! 1 !'. i ^^ OF mncm »5?0t0GICALSt*^ A TREATISE ON THE PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS BY KEV. JOHN A. BROADUS, D.D., LL.D. ON THE PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS. New (23d) edition. Revised from the author's own notes. Crown 8vo, cloth. ^1.75. A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS IN THE REVISED VERSION. Fourth edition. Sq. Svo, cloth. ^1.50. LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. i2mo, cloth. Si. 30. JESUS OF NAZARETH: His Personal Character; His Ethical Teachings; His Supernatural Works. Fourth edition. i2mo, cloth. 75 cents. SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. With Portrait of the .■\uthor. Crown Svo, cloth. ^1.50. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW. Crown Svo. cloth. MEMOIR OF JAMES P. BOYCE, D.D., LL.D. Crown Nv!), cloth. 51.75. For sale by all Booksellers, or sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price, by A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON, 51 East Tenth Street (near Broadway), New York. j . FEB 5 1934 ' A TREATISE ON 'rrae, ^S PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS BY w JOHN A. BROADUS, D.D., LL.D. AUTHOR OF A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS," "HISTORY OF PREACHING," "COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW," ETC. Nehj (€iwentg4f)trti) EUtttan EDITED BY EDWIN CHARLES DARGAN, D.D. PROFESSOR OF HOMILETICS IN THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, LOUISVILLE, KY. NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 51 East Tenth Street, near Broadway 1898 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by JOHN A. BROADUS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. Copyright, 1898, By Charlotte E. Broadus. SHnibcrgitg ^rcgs: John Wilson and Son, Camuridge, U.S.A. PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. THE first edition of this work was published in the summer of 1870. Immediately after get- ting it through the press the author went abroad for some months, and did not expect to teach Homi- letics again after his return. But circumstances made it necessary that he should resume his work in that department — always a favorite subject with him. The book was a great success. It became the most popular and widely-read text-book on Homiletics in this country, and has passed through twenty-two editions, thousands of copies having been sold. It has been adopted in many theological sem- inaries of different denominations as the text-book, and in many where no text-book is used it is highly commended for study and reference. Besides this, it has had a wide and useful circulation among the ministry in general. Two separate editions were published in England; the book was used in the mission schools in Japan, in its English form, and was translated for similar use in the Chinese mis- sions. A translation into Portuguese for the Protes- tant missions in Brazil has been prepared, and only waits for funds to be published. VI PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. The following several things call for a revised edition at this time : The copyright will have to be renewed in 1898, and this affords good opportunity to bring out a new edition; the original stereotype plates have become greatly worn ; the correction of a few minor errors, and some additions and alter- ations, made desirable by the author's larger experi- ence in studying and teaching the subject, are called for; there have been great contributions to the litera- ture of Homiletics since the work was first published, and the author always kept abreast of progress ; and, most of all, the continued demand for the book after twenty-seven years of useful service requires response in the way of bringing the work up with the times. The present writer's connection with this revision is easily explained. In the fall of 1892 I became associate professor of Homiletics with Dr. Broadus in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and had the privilege of teaching the subject with him up to the time of his lamented death in March, 1895. We divided the work of teaching under his direc- tion, and as the state of his health permitted. It fell to my lot to do more and more of the work as his health declined. During these years we had frequent conversations in regard to the revision of this volume. It was one of his cherished plans to bring out a revised edition before his death. With that end in view he had accumulated a good deal of material, mostly in the shape of notes, some in various note-books, and some written on the margins and fly-leaves of the book which he had used in the class-room for a num- ber of years. In addition to these notes there were many points which he had discussed in conversation PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. vii with me in regard to changes and improvements in the work. At the opening of the session of 1894-95 he gave me an interleaved copy of the book to use in the class-room, with the request that I should note on the blank pages every suggestion which occurred to me, looking toward the proposed revision. In the latter part of February, 1895, I took him the book and talked to him about the revision; but alas! in less than three weeks he was in his grave. As the revision seemed absolutely imperative, with the full approbation of Dr. Broadus' family, I have felt it a sacred duty and privilege to undertake the task. How well or how ill it may have been executed will appear in the following pages. Three classes of changes have been made : (i) Those which were clearly indicated in the author's notes already mentioned. These I have made without hesitation, as being certainly what he himself would have done. (2) Some changes not particularly noted by him, but concerning which I have distinct recol- lections of conversation, or concerning which on other accounts I feel reasonably sure that he would have made the alterations adopted. (3) There are also some changes wherein I have had to rely upon my own judgment, believing that they would be for the better. It is right for me to say that these are comparatively few, and, further, that I have made no changes without consultation with members of the author's family, from whom valuable help and suggestions have been received. As most of the alterations are the author's, I beg to say distinctly that whatever improvements may be noticed in the book should be ascribed to him, and the editor will cheerfully take the responsibility viii PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. of any changes which may not meet the approval of the reader. It is my earnest prayer and hope that this book, which has been so useful for twenty-seven years, shall go forth in its new form on a mission of con- tinued and larger usefulness to those whose blessed work it is to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. E. C. Dargan. Louisville, Ky., December, 1897. AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THIS work is designed, on the one hand to be a text-book for classes, and on the other to be read by such ministers, younger or older, as may wish to study the subjects discussed. As a teacher of Homiletics for ten years, the author had felt the need of a more complete text- book, since a course made up from parts of several different works would still omit certain important subjects, and furnish but a meagre treatment of others, leaving the class to a great extent dependent entirely upon the lectures. The desire thus arose to prepare, whenever possible, a work which should be full in its range of topics, and should also attempt to combine the thorough discussion of principles with an abundance of practical rules and sugges- tions. When the labor involved in teaching this and at the same time another branch of Theology became excessive, and it was necessary to relinquish Homiletics — though always a favorite branch — the author determined, before the subject should fade from his mind, to undertake the work he had contemplated.^ 1 [This relinquishment was only temporary, being required by the author's state of health, though he at the time supposed it would be permanent. After one year he resumed Homiletics, and taught it with enthusiasm and success to the end of his life. — D.] X PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The treatise is therefore a result of practical in- struction, but it is not simply a printed course of lectures. The materials existing in the form of brief notes have been everywhere rewrought, the literature of the subject carefully re-examined, and the place which had been occupied by text-books filled by an independent discussion. Those who may think of employing the work as a text-book are requested to note, that it is divided into independent Parts, which, while arranged in the order indicated by the nature of the subject, may be taken up in any other order required by the exigencies of instruction. Some would prefer to begin with Arrangement, in order that students may at once have the benefit of this in preparing sermons or sketches. Others might begin with Style, in order to general exercises in composition; and pos- sibly others with Delivery. The author would him- self prefer if using the book, to take, after the Introduction, the first three chapters of Part I., and then Part II., and perhaps other portions before com- pleting Part I. The cross references from one part to another will be found somewhat numerous. In the plan of the work, a few instances occur of departure from a strict technical distribution of the topics, for the sake of practical convenience. Thus the matters embraced under Illustration, Expository Preaching, or Imagination, would strictly belong to several different parts of the work, but it is practically better to discuss all at the same time. So with Occasional Sermons. It may be necessary to explain the introduction of copious chapters on the Interpretation of a Text, and on Argument. The former subject is discussed PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Xl in treatises on Hermeneutics. But besides the fact that not a few of those who use this book will not have previously studied Hermeneutics, those who have done so may be interested and profited by a dis- cussion bearing more directly on the work of preach- ing; and such students will be able to read the chapter rapidly. Much improvement has been made during the past century in respect to pulpit inter- pretation, but it is a point as to which our young ministers still need to be very carefully guarded. The subject of Argument is thought by some to be out of place in a treatise on Homiletics or on Rhetoric in general. But preaching and all public speaking ought to be largely composed of argument, for even the most ignorant people constantly prac- tise it themselves, and always feel its force when properly presented; and yet in many pulpits the place of argument is mainly filled by mere assertion and exhortation, and the arguments employed are often carelessly stated, or even gravely erroneous. Treatises on Logic teach the critical inspection, rather than the construction of argument, and so the latter must be discussed in works on Rhetoric, if anywhere. The well-known chapters of Whately have been here freely employed, but with very large additions, and with the attempt to correct some important errors. The examples of argument given are nearly all drawn from religious truth. With these explanations it is left to instructors to use or omit these portions of the work at their pleasure. But the great mass of young ministers, particularly in some denominations, never study Homiletics under a teacher, whether they have or have not en- joyed a Collegiate education. The attempt has been xii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. everywhere made to adapt the present work to the wants of these students, as well as to the purposes of a text-book. They will choose for themselves what portions to take up first, but such as have had no College education may be urged not to abandon the book without reading the discussion of Arrange- ment and Style, as well as of Interpretation, Subjects of Preaching, and Argument. Those who have had much experience in preaching often find it interesting and useful to examine a treatise on the preparation and delivery of sermons. New topics and new methods may be suggested, things forgotten or hitherto neglected are recalled, ideas gradually formed in the course of experience are made clearer and more definite, and where the views advanced are not deemed just, renewed reflec- tion on some questions need not be unprofitable. Moreover, the desire for high excellence in preach- ing may receive a fresh stimulus. Such readers will remember that many practical matters which to them have now become obvious and commonplace, are precisely the points upon which a beginner most needs counsel. And while there are in the pres- ent treatise numerous divisions and subdivisions, so marked as to meet the wants of students, the attempt has been made to preserve the style from becoming broken and unreadable. The author's chief indebtedness for help has been to Aristotle, Cicero, and Ouintilian, and to Whately and Vinet. The two last (together with Ripley) had been his text-books, — and copious extracts are made from them on certain subjects. A good deal has been derived from Alexander, Shedd, Day, and Hoppin, from Coquerel and Palmer, and a great PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xiil variety of other writers. Besides quotations, there are numerous references to works in which may be found some impressive statement of similar opinions, or further considerations bearing on the subject in hand. Only such references have been given as it was thought really worth while for the student to consult. At the close of the Introduction,^ there is a list of the principal works forming the Literature of Homiletics, with brief notices of their character and value. It is believed that to give in a treatise some account of previous works on the subject, as judged from the author's point of view, is a thing appropriate and calculated to be useful. Such notices, in the case of contemporary writers, ought not to be reckoned discourteous if they frankly ex- press disapprobation in some respects as well as praise in others. Were they somewhat more ex- tended, these critical appreciations would be more useful. Besides this general account of the litera- ture, essays and treatises upon particular branches of Rhetoric or Homiletics are briefly characterized in foot-notes, upon the introduction of the respec- tive topics. Two important and valuable works, Mcllvaine on Elocution (New York, 1870), and Dabney's Sacred Rhetoric (Richmond, 1870), were received after the Introduction was stereotyped, but are noticed in Part IV., chapter ii., and were made useful in that and the following chapters. Two articles published by the author in the Baptist Quarterly for January, 1869, and January, 1870, have been incorporated into the work, with the necessary rewriting; and some articles forming other portions 1 [It was thus in the earlier editions ; but in this, the Bibliography will be found at the end of the book. — D.] xiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. of it have appeared in the Religious Herald, and the Central Baptist. The author is grateful to his col- leagues and his pastor, ^ for sympathy in his under- taking and for valuable suggestions. The Index has been prepared by the Rev. John C. Long, of Virginia.^ Special pains have been taken, at the proper points of the treatise, to give practical suggestions for ex- temporaneous speaking. Most works confine their instruction as regards the preparation of sermons to the case of writing out in full; and many treat of delivery, as if it were in all cases to be reading or recitation. The effort has here been to keep the different methods in view, and to mention, in con- nection with matters applicable to all alike, such as apply to one or another method in particular. As to many of the practical questions connected with the preparation and delivery of sermons, there is much difference of opinion; and an experienced preacher in reading any treatise on the subject, must find points here and there which he would prefer to see treated otherwise. He would decide whether, notwithstanding, the work is likely to be useful. In the present case, criticism, whether favorable or adverse, would be welcomed. Where the author is in error, he would greatly prefer to know it. Where the views presented are just, they may be- come more useful through discussion. No one could prepare a work on this subject 1 [The Rev. Dr. Wm. D. Thomas, then the beloved pastor of the Greenville, S. C, Baptist Church, now Professor of Philosophy in Richmond College, Richmond, Va. — D.] 2 [Afterwards Professor of Church History in Crozer Theological Seminary, Upland, Pennsylvania, and since deceased. — D.l PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XV without feeling, and sometimes deeply feeling, the responsibility he incurred. It is a solemn thing to preach the gospel, and therefore a very solemn thing to attempt instruction or even suggestion as to the means of preaching well. July, 1870. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION. § I. Importance of Preaching and Difficulty of Preaching Well ^ 2. Nature of Eloquence 4 3/ Requisites to Effective Preaching 7 4. Origin of the Rules of Rhetoric *o 5. Dangers of Rhetorical Studies ^ ^ 6. Relation of Homiletics to Rhetoric ^5 7. The Study of Homiletics ^7 part I. MATERIALS OF PREACHING. CHAPTER I. THE TEXT — SELECTION. § I. Meaning of the Term ^9 2. Advantages of Having a Text 21 3. Rules for the Selection of Texts 23 CHAPTER H. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 8 I. Obligation to Interpret Carefully and Strictly ... 32 2. Chief Sources of Error in the Interpretation of a Text 38 3! Examples of Texts often MisappHed 55 4. Suggestions for the Study of Texts o4 b xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. PAGE § I. Doctrinal Subjects 76 2. Subjects of Morality 86 3. Historical Subjects 93 4. Experimental Subjects 96 CHAPTER IV. SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS AND CLASSES. § I. Funeral Sermons 100 2. Academic and Anniversary Sermons 103 3. Revival Sermons 105 4. Sermons to Children 109 5. Sermons for Other Special Classes 115 CHAPTER V. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. § I. Invention and its Aids 118 2. Accumulation of Materials 120 3. Originality 129 4. Plagiarism and Borrowing 137 5. Freshness in Preaching — Helps 146 6. Sensational Preaching — Cautions 149 CHAPTER VI. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. § I. Explanation in General 153 2. Explanation of Texts 155 3. Explanation of Subjects 163 CHAPTER VII. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. § I 2 3 4 5 6 7 Importance of Argument in Preaching 169 Questions Preliminary to Argument 172 Principal Varieties of Argument 180 Certain Forms of Argument 204 Refutation 207 Order of Arguments 216 General Suggestions as to Argument 220 CONTENTS. xix CHAPTER VIII. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ILLUSTRATION. PAGE § I. Various Uses of Illustration 225 2. Sources of Illustration 229 3. Cautions as to the Employment of Illustration . . 242 CHAPTER IX. SPECIAL MATERIALS — APPLICATION. 245 Part II. ARRANGEMENT OF A SERMON. CHAPTER I. IMPORTANCE OF ARRANGEMENT. 258 CHAPTER II. THE SEVERAL PARTS OF A SERMON. § r. The Introduction 266 2. The Discussion 276 3. The Conclusion 298 CHAPTER III. DIFFERENT SPECIES OF SERMONS. § I. Subject-Sermons 308 2. Text-Sermons 311 3. Expository Sermons 317 Part III. STYLE. CHAPTER I. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON STYLE. 1. Nature and Importance of Style 339 2. Means of Improving Style 345 XX PAGE CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. QUALITIES OF STYLE — PERSPICUITY. 361 CHAPTER III. ENERGY OF STYLE. 380 CHAPTER IV. ELEGANCE OF STYLE. 405 CHAPTER V. IMAGINATION IN PREACHING. 1. Uses of Imagination to the Orator ...... 420 2. Means of Cultivating the Imagination 426 part IV. DELIVERY OF SERMONS. CHAPTER I. THE THREE METHODS OF PREPARATION AND DELIVERY. §1 2 3 4 5 Description and History of the Three Methods . . 432 Reading 439 Recitation 450 Extemporaneous or Free Speaking 456 General and Special Preparation for Free Delivery in Preaching 470 CHAPTER II. ON DELIVERY, AS REGARDS VOICE. 1. General Remarks on Delivery 477 2. The Voice — its Distinct Powers 483 3. General Improvement of the Voice 485 4. Management of the Voice when actually Preaching 492 CHAPTER III. ON DELIVERY, AS REGARDS ACTION. 496 CONTENTS. XXI part V. CONDUCT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. PAGE Reading Scripture 5^2 Hymns 5^9 Public Prayer 527 Length of the Services 535 Pulpit Decorum 538 Concluding Remarks 540 Bibliography 543 Index 555 .THE PREPARATION AND DELIVERY OF SERMONS, INTRODUCTION. § I. Importance of Preaching AND Difficulty of Preach- ing Well. 2. Nature of Eloquence. 3. Requisites to Effective Preaching. § 4. Origin of the Rules of Rhetoric. 5. Dangers of Rhetorical Studies. 6. Relation of Homiletics to Rhetoric. 7. Study of Homiletics. PREACHING is characteristic of Christianity. No false reHgion has ever provided for the regular and frequent assembling of the masses of men, to hear religious instruction and exhortation.^ Judaism had something like it in the prophets, and afterwards in the readers and speakers of the synagogue ; but Judaism was a true religion, designed to be developed into Christianity. It is true that some heathen religious teachers, see- ing the power of preaching, have at times tried to imitate Christianity in this respect. Thus the Roman emperor Julian, commonly called the Apostate, di- rected the pagan philosophers to preach every week as the Christians did.^ And in modern times there are said to have been in China, Japan, and India 1 Comp. Vinet, p. 2t. 2 Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. in Jul. Apost. I 2 INTRODUCTION. instances of the adoption of something like preaching. But so far as is known preaching remains, both in origin and history, a peculiarly Christian institution. § I. IMPORTANCE OF PREACHING AND DIFFICULTY OF PREACHING WELL. The great appointed means of spreading the good tidings of salvation through Christ is preaching — words spoken whether to the individual, or to the assembly. And this, nothing can supersede. Print- ing has become a mighty agency for good and for evil; and Christians should employ it, with the ut- most diligence and in every possible way, for the spread of truth. But printing can never take the place of the living word. When a man who is apt in teaching, whose soul is on fire with the truth which he trusts has saved him and hopes will save others, speaks to his fellow-men, face to face, eye to eye, and electric sympathies flash to and fro between him and his hearers, till they lift each other up, higher and higher, into the intensest thought, and the most impassioned emotion — higher and yet higher, till they are borne as on chariots of fire above the world, — there is a power to move men, to influence char- acter, life, destiny, such as no printed page can ever possess. Pastoral work is of immense importance, and all preachers should be diligent in performing it. But it cannot take the place of preaching, nor fully compensate for lack of power in the pulpit. The two help each other, and neither of them is able, unless sup- ported by the other, to achieve the largest and most blessed results. When he who preaches is the sym- pathizing pastor, the trusted counsellor, the kindly and honored friend of young and old, of rich and poor, then "truths divine come mended from his INTRODUCTION. 3 lips," and the door to men's hearts, by the magi- cal power of sympathy, will fly open at his word. But on the other hand, when he who visits is the preacher, whose thorough knowledge of Scripture and elevated views of life, whose able and impas- sioned discourses have carried conviction and com- manded admiration, and melted into one the hearts of the multitude, who is accustomed to stand before them as the ambassador of God, and is associated in their minds with the authority and the sacredness of God's Word, — when lie comes to speak with the suf- fering, the sorrowing, the tempted, his visit has a meaning and a power of which otherwise it must be destitute. If a minister feels himself specially drawn towards either of these departments of effort, let him also constrain himself to diligence in the other. Religious ceremonies may be instructive and im- pressive. The older dispensation made much use of these, as we employ pictures in teaching children. Even Christianity, which has the minimum of cere- mony, illustrates its fundamental facts, and often makes deep religious impressions, by its two simple but expressive ordinances. But these are merely pictures to illustrate, merely helps to that great work of teaching and convincing, of winning and holding men, which preaching, made mighty by God's Spirit, has to perform. It follows that preaching must always be a neces- sity, and good preaching a mighty power. In every age of Christianity, since John the Baptist drew crowds into the desert, there has been no great relig- ious movement, no restoration of Scripture truth, and reanimation of genuine piety, without new power in preaching, both as cause and as effect. But alas ! how difficult we find it to preach well. How small a proportion of the sermons heard weekly 4 INTRODUCTION. throughout the world are really good. The dilettanti men of letters who every now and then fill the peri- odicals with sneers at preaching, no doubt judge most unkindly and unjustly, for they purposely com- pare ordinary examples of preaching with the finest specimens of literature, and they forget their own utter lack, in the one case, of that sympathetic appreciation without which all literary and artistic judgment is necessarily at fault; but we who love preaching and who try to preach are better aware than they are, of the deficiencies which mar our efforts, and the difficulties which attend our work. A venerable and eminently useful minister^ once remarked, as he rose from the couch on which he had been resting, '' Well, I must get ready to preach to-night. But I can't preach — I never did preach — O, I never Jicard anybody preach." And yet in this work of ours, so awful and so at- tractive, so difficult and solemnly responsible and yet so blessed, we ought to aspire after the highest ex- cellence. If in other varieties of public speaking, then most of all in this, may we adopt Cicero's words with reference to the young orator, " I will not only exhort, but will even beseech him, to labor." ^ § 2. NATURE OF ELOQUENCE. What is good preaching? Or, more generally, what is eloquence? This is not a merely specula- tive inquiry, for our fundamental views on the sub- ject will influence, to a greater extent than we may be aware, our practical efforts. Without reviewing the copious discussions of the question, the following statement may be offered : Eloquence is so speaking 1 The late Dr. J. 1',. Jeter, of Virginia. 2 Cic.de Or. II. §85. INTRODUCTION. 5 as not merely to convince the judgment, kindle the imagination, and move the feelings, but to give a powerful impulse to the will. All of these are nec- essary elements of eloquence, but that which is most characteristic is the last. There may be instruction and conviction without eloquence. The fancy may be charmed, as by a poem or novel, when you would not think of calling it eloquence. The feelings may be deeply stirred by a pathetic tale or a harrowing description, but no corresponding action being pro- posed, we do not speak of it as eloquence. On the other hand, it is not strictly correct to say that *' elo- quence is so speaking as to carry your point;" for there may be an invincible prejudice, or other insup- erable obstacle, as, for example, a preacher may be truly eloquent, without actually inducing his hearers to repent. There must be a powerful impulse upon the will ; the hearers must feel smitten, stirred, moved to, or at least moved towards, some action or deter- mination to act. Words that by carrying conviction, kindling imagination, and arousing emotion, produce such an effect as this upon the will, are rightly called eloquent words. Augustine says, Veritas pa- teat^ Veritas placcat, Veritas inoveat, " Make the truth plain, make it pleasing, make it moving." Eloquence, then, is a practical thing. Unless it aims at real and practical results, it is spurious. Daniel O'Connell, the famous Irish patriot and lawyer, is credited with the saying, " A good speech is a good thing, but the verdict is the thing." Mere holiday eloquence does not deserve the name. And the preacher who kindles the fancy of his hearers merely for their delectation, who stirs their passions merely to give them the luxury of emotion, is not eloquent. There is too much preaching of just this sort. Be- sides vain pretenders who care only to please, there 6 INTRODUCTION. are good men, who, if they can say very handsome things, and can make the people feel, imagine that they are preaching well, without inquiring why the people feel, and to what truly religious ends the feel- ing is directed. It is a shame to see what vapid and worthless stuff is often called eloquence, in news- paper puffs, and in the talk of half-educated young- lings returning from church. Eloquence is a serious thing. You cannot say that a discourse, or a paragraph, is very amusing and very eloquent. The speaker who is to deserve this high name must have moral earnestness. He may some- times indulge, where it is appropriate, in the light play of delicate humor, or give forth sparks of wit, but these must be entirely incidental, and subordinate to a thorough seriousness and earnestness. Theremin, in his useful little treatise, *' Eloquence a Virtue," in- sists that eloquence belongs to the ethical sciences, the character and spirit of the speaker being the main thing. The theory is an exaggeration, but contains an important element of truth, as Quintilian already had partly observed.^ " What is the true ground of eloquence," says Vinet, ** if it is not commonplace? When eloquence is combined with high philosophical considerations, as in many modern examples, we are at first tempted to attribute to philosophy the impression we receive from it; but eloquence is something more popular; it is the power of making the primitive chords of the soul (its purely human elements) vibrate within us — it is in this, and nothing else, that we acknowledge the orator." '^ It is impossible to be eloquent on any ^ Quint. Inst. XII. i, " An orator is a good man, skilled in speak- ing." This, he says, was Cato's definition. Professor Shedd's Intro- duction to Theremin gives some very good thoughts on the nature of eloquence. 2 Vinet, Horn. p. 176, note. INTRODUCTION. 7 subject, save by associating it with such ideas as that of mother, child, friends, home, country, heaven, and the Hke; all of them familiar, and, in themselves, commonplace. The speaker's task is, by his group- ing, illustration, etc., and by his own contagious emo- tion, to invest these familiar ideas with fresh interest, so that they may reassert their power over the hearts of his hearers. He who runs after material of dis- course that shall be absolutely new, may get credit for originality, and be amply admired, but he will not exert the living power which belongs to eloquence. The preacher can be really eloquent only when he speaks of those vital gospel truths which have neces- sarily become familiar. A just rhetoric, if there were no higher consideration, would require that a preacher shall preach the gospel — shall hold on to the old truths, and labor to clothe them with new interest and power. § 3. REQUISITES TO EFFECTIVE PREACHING. They may be stated as four, namely, piety, natural gifts, knowledge, skill. ^ (i) Piety, Men sometimes do good by preaching who turn out to have been destitute of piety. It is one of the many wonderful ways in which God brings good out of evil. But such cases are exceptional, and as a rule, the prime requisite to efficiency in preaching is earnest piety. This inspires the preacher himself with ardent zeal, and keeps the flame alive amid all the icy indifference by which he will so often be encompassed. This gains for him the good-will and sympathy of his hearers, the most ungodly of whom will feel that devout earnestness on his part is 1 Dr. W. M. Taylor (Forum for March, 1887) maintains that " the essentials of eloquence are the gifts, the cause, occasion, and audience." 8 INTRODUCTION. becoming, and entitles him to respect. And to this is promised the blessing of God upon the labors which it prompts. Much false theory and bad prac- tice in preaching is connected with a failure to appre- hend the fundamental importance of piety in the preacher. As was said above on a kindred topic, just rhetorical principles, as well as other and far higher considerations, imperatively require that a preacher of the gospel shall cultivate personal piety. It is bad rhetoric to neglect it. (2) Natural gifts. The preacher needs the capa- city for clear thinking, with strong feelings, and a vigorous imagination; also capacity for expression, and the power of forcible utterance. Many other gifts help his usefulness, these are well-nigh indispen- sable to any high degree of efficiency. Each of these can be improved almost indefinitely, some of them developed in one who had not been conscious of pos- sessing them ; but all must exist as natural gifts. (3) Knowledge. There must be knowledge of religious truth, and of such things as throw light upon it; knowledge of human nature in its relations to religious truth, and of human life in its actual condi- tions around us. It was a favorite idea of Cicero that the orator ought to know everything. There is of course no knowledge which a preacher might not make useful. We may thankfully recognize the fact that some men do good who have very slender attain- ments, and yet may insist that it should be the preacher's lowest standard to surpass, in respect of knowledge, the great majority of those who hear him, and should be his sacred ambition to know all that he can learn by life-long and prayerful endeavor. Piety furnishes motive power; natural gifts, culti- vated as far as possible, supply means; knowledge gives material ; and there remains — INTRODUCTION. 9 (4) Skill, This does not refer merely to style and delivery, but also to the collection, choice, and arrangement of materials. All who preach eminently well — and the same thing is true of secular speakers — will be found, with scarcely an exception, to have labored much to acquire skill. Henry Clay, in an address to some law-students at Albany towards the close of his life, mentioned that during his early life in Kentucky, he " commenced, and continued for years, the practice of daily reading and speaking upon the contents of some historical or scientific book. These off-hand efforts were made sometimes in a cornfield, at others in the forest, and not unfre- quently in some distant barn, with the horse and the ox for my auditors." We are told that the Indian orators of the Six Nations were known to practise their speeches beside a clear pool as a mirror. " Patrick Henry, the most illustrious example of natural oratory, so far as there is any such, went through a course of training in his daily studies of human nature as drawn out by himself in his little shop, his every-day trials on his lingering customers of the power of words, his deep and enthusiastic in- vestigations into history, and particularly his patient and continued study of the harangues of Livy and the elaborate translations he made of them, which, to say the least, is very uncommon." ^ Any one whose good fortune it has been to be intimate with some of those noble Baptist and Methodist preachers, who begin- ning with hardly any education have worked their way up to the highest excellence in their calling, will have seen ample proofs, particularly in their unre- strained private conversation, that their power of clear and precise expression, and of forcible and attractive delivery, is the result of sharp, critical A Day's Art of Discourse, p. 18. lO INTRODUCTION. attention, of earnest and long-continued labor. The difference between skill and the lack of it in speaking, is almost as great as in handling tools, those, for ex- ample, of the carpenter or the blacksmith. And while no real skill can be acquired without practice — according to the true saying, ** The only way to learn to preach is to preach " — yet mere practice will never bring; the hiq;hest skill : it must be heedful, thoughtful practice, with close observation of others and sharp watching of ourselves, and controlled by good sense and good taste. Now in respect of skill, preaching is an art; and while art cannot create the requisite powers of mind or body, nor supply their place if really absent, it can develop and improve them, and aid in using them to the best advantage. To gain skill, then, is the object of rhetorical studies, skill in the construction and in the delivery of discourse. § 4. ORIGIN OF THE RULES OF RHETORIC. (i) TJie rules of Rhetoric are properly the result of induction. They are sometimes spoken of as if they had been drawn up by would-be wise men, who undertook to tell, on general principles, how one ought to speak. But they simply result from much thoughtful observation of the way in which men do speak, when they speak really well.^ Every one will sometimes see occasion to depart from these rules; but he ought to understand that in disregard- ing the " rules of Rhetoric," he is not nobly spurn- ing artificial fetters and barriers, but simply turning aside, for the time, and for good reason, from the path in which it is usually found best to walk. And to do this will be wise or not wise, according as there 1 Comp. Cicero, De Orat. c. xxiii. INTRODUCTION. II is real occasion for it, and it is well managed. So too, we notice, men of sense often exactly conform to these rules, without knowing anything about them ; for this is only saying that they speak exactly as men of sense usually do.^ (->) What we call rules are but the convenient expression of a principle. They put the prmciple into a compact form, so as to be easily remembered and readily applied. But the rule, however judi- ciously framed, can never be as flexible as the prm- ciple it represents. There will therefore be cases, and as regards some rules many cases, in which one may violate the rule and yet be really conforming to the principle, these being cases in which the principle would bend, and adapt itself to peculiar conditions, while the rule cannot bend. This consideration explains many of the instances in which a speaker produces a powerful effect though utterly violating the rules of rhetoric. Other such instances are ex- plained by the sort of shock produced by a depart- ure from what is usual, as the sleeping miller will wake when the mill stops. And in still other cases the effect is produced by a man's power in other respects, /;/ spite of the particular violation of rule. § 5. DANGERS OF RHETORICAL STUDIES, (i) Thinking more of the form than the matter. Rhetoric has to do with the use we make of material, the choice, adaptation, arrangement, expression. But after all, the material itself is more important We hold that Demosthenes did not mean to con- tradict this, when he said (if he ever did in fact say it), that the first thing, second thing, third thing in speaking is delivery. He took the other for granted. 1 Comp. Whately's Rhetoric, p. 33 ^' 12 INTRODUCTION. No man has ever surpassed Demosthenes, in thorough mastery of the subjects upon which he spoke. But deHvery had been with him a matter of pecuHar difficulty, his deficiencies in that respect had de- feated his early attempts, and his subsequent excel- lence had been gained only by enormous labor; it was natural that he should lay stress upon its import- ance, supposing that no man of sense could overlook the necessity of being fully acquainted with his sub- ject. Now the things which ought most to be thought of by the preacher, are piety and knowledge, and the blessing of God. Skill, however valuable, is far less important than these ; and there is danger that rhe- torical studies will cause men to forget that such is the case. It is lamentable to see how often the remarks upon preaching made by preachers them- selves, in conversation and in newspaper critiques, are confined to a discussion of the performance and the performer. Unsympathizing listeners or readers have, in such cases, too much ground for concluding that preachers are anxious only to display skill, and gain oratorical reputation. (2) Imitatioji. All are aware that there is both a conscious and an unconscious imitation. That which is unconscious is of course not so blameworthy, but it cannot fail to be injurious, and it is a subtle evil which should be guarded against with the sharpest self-inspection. Every one observes, too, that imita- tors are especially apt to imitate a man's faults. The reason is easily seen. The excellencies of a good speaker are apt to be symmetrical, while his faults are salient, prominent. The latter, therefore, will most readily attract unconscious imitation. As to the conscious imitator, he is sure to be a superficial observer, who will think that what he notices most in some admired speaker is the secret of his power, INTRODUCTION. 13 and will go to imitating that. Besides, it is easier to ape the single, salient fault, than the symmetrical combination of many excellencies. Is the danger of imitation increased by attendance upon institutTons of learning? Hardly. He who is so susceptible on the one hand, or on the other hand so silly, as to fall readily into it, will find some one to imitate, wherever he may be. Every country district has some favorite preacher, whom others around may be seen to imitate. When many of these imitators are gathered at a public institution, the men they imitate are fewer and more generally known, and therefore the fact attracts more atten- tion. On the other hand, they are more likely to have pointed out to them the danger and the evils of imitation, so as utterly to eschew that which is conscious, and promptly to correct the unconscious, when made aware of it. Nor is there any greater danger of such imitation at a theological institution than at a college or university. Still, some men are very liable to this fault, and when about to hear the same speaker several times a week for many months, all ought to be on their guard against imitating his peculiarities.^ (3) Artificiality. There is much artificiality which ought not to be called by the odious name of affec- tation. The speaker's motives are good ; he merely 1 " Melanchthon carried one shoulder higher than the other, and the pupils believed themselves Melanchthons if they imitated his posture." Hagenbach, Homiletik, s. 142. Spurgeon's students are constantly accused of imitating him. Those who are anxious on this subject ought to be apprised of another danger, which they may not have thought of. Some years ago, a certain professor heard one of his students preach several times at a protracted meeting, and then preached himself. In the midst of the sermon, he caught him- self distinctly imitating certain peculiar tones of his esteemed young brother. Think of that ! The professors may imitate the students ! 14 INTRODUCTION. errs in judgment and taste. But a great error it is. In all speaking, especially in preaching, naturalness^ genuineness, even though awkward, is really more effective for all the highest ends, than the most elegant artificiality. " But it is the highest art to conceal art." Nay, no art can conceal art. We may not perceive it, but we dimly, instinctively feel that there is something the matter, and perhaps wonder what it is; somehow, the preacher's well- meant efforts are failing to reach their aim. The danger of artificiality in speaking is very great. When one begins, he is apt to feel awkward in the new and strange situation. As one unaccustomed to riding on horseback must learn to sit naturally, and feel at ease, in the saddle, so very many speakers, perhaps all, have to learn to be natural. They must not only reject all intentional artificiality, but must carefully guard against that which is undesigned and unconscious. To forget self, because full of living desire to do men good, is the great means of being natural. It follows that a preacher ought never to preach merely for practice; this will inevitably tend to encourage artificiality. The first few efforts of a young man — which will often go much farther than he is at the time aware to form his habits for life — ought to be genuine, bona fide preaching. If he ever preaches in the presence of none but his fellow- students and instructors, it ought to be only upon a subject thoroughly suited to their religious wants, and with a most earnest and prayerful effort to do them good.