BV 4211 .B866 1913
Burrell, David James, 1849-
The sermon
The Sermon
Its Construction and Delivery
By
David James Burrell, D. D.
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The James Sprunt Lectures delivered at [ JUL*^??1914
Union Theological Seminary in Virginia
The Sermon
Its Construction and Delivery
DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D.,LL. D.
Pastor, Marble Collegiate Church, New York
New York Chicago Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh
Copyright, 1913. by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 125 North Wabash Ave.
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 31 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: too Princes Street
THE JAMES SPRUNT LECTURES
IN nineteen hundred and eleven Mr. James Sprunt
of Wilmington, North Carolina, gave to the Trustees
of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia the sum
of thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of establishing a
perpetual lectureship which would enable the institution
to secure from time to time the services of distinguished
ministers and authoritative; scholars outside the regular
Faculty as special lecturers on subjects connected with
various departments of Christian thought and Christian
work. The lecturers are chosen by the Faculty of the
Seminary and a committee of the Board of Trustees, and
the lectures are published after their delivery in accord-
ance with a contract between the lecturer and these
representatives of the institution. The first series of
lectures on this foundation is presented in this volume.
Tnis'book is made up, for the most part, of material
used in Princeton Theological Seminary, where the
author recently supplied a four years' vacancy in the
chair of Homiletics. The lectures as then delivered
were necessarily more or less informal, being prepared
in connection with the work of a busy pastorate. They
were afterwards revised and committed to writing for
use in other Seminaries and ministerial associations.
They have been still further revised and reduced to
their present form to meet the requirements of the
James Sprunt Lectureship in the Union Theological
Seminary of Kichmond, Ya. It is hoped that they
may be helpful to younger brethren in the ministry
and particularly to students preparing for it.
David James Burrell.
New York.
Contents
Introduction : Definition of the Sermon . 9
PART FIRST
Texts and Topics
I. Importance of the Text . . . .25
II. Selection of Texts and Topics . . .33
III. Suggestions as to Texts .... 38
IV. Suggestions as to Topics .... 44
PART SECOND
The Outline of the Sermon
I. Importance of the Outline . . .53
II. Construction of the Outline ... 59
III. The Outline AS Modified BY Classification 63
IV. Textual or Expository Outlines . . 69
V. Topical Outlines 74
(A) The Ethical Sermon
(B) The Doctrinal Sermon
(C) The Historical Sermon
(D) The Biographical Sermon
(E)The Evangelistic Sermon
PART THIRD
The Body of the Sermon
I. The Exordium 1 11
^A) Its Importance
(B) Its Constituent Parts
(C) Suggestions
7
8 CONTENTS
II. The Argument 129
(A) Its Importance
(B) The Requisites of a Convincing
Argument
^C) Positive Proof, or Demonstration
(D) Negative Proof, or Refutation
(E) Suggestions
III. The Peroration . . . . , .188
(A) Its Importance
(B) Its Form
(C) Suggestions
PART FOURTH
The Forensic or Finished Discourse
I. Style 199
II. Illustration 217
III. Humour in the Pulpit . . . .232
PART FIFTH
The Delivery of the Sermon
I. Method of Delivery 241
II. Impedimenta 252
PART SIXTH
Getting Attention
I. Dullness 261
II. Sensationalism 271
PART SEVENTH
Pulpit Power
I. The Secret of Pulpit Power . . . 295
II. Christ Our Model 305
Index 325
INTRODUCTION
Definition of the Sermon
Introduction
DEFINITION OF THE SERMON
THE primitive meaning of the word sermon is
said to be a thrust. Whatever may be the
etymological value of this suggestion its logic
is sound ; because the preacher, whenever and wherever
he preaches, must, if he would preach truly and effect-
ively, make a thrust with "the sword of the Spirit,
which is the "Word of God."
It is not enough to say, with Phillips Brooks, that a
sermon is " the communication of truth by man to
men." This, as a definition, is lucus a non lucendo. It
opens the homiletic category to all sorts of literature.
A definition must define ; though a circumlocution may
be required to do it.
Let us say briefly, then, that a sermon is an address
to a congregation on the subject of religion, from the
standpoint of the Scriptures, with the purpose of per-
suading men.'
1. It is an address ; not an essay. An address is
necessarily oral and presumably elaborate. There are
preachers who read beautiful essays on themes more or
less closely related to theology and ethics ; but that is
* " Sermon : a discourse delivered in public, usually by a
clergyman, for the purpose of religious instruction, and
grounded on some text or passage of Scripture." — Webster,
11
12 INTRODUCTION
not preaching. Talking about a thing is not preach-
ing. The essayist takes his hearer by the hand and
leads him round and round a centre ; the preacher takes
his hearer by the hand and escorts him to the next
town. It is thus that preaching helps men on.
2. It is an address to a congregation ; that is, to a
company of people assembled to hear religious truth.
An assembly on Areopagus was not ordinarily a con-
gregation, but it became one when it invited Paul to
speak of " The New Doctrine " and heard his sermon on
" The Unknown God."
The words which Christ addressed to Nicodemus in
personal conversation, important as they were, cannot
technically be called a sermon, since there is no such
thing as a " congi^egation of one."
3. It is an address on the subject of religion. The
word " religion " is said to be derived from re-Ugare,
meaning to bind back. A sermon is intended to bind
the alienated soul back to God.
As followers of Christ we are bound to affirm that
there is only one religion ; since Christ said, " No man
Cometh unto the Father but by Me." It follows that
the only sermon for a Christian minister is that which
leads men to the Father in this way.
The minister, therefore, who uses his pulpit for the
presentation of merely scientific or philosophic themes
is, so far forth, misusing it.
For a like reason the term " Ethical Sermon " is a
misnomer ; unless the law be presented as " a school-
master leading to Christ." The law is good ; but " by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." The
question for the preacher to answer is, " How shall a
man be just with God ? " and the only answer is that
DEFINITION OF THE SERMON 13
given by the preacher's Master, " This is the work of
God {i. 6., acceptable to God) that ye believe in Him
whom God hath sent."
The preacher is an evangelist. An evangelist is a
newsman. The news is the Gospel, or gdd-s2>el, to wit :
" God so loved the world that He gave His only begot-
ten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life."
4-. It is an address from the standjpoint of the
Scripttires. As ministers of the Gospel we lean back on
authority ; and our ultimate authority is found in the
Scriptures as the inspired Word of God.
It is a mistake for the preacher to dogmatize ; that is,
to say things as if his say-so were conclusive. The
time when a man could assume a tone of finality in the
pulpit, as if to say, " I am Sir Oracle ; and when I ope
my lips let no dog bark," has long passed by. People
do not come to church to hear the preacher tell what
he personally thinks about this or that, but what he —
as a man devoting his time and energy to the study of
the Scriptures — has heard God say about it. Nobody
cares particularly about the preacher's opinion ; but the
average man is deeply concerned to know the mind of
God.
Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, who succeeded
him in the pastorate of the Ephesian Church, writes
thus : " I charge thee in the sight of God and of Christ
Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by
His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word. Be
instant in season, out of season ; reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will
come when they will not endure the sound doctrine,
but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teach-
14 INTRODUCTION
ers after their own. lusts ; and will turn away their ears
from the truth, and turn aside unto fables."
If the preacher does not believe his Bible he has no
alternative, of course, but to resort to personal dog-
matics ; that is, unless he can refer his hearers to some
other source of authority. There are, however, only
three possible sources of authority for spiritual truth,
to wit : the infallible Book, the infallible Church and
the infallible Ego. The first of these will probably
commend itself as most reasonable to the average man.'
The preacher who accepts the Scriptures as the sole
trustworthy rule of faith and practice finds there a coign
of vantage from which, as an interpreter, to present
religious truth. He does not ask his congregation to
believe what he says but what God says. The oracles
are his Court of Final Appeal. His touchstone of truth
is, " Thus saith the Lord."
S. It is an address with the jpurpose of persuadhig
men. " "We then, as ambassadors of Christ, as though
God did beseech you by us, pray you, in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God."
(1) So far as the unconverted sinner is concerned
the object of the sermon is his salvation from the shame,
bondage and penalty of sin.
It is, therefore, the duty of the preacher to preach
sin, as Peter did at Pentecost, until men pricked to the
heart cry, " What shall we do ? "
^ The sources of philosophy and faith are entirely different.
Philosophy seeks a knowledge of ultimate facts and principles
by studying man, the universe and God, as revelations of such
principles, and verifying these by reason — in order to find the
final explanation of all existences. Christianity finds the
source of its truth in the Bible, accepted as a revelation from
God. — Gregory, ** Trumpet Call to the Ministry.'^
DEFINITION OF THE SERMON 15
" In my preaching of the Word," says John Bunyan,
" I took special notice of this one thing, namely, that
the Lord did lead me to begin, where His word begins,
with sinners ; that is, to condemn all flesh, and to open
and allege that the curse of God by the law doth be-
long to and lay hold on all men as they come into the
world, because of sin. Now, this part of my work I
fulfilled with great feeling ; for the terrors of the law
and guilt of my transgressions lay heavy on my con-
science. I preached what I felt, — what I smartingly
did feel; even that under which my poor soul did
groan and tremble to astonishment. Indeed I have
been sent as one to them from the dead. I went my-
self in chains, to preach to them in chains ; and car-
ried that fire in my own conscience that I persuaded
them to be aware of. I can truly say, and that with-
out dissembling, that I have gone full of guilt and
trembling even to the pulpit-door ; and there it hath
been taken off ; and I have been at liberty in my mind
until I have done my work."
And having painted sin in its true colours, it devolves
upon the preacher to point to the Cross, as Moses di-
rected the minds of the Israelites to the brazen serpent,
saying, " Look and live ! " For, as John the Baptist
said, " He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting
life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life
but the wrath of God abideth on him " (John iii. 36).
I heard a minister remark lately that revivals are
out of date. His exact words were : " I doubt if we
shall ever have an old-fashioned revival again. If we
do, it will be an ethical revival ; and those ministers
who are preaching ethical sermons will be responsible
for it." It is not easy to define ethical preaching ; but
16 INTRODUCTION
the observation referred to calls up an incident in the
experience of Ralph Wells of Sunday-school fame.
He was going about among the teachers of his school
on a tour of inspection when, pausing in the neigh-
bourhood of a young lady whose class of boys were
listening with close attention, he heard her say :
" Now, boys, about these Commandments. You know
if you keep them you'll go to heaven ; and that will be
perfectly splendid. But if you break them ; if you lie
and steal and disobey your parents and so on, you'll go
to hell ; and, boys, that would be simply ridiculous."
I would not intimate that most of the ethical preach-
ing of our time is of precisely this sort, nor would I
deprecate the importance of ethics as an essential
part of the preacher's work ; but I venture to sug-
gest that the preaching of morality without the vital
prepostulate of the atonement falls immeasurably short
of our business, and is infinitely unlikely to bring
in any sort of a revival or accomplish the salvation of
men.
(2) So far as the individual Christian is concerned
the object of the sermon is his sanctification.
The agent of sanctification is the Holy Spirit ; and
the instrument which He commonly uses is the "Word
of God. This is intimated by Christ in His sacerdotal
prayer, where He intercedes for His disciples on this
wise, " Sanctify them by Thy truth ; Thy Word is
truth." This being so, it is incumbent on the preacher
to bring Christians more and more under the influence
of the Holy Spirit by leading them further and further
into a clear understanding of the Scriptures as the
Word of God.
Here is the secret of character-building. The Scrip-
DEFINITION OF THE SERMON 17
tural word for character-building is " edification," from
aedes and facio ; literally, " I rear a temple." Of this
temple the foundation is Christ Himself. A Christian
grows by looking unto Jesas, the Author and Finisher
of faith, and by following Him.
