Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

peculiar branch of Rhetoric which you wish to practice; in short, an application of the rules of Rhetoric to the Church of England pulpit.

Such, at least, I remember was my own feeling; and with a view to remedy the defect, for my own benefit, I wrote down and arranged whatever ideas I could collect on the subject. Many good hints were derived from Archbishop Whately's able book on Rhetoric, which was published about that time; some from Bishop Sumner's Apostolical preaching; one or two from Swift's Letter to a young Clergyman; and I have since found some excellent remarks scattered up and down in the Christian Observer, the British Magazine, and other periodicals. In short, wherever I have met with information on the subject, I have made a practice of setting it down for my own use; and this I have been in the habit of illustrating by passages from any sermon which I have perused, and of confirming or rejecting according to my own experience. In the hope of being of service to you, I have now (after much more labour than I anticipated when I began my task) drawn it up in the best order I was able; and if it prove useful to you shall be heartily glad. Though I do not promise you much original matter, yet, I think, I can give you some useful information, which, otherwise, you might not have met with. The suggestions which I have obtained from various authors are acknowledged whenever I remember where they came from; but I have no doubt there are many forgotten and unacknowledged. You will, however, have no difficulty in discriminating between them and my own. Like other candid readers, you will set down whatever good remarks you find as borrowed from some other writer, and attribute all the rest to your friend.

PART I.

ON THE MATTER OF SERMONS.

LETTER II.

THE END OR OBJECT OF PREACHING.

mon.

If the object of writing a sermon be nothing more than to produce a composition which shall occupy twenty minutes, or half an hour in the delivery, it may be granted that nothing can be more easy. With the large choice of subject, and the infinite range of argument and illustration, which the Holy Scriptures and the whole moral and material world afford, any one who can write at all may surely write a serBut, in truth, the real aim and object of a preacher, if duly estimated, is the most arduous which can be conceived. All who have thought seriously, or written on the subject, agree in admitting its difficulty. "The duty of a preacher," says one writer, "is to teach clearly, to convince successfully, and to persuade cogently." No very easy task is spoken of even in these few words. Another describes its object as being "to effect a mighty change in the moral condition of man, to bring back an apostate creature to al

legiance, to restore the sinner to the likeness and favour of God."1 66 The great aim of a Christian preacher," says another, "is to bring the heart of the hearer into contact with the objects which Revelation presents to us, that, by the steady contemplation of these objects, he may transfer something of their character to his own as northern animals have been fabled to gaze upon what is white, till they become themselves insensibly white in their turn."2 This writer seems to propose something easier than the rest; but if we analyze his description, we shall find that it amounts to something very like making "the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots." The following is Dr. Campbell's description of the preacher's object. "The primary intention of preaching is the reformation of mankind..... a reformation of life and manners, of all things that which is the most difficult by any means whatever to effectuate; I may add, of all tasks ever attempted by persuasion, that which has most frequently baffled its powers. . . . .That man would need to be possessed of oratory superior to human, who would effectually persuade him that stole to steal no more, the sensualist to forego his pleasures, the miser his hoards, the insolent and haughty to become humble and meek."3 "The sum and end of preaching," says Tillotson, "is to bring men to repentance and a firm belief in the gospel." As we shall have to recur frequently to our definition of the object of preaching, and constantly to keep it in view, perhaps it will be found convenient to condense and simplify all these descriptions, and to state it to be, what I suppose none will be disposed to deny, "to win souls to Christ." It may be said, indeed-and said with truth-that those whom we address have been already brought to Christ at baptism, have been

1 Christian Observer. 2 Quarterly Review, xxxix. 288.
3 Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, book i. ch. x. sec. 5.

received into the arms of his mercy, and engrafted into his holy Church. But, alas! I fear it is too certain to admit of dispute, that all have more or less fallen from the state of grace, and need repentance and renewal unto holiness. The best have to be reminded continually of their baptismal promises and privileges, lest they neglect or lose them; but by far the larger portion need to be addressed as men still at enmity with God—still requiring to be "won to Christ."

It is manifest that in every congregation there are, generally speaking, two sorts of persons to be addressed, those who are living in sin, and those who are humbly walking in the faith and fear of God; in one word, good and bad Christians. The good require to be drawn nearer to Christ by encouragement, direction, caution, remembrance, and by setting before them all the glorious topics of revealed truth, whereby their faith may be sustained, their devotion elevated, and their good resolutions strengthened. And for them the providence of God has prepared an aid far beyond any which the preacher can afford, in the ordinances and sacraments of the Church, and in our holy and beautiful Liturgy; by the humble use of which good and faithful men are led continually forward in their Christian course.

It is in dealing with the other class that the Preacher's chief difficulty consists. Supposing (what I fear we must do) that the majority of our congregations are not "walking worthy of the vocation with which they are called," but are more or less "in the gall and bitterness of sin," it must be the preacher's object to effect a change, not in their outward manners, but in the very nature and condition of the soul and herein consists his main difficulty.

O what a host of prejudices and passions is arrayed against him! What a band of veteran troops, hardened in the service of sin, is brought to bear upon his unwelcome invasion! What stubborn materials are they on which he has to

work! Even if there were no active principle of resistance to contend with, what a mass of inert matter is there to move! How true is this, yet how strange! One would have thought, that when an acknowledged minister of God stood before an assembly of men, they would have received him with the same serious attention as Cornelius and his household received the apostle Peter; "Now, therefore, are we all here present before thee, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." One would have thought, that as he went on to speak on their eternal interests, and to set before them life, and death, and judgment to come,—to teach them how they might escape the everlasting wrath of God, and save their souls alive,—all would have been mute attention, that fear and gratitude would have filled every heart. But I pray you take a survey from the pulpit of the congregation you are about to address. You behold them gathered there before you—(O what an awful scene!)—men who will be living thousands of thousands, and millions of millions of years hence-living either in a state of endless woe, or endless

bliss.

You are to them God's minister of mercy; and, on their acceptance or rejection of God's offer of mercy-ay, it may be their acceptance or rejection of it on this very day, (for some may never hear it more,) depends the character of their eternal destiny. But what is the expression of feeling which you observe among them? Do they appear solemnly interested, as if they felt the deep importance of the business in hand? Alas! no. Instead of appearing humbly and anxiously desirous of instruction, observe many of them sitting in careless attitudes, and with countenances expressive of little interest in the subject brought before them,―a subject which ought to be, in itself, and, apart from all consideration of the character and ability of the preacher, of

1 See Visitation Sermon, by Bickersteth.

« ElőzőTovább »