^ ^ It is believed that the plan of causing students to preach before the class results, upon the whole, in more harm than good, and that it ought to be avoided. Let them preach where it can be real preach- ing, or not at all. Even the debating society pioposes a present end to be gained, and awakens some living interest. Hervey (Christian Rhetoric, p. 51 8) coincides with this view and quotes approvingly INTRODUCTION. 1$ As regards all that pertains to preaching, and espe- cially delivery, our efforts at rhetorical improvement must be mainly negative. We endeavor to gain cor- rect general principles, and some idea of the errors and faults to which speakers are generally liable. We then speak, aiming to be guided by these prin- ciples, and to correct our faults as they may arise. It is unwise to set up at the outset some standard of excellence, and aim to conform to that. If one should take a fancy that cedar-trees are more beauti- ful than oaks, and attempt to trim his oaks into the shape, and color them into the hue, of cedars, the result could only be ridiculous. Let the young cedar grow as a cedar, and the young oak as an oak, but straighten, prune, improve each of them into the best possible tree of its kind. And so as to speaking, be always yourself, your actual, natural self, but yourself de- veloped, corrected, improved into the very best you are by nature capable of becoming. § 6. RELATION OF HOMILETICS TO RHETORIC. The Greek word hqmilia signifies conversation, mutual talk, and so familiar discourse. The Latin word sermo (from which we get sermoii) hastjie same sense, of conversation, talk, discussion. It is instruc- tive to observe that the early Christians did not at first apply to their public teachings the names given to the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, but called them teilks, familiar discourses. Under the influence of rhetorical teaching and the popularizing of Chris- tian worship, the talk soon became a more formal and extended discourse ; and though the title homily was still used, the sermon in later times partook more of from Stier and Rothe. Stier says, " He who has been wont to preach to benches as if they were men will afterwards preach to men as if they were benches." - l6 INTRODUCTION. the character of an oration, and was often called a logos^ or discourse.^ From this word homily has been derived (after the analogy of niatJieinatics, physicSy and similar words) the term homiletics, as denoting the science or art of Christian discourse, or a treatise on that subject, embracing all that pertains to the preparation and delivery of sermons. Hoppin ^ gives the following definition : " Homiletics is the science that teaches the fundamental principles of public dis- course as applied to the proclamation and teaching of divine truth in regular assemblies gathered for the purpose of Christian worship," Phelps^ defines : " Plomiletics is the science which treats of the na- ture, the classification, the analysis, the construction, and the composition of a sermon. More concisely, it is the science of that of which preaching is the art, and a sermon is the product." Homiletics may be called a branch of rhetoric, or a kindred art. Those funda- \ mental principles which have their basis in human _jiatur£are of course the same in both cases, and this V being so, it seems clear that we must regard homi- J letics as rhetoric applied to this particular kind of speaking. Still, preaching is properly very different from secular discourse, as to the primary source of its materials, as to the directness and simplicity of style which become the preacher, and the unworldly motives by which he ought to be influenced. And while these and other peculiarities do not render it proper to treat homiletics as entirely distinct from rhetoric,^ they ought to be constantly borne in mind by the stu- dent of homiletics and by the working preacher.^ 1 Paniel, Gesch. der Christl. Beredsamkeit, s. 265, note. - Homiletics, p. 9. ' Theory of Preaching, p. i. * As proposed by Kidder, p. 19 ff. 5 Nothing would really be gained by substituting, as some Ger- man writers propose, the term keryktik, from the Greek kerux, a herald, and in the N. T. a preacher. INTRODUCTION. I7 § 7. THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS. It is evident that both to the student for the minis- try and to the active pastor, attention to this subject is of the utmost importance. It is proposed to offer here some suggestions toward a profitable pursuit of the study. , , •, .u The hterature of homiletics is ample and worthy. There are multitudes of able and good books of all ages and languages, books which bear more or less directly upon the subject. General treatises on rhet- oric elocution, and kindred topics abound, and many of these are well worthy of the preacher's careful read- ing. In recent times, with the revived interest in the study of English in our colleges and universities, there has been put forth a large number of rhetorical trea- tises From these back to the still useful works of the ancient masters, there is a long line of excellent discussions of the fundamental and permanent prin- ciples of rhetorical science. Then there is a very complete, and for the most part valuable, literature of homiletics proper. These treatises discuss preaching from almost every conceiv- able point of view. Many noble and useful works have been produced in our own country, and they are noted for practical value and thoroughness of treatment. There are also a few works, but not so many nor so good as could be wished, on the history of oratory and of preaching, that are helpful in the study of homiletics. For a brief critical survey of the best known and most useful works in this depart- ment, the student is referred to the bibliography at the end of this volume. Besides treatises on preaching, the chief sources of instruction in homiletics are as follows: (i) The preaching that we hear, when heard with fraternal l8 INTRODUCTION. sympathy and prayerful desire for spiritual benefit, and yet with critical attention. (2) Published ser- mons, the value of which is readily acknowledged. (3) Biographies of preachers, which to one having a general knowledge of homiletics, are often surpass- ingly instructive. (4) The criticism of instruc- tors or judicious hearers upon our own preaching. (5) Careful observation of our faults, as developed in actual practice, with resolute and patient effort to correct them. ^art I. MATERIALS OF PREACHING. CHAPTER I. THE TEXT — SELECTION. § t. Meaning of the Term. 2. Advantages of Having Text. 3. Rules for the Selection OF A Text. § I. MEANING OF THE TERM. THE word text is derived from the Latin texere, to weave; which figuratively came to signify to put together, to construct.^ and hence to compose, to express thought in continuous speech or writing. The noun textiis thus denotes the product of weav- ing, the web, the fabric, and so in literary usage the fabric of one's thinking, continuous composition, written or, in later times, printed. The practice arose of reading the continuous narrative or discussion of some author and adding comments, chiefly explana- tory; or of taking the author's own writing and making notes at the sides or bottom of the page. Thus the author's own work came to be called the text, that is, the continuous, connected composition as distinguished from the fragmentary notes and com- ments of the editor or speaker. This use of the word still survives, as when we speak of the text of ancient authors or others, meaning their own original com- 1 Comp. texture, context, etc. 20 THE TEXT — SELECTION. position ; and text-criticism is the science of determin- ing what was their exact language. So in school usage a text-book is so called because it is the work of the author studied, to whose continuous discussion the teacher adds notes or comments in questioning or explaining in the class. Now, early preaching was of the nature of familiar running commentary on the connected train of thought, or text, of Scripture, which was so named to distinguish it from the preacher's comment or exposition. As the practice grew of lengthening the comments into an orderly discourse, and of shortening the passage of Scripture expounded, the word text has come to mean the por- tion of Scripture chosen as the suggestion or founda- tion for a sermon.^ The history of the word, like that of homiletics, points back to the fact, which is also well known otherwise, that preaching was originally expository. The early Christian preachers commonly spoke upon passages of considerable length, and occupied them- selves largely with exposition. Frequently, how- ever, as was natural, they would find a brief passage so fruitful as to confine themselves to it. Usage tended more and more toward the preference of short texts. In England in the seventeenth century, it was not uncommon to make many sermons on some brief passage. Thus John Howe has fourteen sermons on a part of Rom. viii. 24, ** We are saved by hope; " seventeen on i John iv. 20; and eighteen on John iii. 6. The object was to make a complete discussion of some great topic, and to bind all the discourses into a whole by connecting all with the same text. But 1 Hagenbach has explained the word correctly (Horn. s. 96), Shedd (Horn, p. 159) has clearly mistaken it. Also Phelps (Theory of Preaching, p. 45) ; and Hoppin (Horn. p. 288) seems to mistake, though his language is not clear. THE TEXT — SELECTION. 21 this practice conflicted with the natural love of variety. It is usually much better to make a series appear such by the manifest relation of the subjects, and to choose for each discourse a separate text, which presents the particular subject or view there discussed. This is at present the common practice, it being a somewhat rare thing now to preach more than one sermon on the same brief text. There is also a tendency at present to return to the more frequent use of long texts.^ § 2. ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A TEXT. ^ Taking a text is an old and well established custom from which there seems to be no good reason for de- parting; especially as the change would be sure to prove distasteful or even painful to many worthy and devout hearers of preaching. Moreover, the custom is founded in excellent reason, and has marked advantages. It is manifest that to take a text gives a tone of sacredness to the discourse. But more than this is true. The primary idea is that the discourse is a development of the text, an explanation, illustration, application of its teachings. Our business is to teach God's word. And although we may often discuss sub- jects, and aspects of subjects, which are not presented in precisely that form by any passage of Scripture, yet the fundamental conception should be habitually re- tained, that we are about to set forth what the text contains. When circumstances determine the subject to be treated, and we have to look for a text, one can almost always be found which will have some real, though it be a general relation to the subject. If there be rare cases in which it is otherwise, it will 1 Compare below, Part II. chap. iii. § 3, on Expository Sermons. 22 THE TEXT — SELECTION. then be better to have no text than one with which the subject has only a fanciful or forced connection.^ There are several advantages in regularly taking a text, (i) It constantly recalls the fact just men- tioned, that our undertaking is not to guide the people by our own wisdom, but to impart to them the teachings of God in his Word. This fact enables us to speak with confidence, and leads the people to recognize the authority of what we say. (2) If the text is well chosen, it awakens interest at the outset. (3) It often aids the hearer in remembering the train of thought, having this effect wherever the sermon is really evolved from the text. (4) It affords oppor- tunity of explaining and impressing some passage of Scripture. (5) It tends to prevent our wandering utterly away from Scriptural topics and views. (6) Greater variety will be gained than if the mind were left altogether to the suggestion of circum- stances, for then it will often fall back into its old ruts ; and this variety is attained just in proportion as one restricts himself to the specific thought of each particular text. Objections to the use of texts have commonly arisen from one of two or three causes. The griev- ous laxity in the interpretation of texts which has so widely prevailed, leads some men to regard the em- ployment of them as wrong or useless. This is the old story — the abuse of a thing causing men to question the propriety of its use. Again, persons who have little or no true reverence for Scripture, or appreciation of its riches, speak of the text as a re- striction upon freedom of thought and flow of elo- quence. Thus Voltaire : " It were to be wished that Bourdaloue in banishing from the pulpit the bad taste which disgraced it, had also banished the custom of preaching on a text. Indeed, to speak long on a THE TEXT — SELECTION. 23 quotation of a line or two, to exhaust one's self in subjecting a whole discourse to the control of this line, seems a trifling labor, little worthy of the dig- nity of the ministry. The text becomes a sort of motto, or rather enigma, which the discourse de- velops." ^ It seems plain that this sneer arose partly from the torturing interpretation so often witnessed, and chiefly from the critic's want of reverence for the Bible, and ignorance of the preacher's true relation to the Bible. And perhaps, as a third ground of objection to texts, some able and devout preachers, disliking expository and even textual preaching, and wishing that every sermon should be a philosophical discussion or an elaborate discourse upon a definite topic, incline to regard the custom of always taking a text as an inconvenient restriction. Such appears to have been the feeling of Vinet. It is sometimes not unsuitable to have two texts, or even more. Thus with Heb. ix. 22, *' And without shedding of blood is no remission," there might be united i John i. 7, " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Or with Isa. vi. 3, ** The whole earth is full of his glory," may be taken Psa. Ixxii. 19, " And let the whole earth be filled with his glory ; " to angelic eyes it is so — the human mind can only pray that it may be so. (Comp. Hab. ii. 14.) Spurgeon has a sermon on the words, " I have sinned," as occurring seven times in the Bible, and gives interesting views of the different circumstances and states of mind in which they were uttered.^ § 3. RULES FOR THE SELECTION OF TEXTS. The proper selection of a text is a matter of great importance. A felicitous choice will animate the 1 Voltaire, Age of Louis XIV. Quoted by Vinet, Horn., p. 99. j 2 Amer. ed. of Spurgeon's Sermons, Third Series, p. 241. 24 THE TEXT — SELECTION. preacher throughout the preparation and the delivery of his sermon, and will help him to gain at once the attention of his hearers. There are few points as to which preachers differ more widely in talent and skill than the selection of texts, and few in which diligent and systematic effort will be more richly rewarded. The minister, or student for the ministry, should keep a blank book for lists of texts. In reading the Scrip- tures and books of theology, in reading collections of sermons, biographies, and newspaper notices, in casual reflection and in the preparation of other ser- mons, passages will be constantly occurring upon which it strikes one that he could make a sermon. Let these be at once written down in the list. Let the preacher constrain himself to do so, until it be- comes a habit. And he should by all means put down at the same time, however briefly, the proposed outline of the discourse, or any specially valuable view or illustration of it, which he is not sure will return to his mind whenever the text is looked at. Otherwise he will afterward find many passages in the list that it will seem strange he should ever have noted, because the association will have been broken, the point of view will have disappeared. At some times the mind is in a highly creative mood, and plans of sermons or suggestive texts or topics will rapidly succeed one another, as the preacher reads, reflects, or visits from house to house. These fruitful germs should be carefully husbanded, and the lines of de- velopment indicated. And often when one is cold and lifeless, and could at the moment produce noth- ing, some good thought which was struck out in a happier mood will fall into his mind like a spark, and presently set it all on fire. Many an admirable text, and many a golden thought, given to men in their better moments, are lost forever, when a brief record. THE TEXT — SELECTION. 25 or even some little effort to associate them in mind with other things, might have made them a permanent possession.-^ To aid in the selection of texts, there are offered the following rules. (i) The text should not be obscure. It ought, as a rule, to exhibit its meaning readily. Otherwise, the people will either be repelled by what they see no sense in, or will be apt to feel a merely idle curi- osity to know what in the world the preacher will make of that. Still, there are important exceptions here. If the preacher is satisfied that he can explain an obscure passage, and can show that it teaches val- uable truth, he may take it. If the passage is one about which many are known to feel interested, and he is really able to make its meaning clear, and bring out useful lessons, it may be very wise to employ it. But observe the stress that is laid on the practicabil- ity of making the passage instructive and useful. To explain merely for the sake of explaining, is a task for which the preacher scarcely has time. It is his business to teach the people lessons of real utility, either as regards doctrine or practice.^ (2) One must be careful as to employing texts ''marked by grandeitr of expression. They seem to promise a great effort!' ^ And if great expectations are excited at the outset, it is of course very difficult to meet them. Yet no one would say as a rule that such texts must be avoided. Many of the noblest 1 For numerous striking specimens, not of texts but of thoughts thus recorded, see Life of John Foster, Vol. L pp. 10S-156. Compare Alexander, "Thoughts on Preaching," p. 513. 2 See further in what is said on Expository Preaching, Part IL chap, iii., and comp. Phelps, "Theory of Preaching," pp. 84-91, for a very sensil^le and more extended treatment of the comparative ad- vantages of perspicuous and obscure texts. 8 Ripley. 26 THE TEXT — SELECTION. and most impressive passages of Scripture rise into a natural grandeur of expression, and there would be serious loss in habitually avoiding these. Some- times we may find a simpler text that presents the same subject, and the grander passage can be intro- duced somewhere in the course of the sermon. But when such a passage is made the text, we may pre- vent any undesirable effect by announcing it with unaffected modesty, and by the general tone of the introduction; perhaps even saying — not as an apol- ogy but a quiet remark — something to the effect that of course none of us can rise to the height of this great passage, and yet it may do us good to meditate upon its teachings. We must carefully avoid whatever course would savor of display, but must not fastidiously shrink from treating any pas- sage which we may hope to make useful. (3) It is scarcely ever proper to choose a text that ivill seem odd. When humor is employed in preach- ing it ought to be an incidental thing, and manifestly unstudied. It is so natural for some men to indulge in quaint, and even in very odd sayings, they so promptly and easily fall back into their prevailing seriousness, that the humorous remarks are unobjec- tionable, and sometimes, through the well-known relation between humor and pathos, they heighten the effect. But an ejfort to be amusing, anything , odd that appears to have been calculated, is felt to be 5 incompatible with a genuine seriousness and solem- nity. Now the text has of course been deliberately chosen, and an odd text must therefore have a bad effect. Yet there are sayings of Scripture that seem quaint, which an earnest man may employ to good purpose. For example, William Jay has a good sermon upon Hos. vii. 8, ''Ephraim is a cake not turned." THE TEXT — SELECTION. 27 (4) Do not avoid a text because it is familiar. What has made some texts famiHar to all, but the fact that they are so manifestly good texts? It is a very mistaken desire for novelty which leads a man to shrink from such rich and fruitful passages as " God so loved the world," etc. ; " This is a faith- ful saying," etc., which Luther used to call '* little Bibles," as if including in their narrow compass the whole Bible. ^ He who will turn away from the tradition of the pulpit as to the meaning and appli- cation of such passages, and make personal and earnest study of them, will often find much that is new to him and his hearers, as the skilful gold-hunter in California will sometimes follow in the very track of many searchers, and gain there his richest harvest. Besides, what we need is not absolute novelty, but simply freshness. If we can manage, by prayerful reflection, to obtain such views and provide such illustrations of a familiar text as will give it a fresh interest to ourselves and the hearers, then all the riches of the passage are made available for good. Alexander 2 calls attention to the fact that of the great sculptors and painters many took the same themes ; and so with the Greek tragedians. He re- marks: ''Some, anxious to avoid hackneyed topics, omit the greatest; just as if we should describe Switzerland and omit the Alps." In point of fact, the great preachers, all the best preachers, do preach much upon the great texts and the great subjects. How is a feebler man ever to develop his own strength, unless he grapples with great themes? One may show skill, and add somewhat to the har- vest, by cultivating out-of-the-w^ay corners and un- promising ledges of rock; but the bulk of the crop, 1 See Hood, Lamps, Pitchers, etc., p. 591. 2 Thoughts on Preaching, pp. 10-12. 28 THE TEXT — SELECTION. by which the family are fed, must come from the broad, open field. (5) Do 7iot habitually neglect any portio7i of Scrip- ture. Some neglect the Old Testament, thus losing all its rich unfolding of God's character and the methods of his Providence, all its unnumbered illustrations of human life and duty, and its many types and predic- tions of the coming Saviour. Others preach on the Old Testament almost exclusively. These are either men who take no delight in the *' doctrines of grace," in the spirituality of the gospel ; or men devoted to fanciful allegorizing, who do not enjoy the straight- forward teaching of Christ and his apostles, so much as their own wild ''spiritualizing" of everything in the Old Testament history, prophecies, and proverbs.^ Let us not neglect either of these great divisions of God's own Word. And so as to particular books. In the course of a good many years a preacher ought to have taken some texts from every portion of Scrip- ture, though he will of course choose most frequently from those books to which attention is directed by his peculiar mental constitution and tastes, or by their comparative richness in evangelical and prac- tical matter. (6) Do not take spnrions passages. Those which are certainly spurious may be avoided by the use of the Revised (Canterbury) Version of the New Testa- ment. The Revisers were very conservative as to the text, and any passage omitted in that Version may be safely assumed to be spurious. In regard to doubt- ful passages help may be had, in addition to the Revised Version, from Westcott and Hort's Greek Testament and from the Revision published by the American Baptist Publication Society. Following are some examples of texts to be avoided. A favor- 1 Comp. Ilagenbach, s. 102. THE TEXT — SELECTION. 29 ite text with many is Acts ix. 6, *' Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? " This is unquestionably spuri- ous, and these words should never be quoted as Scripture; yet essentially the same thought is ex- pressed in Acts xxii. lO, " What shall I do, Lord?" as uttered on the occasion of Paul's conversion. The famous passage in i John v. 7, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one," is also spurious beyond question. The passage in Acts viii. 37, *'And Philip said: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," has the evidence so overwhelmingly against its genuineness that it ought not to be used as a text. Very doubtful are the passages, John vii. 53 — 'viii. 11, concerning the woman taken in adultery, and Mark xvi. 9-20.^ (7) The sayings of uninspired men, recorded iii Scriptiirey oiigJit not to be used as texts, unless we know from other teachings of Scripture that they are true, or unless we propose to find instruction in the fact that those men made the statements given. Many such sayings found in the Bible are in them- selves utterly untrue, inspiration being responsible only for the fact that they were actually spoken. No one would think of treating as true the vaunting speech of Rabshakeh (2 Kings, chap, xviii.). The question of the scribes (Mark ii. 7), " Who can for- 1 There is no more occasion for uneasiness at the fact that errors are found in the coDimon text of Scripture, than in the current transla- tions. Men who are well aware of the latter fact, and not disturbed by it, are sometimes shocked at the former, because it is new to them. But neither in text nor in translation do our common Bibles present any such errors or uncertainties as would alter or modify any doctrine of Scripture. Still, that we ought not to employ as Scripture what is known to be spurious, is a proposition which would seem to need no proof. 30 THE TEXT — SELECTION. give sins but God only? " we know to be a just ques- tion, and as such we might make it a text. In John vii. 46, *' Never man spake like this man," we like- wise recognize a truth, and at the same time find significance in the fact that the officers sent to appre- hend Jesus were thus impressed. The well-known words of Gamaliel (Acts v. 38, 39) are very instructive as his saying under the circumstances, but the prin- ciple laid down is not true without qualification. In the book of Job, many of the things said by the three friends are quite erroneous, and a few of Job's own utterances are tinged with error, as is shown in the latter part of the book. These ought not to be treated as unqualified truth, while as a part of the discussion they arc highly interesting and instructive. So with some particular sayings in Ecclesiastes, which are not the present affirmations of the inspired writer, but only a record of things which he had said in some former wrong mood, and which the argument of the whole book serves to correct. Yet texts from both these books are sometimes preached upon, which, regarded in themselves, present erroneous and mor- bid views of life. Let all sayings which, though a part of the inspired record, are yet only the utter- ances of uninspired men, be scrutinized in the light of their connection and of Scripture in general, before they are used as tcxts.^ , (8) In the course of pastoral labor, several consid- erations should be borne in mind when selecting texts. One is, the present condition of the congregation. Mr. 1 See some examples in Vinet, Horn. p. 109 ; and a very sensible discussion of the whole matter in Fisk's Manual of Preaching, pp. 68- 70. Professor Fisk mentions several ways in which texts of this kind may be used: (i) As illustrations of God's character ; {2) of his works; (3) of the imperfections of good men ; (4) of the character of bad men; and (5) of the power of conscience in bad men. THE TEXT — SELECTION. 31 Beechcr^ insisted very strongly, and none too strongly, on the importance of this, and said : " You will very soon come, in your parish life, to the habit of thinking more about your people, and what you shall do for them than about your sermons and what you shall talk about. That is a good sign." A second consid- eration is, the character of the texts recently dis- cussed. We have to guard against monotony in the subjects chosen, as well as in the mode of treating them, and to seek after such a relation between the successive sermons as will cause them to help each other's effect. It is sometimes well to look forward and mark out a series of sermons in advance; but it is always well to glance backward, at each new step, and keep in suitable relation to what has preceded. For this purpose, as well as on other accounts, a preacher should from the outset keep a list of ser- mons preached, including date, place, and text. A third and very important consideration is, to select that in which we can at the time take interest, as otherwise we shall not deeply interest others. These three considerations will sometimes more or less con- flict; we must endeavor to maintain the balance among them as judiciously as possible.^ 1 Yale Lectures, First Series, p. 40 ff . 2 jt is interesting to note that Phillips Brooks (Yale Lectures, ■^V' ^53 ff-) discusses, more at length and with excellent judgment, these same three points. A very like discussion is also to be found in Th. Harnack's " Geschichte und Theorie der Predigt," s. 174. Both These works were published after the first edition of this book. 32 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. CHAPTER II. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 1. Obligation to Interpret Carefully and Strictly. 2. Chief Sources of Error in THE Interpretation of a Text. § 3. Examples of Texts which are often Misapplied. 4. Brief Suggestions for the Study of Texts. OBLIGATION TO INTERPRET CAREFULLY AND STRICTLY. TO interpret and apply his text in accordance with its real meaning, is one of the preacher's most sacred duties. He stands before the people for the very purpose of teaching and exhorting them out of the Word of God. He announces a particular passage of God's Word as his text with the distinctly implied understanding that from this his sermon will be drawn — if not always its various thoughts, yet certainly its general subject. If he is not willing to be bound by this understanding, he ought to reject the practice which commits him to it, and preach without any text. But using a text, and undertak- ing to develop and apply its teachings, he is sol- emnly bound to represent the text as meaning precisely what it does mean. This would seem to be a truism. But it is often and grievously violated. Not only is there much contented ignorance as to interpretation, and much careless neglect on the part of persons well able to interpret correctly, and much wild spiritualizing of plain words, but, by a violent method of ''accommo- THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. 33 dation," Scripture sentences or phrases are employed as signifying what it is well known, and perhaps even declared at the time, that the sacred writer did not mean to say, and has not at all said. *' The orig- inal meaning of these words, as used by the inspired writer, is — so and so; but I propose on the present occasion to employ them in the following sense." That is to say — honored brother, see what you are doing — you stand up to teach men from a passage of God's blessed Word, and coolly declare that you propose to make the passage mean what it does not mean. "But the words might have that sense." They might, but as a part of the Bible, as a text of Scripture, they do not. If we take the passage in a sense entirely foreign to what the sacred writer designed, as indicated by his connection, then, as we use it, the phrase is no longer a passage of Scrip- ture at all. It is merely ivords of Scripture, used without authority to convey a different meaning; just as truly as if we had picked out words from a concordance, and framed them into a sentence. "But I use the passage merely as a motto." Well, if a preacher has the right to take no text but only a motto — which is questionable — he certainly has not the right to make a Scriptural motto signify what he knows it does not signify. "But the lan- guage of Scripture is so rich, its pregnant sayings often mean so much, that I think perhaps this expres- sion may convey, among other things, the sense which I propose." If it really does, there is no objection whatever to using it so. But a mere vague "perhaps" is a slender and tottering excuse for a preacher, who is looked up to by the people as authority in this matter, who is supposed to have studied his text and to knoiv its meaning, and whose statements will, for that reason, be accepted by 3 34 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. many without question. Such a man is verily guilty before God if he does not honestly strive to under- stand that which he interprets, and give forth its real meaning and no other. Phillips Brooks^ has an admirable passage on this subject, the closing sentences of which are as fol- lows : " Never draw out of a text a meaning which you know is not there. If your text has not your truth in it, find some other text which has. If you can find no text for it in the Bible, then preach on something else." And to the same purport Phelps ^ says: "That is a distorted ministry which deals in any large proportion with subjects which are not logically presented in the Scriptures. It is not a biblical ministry." In one direction, however, the idea of strict inter- pretation may be carried too far. It is certainly best, as a general rule, to confine the sermon to the precise subject and aspect of a subject, which the text in its connection sets forth. ^ But we are not necessarily restricted to this. Some principle may be presented by the text in one application, and we may with perfect propriety make other applications of it. If this is all that is meant by accommoda- tion, it is not a perversion of the Scripture, for the text really teaches the principle, and the new appli- cations are avowedly made by ourselves, guided by the general teachings of Scripture. The apostle Paul often states a broad principle as bearing on some particular question of truth or duty. For example, Gal. vi. 7, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is said with special refer- ence to the duty of contributing to the support of 1 Yale Lectures, pp. 162, 163. 2 Theory of Preaching, p. 124. 8 Comp. on Subject-sermons, Part II. chap. iii. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 35 religious teachers, but it is given as a general truth, and admits of many applications which it is lawful for us to make. Again, sometimes a very general admonition may properly be applied by the preacher to some particular case, provided he is sure it really covers the case. For example, it is perfectly legit- imate to apply to a large variety of special cases the noble counsel of Paul in i Thess. v. 21, 22, *' Prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." (It is important to notice here that the Revised Version gives the true mean- ing of this frequently misunderstood text.) Such texts as these are a great comfort to the conscien- tious preacher who is really anxious to use the Word of God accurately and sincerely. With this text a man can preach against any form of evil, provided he can prove that it is in truth an evil. Of course if there is some text which specifically condemns the evil it is better to take that, but sometimes it may not be easy to find just the text that suits. In other cases we may start from the precise point given by the text and advance to related truths. We thus extend the application of the text, but in a direction not foreign but akin to the sacred writer's specific design. In Amos iv. 12, "Prepare to meet thy God," the prophet gives warning of impending temporal judgments upon the nation, and calls upon Israel to prepare to meet God in these. Yet it is lawful for us, after pointing out this, to show that if we continue in sin we must all meet God, not only in temporal judgments but in the vengeance of the great day, and so we may call on our hearers to prepare for eternity. This is not wrenching the text from its connection and misusing it; we only carry the inspired writer's idea further in the direc- tion he had in mind, and we do this on our own 36 THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. responsibility with no assertion or implication that he meant to consider all the topics which our dis- course includes. It thus appears that one may preach from a text on any matter which it presents to the mind, whether directly or indirectly, by state- ment, presupposition, or inference, provided that in some way it really does mean what is claimed; and where this meaning is only indirectly presented it will be better, in some simple way, to point out the fact, so as not to encourage in the people loose notions of interpretation. Very different from this was the course of a preacher who once gave a mis- sionary sermon from the words of the young ruler, "What lack I yet.?" inquiring what we lack for greater success in the missionary enterprise. This is an extreme case; but thousands of sermons are preached in which the real meaning of the text is just as completely, though not often so manifestly, violated. Phelps^ has a good discussion of accommodation. He distinguishes three kinds: (i) That based on mere resemblance of sound, as where a man preached on the duties of judges from the words, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." This he justly condemns as puerile, and characterizes as "play upon a jews- harp." (2) That founded on metaphorical resem- blance. This he also wisely rejects. It is merely spiritualizing, which will be considered further on. (3) That which rests " on the ground of resemblance in principle between the text and the theme." This he considers to be, with cautious use, admissible. It pretty nearly corresponds to what has been ex- plained and justified in the preceding paragraph.^ 1 Theory of Preaching, p. 114 ff. 2 Comp. also Iloppin, Horn. pp. 314-318; and Fisk, Manual of Preaching, p. 74 ff. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 37 The remark may be here added, that where a text in its connection admits of more than one meaning, we shall do well either to avoid it as too ambiguous for our purpose, or to indicate that we take the more probable sense and confine attention to its lessons as thus understood. The plan of taking up in suc- cession several different senses and making a prac- tical application of each cannot be approved. We must bring to bear upon men's minds as a part of God's Wo^rd, only what the text really means, as best we can ascertain it. Is it ever allowable to use a text simply as a motto.? This is questionable. Hoppin ^ squarely opposes the practice. Phelps ^ discusses the matter very wisely, and thinks that with some distinctions and cautions motto-texts may sometimes be used. But what is meant by a motto-text.? It is like the quotations on the title-page, or at the chapter-head- ings of books; the words only remotely suggest the treatment. As Hoppin says, in this way the "text " often becomes only a "pretext." But still an occa- sional use of a text in this way is conceivably proper. Let us put the case thus : Occasion arises for the discussion of some particular subject for which the preacher can find no exactly suitable text. He must not pervert Scripture to make it suit his theme. Then he must either make an address without taking a text, or use the text as a motto for his discourse. Which should he do.? Sometimes one and some- times the other. In the first case he should explain that he prefers to make an address rather than to preach from a text. In the other case he ought to interpret his text carefully, giving its real meaning and application. He should then show how the 1 Horn. p. 318. 2 Theory of Preaching, p. 126 ff. 38 THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. text, as properly interpreted and applied, comes to suggest at least the subject, or to have a fitting con- nection with it. Thus in preaching a historical ser- mon before the Southern Baptist Convention on one occasion, the preacher chose as his text the promise to Naphtali in Deut. xxxiii. 23, " O Naphtali, satis- fied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord; possess thou the west and the south." As a motto the beautiful appropriateness of this is appar- ent ; but the preacher did not pretend that the tribe of Naphtali was in any sense a "type " of Southern Baptists, or that Moses might have had these in his prophetic view when he pronounced this blessing. Now supposing in the preacher an earnest desire to interpret his text correctly, he will not always find it an easy task. Apart from the loose notions, bad examples, and previous wrong practice, which often becloud the mind with reference to interpreta- tion, it has some intrinsic and serious difficulties which can be overcome only by thoughtful effort. While, therefore, the whole great subject of Biblical Hermeneutics or Interpretation does not belong to a treatise on Homiletics, it seems proper and neces- sary to give some account of the errors to be avoided by a preacher in interpreting his text. § 2. CHIEF SOURCES OF ERROR IN THE INTER- PRETATION OF A TEXT. (i) Erroneous interpretations often arise from mis- tuidcrstandiiig tJie pJiraseology of the text itself. Lan- guage can never do more than approximate to perfect precision of expression, with freedom from the pos- sibility of being misunderstood; and an easy, collo- quial style is especially apt to involve a number of ellipses, broken constructions, words of various THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. 39 and not well-defined meaning, and other causes of ambiguity. If, then, a revelation was to be given in human language, and to be expressed for the most part in that familiar style which would make it "come home to men's business and bosoms," would make it a book for men and women, and boys and girls, for cultivated and uncultivated people, it must be an inevitable condition of such a revelation that questions might often arise as to the exact meaning of its details. The general drift of a narrative, argument, or exhortation may be obvious enough, and its practical impression upon a docile and sus- ceptible mind may be very distinct, and yet those who come to criticise the details, especially if they come with prepossessions and prejudices, may find numerous expressions capable of being variously interpreted, and perhaps some whose exact sense is really doubtful. Far better this, it is evident, than the idea of a revelation presented in a uniformly didactic and rigorously scientific style, which must at last fail of absolute precision, while it would be thoroughly devoid of interest for the ordinary human mind. Let us, therefore, cheerfully accept the necessity of exercising great care when we inter- pret the language of Scripture, as we are compelled to do with all other language. Moreover, there are in our task some peculiar con- ditions. Many of us have to interpret a translation. Now the best translations are necessarily imperfect. It is rarely, if ever, the case that two words in different languages will contain precisely the same bulk of meaning in the same form, and carry with them the same atmosphere of association and sug- gestion. Idiomatic differences of construction, too, will sometimes introduce ambiguity where the orig- inal was precise, or make too definite what in the 40 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. original was only general. Especially frequent are the cases in which our language fails to indicate the emphasis, which in the Hebrew or the Greek may be distinctly marked. And then our common English Version, though its general style is so admirable, and though no other popular translation has ever equalled it in correctness, is disfigured by not a few errors, and contains various words and phrases which have become obsolete, or have changed their meaning. ^ Yet with all this, there is nothing to discourage or to excuse the preacher from earnest efforts to ascertain the true meaning of his text. By working himself, through extensive, constant and devout reading of the Bible, into thorough sym- pathy with its characteristic modes of thought and forms of expression, by throv^^ing himself upon the current of the general connection of his text, so as to be borne over any particular difficulties, by com- paring it with various other passages in which the same or a kindred subject is treated, and by con- sulting the works of learned and really judicious expositors, the intelligent preacher who uses only our English Version will have great success in the interpretation of Scripture. Witness the sermons and the writings of hosts of Baptist ministers, and also of Methodists and others. Witness Andrew Fuller, who had practically no knowledge of the original languages, and yet his interpretations of Scripture are clear and safe in a degree very rarely surpassed.'