The part of the preacher, in this procedure, is so to
present the written "Word — which is the appointed
medium for the communication of the incarnate Word
— that Christians, by the contemplation of Christ, under
the influence of the Spirit, shall be moved to imi-
tate Him. For character-building is simply imitatio
Christi. It is "growing in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," and so unto "the
measure of the fullness of the stature of a man."
Sanctification is the complement of salvation. The
word "salvation" is a large one. It means more
than deliverance from the penalty of sin. Of course
it includes that ; indeed, that is the Alpha of it.
Blessed is the man who has heard^Christ say, " Thy sins
be forgiven thee!" But alas for him who, rejoicing
in this vestibule of salvation, is content to pass no fur-
ther.
The preacher is under bonds, like Moses, to lead con-
verts not only out of Egypt but clear through the wil-
derness, into full possession of their inheritance in the
Land of Promise.
In this connection read Philippians ii. 12-16 : " Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling," etc.
The emphasis here is on the word " out." The mean-
ins: seems to be that Christians are not to rest in that
incipient and narrow salvation which means merely a
" title clear to mansions in the skies," but rather to de-
velop their salvation to its largest limits and possibili-
18 INTRODUCTION
ties in character and usefulness.^ It is here that the
preacher comes to the help of believers by unfolding to
them the truths, precepts and promises of the Word of
God.
(3) So'Jfar as society is concerned the'object of the
sermon is social reformation. The Word which we
preach is like leaven that leaveneth the lump.
The profound truth of the Parable of the Leaven is
emphasized by a comparison of Christian with non-
Christian communities. Put a church down in the
slums and what happens ? The vicinage is improved
every way. A company of shipwrecked sailors, cast
ashore on an unknown island, were fearful lest its in-
habitants might prove to be cannibals. Their fears
were allayed, however, when one of them climbing the
hills to take an observation called back, " Come on,
boys, here's a church ! " The truth which the Church
stands for is the safeguard of social life. The preach-
ing of the Gospel is, therefore, the key-note of true so-
cialism, that is, of that social^science which seeks wisely
and sincerely the regeneration of society.
At this point the preacher accomplishes his purpose
not so much by assailing specific evils — though this
may be his duty on occasion — as by the constant and
^ We would say that the true object and design of Christian
preaching, in the largest and most stimulating view of it, is :
So to set forth divine truth, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
with such clearness, simplicity, sympathy, power, fullness, love,
and utter dependence upon and union with the Spirit of Christ,
as to persuade men to receive it truly to the conversion of their
souls, and to the upbuilding of their whole life and character
in the faith of Christ ; or, in other words, to enlighten, renew,
and sanctify them unto eternal life in the kingdom of God's
dear Son. — Hoppin, ** Homiletics.^* ^
DEFINITION OF THE SERMON 19
faithful presentation of the "Word, — that Word of which
it is said, " It shall not return unto Me void, but shall
accomplish that which I please and prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it." '
In Shakespeare's " Henry TV " the Archbishop is
thus reminded of his responsibilities in this respect :
'* Who hath not heard it spoken
How deep you were within the Books of God f
To us the speaker in his parliament,
To us the imagined voice of God Himself,
The very opener and intelligencer
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven,
And our dull workings. "
The Gospel in its relation to society is like the atmos-
phere, which rests with an equable pressure of fifteen
pounds or thereabouts to the square inch on every part
of the human body. It touches and regenerates not
^ There are two modes of preaching, in the present age, that
are diametrically opposed. The one presses the Gospel upon
me as a saving power, aims at regeneration, and encourages
spontaneous conformity to gospel principles. The other dwells
constantly upon social and political questions, and attempts to
lay down rules that shall govern the entire range of human
activity, and to say to men, everywhere and on every occasion,
" Thus thou shalt do, and thus." The former is the method
of the Reformation, and the true method of Protestant Chris-
tendom ; the latter, the method of the new reformers and the
old Romanism. The one, as Paul teaches, carries back the
Church to the covenant "from Mount Sinai, which gendereth
bondage" (Gal. iv. 24), to ritual observance and legal obedi-
ence; the other carries her forward to the covenant that is
from Mount Zion, from "the Jerusalem above which is free,
which is the mother of us all," and tends to free spiritual
activity by bringing her members more thoroughly under the
influence of love, the higher law of the spirit of liberty (see
Romans viii. and xiii. 8-10). — Gregory, " Trumpet Call.**
20 INTRODUCTION
only the individual but domestic, communal and polit-
ical life. It begins with one man as a centre and, as in
the concentric circles of Hierocles, spreads outwardly,
driving out, by what Chalmers calls "the expulsive
power of a new affection," all hurtful and iniquitous
things. It is apparent, therefore, that the preacher be-
comes a true social reformer so far forth as he holds
himself to the strict duty and privilege of preaching the
Word.
(4) Our message is thus, in a very real and practical
sense, addressed to the whole world.
The minister is a missionary at large, not only by
the terms of his commission " Go ye into all the world,"
but because the expansive nature of the "Word which
he preaches makes it tend necessarily to world-wide
evangelization. His country parish is a spot for the
fulcrum of an Archimedean lever. His simplest ser-
mon— to use a thumb-worn figure — is a pebble thrown
into a boundless sea, whose widening ripples bear its
influences to remotest shores. By the " foolishness of
preaching " a constant, progressive movement is kept
up towards the coming of the kingdom of truth and
righteousness ; and its continuance is destined to realize
the old Homeric dream of a Golden Age when the
round world shall be bound again " as with gold chains
about the feet of God."
It is worth repeating that the instrument which God
is using for the most part for the establishment of this
kingdom is His Word, which is said to be " quick and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart." As a sword it
DEFINITION OF THE SERMON 21
pierces the seared conscience and convicts of sin ; and
then, like balm of Gilead, it heals the wound by bring-
ing the soul into pardon and peace with God.
But the Holy Spirit uses, also, the man behind the
sword. No doubt God could evangelize the world
without us ; but in infinite condescension and kindness
He confers upon His ministers in a singular manner the
high privilege of cooperation with Him. We are prom-
ised a sufficient enduement of power for this work.
What is that enduement ? What is that power ? The
reference is not to any magical transfusion of super-
natural energy ; there is nothing mysterious here. The
enduement which we receive for service is power in the
practical use of the one weapon with which He proposes
to bring in prisoners of hope. The sword-drill is the
important thing. The function of the Holy Ghost in
this connection is to open the Scriptures, to suffuse
their pages with light, and to anoint the reader's eyes
with eye-salve that seeing he may see and understand.
Thus the minister is qualified for service and sent forth
as " a workman needing not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth " ; in other words he is be-
come an expert swordsman of Christ.
Just here it becomes apparent why the much ex-
ploited New Theology is not adequate to the business
in hand. In eliminating the divine factor from the
Scriptures it undermines the only reliable authority for
the fundamental facts of the Gospel and drives one to
the logical conclusion that conversion is a figment of the
imagination and that revivals are out of date. Let a
meeting be called for evangelistic work, and you will
observe that the friends of the New Theology are so
wholly out of their element that they sit twiddling
22 INTRODUCTION
their thumbs, while old-fashioned preachers of the "Word
are planning and pleading for an outpouring of the
Spirit and the salvation of souls. The old truths and
revivals go or stay together. The so-called " New
Evangelism " is a misnomer, inasmuch as it has no
evangel. It minimizes sin and sin's penalty; it ster-
ilizes faith; it denatures the influence of the Holy
Spirit ; it puts dishonour on the blood of Calvary with-
out which there is no remission of sin. But there is an
evangelism, a genuine evangelism, which will never be
out of date until the last revival shall sweep the last
sinner into the kingdom of God.
PART FIRST
Texts and Topics
I
IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXT
THE use of the text is purely conventional.*
The preacher, should he choose, is quite at
liberty to dispense with it ; nevertheless the
custom is so universal and so well approved by long ex-
perience that he would do well to think twice before
doing so.^
1. As to the Jewish custom. The Jews have, from
time immemorial, associated the sermon with the les-
son of the day. This was the custom of the rabbis ; a
custom followed on occasion by Christ and His apostles
in their itineraries among the Jewish towns and villages.
When Christ, returning from His first missionary
journey, entered the synagogue at Nazareth to worship
on the Sabbath " as His custom was," it chanced that the
day's lesson was from the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah :
" The Spu-it of the Lord is upon me ; because He hath
anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; He hath
* In the very conception of it a text is a rhetorical expedient ;
it is no essential part of discourse considered as such. Aris-
totle knew nothing of it. — Phelps, " Theory of Preaching.*'
' For over six hundred years now it has been the almost in-
variable custom of Christian preachers to take a text from
Scripture and associate their thoughts more or less strictly with
that. For the first twelve Christian centuries there seems to
have been no such prevailing habit. This fact ought to be
kept in mind whenever the custom of a text shows any tend-
ency to become despotic or to restrain in any way the liberty
of prophesying. — Phillips Brooks, " Lectures on Preaching^
25
26 TEXTS AND TOPICS
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the accept-
able year of the Lord." On this " text " He delivered a
sermon (of which we have no transcript) on the Purpose
of His Ministry, beginning with the proposition, " This
day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears."
2. As to the method of Christ. For the most part
the discourses of Christ were not textual but distinctly
topical. He found " tongues in trees, sermons in stones,
books in the running brooks," and homiletic material in
everything. His themes were taken from life and ex-
perience, from nature and passing events, as well as
from Scripture. He preached from every possible
standpoint, to all sorts and conditions of men, on the
supreme problem of life. The rising of the sun or the
extinguishing of the great candelabrum in Solomon's
porch suggested a sermon on His mission as the Light
of the World. The great stones of the Temple, which
were to be torn down and scattered beyond recovery,
prompted a discourse on His Resurrection and Triumph
over Death. A beggar sitting at a rich man's gate
furnished the caption of an argument on the Last Judg-
ment. The falling of a tower in the village of Siloam,
by which a number of persons had recently lost their
lives, led to a disquisition on Mistakes as to Retributive
Justice. The waylaying of a traveller on " The Bloody
Way " from Jerusalem down to Jericho — an event of
not infrequent occurrence in those days — gave Him an
opportunity of emphasizing, in a most searching manner,
the Duty of Neighbourliness. His preaching was Scrip-
tural to the last degree ; but He did not by any means
confine Himself to " texts " from the Word of God.
IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXT 27
3. As to the custom of the apostles. As has been
remarked, the apostles on occasion, and particularly
when preaching in the synagogues, founded their dis-
courses on portions of Scripture ; but not always so.
The defense of Stephen in the Sanhedrin was Scrip-
tural from beginning to end, for the reason that he was
showing the Messiahship of Jesus and exposing the
capital crime of the Jews in rejecting Ilim ; but he had
no " text " as we understand it. The text of Peter's
memorable sermon on the Day of Pentecost was Joel
ii. 30-31, which was suggested by the occasion. Paul,
in his discourse on Mars Hill, had for his text an in-
scription found on a pagan altar, " To the unkno^vn
God," with which he associated a passage from the
pagan poet, Aratus, " For we are also His offspring " ;
but, as a rule, Paul addressed himself, without regard
to any text, to two themes : first, " This Jesus is the
Christ"; second^ His own conversion on the way to
Damascus.
4-. As to the custom of the early fathers. In the
post-apostolic church and for centuries thereafter the
custom, not invariable but usual, was to expound a por-
tion of Scripture in the discourse of the day. Thus
the sermon was more properly what would now be
called a homily, or expository lecture, with practical
applications.
