill and energy, all your appliances and means. A simultaneous attack must be made on all points you must win their confidence, convince their understanding, and move their feelings; and, above all, you must pray for the Divine blessing, without which your most strenuous efforts will be unavailing.

Most writers agree in assigning the first place in the art of persuasion to the employment of arguments to convince the understanding; yet Aristotle' incidentally confesses that the opinion formed by the hearer respecting the speaker is, so to speak, the most important point. If the great master of rhetoric allows this fact, when speaking of oratory in general, we shall do well to consider it so in that branch of rhetoric of which we are treating. Conviction, strictly speak

[blocks in formation]

Your office is not

ing, is not an essential part of a sermon. always to convince your hearers of any thing which they are inclined to dispute; but, perhaps, more frequently to instruct them in what they are ignorant of, or imperfectly acquainted with; to remind them of what they have forgotten, and to urge them to act upon undisputed principles. You have not so much to convince them of the danger of sin, the mercy of God, and their own high privileges, as to induce them to think seriously on these matters, and to act accordingly.

But, in order to compass any one of these points, it is indispensable that you should gain their confidence: until you have done this, there will be a prejudice against every thing you say. Now by far the most important point, with a view to gain their confidence, is, that they should be, in the first place, aware that you have received a divine commission to teach them. On this point I would only observe, that in the lamentable ignorance of Church principles which at present unhappily prevails, it is absolutely necessary that you should, from time to time, as occasion serves, set forth, discreetly, but boldly, the doctrine of the apostolic succession; the fact that the Bishops alone have received authority in the Church of Christ to ordain Ministers, and the claim which Ministers so ordained have to the attention of the people. But this is a subject which scarcely comes within the province of rhetoric, and I touch on it only by the way, and proceed to the rhetorical requirements.

1

In order to gain the confidence of your hearers, three points must be established in their opinion—that you have good principle, good will towards them, and good sense. You must give them reason to believe that you are sincere, -that you have their good at heart, and that you are competent to instruct them. I need scarcely observe to you,

1 Αρετή, εὔνοια, φρόνησις.—Arist. Rhet., lib. ii. cap. i. sec, 5,

that

the first step towards making them believe that you possess these qualities is really to possess them. Even a heathen rhetorician' declared, "that none but a good man could be an orator." How much more does this apply to a preacher of the Gospel than to any other speaker! If the congregation suspect, despise, or dislike, the man, not even the eloquence of St. Paul would effectually move them. They might admire his preaching,-nay, yield to his arguments, but they would not follow his advice. "A minister of evil life," says Bishop Jeremy Taylor, "cannot preach with that fervour and efficacy, with that life and spirit, as a good man does. For, besides that he does not himself understand the secrets of religion, and the private inducements of the Spirit, and the sweetness of internal joy, and the inexpressible advantages of holy peace,-besides all this, he cannot heartily speak all he knows. He hath a clog at his foot, and a gag in his teeth. There is a fear, and there is a shame, and there is a guilt, and a secret willingness that the thing were not true, and some little private arts, to lessen his own consent, and to take off the asperities, and consequent trouble, of a clear conviction."2 St. Ambrose justly said, "Ipsam obmutescere eloquentiam si ægra sit conscientia.”

It is apart from my present subject to enlarge on the necessity of general good character. I cannot, however, resist the opportunity of offering one or two remarks. You will have made but a very small progress towards the true character of a Christian minister, if you content yourself with merely avoiding evil; you must be ever striving after holiness, endeavouring to go on from strength to strength, and rendering yourself, by God's grace, more and more qualified for your responsible office. The first thing is to purify your

1 Quinctilian.

2 Sermon ix.

"I would strongly recommend you to read the lives of eminently pious and devoted ministers-no matter of what persuasion if of a

heart, "to take care that all is right within ;" the next, to regulate your outward conduct in scrupulous accordance with the requirements of the Gospel. You must not only abstain from evil, but you must" abstain from all appearance of evil," "in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works in doctrine showing uncorruptness, sincerity, sound speech."2 Do all you can, even in the smallest things, to gain the respect and love of your parishioners; be affable, courteous, patient, just, and charitable; pay your debts regularly; give no offence in any thing; he always ready to visit and converse with all your parishioners; and interest yourself both in their temporal and spiritual welfare. If you visit them at their houses, they will visit you at Church. With regard to your intercourse with the world and its amusements, I shall only set down one observation. It matters not to the wolf what innocent recreation the shepherd is engaged in, if he be not tending his flock. Always be adding to your store of theological knowledge, for unless your head is well stored, your efforts will be only like

[ocr errors][merged small]

Lastly, often read your ordination vows, and the Epistles to Titus and Timothy; and, above all, "be instant in prayer."3

different persuasion from yourself, perhaps in some respects the better, to "provoke emulation." [Among the most interesting and valuable pieces of biography, may be mentioned Fell's Life of Dr. Hammond, Izaak Walton's Lives of Donne, Hooker, and Herbert, and Nelson's Life of Bishop Bull. It is an excellent rule for a student in Theology, always to have a volume of this kind, or one of practical divinity, on his table for daily perusal.]

11 Thess. v. 22.

2 Titus ii. 7.

3 [Bishop Wilson's Sacra Privata (the complete edition) and Bishop Andrewes' Devotions, are among the very best guides and assistants in the discharge of this duty.]

But I must forbear to enlarge on these topics. Our present business is only with the rhetorical part of the subject; our object is to show how, from the discourse itself, you may give your hearers a favourable impression, and incline them to receive with confidence what you lay before them.

And, first, bear this in mind,-it is of the first importance,—namely, that the complexion and effect of your sermon will depend very much on the feelings and motive with which you prepare and deliver it. Let us stop, and inquire a moment into this matter. Preachers are, of course, of a thousand shades of character, but may be ranked under three classes. First, there are those who make and preach sermons because they are obliged to do so. It is with them an hebdomadal labour. They have a church to serve, and it is necessary for them to hold forth for a given time every Sunday, on some text of Scripture. Now those who make sermons with this feeling, might just as well save themselves the trouble. Written in this spirit, their discourses cannot but be dull and lifeless compositions; they might as well transcribe some good printed sermon; or why should they do even this? They have only to go to a bookseller, and they may have lithographed sermons, at so much per dozen, which shall be "warranted original, orthodox, and twenty minutes;" and these are got up so naturally, with erasures and interlineations, that even from the side gallery, within a yard of the preacher, they could not be distinguished from a manuscript. By the help of conning them over in the vestry, and then when you get into the pulpit, keeping your eyes well fixed on the book, and your finger opposite the line, you may, perhaps, get through them without making many blunders; but as to winning one soul to Christ, or comforting one righteous man, "that is not in the bond,"that never entered the printer's head. But only let such

« ElőzőTovább »