^ 1 The Revised (Canterbury) Version has made great improve- ments, but still retains some of the archaic and sometimes incorrect phraseology of the King James Version. ^ Dr. Chalmers, in urging his favorite counsel that students and ministers who know the original ought also to make regular and extended study of the English Version, somewhere refers to Andrew Fuller as a striking example of the extent to which a man may carry THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. 41 If, on the other hand, one uses the original lan- guages in his interpretation, there is the danger of being misled by superficial knowledge or hasty exam- ination. To ascertain the exact meaning of words and phrases in those languages, a thorough acquaint- ance with them is obviously necessary. It is often said that one needs a knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek in order that he may understand the difficult passages ; it would be more nearly correct, though paradoxical, to say that such knowledge will help him to understand the easy passages, the great mass of Scripture. As to the difficult places, an acquaint- ance with the original language will enable us to judge, with greater confidence and correctness, among the various interpretations, though it be not likely that we shall strike out anything new, with- out a profounder knowledge than is often attained. Such an acquaintance will also sometimes save us from the disheartening notion that scholarship would make it all plain, in cases which have at last to be decided by reference to the connection and the gen- eral teachings of Scripture. But as to the great bulk of Scripture, even the slightest knowledge of the originals is of service, in helping us to enter into intellectual sympathy with the sacred writers. For the language of the Bible is pervaded by a Hebraistic spirit, marked by Oriental modes of con- ception, which are in many respects quite different from those of our own people. This is most clearly seen in the Old Testament, though the New Testa- ment Greek shows more or less of the same tinge. To read but a few pages of Hebrew, even though one should never become capable of exact exegesis, his knowledge of Scripture by the use of the English Version alone. Some brief and good suggestions on exposition are given by Fuller, Works (ed. Am. Bapt. Pub. See), Vol. I., p. 712. 42 THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. cannot fail to aid a susceptible mind in the sym- pathetic comprehension of Scripture ways of think- ing and peculiarities of expression; and of course a thorough study of the Hebrew and Greek will carry this benefit still farther. The effect is analogous to that of travelling in Palestine. Still, if a man can- not study these languages, he must earnestly strive to catch the tone of Scripture, and even the peculiar tone of its several writers. All persons among us have unconsciously attained something of this, from general reading of the Bible, and from the extent to which Scriptural modes of thought and expression pervade our preaching and our religious literature. But strenuous and sustained effort in this direction is demanded of those who would be good interpreters of Scripture. "In the language of the Bible there is a certain number of words which we may call capital, the meaning of which, exactly seized, becomes the key of the Bible. If we confine ourselves purely and simply to the usual signification of the terms which the translator uses in rendering such words into our language, we are in great danger of committing seri- ous errors. Thus, as to the words flesh, soul, heart, fear, faith, tinderstanding, foolish, light, darkness, just, righteousness, salvation, grace, good man, wicked. The translator has translated for you the words; you must translate the ideas for yourselves."^ The technical sense in Scripture of such leading terms we partly learn from general observation in reading, but may more precisely ascertain through a com- parison, by help of the concordance, of many passages in which they are employed. Further, it is to be observed that the language of Scripture is, as a general thing, not philosophical 1 Vinet, Horn. p. iii. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 43 but popular, not scientific but poetic, not so much an analytical language, fond of sharp discrimina- tions and exact statements, as a synthetical language, abounding in concrete terms, the representatives not of abstractions, but of facts of actual existence and experience, which in their meaning gradually shade into each other without any definite line of distinction. This character leads to some pecu- liar forms of expression, which abound in the Bible, and are important for the interpretation of many texts. "A poetic language, a language I mean of a poetic people, delights alternately to diminish and aug- ment, that the imagination of the hearer or reader may be exercised in adding or retrenching." For example, " Whosoever is born of God, doth not com- mit sin" (i John iii. 9); "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God " (Luke xvi. 15); "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother ... he cannot be my disciple" (Luke xiv. 26). And, as an example of a dhmms/ied expression, "The unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph. v. 11). "It delights by turns to make absolute that which is relative, and relative that which is absolute." Examples of the former : " When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neigh- bors; . . . but call the poor, the maimed," etc. ^ (Luke xiv. 12). This is stated as an absolute pro- '^ hibition of inviting friends, kindred, rich neighbors, and a command to invite exclusively the other class. We know very well that our Lord did not mean to be thus understood, nor does any one ever thus interpret. Naturally, and as a matter of course, men will invite kindred, the rich, and others, and 44 THE TEXT — IxNTERPRETATION. for this, which is done because of mere natural affec- tion or social reciprocity, they will get no religious reward. But it is so viucJi vwre important, on relig- ious grounds and in hope of a divine reward, to invite the poor and suffering, that our Lord speaks as if, compared with this, the former must not be done at all. In Fro v. viii. lo, we have first the absolute form of statement, and then in the parallel clause the relative form: "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold." Here the former clause was not meant to be understood as really making an absolute prohibition of receiving silver; it is simply a highly emphatic way of urging the same thought that is presented in the latter clause. In Gen. xlv. 8, Joseph says, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." In Jer. vii. 22, 23, God declares, " I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; but this thing com- manded I them, saying. Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people." It was well known that God had spoken to their fathers very extensively concerning sacrifices ; but the com- mand to obedience is held to be so much more important, that the other is pronounced nothing in the comparison. So with Matt. ix. 13 (Hos. vi. 6), "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." All this seems obvious. But does not the same principle apply to I Pet. iii. 3, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wear- ing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart . . . the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," etc. t (Comp. i Tim. ii. 9). The apostle does not mean to be understood as really prohibiting all outward adornment, any THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. 45 more than the other passages prohibit inviting kin- dred, receiving silver, or offering sacrifices; he means to say emphatically that the most beautiful outward adorning, such as women so highly prize, is as nothing in comparison with that imperishable adorning of the spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. It is an absolute statement, designed to be understood relatively, but also intended by its absolute form to be very emphatic and impressive. If this view of the passage be correct, then thou- sands of well-meaning Christians, and more than one organized body, have vainly striven to eradicate the natural love of ornament, merely because they did not consider that the energetic language of Scripture frequently puts absolute for relative; and at the same time thousands of others, through the same mistake, have failed to appreciate the urgent and vehement exhortation to care less for outward, and more for inward adornment. On the other hand, the following is an example of relative for absolute : "This man went down to his house justified rather than the other" (Luke xviii. 14). We understand, as it was intended we should, that the publican was justified, while the Pharisee, contrary to all popular expectation, really was not justified. "It generalizes that which is particular and par- ticularizes that which is general; takes duty some- times at its summit, sometimes at its base. For example, * Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor ' (Exod. xx. 16). It sometimes does not distinguish nicely the notions which are closely related to each other, such as zuicked 2iX\d foolish. It delights in synonyms and parallelisms, in advancing in couples or pairs of ideas. For example, ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path ' (Psa. cxix. 105). It classifies without scien- 46 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. tific purpose; as, ' Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me ' (Psa. li. 12). The Old and the New Testaments abound in similar examples. We frequently find in the prophets and apostles series of substantives or adjectives, which have been taken very improperly as the base of divisions in discourses." Thus in i Pet. iv. 18, "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the un- godly and the sinner appear?" it is quite common to take the ungodly and the sinner as representing two distinct classes, which is not justified by the mere use of both terms, and is, in fact, forbidden by the construction of the Greek. So as to the several terms in 2 Pet. i. 5-7, distinctions are some- times very unwisely pressed. "Such is the language of the Bible; and, further, each of the epochs which are represented in it, each of the authors who contributed to it, has a peculiar style. "1 (2) Erroneous interpretations arise from disregard- ing the coimection of tJie text. In some cases, a sen- tence taken apart from its connection would give a positively wrong sense. For example, "Neverthe- less, being crafty, I caught you with guile " (2 Cor. xii. 16). In others, it would be hopelessly ambig- uous, or utterly vague. In nearly all cases, a tJior- ough understanding will require that we examine the connection. Even in those portions of Proverbs, where the several sentences appear wholly discon- nected, one may sometimes derive help from observ- ing what seems to be the general class of topics which the writer or collector has here in mind. In the Psalms, even Psalm cxix., there is always a ^ These extracts, with some of the passages of Scripture quoted in illustration, are from Vinet, Horn. pp. 113, 114. The sentences extracted are sometimes slightly altered. THE TEXT — IxNTERPRETATION. 47 general drift by which we may be guided. In the narratives, poetical treatises, discourses, epistolary arguments, etc., which make up almost the entire Bible, the connection is obviously important. It might in fact seem needless to insist on this. No man of sense, in dealing with any other book, would think of interpreting a single sentence here or there, in entire disregard of its connection. If an agri- culturist or engineer, a physician or lawyer, should thus interpret detached sentences in the works which he consults for instruction and practical guidance, he would be voted a simpleton. Why, then, do men of sense so often neglect, or even knowingly violate, the connection of a Scripture text.-* Partly from the long-continued and wide- spread practice of allegorizing — to be discussed below — which is often most easily managed by cut- ting loose from the context, and which has encour- aged men to think that the language of Scripture is so very different from all other language, as to be independent of the principles which ordinarily gov- ern interpretation. It is a mournful fact that Univer- salists, Romianists, Mormons, can find an apparent support for their heresies in Scripture, without interpreting more loosely, without doing greater vio- lence to the meaning and connection of the sacred text than is sometimes done by orthodox, devout and even intelligent men, A second cause is the exclu- sive use of short texts. Men of ordinary powers cannot always find short passages which, interpreted in the light of the connection, will furnish them material enough for a sermon ; and they are tempted to make some additional application of the words which the connection does not admit, or even to break a sentence away from its connection, and give it an entirely new application, which would make it 48 THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. a striking text.^ Under such pressure, and encour- aged by the example of good and honored brethren, they interpret as suits them; and the habit thus formed is perhaps confirmed by indolence, seeing that it is often troublesome to study the context. And there is yet another cause. Some six cen- turies ago there began the present division of the Bible into chapters, and some three centuries ago the subdivision into verses. Both were made for convenience in reference, just as somewhat similar divisions and subdivisions have from time to time been made in the text of many Greek and Latin authors. In the classics, however, only the larger divisions, the chapters, have been printed as sepa- rate, the subdivisions being put together according to the sense, and merely noted on the margin or within the text. Unfortunately, a different course has been pursued in printing the Bible; beginning with the Genevan Version, it has become common to print each verse as a separate paragraph. This mode of printing was probably introduced partly because of the peculiar structure of the Psalms, in which the successive sentences are frequently dis- tinct; it also saved trouble in finding verses, and the practice at one time existed of printing "refer- ences " not as we do in the margin, but at the end of each verse. Whatever causes established the custom, it has long been a custom, and some per- sons even defend it because it makes the Bible look different from other books. Now the division into verses, as well as that into chapters, was very care- lessly made, and often sadly disregards the connec- tion and obscures the sense. And even if the verses were better divided, the separate printing of brief sentences and parts of sentences must of necessity * See on Expository Preaching, Part II. chap. iii. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 49 make it more difficult to keep up the general con- nection, particularly as we are accustomed, in all other books, to a division into paragraphs, which mark the connection clearly. The result has been to lead both preachers and hearers to think of every chapter and every verse as a sort of separate whole. It is curious to observe how rarely we hear read in public the latter part of one chapter and the earlier part of the next, though the slightest care for the real connection of narrative or argument would often require this; and how awkward it would seem to take the last words of one verse and the first words of another as a text. To dispel this illusion, which makes every verse a paragraph, and every chapter almost a distinct book, is a matter of serious import- ance for all persons, ministers or others, who wish really to understand the Bible. Much advantage may be derived from habitually reading a Paragraph Bible. 1 No other mode of printing is now tolerated in the Greek, and in the Hebrew the paragraphs marked by the early Jewish scholars have always been retained. It is one of the many excellences of the Revised (Canterbury) Version that it is printed in paragraph form. It would seem plain from what has been said, that the preacher who wishes to deal fairly with his own mind and with God's Word, must determine that he will never interpret a text without careful regard to its connection. 2 The considerations presented may 1 Bagster has published Paragraph Bibles, in various styles. The Annotated Paragraph Bible, new edition published by the American Baptist Publication Society, is well arranged, and has very valuable notes. This Society has also a lUble and a New Testament, printed in paragraphs, and sufficiently cheap. The Revised New Testament and other revisions of the same Society, have the advantage of being printed in the same way. 2 See below, § 4, Rule (2). 4 50 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. explain how it is that many devout and sometimes able brethren have been led to do otherwise, and censure of their course is not proposed ; but when a man's attention has been distinctly called to the matter, he is solemnly bound to give heed to it in practice. How shall one reconcile it with the responsibility of his position, to stand before men in God's name, and say that a passage of the blessed Bible means anything else than what he is satisfied, from the phraseology and the connection, it really does mean ? . (3) A third source of error in the interpretation of texts is improper spiritualizing. We have no other means of representing spiritual things than by metaphors derived from things tem- poral ; and our very conceptions of the unseen world depend upon images furnished by the world in which we now live. Swedenborg taught, in the "doctrine of correspondences " upon which he asserts the Scriptures to have been written, that every object and relation in the material sphere has something corresponding to it in the spiritual sphere. As a universal fact, we may well ask for some better proof of this than the Swedish Baron's visions; but it is going to the opposite extreme if we imagine that the relation between things temporal and spiritual is simply an affair of metaphors. The Scriptures appear to teach that there really is much of intimate connection and much of close correspondence between these two great spheres of existence. All the false religions present perversions and distortions of this conception. And the allegorical, in the broad sense of that term, is very widely and variously employed in the Scriptures of truth. The numerous sacrifices and purifications enjoined in the law, represented the work of Christ and of his Spirit. The prophets fre- THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 5 I quently employed objects or events near at hand to picture realities belonging to the Messianic age. The history of Israel had a typical relation, on the one hand to the life of Christ, on the other to that of his Church; and Zion, the capital city and repre- sentative of Israel, furnished a favorite prophetic image in depicting the future of the spiritual Israel. Individual personages of history, as Melchizedek, Moses, Joshua, David, Cyrus, undoubtedly bore a divinely designed resemblance, in some respects, to the coming Messiah. The relation between husband and wife afforded an oft-recurring image of the rela- tion between God and the chosen nation, between Christ and his Church. Even the enmity of Sarah and Hagar pictured the opposition between bondage under the law and liberty in the gospel. With such a foundation in the nature of things, and with so much support in the actual usage of the Bible, it is not strange that there has always been on the part of some men a tendency to spiritualize, widely and wildly, the language of Scripture. It is common to speak of Origen (third century) as the father of Christian allegorizing; but it abounds already in some writers of the second century, and Origen learned much of it, as regards the Old Tes- tament, from Philo the Jew, a contemporary of our Lord, the Alexandrian Jews having long been en- gaged in this sort of speculation. Origen 's tran- scendent ability, learning, and power of creative imagination contributed much to make fanciful alle- gorizing popular among Christians. Most of the great Fathers, who have ever since their own times exerted so powerful an influence on Christian thought and practice, are grievously infected with this evil. At the present day, not a few of the most learned and devout preachers in the Church of I^ngland and 52 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. among the German Lutherans run wild with their imitations of Patristic allegorizing; while many very ignorant men, of various denominations, following only the methods caught from older preachers in their locality, bring out the "spiritual sense" of the plainest narratives and precepts in a fashion wholly unwarranted and often painfully absurd. In the denominations not controlled by "the Fathers," better views of interpretation have for some time prevailed. Among Baptists, for instance, the influ- ence of Fuller, Hall, and others, and the wider diffusion of ministerial education, have wrought a gratifying change. But there is still much igno- rance to overcome, and too many able and honored ministers continue sometimes to sanction by their potent example the old-fashioned spiritualizing. Jit is so easy and pleasant for men of fertile fancy to break away from laborious study of phraseology and connection, to cease plodding along the rough and homely paths of earth, and sport, free and rejoicing, in the open heaven ; the people are so charmed by ingenious novelties, so carried away with imagina- tive flights, so delighted to find everywhere types of Christ and likenesses to the spiritual life; it is so common to think that whatever kindles the imagina- tion and touches the heart must be good preaching, and so easy to insist that the doctrines of the ser- mon are in themselves true and Scriptural, though they be not actually taught in the text, — that preachers often lose sight of their fundamental and inexcusable error, of saying that a passage of God's Word means what it does not mean. So indepen- dent, too, one may feel; so original he may think himself. Commentaries, he can sneer at them all; other preachers, he has little need of comparing views with them. No need of anything but the THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 53 resources of his own imagination, for such preach- ing is too often only building castles in the air. ^ The tendency to error in this direction is also increased by the fact that it is impossible, in respect to spiritualizing, to draw a line of unquestionable distinction between what is and what is not allow- able. Whatever in the Old Testament is used by New Testament writers as having a spiritual sense is of course beyond question. Many insist that we must stop at this; that nothing whatever is to be understood allegorically save by distinct New Tes- tament authority. Theoretically, this appears to be too strict a rule; for in the case of other objects or events precisely similar to those which are used spiritually in the New Testament, it would be un- wise to deny that these also may have such a sense. But, practically, as to texts^ we can never feel safe in going beyond this rule; anything not thus used in the New Testament can only be spoken of as pos- sibly, or, at most, as probably, having an allegorical meaning; and while possible or probable interpre- tations, when distinctly stated to be such, may be properly used as yielding part of the argument or illustration of a sermon, the text, which is the foun- dation or source of the whole sermon, ought in the preacher's judgment really to have, beyond perad- venture, the meaning assigned to it. Let us add, that portions of Scripture which cannot Misinterpreted as having a spiritual meaning may yet be employed in various ways for teaching spiritual truth. They may embody principles, capable of an application to spiritual things, though such an application must be made by the preacher on his own responsibility, and received by the people on their own judgment, not as a part of the teachings of Scripture. Or they may furnish illustrations of spiritual truth, just as 54 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. we may derive illustration from everything in nature, history, and common life.^ And observe : In the case of figiLvative passages which really have a spiritual meaning, there is dan- ger of pressing the figure too far, of fancying a spiritual sense in aspects or details of the figure which are not really within the scope of the inspired writer. When our Lord says, " Take my yoke upon you," we have no right to hunt up all manner of details as to yokes and oxen, and run a fanciful parallel as to each particular; the general meaning is plain enough, and that is all. When he says, "Be ye wise as serpents," or, "I will make you fishers of men," and in thousands of Scripture pas- sages the same principle holds. We must inquire what the sacred speaker or writer designed by the figure; so much it means, but beyond that, as a part of Scripture, it means nothing.^ Especially com- mon are errors of this kind in the interpretation of our Lord's Parables. The stories which were told by the Great Teacher are illustrations of unrivalled beauty and impressiveness, but still they are illus- trations. - Like the illustrative comparisons and inci- dents which we employ, some of them are founded upon a closer, and others upon a more remote, re- semblance or analogy; some run parallel for a long distance to the subject compared with them, others barely touch it at a single point. When Christ's coming is said to be like that of a thief in the night, the resemblance extends only to unexpectedness ; as to the character and objects of those who come, and almost everything else that is involved, the illus- tration and the thing illustrated are utterly unlike. 1 Comp. Vinet, p. 120. '^ There is good instruction on this subject in Fairbairn's Herme- neutical Manual, pp. 157-173. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 55 And when it is said, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Matt. xiii. 33), what sense is there in looking for some spiritual truth illustrated by the number three, or in saying that the woman represents the Church, when as a matter of course a woman and not a man would be introduced in a story as making up bread ? In undertaking to interpret a parable, we must learn from the connection what subject our Lord used it to illustrate — must then notice what light the parable as a whole throws on that subject, what aspects of the subject it brings to our view — and finally inquire how far we may fairly regard the several details of the story as separately significant. In this last respect we must avoid extremes, exer- cise sound judgment, and constantly keep in mind that the parable is an illustration, and founded on some resemblance or analogy which is at best only partial. After thus studying one of the parables of Christ, we are prepared to preach upon it, with some prospect of bringing out its real meaning and legitimate applications. § 3. EXAMPLES OF TEXTS OFTEN MISAPPLIED. There has been during the present century considerable improvement in various quarters as regards strict interpre- tation in the pulpit. But to show how much laxity on the subject still prevails, it is proposed to mention a few ex- amples of passages which are often used by preachers as texts or in argument, and whose meaning is beyond ques- tion very different from that commonly attached to them. It is strange how powerful is the tradition of the pulpit ; how often able and thoughtful men will go all their lives taking for granted that an important passage has that mean- ing which in youth they heard ascribed to it, when the slightest examination would show them that it is far other- 56 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. wise. The examples here given are arranged in the order of the three sources of error as to interpretation which have been discussed in the foregoing section, though of course these will sometimes be combined in the same pas- sage. Many of the texts to be noted have been corrected in the Revised Version, especially in the marginal render- ings. The preacher should be very careful not to use any text without first consulting the Revised Version. (i) Mis under sta7iding the phraseology of the text itself, Jer. iii. 4, " My father, thou art the guide of my youth." This is very often used in preaching to the young, and given as a motto on the title-page of books for the young, the idea being that young people should seek the guidance of our Heavenly Father. But this is to miss the Scripture use of the phrase, '^ guide of my youth," as well as to disregard the connection of the passage. In Prov. ii. 17 it is plain that *' guide of her youth" (more exactly, companion, associate of her youth, R. V., marg.) denotes the husband. Here in Jeremiah it is the same Hebrew word. The whole con- nection of chapters ii. and iii. shows that God through the prophet is reproaching the nation as an adulterous spouse, who deserves to be utterly cast off; but still he invites her to return to him. " Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?" Thou art my early husband, the companion of my youth (comp. Jer. ii. 2; Hos. ii. 15), and I return unto thee. And the term "father" is just a respectful form of address used by the wife to her husband, as Naaman's servants called him "my father" (2 Kings v. 13). Thus the common applica- tion of the passage is utterly erroneous. Eccl. xii. I, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Here the word " now " is often much insisted on. But the Hebrew is simply "and remember," R. V., "remember also," etc. King James' translators, not per- ceiving the propriety of the connection indicated by " and," and finding it entirely omitted by their favorite authorities, the Vulgate and Luther, used, as a sort of compromise, the jjarticle of transition " now." The connection is really very fine. "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth . . . and THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 57 walk in the ways of thine heart . . . and know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. And remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh ; for childhood and youth are a breath. And remem- ber thy Creator in the days of thy youth," etc. Prov. viii. 17, ''They that seek me early shall find me." This does not at all mean early in life, as it is so constantly taken. Our translators, following the Vulgate, understood the Hebrew to signify early in the morning, there being a cognate word which denotes morning ; and the idea they intended to convey was similar to that of Jer. vii. 13, " And I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not." Their phrase thus gives substantially the same sense with the view of recent scholars, who suppose that there is no connection with the idea of morning, and explain the word as signifying to seek (so the Septuagint), or to seek zealously, earnestly (R. V., " diligently." Comp. Prov. i. 28; Psa. Ixiii. i; Hos. v. 15). Thus the passage has no specific, much less exclusive, reference to the young. Psa. xxiii. 4, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." To many it would seem almost sacrilege to say that this passage has no direct reference to the time when one is drawing near to death. The shadow of death, the dark place where the dead are, is an image frequently employed in the Old Testament to denote the densest darkness. Thus in Amos v. 8, God is described as " He that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night." Here it means the dark- ness of night. In Psa. cvii. 10, " Such as sat in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in affliction and iron," the reference is to the darkness of a dungeon. In Jer. ii. 7, " Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness . . . through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through," the darkness of a gloomy desert is meant. In Isa. ix. 2, " The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light 58 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. shined," it is the darkness of destitution, ignorance, and affliction. (Comp. Matt. iv. i6.) Tiie phrase is used in various other passages, but always meaning dense darkness, literal or figurative, and nowhere having any reference to dying. Now in Psa. xxiii. 4, the image is that of a flock led through a deep, narrow, very dark valley, such as abound in Judea, with wild beasts lurking in the thickets on either hand, where the timid sheep would fear hurt, unless pro- tected by the shepherd ; the Psalmist says that though walk- ing in the darkest valley (R. V. margin, deep darkness), dark as the grave, he will fear no evil, etc. And the image will naturally suggest any season or experience of life in which the beUever would naturally feel alarm and distress, but may be safe in his Shepherd's presence and protection. Such are temptation, sickness, bereavement, and death too, not because the word death is employed, but because the image of passing through a valley dark as the grave naturally appHes to death, and not as the single application, but as one of many. Thus a correct understanding of the passage does not destroy, but widens, its significance.-' Rom. xii. i, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." Here many will begin to speak of making sacrifices, in our derivative sense of that term. But the thought of the text is, that as men presented at the altar the bodies of beasts as sacrifices, so we must consecrate ourselves unto God ; and this is a " reasonable service," a worship of the rational or spiritual nature, and not a mere bodily worship, made up of outward acts and offerings. I Tim. ii. 8, " I will that men pray everywhere," etc. The Greek gives "the men '' (as R. V.), and has the peculiar word which signifies man as opposed to woman. The aposde is giving directions for the conduct of public worship, and says that the men must pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. These phrases embody the special dangers with reference to men when engaging in public worship ; and in the next verse he says that women, 1 liunyan in the Pilgrim's Progress uses the image correctly, mak- ing his pil.rjrim pass through the valley of the shadow of death some time before he reaches the river. THE TEXT— INTERPRETATION. 59 for their part, must not dress too fine, but be adorned with good works. 2 Tim. ii. 15, " Study to show thyself approved unto God," etc. This is often quoted, and sometimes made a text, as teaching that a minister must study, namely, study books, especially the Bible — study nature, human nature, etc. The real meaning of our version, as of the original, is endeavor, studiously endeavor to present thyself approved unto God. The Revised Version has ''give diligence." Heb. vii. 25, ''Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him," is a favorite text as showing that Christ is able to save the worst sinners. The real meaning of the phrase — as the connection also might show — is, save to the utmost, to the full extent of saving. As our High Priest does not transmit his office to successors, and leave to others the work he has begun, but ever lives to intercede for those who come to God through him, he is able to save them completely — not merely to begin their salva- tion, but to carry it forward in life and death till in eternity it is complete. (2) Disregarding the confiection. Col. ii. 21, "Touch not, taste not, handle not." These words have been a thousand times blazoned on banners and quoted by impas- sioned orators, as a precept of Holy Writ against the use of intoxicating drinks. The slightest attention to the con- nection would show, that in the first place, they are not spoken with any reference to that subject, and in the second place, that they are given by the apostle as an example of ascetic precepts to which we ojight not to conform. " If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordi- nances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch, . . . after the com- mandments and teachings of men?" (R. V.) There are many passages of Scripture which enjoin temperance, but this is certainly not one of them. Heb. vi. I, " Let us go on unto perfection," is a favorite text with some of those who maintain the possibility of sin- less perfection in this life. But the sacred writer is speaking of knowledge, and urges progress toward maturity of knowl- 6o THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. edge. The word in the preceding verse (v. 14) rendered " of full age " is literally " perfect ; " so that the two verses have a close verbal connection, besides the general connec- tion in sense. I Cor. ii. 9, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him," is constantly quoted as referring to the glory and blessedness of heaven ; but the connection leaves no doubt that the apostle refers to the pro- found wisdom of the plan of salvation, which no human mind could have perceived or imagined, but which '' God has re- vealed unto us by his Spirit." Mark ix. 8, " Jesus only." To make these words a text, and discourse upon Jesus only as Prophet, Jesus only as Priest, Jesus only as King, etc., is an extreme instance of disregarding the context. At the close of the transfiguration, " suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves." Now it is very true that we must have Jesus only as Prophet, Priest, and King, but who will say that this passage teaches that, or even fairly suggests it? x\nd the mere v/ords, taken entirely apart from what the sacred writer meant by them, are no more a saying of Scripture, than if "Jesus '' had been taken from Mark, and "■ only " from Romans ; and the two combined as a text. Isa. i. 5, 6, " The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it ; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores," etc. This is sometimes used as a text, and perpetu- ally cited as a proof-text, to show the total depravity of man. But look at the connection. The nation of Israel had been stricken with the divine judgmetits^ till it was like a man beaten with the terrible Oriental scourging, from head to foot, and with wounds and stripes unhealed ; the country was desolate, the cities burned, and Jerusalem stood alone in a wilderness. And the prophet asks, Why should ye be stricken any more? If it is done, you will revolt still more. Already you are beaten from head to foot, but punishment makes you no better, it even seems to make you worse. Now this would THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 6l be an excellent text for showing how often nations, com- munities, individuals, refuse to be subdued by afflictions, and go on in their wickedness ; and there is in this respect a proof here of the depravity of man. lUit the image, the whole head is sick, etc., is clearly not at all designed to set forth depravity, but severe chastisement. Isa. Ixiii. 1-3, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with bright-red garments from Bozrah? ... I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel? ... I have trodden the wine-press alone." How often this is held to denote our Saviour as shedding his blood, and suffering alone, for our salvation. And yet what can be plainer than that this is a conqueror, stained with his etiemies' blood, and fighting alone? In the same sentence he says, " For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments." (Cornp. also verses 4-6.) Here the speaker is the conqueror of Edom, and deliverer of Israel. If understood as applying to Messiah, it must be to him as conquering his people's enemies, and mighty to save in this sense. In Rev. xix. 1T-16, the same imagery is employed in describing the Word of God ; yet there too it is not a sufferer but a conqueror. I Kings xviii. 21, " How long halt ye between two opin- ions?" The favorite use of this text is to reproach men with indecision and hesitation as to becoming Christians. But the Israelites were not undecided as to whether they would serve Jehovah or Baal, they were trying to serve both, to conform to the fashionable court-religion, and yet retain the religion of their fathers. Elijah reproaches them with this effort to do both. Serve Jehovah, or else Baal, not first one and then the other. (Comp. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.") (3) Improper spii'itualizing, etc. Amos vi. i, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." Here Zion is the Church, those at ease in Zion are the slothful, worthless members of the Church , and away we go. But the prophet adds, " and trust in the mountain of Samaria ; " what is the " spiritual sense" of that? The chiefs of Judah trusted in the strong 62 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. fortifications of Jerusalem, and those of the northern king- dom in Samaria, and so they were not alarmed by the pro- phetic warnings that enemies would come and destroy those capitals, as other great cities had been destroyed. Woe to them, if quietly confiding in Jerusalem and Samaria, they did not repent of their wickedness, and trust in God. The application of this in time of war is manifest and impor- tant. The principle might also be applied to any reliance upon human instrumentalities, or outward agencies, instead of relying on God. The do-nothing members of a church deserve severe scourging, but this text does not touch them. Exod. ii. 9, ^'' Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." And some able men actually make this a text in preaching to parents, or to Sunday School teachers. " God says to you. Take this child," etc. But he says no such thing. He simply tells us that the daughter of Pharaoh said this to the mother of Moses. God does not address these words to anybody. To find here a spiritual meaning is so Vv^iolly unwarranted, so utterly arbitrary, as to be beyond the reach of argument. If the preacher says that he takes the words in the sense proposed, then they are not Scripture at all, — not God's saying, but his saying, — and ought not to be called a text, for that means Scripture. It would be just as appropriate to take Prov. xxiii. 30, " Tarry long at the wine," as a divine precept, or Psa. xiv. i, " There is no God," as a declaration of Scripture. Whether as allegorizing or as " accommodation," such an application of the text is inde- fensible, and when once a man's attention has been called to the matter, it would be mexcusable. Jonah i. 6, "What meanest thou, O sleeper?" How can a preacher tell us that these words refer to sinners as spiritually asleep? Jonah, worn out with his hasty and anxious journey to Joppa, and now safe aboard, was soundly sleeping ; and the ship-captain, alarmed and impatient, shouts at him, "What are you about, fast asleep? arise, call upon thy God," as all the rest are doing. A minister can utter these words to sleeping sinners, but he may not say that God addresses this question to them, or to any one. God's THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 63 Word simply narrates the fact that the ship-captain thus spoke ; he does not himself speak the words at all. As merely the minister's words, they would not be a part of Scripture. As to any properly allegorical meaning hidden in the words, it is a sheer figment, and must be proven, not recklessly assumed. Prov. xviii. 