5. The origin of the textual method. The use of the
text as a prevailing fashion began in the fifth century.
Musaeus of Marseilles is commonly referred to as its
foster-father. The simple fact that it furnishes the
easiest mode of procedure is sufficient to account for its
general adoption in those days.
6. Disuse of the textual Tnethod. The custom, after
28 TEXTS AND TOPICS
prevailing for some hundreds of years, gradually fell
into desuetude, owing chiefly to its abuse by the mys-
tics and scholastics. In some quarters allegorizing wa,s
carried to a grotesque extreme; in others, eisegesis
supplanted exegesis and the preacher made himself
ridiculous by exploiting his own views at the expense
of the Word of God.
The famous Dr. South, for example, took as the text
of a discourse before the Tailors' Guild of London,
" A remnant shall be saved."
In one of Spurgeon's lectures to the students of the
Pastors' College he says, " I heard the other day of a re-
markable text, which was appropriate or inappropriate,
as you may think. A squire of a parish had given away
a number of flaming scarlet cloaks to the oldest matrons
of the parish. These resplendent beings w^ere required to
attend the parish church on the following Sunday and to
sit in front of the pulpit, from which one of the avowed
successors of the apostles edified the saints from the
words, ' Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these.' "
It is credibly afiirmed that one of these text-twisters,
taking his theme from " Tour adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may de-
vour " (1 Peter v. 8), presented his discourse under the
following heads :
(1) Who, the devil, is he ?
(2) What, the devil, is he like ?
(3) Where, the devil, is he going ?
(4) What, the devil, does he purpose to do ?
It was by such outlandish and unwarranted uses of
Scriptural head-lines that self-respecting ministers were
finally led to preach without any texts at all.
IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXT 29
7. Texts from elsewhere than the Scrijptures. As
the shadows of the Dark Ages gathered and deepened,
thd Bible became a neglected book, almost as wholly
forgotten as in the period preceding the reign of
Josiah. Preachers began to take their texts from the
fathers, from Aristotle or other philosophers, from al-
most anywhere. As a result the message of the pulpit
became distinctively ethical, not infrequently secular,
and the Biblical factor was largely eliminated from the
current consideration of the problems of life.
8. The next step was to drop the text altogether. The
necessity of " sticking to the text " being justly re-
garded as a hindrance to that broad freedom of argu-
ment which was demanded by the polemic spirit of
those times, a new fashion known as " free discourse "
came into vogue. Controversy was in the air. Points
of doctrine and of ethics, great and little — some so
little that the fierce logomachy which gathered about
them seems now like a tempest in a teapot — were
argued pro and contra, with little reference to Scrip-
tural or any other authority. Those were sad days for
religion and for the Church of God.
9. The textual method was revived in the twelfth
century, i. 6., the period of the Renaissance. The
leaders^ of religious sentiment were, however, by no
means united in approving it. Roger Bacon may, per-
haps, be regarded as the most conspicuous of its opposers.*
As time passed it again gradually fell into disuse.
^ He wrote against it with great severity. He prayed God
to '* banish this conceited and artificial way of preaching from
his church." The notion of the topical sermon which he
entertained was a singular one. It lets us into the clerical life
of the times significantly. He writes, *' The greatest part of
30 TEXTS AND TOPICS
10. In the Refortnation the use of texts was resumed
hy Luther and the other reformers and has prevailed
ever since in the Protestant Church. It is a singular
fact that the infidel Voltaire, towards the close of the
eighteenth century, was most earnest in denouncing
the use of the text as a violation of the sanctions of
Free Thought. It is now so generally adopted that one
who discards it must be able to give a clear and forcible
reason for doing so.
11. As against the usage it may be said :
{a) It is certainl}'- not imperative.
(J) It may hamper the freedom of the preacher in
the freest and broadest treatment of his theme.
(c) It sometimes affords a subterfuge for non-Scrip-
tural preaching. The taking of a text looks like a
tribute to inspiration ; but unless properly regarded it
may become, as somebody has remarked, " a mere pre-
text " for an avoidance of the Word.*
our prelates, having but little knowledge in divinity, and hav-
ing been little used to preaching in their youth, when they be-
come bishops, and are sometimes obhged to preach, are under
the necessity of begging and borrowing the sermons of certain
novices, who have invented a new way of preaching, by end-
less divisions and quibblings, in which there is neither sub-
limity of style, nor depth of wisdom. It will never do any
good."— Phelps, " Theory of Preaching."
^ An objection to the use of the text is that it is often fatal to
the most intelligent treatment of Scripture. Chopping the
Bible into fragments, the practice pursued from a host of
pulpits through long centuries of abuse, leaves us amazed that
the book has survived during centuries of dislocation and dis-
memberment. The words of Erasmus are needed still : "To
get at the real meaning it is not enough to take four or five
isolated words ; you must look where they came from, what
was said, by whom it was said, to whom it was said, at what
time, on what occasion, in what words, what preceded, what
follows." — Fattison, '* The Making of the Sermon.*'
IMPORTANCE OF THE TEXT 31
12. In favour of the usage this may briefly be said :
{a) It is after the analogy of courts and public
assemblages ; where speakers are accustomed to ad-
dress themselves to a proposed bill or resolution.^
(5) It is something to stick to ; a nail " fastened by
the master of assemblies," on which the preacher may
hang his argument. It prevents "branching." When
the preacher leaves his text his auditors know — and he
should — that he is " out of order."
(c) It gives the backing of divine authority to the
sermon ; that is, when the preacher duly honours it.
And, really, what the people want is not the personal
opinion of the man in the pulpit, with respect to the
matter in hand, but a frank, well-considered and com-
prehensive statement of God's word concerning it.
The I-say-so of a man whose breath is in his nostrils is
not an invaluable contribution to the discussion of any
problem of truth or ethics ; but a " Thus saith the
* The orator who speaks to a toast and the statesman who
previous to his address in the legislature calls for the reading
of certain resolutions, both of them use texts. The musician
varying the air, but at the same time preserving harmony by
observing unity, finds in the motif of his composition his text ;
to the painter some familiar strain of song or some stirring
scene in history furnishes a text; and when Milton opens
" Paradise Lost" with the words,
** Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe; "
or when Tennyson, in the first lines of "In Memoriam," holds
it true with another singer that '* Men may rise on stepping-
stones of their dead selves to higher things," they only illustrate
the use of the text by the greatest of poets. — Fattison, ** The
Making of the Sermon,'^
32 TEXTS AND TOPICS
Lord" makes an end of controversy for all such as
revere God.'
* If the Bible be an inspired volume, it is inspired for a
purpose. If inspired for a purpose, it is divinely fitted for that
purpose. If fitted to that purpose, it is a compend of the truths
most necessary to the world in all time. Such a book, framed
for such a purpose, can never, as a whole, be antiquated. It
can contain nothing which, for the purposes of such a volume,
can ever be obsolete. The world will always need it, and will
need the whole of it. As a unit, it will be as fresh to the last
man as to you and me. This, then, is the strong point in the
claim which the pulpit asserts to reverence for its usage in
preaching from texts, — that they give divine authority to the
sentiments of the pulpit. Yield this, and you revolutionize
the pulpit in less than one generation. The instincts of in-
fidelity are very keen in sending out and worrying down, if
possible, a clerical usage like this, which is the most vital
exponent the pulpit has of its own faith and of the popular
faith in inspiration. — Phelps ^ " Theory of Preaching,''^
II
SELECTION OF TEXTS AND TOPICS
WITH the dawn of " blue Monday " the ques-
tion inevitably recurs, " What next shall I
preach on ? "
Of course the preacher's invariable theme is, " Christ
and Him crucified " ; but there are innumerable stand-
points from which to present it. The text merely
marks the standpoint. Yariety is to be dul}?^ regarded.
"Therefore every scribe who is instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an house-
holder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things
new and old."
It is easy to get into a rut ; the mind naturally
pursues the even tenor of its way. Hence the custom
of preaching a series of sermons, doctrinal or ethical,
historical or biographical. There is something to be
said for this method; but, on the other hand, (1) it
leaves the casual or occasional worshipper out of the
reckoning and (2) it is apt to feed the regular attendant
on one sort of diet so long as to endanger his sym-
metrical growth and also pall upon him.
Fortunately, the possibilities of variety in the presen-
tation of the Gospel are so great that no preacher is
excusable for playing wearisomely on an instrument of
one string. The young theologue is apt to wonder
where his supplies are coming from ; but as years pass
33
34: TEXTS AND TOPICS
lie will find that his chief embarrassment is emharras
de richesses.
(Note : An easy way to avoid going over the same
ground too often is to keep, near at hand, a list of texts
and topics recently used. A better plan is to make out,
at the beginning of each year, an outline, more or less
flexible, of subjects to be treated during the forthcom-
ing year. In such an outline there would naturally be
a just proportion of doctrine, ethics, etc.) '
Now as to the rules by which the preacher should be
guided in the selection of his text ; this, assuming that
his choice is not on mere impulse or haphazard.
First : there may be an occasion which suggests it,
such as
(1) An immediate need among the members of his
congregation. There may be an epidemic of sickness
or, worse still, of some form of unbelief or immorality.
In such case let the shepherd remember that it is his
business to safeguard the flock. Paul, an ideal minister,
has much to say in his pastoral epistles about " false
teachers creeping in." A faithful pastor will preach
with constant reference to the moral law and " the
faith once delivered to the saints " ; because the Chief
* Dr. John Duncan thinks that the reason why the religion
of Matthew Henry was so exceeding broad was that he cast
himself with equal reverence on the whole of the Bible, and
had no favourite texts. Every preacher is apt to err by
neglecting doctrines that need to be preached, characters that
ought to be studied, and often whole books in the Bible that
deserve to be expounded. Our preaching is often one-sided ;
sometimes, one fears, it is not even so much as that. Doctrine,
precept, history, type, psalm, proverb, experience, warning,
promise, invitation, threatening or rebuke — we should include
the whole of inspired truth within the circle of our teachings. —
Pattison, " The Making of the Sermon^
SELECTION OF TEXTS AND TOPICS 35
Shepherd holds him responsible for souls entrusted to
him.
For example: If some such folly as "Christian.
Science" should be making inroads in the parish, — •
creeping into houses and " leading captive silly women "
of both sexes, — the preacher's business is clearly and
imperatively marked out for him. He might choose
some such text as 2 Kings x, 1-7. But let him, under
these or like circumstances, {a) be careful scrupulously
to avoid personalities and {h) make sure that he under-
stands his subject well enough to dispose of it effectively,
once for all.
(2) The text may be suggested by passing events in
the larger parish.
{a) The preacher is in great measure responsible for
the morals of the community. If there is " graft " in
the. management of the city or village he is bound to
address himself to it. Text, perhaps, 2 Kings ii. 19-22.
{h) So, also, in the larger affairs of the nation.
Partizan politics are ruled out of the pulpit, — but if
Christian citizens vote the ^vrong ticket, ministers are
greatly to blame for it. "We are under bonds to
" render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's "
as really and faithfully as we are to " render unto God
the things which are God's." ^
(3) International affairs, also, concern us. The
* I despise, and call upon you to despise, all the weak asser-
tions that a minister must not preach politics because he will
injure his influence if he does, or because it is unworthy of his
sacred office. The influence that needs such watching may
well be allowed to die, and the more sacred the preacher's
office is the more he is bound to care for all the interest of
every child of God. — Brooks, ^^ Lectures on Preaching^
36 TEXTS AND TOPICS
preacher is, like Ms Lord, a cosmopolitan. The world
is his parish. War and arbitration fall within his
purview. He reads the newspapers to keep track of
the expansion of the kingdom of God ; and his people
should get the benefit of it.
Caution : Secular affairs are not to be treated secu-
larly in the pulpit; but only as they bear upon the
religious life of the people, the welfare of the Church
and the restoration of the world to truth and righteous-
ness. The preacher is safe, whatever his theme, provid-
ing he stands under the Cross while elucidating it.
Second : one may be guided in the choice of a text by
a proposed plan of treatment.
(1) He may set out to preach a topical sermon ; in
which case whether it be doctrinal {e. g., on the Incar-
nation, the Atonement, or Justification by Faith), or
ethical {e. g., on any of the Christian graces), suitable
texts will come crowding upon him.
(2) If he proposes to preach an expository sermon,
he may select for his text an entire book of Scripture,
a chapter {e. g., Rom. viii.), a paragraph {e. g., 1 Cor. iii.
18-23 ; or one of the parables or miracles), a verse, or
possibly a single word {e. g., " Remember ").'
(3) It may be, however, and more probably, that he
would combine the topical and textual method, using a
topical text.^ If, for example, his subject is Steadfast-
*The word, however, must be large enough to contain a
theme. The young minister who preached a candidate sermon
on the word "but" in 2 Kings v. i failed to make a favour-
able impression on the Church Committee, who said, " You
may be an excellent scholar and a fine theologian but you are
not the preacher for us."
* The construction of outlines according to topical, textual
and expository methods will be found further on.
SELECTION OF TEXTS AND TOPICS 37
ness, he may find a suitable text for expository treat-
ment in Ephesians vi. 11-17.
Third : the choice of a text may be determined bj
its natural cleavage.
On examining a portion of Scripture one often finds
that it falls apart of itself, suggesting by its ready
analysis the normal train of thought.
(1) Verbal, e. g., "My yoke is easy." (a) The
Christian life is a yoke. "Why? (b) It is easy.
Why ? Give the reasons for it.
(2) Clausular, e. g., " If any man will come after Me,
let him {a) deny himself, (5) take up his cross and (c)
follow Me."
(3) Logical, e. g., The Parable of the Prodigal Son.
{a) His going away, {h) His life in the far country,
(c) His coming back, {d) At home.
m
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TEXTS
AT times it ^may be advisable to use two or more
texts / especially in the treatment of a para-
doxical theme. A sermon on The Bearing of
Burdens, e. g., would naturally hang on two passages,
" Bear ye one another's burdens " and " Let every one
bear his own burden." The text " God is love " could
scarcely be covered without some reference to that
other, " Our God is a consuming fire." *
2. It happens not infrequently that the preacher
finds it impossible to exhaust a text sufficiently in a sin-
gle sermon / in which case he may announce another on
the following Sabbath. But this should be done rarely
and with caution, since the next congregation will not
be personally identical with the last one.
3. A portion of a text may be used ; but only when
the entire passage suffers no violence by this excision.
There are parts of Scripture which, as somebody has
said, " are like the coupons on excursion tickets, not
good if detached."
^ The late Professor Hitchcock of Amherst discussed before
the Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1850, the mutual depend-
ence of liberty, education and religion. The subject was
single, yet threefold : no corresponding threefold text in the
Bible exactly expresses or suggests that threefold theme.
Therefore the preacher properly announced three texts — one
for each of the leading topics of the sermon. — Phelps, " Theory
of Preaching^
38
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TEXTS 39
It is related that when Jean Caturce was brought to
the stake for denouncing the errors of Romanism, such
as the celibacy of the clergy and enforced fasting, his
execution was preceded by an admonitory sermon de-
livered by the court chaplain on 1 Timothy iv. 1-2 :
" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils ; speaking lies
in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with an
hot iron." The preacher was interrupted and put to
confusion by Caturce exclaiming, " Hold ! Thou doest
violence to Scripture. Read on in verse three, 'for-
bidding to marry and commanding to abstain from
meats which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving by them that believe and know the
truth.' " He was executed, just the same ; but he had
the satisfaction of knowing that the Scripture had been
fairly dealt with.
4. It is well, usually, to select texts so far aside
from the commonplace as to win attention at once, e. g.,
text for a sermon on Unconscious Influence, Acts v.
15 ; or on Posthumous Influence, 2 Kings xiii. 20-21.
5. If an old text is chosen it should be treated in an
uncommon way.
There are many passages which are as familiar to
Christian people as the beaten paths leading to the door-
ways of their early homes ; passages which are especially
hallowed by association, perhaps as the means of their
conversion, or by some experience of deep joy or sorrow.
Not a few of these are like the scone stone in West-
minster Abbey, on which sovereigns have been crowned
from time immemorial. Such texts, when treated in a
novel way, are invested with a double interest ; and
40 TEXTS AND TOPICS
those who know them best are most impressed ; as when
one returning to the home of his childhood sees new
beauty in familiar scenes. Blessed is the preacher who
can, by wise ingenuity, overcome the difficulties of a
commonplace situation and bring to his people a fresh
draught of water from the old well beside the gate of
Bethlehem !
Professor Phelps says, " Old Biblical truths can be
handled without conceits and without straining ; and,
thus handled, they are the elementary forces of the
pulpit. A preacher needs to believe this. Trust the
common stock of BibKcal thought, and use it coura-
geously. That very courage lifts a preacher's mind to a
loftier level of working. Faithful manipulation of
such materials is the thing needed. Do not use them,
in the bulk, at second-hand. Work them over. Re-
construct them. Polish them. Put them through the
laboratory of your own thinking. Get fresh robes for
them from your own emotions. Do something, or the
other thing, or all things, which shall make them your
own. Quicken thus your own interest in them ; and the
result will be that, when they go from you, they will
uplift hearers to the heavens."
6. Avoid obscure texts. The Red Dragon and the
Scarlet "Woman may wisely be let alone, unless the
preacher is confident that he has solved the difficult
problems which beset them. People do not care par-
ticularly to hear dreams and speculations.
There are many questions which the average man in
the pulpit can best answer by saying, " I do not know."
But there are many others, and fortunately the most
important, concerning which he may say with assur-
ance, " That which was from the beginning, which we
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TEXTS 41
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of
the AVord of Life, declare we unto you ; for the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and
show unto you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifest unto us."
7. But a difficult jpassage is not to he avoided on ac-
count of its difl&cultness. On the other hand it may
prove, when thoroughly mastered by the preacher, a
source of most profitable instruction. The hardest
quartz is sometimes richest in gold.
Take, for example, Matthew xvi. 16-19, a passage
which has provoked endless controversy. It is one of
the pivotal proof texts of the Papal Church ; yet here
is a rich mine of argument in behalf of Protestantism,
since, when rightly interpreted and expounded, it teaches
the vital truth, " Other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid which is Jesus Christ."
8. A text may be too small for homiletic use. Not
all passages of Scripture are, or were intended to be,
large enough for a sermon. " All Scripture is profit-
able ; " but all portions of it, though equally true, are
not equally applicable to the personal needs of all.^
9. Some texts are too large to be compressed into a
' I know a minister whose shoe-latchet I am unworthy to un-
loose, whose preaching is often no better than sacred miniature
painting — I might almost say holy trifling. He is great upon
the ten toes of the beast, the four faces of the cherubim, the
mystical meaning of badgers' skins, and the typical bearings
of the staves of the ark and the windows of Solomon's temple :
but the sins of business men, the temptations of the times, and
the needs of the age, he scarcely ever touches upon. Such
preaching reminds me of a lion engaged in mouse-hunting, or a
man-of-war cruising after a lost water-butt. — Spurgeon, " LeC'
tiires to My Siudetits.'*
42 TEXTS AND TOPICS
single sermon. It is important to know our limitations,
if, e. g., one undertakes to preach on Isaiah vi. 1-8, he
will discover that the whole province of theology and
ethics is before him.
10. A good many texts are so corwplex as to involve
the preacher, and therefore his congregation, in a
jungle of thoughts. The importance of unity in treat-
ment and impression cannot be too strongly empha-
sized. A sermon should be one shot from a cannon
rather than a rattling fire of small artillery.' Peter's
" sum in addition " (2 Peter i. 5-8) might profitably
be used as the caption of a discourse on the Symmetry
of Character ; but when all the graces of character
there indicated, namely : " faith, virtue, knowledge,
temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and
charity," are dwelt on separately and at length, the re-
sult is likely to be a considerable waste of ammunition,
as in flock-shooting out of range.
11. The preacher is often asked to preach on texts
which have perplexed one or more members of his con-
gregation. Sometimes this request may best be an-
swered in personal conversation ; particularly when the
matter referred to is one of individual rather than of
general concern. But not infrequently the suggestion
is one that may be wisely honoured in public.
A group of young clerks, after a vain effort to agree
as to the ethical teaching of the Parable of the Unjust
Steward, decided to ask their pastor to preach upon it ;
and he did so with pleasure and profit, enlisting the
* The following advertisement appeared in a New York news-
paper : " To Sportsmen. Send 25/ to . . . and learn
how to prevent your gun from scattering." The answer given
was, " Put one shot in your gun."
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TEXTS 43
sympathetic attention not only of the group referred to
but of others interested in the teaching of Jesus with
reference to the rule of common honesty in business life.
It would be difficult to find a minister who has not
been requested, once and again, particularly by Chris-
tians with morbidly sensitive consciences, to preach on
the Unpardonable Sin. There is no good reason why
the request should not be comi^lied with, on the one
hand because the subject is so generally misunderstood,
oftentimes plunging true believers into unnecessary
doubt and depression of spirit ; and on the other, be-
cause it affords the preacher an opportunity not only of
giving comfort where it is greatly needed but of urg-
ing the unconverted to avoid the persistent rejection of
the overtures of the Holy Spirit in the presentation of
Christ. This " grieving " of the Spu-it is, in the neces-
sity of the case, the unpardonable sin ; since it closes
the only door that has ever been opened into the bless-
ings of eternal life.'
12. In any case, whatever the text, it behooves the
preacher to make it tell. As he presents the truth
which it contains, he is in the attitude of a man but-
tressed by divine authority. Here is his coign of van-
tage. He speaks as an ambassador of Jesus Christ ; so
that his message is not the mere personal opinion of a
fallible man but, — so far forth as he is loyal to his text,
— a manifesto with the warrant " Thus saith the Lord "
emanating from the throne of God.
* It is the Holy Spirit who testifies of Jesus (John xv. 26),
brings to remembrance His teachings (John xiv. 26), reproves
of sin (John xvi. 8), and urges the sinner to accept Christ
(Heb. iii. 7-1 1). The unpardonable sin is also called "the
sin against the Holy Ghost" because it is the rejection of this
patient, persistent witness to Christ.
IV
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TOPICS
IN the old plays there were many " asides " — spoken
into the air, the sleeve or the " flies " — which
served a purpose, incidentally, but were easily
overdone to the great detriment of the performance.
1. DorCt preach asides. Our business is to preach
the Gospel. Art, science, politics, metaphysics and the
like may enter into a sermon en passant ; but they are
" asides " ; and it is never worth while to preach on
them for their secular value. The preacher's eye must
indeed be on current events, but he preaches only Christ
and Him crucified. The crimson thread must be
woven into every theme.
^. DonH preach heights and depths. As a rule we
make fools of ourselves when we try to be sublime.
And to try to be profound is worse still. When a
speaker gets above his audience the probability is that
he is overreaching himself, as well. A man who knows
what he is trying to say will not find it difficult to be
simple. A clear thinker is always a clear speaker.
The deacons go to sleep when the domine is a somnam-
bulist. If you have anything to say, out with it.