24, " There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." It is commonly held that in the eighth chapter of Proverbs there is some allusion to Christ, — which is not at all certain, — and hence any passage in Proverbs at will is taken as referring to Christ. But at chapter x. there begins a manifestly distinct collection, containing a number of de- tached proverbs, exceedingly instructive and useful for our practical guidance in life, but having not the slightest appear- ance of a mystical character. The proverbs which here immediately precede and follow, and the other half of this proverb, are about common matters. Verse 21, power of the tongue ; verse 22, blessing of finding a wife ; verse 23, the poor entreats, the rich answers roughly ; and as to the succeeding proverbs, verse i (next chapter), the poor who walks in his integrity, and the perverse fool, etc., etc. Verse 24 is ren- dered, " A man that hath friends must show himself friendly ; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." The first half is in the Hebrew obscure, but most probably means " a man of [many] associates will ruin himself," by misplaced confidence, or '* will prove bad," cannot be faithful to them all. However that may be, the general subject is plainly the common friendships of fife ; and there is no hint of allusion to Christ. And then it is added that there are some close and permanent friendships, there is a friend (lit- erally, '' lover ") that sticketh closer than a brother ; not refer- ring to any particular individual, but meaning that such a thing does exist. We need not condemn the poet's use of this expression, " One there is above all others Well deserves the name of friend : His is love beyond a brother's," etc. ; but the license of poetical adaptation is a very different thing from interpretation. One might take this proverb as a text, 64 THE TEXT — IxNTERPRETATION. and speak of the friendships that are close and faithful, and then pass by analogy, on his own responsibility, to speak of Christ as a friend ; but that is not saying that this passage refers to Christ. It has seemed necessary to discuss the above passages with some care, because the inexperienced reader might naturally be slow to believe that so many favorite texts have been utterly misunderstood, by himself and by many preachers around him. No infallibihty is claimed for the particular interpretations here given. The thing urged is to form the habit of carefully studying every text, even the most familiar and apparently obvious, to see if it really does mean what the preacher has hitherto supposed. This practice will rob him of many texts, but will enrich him with many others. Most of those above considered, when the connnon application has been set aside, are found to have a sense that may be made interesting and useful. And by careful examination many another passage will develop unsuspected riches. If strict interpretation of texts brought unmitigated loss of material, we ought still to practise it, for the sake of dealing honestly with our own minds, and with God's Word ; but the habit of strict interpretation will give far more than it takes away. If one knows the Hebrew or the Greek, let him never preach upon a text without carefully studying it and its context in the original. Otherwise, let him search the best translations and good explajiatory notes, determined that he will never say a passage of God's holy and precious Word means so and so, without personal, honest, patient effort to ascertain the fact. § 4. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF TEXTS. Though we have discussed at length the chief sources of error in the interpretation of texts, and illustrated them by many examples, it seems best to give, positively, some account of the principles upon which one must proceed if he would interpret cor- rectly. Good treatises on Interpretation are acces- THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 65 sible,^ and it is sufficient here to give a few brief suggestions. In regard to interpretation, we must distinguish the preliminary study of a text with a view to preaching upon it from that general study of the Bible which should be a part of every preacher's regular work, and also from the popular explanation of the text which forms part of the sermon. This will be treated later. ^ The suggestions here offered are intended to aid the preacher in getting for him- self the exact meaning of the passage of Scripture which he proposes to use as the text for his sermon. And this is surely what every preacher should feel in conscience bound to do. Whatever helps he may use, in the way of commentaries, lexicons, gram- mars, books of illustration and the like, he should see to it that the interpretation which he adopts is his own. That is, the meaning of the text which he proposes to unfold and enforce in his sermon should be in all cases his own carefully formed view of the passage, — the fruit of earnest reflection and study. Hints that may prove of service in making such a study will now be given in the form of rules. (i) Study the text irmiJitcly. Notice carefully both the grammar and the rJietoric of the text, {a) En- deavor to ascertain the precise meaning of the words and phrases used iu the text. Inquire whether any of them have a peculiar sense in Scripture, and whether such peculiar sense holds in this passage. If there are key-words in the text, or words of special importance, examine, by the help of a con- cordance, other passages in which such word is em- 1 Such as Fairbairn's Hermeneutical Manual (for the New Testa- ment), Davidson's Biblical llermeneutics (])articularly full on the History of Interpretation), Angus' Bible Hand-Book, Barrows' Com- panion to the Bible (new, cheap, and on this subject very good). Home's Introduction. 2 See below, chapter vi. § 2. 5 ^ THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. ployed. This is best done in the original, because our version will often have the same word where the Hebrev/ or Greek is different, and the same Greek or Hebrew word will be used in important passages where our version renders differently. There are admirable concordances of the Hebrew and the Greek, and where these are not in possession, the lexicons of those languages will give many refer- ences, frequently all. In cases of special import- ance, able men not acquainted with the originals have found it useful to employ the Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament, and the Englishman's Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament. For the New Testament the index to Winer's or Buttmann's Grammar will show whether the author has explained any grammatical construc- tions in the text. The best translations into our own or other languages will often throw light on the text, or raise questions as to its meaning which we may find it useful to pursue. Familiar passages often assume great freshness, and suggest new trains of thought, when looked at in a new English ver- sion,^ or a translation into Latin, French, German, etc. Even those who can use the original languages find this true, because one is so apt when looking at the Hebrew or Greek to be really looking through it at the familiar English version, as if written under- neath. And then, by all means, examine the best accessible commentaries, not mainly such as remark upon the text, and enlarge upon its teachings, but such as carefully explain the exact meaning. This grammatical study of the text can scarcely 1 The Revised New Testament of the American Baptist Publica- tion Society is in the main very correct, fairly representing the best scholarship of the day, and is a valuable help for the interpretation of texts. Of course the Revised (Canterbury) Version should be con- stantly used. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. (yj be made too minute or protracted. Whately used to say, "Before writing your sermon, look at your text with a microscope,"^ and Shedd justly remarks: "Every particle of care in first obtaining an excel- lent text and then getting at, and getting out, its real meaning and scope, goes to render the actual construction and composition of the sermon more easy and successful. Labor at this point saves labor at all after points."'-^ {b) Pay special attention to any figures of speech that may occur in the text or its connection. Wherever it is clear, from the nature of the case, from the connection, or from precisely similar ex- pressions in other passages, that the literal sense is not designed, then we must understand figuratively. In the language of Scripture, as in all other lan- guage, the presumption is in favor of the literal sense. To explain away as figurative whatever seems to conflict with doctrinal prejudices, or with fanciful notions and morbid feelings as to ethics or aesthetics, or with hasty inferences from imperfectly estab- lished scientific facts, is to trifle with that which we acknowledge as an authoritative revelation. Still, there is very much in Scripture that is clearly figur- ative; and very much more which might so readily be thus understood, in the light of other Scripture usage, that we ought to be careful about building important theories upon its literal sense. This is especially true as regards prophecies of things yet to come, in which it is of necessity quite difficult to distinguish beforehand between literal and figura- tive, though the fulfilment will some day make it plain. And remember that language may be highly figurative without being fictitious. Only ascertain 1 Life and Remains of Whately, p. 402. 8 Shedd, Horn., p. 176. 68 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. what the figures of Scripture were designed to mean, and that meaning is as certainly true as if stated in plain words. Thus the "fire that cannot be quenched" may be called a figure, if you choose; yet it assuredly means that in hell there will be something as bad as fire, something as torturing as fire is to the earthly body — nay, the reality of hell, as well as of heaven, does no doubt greatly transcend the most impressive imagery that earthly things can afford. 1 Particularly are great care and good sense needed in the study of the allegories of Scripture. We cannot take it for granted that any passage has an allegorical, or so-called " spiritual " sense, merely because the notion suits our fancy, or would promote our convenience. There must be good reason to think so. Whatever the New Testament so uses, is certainly allegorical; whatever else is precisely similar to matters so used in the New Testament, is very probably allegorical. Farther than this we have surely no right to go. We may derive illus- tration, our own illustration, of spiritual things from perhaps everything in Scripture history, prophecies, and proverbs, as we may from profane history and from nature ; but we have no more right to present the former as interpretation than the latter. Joseph furnishes a good illustration, in certain respects, of Christ; and so does the Athenian who held up his mutilated arm before the people to plead for his brother. Why then, merely because we can draw illustration from the case of Joseph, shall we call him a "type "of Christ.? Moreover, because some things in the Levitical rites, the history of Joshua, David, or Cyrus, the Proverbs cf Solomon, or the 1 Comp. Barrows, Companion to the Bible, chap, xxxv.; Lord, Laws of Figurative Language. THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 69 book of Isaiah, have, in addition to their natural sense, an allegorical reference to Christ, it does not follow that everything comprised therein has such a reference. As to the whole subject, we must avoid extremes ; and it would seem to be a good rule as to preaching, that while probable allegorical meanings may be adduced, as probable, in the progress of a discourse, no allegorical meaning shall be made the basis of the sermon, which does not result from an interpretation having clear warrant in Scripture usage. And two things deserve to be carefully borne in mind. The rage for " spiritualizing " causes many to overlook, or practically neglect, the ex= ceedingly varied and valuable lessons as to Divine Providence and human duty v/hich are afforded by passages in their natural sense. Those who insist on making Joseph a type of Christ are apt never to hold up before their hearers his interesting and impressive example of steadfast faith in God amid crushing adversity and sudden prosperity, of resist- ance to powerful temptation because yielding would be to ''sin against God," of wise affection in dealing with his kindred, and the like. So in a thousand instances, and there is here one way in which com- pensation may be found for the loss arising from the abandonment of wild spiritualizing. The other con- sideration is, that many passages which can be inter- preted only, so far as we have warrant to go, in a natural sense, may yield copious instruction as to properly spiritual things, in that the principle they contain, or the analogy they present, may be by us applied or extended to something spiritual — this being done on our own responsibility, yet sustained by manifest propriety, and by other passages. (2) Study the text in its immediate connection. The connection of thought in which a text stands will of yo THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. course throw light upon its meaning, and is usually indispensable to understanding it. The immediate connection, or context, will usually embrace from a few verses to a few chapters, before and after the text; and of this context the preacher should not only have a general knowledge, but should make special examination, when examining his text; and we must resist the common tendency to imagine that this context begins or ends with the cJiapter in which the text stands. The extent to which such study of the connection should be carried, will of course be very different in different cases; but there are scarcely any texts with reference to which it can with propriety be entirely neglected. Wherever it is practicable, the context, as well as the text, should by all means be read in the original languages, or with such other helps as are recommended under the foregoing rule. In a great number of cases there is an interesting verbal connection between the text and some sentence a little before or after it, which is obscured by the necessary conditions of translation, or by the extreme fondness of our English Version for varying the translation where the original has the same word. It should be remarked that besides the importance of studying the logical connection in order to a thorough understanding of the text, an exposition of the context often forms a good, and ■sometimes a necessary, introduction to the sermon. (3) Study the text in its larger connections. These remoter relations of the text are also very important to its correct interpretation. They commonly em- brace the three following particulars, {a) Some- times the logical connection will really be the entire book to which the text belongs. There are few sen- tences in Hebrews, or in the first eleven chapters of Romans, which can be fully understood without hav- THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 71 ing in mind the entire argument of the Epistle. Of course this is not so strikingly true in most of the books, but each of them has its own distinctive con- tents, connection, and character. Few things are to be so earnestly urged upon the student of Scripture as that he shall habitually study its books with reference to their whole connection.^ Then he can minutely examine any particular text with a correct knowledge of its general position and surroundings. {b) Apart from the logical connection of dis- course in which a text is found, there is often important aid to be derived from general historical knowledge. In the narratives which make up the larger part of Scripture we have constant need of observing facts of geography which would throw light on the text. So as to the manners and cus- toms of the Jews, and other nations who appear in the sacred story. Thus much is obvious, though these helps for understanding texts are seldom used as diligently as they should be. But there is also much to be learned by taking account of the opinions and state of mind of the persons addressed in a text. We need to remember the relations between the speaker or writer, and those whom he has specially in view In order to this, we must not merely know the previous relations of the parties, as in the case of Paul's Epistles, but must endeavor to ascer- tain what errors or evils existed among them which the inspired teacher is here aiming to correct. This can often be gathered from the book itself. No trouble need ever have been felt as to the supposed contradiction between Paul and James with regard to justification, if attention had been paid to the theoretical and practical errors at which they are respectively aiming. In the case of our Lord's 1 Compare on Expository Preaching, Part II. chap. iii. 72 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. teachings, much may be learned from the Gospels, and also from the Jewish writings, and the modern works founded on them, concerning the wrong notions and evil practices existing among the Jews and to which his sayings have often a very direct and specific reference. With respect, for example, to divorce, to oaths, to the Sabbath, or to the duty of paying tribute, his teachings will be imper- fectly apprehended unless we understand the prac- tical abuses and vehement controversies which existed among his hearers as to those subjects. On such points the best commentaries give some infor- mation. Or, to take a different kind of example, the words: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him " (John vi. 44), were not spoken as a mere general, didactic utter- ance, much less were they addressed to humble and anxious inquirers, but were aimed at an utterly un- spiritual rabble, who were following him not from any elevated motives, but from mere fanatical excite- ment, and in the hope of continuing to be fed with- out working for it — v/ho called themselves his disciples, and talked about forcing him to set up an earthly kingdom. The recollection of all this does not weaken the force of what he said, but it helps us to appreciate his specific aim at the moment, and gives us an important example as to the adapta- tion of doctrine. The more one attends to the sub- ject the more he is likely to become convinced that almost everything in the New Testament, as well as much in the Old, is really controversial in its specific design, and that we must constantly inquire what errors or evil practices are aimed at, in order to appreciate the precise bearing given, in any text, to the principles it may contain, and the modifications of statement which may be necessary THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. 73 {mutatis imitaiidis) in turning these principles towards new applications. if) We must interpret in accordance with, and not contrary to, the general teaehings of Seriptiire. ^ These teachings are harmonious, and can be combined into a symmetrical whole. If a passage may have two senses, owing to the ambiguity of some word or construction, to the doubt whether some expression is figurative, etc., then we must choose one which accords with what the Bible in general plainly teaches, rather than one which would make the Bible contradict itself. It is a gross abuse of this principle — though one often practised — to force upon a passage some meaning which its words and constructions do not grammatically admit of, in order that it may give the sense required by our system. But between possible grammatical mean- ings we are compelled to choose upon some prin- ciple, and certainly one important principle to be considered is that the teachings of Scripture must be consistent. Where the grammatical probabilities are pretty evenly balanced, a comparatively slight preference in the respect mentioned must turn the scale; and even a much less probable sense — pro- vided it be grammatically possible, and sustained by some corresponding usage of language — may be preferred to a more probable and common sense, if the former would perfectly accord, and the latter would grossly conflict, with the acknowledged gen- eral teachings of Scripture. In order to apply this principle with propriety and safety, it is manifestly necessary that we should bring to bear no narrow and hasty views of Scripture teaching, but the 1 The phrase, "according to the analogy of faith," commonly used in this connection, was derived from a misunderstanding of the Greek in Rom. xii. 6, and ought to be abandoned, even if there be no technical phrase to substitute. 1^ 74 THE TEXT — INTERPRETATION. results of a wide, thoughtful, and devout study of Biblical Theology. The careful examination of Scripture " references " in studying a text is a matter of great importance. These will often help in the grammatical part of interpretation, by showing how the same words and phrases are elsewhere employed ; and in the his- torical, by showing how the same subject was pre- sented under different circumstances, or what was the peculiar state of things in which the text was uttered. They may also assist us, by presenting parallel or analogous Scripture usage, in determin- ing whether expressions of the text ought to be taken as figurative or as allegorical ; and there are cases in which even a few other passages will so far set forth the general teachings of Scripture on the subject involved in the text, as to be of service in choosing among the possible meanings of its language. They will also help the preacher to form his own opinion as to the meaning of his text, without depending too much on commentaries and other helps. Moreover, the "reference" passages will very often furnish use- ful material for the body of the sermon, suggesting to us new aspects, proofs, illustrations, or applica- tions of the subject treated. The young preacher should make it a fixed . rule to consult the references to his text ; and many men and women have become "mighty in the Scriptures," by the diligent use of references in their daily reading.^ 1 Moody's New Testament is quite convenient, as it prints the reference passages in full on the same page. One can thus readily note those which strike him as important, and then hunt them up to examine their connection. Many persons become discouraged in the use of references by the fact that they have an over-copious and ill-chosen collection. The Annotated Paragraph Bible of the American Baptist Publication Society is in this respect, as in others, an exceed- ingly good edition. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 75 CHAPTER III. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. § I. Doctrinal Subjects. I § 3. Historical Subjects. 2. Subjects of Morality. | 4. Experimental Subjects. WHETHER the subject or the text of a sermon is first chosen, will of course depend upon circumstances. In considering the condition of the congregation, or looking back over the sermons re- cently preached, one will be more likely to decide upon a subject, for which he must then find a text. In reading the Bible, or running over his growing list of texts, he will be more apt to light upon some text which interests him, and from which he will proceed to evolve a subject. Each of these plans ought to be frequently pursued ; one or the other will be more frequently adopted, according to the preacher's turn of mind. It has been thought best to discuss the text first, because the primary conception of preach- ing is to bring forth the teachings of some passage of Scripture. But the points to be insisted on are these: when the subject is first selected, then carefully look for a text which v/iil fairly, and if possible exactly, present that subject; if the text comes first, then seek to work out from it some definite subject — not necessarily expressed in a single proposition, but really one subject. Even in text-sermons and exposi- tory sermons, as we shall see later, it is important to have unity of subject. The subjects treated in the pulpit may be classi- fied into doctrinal, moral, historical, and experimen- ^6 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. tal.^ Any such classification is necessarily imperfect, as the classes will in certain cases overlap, and different persons might classify, each according to a different basis. But the habit of referring every subject to a class will be found useful, as contributing to unity and consistency of treatment, and to variety of topics ; and the discussion of these classes furnishes occasion for practical suggestions, upon matters of no little importance. § I. DOCTRINAL SUBJECTS. The phrase " doctrinal sermon " is constantly used by some to denote sermons on points of denomina- tional peculiarity or controversy. Such a limitation, implying that these are the only doctrines, or that we cannot discuss doctrine otherwise than polemically, is a really grave error, and should be carefully avoided and corrected. Doctrine, /. e, teaching, is the preacher's chief busi- ness.2 Truth is the life-blood of piety, without which we cannot maintain its vitality or support its activity. And to teach men truth, or to quicken what they already know into freshness and power, is the preach- er's great means of doing good. The facts and truths which belong to the Scripture account of Sin, Provi- dence, and Redemption, form the staple of all Scrip- tural preaching. But these truths ought not simply to have place, after a desultory and miscellaneous fashion, in our preaching. The entire body of Scrip- 1 Comp. the classifications of Vinet, p. 75 ; Kidder, p. 268. 2 There are good discussions of this subject in Dabney's " Sacred Rhetoric," p. 50 ff; and in Phillips Brooks' Yale Lectures, p. 128, 129. Dabney says, " It was a golden maxim of the Protestant fathers, that 'doctrines must be preached i^ractically, and duties doctrinally.'" Brooks says, "Preach doctrine — preach all the doctrine that you know, and learn forever more and more; but preach it always, not that men may believe it, but that men may be saved by believing it." SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. ^J turc teaching upon any particular subject, when col- lected and systematically arranged, has come to be called the doctrine of Scripture on that subject, as the v doctrine of Sin, of Atonement, of Regeneration, etc. ; and in this sense vvc ought to preach much on the doctrines of the Bible. We all regard it as important that the preacher should himself have sound views of doctrine ; is it not also important that he should lead his congregation to have just views.? In our restless nation and agitated times, in these days of somewhat bustling religious activity, there has come to be too little of real doctrinal preaching. ** The day was when churches were much more concerned than we about the truths conveyed, and much less about the garb of the truths. Doctrine, rather than speaking, was what drew the audience." ^ To a certain extent it is proper that we should conform to the tastes of the age, for they frequently indicate its real wants, and always affect its reception of truth ; but when those tastes are manifestly faulty, we should earnestly endeavor to correct them. The preacher who can make doctrinal truth interesting as well as intelligible to his congregation, and gradually bring them to y a good acquaintance with the doctrines of the Bible, is rendering them an inestimable service. Doctri- nal preaching is not necessarily dry.^ In fact prop- erly presented doctrine, didactic instruction, may be the most interesting kind of preaching. Men wish to know, delight in knowing. All depends on the way in which it is done. The dry preacher will make all subjects dry; dull anecdotes, and tame ex- hortations have sometimes been heard of. 1 Alexander, Thoughts on Preaching, p. 50; he repeatedly and earnestly insists on doctrinal preaching. See pp. 10-12, 42, 43, 51, 234-236, 249-252. 2 Comp. Dabney, p. 54. See also Christ's Trumpet Call to the Ministry, by D. S. Gregory, in many places, especially p. iioff. 78 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. And let us preach especially on the great doctrines. True, they are familiar, but sermons upon them need not be commonplace. The sunlight is as fresh every morning as when it shone upon our first parents in their Paradise; young love is still as sweet, and pa- rental grief as heart-rending, as v/as theirs. And so the great doctrines of the gospel, to him who has eyes to see and a heart to feel them, are forever w^w. Our task is, loving these truths ourselves, to make others love them. Many a preacher could tell, how in the early months or years of his untutored minis- try, he was sometimes driven, from sheer lack of a novel topic, to fall back upon Repentance, Regenera- tion, or the like, and make what he felt to be a poor sermon ; and how, long afterwards, he heard of fruit from those sermons rather than from others Avhich he at the time considered much more striking and im- pressive.i Of course one should not make a hobby of a particular doctrine, as some men do with the doctrine of Election, or of Baptism; and some others with Perfection, the Witness of the Spirit, the Second Coming of our Lord, and the like. In regard to preaching unpopidar doctrines, such as Election be- fore some audiences. Future Punishment, Depravity, and even Missions, before others; one comprehen- sive rule may be given. Be faithful and fearless, but skilful and affectionate. While, however, we ought to preach much upon the great doctrines, it is not often advisable, espe- cially for a settled pastor, to embrace the whole of such a doctrine in a single sermon. This would con- tain the mere generalities of the subject, and be very difficult to the hearer, or, more frequently, quite commonplace. It is a common delusion of inex- perienced speakers or writers, to think that they 1 Comp. on Familiar Texts, above, chap. i. § 3. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 79 had best take a very broad subject, so as to be sure of finding enough to say. But to choose some one aspect of a great subject is usually far better, as there is thus much better opportunity for the speaker to work out something fresh, and much better pros- pect of making the hearers take a lively interest in the subject as a whole. Alexander, writing to a son at college, says : '* The more special the subject, the more you will find to say on it. Boys think just the reverse. They write of Virtue, Honor, Liberty, etc. ; it would be easier to write on the pleasures of Virtue, the Honor of Knighthood, or the difference between true and false Liberty — which are more special. Take it as a general rule, the more you narrow the subject, the more thoughts you will have. And for this there is a philosophical reason, which I wish you to observe. In acquiring knowledge, the mind pro- ceeds Jrom particulars to generals. Thus Newton proceeded from the faUing of an apple to the gen- eral principle of gravity. A great many particular observations were to be made on animals, before a naturalist could lay down the general law, that all creatures with cleft hoofs and horns are graminivor- ous. . . . This process is called generalization. It is one of the last to be developed. Hence it requires vast knowledge and a mature mind to treat a general subject, such as Virtue, or Honor, and it is much better to begin with particular instances." ^ And this applies not merely to the preacher's power of treatment, but to the hearer's power of comprehen- sion. When he becomes fully able to discuss large subjects in a single discourse, the great mass of his hearers will still be unable to follow him, unless the discourse be so long as to include copious details. And besides all this, the settled pastor cannot often ^ Thoughts on Preaching, p. 512. So SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. afford to consume so much material in a single ser- mon. The exceptional cases, as a series of sermons on several great doctrines, the existence of special interest in some one doctrine, etc., will of course be treated as exceptions. The specific aspects of a great doctrine may some- times be chosen according to the natural divisions of the subject itself For example, Repentance : its na- ture, necessity, season, evidences, relation to faith ; or Regeneration : its nature, necessity, author, relation to baptism, faith, and the like. In this matter, and in all that pertains to preaching upon doctrinal subjects, we must carefully bear in mind the distinction be- tween a theological treatise or lecture, and a popular sermon. The scientific analysis and elaborate logic of the one is seldom appropriate to the other. The parts of a subject which require most attention, and excite most interest, on the part of a systematic student, may be least suitable to preaching, and vice versa. The knowledge presupposed by the theo- logical teacher, cannot usually be taken for granted as existing in a congregation. Young ministers often help to make doctrinal subjects unpopular, by the fact that their sermons too closely resemble the treatises they have been studying, or the lectures they have heard. We must assume a different point of view; must consider which aspects of a doctrine will awaken interest in the popular mind, and at the same time help to give just views of the whole. Be- sides the Important differences between the merely didactic and the oratorical mode of treatment, there is here a previous difference as to the choice of sub- jects and parts of subjects to be treated. Or, instead of selecting according to the logical divisions of the doctrine, we may take the aspect of It presented by some one text. Thus on Repentance, SUBJECTS — CLvVSSIFIED. 8l one might preach upon its nature, its results, the obHgations to it, etc., hunting up a text for each; or, he might begin by selecting among the texts which treat of repentance. For example, Mark vi. 12, " And they went out and preached that men should repent," would suggest a general view of repentance, or an inquiry into its obligation; Acts v. 31, "Him hath God exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins," pre- sents repentance as a gift of Christ; Acts xx. 21, " Testifying . . . repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," brings up the relation between repentance and faith; and Matt. iii. 11, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance," that between repentance and baptism. Various distinct and impressive motives to repentance are exhibited by Rom. ii. 4, " The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance;" Acts iii. 16, "Repent . . . that your sins may be blotted out; " Luke xiii. 3, " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish ; " Acts xvii. 30, 31, " God . . . now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness; " Luke xv. 10, " There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." And Matt. iii. 8, " Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance," would lead one to speak of the appropriate effects of repentance.^ A person well acquainted with the whole doctrine of Repentance could treat the view presented by any one of these texts as a part of the whole, so as gradually to give a complete knowledge of the entire subject, while each sermon would have the freshness and force belonging to a specific topic. Besides the properly doctrinal, t. e. didactic, there are apologetical and polemical subjects. 1 Comp. Ripley, Sac. Rhet., p. 32. 6 82 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. Apologetics} that is, the Evidences of Christianity and its defence against assailants, is a class of subjects not often requiring, in our ordinary preaching, to be formally treated. Robert HalP in a striking passage justly criticises the too great readiness of some preachers to discuss this class of subjects. Such preachers often do harm by suggesting difficulties which their arguments do not remove. He also calls attention to the fact that the argument for Christianity is a cumulative one, and cannot be properly presented in so brief a discussion as a sermon. But informally, incidentally, we may all make very frequent and profitable use of Christian Evidences. Without at all treating the question of the truth of Christianity as an open one, and without undertaking any full and regular discussion of its claims, or refu- tation of objections to it, we may introduce into ordinary sermons some subordinate division, or pass- ing remark, that will vividly exhibit one of the evi- dences, or strikingly refute some particular objection. This course meets any rising doubts in one mind or another, and precisely suits the mental wants and habits of most men, and is thus the fairest way of bringing the subject before them. Even if one sees cause for an expressly apologetical sermon or series of sermons, he had better select some part of the great subject, and barely allude to, or rapidly touch, the others. Whatever matters are distinctly brought forward, ought to be thoroughly discussed. Let us beware how we merely mention some striking form of error, or plausible objection to truth, without meet- ing it very squarely, if not at all points. Every one has observed, what Mr. Hall intimates, that the error 1 The word " apology " originally signified a defence, without any acknowledgment of wrong. 2 Works, Vol. II. p. 299. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 83 often remains in the mind, while the imperfect refuta- tion is forgotten ; and the reason for this is not far to seek. Errors often find their chief power in the fact that they consist of truth torn away from its connec- tion, and held up in an excessive prominence, or without the limitation and modification which would be given by its related truths. A fragment of truth thus held up may make its delusive impression in a single moment. The apologist must carefully replace the truth, and bring the hearers to look closely at all the surrounding truths, and consider their relation to that which has been dislocated. But this is often a work of time, requiring wider knowledge than the audience possess or he can readily impart, and more reflection than the heedless many are willing to be- stow. It is unfair to the truth if we neglect this fact, and expect a brief statement of some novel and seductive error to be sufficiently met by an equally brief reply. The internal and experimental evidences may be very readily preached upon with advantage. The beautiful harmony of the sacred books, with all their rich diversity, the effects of Christianity upon civil- ization, the adaptation of the gospel to the wants of an awakened conscience, the believer's testimony on the ground of experience, the blessed results of piety, and the powerful example of the truly pious, are topics which may be widely and freely used. Poleviics, or controversy with other professed Christians, presents subjects which demand faith- ful and careful handling. The spurious charity, now so much talked of, which requires that we shall not assail error in our fellow-Christians, the indiffer- ence to truth so widely prevailing, which prates of the "good in everything," and urges that a man's belief is of little importance if he is intellectual, or 84 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. amiable, or moral and devout, these make some men unwilling to preach upon polemical topics, especially to discuss the errors of other evangelical denomina- tions. The natural love of conflict, which even in preachers is sometimes so strong, the lively interest which the ungodly will take in a fight among Chris- tians, the hearty support and laudation which a man's own party will give him, often precisely in proportion as he flatters their self-conceit and un- fairly assails their opponents, — such causes as these contribute to make another class of men excessively fond of controversy. And then the two classes really stimulate and encourage each other. The former being greatly disgusted at what they reckon bad taste and a wrong spirit, are thus all the more disposed to shrink from such topics ; and the latter, being fired by what appears to them cowardice or worldly policy, are all the more bitter against the common foe, and inclined to assail their friends besides. In this v/ay two tendencies often arise in a denomination, each toward a very hurtful extreme. Is there not a golden mean.-* It would seem to be a just principle, that a preacher should never go out of his way to find controversial matter, nor go out of his way to avoid it. He who continually shrinks from conflict should stir himself up to faithfulness; he who is by nature belligerent, should cultivate forbearance and courtesy. When the text or topic naturally leads us to remark upon some matter of controversy, we should not, save in exceptional cases, avoid it, because esteemed Christians are present who differ with us on that point. We should of course be mainly occupied with the advocacy of positive truth ; but the idea that a man can always ''talk about what he himself believes, and let other people's opinions alone," is imprac- SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 85 ticable, even if it were not improper. In many cases we cannot clearly define truth, save by con- trasting it with error. And since errors held and taught by good men are only the more likely to be hurtful to others, we are surely not less bound to refute them in such cases than when advocated by bad men. Paul employs terms of terrible severity, as his Master had done, in speaking of some who taught utterly ruinous error and from bad motives. ^ Paul also withstood to the face, before all the brethren, his beloved but now erring fellow-apostle, using against him hard arguments, but soft words. ^ Afterwards, in speaking of the matter, he charges Peter with dissimulation, a charge justifiable because he knew with certainty that it was true. We, who are so liable to err in judging, ought to be very slow to impugn the motives of those whom we believe to be lovers of Jesus. No doubt Satan rejoices, as we know that wicked men do, to see Christians adding abuse to argument. While faithfully and earnestly opposing error, even as held by Christian brethren, let us avoid needlessly wounding the cause of our common Christianity. It is not unfrequently the wisest policy as regards certain forms of error, to leave them unnoticed. In the excitement about Romanism, which its boldness and boasting have recently awakened in our country, there is reason to fear that many will fall to preach- ing against the Romanists where they are little known, and thus only help to bring them into notice. While well assured that their grievous errors can be refuted, we ought to remember that those errors are subtle and to some minds seductive, and that here, 1 Phil. iii. 2; Gal. vi. 12; i Tim. iv. i, 2; 2 Tim. iv. 14. Comp. Matt, xxiii. 33 ; 3 John, 10. 2 Gal. ii. 11-21. S6 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. just as in the case of infidel theories and objections, slight and hasty refutation is often worse than none. So, too, there are some minor religious denomina- tions, whose vital breath is controversy, and who will most surely die when they are most severely let alone. § 2. SUBJECTS OF MORALITY. We sometimes hear pious men speak with severe reprobation of "moral sermons." It has often been the case, for example, in the Church of England during the eighteenth century, and among American Unitarians at the present time, that morality would be preached with little or no reference to the Atone- ment and the work of the Spirit, a mere morality taking the place of the real gospel. This has estab- lished an association, in many minds, between moral discourses and opposition to the " doctrines of grace. " But our Lord's personal teachings consist mainly of morality; and Paul and Peter, while unfolding and dwelling on the salvation which is by grace through faith, have not merely urged in general a holy life, but have given many precepts with reference to par- ticular, and sometimes minor duties. No one among us will question that we ought constantly to exhort believers to show their faith by their works, and to be holy in all their deportment, seeing that theirs is a holy God. But there is in many quarters a reluctance, for the reason just mentioned, to preach much upon particular questions of moral duty. A preacher of the gospel certainly ought not to preach morality apart from the gospel.^ He may present other than strictly evangelical motives, but these 1 Comp. Phillips Brooks, Yale Lect., pp. 136-140; and Dabney's Sac. Rhet., p. 243 ff., where the relation of the imagination to moral suasion is well brought out. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 87 must be manifestly subordinate to the great motive of grateful love to Christ, and consecration to his service. We should exhort men to keep the law of God, for thus they may be brought to Christ ; but to incite unregenerate people to a so-called moral life, on the ground merely of interest, of regard for the well-being of society, and even of love for their children, etc., is for the preacher unsuitable, save in very peculiar cases. He must first call men, as an ambassador for Christ, to be reconciled to God, must insist upon the indispensable need of regeneration through the Holy Spirit. Then, speaking to those who are looked upon as regenerate, he must, with all his might, urge them to true and high morality, not only on all other grounds, but as a solemn duty to God their Saviour. The only question is, how far he ought to go into details. As above intimated, our Lord and his apostles did go into details very freely. And our preaching often suffers from the fact that, while inculcating Christian morality in general, we do not bring the matter home to the hearts and daily lives of our brethren, do not so delineate their practical experiences, and indicate their duty in practical questions, as to make them feel stimulated and encouraged in the actual pursuit of holiness. 1 At the same time, these questions are innumerable and often complicated and difficult, and we are compelled to select. Now certain limitations, as to the preaching of par- ticular morality, appear to be important, (i) We must not make formal discussion of very minute topics. " Represent to yourself, for example, ser- mons on neatness, on politeness, etc. Some topics 1 There are good observations on this subject in Robert Hall's Works, Vol. II. p. 290 ff. See also Hervey's Christian Rhetoric, pp. 144, 149. S8 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. of this sort, doubtless, may be approached, but it must be done incidentally; they should never fur- nish the subject of a sermon. Particular morality is not to be excluded, but such details of it may have their place in more general matters, or in historical subjects. " ^ It is one of the advantages of expository preaching, whether doctrinal or historical, that it gives occasion for many useful incidental remarks upon minor morals, for which we might never find a place in formal subject-sermons. (2) A second limitation is, that the inculcation of morality must not consume the greater part of our time, for it is our chief business to entreat men to be reconciled to God, and the " doctrines of grace " are the great means of making believers " careful to maintain good works. '"-^ (3) And it is a third limitation, that we must not so enter into particular questions of morality, as to make the preaching of the gospel merely tributary to secular interests, and appar- ently to sink the preacher in the partisan. Political preaching has long been a subject of vehement discussion in America, and presents ques- tions of great importance. In Europe, the almost universal connection of Church and State has embar- rassed the subject with complications from which we are comparatively free. Government here does not interfere with religion, to support some, or to perse- cute others ; and we have in this respect no occa- sion to discuss governmental affairs. Still, political measures often involve, and are sometimes almost identical with, great questions of right and wrong. ^ The notion that political decisions are to be regu- larly made on grounds of mere expediency is dis- 1 Vinet, Horn. p. 83. 2 See Titus, iii. 3-cS, an important passage on this subject. 8 Comp. Phillips Brooks, Yale Lect., p. 141. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 89 honoring to the religion which many of us profess, and would ultimately ruin any nation. That truly pious men shall carry their religion into politics, shall keep religious principle uppermost in all polit- ical questions which have a moral character, is an unquestionable and solemn duty. Of course it is right that the preacher should urge them to do so ; and should urge it with special earnestness in times of great political excitement, when good men are often carried away. Now we have observed above that in other matters it is well not merely to insist upon morality in general, but to go somewhat into details, thus illustrating general truth, and offering hints for practical guidance. Why, then, it may be asked, shall we not do likewise in reference to political matters, where it is often as difficult as it is important for a good man to decide upon his duty ? Why shall not the preacher go somewhat into details here.? The great difficulty is, that it is almost im- possible for a preacher to do this without taking sides. In a country where party feeling runs so high as in ours, the great mass of the people, too, being still ungodly, to take sides at all, in public dis- course, will cause the preacher to be at once swept away by the rushing tide. He ceases to sustain an impartial relation to all the people over whom he is shepherd, and becomes, in a matter which with many is more important than religion, the friend of some, the foe of others. The irreligious, and many of the brethren, forget all about the religious aims of his preaching, in the one absorbing inquiry how much he will help or harm their party. Thus has many a good man, who was honestly striving to bring poli- tics under the control of religious principle, been brought, before he knew it, into the position of a recognized political partisan. Upon perceiving such 90 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. a result, some preachers at once draw back, wiser from their experience; but others, proud of con- sistency, resolved to conquer opposition, or unable to see just what their mistake is, and how to correct it, persevere, with deplorable results. The associa- tion which once connected them in the popular mind with unworldly feelings and eternal interests, is broken. Their power of turning men's eyes away from the things which are seen to the things which are not seen, is seriously diminished. They become comparatively unable to accomplish the great object which a good man in the ministry must cherish, the object of savhig souls. Besides, the temporal bene- fits of Christianity are greatest just in proportion as there is most of true spirituality. Preachers do men most good as to this world in proportion as they bring them to care most for the world to come. In losing this higher power, then, one has likewise actually lost the most effectual means of advancing those lower ends at which he was aiming. While striving to bring some of the motive power of his engine to bear upon one subordinate work, he has left the boiler to burst, and now can do neither the greater nor the less. ^ Many persons insist that the minister must have nothing to do with politics, not even to the extent of voting, or of the formation and private expression of political opinions. Some take this ground from false notions of the "clergyman's" position; but a Christian minister is no more a priest than a Chris- tian layman, and nothing is intrinsically wrong to the one which is not to the other. Some urge as follows: "A minister may well be absolved from preaching, or even forming opinions on politics. 1 Comp. Vinet, Horn. pp. 71-74, and 86, 87 ; and Shedd, Horn, pp. 248-249, for similar views. SUBJECTS - CLASSIFIED. 91 He has the common right of all citizens so to do; but his proper work is enough for all his time and powers. The great themes of religious truth are enough to occupy more time than he can get. " ^ But there is too much disposition among scholarly and refined men to leave voting to the masses and the demagogues. A well-informed man, in this coun- try, cannot avoid the formation of opinions upon politics; and by voluntary ignorance of current affairs, more is lost by the working pastor than gained. The minister ought to have his opinions, and ought to vote; and he may state his views in private conversation, with more or less reserve ac- cording to circumstances. He should in the pulpit urge and conjure his Christian hearers to be con- trolled in their political action by Christian prin- ciple. To go into details, and suggest how they ought to vote in a particular issue, is lawful, but in general highly inexpedient; the little good done will almost certainly be overbalanced by the harm that in various ways must result. If a preacher ever takes such a course at all, it should be in very peculiar and extraordinary cases, and even then his discussion should be brief, well-considered, and tem- perate, and gladly abandoned for other themes. If ever the great majority of controlling politicians should be truly pious men, it might be not inexpe- dient for the preacher to offer suggestions upon cur- rent political questions — but ^//^;^ it would be hardly worth while. There are other very important and difficult topics of particular morality, such as Temperance, and the question of Amusements ; but a few remarks upon these must suffice. The preacher should by all means avoid nltraism. Some things not sinfill in 1 Alexander, Thoughts on Preaching, p. 47. 92 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. themselves, it is yet best to abstain from because they so readily and widely lead to sin. But here there is at once seen to be room for difference of opinion. Not everything should be avoided which is often grossly abused; and however clear it may seem to us that some particular thing should be avoided, another man may perhaps judge otherwise. Even though vehement in condemnation, we must not be indiscriminate. And if in the natural desire to take strong ground we represent the use of intoxi- cating beverages, dancing, and games of amusement, as in themselves sinful, and under all circumstances wrong, we assume an extreme and false position, which must eventually weaken our cause. If dis- criminating and considerate views, leading to a regard for their example and influence, and a recog- nition of possible danger to themselves and their families, will not restrain men in these respects, then extravagance and violence, even if controlling a few, will in general but repel and provoke, stimu- lating the wrong practices in question, and driving many away from the gospel. The world is full of great and dreadful evils, which may well excite both grief and indignation, and which call loudly for cor- rection; but one evil is not to be cured by another, y Again, we must not merely condemn the wrong, but exhort to the right. Preaching on these subjects too often consists merely in vehement assaults. Much more may be accomplished if we also encourage the right-minded to a proper course, and affectionately point out to them the beginnings of evil against which they must guard. The latter course may not afford so much occasion for impassioned and boister- ous "eloquence," but it will hardly be on that account the less useful. Severe censure is sometimes neces- sary, but encouragement to do right is always in SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 93 place, and often more potent. " Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching." ^ And finally, it is usually better to treat these subjects in the course of our ordinaiy preaching, than to make set sermons upon them. These may draw a crowd, if that is all, but the formal discussion invites criti- cism and awakens opposition, and even if really convincing, finds the persons most concerned partic- ularly hard to convince. Arguments and appeals from time to time, as suggested by the subject or the occasion, will make no unfavorable impression, and steady perseverance will gradually call back and win over all whom it is possible to influence. Only, let not the preacher make any particular vicious practice or social usage his hobby; for then folks will but smile at all he can say. § 3. HISTORICAL SUBJECTS. It would be unnecessary to urge that history is attractive for all who read, and full of varied instruc- tion for all who read thoughtfully. And the most instructive history is that of the Bible. A leading writer 2 on the philosophy of history has declared that no such philosophy can be constructed, save by the recognition of a providential purpose which per- vades all events and links them into unity. In the Bible the designs of Providence are not left to be judged of by our sagacity, but are often clearly revealed, so as to show us the meaning of things obscure, and the real co-working of things appar- ently antagonistic. Thus the Bible histories act like the problems worked out in a treatise of Algebra, teaching us how to approach the other problems pre- sented by the general history of the world. The 1 2 Tim. iv. 2. 2 Schlegel. 94 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. oft-quoted saying of an ancient writer that "history is philosophy teaching by example," applies nowhere so truly as to the inspired records, which are God himself teaching by example. Moreover, nothing so interests us all as a person. No inanimate object, or general proposition, will make much impression upon mankind at large, unless it is personified or impersonated, or invested with some personal interest. The poet, delighting in nature, instinctively feels as if communing with a person. Even so abstract a thing as a system of philosophy, is usually remembered in connection with a personal teacher. A benevolent enterprise seldom takes much hold on the popular mind, unless it is associated with some honored man, its embodi- ment and representative. A celebrated lecturer^ on history once stated in conversation that he found it difficult to interest a popular audience, if he pre- sented merely historical events, periods, or lessons; these must be associated with some person. Now the Bible not only consists very largely of history, but the greater part of its history is really biography, the story of individual lives, exhibiting the most various and instructive examples of character, both good and bad, of both sexes, and of every condition in life. And this great historical picture groups all its figures around one Person, to whom some look forward with longing and others look back with love, and whose very enemies unwillingly stand connected with him. All this being true, it would seem that historical subjects of preaching ought to be much more fre- quently employed than is actually the case. Several reasons for the comparative neglect of them may be suggested. The greater part of devout ministers 1 John Lord. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 95 unwisely overlook the human elements in Scripture history. If not carried away by the passion for find- ing "types of Christ/' so as to care little for the persons and events that cannot possibly be thus regarded, they still fail to study these histories as history. They do not trace the progress of events in the history of Israel as in that of any other nation, allowing for the occasional miraculous interferences, and searching amid the mingled web of Israel's affairs for the golden thread of Providential purpose. They do not analyze the character and motives of inspired men, as "men of like passions" with our- selves, men who struggled, as we have to do, with their own infirmities and the thronging temptations of life. They shrink from contemplating the gen- uine but sinless humanity of the glorious central Person, which makes him so real and so unspeakably valuable an example for us, at the same time that he is our divine Redeemer. Another reason is, few ministers gain that minute and familiar acquaintance with Scripture geography, with the manners and customs of the Jews and related nations, and with the secular history connected with Biblical events, which would enable them to realize the scenes and reproduce them with vivid coloring, so as to kindle the imagination of their hearers; nor do they culti- vate, as all preachers should do, the power of descrip- tion.^ On the other hand, some make historical subjects simply the occasion for displaying their descriptive powers, or exhibiting their archaeological learning, without teaching any useful lessons, and thus establish an association in the minds of many hearers between historical sermons and mere " word- painting. " And further, preachers who know or sup- 1 See on Imagination, Part III. chap, v.; and comp. on Expository Preaching, Part 11. chap. iii. Also on Description, chap. vi. § 2, below. 96 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. pose themselves to have little talent for description are apt to forget that one of the chief benefits of his- torical preaching is derived from the analysis of character and motive. We all find it so hard to understand our fellow-men, or ourselves, that it is a great blessing to have in some Scripture examples the veil taken off, and the real motives and true character of men laid bare to our inspection ; and in many other cases, to have suggestive and reliable indications to provoke and encourage inquiry. Liv- ing instances could be mentioned of very able men, who had rarely attempted historical subjects, be- cause conscious of possessing little talent for descrip- tion ; but when the simple suggestion was made that they could bring to bear their analytical powers upon the character of some Scripture personage or the motives of the actors in some Scripture scene, they soon found themselves much interested in historical discourses, and found, too, that they could throw in excellent touches of description by the way. The history of Christianity outside of the Bible, from the earliest times to our own, furnishes much instructive and interesting material for preaching; but to draw the subject of a sermon from this source would be unwise. A sermon upon the life and char- acter of Augustine, Calvin, Wesley, Fuller, Hall, or Judson might be really useful, but the tendency would be towards one of the abuses of Romanism : substituting panegyrics of the saints for Biblical preaching. Yet sometimes week-night lectures might be devoted to the delineation of great and instruc- tive Christian characters, particularly notable mis- sionaries. § 4. EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECTS. Historical subjects manifestly include doctrinal and moral elements; and yet those subjects have SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 97 really a distinct character. In like manner experi- mental subjects partake of the doctrinal, the moral, and the historical, but are so distinct, and of such importance, as to deserve separate classification and notice. The actual experiences of men in receiving the gospel and living according to it ought to be delineated ; always under the guidance of Scripture doctrine, precept, and examples, but still deline- ated as we find them to be. Such matters will enter largely into the substance of many discourses whose stibject is doctrinal, moral, or historical; but the chief phases of religious experience deserve to be somewhat frequently made the subject of special and careful discussion. Material for this purpose is to be drawn from the Bible, from treatises bearing on the subject, and biographies, from the preacher's own experience, and with particular advantage from frequent conversation with richly experienced Chris- tians, making allowance for their peculiarities of temperament and theological opinion, and for their degrees of culture. The preacher, like the physi- cian, ought in addition to what is learned from books, to "study cases," as they arise in his practical labors. It would surely be very useful sometimes to depict the life of an irreligious man, as it is now going for- ward on week-days and Sundays, in business and in society and at home; to do this without exaggerat- ing in order to make a striking picture, without ignoring the man's better impulses, good intentions, kindly affections, etc., — to make him out, so far as possible, just what he is. After pondering the mat- ter and asking a good many thoughtful questions of some intelligent brethren as to their personal recol- lections, a preacher might be able, modestly and with good success, to treat such a subject. It is not 7 98 SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. uncommon to describe Conviction of Sin, the vari- ous methods in which it is wrought, and the causes by which it is often weakened and brought to noth- ing. So with Conversion. Accounts of conversion in persons differing in temperament, religious edu- cation, etc., carefully analyzed, so as to distinguish the general from the peculiar, are always interest- ing, and may be made exceedingly profitable. The early Baptist preachers who travelled from New England to Georgia, preaching depravity, atone- ment, and regeneration to an ignorant and gainsaying people, often made a great impression and gave most important instruction, by telling their own experi- ence. And then the varieties of experience in the Christian life — what subjects they afford for preach- ing! The Christian's Conflicts; Backsliding and Progress, Despondency and Assurance; Sickness and Bereavement, — these are often discussed in every evangelical pulpit.^ To speak at all of our own experience is a task to be performed with special prayer for humility and delicacy, lest we injure our own character, and repel hearers of fastidious tastes. Many shrink too readily from this duty; but not a few go to the other ex- treme, and speak too much, and not wisely, of their own experiences, and this is the worse evil of the two. Let us in this matter, as in so many others where discretion and good taste are involved, earnestly strive to find the proper middle course. The apostle Paul has spoken frequently, and some- times at great length, of his conversion, the trials, conflicts, and consolations of his subsequent life, and of his present purposes and hopes; and the Psalms consist almost entirely of recorded experiences. In 1 See some good remarks in Wayland's Ministry of the Gospel, pp. 86-96. SUBJECTS — CLASSIFIED. 99 speaking of our own experiences, we ought to be care- ful not to tell the same thing over too often, nor indeed should we speak too often of ourselves at all. We should never do so out of mere egotism, but with careful selection of such things as will be really appropriate to the subject and helpful to the hearers. One thing, however, is to be specially guarded against, in all attempts at depicting relig- ious experience, and especially in allusions to our own; we are very apt to imagine, or at least to speak as if we imagined, that all experiences will be like ours. Thus Chrysostom, always moral, and inclined to be devout from a boy, taught that we get all the grace that we are willing to receive; while Augustine, very wicked and powerfully con- verted, preached sovereign and irresistible grace. A preacher or other Christian whose conversion was consciously sudden will almost always speak of con- version as sudden ; one in whom the work was grad- ual and slow, will give a corresponding description. So with the hopeful and the desponding, the fully assured and the often doubting, and the like. We are prone to forget that Christian experience, like the human countenance, will in no two persons be precisely alike, and often presents many and striking differences, though the great characteristic features are always the same. lOO SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. CHAPTER IV. SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS AND CLASSES. § I. Funeral Sermons. 2. Academic and Anniversary Sermons. 3. Revival Sermons. Sermons to Children. Sermons for other Special Classes. IT is convenient to offer at this point a few sugges- tions as to sermons on particular occasions, or addressed to particular classes. For it will often happen that in the choice and treatment of his sub- jects the preacher must be decisively influenced by the demands of some special occasion, or by the peculiar character of the audience, or a part of the audience, which he is to address. It will be desir- able, therefore, briefly to discuss in this connection some matters pertaining to the style and manage- ment of these special sermons, though the general subjects of Materials, Arrangement, and Style will have full consideration in their appropriate places. § FUNERAL SERMONS. In some places, especially though not exclusively in the cities, the current demand for brevity in relig- ious services, with perhaps other causes also, has induced some decline in the practice of preaching set funeral sermons. People often prefer a simple religious service, with sometimes a brief memorial address, or several addresses in cases of special interest. Yet there is still in many quarters a SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. lOI powerful sentiment sustained by long usage in favor of special funeral sermons; and the preacher should know how to meet this demand. Besides, much that needs to be said about funeral sermons will apply as well to the short personal address as to the more elaborate and formal discourse. Those who clearly see and vehemently condemn the faults which disfigure many funeral discourses, are very apt, when themselves bereaved, to find their hearts demanding such a service, and will not unfre- quently prefer the very preacher whose course had often seemed to them most objectionable. Sorrow- ing and softened, we feel then a special need of God's mercy and grace, and the preacher should gladly seize the opportunity to recommend the gospel of consolation, and to impress the need of personal piety, that we may be ready to live and ready to die. And not only will some habitual hearers be then better prepared to receive the word, but persons will be present who seldom attend the place of worship. It is highly important, therefore, that funeral ser- mons should clearly point out the way of life, and tenderly invite to the Saviour. Moreover, in the freshness of our grief we instinctively desire to utter, or at least to hear, some eulogy upon the departed; and all nations have had some method, by speech or song or broken lament, of indulging the desire. That among us Christian ministers are expected to perform this function, while it some- times places them in a difficult position, is yet a sign of their influence, and a means of using that influence to good purpose. Yet the preacher must remember that he is not a mere eulogist of the dead, but only adds this task to his work of preaching the gospel. Accordingly, his utterances as to the de- parted must be only a part of what he says, usually I02 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. but a small part, and must be scnipuIoiLsIy true, though not necessarily all the truth, for this would often be superfluous and sometimes painful. No promptings of his own sorrow, nor regard for the feelings of others, must lead him to the exaggerated praises which are so natural. When the departed was a Christian, he should speak chiefly of that fact, bringing out anything in the character or course of life which he knows, and others will recognize, to be worthy of imitation. When the departed was not a Christian, he may sometimes lawfully speak a few soothing words as to anything which specially endeared the deceased to his friends. But this must be done, if done at all, without exaggeration, and it is a solemn duty to avoid saying one word which suggests that these good points of character afford any ground of hope for eternity. Some preachers will on such occasions give the lie to all their ordi- nary preaching, by leaving room to suppose that without being born again a very excellent person may perhaps see the kingdom of God. "He did not make any profession of religion, but he was this or that, and we leave him to the mercy of God." Or, "he had never professed to be a Christian, but he was perfectly willing to die " — as if that proved any- thing. Nay, if the deceased did not give evidence of being regenerate, a believer in Christ, let us say nothing about his eternal future, nothing whatever. Any such suggestions encourage the ignorant or unthinking in false hopes, and to right-minded mourners are but a mockery of their woe. Pains should be taken not to make much of death-bed con- versions, which are proverbially uncertain, and the hope of which, as a last resort, is so often taken by the living as an encouragement to delay. In gen- eral, the preacher ought to exercise reserve in what SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. 103 he says of the departed ; and in the case of wicked people, it is frequently in the best taste, and shows the most real kindness, to say nothing. Youno- preachers sometimes allow themselves, in their first sermons of this sort, to indulge in copious eulogies with no great foundation, and then afterwards seem compelled to do likewise in cases where they feel it to be a great trial, and know that they are liable to do serious harm to the cause of truth. It will save much embarrassment to begin right. The services on such occasions, and especially the sermon, are often made too long. "A prevail- ing fault of funeral discourses is the occupation of too much time with generalities or truths that have no special application to the existing circumstances. It is far better to confine such discourses to narrower limits, and to that particular range of thought which all will recognize to be pertinent." ^ The tendency to ostentatious parade in funerals, which is in some communities a great evil, ought in every judicious way to be discouraged. § 2. ACADEMIC AND ANNIVERSARY SERMONS. Sermons at institutions of learning, or on occa- sions of literary interest, are often managed in a very mistaken fashion. The preacher imagines that he must not give a regular gospel sermon, but must betake himself to matters highly erudite or meta- physical. It is really desirable on such occasions to preach upon eminently evangelical topics, the very heart of the gospel. Science and erudition are the every-day work of these professors and students ; from you, to-day, they had much rather hear some- thing else. Even those who care nothing for religion 1 Kidder's Horn. p. 280, where there are other good remarks. I04 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. will feci, as persons of taste, that it is congruous, becoming, for a preacher to preach the gospel; while the truly pious, yearning over their unconverted associates, will long to have the preacher urge sav- ing truth upon them in the most practical way, and with whole-souled earnestness. Of course the ser- mon should have point, force, freshness; and the associations of the occasion may sometimes suggest slight peculiarities of allusion, illustration, and style; but it ought to be a sermon full of Christ, full of prayerful zeal to save souls. Ah ! as one looks over those hundreds of intelligent young faces, and his heart goes out to them in sympathy and love, — as he thinks what a power they will be in the world for good or for evil, and how they are all there present before God, to hear his message, he must surely feel an unwonted emotion, a solemn sense of privilege and responsibility; and if never before, there ought to be true of him then, those words of Baxter, " I preached as never sure to preach again. And as a dying man to dying men." Preachers are often called on to deliver sermons at various kinds of anniversaries. In general, such sermons are never so acceptable to devout hearts, and never so helpful to the objects sought on these occasions, as when they are filled with the very essence of the gospel. For example, the "annual sermon " before an Association, Convention, or other religious body, should not be soaring, philo- sophic, ambitious, but should seek by earnest, direct, and moving presentation of gospel truths and motives to arouse a deep religious feeling. He is a wise man who prayerfully avoids making a show on such occasions, but sincerely endeavors to bring his brethren with himself nearer to his Master. Even SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. 105 where some particular doctrine or topic, historical, memorial, or other, is assigned him, the preacher should strive so to present his theme as to awaken and encourage devout sentiments. And the same principles hold in regard to other anniversary sermons. It sometimes occurs that a Society, religious or benevolent, celebrates its anni- versary by having a sermon preached. Besides the sermon, it may be remarked in passing, the minister should look well to the other services of the occa- sion and see that they are not only suitable and impressive, but solemn and spiritually profitable. Occasions of this kind often give the preacher an op- portunity to reach people who seldom go to church, or to his church, and whom he may never meet again. Well will it be for him and for them if by skilful and deeply earnest handling of his theme and his op- portunity he may be able to win and edify the souls of his hearers. The preacher cannot afford to be merely the head man of the parade at such times; he must be the devout and inspiring soul of the occasion. § 3. REVIVAL SERMONS. The phrase "revival sermons" is not altogether a felicitous or suitable one, and yet is readily under- stood to mean those sermons which are especially appropriate in revival meetings where the principal object is to arouse those who are not Christians, and win converts. Now it is obvious that in their general conduct and treatment discourses for these occasions should not materially differ from other sermons; and yet in the choice of topics for suc- cessive presentation, and in many of the details of treatment, there are some points of special interest which make these discourses somewhat peculiar, and Io6 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. warrant particular discussion. Sometimes the pas- tor may have to conduct his own revival services, and this is an exceedingly desirable thing for him to do. At other times he may be called on to aid a brother pastor in a series of meetings, preaching always once, and very frequently twice a day. Thus the selection, order, and treatment of his subjects are matters of moment and sometimes of difficulty. So varied are these occasions of revival, and so different their demands, that it would be impossible to make rules to cover all cases; and yet a few practical suggestions as to the general character and management of revival sermons may be useful, especially to the inexperienced preacher. (i) They should be. short. The people are wearied by coming often to successive meetings; and there are other things besides the sermon that need to be interspersed, such as the appeals, the songs, the prayers; so that it is a mistake to make the sermon as long even as it usually is. Many otherwise suc- cessful revivalists have erred in this point. (2) TItey should be greatly varied in character and contents. Monotony is injurious to the best effects. In the congregations which usually gather for these special services there is every variety of people with every variety of sentiment, and at no time is the preacher more solemnly bound to be all things to all men that he may by all means save some. This variety of adaptation will be necessary both in the selection and the treatment of the topics of dis- course. Sometimes the sermon must edify, com- fort, and encourage the saints and faithful workers; at others it must rebuke the lax and cold church members whose worldliness and inconsistencies are a hindrance to the success of the gospel ; now it must proclaim in no uncertain voice the fearfulness SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. lO/ of the Lord's judgment upon sin; and again, it must gently win and urge the hesitating by presenting the inestimable love and mercy of God. With some the preacher must argue, to some he must dogma- tize, others he must touch with tender anecdote and pathetic appeal; some he must rebuke with sharp attack upon the conscience, others he must encour- age, with patient persuasion, to venture now upon the Lord's promises. Yet with all this variety another thing is important in these revival discourses. , (3) They should generally follow some law of se- quence. What that order shall be will depend upon such a variety of circumstances that it would be impossible to make any general rule cover all cases ; the exceptions would be likely to be more important than the rule. Not even the same, order of topics should be pursued in different places, nor in the same place at different times. Yet partly for the sake of the preacher's own mind in its logical, and therefore more efficient working, and partly for the sake of continuity of effect upon the minds of others, some orderly arrangement in the series of discourses is usually desirable in revival preaching. A general sequence like the following is often found useful: First address the church, seeking to arouse a more active spiritual life, to recall the worldly and quicken the pious, awakening in all the spirit of prayer and of intense concern for the salvation of others; then present for several meetings the terrors of the law, searching the conscience, arousing concern for sin, the fear of judgment, and the consequent imperative need of a Saviour; then set forth the mercy and love of God as displayed in the gospel of his Son, the certainty and completeness of the divine forgiveness of sin upon repentance and faith ; and finally urge immediate decision and acceptance of the gospel I08 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. terms, with public confession of Christ. Whatever order may be observed, none of these topics can be safely omitted from a series of revival sermons. Several of them may be combined in the same dis- course, they may be often repeated in various con- nections, and very often the earnest presentation of one will incidentally and powerfully enforce another. Grave mistakes are often made by insisting too ex- clusively upon one or another of these parts of the gospel message. Especially is this true in regard to the last — the duty of immediate confession of Christ. Some take this up at once, and insist upon it all through the meetings to the slighting of the topics which naturally and logically precede it; and it is to be feared that many superficial i^crsons are thus induced to make a public profession of religion who have had no true conviction of sin, no real sense of their utter need of the Saviour, and consequently no sound Scriptural conversion. This brings us to notice another requisite in revival sermons : — (4) TJiey sJiould prc-emijicntly exemplify a sounds tJiorougJi-going and complete gospel preacJiing. There is much.so-called revival preaching which sadly lacks this character. Mere clap-trap and sensationalism, tirades of cheap wit and vulgar denunciation, extreme and one-sided statements, half-truths and specious errors — all these infect as a deadly poison a large proportion of that which is called evangelistic preach- ing. An earnest and loving, but at the same time faithful and strong, presentation of pure Bible truth on the great matters of Sin, Judgment, Atonement, Salvation, Regeneration, Grace, Repentance, and Faith, is the distinctive and emphatic need of the revival preaching of our age.^ 1 On revival preaching comp. Etter, The Preacher and his Sermon, p. 236 ff. ; Gregory, Christ's Trumpet Call to the Ministry, pp. 268- 297 ; Phelps, Theory of Preaching, p. 287 ff., Men and Bocks, p. 11 flf. SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. 109 § 4. SERMONS TO CHILDREN. Work for the children and young people is one of the characteristic movements of our age; and it h well for us to give particular attention to the sub- ject of preaching to children. ^ Suggestions on this subject will also bear upon the less formal addresses to children in the Sunday School, on anniversary and festal occasions, and the like. There is apt to be too broad a difference in style and tone between sermons to children and speecJics to them. If the sermons could be a little more familiar, and the speeches a good deal more serious, than is commonly the case, then suggestions for the one could, without any appearance of incongruity, apply to the other. Every one notices how few persons succeed de- cidedly well in speaking to children. But many preachers possess greater power in this respect than they have ever exercised, because they have never devoted to the subject much either of reflection, observation, or heedful practice. Examples may be found of men who for years considered that they had no talent for speaking to children, and whose attempts were always comparative failures, and yet who afterwards became very popular and useful in this important department of preaching. There are others, however, who have had great success with sermons to children. In modern times the first to be noticed is the celebrated French Catholic preacher, Massillon, who addressed to Louis XV., when a child of nine years, a series of sermons which have obtained the name of " Le Petit Careme," The Little Lent. Dr. Thomas Arnold, the famous teacher of 1 For a full and very good discussion of this matter, see Etter, The Preacher and his Sermon, p. 256 ff. Comp. also Otto, Evan. Prak. Theol. s. 141 ff. no SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. Rugby School in England, preached to his boys with good effect. In later times many English preachers have given special and successful atten- tion to this work. Here in America not a few of our pastors and evangelists have done good service in this department. Worthy of special mention is Dr. Richard Newton (Episcopalian) of Philadelphia, whose volumes of sermons to children are probably the best of their kind, and should be read by all who wish to succeed well in preaching to children. ^ It has been frequently remarked that in the young child imagination is predominant; in the child of ten or twelve years, memory; and not until they are nearly grown, do the powers of abstraction and reasoning become active. It is to the two former classes that we commonly speak, whatever is aimed at older people being also addressed to the children. We see at once that it is necessary to avoid abstract terms, and formal processes of reasoning. Many preachers find this difficult because they are too much accustomed, even for the wants of the ordinary 1 It may be well to mention some of the best volumes of sermons and addresses to children. Arnold's "Rugby Sermons," and Dr. John Todd's " Lectures to Children " are of great value. More recent English books are, Temple's "Rugby Sermons;" Alex. Fletcher's " Lectures to Children;" Bishop Ryle's "Boys and Girls Playing, and Other Addresses to Children;" Alex. McLeod's "The Wonderful Lamp," "The Gentle Pleart," "The Children's Portion," (these are very sweet and wholesome) ; J. R. Macduff s " Hosannas of the Chil- dren, and Other Short Sermons for Young Worshippers;" S. G. Green's (Baptist), "Bible Sketches and Their Teachings for Young People." Of American books, the following are recommended : Dr. Richard Newton's series (i8 volumes), of which especially, "Rills," "The Best Things," " liible Wonders," "Bible Blessings" (published in small volumes by Carters) ; W. W. Newton's (son of R. Newton) four volumes; Emerson Andrews' "Youth's Picture Sermons;" " Outlines of Sermons to Children " (by twenty-nine Scottish preachers, but published by Armstrong, New York); T. T. Eaton's "Talks to Children." SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. Ill adult mind, to discourse upon gospel doctrine in an abstract and purely argumentative way; and learn- ing how to preach to children may make them better preachers in general. Merely to refrain from using long words is not the thing needed. Children understand polysyllables just as well as monosyl- lables, when they represent concrete, and 'familiar, or easily intelligible conceptions. Besides, those of a dozen years are not pleased at the appearance of excessive effort to use short words to them, as if they had no sense. Eschew, then, all abstract terms. And instead of argumentation, give them facts and truths, confidently stated, with the quiet air of authority to which children naturally bow. Let these facts and truths be so stated, described, or illustrated, as to awaken the imagination. The illustrations should generally be in the form of nar- rative (as the Great Teacher's were), and the stories and descriptions should be pictorial — not minutely finished pictures, for children weary of those, but with broad outlines, prominent features, and vivid touches of suggestive detail. Thus telling them what they will receive as interesting facts or impor- tant truth, and in such a way as to charm the imag- ination, we are able to reach the child's affections and conscience. Only through what. appeals to the imagination can this be readily done.