Don't be dull. Don't look wise. Don't mumble your
words. The people have had enough of sesquipedalian
words and involved periods. They are tired of the
cant of wisdom, and the cant of eloquence, and the cant
of "the cloth." They see through it. They want
44
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TOPICS 45
clearness, directness, earnestness, sincerity. They want
a common-sense Gospel presented in a sensible way.
3. Dofi^tj?reach infinitesimals. There is enough on
the page proper without expomiding the fly-speck in the
margin. " My text may be found in 1 Samuel xvi. 23.
My subject is : ' Music hath charms.' " What a waste !
The mountain travails and brings forth a ridiculous
mouse. There is an infinite variety of subjects radiat-
ing from the Cross, which is the greatest of all ; ^vhy
should we trifle thus with God and immortal souls ?
On the table before me lies a volume of sermons,
preached to a congregation of liberally educated people,
three-fourths of which are about non-essentials.
" Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink ! ' '
There has been nothing like this since Nero fiddled at
the burning of Rome. It is a tremendous mistake to
assume that the old subjects are worn threadbare.
Men never get beyond the need of air, sunlight and
spring water. The most cultured congregation is in
deepest need of old-fashioned truth. The lapsed aris-
tocracy must come to Jesus in the old way or never
come at all.
J^. DonH preach negations. These are important
only for the sake of consequent assertions. The icono-
clast is a pernicious nuisance unless he has something
to put on the emptied pedestal. The Psalmist says :
" A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes
upon the thick trees," i. e., to cut beams and pillars for
the Temple, " but now they cut down the carved work
thereof with axes and hammers."
46 TEXTS AND TOPICS
Let us not confuse the vandal and the reformer. One
wastes ; the other builds. Some of our ministers have
busied themselves in denying the perpetual force of the
fourth commandment ; and the prevalent Sabbath dese-
cration of our time is to be laid largely at their doors.
They have used their axes also upon the stern morality
of the Puritans, with a general laxness in society to
show for it. They have assailed " the traditional view
of the inerrancy of the Scriptures " ; and in doing so
have cut away the foundations for many. What is the
motive? Or what the recompense? The meanest
wretch on earth is one who robs a beggar of his crutch
and gives him nothing else to lean on.
Let it be assumed, for the moment, that the Bible is a
mere bundle of fables and folk-lore, that immortality is
a dream and God Himself a myth ; what is gained by
showing it? Half -rations of mouldy hardtack are
better than starvation. These vandals excuse them-
selves on the ground that they are destroying error ;
but it is weU to remember the German proverb, " Do
not throw out the baby with the bath water." By all
means let us clear away the rubbish, but only for the
setting-up of new shrines. Let us be builders, declar-
ing the positives, contributing to the sum total of truth
and righteousness and so glorifying God.
6. DonH preach personalities. The Gospel itself is
sufficiently personal. Coleridge said, " It finds me."
And the reason it finds a man is because it searches for
him. Never single out an individual in the congrega-
tion for either praise or censure. Every one in your
congregation needs looking after ; but the truth itself,
faithfully preached, will do it. Nathan said to David :
" Thou art the man " ; but he did not say it in church.
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TOPICS 47
The most despicable coward I know is the preacher
who, seeing in his audience a miserable sinner whom
society has pilloried for his misdeeds, takes occasion to
denounce him before all. It looks brave, but it is con-
temptible cowardice ; it is taking a mean advantage ;
it is playing to the galleries.
A man thus victimized said to me once : " There is
nothing to be done. If I reply in the newspapers he
will meet me there with epithets which no self-respect-
ing layman would use ; if I assail him in the courts he
has the advantage of his 'cloth' and the additional
benefit of much advertising; if I lay hands on him
physically he will exhibit his sores next Sunday and
whine for canonization as a martyr. There is nothing
to do, except to give the clerical mountebank all the
tether he wants and trust to time." But what a reckon-
ing awaits the minister who puts his pulpit to such base
uses!
If you have a personal grievance with any man, don't
lug it into your pulpit, but go and settle it " betwixt
thee and him alone." Or if the grievance be one of
" public fame," consider that the man before you is a
voluntary attendant on your services ; wherefore to put
him to an open shame — unwarned and with no oppor-
tunity to talk back — is an impertinence so base and
cowardly as probably to embitter him forever and per-
manently exile him from the house of God.
6. DonH preach " isms " and " ologiesP We praise
the " man of one idea " when that idea is Christ and
Him crucified ; but when his one idea is a small and
relatively unimportant segment of truth it makes him
inevitably a fanatic and a crank. One minister is a
pre-miUenarian, and insists on hammering the apocalyp-
48 TEXTS AND TOPICS
tic prophecies into the souls of his people in season and
out of season. Another is a temperance enthusiast, and
wearies his congregation with perpetual iterations and
reiterations of the horrors of drink. Another makes
a hobby of church union; another goes round and
round the current problems of sociology like an eagle
tethered to a stake ; another is a pessimist and makes
every sermon a jeremiad against church and society and
government.
I have heard of an old-time clergyman whose sermons
always led up to pedobaptism. A wager was made
that no text could be given him which he could not
somehow twist in that direction. He was requested to
preach on Genesis iii. 9, " Adam, where art thou ? "
He divided his discourse into four points: '■''Firstly,
Adam was somewhere. Secondly, The Lord wanted
him to be somewhere else. Thirdly, He was not where
the Lord wanted him to be. Fourthly, Infant baptism."
This is not more preposterous than the perpetual harp-
ing on any other comparatively non-essential theme.
A pastor who would have a symmetrically cultured
congregation must bear in mind that the Gospel is like
a circle with the Cross at its centre. The whole cir-
cumference must be preached and the centre never left
out.
7. DonH preach rhetoric. The essay in the pulpit is
responsible for much infirmity in both priest and peo-
ple. If lawyers were to pursue the method of many
ministers in preparing their briefs they would weary
the courts and disgust their clients. Our client is
Christ, our " case " is the Gospel, our jury is the con-
gregation ; and thirty pages of rounded periods are
relied on to accomplish the work !
SUGGESTIONS AS TO TOPICS 49
Paul was a great preacher; the only mistake of
judgment he ever seems to have made in the pulpit
was when he applied the rhetorical methods of the
Greek schools so elegantly in his peroration on Mars
Hill that he was interrupted before he reached his
sermon proper. Epigrams, word-pictures, poetical allu-
sions, striking illustrations and rhetoric generally are of
little or no value except as they lead straight to Christ,
the Christ who, being lifted up, will draw all men unto
Him.
One of the greatest temptations of a young minister
is the desire to preach a beautiful sermon. And many
a beginner is ruined for life by praises lavished on his
round periods. Let everything go, young man, except
your desire to convince the people of the truth of the
Gospel and win them to Christ. Make your case,
whenever you enter the pulpit. Make your case ; con-
vince the jury, at all hazards. Cultivate abandon.
Magnify your office, but let your scholarly dignity go
to the winds. Be true to the truth, true to your ordina-
tion ; and your blood earnestness will, under God, do
the rest.
8. So much for the " Don'ts." What is left for us
to do ? One thing, — preach the Gospel. All doctrines
and all ethics radiate from this centre. There is noth-
ing in the wheel but hub, spokes, and tire ; and all are
Christ. We sometimes say that preaching has two pur-
poses,— the salvation of sinners, and the edification of
saints ; but these two are only one. The same truth
that wins a soul will edify a soul already won. Growth
in grace is merely getting nearer to Christ. Evangel-
istic preaching — and there should be no other — is a feast
of fat things for all who sincerely long for a deepening
60 ' TEXTS AND TOPICS
of the spiritual life. God's sheep cannot grow lean
under the Cross ; the most succulent pastures are there.
The best preacher in the world, therefore, is he who, in
utter self-forgetfulness, makes Christ first, last, midst
and all in all.
PART SECOND
The Outline of the Sermon
IMPOETANCE OF THE OUTLINE
THE text or topic having been chosen the next
thing in order is the building of the sermon.
The preacher, as an architect, having in-
formed himself as to the sort of structure required,
proceeds, in the order of logical sequence, to construct
the framework. "This is as necessary to success in
preaching as a lawyer's brief is to the effective pres-
entation of his case.
Other things being equal a good outline is the guar-
anty of a good sermon ; and, jper contra^ an imperfect
outline (or, still worse, none at all) is the occasion of
much fiat, stale and unprofitable discourse. Phillips
Brooks in his " Lectures on Preaching " says. " In the
desire to make a sermon seem free and spontaneous
there is a prevalent dislike to giving it its necessary
formal structure and organism. The statement of the
subject, the division into heads, the recapitulation at
the end, all the scaffolding and anatomy of a sermon is
out of favour, and there are many very good jests
about it. I can only say that I have come to fear it
less and less. The escape from it must be not negative
but positive. The true way to get rid of the business
of your sermon is not by leaving out the skeleton but
by clothing it w^ith flesh. True liberty in writing
comes by law ; and the more thoroughly the outlines
63
54 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
of your work are laid out the more freely your sermon
will flow like an unwasted stream between its well-
built banks."
The novelist Zola, in his last sickness, was asked
what progress he had made with a projected book.
" It is finished," he said, pointing to a pile of manu-
script. " But this is only your syllabus," said his
friend. " True," replied Zola, " but the rest is merely
mechanical ; it is nothing, nothing."
1. The frmning of an outline prior to the construc-
tion of the sermon is according to nature.
Thus the worlds were made ; all things in logical
order : at the outset, chaos, thohu va vohu • then light ;
the parting of the firmament ; sea and land ; organic
life ; man. It is a true saying, " Nature geometrizes."
Every atom has its caption and demonstration. The
diamond is a crystal, true to mathematics ; so is the
snowflake. There is a plan at the centre of every
work of God. Nevertheless, building is not an intui-
tion but an art. Architects are made, not born. A
child drawing the picture of a house begins, as likely
as not, with the smoke issuing from the chimney. The
years teach him the normal method ; foundation, frame-
work, pillars and girders, masonry, roof and furnish-
ings.
^. An outline is necessary to the ^pursuance of a
coherent, progressive and convincing argument.
The outline secures unity.
Branching and scattering are fatal homiletic vices.
Sermonizing is focalizing. In Carlyle's essays one may
find a good illustration of how not to do it. His
custom was to jot down happy thoughts as they oc-
curred to him and, when the accumulation was suffi-
IMPORTANCE OF THE OUTLINE 55
cient, to put them together under whatever title
seemed most appropriate. This might answer for an
essay, but not for a sermon. The preacher who builds
his sermons by patching together the contents of a
scrap cabinet may say many interesting things in the
course of his preaching but cannot possibly be a good
preacher ; because a sermon is not a scrimmage but " a
thrust." Its ultimate purpose is not to interest but to
persuade ; and a connected argument or train of
thought is necessary to that end. " Is a crowd an
army ? " asks Dr. Herrick Johnson. " Is a heap of
stones an arch ? Is a lot of ideas a sermon ? Other
things being equal, a discourse is powerful in propor-
tion to the order reigning in it. The place where you
put a thought or thing makes a mighty difference in the
effectiveness of use. Suppose a man had an arm
where one of his legs ought to be, and the leg was
socketed at his shoulder-blade — what kind of a man
would he be for doing things ? Ideas in speech must
be so arranged that they shall be best fitted to do
things. This means plan. An architect will never
start to build without a plan of the building. A civil
engineer surveys his route before he authorizes con-
struction. A general studies the situation and lays
out a plan of campaign before his army goes afield.
Should a minister ever prepare and preach a sermon
without a sermon plan ? "
The outline tends to clearness in the elucidation of
the theme.
We may leam this, among other things, from the
writings of Emerson. A thousand brilliant epigram-
matic thoughts thrown together at sixes and sevens
leave the mind dazzled, confused and wondering where
66 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
the writer stood and just what he was driving at.*
Pearls must be strung seriatim to make a necklace. A
true sermon is a well arranged progression of thought,
so clear that the wayfarer though a fool may follow
it directly to its destination.
The outline is necessary for conciseness.
Brevity is demanded of the preaching of these days.
Say what you have to say and have done with it. But
that is impossible unless you have a clear understanding of
what you propose to say before you undertake to say it.
In a popular lecture on the Tyrolese Alps I have seen
a four-hour sunrise presented in a moving picture so
that the whole procession of wonders was done for in
ninety seconds. In like manner the preacher is expected
to present in half an hour the mental processes of many
laborious days ; and in such a way that his congrega-
tion shall, without seeing too clearly the modus oper-
andi, get the full benefit of it. Time was when
preachers could go round about by the way of the
wilderness, double on their tracks and camp in paren-
theses at pleasure ; but that time has gone by. Thirty
minutes to the end of your journey ! Across the desert
to the Land of Promise ! If your sermon has a point,
make it.^
' How large a proportion of the common people, taken at
random, could Ralph Waldo Emerson hold together by his
cementless periods on Immortality ? Yet the pulpit sets itself
to the task of making immortality a living truth to men whose
days are spent in shoe-shops and hay-fields, and to women who
live over wash-tubs and cooking-stoves. The thing cannot be
done by the fluent and unscholarly method of the lyceum. —
Fhelps, " Theory of Preaching:'
* I commend to every preacher a little bit of noble English in
which John Bright contrasts his oratory with that of W. E.
Gladstone. " Gladstone goes coasting along, turning up every
IMPORTANCE OF THE OUTLINE 57
The outline is a help to comprehensiveness. "^
The preacher should treat his theme as a farmer
reaps his field, i. e., clean it up. This does not mean
that the outline should over-multiply heads and sub-
heads. It is well to be broad, providing one does not
spread himself out so broadly as to be thin. President
Finney once preached a sermon under thirty heads ; of
which one of his hearers said, " That was a valley fuU
of dry bones ; and they were very dry."
The outline is helpful to progressiveness.
The use of firstlys and secondlys is said to have
originated in the Roman forum ; where the speaker,
from his position on the rostrum, emphasized the suc-
cessive steps of his argument by pointing to the sur-
rounding shops or tahernce, one by one, until he had
completed the circuit. The preacher must " get on "
thus in his discourse, step by step ; like the man who so
lives " that each to-morrow finds him further than to-
day."
The outline stimulates the hearer's interest in the
advancing train of thought.
Just how far the preacher should thus disclose his
points must be determined by his own wisdom. The
audience in the forum would be pretty certain to follow
the hand of the orator as he pointed to the various
stations in the line of his advance.
One's hearers should watch the progress of the
creek and exploring it to its source before he can proceed on
his way; but I have no talent for detail. I hold my course
from headland to headland through the great seas." Divisions
are the headlands by which the speaker holds his course through
the great seas of thought. — Fattison, " The Making of the
Sermon.^*
68 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
argument like a boy whom I once knew, who, return-
ing from Phillips Academy in Massachusetts to his
home on the Western frontier, used to feel his heart
beating faster and faster as he neared his destination,
counting the stations with a consuming fever of im-
patience as the brakeman called them one by one :
" Elgin "— " Belvidere "— " Eockford "— " Pecatonica "
— " Winnebago " — " Ridott " — " Freeport " — home at
last!
The outline makes for permanence of impression.
It serves as a mnemonic help. There are many
hearers who carry away little or nothing except the
points ; and this they cannot do unless the preacher is a
party to it.
n
CONSTRUCTION OF THE OUTLINE
THERE is a wide divergence of opinion as to
the constituent parts of the outline.
Aristotle suggested four: 1, The Introduc-
tion ; 2, The Proposition ; 3, The Proof ; 4, The Con-
clusion.
Quintilian, speaking from the standpoint of a jurist,
insisted on five : 1, The Introduction ; 2, The Proposi-
tion ; 3, The Proof ; 4, The Refutation ; 5, The Con-
clusion.
Professor Phelps of Andover recommended seven:
1, The Text ; 2, The Explanation ; 3, The Introduction ;
4, The Proposition ; 5, The Division; 6, The Develop-
ment ; 7, The Conclusion.
For our purpose three will suffice : 1, The Exordium ;
2, The Development ; 3, The Peroration.
In Baker's " Principles of Argument " he says : " A
good brief ordinarily has three divisions : the Introduc-
tion, the Brief Proper and the Conclusion.
" The introduction should state as concisely as possi-
ble, by suggestive phrases of a line or two, the facts nec-
essary to an understanding of the discussion : namely,
how the question arose ; what are the facts admitted by
both sides ; and, by definition and exposition, what is
the exact point at issue.
" The brief proper should by a series of headings and
sub-headings very concisely make clear the develop-
59
60 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
ment of the argument by which the writer expects to
prove the affirmative or the negative of the question he
has clearly stated in the introduction. He should tirst
select the main ideas that prove his conclusion. These
he should arrange so that his plan shall show the
relations they naturally bear to one another and to the
essential idea or group of ideas. In arranging the
material he should as far as possible regard climax.
.^11 the main headings and sub-headings should read as
reasons for the conclusion. The correlation of all the
parts should be distinctly marked by letters and
numbers.
" The conclusion simply sums up briefly the argument,
showing clearly how it has led to a decision in the case.
This decision — unless it is given at the beginning of the
brief proper as the proposition — should always be
stated."
1. In constructing the outline, at the outset get the
purpose of the sermon clearly in mind. A lesson may
be learned from the " spellbinder," speaking from the
cart-tail in a political campaign, who marshals his facts
with a single object in view, to wit, the gaining of votes.
2. Choose the lest method. It is like settling down
to a plan of battle. Grant is said to have made him-
self familiar with every strategic point on the field of
Chattanooga before he permitted the firing of a gun.*
' If you will read the familiar correspondence of General
Sherman during the war, which was published by the War
Department, you will see that, months and months before his
great march, he was studying the country through which he
was about to go, its resources, its power of sustaining armies,
its populousness, the habits of the people, in short, everything
that belonged to it, in every relation, and all the questions that
could possibly arise in regard to it. — Beecher, *' Yale Lectures^
CONSTRUCTION OF THE OUTLINE 61
3. Put down the syllabus on paper, provisionally.
And make it out of your own head. " Simeon's Out-
lines " have quenched many an original spark of homi-
letic genius.
Dr. Herrick Johnson says, " Beware of books of
skeletons, called 'Pulpit Helps.' They are pulpit
hindrances ; snares of the devil. They may tide the
preacher over a present difficulty, they may back him
across a stream which he is too lazy to swim, or too
heavy with the things of the world to fly over ; but
the fires of homiletic enthusiasm cannot be fed with
them. As well think of rousing the passions with the
propositions of Euclid or of heating an oven with snow-
balls. Sermon plans may be studied, and should be
studied, as a matter of course, just as sermons should
be studied : as suggestive, illustrative, helpful, revealing
many a secret of pulpit effectiveness. But to transfer
them bodily to one's pulpit without credit is, in principle,
as immoral as to appropriate entire sermons that way."
4. Think over this " skeleton " and revise it again
and again. Whip it into satisfactory shape. In its
original form it, doubtless, had many faults.
It may have had too many divisions. We will
probably agree that the shad would be a better fish
were it not so bony.
Its points may have lapped over. This is a bad fault,
like " hitching " in one's walk.
Or, perhaps, its divisions did not follow one another
progressively. Soldiers may " mark time " in parade ;
but when the bugle sounds for battle they must get on.
A sermon should move forward to a climax ; forcing
upon the congregation a conviction that the preacher is
making his case.
62 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
5. Having completed the main outline, fill in the de-
tails with more or less particularity under the several
heads, indicating quotations, illustrations. Scriptural
references, et cetera. A skeleton is good as far as it
goes ; but there must be sinews upon the bones and skin
covering them and breath to animate it (Ezek. xxxvii.
8). A steel frame is necessary to a great building ; but
men are not expected to live in it.
6. Memorize the outline thus elaborated. It stands
for your argument ; your train of thought. That being
well in mind, the preparation will go on hilariter and
the sermon will find ready delivery.
The superintendent of construction on the great
Manhattan reservoir gave the public to understand that
the work would require about ten years for its com-
pletion, involving the removal of eight million cart-loads
of earth. The enterprise was so thoroughly planned,
with a view to all possible contingencies, that the cal-
culation was only a few cart-loads out of the way.
" The children of this world are wiser in their genera-
tion than the children of light." The preacher, of all
men engaged in great undertakings, should be most
careful to elaborate his plans ; for sermonizing infallibly
illustrates the old maxim, " Well begun is half done."
m
THE OUTLINE AS MODIFIED BY
CLASSIFICATION
IT is important, before proceeding to the construc-
tion of the outline, to have a clear understanding
^as to just what is proposed. This is, we repeat,
quite as necessary as it is for a builder to be informed
at the outset what sort of edifice is expected of him.
There are, as to relation of topic and treatment, three
kinds of sermons : namely, Topical, Textual and Ex-
pository.
.., A topical sermon is one in which the text merely
furnishes the theme, the treatment being more or less
independent of it.
A textual sermon is one in which the text furnishes
not only the theme but the main divisions in the treat-
ment of it.
An expository sermon is one in which the text fur-
nishes the theme together with the entire plan and
logical order.*
^ By expository preaching we mean that in which a minister,
having, by the aid of grammar, dictionary, and all proper
helps, learned for himself what meaning the Holy Ghost in-
tended to convey in the passage he has in hand, and then what
uses we ought, in harmony with the rest of divine teaching, to
make of it, and having filled his own miderstanding and
warmed his own heart with this truth, tells it to his people
with clearness, simplicity, force and fervour. — -John Hall,
" Yale Lectures:'
^ The expository method has Scriptural precedent in its
63
64 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
Examples of the Theee Methods
Text : John iii. 16.
First ; Topical.
The theme or topic is Justification by Faith.
Any plan of treatment may be adopted
without special reference to the text.
Second : Textual.
The theme is the same.
Divisions : suggested by the text :
1. God's love.
2. Its measure.
3. The purpose of it.
Third : Expository.
The theme is the same.
Outline : following the precise order of the text :
1. God.
2. God is love.
3. God loved the world.
4. God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son to redeem it.
5. The efficiency of this redeeming love
is conditioned on faith.
6. The outcome of faith is everlasting life.
Let us take another text : Psalm cvii. 23-31 : " They
that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in
great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and His
wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth
favour. Ezra standing upon his pulpit of wood (Neh. viii.),
which they had made for the purpose, with his group of elders
supporting him, and opening the book of the law in the sight of
all the people, and reading distinctly, and giving the sense,
and causing the great open-air congregation to understand the
words as he read them, is the very first original and most an-
cient type or pattern of our best pulpit work to this day. —
Pattison, *' Making of the Sermon,"
AS MODIFIED BY CLASSIFICATION 65
the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to
the depths : tlieir soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the
Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of
their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that
the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because
they be quiet : so He bringeth them unto their desired
haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His
goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children
of men ! "
First: Topical.
Theme : The Vicissitudes of Life.
Any logical outline will do.
Second: Textual.
The theme is the same.
1. God reigns.
2. The godless man is at his wit's end.
3. The secret of happiness is to be in vital
touch with God.
4. And this is life eternal.
Third: Expository.
The theme is the same.
1. The ship sails forth. The voyage of
life is under way.