^ In general, in preaching to children the three principal things to do are: to interest, to instruct, to impress. We shall speak in vain unless we interest them. Grown people may pay a becoming attention to what does not deeply interest them, but children do not, perhaps they cannot. In order to interest them there must be clearness both in plan and style ; they must comprehend. Now two favor- 1 On the province and power of Imagination, see Part III. chap. v. 112 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. ite words with children are "pretty" and "funny;" these are to them two radiating centres of thought, the terms being extended to many things which only in some respects are pretty or funny. It is well, therefore, in seeking to interest children, to em- ploy freely the beautiful and the humorous, yet neither must be overdone. In all sermons to chil- dren there should be instruction by such illustra- tions as will appeal to the childish mind; it may be as regards the fundamental verities of religion. Sin, Atonement, Repentance, Faith, or as to moral virtues, such as Courage, Honesty, Purity, Unsel- fishness, Industry, Reverence. In impressing chil- dren with religious truth care should be taken to appeal commonly to their affections rather than to their fears. We should not frighten but win them. Yet we must not forget to speak in a proper way of wrath and judgment. The children must feel that they are learning something, and must see that we are trying to do them good. However thoughtless, changeable, pas- sionate, a child may be, its conscience is active. Every child quickly recognizes the propriety of our seeking to win it to love and serve the Lord, and feels that something is lacking where this is not the case. However great the external attractions of a Sunday School, it will soon grow dull to the little ones if they do not learn, especially learn the Bible, and breathe there an atmosphere of genuine piety. The spasmodic efforts to keep up the interest which are sometimes observed in Sunday School officers and speakers must only become more and more vehement and extravagant if they are neglecting religious instruction and devotional impressiveness. In dealing with such restless beings, variety is of course indispensable. If the same man speaks to SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. II3 them long, he must have great variety of matter, feeling, and utterance. Nothing pathetic, or even solemn, can long engage their attention, save under extraordinary circumstances; and it is therefore proper to make free use of the natural reaction between pathos and humor. The childish mind readily passes "from grave to gay," and almost as readily back again to what is grave. Few men can succeed well in speeches or sermons to children, unless they are able to employ at least a few touches of humor. But if some speakers through uniform gravity fail to maintain the interest, a still greater number at the present day indulge in such an excess and predominance of humor, as to fail of doing real good, and by degrees to lose the power even of hold- ing the children's attention. The humor employed had best be delicate; it may be broad and grotesque, but never coarse or silly. It must be manifestly subordinate to a serious purpose. Children feel that you have no business seeking on that occasion merely to amuse them; and the funniest story, the oddest saying, the wittiest allusion must by analogy or by contrast give impressiveness to something useful and serious, or else it is out of place, and ought to have been om.itted. And a perpetual succession of merely funny things will soon utterly pall upon the children's taste. The little ones that hear much speaking grow to be keen critics ; and it were well if some speakers could often hear their talk at home.^ 1 " He kept trying to make us laugh all the time, and I got mighty tired of that." " He told us about a little boy, and wound up like they always do, you know, ' And, children, that little boy is here to-day.' " "He tried very hard to be funny, but I didn't feel like laughing." " O pa, do you think anybody ought to be saying so many foolish things, when he 's talking about our Saviour ? " " O me, I used to think that story was right funny, but I 've heard it so often." Parents sometimes have difificulty in correcting the evil effects which are indicated by such sayings. 8 114 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. Speak, then, of interesting and instructive facts and truths, in concrete and familiar terms, without formal argument, analytical processes, or abstract ideas. Speak to the child's imagination, heart, and con- science. Speak with a prevailing seriousness, with an earnest desire to do them good. And if you would learn their range of ideas and their vocabu- lary, would find the door to their hearts, talk much with children, and allure them into talking freely to you. The remark may be added, as of great importance, that children are not to be addressed as pious, but as needing to become so ; and that they have to be- come Christians in essentially the same way as adults, by repentance and faith, through the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Great mischief results from the fact that so many who speak to children seem not to per- ceive clearly, or to keep distinctly in mind, this un- questionable truth. It may be well to say a few words as to the occa- sions or services in connection with which it will be proper to preach to the children. Naturally there is considerable diversity of practice in regard to this. It was a custom of Whitefield to address himself to the children sometimes in the midst of his sermons to the general congregation. This is an excellent method, and should be often pursued in our regular ministry; but it is scarcely sufficient. The children should sometimes have a whole sermon to them- selves. Others have had a brief address to the chil- dren before or after the regular sermon to grown people. This might be well sometimes, but it would hardly be suitable or desirable on many occasions. Children are tired at the close of the sermon, to say nothing of the grown people whose interest might then be dissipated. And at the beginning there SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. II5 would be other disadvantages. Some preachers take the Sunday School hour for an occasional sermon to the children. Short addresses are generally better on these occasions, better both for the children and the preacher. Sometimes the method has been tried of having a separate service for the children at the same hour as the stated service for the congregation ; but as this renders it necessary to have different preachers and rooms, it is usually inconvenient. In large churches where there are several pastors, or assistants, and suitable auditoriums this might do very well. Another method is that of having stated or occasional services for the children in the after- noon in addition to the regular services. This plan works very well, and is generally perhaps better than any that have been mentioned. But the best way of all seems to be to give, either at regular intervals (as fifth Sundays, or once a month), or by special ap- pointment, some morning service to the children. Let the whole service be theirs. Make it shorter than usual, and let them feel that it is their special occasion. The grown people — mostly parents or others interested in children — will commonly gladly acquiesce in this arrangement. In fact some have been known rather to prefer the children's sermon to their own, because they understood it better ! § 5. SERMONS FOR OTHER SPECIAL CLASSES. For various reasons the preacher may find it desira- ble, and sometimes even necessary, to preach to other special classes besides the children. Sometimes this may be in connection with an anniversary, or stated occasion, or celebration, when the class interested will be specially concerned ; sometimes it may be by request, formal or private, of societies or individuals Il6 SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. representing the classes to be addressed ; sometimes it may be by his own choice along the course of his regular work, either with a view to variety or for some particular reason. Thus, for example, the pastor may sometimes wish to preach especially to the aged, to the bereaved, to young men or women, to mothers or fathers, to merchants, lawyers, doc- tors, teachers, workingmen of various trades, and the like. It is easy to see how occasion for this kind of preaching will frequently arise. It will be the pastor's privilege and duty to make the best of such opportunities. It is not necessary to take up each of these classes of hearers and discuss the best ways of preaching to them, as was done in the case of children ; but a few general suggestions, applicable more or less in all cases, may be offered: (i) Be careful in the selec- tion of text a7id subject. Try to have those which will be fresh, striking, and appropriate ; but avoid straining after effect, and particularly eschew^ what is forced and far-fetched in the application of subject to occasion. (2) Do not be too pointed and per- so7ial in address and application. The occasion itself will do much in applying what you say to the par- ticular class of people before you. There is danger of repelling the very persons you wish to reach, if you single them out too pointedly for direct address. Yet delicate personal appeal is natural, and may be highly effective. (3) Be sure to treat the theme and tcse the occasion in such a way as to ifiterest and profit the general congregation. The special class addressed may be small in comparison with the rest of the audience, and even if they were in the major- ity there would still be reason for having something useful and helpful to all. (4) As always — preach the gospel. Do not be betrayed or inveigled into SERMONS FOR PARTICULAR CLASSES. II7 mere sensationalism. These occasions easily degen- erate, in the hands of worldly preachers, into means of airing themselves before the community and in the newspapers. Shun this as you would sin, for it is sin. Let the grand truths of the Bible find clear and unmistakable expression, and earnest, prayerful application. Il8 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. CHAPTER V. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. § I. Invention and its Aids. 2. Accumulation of Materials. 3. Originality. 4- Plagiarism and Borrowing. § 5. Freshness in Preaching — Helps. 6. Sensational Preaching — Cautions. IN the ancient treatises on Rhetoric much attention was paid to the invention of materials for discourse. Aristotle and Quintilian gave considerable space in their famous works to this part of the subject, and Cicero devoted to it a special treatise. In some mod- ern rhetorical books the subject receives scant atten- tion, more consideration being given to style. But latterly our rhetoricians are coming again to bestow more care upon the matter of invention. And this is well ; for it is evidently a matter of the utmost impor- tance. If important to every speaker, it is supremely important to the preacher to have something to say. Vapid nothings, no matter how well said, should have no place in a sermon. It is proposed in this and sev- eral following chapters to treat of the materials of ser- mons, or in other words, of finding what to say in preaching. § I. INVENTION AND ITS AIDS. Much in regard to the inventive faculty and its ex- ercise will be said incidentally as we proceed with the discussion of materials, but a few words as to the fac- ulty itself and the best means of cultivating it may be appropriate here. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. II9 It is evident, to start with, that some minds are more creative than others, and the same mind varies in this matter according to the stage of its culture, and even according to its moods. If a man has no power of invention, he has mistaken his business when he proposes to be a preacher. But if he has some natural ability in this direction it is capable of indefinite cultivation. Clearly it is every preach- er's imperative duty to train this faculty to do its best. Next to character and piety it is the most important element of his outfit. In the development of the power of inventive thought three processes are absolutely necessary: acquisition, reflection, exercise. The homely illus- tration of a mill may help us to see this more clearly. For the production of meal there must be the grain, the motive power, and the actual movement of exerting the one upon the other by means of the machinery. So in developing the inventive powers of the mind there must be knowledge, thought, and constant use. These are the essentials. There are also special methods and means of stimulating invention. Kid- der ^ mentions some of these as *' practical sugges- tions in reference to invention in the form of rules : — *'(i) Address your mind to the invention of thoughts, not words. Words may be employed, but only as auxiliaries. " (2) Note down or otherwise make sure of what- ever relevant thoughts your mind can call to its aid, irrespective of order or mainly so. " (3) At first be not too scrupulous on the subject of relevancy. Entertain whatever seemingly good thoughts come at your call. Try them, push them out to conclusions. Perhaps if not available them- selves they will lead to others that are. 1 Horn. p. 152. I20 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. " (4) Pursue invention in every variety of cir- cumstance, in the study and out of it. Make it the subject of special and protracted occupation, and also of occasional attention, when walking or rid- ing, when taking exercise or rest. One's very dreams at night may often be made serviceable for this object. '• (5) Make an early selection of subjects in order to secure the advantages of the repeated and inci- dental action of the inventive powers. [He means, early in the week. This course was pursued and recommended by Robert Hall.] " (6) Use former studies and preparations as helps to invention rather than as substitutes for it. •' Invention as thus practised will always strengthen but never exhaust itself. It will become a most de- lightful exercise, causing the mind to glow with rap- ture at its new creations and combinations." The important part which Imagination plays in the invention of materials will be noticed in a subsequent chapter ; ^ and the reaction of arrangement upon in- vention will attract our attention in discussing that subject.^ The question how far and in what ways we may properly employ commentaries, sermons upon the same text, etc., in preparing a sermon, will be examined presently.^ § 2. ACCUMULATION OF MATERIALS. The chief materials of a sermon are in the great mass of cases not really invented at the time of prep- aration ; they are the results of previous acquisition and reflection. This is true even of much that seems to the preacher himself to have then for the first time 1 Part III. chap. v. - Part II. chap. i. * See § 4 of the present chapter. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 121 a place in his mind ; it is in fact the revival of some- thing forgotten, or the development of something already known. In this respect inexperienced and comparatively uncultivated young preachers are often greatly deceived. Their early sermons are made with ease. Ardent, zealous, excited, they find that thought springs spontaneous in the mind, and feeling flows like a torrent. They imagine that it will always be easy to find something to say which will interest themselves and their hearers. But they are like men who have inherited a fortune in cash, and who spend their principal as if it w^ere but income. Rejoicing in his facility of speech, the young preacher is not aware that he is drawing upon all that he has thought, felt, and seen, all that he has read and heard, since his childhood. And not a few go on for some months or years, consuming all their store, and evok- ing all that their minds are so constituted as readily to produce, and presently begin to wonder and lament that they find it so much harder than for- merly to make a sermon. In like manner, preachers who are growing old sometimes complain that peo- ple will not listen to them as in other days, when the difficulty is that they have ceased to maintain activity of mind and good store of fresh thought; and unable to interest themselves, they of course cannot interest others. These somewhat frequent and very painful experiences only illustrate the proposition — we draw our sermons mainly from what we have wrought out or learned beforehand. And when the preacher speaks from great fulness of thought, then what he says borrows power from what is in reserve, as the head of water gives force to that which strikes upon the wheel. It follows that, next to the cultivation of personal piety, there is nothing for which the preacher should so earnestly labor, from his first 122 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. call to the close of his life, as the acquisition of abundant general materials for preaching.^ These materials will of course be drawn from every source. No kind of knowledge can be utterly useless to a preacher, and reflection, upon whatever subjects, will always leave him something which may hereafter be turned to account. But it may be well to remark upon the principal sources from which materials for preaching are derived. The Scriptures themselves should at every period of his life be a preacher's chief study. When we meet a young brother who has just become con- vinced that it is his duty to preach, and who is inquir- ing about preparation for the work, our first word ought to be, the Bible, — not so much, at the outset, the profound study of doctrinal epistles or prophetical books, as the familiar and accurate knowledge of his- torical facts, the analysis of Biblical characters, the memorizing of devotional passages and of precepts, the acquisition of a general familiarity with the con- tents of particular books and of the entire sacred col- lection. Young ministers, even graduates of colleges, are often found sadly deficient as to this general knowledge of the Bible ; while the best Sunday Schools, as well as the most admirable family instruc- tion, have usually but laid the foundation for such knowledge as the preacher should make haste to gain. And every stage of culture and experience, as life goes on, presents fresh occasion and new facilities for studying the Bible. In the originals, if possible, in the English version at any rate ; ^ by the rapid 1 See Shedd (Horn., p. io8), who says that a preacher should " acquire and cultivate a homiletical habitude." Everything he comes in contact with should turn to sermon. Comp. also Brooks' Yale Lectures, p. 157. 2 Comp. above, chap. ii. § 2, (r). GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. I23 reading of Lirge portions, by the thorough study of a given book, by the minute examination of particular passages, and sometimes even by looking at sentences here and there as we turn over the leaves ; by reading in company with others, for discussion or for sym- pathy, by reading when alone with our beating hearts and our God ; by adopting new methods for variety, and by steadily maintaining old methods till they become habitual ; by reading when we enjoy it, as a pleasure, and when at the beginning we do not enjoy it, as a duty, — every way, and continually, let us keep up, freshen, extend our acquaintance with the precious Word of God. The study of Systematic Divinity will but prepare us better to appreciate the separate teachings of Scripture as they stand in their own connection. Every kind of knowledge we gain should lead to further examination of that which is for us the centre of all knowledge, and the various experiences of life should be constantly bringing us back to find new meaning, strength, and consolation in God's Word. And we must constantly beware lest we fall into the habit of reading the Bible only as a perfunctory matter, a professional duty. In the spirit of personal devoutness, with a desire for per- sonal benefit, and with the constant prayer that God would bless us in learning and in teaching, let us study the Bible, that we may " both save ourselves, and them that hear us."^ Systematic Theology is of unspeakable importance to the preacher, indispensable if he would be in the best sense instructive, and exert an abiding influence over his hearers. This enables him to speak with the boldness of assured conviction, giving him a confi- 1 Alexander has some admirable thoughts and suggestions on the study of the Bible, especially for ministers of middle age, and of con- sideral^le attainments, in Thoughts on Preaching, pp. 56-60, and pp. 464-466. 124 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. dence in the great system of inspired truth which no minute criticism can shake.^ This prepares him to urge one doctrine, or to unfold and apply one text, without the fear of offending against another, — a fault into which many ministers are grieved to remem- ber how often their early sermons fell. This renders it practicable to discuss particular aspects of a doc- trine in different sermons, in such a way as by de- grees to impart a good knowledge of the doctrine as a whole. And the manifest possession of a syste- matic acquaintance with revealed truth gives him authority with the people. They readily listen to one who has definite, positive, and well-considered opin- ions; and no uninspired man, even of the highest genius, has a right to be so authoritative in his utter- ances upon moral and spiritual truth, as a preacher of humble powers, who speaks from a thorough and systematic study of God's VVord.^ Exegesis and Sys- tematic Theology properly go hand in hand. Neither is complete, neither is really safe, without the other. And while a man will be apt to feel himself specially attracted towards one of them, according to his men- tal constitution and training, and will naturally work extensively at that one, he ought also diligently, regularly, and through life, to pursue the other. A preacher ought almost always to have on hand some able treatise of Theology, new or old, which he is regularly studying, or some particular topic of Divinity, which he makes the subject of much reading and reflection. 1 An eminent English Bishop, and leading writer on Exegesis, states in a private letter his persuasion that the study of Systematic Theology would have prevented much of that semi-skepticism which is now painfully common among the clergy of the Church of England. R. W. Dale, Vale Lectures, p. 7 ff., has some excellent remarks on the advantages of studying Theology. 2 Comp. Shcdd, Hom., p. 26 ff. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 125 Of other reading, regarded as an important source of materials for preaching, there can be only brief mention. Church History does not usually re- ceive from working ministers the attention it de- serves. Especially does the history of Doctrines assist one in understanding the truth, and in compre- hending those objections and erroneous tendencies which under different forms reproduce themselves in every age. Every religious denomination has certain characteristic or favorite doctrines, which its standard works bring out with clearness and prominence ; so that apart from the necessary provision for polemical preaching, and from the common stock of Christian Theology, there is much to be learned by studying the peculiar opinions of different denominations. Ethical Philosophy furnishes a rich store of materials for those who can really master its discussions, and adapt their results to the conditions of practical preaching ; and there are some works, such as Butler's Analogy, and McCosh on the Divine Government, occupying a sort of border ground between Ethics and Theology, which are unsurpassed in value. Some ministers are '* too metaphysical " in their preaching, but very many are not metaphysical enough in their studies} The study of Sermons is not only very useful with reference to the art of ser- monizing, but affords much valuable material, pro- vided it be not borrowed directly, but assimilated by reflection and made part of one's own thinking. The careful analysis and thorough and repeated examina- tion of a few rich and impressive sermons, is much better, in every respect, than the cursory reading of many. And so as to all our reading. Young men who have 1 " Read Butler, and preach to the negroes," was the advice given to a young preacher, many years ago, by a judicious senior. 126 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. enjoyed but limited opportunities of culture, and have never looked out with eager eyes upon the great world of books, sometimes need to be urged to read more widely; but in the immense majority of cases, very different advice is required. He who would become really a man must abandon as early as possible the childish dream of reading everything. Except what is done for recreation — and excessive recreation is destruction — he must have a limited field of study, and must cultivate that field with the utmost possible thoroughness. And upon every sub- ject studied, he must find out the best books, and restrict himself almost entirely to those. If the men of true scholarship and real power were called on to give one counsel to young students, in this age of multiplied books, they would probably all unite in saying. Read only the best works of the great authors, and so read these as to make them thor- oughly and permanently your own.^ Whether it is better to make extracts, summaries, and references in a Commonplace Book, or to rely mainly on memory in reading, will depend on a man's turn of mind and general habits, and on the kind of reading in question. Even a man of extraordinary memory can hardly dispense with memoranda in reading books of information ; while books of thought, though they may be profitably analyzed in wTiting, should be thought over, thought through and through, and then all that is cognate to our own thinking will be without difficulty retained. As regards whatever is not matter of pure thought, an important part of the benefit derived from reading is this, that one will always know where to look for what he wants; and this can be best accomplished by a system of refer- ences, unless the power of local memory is found, 1 Comp. Shedd, Horn., pp. 121-124. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 127 upon fair trial, to suffice for the purpose. Which- ever method one adopts, he must strive to make the best of it, guarding carefully against its disadvantages and dangers. But there are other sources of materials for preach- ing besides books.^ A preacher's knowledge of human nature, and knowledge of the world, his expe- rience of life, and especially of the religious life, his conversation with those around him upon religious and upon general themes, his perpetual reflection upon everything felt, observed, or heard, — these afford a large part of his most valuable materials. And all his previous preaching, if rightly managed, has but enriched the mind to meet further demands. If one merely scrapes together thoughts around a subject, so as to make a sermon, then every sermon consumes part of his material, and leaves him poorer. But if he habitually penetrates into a subject and masters it, every sermon leaves him richer; not that he can shortly preach again upon the same topic or text, but that he is better prepared for treating others akin to it. There is a fertilizing production. In this sense too, ** there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." But this general preparation is of course not sufficient. No matter how widely read and full of general knowledge and thought a preacher may be, he must yet make special accumulation of materials for each sermon. Many a preacher, particularly after he has had long years of experience and has accumulated a considerable amount of sermon stock, has failed right here. He depends on general instead of special preparation. No man can keep fresh who does not put fresh material in every sermon — something which 1 Upon sources of Illustration, see remarks below, chap. vii. Prof. Phelps' Men and Books is an excellent treatise on this subject. 128 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. particularly belongs to that sermon and occasion and fits no others so well. It is imperative, therefore, that the preacher should also give his very careful thought not only to his general stock, but to what may be called materials provided at the time. These embrace the interpretation of the text, and the choice of a subject, which we have already con- sidered. The precise mode of stating a subject can in many cases not be fixed until after we have wrought out much of the general materials for the treatment of it. Besides interpreting the text, in the strict sense of the phrase, much may be derived from reflecting on it, and on its connection. If the treat- ment be textual or expository, a large part of the materials will be derived from this study of the text ; if it be a subject-sermon, still the text and its context may furnish much that will be useful in the discussion of the topic. Then fixing the mind upon the subject, or in succession upon the several related subjects fur- nished by the textual or expository method, the preacher must attempt the complete analysis and copious development of the matters involved, and the collection of all associated matters which are likely to be useful. Yet it is plain that this provision of material for immediate use will often really be very largely selection from the general stock of previously acquired knowledge and thought. It will be a com- bination of two things : deliberate choice and selection from the storehouse of memory and reflection, and the spontaneous coming of thoughts by the law of association of ideas. Awaken a memory, get a thought, and others will come to keep them com- pany. So there will be a delightful mingling of old and new. The well instructed scribe, as the Master has said, will be bringing out of his treasury things new and old. GENERAL MATERIALS OP^ PREACHING. I29 § 3. ORIGINALITY. Whether the materials are possessed beforehand, or provided at the time of preparation, it is obvious that they might be original, or borrowed. Under this relation they will now be considered. (i) Originality may be absolute , or relative. By the former is meant bringing into existence thoughts which the world never knew before, which had never arisen in any human mind. Of course this must be very rare. In the physical world, new facts are now constantly ascertained, and new mechanical contri- vances invented. But in the world of ideas, it is very difficult to be absolutely original.^ " The ancients have stolen all our best ideas," is one of the sayings of the great Edinburgh Reviewer which cannot soon be forgotten. And Goethe said : '' Very little of me would be left, if I could but say what I owe to my predecessors and my contemporaries." But not in modern times alone has this been felt. Hear Chaucer : — " For out of the old fieldes, as men saithe, Cometh al this new corne fro yere to yere, And out of olde bookes, in good faithe, Cometh al this new science that men lere." And Confucius, five centuries before our era, pro- claimed himself only a student of antiquity. Yet even in this absolute sense, originality is possible, and we should not despair. Progress in some direc- tions the world's thought does slowly make. Among all the uncounted millions of men, patient thinkers are far from numerous ; and he who will patiently think, ^ Shedd, Horn., p. 8, makes it impossible, but he uses the word absolute in a different sense. N. J. Burton has a striking and char- acteristic discussion of Originality in his Yale Lectures, p. 64 ff. 9 130 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. why luay he not hghtupon some thought unknown to those who have gone before him? But relatively, any man may be original, and to some extent every man is so. We produce thoughts which were not by us derived from any other mind, though other minds, at the time unknown to us, have also produced them. The same phases of nature and experiences of life awaken in us the same reflec- tions they have awakened in many others ; and seed- thoughts attain in us the same developments. Here there is everything to encourage. Much of the men- tal quickening, the conscious vigor, and buoyant self- rehance, which result from absolute originality, may also be wrought in us by thoughts relatively original. Of course the mental elation will not be so great, where we know that others must have had the same thought. In fact, some of the most marvellous self- conceit is to be observed in certain very ignorant men, who mistake their relative originality for abso- lute ; thoughts having occurred to them which nei- ther they nor their ignorant neighbors had heard of, are supposed to be equally new to all the world. Now the basis of preaching cannot be original, be- cause it must come from Scripture. But the preacher may be original in several ways. He may have origi- nal views of the meaning of Scripture. It is entirely possible that any one of us should attain more just conceptions of the meaning of some passage, or cer- tain aspects of a doctrine, than have ever before been gained. And to interpret and ponder for ourselves, in the sense of relative originality, is the privilege and the duty of all. We have no right to take for granted that commentators and theologians are cor- rect in their opinions; and in fact theological dis- cords and conflicts, with all their evils, have this advantage, that they compel the most trusting and GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 131 the most slothful of us somewhat to feel the neces- sity of thinking for ourselves. What freshness, what power there is, in truths which the preacher has him- self wrought out from Scripture, drawing with his own bucket, as Lord Bacon says, " immediately where it springeth." The student of physical science must observe nature for himself; and so in Theology, we must open our own eyes to behold and contemplate the teachings of God's Word. There is no limit to the relative originality which may in this respect be achieved. Again, the combination of Scripture teachings with the facts and truths which we derive from nature, providence, human nature, life, affords large room for originality. Here in every direction the mind may expatiate, bringing all things into rela- tion to the Word of God. And then in the choice of topics, the construction of discourse, the illustration and application of truth, a preacher may perpetually devise what shall be in some respects fresh, and rela- tively to him, original. And in fact a man has his own way of presenting any subject whatever, which derives power from association with his personality ; and other things being equal, this is for him the best way. " Put honor upon your individuality." Originality is sometimes aimed at in unworthy ways, or made matter of affectation. Men of a cer- tain character will take up with some heresy, merely to display independence, to show that they, forsooth, are not tied down to the old opinions. Paradox may be properly employed, as it is by some able teachers and preachers, as it was by our Lord himself, to awaken attention to truth ; but there are those who deal in the paradoxical as showing originality. Oddity y in ideas, expressions, or manner, is a mere caricature of originality. To say that such and such a preacher is " an original," is to use the term in a very degraded 132 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. sense. Young men, and even older ones, sometimes pretend not to read, lest it should impair their origi- nality. " We have seen the works of a painter, who would see no Raffaelles or Van Dycks, lest he should spoil his native manner. He has certainly suc- ceeded in avoiding all that one beholds in these great masters." ^ (2) W/iy is originality so desirable ? We may an- swer, first, that independent thinking, more than any- thing else, will develop, discipline, and strengthen the mind. In the matter of mental improvement, it must never be forgotten, the hardest way is the easiest way, the slow way the swiftest. So far as a man's health and vigor is concerned, a week's quiet walking is worth much more than a week's travel on the cars, though the latter should carr)/ him thousands of miles. If it be possible, let us persuade ourselves to much of independent and patient thinking, otherwise we shall never be men. Again, remember that originality renders discourse greatly more attractive and impressive. On the one hand, an original thought interests the speaker more. It is his offspring; it awakens in him a parental affec- tion, and perhaps a thrill of paternal pride. It is his possession ; he is no dispenser now of other men's bounty, but gives of his own; and in knowledge, as elsewhere, " to give is happier than to receive." But no analogies will do justice to the feeling — the pleasure, the confidence, the hopefulness and earnest- ness, with which a man utters what is even relatively original. On the other hand, it interests the audience more. As simply new, it gratifies their natural love of novelty. If they consider the thought original with the speaker, there arises a heightened admiration of him, and a higher regard for all that he says. And then 1 Alexander, Thoughts on Preaching, p. 362. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 133 they sympathize with the speaker's own feeling. What- ever makes his mind glow will warm theirs. In gen- eral, no man can interest others, save by that which exceedingly interests himself. Thus the two causes combine. And no doubt there are other causes. Analysis cannot fully reach the secret of that delight with which we regard what comes as a new creation, a fresh existence. But even a little reflection should make us feel more deeply the importance of original thinking. It is an obvious inference that we ought to think out for ourselves the most familiar topics, and exhibit them in our own manner. In discoursing upon matters so commonplace as the pleasures of piety, or the danger of delay, one should strive, by long and earnest reflection, to gain views of the subject, or a method of presenting it, which will be his own. Happy the preacher who can thus give to momen- tous but too familiar themes some heightened in- terest, some new impressiveness. Yet the warning must here be repeated : mere oddity is a very differ- ent thing from originality, and it is better to be com- monplace but in earnest, than to be manifestly straining after novelty. Another inference is, that even ideas which have been borrowed, ought to be so thoroughly thought over as to become a part of our own thinking. Otherwise they will commonly fail to take a firm hold of ourselves or of the hearers. As a govern- ment often takes foreign coins and passes them through its own mint, so the thoughts derived from others should receive the stamp of our own minds, which will give them newness of aspect, full value, and ready acceptance. (3) Obstacles to originality. These are numerous and powerful, as might be taken for granted when 134 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. we remember how desirable it is to be original, and yet how rarely it is found in any high degree. Erroneous views of the nature of originality prevent many persons from attaining it. Some imagine that there can be nothing worth the name, unless it be absolutely original, new to the human race; and as this can of course be very seldom achieved, they despair, and content themselves too commonly with taking ideas at second hand. But, as we have seen, relative originality of a very high order may exist, where there is little or nothing of absolute addition to the stock of human knowledge, and may greatly augment a man's power. Some refrain from reading as a means of promoting originality, and thus con- demn themselves to great mental barrenness. It would be as wise to avoid conversation. Who does not know the quickening, fructifying power of talk with an intelligent friend upon a subject which we have been studying? Though nothing be directly borrowed, yet new thoughts are often suggested, and we are led to see more clearly what we had but dimly perceived. The same effect may be produced by reading. In general, we ought vigorously and patiently to think upon the subject before either reading or conversing upon it ; otherwise, the mind is in danger of merel}^ following the track which others have marked out, instead of approaching the subject in its own manner. But after such personal reflection, then reading and conversation may be found highly stimulating and suggestive, leading to much that is really our own, but which without this contact with other minds would not have occurred to us. A third class, by mistaking oddity or eccentricity for originality, misdirect and pervert their aspirations and powers, and not only fail to accomplish what they mj'ght have done, but prejudice many, who GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 135 make the same mistake, against the idea of trying to be original. And still another error is seen in the fact that credit for originality is so often wrongly assigned. Some men really think profoundly, and develop views thoroughly their own, but as they state them with great clearness and simplicity, the masses think that anybody might have said that, and that they themselves always knew it. Others, by holding up dim, formless phantoms of thought, by using obscure, but high-wrought, peculiar, and im- passioned language, are regarded as wonderfully original, when if their ideas were brought out in a clear light they would appear to be either nothing at all, or something very familiar. Thus it happens that aspiring young minds, setting out in pursuit of origi- nality, are sometimes led to seek it in affectations of style, rather than in genuine, clear thinking.^ Well says Phillips Brooks : ^ ''Be yourself by all means, but let that good result come not by cultivating merely superficial peculiarities and oddities. Let it be by winning a true self full of your own faith and your own love. The deep originality is noble, but the surface originality is miserable. It is so easy to be a John the Baptist, as far as the desert and camel's hair and locusts and wild honey go. But the devoted heart to speak from, and the fiery words to speak, are other things." It may be said that no persons capable of much originality would fall into such errors as these ; but not only do they diminish the amount of original 1 Archbishop Whately was fond of comparing this would-be original style to the case of Dean Swift's antiquary, who had found a Roman shield with some very curious and almost legible inscrip- tions, which he invited a party of friends to help him decipher ; but the cook having taken a notion to scour off the rust, it turned out to be an old pot-lid. 2 Lectures on Preaching, p. 24. 136 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. thinking in multitudes, but they have also much effect upon some men of considerable powers. A second hindrance is found in native indolence. Original thinking is difficult, laborious, and usually slow, the hardest work that men ever attempt. Who can wonder that easy borrowing, or even shameless stealing, is so often substituted? A third obstacle, especially at the present day, is the vast extension of literature, and the attractive forms which new books and periodicals assume, seducing us by their charm, or imposing on us unreal claims to our acquaintance. Reading ac- companied by honest thinking is promotive of originality; but we are tempted to waste ourselves upon a species of reading which does not demand reflection, nor leave time for it. One who is inclined to free indulgence in light literature must curb him- self with a very steady hand, or he will never achieve much as a thinker, nor be in any respect worth much to the world. Even of books upon religious subjects, very many of the most attractive that appear are by no means so stimulating, so provocative of good thinking, as the older books from which they were mainly drawn. And the character of the age is in many respects unfavorable to profound thought. The demand is for quick processes, and so-called *' practical" results. ** Knowledge made easy " is the rage. The inevitable result is a grievous tendency to superficiality among the people, and in their instructors to the display of prodigiously extensive and varied superficial attain- ments. Teachers are tempted to substitute readi- ness, variety, boundless surface-knowledge, with brilliancy, and point and paradox, for deep think- ing, and thorough acquaintance with a few subjects. We must constantly remind ourselves that real GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 1 3/ knowledge has three dimensions, length, breadth, and depth. Oar acquisitions in that noble domain should not be confined to the surface of things, but should correspond to the old law as to the tenure of land, by which possession extends up to the sky, and down to the centre of the earth. Such knowl- edge is the handmaid, nay, the sister of original thought.