2. The wind rises. "Man is born to
trouble as the sparks fly upward,"
3. The sailor is at his wit's end : literally
" His wisdom is swallowed up " : i. e.,
he can do nothing to help himself.
4. He crieth unto the Lord in his distress.
"Man's extremity is God's oppor-
tunity." Adversity brings a man to
his knees.
66 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
5. And the Lord hears him. " He maketh
the storm a calm ; He bringeth them
out of their distresses." The efficacy
of prayer in time of trouble. '' The
Lord our God is clothed with might ;
the winds obey His will."
6. Safe home ! " He bringeth them unto
their desired haven." All's well that
ends well. " Blest be the sorrow,
kind the storm, that drives us nearer
home."
Another example : Text : Ephesians iii. 14-19 : " For
this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named ; that He would grant you, according to
the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
by His Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and
height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge ; that ye might be filledwith all the fullness
of God."
First: Topical.
Theme : Spiritual Power.
Any logical outline will do : e. g.^
1. The importance of power.
2. Our duty to be strong : weakness is a
sin.
3. How secured. By prayer, etc.
4. Results ; as to self, others and God.
Second : Textual.
The same theme.
1. Its source : God the Father.
AS MODIFIED BY CLASSIFICATION 67
2. Its agent : God the Spirit.
3. Its condition : faith in God the Son.
4. Its object : " that ye might be filled
with all the fullness of God."
Third: Expository.
The same theme.
Introduction : " I," i. e., Paul, " bow my
knees unto God " ; Paul is praying for
the Ephesians, members of his former
parish ; praying for what ?
1. That they may " be strengthened."
2. " In the inner man," i. e., spiritually.
A Christian is morally bound to make
the most of himself.
3. By his Spirit. One of Moody's fre-
quent sayings was, " Honour the Holy
Ghost."
4. To what end ? First, that Christ may
dwell in them. Second, that so they
may be able to comprehend the divine
love. Third, and be filled with all
the fuUness of God.
Or another still : Text : Psalm xxiii. : " The Lord is my
Shepherd," etc.
First : Topical.
Theme : The Good Shepherd.
Introduction : A favourite Psalm.
1. Bring out the watch-care of God.
2. He is helpful in all the vicissitudes of
life.
3. Also in death.
4. And " forever."
Second : Textual.
The same theme.
1. The Shepherd furnishes food.
68 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
2. Correction on occasion.
3. Guidance, even to the end.
Third : Expository.
The same theme.
1. Faith. " The Lord is my Shepherd."
Do I believe it ?
2. Contentment. " I shall not want."
3. Peace. " Green pastures and still
waters."
4. Restoration : hope for the backslider.
5. Spiritual growth ; " in paths of right-
eousness."
6. Lifelong provision ; " a table in the
presence of mine enemies."
7. Numberless and immeasurable mercies ;
the anointing oil and the full cup.
8. A comfortable anticipation of death;
no fear ; His " rod and staff."
9. Eternal felicity ; " in the house of the
Lord forever."
IV
TEXTUAL OR EXPOSITOEY OUTLINES
THE derivation of the theme and outline from
the portion of Scripture chosen is a most im-
portant part of the minister's homiletic task.
1. The text which furnishes a verbal division is not
always the best for practical jpurjposes}
Take, for example, " There they crucified Him " (Luke
xxiii. 33). This text falls apart of itself as follows :
(1) " There." The place, Calvary ; called also Gol-
gotha. Why ? Where was it ? etc.
(2) ' ' They. " The guilty parties in the great tragedy.
Jews, Romans, religious leaders, common people. Their
various degrees of guilt.
(3) "Crucified." An accursed and ignominious mode
of execution. Give a more or less vivid picture of it.
*The preacher, to do his work well as an expounder of
Scripture, should possess a power of selection. He must know
what he himself can do best ; what parts of the Bible are
especially needed by his congregation ; and how to deal in a
workmanlike way with the portion when it has been fixed upon.
He will not find all Scripture submit itself to the expository
treatment. Unless there be unity of structure he will be
tempted to substitute a few scattered remarks for the con-
tinuous and progressive unfolding of truth ; his sermons will
be a coat of many inharmonious colours, in little danger of
excidng the jealousy of his brethren ; and his method, if
method it may be called, will be that of the blundering
preacher who said that he preferred to hold forth on a long
text, because when he was persecuted in one verse he could
flee to another. — Fatiison, " Making of the Sermon,''
69
70 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
(4) " Him." The divine victim.
At first glimpse this would appear to provide material
for a profitable sermon. In fact, however, it affords
nothing but an exordium. The points indicated might
be used with advantage by way of introduction to a
sermon on the Atonement ; but they do nothing more
than lead up to the theme. Solomon's porch, however
imposing, must not be mistaken for Solomon's Temple.
The lesson to be covered in a sermon on the Cruci-
fixion is to be found not in a mere portrayal of the
scene, no matter how picturesque and impressive that
may be, but in the facts which lie behmd and account
for it. Why did Christ suffer ? "What is the vital re-
lation of His suffering to sinful men ? How may I be
saved by it ? Such considerations as these are what
most concern us. In other words, the text referred to
is distinctly one to be treated topically and not by the
expository method, if we would make the most effective
use of it.
2. A paragraph of Scripture, which in its successive
clauses furnishes a variety of thought, is 7iot always the
lest for homiletic purposes. It frequently happens that
such a paragraph dissipates rather than focuses the
hearer's attention.
Take, for example, Peter's bundle of graces (2 Peter
i. 5-8). Here the passage falls asunder easily and fur-
nishes the following heads : (1) Faith ; (2) Virtue ;
(3) Knowledge ; (4) Temperance ; (5) Patience ; (6)
Godliness ; (7) Brotherly Kindness ; (8) Charity. The
tendency to enlarge upon each of these is almost ir-
resistible ; but, in my judgment, this would be a poor
method of procedure. Any one of the specified graces is
quite sufficient for a whole discourse and a profitable one
TEXTUAL OR EXPOSITORY OUTLINES 11
But suppose this passage be treated topically, tak-
ing for our theme The Symmetry of Christian Char-
acter : which is, indeed, the burden of Peter's thought.
In this case the several graces do not furnish either the
heads of the discourse or the substance of it. The em-
phasis is put rather upon the roundness and perfection
which comes from an equable cultivation of all the
virtues which were found so beautifully blended in
Christ. The last clause of the text is then the im-
portant one : " For if these things be in you, and
abound, they make you that ye shall be neither barren
nor unfruitful (R. V., idle) in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
3. The logical division of any text is always to be
preferred. As a rule, the text itself provides only the
theme and not the framework of the sermon ; which
then is purely topical. But sometimes a text opens up,
in the most surprising manner, a path with successive
mile-stones from first premise to conclusion. The ser-
mon thus suggested is distinctly an expository sermon,
coherent, progressive, and more or less demonstrative.
For true preaching is reasoning. Rhapsodizing is not
preaching. Talking about something is not preaching.
Talking about many things, from Dan to Beersheba
and from the river to the ends of the earth, is certainly
not preaching. " Come now, saith the Lord, and let us
reason together." To reason with a man is to go with
him from Somewhere to Some-other-where further on.
Homiletics is the art of ultimate arrival. The road to
conversion is persuasion ; and the gate of conviction is
Quod erat demonstrandum. An essay on truth is not
necessarily an exposition of it ; wherefore much so-
called expository preaching is nothing of the sort.
12 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
In view of the foregoing considerations, let us have,
for illustration, a suitable text for another expository
sermon : " We know that all things work together for
good to them that love God " (Rom. viii. 28).
Exordium : Observe the tone of certainty, " We
know." Paul is much given to this sort of assertion :
" I reckon," " I am persuaded," etc.
Proposition : " All things work together for good,"
etc.
1. There is a plan in Providence. " Work together."
No chance ; no happenings. (1) In nature, design and
adjustment. (2) So in God's care of us. There is a
point above us, scientists say, where all confused sounds
meet in harmony. " In that day ye shall know."
2. A comprehensive plan. "All things." No event
in human experience must be judged by itself, but as
part of the whole divine purj)ose. The phrase " all
things " includes not only sorrow, but sin. Show how
sin, wholly bad in itself, may be overruled by divine
grace so as to contribute to the soul's ultimate good.
He " maketh the wrath of men to praise Him."
3. A benign plan. "For good." Not necessarily
for our immediate comfort. A boy at school, conning
his lessons while the sun shines and the birds sing
without, is not as happy as if he were nutting in the
woods. Toil, sorrow, disappointment, are for our dis-
cipline. The disciples of Jesus had to be brought into
the tempest because " they considered not the miracle
of the loaves."
4-. A limited plan. " To them that love God." He
is good to all ; making it to rain on the just and un-
just ; but He has particular regard for the welfare of
those who love and honour Him.
TEXTUAL OR EXPOSITORY OUTLINES 73
Peroration : In order to get the benefit of this special
covenant we must adjust our lives to it ; that is, we
must cease to be at cross purposes with God and bring
our wills into conformity with His. Jacob wrestled
with God for a wliile, then went limping on his way.
"Was he " worsted " ? Nay, bettered ; for he was
thenceforth willing that God should have His way with
him.
This life "of acquiescence begins at the Cross, where
we surrender to Christ as our Saviour from sin. Cal-
vary is our Appomattox. It brings us into the truce of
God. In passing under His yoke (" subjugated " ; from
sub-jiigum) we enter into His special favour. Thence-
forth nothing can go wrong with us ; for if God be for
us, who shall be against us ?
TOPICAL OUTLINES
(A) THE ETHICAL SEEMON
TO say that ethical preaching is more to the
point than doctrinal preaching is an. unwar-
rantable assumption. Truth and precept alike
are vain, except as they express themselves in behaviour.
The saying " Religion is a life " is correct, though a
trifle threadbare ; but a life built on anything but truth
is like " The Upside-down House " at the Paris Ex-
position, which had turrets pointing earthward and
foundations in the air. A rightly constructed ethical
sermon has its exordium in truth, while a true doctrinal
sermon has its peroration in ethics ; and both alike are
quickened by the Spirit of God.
1, An ethical sermon requires at the outset a large
enough theme. It is not worth while to ask a con-
gregation of immortal people to give ear to an elaborate
argument as to the difference betwixt tweedledum and
tweedledee. The great moral principles set forth in
the Decalogue are well worth attending to ; but there
is a disposition in our time to subdivide a subject into a
thousand parts and preach on a small fraction of one of
them. This sort of analysis is epidemic among sem-
inarians. " It is a sin to steal." Certainly ; but to
steal what? "A pin." Aye, but what as to the
relative guilt of stealing a brass pin and a silver pin ;
74
TOPICAL OUTLINES 75
there's the rub ! This is scholasticism. The discrimina-
tion is so minute that the learned preacher is in constant
danger of being side-tracked and left behind by his in-
attentive train of beloved hearers; or of discovering
that he has not been discoursing on moral principles at
all but about a pepper-corn. Preaching is great busi-
ness : let us attend to the proportion of things. Two
verses in Deuteronomy are enough to dispose of the
law touching the robbing of a bird's nest (Deut. xxii.
6-7): so that there is no need of greatly enlarging
upon it.
2. An ethical sermon should hQ expressed in ^positive
terms. We are not speaking for om'selves, but as
mouthpieces of God, who uses no ifs or perhapses or
peradventures. However loath I may be to dogmatize
in these premises, I must not prevent God's doing so
and doing it through me. The mountain of the law
is all afire and trembling. It is a solemn thing to
preach ethics, because it echoes a Thus-saith-the-Lord.
But the preacher must be quite sure as to the oracle.