^ Two remarks may be made here in conclusion. One is, that the preacher should not desire to origi- nate any part of the fundamental material of his preaching. He should not only submit, but rejoice, to take this from the Word of God. Too many preachers are in these days seeking after originality, and other novelty, by forsaking the Scriptures. The other remark is, that we must not aspire after originality in the spirit of pride or selfish ambition, but as a means of doing more to benefit men, and to glorify the Redeemer. § 4. PLAGIARISM AND BORROWING. A plagiary, among the Romans, was a kidnapper, one who stole free men and made slaves of them ; also one who stole or enticed away another man's slave to use or sell as his own, and this secondary sense appears to be that which gave rise to the literary usage. A late Roman writer, by a natural analogy, applies the odious name to one guilty of literary theft, stealing and using another man's ideas ; and the languages derived from Latin retain the word in this sense. Plagiarism has from the earliest times been censured and satirized, and no man defends it, any more than other stealing would 1 Some of these obstacles are mentioned in the Christian Review for 1842, p. 142 ff. 138 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. be defended.^ But then what is plagiarism, and what is lawful borrowing ? Some practise the former who design only the latter, and some, through mor- bid dread of that which is disgraceful, shrink from what is innocent and helpful. There are two ques- tions to be considered, the proper use of other men's thoughts, and the proper acknowledgment of such use. (i) What use is it proper to make, in preparing a sermon, of ideas derived from others.? The ques- tion is in principle the same, as regards what we have read, and what we have heard; though many persons who are much more strict as to the fruits of reading use with great freedom what they have heard, in the pulpit, the lecture-room, or in conver- sation. But in another respect the inquiry, as a practical one for him who is about to prepare a sermon, divides again. {a) What use shall be made of that which we have previously learned .'' Never appropriate an entire discourse, whether with or without acknowledgment. It might be law- ful, under peculiar circumstances, to read to an audience some choice sermon, avowedly as reading; as an occasional exercise, by a good reader, and with a congregation who fancy it, this might do good. Such was in fact the idea which Addison recom- mended in the oft-quoted humorous account of Sir i Chrysostom, in his beautiful treatise on the Priesthood (§ 451), makes a slightly humorous complaint as to the charges of plagiarism against preachers, sometimes even for repeating what was their own. And Augustine does defend the practice in a strange fashion (De Doct. Christ., Lib. IV., cap. xxix., n. 62}, saying that one must not be accused of theft or plagiarism for preaching "alienos sermones," if he lives according to the teachings they contain, for thereby it be- comes his own ; " for the word of God is not alien to a man who obeys it." Strange what quibbling sophistry great minds sometimes permit themselves to use ! GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 139 Roger de Coverley's chaplain, — just reading or recit- ing a sermon as one might do with a poem; and the hearers enjoying it in much the same way. " ' At his first settling with me, I made him a present of all the good sermons which have been printed in English, and only begged of him that every Sunday he would pro- nounce one of them in the pulpit. Accordingly, he has digested them into such a series, and they follow one an- other naturally, and make a continued system of practical divinity.' " As Sir Roger was going on in his story, the gentleman we were talking of came up to us ; and upon the knight's asking him who preached to-morrow (for it was Saturday night), told us, the Bishop of St. Asaph in the morning, and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then showed us his list of preachers for the whole year ; Vv^here I saw with a great deal of pleasure Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop Sanderson, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with several living authors who have published discourses of practical divinity. I no sooner saw this venerable man in the pulpit, but I very much ap- proved of my friend's insisting upon the qualifications of a good aspect and a clear voice ; for I v/as so charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and delivery, as well as with the discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed any time more to my satisfaction. A sermon repeated after this manner is like the composition of a poet in the mouth of a graceful actor." ^ But to preach, as preaching, a discourse which we acknowledge to have been borrowed from others, is so incongruous and unpleasing a thing as to be very rarely done. The real practice, with some preachers, is still worse. They shrink from acknowledging what they do, but still allow themselves to do it. In England this is well known to be very common. It is wonderful how those who boast of being gentle- 1 Spectator, No. 106. I40 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. men can practise an appropriation which is con- demned by the guilty pains they take to hide it. And such a usage on the part of men who profess to be Christians could never have arisen save in con- nection with radically wrong ideas as to the very nature of preaching. Never appropriate without acknowledgment the complete outline of a discourse.^ Many persons in our country appear to think this perfectly lawful. Ludicrous stories are often told of sermons pursuing the same train of thought with one shortly before preached at the same place; and sometimes the real author incurs the blame. But one rebukes himself for being amused at such stories, for they have a grave side, which is humiliating. Does the evil of stealing depend on whether one is caught at it, as the Spartans taught their boys .^ Shall a Christian minis- ter, in the very performance of his solemn duties, deliberately do what he would be ashamed to con- fess.'* Let any one try the experiment, if he likes, of acknowledging that the plan of his sermon is derived from so and so, and see to what an extent, save in very peculiar cases, it will diminish the interest. The people do not merely come to hear a discourse, — they come to hear a living man, com- municating to them his earnest thought and feeling; and if the principal ideas of the sermon are from another preacher, they regard themselves as only hearing an absent or dead man. If, then, it would be bad policy to proclaim the borrowing, how can it be honesty to conceal it ? The power of custom, including the known practice of some good men, the 1 Dean Howson says : " If the plan is your own, the sermon is your own in a truer sense, and you are likely to preach it with more heart than if you were to take the framework from some one else, and then fill in the empty spaces." GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 141 seductions of sloth, and the overwork to which min- isters are often subjected, have wrought in many minds a confusion of ideas on this subject, which can alone account for the frequent cases of unac- knowledged appropriation. The books of "Sketches and Skeletons," which are so often published and so widely bought, are, unless honestly and wisely used, an unmitigated evil, and a disgrace to the ministry of the gospel. And it is a fair question whether such books can be honestly and wisely used. For they are likely to prove a snare even to those v/ho wish to be honest, and are sure to be a temptation to all who use them to depend too much on the suggestions of others rather than on their own thinking. If it be said that they may be profitably studied as specimens of sermonizing, there is the obvious answer that it would be much more profitable to analyze for our- selves the full sermons of really great men. There is no excuse for such books, and no minister should suffer one of them to remain in his library. But they are deplorably common in this country, and still more so in Germany.^ Nor is the practice of recent origin. As early as 15 17, there appeared in Paris a Latin volume of this character, entitled "The Preacher's Gem," and styling itself "a most excel- lent and divine work." And at Amsterdam, in 1642, appeared, '' Dormi secure : vel Cy^iosura Profes- sonim ac Studiosoriun Eloqii entice,'" etc. (Sleep without Anxiety : or. The Cynosure of Professors and Students of Eloquence, etc.) The idea appears to be that one who possesses this book need not have his sleep disturbed by anxiety about next Sunday's sermon. 1 The *' Homiletical" Notes in commentaries like those of Lange and others are too much of this character, and should be used only with great reserve and caution. 142 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. Coquerel, who mentions these two works, remarks that it may be doubted whether persons would awake from this sleep to be eloquent;^ and we may add that one who has determined to borrow a plan from such a book should be too much ashamed of himself to sleep at all.^ But while refusing to appropriate a discourse, or the outline of one, we may with perfect propriety employ among the general materials of a discourse thoughts previously read or heard, provided we use them in a proper manner, and with suitable acknowl- edgment; and these conditions will be discussed presently. {b) After selecting the text and subject, shall we read about it ? If the text is not perfectly plain, in itself and the context, one certainly ought, at an early period of his preparation, to consult the best explanatory com- mentaries for help in understanding it. Other books, such as theological treatises, ser- mons on the same text or on similar topics, com- mentaries in the strict sense (those which do not so much explain a text as enlarge upon its teachings, e. g., Matthew Henry), devotional works, and similar helps may be read with great profit, though we do not directly borrow anything from them, because they will help to fix the mind on the subject, and often suggest thoughts, which will be truly our own, and yet would not have occurred to us but for the read- ing. "The water which is poured into a dry pump brings up the deeper water of the well." ^ 1 Coquerel, Observ. sur la Predication, p. 204. On the subject of " Skeletons," see vigorous remarks in Shecld, Horn., pp. 116-122. ■^ It is by no means designed to cast onmerited reproach upon some excellent ministers who have used such books from the force of example, without ever sufficiently reflecting upon the general impro- priety of the i)ractice. 3 Comp. above, § 3. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 143 But may we borrow? Certainly, we 77iay, and sometimes ought to borrow. There are two ex- tremes. On the one hand, a mistaken desire for originality and independence causes some able men to abstain from reading anything on the text or sub- ject. Such a man deceives himself, for many of the thoughts which his own mind now furnishes were originally derived from reading or hearing. True, these are more likely to have been digested and assimilated than what is read just at the time of preparation. But this difference does not neces- sarily hold, for many thoughts are long retained by the memory in a perfectly crude state, and what results from reading at the time should not be used until after thoroughly working it over in our own mind. And besides this self-deception, he deprives himself of what would often prove valuable help in contemplating the subject on every side, and pre- senting it in the most effective manner. The other extreme is that of reading instead of thinking, just cramming the mind with a medley of other men's thoughts, and constructing a discourse out of these. ^ Such a method of preparation, though often adopted, is exceedingly objectionable. But can we avoid the latter extreme only by rushing to the former.^ There is surely a middle course. We may both think and read. On most texts and subjects think long and laboriously before reading at all (except it be the commentaries as to the meaning of the text). Put down in writing some statement of your prin- cipal thoughts, and make out the plan of the dis- course. Afterwards, read whatever bears upon the subject, as far as you have time, or see occasion, 1 Pascal has somewliere a fine sarcasm to the effect that when a preacher of this sort says " we," he means himself and the man from whom he has stolen. 144 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. and in reading, think for yourself still, not only weighing carefully what the author says, but follow- ing out any trains of thought which he may suggest to your own mind. On some subjects, concerning which we lack information, it may be well to read widely before constructing the plan of the sermon. But one will not often determine to preach upon a subject, until he has gained some general knowledge of it. And now if we have found an idea, or remem- ber one formerly met with, which can be easily wrought into our plan of discourse, and which would make the sermon more instructive, interesting, or impressive, why, let us use it, — of course with proper acknowledgment. The question is, which will be best, on the one hand for your general improvement as a preacher, and on the other for the effectiveness of the present sermon, that you should use this idea, or should omit it. Everything thus borrowed must have been fully comprehended, and must take its place naturally as a part of the discourse. A discourse is a struc- ture, and extraneous matters which do not fit into it and subserve its objects will, however admirable in themselves, be offensive and hurtful, as would be such additions to a dwelling-house or a steam- engine. (2) In what cases, and in what ways, shall one make ackjiowledgment of having borrowed 1 When the remark is obvious, or belongs to the common stock of religious ideas, so that it might have occurred to ourselves, although it happens to have been drawn from another, then it is often unnecessary to make any acknowledgment. When the idea is at all striking, so that hearers would give any special credit for it as a good thing, then we must not take a credit which is undeserved, but must GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 145 in some zvay indicate that the thought was derived from another. In what cases shall we mention the precise source.^ When the author's name would give greater weight to the idea, or in some way attach interest to it ; for example, Bacon or Bunyan, Whitefield or Spurgeon. Again, when we may hope thereby to lead some hearer to read the book mentioned. Or generally, when to name the source would do any good. It is well to be sure that one can pronounce the author's name correctly, or else to omit it. Many French and German names occur in our religious literature, and many hearers know enough of those languages to make the effect quite bad, if the preacher ludi- crously mispronounces them. Otherwise it is enough merely to indicate that the thought was derived from some source. Avoid a parade of honesty about acknowledging. Avoid, too, an ostentatious display of wide reading. Let the acknowledgment interrupt as little as possible the flow of thought, — detract as little as possible from the interest which the idea is likely to awaken. If it would decidedly interrupt or detract, then omit the acknowledgment, — and the thing borrowed. In general, the method of acknowledging calls for the exercise of judgment and good taste. Without for- mality or set phrases, and with graceful simplicity, state, indicate, or even merely intimate, that the idea was derived from some other person. It is certainly important that on the whole subject of borrowing, one should have just principles; and that he should early in life establish such principles, and form correct habits from the beginning. Other- wise, there will either be a wrong practice continued through life, with very injurious results to a man's character and influence, or, when he comes to see 146 GExNERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. more clearly, there will be much to regret in his past course. Professor Phelps truly says : ^ "A young man has gained one of the prime elements of scholarship when he has learned the worth of art- lessness in his literary dealings with himself. Play no tricks upon yourself. Do not be hoodwinked into an imitation of the tricks of authors. Be honest in your secret literary habits. Keep yourself always on the safe side of plagiarism in your sermons. Be assured that you will plagiarize unconsciously quite as much as is consistent with the rights of author- ship. As a specimen of the care which should be practised in this respect, if you quote in your ser- mon, see to it that you put the signs of quotation into your delivery as well as into your manuscript. . . . There is such a thing as intellectual integrity. The price of it is above rubies." § 5. FRESHNESS IN PREACHING — HELPS. This is perhaps as good a place as any to consider the topics of freshness and sensation in preaching, for though they have obvious relation to the matters of style and delivery, they are even more intimately connected with the choice of subjects and the hand- ling of materials of discourse. The value of freshness in preaching may be exag- gerated by some, and there is need to check the pas- sion for novelty. The basis of preaching and the truth preached must be ever the samxC. Yet there is a freshness in the treatment of old truths, and in discoursing on the unchangeable basis of God's Word, that is eminently desirable and should be maintained through life. Some suggestions on how to maintain this freshness may be useful. 1 Men and 15ooks, p. 199. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. I47 (i) Study the Scriptures. Earnest and continued study both of the Bible in general, and of each text in particular, will greatly enhance and sustain a preacher's freshness. Let him, as before urged, seek not mere novelties and fancies in interpreta- tion, but the exact meaning of the inspired Word. No matter how often he has studied the book or the text before, let him keep on, and new thoughts will be suggested. A man cannot fail to keep fresh in his preaching who continues through life really and properly to study the Word of God. (2) Study theology. Keep in touch with the great books, both general treatises and special discussions, on Systematic Theology. Doctrine — real doctrine — is needed as a novelty in much of the preaching of our times. By all means should a man reflect profoundly upon the commonplaces of religious truth. Vinet well said that the basis of eloquence is com- monplace; and another has remarked that the pul- pit often "makes the mistake of giving us common thoughts about deep things, when what we need would be deep thoughts about common things." We get these deep thoughts about common things only by penetrating and persevering reflection. (3) Study occasio7is. Here, again, we should not be directly seeking freshness in itself, but the reality of things. The best freshness is found by simply seeking real adaptation to the real occasion. Study the general condition of the congregation; reflect upon all special occurrences of religious interest, and upon any of secular interest that may furnish illustration or call for passing application or remark. Whenever you repeat a sermon on a new occasion carefully adjust it in your study before- hand to the new conditions. A sermon that suits equally well all occasions does not thoroughly suit 148 GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. any one of them. This adaptation to circumstances often depends upon apparently slight matters. (4) Study individual cases. Physicians and law- yers may set us here a valuable lesson. The wise preacher will know people individually, and how to apply the truth to their special needs. He may thus have the advantage of the Romish confessional without its grave objections. Sometimes a hint in conversation will be a rich germ of suggestion. No man can keep fresh in the pulpit without keeping up both spiritual and social contact with the people. (5) Study the age in which we live. Let the preacher strive to understand the strength and the weakness of the age — its healthy tendencies and its diseases — its illusions and its well-founded hopes. Particularly should he endeavor to discover and pro- claim the true relations of Christianity to the age — what it needs from Christianity, and what Chris- tianity needs from it. Its currents of thought and sentiment, religious and irreligious — its difficul- ties and yearnings — its movements and changes — demand the thoughtful attention of the gospel preacher. Yet he should let the fruits of his study and reflection appear not so much in formal discus- sions through set discourses, as in apt allusion and application here and there in his ordinary sermons. Thus he may be constantly showing how truly Chris- tianity meets all real human wants; and thus he may restrain and fortify his hearers without perplexing them with plausible errors. Excellence in preach- ing, like the truly excellent in literature and art, must either take hold of things present, even tran- sient things, and penetrate through them to perma- nent eternal principles; or, if it begins with general principles, it must always bring them to bear upon living characters and actual wants. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 149 (6) Study yourself . A man should continue through life to learn from his mistakes. Certainly the young preacher should do this, and even more imperatively the elder. Never fall into stereotyped methods of treating your subjects; cherish and cultivate a rest- less longing to preach better, and try frequent experi- ments in preaching differently. There is among preachers a deal of latent power which never gets itself developed. By all means should the invent- ive faculty be kept healthy and active. Some one has said, "Attention is the mother of invention." Fasten the mind on your subject by resolute effort of the will, and compel yourself to the task of anal- ysis and association of ideas, which are the princi- pal parts of invention. This may also be greatly stimulated by reading and conversation. And let us remember that our very best, our richest inven- tion, is not achieved in preparing next Sunday's sermons, but in general reading, conversation, re- flection, when the mind is quiet, throws off its accustomed burdens, and springs up elastic. All the labor and thought thus bestowed in cultivating and maintaining freshness will be richly repaid many times over in sustained power and usefulness in the pulpit. § 6. SENSATIONAL PREACHING — CAUTIONS. There is, however, a marked difference between freshness and sensation in preaching. In trying to be fresh, preachers sometimes succeed only in being sensational. Pertinency and timeliness in the appli- cation of Christian truth to the real present life and its grave problems are supremely important, but ministering to the prurient curiosity of the excited crowd, assailing men and measures with cheap and ISO GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. unseemly invective, spending valuable time and strength in discussing mere side issues which have been unduly exaggerated for the time being into momentous concerns, — this is sensationalism. It is true that in this whole matter discrimination is both necessary and difficult. A man is not likely to think himself sensational, • — he is only keeping up with the times; the ranter around the corner is the blatant sensationalist ! Each man is thus a law unto himself, — only let him be most careful that there is some law in the case. Several safeguards against improper sensationalism in the pulpit should be noted. (i) Soiuid Biblical preaching. That thorough study of God's Word, which has been urged as a help to freshness, may be, at the same time, an excellent preventive of undue sensation. A man who is truly intent on discovering from the Scrip- tures the mind and will of God, and bringing these to bear on the questions of his time, is not likely to err greatly in the direction of an unholy opportunism. (2) Earnest desire to win and save men. There is here a subtle danger which needs the most watch- ful care. Sensational methods are often excused on this plea, and there is real danger of self-deception. It may be easy for some preachers to persuade them- selves that they are seeking to attract men and bring the gospel to them, when they are, if they only knew it, largely influenced by the lower motive of love of applause, or, worse yet, of notoriety. If there is the least trace of these in a preacher, let him humbly implore the Lord to cast this demon out; let him search his heart with all candor, and assure himself that his longing for the salvation of men is, next to the love of Christ, the great motive of his preaching. GENERAL MATERIALS OF PREACHING. 151 As this motive grows and dominates in his work, he will more and more escape the sinful folly of sensationalism. (3) Good taste. Even the most earnest and suc- cessful preaching is sometimes such, despite, and never because of, bad taste. And no man can be his own sole judge in matters of taste. He must consider his church, and the community in which he lives. Now with different churches and com- munities tastes also differ, and a preacher in going from one charge to another, should try to find out the standards of taste prevalent about him, and adapt himself in a reasonable degree to their requirements. No man can be long or really useful in any com- munity whose taste he offends in his preaching. He may shock and startle, and even draw large crowds; but he will also annoy and repel, and good people will grow weary of him. Consultation with judicious friends of both sexes, and a reasonable and manly deference to their opinions, will enable the preacher to keep within the bounds of good taste without losing anybody's respect, and without sacri- ficing one element of real timeliness and power in his preaching. 152 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. CHAPTER VL SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 1. Explanation jn General. 2. Explanation of Texts, in- cluding Exegesis, Narra- tion, and Description. § 3. Explanation of Subjects, including Definition, Di- vision, Exemplification, Comparison. THE materials of preaching are obviously bound- less. To collect in general, by observation, reading, and reflection, and then to select and adapt to the design of each particular discourse, is the preacher's great task. And not only the character of the materials, but the method of handling them, must vary indefinitely, according to the design of the sermon. But certain special classes of materials are of such importance, and their proper treatment of such difficulty, as to justify a separate discussion. The classes here selected for that purpose, and treated in successive chapters, are the materials of Explanation, of Proof, of Illustration, and of Appli- cation. This is not presented as a scientific classi- fication of materials. It by no means embraces all, and its departments sometimes overlap. Thus illus- tration may be employed to explain, to prove, or to impress; application may embrace explanation, proof, and persuasion ; and certain processes which are always classed under explanation, as narration and description, are often used at the same time, and even mainly, for other than explanatory ends. But it is thought that a scientific classification would here be less useful than the practical discussion of certain SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 153 leading objects according to which the preacher must invent and handle his materials.^ § I. EXPLANATION IN GENERAL. There is in preaching very frequent need of Expla- nation. Numerous passages of Scripture are not un- derstood, or are even misunderstood, by our hearers ; and many have become so accustomed to passing over these as to be no longer aware that they present any difficulty. Some of the most important doctrines of the Bible are in general very imperfectly under- stood ; those who receive them need clearer views of what they profess to believe, and those who object to them are often in fact objecting to something very different from the real doctrine. The plan of salva- tion is seldom comprehended till one is really willing to conform to it, so that there is constantly arising new occasion for answering the great question, *' What must I do to be saved?" And a thousand questions as to what is true and what is right in the practical conduct of life perplex devout minds, and call for explanation. Preaching ought to be not merely con- vincing and persuasive, but eminently instructive. We often belabor men with arguments and appeals, when they are much more in need of practical and simple explanations, as regards what to do, and how to do it. And while some persons present may have repeatedly heard us explain certain important mat- ters, we must not forget that there are others, children growing up, strangers moving in, converts entering 1 A full and in general valuable discussion of Invention maybe found in Day's Art of Discourse, pp. 42-207. He classifies materials according to the four objects of explanation, confirmation, excitation, and persuasion. His treatment of Explanation is the most elaborate in existence (pp. 57-1 11), and although too formal in some respects, it will be found instructive and suggestive. See also Vinet, pp. 153-169. 154 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. the church, to whom such explanations will be new, and are in the highest degree necessary. But just here the inexperienced minister may profit by several homely cautions. Do not attempt to explain what is not assuredly true. One sometimes finds great difficulty in working out an explanation of a supposed fact or principle, because it is really not true. Do not undertake to explain what you do not understajid. Oh the insufferable weariness of listen- ing to a man who does this ! And in preaching as well as elsewhere, it happens so often as to be ridicu- lous, if it were not mournful. How can the house- wife cook what has never been caught? How can the preacher explain what he does not understand? Never try to explain what cannot be explaijied. Some things taught in the Bible are in their essence in- comprehensible ; as, for example, the nature of the Trinity, or the coexistence of absolute divine predes- tination with human freedom and accountability. In such a case it is very important to explain just what the Scriptures really do teach, so as to remove mis- apprehensions ; and it may sometimes be worth while to present any remote analogies in other spheres of existence, so as perhaps to diminish the hearer's un- willingness to receive the doctrine; but attempts to explain the essential difficulty must necessarily fail, and the failure will react so as only to strengthen doubt and opposition. Do not waste time in explain- ing what does not need explanation} A conspicuous instance is the nature of faith. Men frequently com- plain that they do not understand what it really is to believe, and preachers are constantly laboring to ex- plain. But the complaint is in many cases a mere excuse for rejection or delay, and the real difficulty is in all cases a lack of disposition to believe. Elab- 1 Comp. Vinet, Horn. p. i66. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 155 orate explanations do not lessen this indisposition, do but strengthen the supposed excuse, and may even embarrass the anxious inquirer with the notion that there is something very mysterious about faith, when it is in fact so simple as not to admit of being ex- plained. Our main duty is to tell the people what to believe, and why they should believe it. § 2. EXPLANATION OF TEXTS. To explain the Scriptures would seem to be among the primary functions of the preacher.^ And there will often be occasion to explain, not merely the text of the sermon, but various other passages of Scripture which may be introduced into the discussion. The power of making such explanations attractive, as well as clear, will of course depend largely upon the preacher's turn of mind. But the most gifted in re- spect of this important task should seek constant improvement, and they who have great difficulty must put forth diligent and hopeful efforts to over- come it. What nobler work is there than that of "opening" the Scriptures, as Paul did at Thessalo- nica? (Acts xvii. 3.) The exegesis of texts, as the process by which the preacher himself comes to understand them, has already received our attention.^ Pulpit exegesis, or exposition, is in certain respects a different thing. We have here, save in exceptional cases, to present results and not processes. We must omit various matters, which have perhaps greatly interested our- selves, because they would not interest the people, or do not pertain to the object of the present discourse. Preachers sometimes allow themselves, in the intro- duction to the sermon or as a digression, to give long 1 Comp. on Expos. Sermons, Part II. chap. iii. 2 Above, chap. ii. Comp. Hervey's Christian Rhetoric, p. 202. 156 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. explanations of something in a passage, or its connec- tion, which has no bearing on their subject and thus impairs unity and distracts attention. There must of course be no parade of acquaintance with the original languages, and there should be no morbid fear of being charged with such parade. Commentaries may be mentioned if the people know something of them, and would thereby be more readily satisfied, or if it is desirable to bring good popular authors to their notice. To repeat lists of strange and high-sounding names in favor of this or that interpretation, is always useless, and is in general a very pitiful display of cheap erudition, which with the help of certain books may all be gotten up at second hand in a few minutes. One may very easily indicate, without any array of authorities, that this is the view of the best writers, of some good commentators, etc. The great matter is, to take the results of the most careful investigation in our power, select from them such points as are appro- priate, and present these clearly, briefly, and if pos- sible in such a way as to be interesting. Sometimes the text, or another passage introduced, may be amply and admirably explained by a few words ; but such words do not come of themselves, — they result from close thinking, and careful choice of expressions. Sometimes passages may be introduced in such a connection, as without a word of explanation to give them new meaning and preciousness. It is a fault in many able ministers, that they comparatively neglect to bring in and explain the apposite sayings of Scrip- ture which would both give and borrow light. And however congregations may shrink from elaborate exegesis or bungling and tedious attempts to explain, they will always welcome the felicitous introduction, and quick, vivid elucidation of passages from God's Word. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 157 Narration has in preaching a peculiar character. Recent works on Rhetoric treat of it almost exclu- sively as practised in historical writing and the like.^ Ancient writers treat of oratorical narration, and are therefore more valuable for our purpose,^ though relating chiefly to the narrative in judicial oratory. The preacher of course narrates as a speaker, and deals mainly with Scripture history. A speaker must always subordinate narration to the object of his dis- course, the conviction or persuasion which he wishes to effect.^ He must not elaborate or enlarge upon some narrative merely because in itself interesting, nor follow the story step by step, according to its own laws. ** In demonstrative speeches the narra- tion is not continuous, but given in scattered por- tions; for one must go over the actions out of which the speech arises; for a speech is a kind of compound, having one portion, indeed, independent of art, and another portion originating in art." That is, the facts are independent of the speaker, but he breaks them up and presents them according to his object. '* Owing to this, there are times when one ought not to narrate every fact successively; because this mode of exposition is difficult to remember. The one style of narration is too simple ; the other has the grace of variety, and is not so void of ele- gance. But what you have to do is to awaken the recollection of facts well known ; on which account many subjects will stand in no need of narration — supposing, for instance, you would praise Achilles, because all are acquainted with his actions — but you 1 Thus, Day's Art of Discourse, and Bain's Rhetoric, each of which contains a good discussion from that point of view. 2 Particularly Arist. Rhet. III. 16, and Quintil. IV. 2, which will be found very suggestive. 3 Narratio est rei factae . . . utilis ad persuadendum expositio, Quintil. IV. 2, 31. 158 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. must simply use the actions without narration. If, on the other hand, one wishes to praise Critias, it is necessary to narrate ; for not many are acquainted with his exploits." ^ And so when we preach with reference to the minor and less familiar personages of Scripture, it is proper enough to narrate all the facts concerning them. But when it is one of the great characters we must choose between two courses. We may select the salient or characteristic points of his history, and so narrate these as to exhibit the chief lessons of that history, introducing such details as are to the purpose, and rigorously omitting all others. Thus the history of Joseph, of Job, of John the Baptist, may be conveniently treated. In such a case, every speaker will mention or enlarge upon different parts of the history, according to his particular object ; as Stephen's speech, and that of Paul at Antioch in Pisidia, sketch very differently the history of Israel ; and as Paul in the two speeches which tell the story of his conversion, expands in each of them certain matters which in the other are but slightly touched, adapting the narration to the character and wants of his audience.2 But it is generally better to choose some one event of the man's history, or some one trait of his character, and narrate only what bears upon that. In preaching upon the meekness of Moses, there would be occasion to state briefly those circumstances of his training and career which were particularly unfavorable to the development of meekness, and then to narrate, with vivid touches, the leading instances in which his meekness was exhib- ited, as well as those in which it temporarily failed ; 1 Arist. Rhet. IIL 16, 1-3. 2 Comp. Acts, chap. vii. with chap, xiii., and chap. xxii. with chap, xxvi. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 159 and the discourse would properly close with a some- what extended appHcation of the whole matter to ourselves. In this way the history of Moses would be much more impressively reproduced, than if one should attempt an outline of the whole. Narration is usually given in the introduction to the sermon. In so doing special pains should be taken not to have it too long, not to wander into parts of the story which have no bearing upon the design of the discourse, and not to pause, except in very rare cases, for remarks upon outside topics which the narrative may suggest. There is espe- cial danger here of violating the laws of unity and proportion. Besides the instances in which some history in the Bible is our theme, there will be constant occasion to derive illustration from Scripture history, and great demand for skill in the brief and interesting narration of events thus employed. Happy the preacher who can in this way keep ever fresh in the minds of his hearers those beautiful and sacred stories, which are not only sweet to the heart of childhood and full of instruction to youth, but which, when rightly con- templated, assume new interest and meaning at every stage of life. It is a rather common fault in the pulpit to narrate in a deelamatory way. The preacher has become excited, and he states a plain fact, or tells a simple story, with such vehemence and boisterousness as to be extremely incongruous. Quintilian keenly satir- izes those who think it beneath their dignity to set forth facts in every-day language, who do not seem to themselves eloquent, unless they have thrown everything into agitation by boisterous vociferation, and instead of simply narrating, imagine that they have here a field for showing off, and " inflect the l6o SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. voice, set back the neck, and fling the arm against the side, and riot in every variety of ideas, words, and style." ^ Let us learn the lesson.^ Description is usually a necessary part of narra- tion, separate scenes of the narrative being to some extent described. There is also frequent occasion to describe Scripture scenes apart from their connection in the narrative, as in the introduction to a sermon, in the employment of historical illustrations from Scripture, etc. And while we speak here of narra- tion and description only as regards the events and scenes of the Bible history, it is obvious that the same skill may be applied to that great variety of illustrative matter from every other source, which must be vividly narrated or described in order to make any impression. A leading American preacher has said that " he who would hold the ear of the peo- ple, must either tell stories, or paint pictures."^ Power of description is of course partly a natural gift ; but many intelligent men will marvel and lament that they cannot describe, when they have never fairly tried — never given themselves any general training in that respect, nor ever really studied any one scene or object which they attempted to describe. Such men are aware that they cannot work out an argument without much previous thought, but seem not aware that corresponding effort is necessary in order to achieve a good description. He who would describe anything, must have sec7i it; not necessarily with bodily vision, but with the mind's eye. He must begin, then, with gaining correct information about the scene or object; and 1 Quintil. TV. 2, 37-39. 2 As to narration in preaching, comp. on Historical Subjects, chap, iii. § 3, and on Expository Sermons, Part II. chap. iii. 3 II. W. Beecher. There is an interesting chapter on " Word- painting" in Potter's Spoken Word, p. 210 ff. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. l6l this information must extend, if possible, to details. As regards Scripture scenes, there is often need of a famihar acquaintance with BibHcal Geography, and with the manners and customs of the Jews. While gathering such information, and after doing so, he must fasten his mind upon the scene, so that the imagination may reahze it; he must look at it as he would at a landscape or a painting, first surveying the whole, then inspecting the most interesting details, and afterwards comprising all in a general view. This should be kept up, with the point of view varied, and with repeated effort to imagine, till the whole scene stands out clear and vivid before the eye of the mind; only then is he prepared to describe it. Remember now that a speaker is not to describe as the v/riter of a poem, a romance, or a book of travels might do, but is to make the description brief, and subordinate to the objects of his discourse; we may thus perceive, in a general way, how the description should be managed. The outlines of the picture should be rapidly drawn, and may be rude, provided they are distinct. Then certain prom- inent or characteristic points of the scene must be presented. And with some of these there should be given a few of the most suggestive details, which will arouse the hearer's imagination to fill up the picture. In this lies the great art of description, especially for speakers — to stimulate the hearer's imagination into seeing for himself. Sometimes there are a few details so characteristic, that they need only the slightest indication of outline to make a picture ; as in a cari- cature, one or two peculiar features, somewhat exag- gerated, and a few rude lines besides, will be more amusing than a finished picture, because more sug- gestive. And even where no remarkably striking l62 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. details present themselves, one may contrive slight touches here and there, which will give life to the whole. If these are not afforded by our knowledge of the facts, they may be avowedly imagined, care being taken to have them suggest only what will harmonize with the facts. Thus in that remark- able home-scene at Bethany, after describing Mary seated at Jesus' feet, and hearing his word, one might imagine Martha as coming to the door of the room, her face heated with excitement and vexation, and after vainly striving to catch Mary's eye and call her forth, at length stepping straight to the Master himself, with her complaining request; and this slight glance at her before she enters will help to realize the scene. Avoid elaborate description. The preacher is ex- pected always to cherish so practical a design, and feel such absorbing earnestness, as not to have time for painting finished pictures. Hearers of good taste will always feel them to be out of place. As regards the temptation to give high-wrought descriptions, because it will show one's talent in that respect, this must of course be resisted, like all other temptations to display. But we cannot turn to the best account the historical portions of Scripture, nor use to advan- tage other narrative and pictorial illustration, without cultivating our powers of narration and description; and he who will patiently strive, under the guidance of correct principles, first to see clearly, and then to describe suggestively, may ere long surprise himself by the facility and pleasure with which he can bring out, in not many words, some story or scene from the Bible.^ 1 Comp. on Expos. Preaching, Part II. chap, iii., and on Elegance of Style, Part III. chap, iv. Some good suggestions as to Description, are found in Bain's Rhetoric, p. 153 ff. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 163 § 3. EXPLANATION OF SUBJECTS. Here again there will be included, not merely the general subject of a discourse, but any other ideas which enter into the discussion. Both the former and the latter must often require explanation. Many matters of truth and duty are obscure and, without help, practically unintelligible to the popular mind; many questions are sadly perplexing. To answer such inquiries, to clear up difficulties, and make as plain as possible the way of truth and the path of duty, is, as well as the explanation of Scripture, an important part of the preacher's work. One means of explaining subjects is by Defini- tio7i. " Definition is defined by the etymology of the word. It marks the limits of an idea. To define definition positively, we say that it teaches of what elements an idea, as a whole, is composed. It con- sists in bringing together many general ideas, of which one is limited by the others. When the idea, so to speak, is fortified, entrenched, so that on all sides it repels ideas which would mix themselves with it, the object is defined. We must not confound definition and judgment. Definition does but verify identity; judgment expresses a relation. . . . Defi- nition aims to make us know ; judgment, to appre- ciate. Very often, however, definition appreciates, and involves judgment; and judgment is equivalent to a partial definition. We must not, however, con- found with definition those judgments which give force to a characteristic of an object, and are only designed to excite toward it such or such a sentiment. Examples : ** * Rivers are roads that move and carry us whither we would go.' " * Hypocrisy is a homage which vice pays to virtue,* l64 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. ** ' Time is the treasure of the poor.' " ' A tomb is a monument placed on the boundary between two worlds.' " * Love is the fulfilling of the law.' " " When the notion of the attribute does not ex- haust that of the subject, and one cannot be put indifferently for the other, we have not a definition, we have a judgment. ... A definition is indeed a judgment, but a judgment which contains or be- gets all the judgments which at any time may be pronounced upon an object. And reciprocally, by combining all the judgments which at any time may be pronounced on an object, we have a definition." ^ Vinet proceeds to give examples of definition, in- cluding one which is very often called a definition, but surely without propriety: ** Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. xi. I.) Other judgments may be pronounced upon faith besides this. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, etc., just as love is the fulfilling of the law. It may be said that faith is the means of union with Christ; but that is not defining faith. In fact, as we- have before observed, it scarcely needs definition, or admits of it. We may sometimes most readily define an idea by connecting it with another idea, either in the way of distinction, or of comparison.^ And instead of, or in addition to definition, it is often well to employ ex- emplification, for which see below. " Definition is not only a means of perspicuity, an element of instruction, the basis of argumentation ; it is often the beginning of proof. Demonstration, at least, is firm and sure in proportion to the exactness and clearness of the definition." Every one has 1 Vinet, Horn. pp. 1 61-163. ^ See Vinet, p. 165. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 165 observed how important it is in beginning a con- troversial discussion, public or private, that the ques- tion should be exactly defined ; otherwise confusion of ideas is inevitable.^ Now it is equally, though not so obviously important, in conducting a discussion alone, that one should clearly define to himself the subject in hand. In fact it is more important in this case, because controversy will sooner or later force the parties to perceive that they have not clearly understood the question, or understood it in the same way, while the solitary thinker, or the unanswered speaker, may remain permanently involved in the confusion or error produced by his lack of well- defined conceptions at the outset. And the same thing applies to the definition of leading terms. But while we must always define to ourselves, it is not always necessary that we should define to the audi- ence. The proposition of the subject, if felicitous, may often be sufficiently perspicuous and precise; or we may see that the discussion itself will most effec- tually give clear and definite views of the subject. In all definitions stated, we should eschew formality, and " avoid too subtle distinctions and classifications, which assume a great habit of abstraction, and an exact knowledge of language on the part of the hearer."^ A second means of explaining ideas is by Divi- sion. But the methods of dividing a subject, and of stating divisions, can be most conveniently ex- amined when we come to discuss the arrangement of discourse.^ Exemplification is often necessary, and almost always useful, in the work of explanation. The com- mon mind does not readily apprehend general defini- 1 Comp. l)elow, p. 173. - Vinet, pp. 164, 165. 3 Part 11, chap. ii. l66 SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. tions, expressed in abstract terms ; and even to the most cultivated thinkers an idea will become more vivid and interesting, when there is added to a pre- cise definition some apposite example. It would be difficult to present to a popular audience a clear dis- tinction between pride and vanity, in the way of definition; but by supposing certain circumstances, and showing how the proud man would act, and how the vain man, in such a case, or by taking up some particular action of a well-known character, and in- quiring whether the motive here was pride or vanity, we may speedily make the difference plain. So in- stead of undertaking to explain faith, one may describe a believer; or in addition to stating in general terms what will make a Christian happy, may give an ideal portraiture of a Christian who was happy.^ And still more useful are examples from real life. Every preacher turns to account in this way his observation of life, and some do so with very great effectiveness. But besides what we have per- sonally observed, we have the wide fields of history, and especially of Scripture history, from which to de- rive examples. In selecting those to be used, the preacher must inquire not only what is most apposite, but what will be most intelligible and interesting to the particular audience, and what he himself can most effectively handle. Historical examples which would thrill one congregation, will make but little impres- sion on another, not being familiar to them, or not linked to them by any ties of sympathy. In this, as in most respects, examples from Bible history are the best. They are more generally familiar than most others, and if any time be consumed in bringing the example vividly before the hearers, it is time well 1 Interesting and instructive examples of this kind may be found in Jeter's Christian Mirror. SPECIAL MATERIALS — EXPLANATION. 167 spent, because it promotes general acquaintance with the Scriptures.^ Among the commonest and most useful means of explanation, is Comparison. With this may be classed Contrast, and also A?ialogy, which depends on a re- semblance, not in objects themselves, but in their respective relations to certain other objects. Analogy, however, is more frequently employed for the pur- pose of proof, and will be considered in the next chapter. Contrast needs no special remark.^ The great mass of our Lord's Parables are compar- isons. '' The kingdom of heaven is like," etc. '' Unto what shall we liken this generation? " Some of them are thrown into the form of narrative ; but others are mere statements of comparison, and he uses many striking comparisons which are never called parables. The comparison of his coming to that of a thief (Matt. xxiv. 43, 44) is an instructive example of the fact that comparison is all the more striking where we have one point of resemblance between objects or events in other respects very different. Several of the parables are rather cases of Exemplification than of Comparison ; as, for instance, the Rich Man pre- paring to take his ease, the Pharisee and the Publican, the Good Samaritan. Many of them are introduced for other purposes in addition to that of explanation. But they are chiefly comparisons, and are mainly used to explain. They thus impressively exhibit to us the importance of explanation, and the value of comparison as a means of effecting it. The same high example reminds us how desirable it is to de- rive our comparisons from matters familiar to our hearers.^ 1 Comp. Vinet, p. 167, and see below on Illustration, chap, viii, 2 See Day's Art of Discourse, pp. 104-109. 8 See further on Illustration, chap. viii. 1 68 SPECIAL MATERIALS— ARGUMENT. CHAPTER Vn. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. § I. Importance of Argument IN Preaching. 2. Questions Preliminary to Argument. 3. Principal Varieties of Ar- gument. 4. Certain Forms of Argu- ment. 5. Refutation. 6. Order of Arguments. 7. General Suggestions as to Argument. M EN delight in argument — not so much in its forms as in its reality. The cultivated intel- lect finds in it delightful and familiar exercise. And even those who have never studied Logic, nor used it in any formal way, are pleased with the thing itself. You will see a light in the faces of unlet- tered rustics, when an argument drawn from matters within their range of thought or suited to their taste, is presented in terms so plain, so vigorous, so inter- esting, that they take hold of it with ease, and feel all its force and impressiveness. Now argument, in the logical, and at the same time popular, sense of the term, forms a very large and very important department of the materials of preaching. There are preachers, it is true, who seem to consider that they have no occasion for reasoning, that everything is to be accomplished by authoritative assertion and impassioned appeal. And this notion is not new; for we find Aristotle complaining that previous writers on Rhetoric had concerned themselves only with the means of persuasion by appeals to feeling and prejudice. But preachers really have great use for argument, and there are many reasons why its importance in preaching should be duly considered. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 169 § I. IMPORTANCE OF ARGUMENT IN PREACHING. There are many gainsayers and doubters to be convinced, both as regards the truth of Christianity, and the truth of what we represent to be its teach- ings. There are many who in both respects believe, but whose religious affections and activity might be not a little quickened by convincing and impressive proofs that these things are so. " Even in the cases in which reasoning seems superfluous, it may be greatly useful, since its object is not so much to prove what is not yet believed, as to fill the mind with the evidence, and, if we may so speak, to mul- tiply the brightness of truth." ^ And besides, there is in Christian countries a multitude of people who say they believe, because they do not disbelieve or question, whose minds remain in a negative state towards the gospel, which is often the most fatal form of unbelief. Argument, as to the truth and value and claims of the gospel, as to the peril and guilt of their position, is one of the means by which we must strive to bring them, through the special blessing of the Spirit, into some real, some opera- tive belief. "Argument is also often useful in arousing the feelings. The mind becomes inter- ested in a truth which is capable of clear proof. . . . The most successful preachers, as instruments of producing immediate conversion, the most success- ful revival preachers, are often at first severely argu- mentative. They thus gain power to bear down upon the conscience and heart." ^ Some forms of error, which exalt the intellectual at the expense of the spiritual, gain much accept- ance, particularly with a certain class of minds, by the argumentative garb in which they appear. The 1 Vinet, p. 176. 2 Hoppin, p. 408. I/O SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. teachers of these errors come to men accustomed to a sleepy acquiescence in truths which they have never heard vigorously discussed, bring their powers of argument into agreeable exercise, and they are won. Even those who maintain sound doctrine, sometimes support it by very unsound reasoning, and thereby leave the way open for some shrewd opponent to overthrow their arguments, and thus appear to overthrow their doctrine. Every preacher, then, ought to develop and dis- cipline his powers in respect to argument. If averse to reasoning, he should constrain himself to practise it; if by nature strongly inclined that way, he must remember the serious danger of deceiving himself and others by false arguments. One who has not carefully studied some good treatise of Logic should take the earliest opportunity to do so. It will ren- der his mind sharper to detect fallacy, in others or in himself, and will help to establish him in the habit of reasoning soundly. The fact that, as so often sneeringly remarked, "preachers are never replied to," should make it a point of honor with preachers not to mislead their hearers by bad logic, and should render them exceedingly solicitous to avoid those self-deceptions, which they have no keen opponent to reveal. Well-conducted debat- ing-societies, prolonged argument with a friend in private conversation, and sometimes newspaper dis- cussions, are found by various preachers to be a valuable discipline in this respect. But one must constantly remind himself to argue for truth rather than for victory, and, as a rule, never to maintain a proposition which he does not really believe. The delicate perception of truth, and the enthusiastic love for it, will inevitably be impaired by a contrary course. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 171 Yet in preaching we need not act as if everything had to be proved. Somethings cannot be proved; some do not need to be, and others have been suffi- ciently proved before, and should now be taken for granted. Elaborate argument which is not called for will only awaken doubt, or lead to weariness and disgust. We may usually assume the truth of Scripture. 1 And as to whatever the Scriptures plainly teach, while we must sometimes argue, it is often true, as Spurgeon has said, that the preacher should " dogmatize. " " The accent of true authority is wel- come to almost every one. We are prepossessed in favor of men who, in this world of uncertainty and perplexity, express themselves on a grave subject with confidence and command. . . . The person of preachers is nothing, their message is the whole; and not for their person, but for their message, do they claim respect; but they would be as culpable not to demand this respect for the divine thought of which they are the depositaries, as they would be foolish and ridiculous to demand it for their own thoughts.'"-^ But the right to speak with such authority will be acknowledged, among Protestants, only where the preacher shows himself able to prove, whenever it is appropriate, all that he maintains. Argument in preaching has one peculiarity. There is a great authority, the Word of God, whose plain utterances upon any question must be held by the preacher as decisive and final. This is proof without arguing in the narrow sense. Somewhat similarly do all men prove by the direct appeal to consciousness. " K?;/ know that so and so is true," will in some cases settle the question. So, too, we frequently appeal to common sense; though it should 1 Comp. chap. iii. § i, Doctrinal Subjects. 2 Vinet, pp. 228, 229. 1/2 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. be noticed that men often put forward as a judgment of common sense what is only some opinion of their own, some conclusion reached by a process of reason- ing, but a process so obscure as to escape their con- sciousness and thus hide its fallacies from their view. But the Scriptures furnish a standard of final appeal having a far more frequent and extensive applica^ tion. This does not at all enable us to dispense with argument. We have sometimes to prove that the Scriptures are such a standard ; and to show what the various passages of Scripture teach on a subject often requires not merely exposition but argument. Many truths have to be established partly by argu- ment on other grounds, reinforced and confirmed by indirect teachings of the Bible; and it is gratifying to believers, and demanded by unbelievers, that we should, wherever it is possible, exhibit the concur- rence of reason and experience with the teachings of revelation. Thus we have constant need of argu- ment. But in all our reasoning, care should be taken to treat the authority of Scripture as para- mount, and wherever its utterances are distinct and unquestionable, as decisive.^ § 2. QUESTIONS PRELIMINARY TO ARGUMENT. ^ There are several questions which require to be considered, if at all, at the outset of an argument. 1 See below, § 3, (2), (5), and also § 6, Order of Arguments. 2 In the following discussion much use is made of Whately, whose treatment of Arguments is the most valuable part of his work on Rhetoric, and unequalled by other treatises. Some things have also been drawn directly from Aristotle, and from a variety of writers, as acknowledged in detail. The chapter contains a good deal which is not found in Whately, or which differs widely from his views. The at- tempt is made to arrange the suliject in a simpler and more practical way than has been met with in existing works. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 173 and which are here thrown together under the head of preliminaries. (i) SJiall tJie proposition be stated at the begiimingf It should certainly be very clear to the speaker's own mind. To argue about one does not exactly know what, is idle, and in many ways hurtful. As a general thing, it should be distinctly stated to the audience. If the subject be one very difficult for the common mind to grasp, it may be better to present it in parts, to give first the several argu- ments which will elucidate as well as establish the proposition, and then state it in conclusion. Or if there be a known unwillingness to hear the subject discussed, or a strong prejudice against the proposi- tion to be established, it may be best to withhold the enunciation of the proposition. Even here, how- ever, it will often be better to speak out frankly and boldly. Men always dislike to be caught unawares, and are especially intolerant of this on the part of a preacher, in whom logical strategy can be so readily stigmatized as uncandid. And the preacher must always avoid as far as possible the appearance of being the antagonist of his hearers. His designs are friendly, and he wishes no concealment. Only, therefore, in case of violent repugnance or extreme prejudice, or for some other special reason, will it be judicious for a preacher to keep back the state- ment of his proposition.^ In stating the proposition, or any division of it, and in the whole conduct of an argument, great pains should be taken to avoid ambiguous terms, or, if such must be employed, to limit their meaning by the connection, or distinctly define them.^ The following terms, for example, frequently occur in ^ Comp. Day's Art of Discourse, p. 117; Vinet, p. 180. 2 See above, p. 165. 1/4 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. religious argument, and very often embarrass and mislead by their ambiguity; namely, necessary, pos- sible and impossible, reason, right and righteous- ness, good and evil, law, nature, person, church. ^ (2) Where lies the burden of proof f In legal proc- esses and in other debates the determination of this question often becomes very important. In preach- ing we are concerned with it only indirectly. In controversial sermons it is essential that we should clearly perceive where lies the burden of proof, and sometimes in the statement of propositions and ques- tions it may be w^ell to make this formally clear to the hearers; and in general for clearness of discrim- ination and logical accuracy in argument the under- lying principle of the burden of proof should be understood. This principle is well stated in the Roman legal formula: Ei incinnbit probatio qid dicit, noil qui negat (the proof lies upon him who affirms, not who denies). That is to say. He who alleges anything must prove his allegation; and, conversely, no man is required to prove the negative of another man's assertion. He may refute the assertion by alleging the contrary; but in this case he becomes the affirmant, and must, accordingly, prove his own allegation. Again, an allegation may be made in negative form, and he who asserts a negative must prove it ; as when the atheist asserts that there is no God he is logically bound to make good his asser- tion — if he can. But it is evident that he cannot do this; because, as John Foster pointed out, it would require universal knowledge to make good such an assertion, for, otherwise, somewhere beyond the bounds of the atheist's knowledge might be proof that there is a God. Hence it is very seldom 1 Most of these are explained in the Appendix to Whately's Logic, though not all in a satisfactory manner. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 175 that any assertion is made in negative form; but still the principle remains true — the assertor must prove. Further, an allegation may be negative in effect though affirmative in form; as in the case of proving an alibi. A crime was committed at a cer- tain time and place ; the accused proves that he was in another place at that exact time; this shows that he was not at the place of the crime when the deed was done, and therefore did not commit it. This is the essential point; it does not matter particularly where he was, only that he was not in t/mt place, yet he must prove that he zms somewhere else. So in fact he establishes a negative, but he does so by proving his own allegation, namely, that he was somewhere else when the crime was committed. So the principle stands unaltered, and appears to be unalterable and universal : He who alleges must prove; and no man is under obligation to prove the negative of another man's assertion. Hence it is unfair to assert without proof, and call upon the opponent to prove the negative of what we say. This is a convenient way of declining or evading argument; and it is sometimes resorted to. We should in preaching be very careful to be scrupu- lously fair in argument, ever remembering that when we make an assertion we are under solemn obliga- tion to prove it if we can ; and this is so even when the assertion is negative in form or effect. (3) IV/iat value has presumption in argument f In conducting argument we frequently meet this c^ues- tion. It is closely related to that regarding the burden of proof, and like that has not much imme- diate connection with preaching, and yet requires of us a clear understanding and a fair use of the prin- ciples involved. And so it is important first of all to know what is meant by presumption. Confusion 176 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. arises from using the term in different meanings. Three are to be distinguished: the common mean- ing, the legal usage, and Whately's definition. {a) TJie covivion meaning of presiimptio7i. A pre- sumption in favor of any proposition is, in the most general statement, something which inclines us to believe it true before examining the proof, or inde- pendently of any formal process of reasoning. In other words, it is that part of the evidence which lies upon the surface and leads to belief in advance of further investigation. It is therefore not lack of evidence; on the contrary, it is the prominence of a part of the evidence. On further examination it may be confirmed or weakened, established or over- thrown; but in itself, strictly and etymologically speaking, a presumption is that which takes hold of tis before we enter formally into investigation or argument. Now it is evident that presumptions will differ greatly in force and value according to the cir- cumstances involved in each case, and also accord- ing to the opinions and feelings of the persons engaged in the argument. What would be a very strong presumption to you might be a weak one, or none at all, to your opponent. So in using a pre- sumption we must be sure that it will have some force with our hearers as well as with ourselves. {b) The legal usage m regard to presumption. Ow- ing to the natural difference as to the strength of presumptions, and for the general good of society, it became necessary to establish arbitrarily, in cer- tain well-known cases, presumptions of law.^ The most familiar of these is the maxim that an accused person is to be presumed innocent until he is proved guilty. But this is an arbitrary presumption framed 1 See Starkie on Evidence, Preface, p. vi. ; and Greenleaf on Evidence, Vol. I. § 32. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 177 in the interests of justice. Its theory is to secure to every person arraigned for an infraction of law a fair trial; his case must be tried strictly by the evi- dence that can be obtained, and by that alone. As a matter of fact, however, the actual logical presump- tion may be and often is directly opposite to the legal one. And this is shown by the lawful arrest of a suspected person. The warrant is issued on the practical, logical presumption of guilt; but the trial proceeds on the legal, arbitrary presumption of inno- cence. Similarly there are other legal presumptions which may or may not coincide with the logical ones; as in the case of the soundness of titles after so many years of possession, or of the payment of a debt after a certain time has elapsed. These legal presumptions should not therefore confuse our minds as to the nature of presumption in moral reasoning where the arbitrary, though generally benevolent, principles of law are not in question. (c) WJiately s definition of presumption. Arch- bishop Whately, followed by others,^ has given a meaning to presumption which departs from both the ordinary and the legal usage of the word. He defines as follows : " According to the most correct use of the term, a ' Presumption ' in favor of any sup- position means not (as has been sometimes errone- ously imagined) a preponderance of probability in its favor, but such a preoccupation of the ground as implies that it must stand good till some sufficient reason is adduced against it ; in short, that the Bur- den of Proof lies on the side of him who would dis- pute it." By this definition Whately assumes what he ought to have proven ; and in every question in which we should in any sense say that the presump- tion is in favor of one side, he assumes that the 1 Whately, p. 139; Day, in Art of Discourse, p. 155 ff. 12 178 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. burden of proof rests on the other side. If pre- sumption ever denotes such a preoccupation, it cer- tainly does not always nor commonly. It may be on either side, or on neither, without altering the burden of proof at all ; for that, as we have seen, depends on a different principle, namely, that he who alleges must prove. If he alleges in harmony with or against the presumption, he must still prove his affirmation. The presumption may be an important part of his argument, but it does not throw the burden of proof on his opponent. Whately's illustrations of his theory are not con- clusive. He adduces the presumptions of law to support his view; but, as we have seen, these are arbitrary presumptions, and even then the actual presumption may be against the legal one. It does not follow, therefore, that even in these cases the presumption puts the burden of proof on the other side. Again, Whately says ^ that there is a "pre- sumption in favor of every existing institution," so that the burden of proof rests on him who proposes to change it, "simply on the ground that since a change is not a good in itself, he who demands a change should show cause for it." This may be very true, but it is not because of the presumption, but because of the fact that he who proposes a change is commonly and properly the affirmant. He alleges the desirability of a change, and must prove his allegation. If, on the other hand, the person opposed to change affirms that the existing institu- tion is good, and ought to be retained, then he alleges and has the burden of proof. He is then at liberty to use the presumption in favor of an exist- ing institution as a part of his argument. It may thus have argumentative value, but not in such a 1 Page 141. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 179 way as always or necessarily to put the burden of proof on the other side; that depends, as usual, on the principle of affirmation and negation. ^ (3) What tise shall be made of indirect proof f In- stead of direct proof that the proposition is true, we sometimes adopt the indirect method, namely, by showing that the contrary supposition would lead to something known to be untrue, or in itself absurd {reductio ad absurdum). This plan is very often pursued in Geometry, where only one or two other suppositions would be possible. But in moral rea- soning this does not often happen, and hence the reductio ad absurdiun is for us chiefly important in refutation. 2 In legal causes the proof of an alibi, while an indirect argument, may, as we have seen, be a very conclusive one; and similarly in argumen- tative preaching we may often have occasion to show that certain things are false or objectionable not so much by arguing directly against them as by evinc- 1 Whately applies his theory to Infant-baptism and Episcopacy, arguing that as existing institutions they should be maintained, unless the opponent can show good cause for rejecting them, and that the burden of proof rests on him to do so. Of course one will continue to practise as he has done till he sees cause to do otherwise. But if he refuses to discuss the desirability of a change, on the ground that the opponent must prove the negative of his assertion that the institu- tion is good and should be retained, he simply evades debate. But if he consents to argue at all, he virtually asserts the desirability of his practice, and so has the burden of proof. On the other hand, the objector has it for every objection which he alleges against the prac- tice in question. Besides, Infant-baptism and Episcopacy do not pre- sent themselves as human institutions which it might he presumed men had good reasons for establishing, Init as divine institutions for which, as Whately himself elsewhere admits, it must be presumed ih^i there is Scripture authority. The absence of such authority is therefore pre- sumption against them. But none of these presumptions alter the burden of proof. That remains on him who alleges, as in all cases. In this discussion some help has been derived from Carson's able work on Baptism, which reviews Whately with great force. 2 See below, § 4. l80 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. ing the moral beauty or Scriptural truth of their opposites. § 3. PRINCIPAL VARIETIES OF ARGUMENT. It is not proposed to give a formal analysis and classification of arguments, but to explain the nature and use of the leading varieties. These are the arguments, A priori, Deduction, Induction, Analogy, and Testimony. (i) Argument. The phrase a priori has come to be so variously applied and loosely used, that some propose to abandon it. Yet it is of constant occur- rence, particularly in theological and philosophical discussions, and no fit substitute has been suggested. It seems desirable, therefore, to state distinctly the different senses in which the phrase is employed, showing which are legitimate and which unwarrant- able, and in what cases there is special necessity for care. To argue a priori is literally to argue from some- thing prior (before) to something posterior (after) ; a movement in the opposite direction being denoted by a posteriori. (a) It was originally used by logical writers, and is still chiefly used, to denote an argument /ro7n cause to effect. It is thus, of course, applicable to any case of proper physical causes, but is chiefly applied to argument from a necessary principle, such as ex iiiJiilo nihil fit (out of nothing nothing is made). This species of argument was formerly employed on a very large scale for the ascertainment of physi- cal phenomena and laws. Some principle was laid down, regarded as necessary and universal, and from this it was argued that the facts of existence must be so and so. But modern science, founded on obser- SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. l8l vation, has shown that some of the supposed neces- sary principles are not true, or not universal. Such facts should not lead us, as some have been led, to reject all arguments from necessary principles, but should make us very careful in using them. The conclusion from an a priori argument (sup- posing it logically conducted) will be certain, if on the one hand the supposed cause is a real one, and on the other hand, there is nothing to interfere with its operation; but if the reality of the cause (or necessary principle) be subject to question, or its operations be liable to interference, then the con- clusion is only more or less probable. When in proving that we have a revelation, it is first argued a priori ixova the character of God and the condition of man that a revelation was to be expected^ this is only a probable argument, for we do not, apart from revelation, sufficiently understand the character of God to infer with certainty that it would lead him to give a revelation to creatures in such a condition. The name a priori is inaccurately applied to some arguments which really begin with facts of observa- tion (and are so far a posteriori), but which after- wards pursue a chain of abstract reasoning upon what these necessarily involve. Such was Samuel Clarke's argument for the existence of God, which is constantly called an a priori argument because it introduces certain supposed necessary principles, and reasons for the most part abstractly, and yet (as Hamilton has remarked), ^ in fact begins with a matter of observation, namely, "we are sure that something does exist. "^ 1 Hamilton, ed. of Reid, p. 762 ; Fleming, Vocab. of Philosophy, p. 42. 2 See the statement of the argument in Pye Smith's Theology, p. lOI. l82 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. {b) The use of the phrase has been gradually ex- tended to include argument from what appears to us a general principle — not asserted as a necessary principle, but one which is believed to hold true in all cases. Unless such a supposed general principle necessitates a certain result, that result cannot be inferred from it as an argument a priori. The prin- ciple is in that case only a generalized fact, like the generalizations of Natural History, informing us what regularly is, not in any sense causing it to be so. But in this unwarranted direction the use of the phrase is sometimes carried very far. Men attempt to dignify as an argument a prioid, or, as they sometimes call it, an argument from general principles, what is really an argument from some arbitrary preconception, prejudice, fanciful theory, or mere opinion, of their own. And some appear to think that any argument which looks general or abstract may be called an argument a priori. We must then look out for loose applications of the phrase on the part of others, and carefully confine ourselves to the legitimate use. {c) The attempt has been made to give to argu- ment a priori another distinct sense; namely, the argument from a substance to its attributes.^ Thus, John is a man, therefore he possesses intelligence, will, conscience, a bodily organization, etc. But this is called an argument a priori only by overlook- ing a distinction. John is a man, therefore he will act conscientiously, is an argument a priori, because it means that there is something in the constitution of man which leads him to act conscientiously; it is really an argument from cause to effect — with only a probable conclusion, because other causes so often interfere with the operation of man's conscience. 1 Day, pp. 128-133. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 183 But to say, John is a man, therefore he has a con- science, is only an argument from general to par- ticular, only bringing out one of the particulars which go to make up the general. This is not in any sense an argument from something prior, for being a man is not prior to having a conscience, but includes it. The argument, John is mortal, for he is a man,i is somewhat ambiguous. Taken strictly, it infers the attribute mortality, and is thus simply a common deduction of particular from general. But understand it to mean, John will die, for he is a man, and you have an argument a pj-iori, which, again, is really from cause to effect — there is that in a man which will cause him to die. So if the term law is employed. When law denotes "merely a general fact," as. It is the law of material bodies that they gravitate, — and we deduce any particular fact from the general one, the deduction is by no means an argument a priori. If it were meant that material bodies have that in their constitution which causes them to gravitate, then you could take the case of any particular material body, and infer, a priori, that it will gravitate. This confusion of law as the statement of a general fact with law as denoting that which causes, or somehow neces- sitates facts, has led to much false reasoning in recent works, particularly in discussions of Divine Providence. 2 So, then, to infer the attribute from the substance is an a priori argument only when there is that in the nature or constitution of the substance which produces the attribute, that is, when the argument proceeds from cause to effect. This is evidently what Vinet is thinking of when he says, " Proof a ^ Day, p. 129. 2 See McCosh on the Divine Government. l84 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. priori, which proves the fact from its cause or its nature. ... I prove a priori that lying is offensive to God, because he is a God of truth. " ^ The argument is, that there is that in God's nature, as a God of truth, which must render lying offensive to him; and this is really an argument from cause to effect. The remark may be added, that a priori argument from the nature of God must be employed with great care. God will always act consistently with his nature, and so conclusions might here be drawn with certainty, but for the fact that we so imperfectly understand the divine nature, and the relations thereto of particular lines of conduct. " God is just, therefore he will give all men an equal chance of salvation," " God is good, therefore he will finally save all men," are conclusions which the angel Gabriel might well feel himself too ignorant to draw. {d) There is a peculiar use of a priori in some modern philosophical works. Kant applied the phrase "knowledge a priori'' to denote knowledge possessed by the mind prior to all that it derives from experience; and then knowledge which is de- rived from, comes after, experience is called knowl- edge a posteriori.'^ A pair of antithetical phrases will of course admit of being turned towards differ- ent points of the compass, provided they are kept opposite to each other.^ Kant's use of these two 1 Vinet, p. 1 80. The expression (perhaps due to the student whose notes are followed), " /Vj nature," tends to confuse; but the examples show what is meant. "^ See Fleming, Vocabulary of Philosophy, pp. 42, 43, a useful book. 3 For example, the terms analytic and synthetic are employed by Vinet (p. 180), and Potter (Sacred Eloquence, p. 149), in diametri- cally opposite ways with reference to the same things ; and each use can be justified, depending on the way in which the matter is re- garded. Day (p. 122) has a third use, quite different from either, on a kindred topic. SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. 185 phrases, which he distinctly defined, has been fol- lowed by some subsequent writers. Let it be under- stood, then, by the student, that the expressions, a priori knowledge ^ a priori trittJis^ etc., mean some- thing entirely different from a priori argument. We may indeed argue a Jmori from what these writers would call an a priori truth (for example, every effect must have a cause), and here there is a point of apparent contact between the two senses of the phrase, but they are altogether different. An argument a priori has been thus shown to be, in all legitimate uses of the phrase, an argument from cause to effect; whether it be from a proper physical cause, or from something in the general nature of things which necessitates a certain result, or from something in the nature of a particular object or person which tends to produce a certain result. With reference to the employment of arguments, whether a priori or not, bearing upon the relations of cause and effect, there are ambiguities in the familiar use of language, which render necessary two distinctions. Firsts we must distinguish be- tween logical and physical sequence. For example, "With many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness." The fact that God was not well pleased with them is the logical consequent of their overthrow, being proved from it; but is, so to speak, the physical antecedent, being the cause of it. These two kinds of sequence are very often confounded, and very liable to be, from the fact that we use the same terms, " for," " be- cause," "therefore," "consequently," etc., to denote both; yet they may coincide, or be opposed to each other, or may exist separately. Particularly fre- quent is the error of presenting that as the canse of l86 SPECIAL MATERIALS — ARGUMENT. something, which is only \.\\