I have heard a man in the pulpit thunder forth admoni-
tions respecting certain forms of doubtful amusement
with as much assurance as if God has made him presi-
dent of an ethical trust. It may be wrong to dance ;
but no sensible man or woman will renounce dancing
because I insist upon his doing so. Theatrical thunder
fools nobody in these days. Let me make sure of a
Thus-saith-the-Lord and everybody will hear me : but
to assume an air of infallibility in the discussion of an
open question is unwise, because I am certain to be
found out. Moral maxims marked with the red arrow
of the King are both indicative and imperative ; all
others are subjunctive. As to our ethical opinions,
76 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
some of them begin with nonne and others with num^
but all end with the rising inflection. If we want
to be positive, we must be sure that we are speak-
ing by the Book : the bell and candle are of minor con-
sequence.
3. An ethical sermon is of value only for its personal
application. We waste breath in elucidating abstract
principles or exposmg the Hindu suttee. There are
sins just around the corner that need to be attended to.
Talking about poverty and rapacity and about ewe-
lambs in general will accomplish nothing ; but tracing
a farmer's ewe-lamb to the palace door will sometimes
bring the sinner to his knees. Hosea Biglow says :
*' I'm willin' a man shall go tollable strong
Agin wrong in the abstract ; for that kind of wrong
Is allays unpop'Iar, and never gets pitied,
Because it's a wrong no one ever committed ;
But he mustn't be hard on partie'lar sins,
'Cause then he'll be kickin' the people's own shins."
That is the solemn truth, put in a homely way. A
sermon is as useless as a lost nail, unless it be directed
and driven home.
Shall we be Nathans, then, pointing a gaunt finger
at every arch-sinner in the congregation and crying,
" Thou art the man " ? By no means. Many a
preacher who thunders anathemas at a hoary-headed
reprobate in one of his most eligible pews thinks him-
self heroic when in fact he is merely playing Shimei be-
hind a safe covert (2 Sam. xvi. 5-10). It is not necessary
to exploit oneself in this manner in order to make the
truth effective. A preacher should, above all men, be
expert in the art of putting things. He must not fear
TOPICAL OUTLINES 17
the face of man ; neither must he tempt opposition and
discomfiture. Truculence is as bad as cowardice and
oftentimes more disastrous. "We are to be wise as
serpents and harmless as doves. " Knowing the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men." Our gentleness makes
others great. David Garrick could say " hell " so as to
make men tremble ; be it ours to say it so that they
shall repent and believe. Scolding wins nobody, coax-
ing wins few : reasoning with heart and conscience
takes many prisoners of hope.
4. The standpoint for ethical preaching is Calvary.
Once it was Sinai, but it has shifted : " We are not
come unto^'the mount that burned with fire " (Heb.
xii. 18-29). "We preach avoidance of sin not only be-
cause sin is violation of holy law, but because it killed
Christ. "We preach holiness not only because it is the
high-water mark of character, but because it pleases'
Christ, who died for us. The preaching of ethics with-
out reference to the Cross is a vain business. Long-
fellow speaks of morality without the Gospel as a
"kind of dead reckoning; an endeavour to find our
place on a cloudy sea without an observation of the
heavenly bodies." Another of the poets exclaims :
" Talk they of morals ! O thou bleeding Lamb, the
true morality is love of Thee."
An ethical sermon is, therefore, as incomplete as
" The Mystery of Edwin Drood," unless it brings men
to the Cross for pardon and to the living Christ for the
stimulation of life. It matters not what theme may
be chosen, it should find its source and centre in Him.
Truth ? His was the transparent life Honesty ? He
gave to both God and Caesar their owm. Sabbath ob-
servance ? "We shall make no mistake if we keep the
78 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
Sabbath as Christ kept it. Thus His life illustrates
every virtue as His death atones for every sin.
A Specimen Outline
Subject: "Business."
The object of this sermon is to show that the service
of Christ is business and should be attended to in a
businesslike way.
Text : " Wist ye not that I must be about My Fa-
ther's business ? " (Luke ii. 49).
Introduction: A man without an occupation, as
somebody has observed, " is no better than a dead man
and takes up more room."
Pharaoh to Jacob : " What is your occupation ? "
The sailors to Jonah : " What is your occupation ? "
Ask Jesus, " What is your occupation ? " A carpen-
ter? No. Carpentry was a mere incident in His
life. As William Carey said : " I cobble shoes to pay
my expenses while I labour for God." The real busi-
ness of Jesus was to save the world from sin. And
this is our business, too. " As the Father hath sent Me
into the world," said He, " so send I you."
Carlyle said: "The secret of success is to do one
thing only and do it well." False. We shall make a
failure of life unless we do two things and do both
well. One is hrod-und-hutter-geschdft, — the earning of
an honest livelihood. The other is to lend a hand in
the saving of the world. This com es first ; as Jesus
said, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God."
If this spiritual work is real business, there are cer-
tain rules, recognized and honoured in the secular
world, which must apply to it.
(1) JSe jpromjpt. At the ringing of a bell in a
TOPICAL OUTLINES 79
factory village the streets are full of operatives, all
expecting to be in their places, as a matter of course, at
the instant when the power is turned on. How is it
when the church-bells ring ?
The diflficulty of obtaining a quorum in the meetings
of missionary boards or committees on religious work
is proverbial. There is no difficulty in securing a
quorum of bank directors or political managers ; or a
quorum in the workshop or the jury-room. Is "the
glorious liberty of the children of God " a license to go
as one pleases ? Why should church officers and teach-
ers in Sunday-school play fast and loose with their
work ? "Why should the mood of the secular world be
so imperative and that of the religious world so doubt-
ful ? This is not " business."
(2) Be entkusiastic. It was written of Christ,
" The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up." He said
(note the occasion; John iv. 34), "My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work."
"We profess to believe that sinners without Christ are
in danger of hell ; yet how indifferent we are ! Is it
strange that the world sometimes doubts our sincerity ?
"We are appointed to be fishers of men ; but good fisher-
men do not sit dawdling on the shore when the call is
heard, " Let down your nets ! " This also is not " busi-
ness."
(3) Be in haste. "The King's business requireth
haste."
Illustration : In the time of Henry YIII all letters
bore the picture of a post-boy swinging from a gallows-
tree, with the legend, " Haste, post, haste for thy life ! "
"We are appointed to carry a message of tremendous
import, and there is no excuse for loitering by the way.
80 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
(4) Be deliberate. " Ever in haste, but never in a
hurry."
Illustration : Our fire department. With what des-
perate speed the horses plunge along the thoroughfares
to answer an alarm ; but once at their destination how
careful the firemen are in adjusting the hose and placing
the ladders. No time is lost, but there is no precipita-
tion. Property is in danger ; lives are at stake ; all the
more need for carefulness.
Take time to pray ; to read the Bible ; to make ear-
nest preparation for every duty.
Christ's thirty j^-ears in Nazareth : sinners dying every
second ; yet He patiently awaited the striking of the
hour.
(5) Be practical. "Not a dreamer among the
shadows." Too many castles in the air. Large hopes
and purposes which are never realized. " Do noble
things, not dream them all day long." Don't dream ;
do. Don't mean to do; do. Don't promise yourself
to do some great thing to-morrow ; get up and do some .
little thing now. " Doe ye nexte thynge."
*' Are you in earnest ? Seize this very minute !
"What you can do, or dream you can, begin it."
(6) Move on. A good business man is ambitious to
do better to-day than yesterday. Not to go forward
is to fall back. " Add " (2 Peter i. 5). Keep adding all
the while. Minimum versus maximum Christians. The
best is no better than he ought to be.
Aim at promotion. He who adds to his stock of
virtue and achievement to-day will do better still to-
morrow, because he has more to work with. " To him
TOPICAL OUTLINES 81
that hath shall be given." "Nothing succeeds like
success." Move on ! Move up !
Illustration : The Spartan soldier who, on being
offered a reward for courage in battle, asked that he
might be permitted to march in the van of the army
when it advanced the next day.
(7) Be persistent. Believe in God and never let
go. Faith is the mother of patience. No rest until
one can say, " It is finished ! "
" Ne'er think the victory won," etc.
Conclusion: This is success: to earn promotion.
The high calling of Christ : " Come up higher." The
business of heaven : " His servants shall serve Him."
Are we worthy ? If called from the service of
Christ to-day, could He give us a " recommendation "
such as servants ask of their employers when leaving
them ? "What could He say for us ?
(B) THE DOCTEINAL SERMON
In these days every tyro must have his whack at
creed and " dogma " and orthodoxy. One who lends
an ear to philippics of this sort would think that doc-
trinal preaching no longer gets a hearing : but a can-
vass of congregations leads to a different conclusion.
The average man is as hungry for plain statements of
positive truth as he ever was.* Wind is poor diet,
* The truth is, no preaching ever had a strong power that
was not the preaching of doctrine. The preachers that have
moved and held men always preached doctrine. No exhorta-
tion to a good life that does not put behind it some truth as
deep as eternity can seize and hold the conscience. Preach
doctrine, preach all the doctrine that yoii know, and learn for-
82 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
though it be filtered through the sweetest hautboy ;
milk is little better, even when sterilized, except for
babes ; men want meat ; and, though they may be de-
ceived for a while, they are likely, in the long run, to
insist on having it.
1. The great doctrines tnust he preached; such as
Sin, Judgment, Redemption, Justification by Faith,
Sanctification, and the rest ; else a minister will lose
the art of soul-saving on the one hand and character-
building on the other ; after which he is, like Samson
shorn of his locks, " weak as other men."
2. It is not necessary to announce a doctrinal sermon
as such. Christ was a doctrinal preacher, yet His hearers
scarcely suspected it ; indeed, there are some people
who have not discovered it to this day. So was Spur-
geon, as really as was Jonathan Edwards, only in a
different way.
3. It is not necessary, in doctrinal preaching, to use
tJie terminology of the schools. Supralapsarianism under
any other name would smell as sweet, possibly sweeter.
We are constantly in danger of leading our hearers into
deep water where, as Quarles says,
" . . . daring venture too far into 't,
They, Pharaoh-like, are drowned both horse and foot."
The rarest art of preaching is simplicity, particularly in
ever more and more ; but preach it always, not that men may
believe it, but that men may be saved by believing it. So it
shall be alive, not dead. So men shall rejoice in it and not
decry it. So they shall feed on it at your hands as on the
bread of life, solid and sweet, and claiming for itself the appe-
tite of man which God made for it. — Phillips Brooks, " Lec-
tures on Preaching.'^
TOPICAL OUTLINES 83
dealing witli profound truths. Anglo-Saxon words of
two syllables, when well handled, make a tremendous
appeal to thinking men.
4. lu dealing with doctrine, it behooves us to be
logical^ progressive^ and conclusive. It is one thing to
talk about faith and another thing to preach it. Not
long ago I heard an alleged sermon on the Atonement
which began nowhere and ended where it began, and
there was really nothing of the Atonement in it. An
essay is not an argument. The former is sauntering,
arm-in-arm with a companion, round the village streets ;
the latter is leading him out of the village and along
the turnpike to the next town. A doctrinal sermon is
wasted unless it arrives, and unless the congregation
arrives with it.
5. Caution : let us take heed and beware of present-
ing a truth as if we were ultimate authority upon it.
The well-pondered opinion of a minister will always be
received for what it is worth ; but an ipse dixit is fatal
to persuasion. We must needs be certain of our
ground, as certain as God's Word can make us ; but our
certainty does not require that we shall be either dic-
tatorial or intolerant. , Most people would rather take
truth with a spoon than hypodermically. The tempta-
tion to grow hot is always stronger in an argument
than in a dissertation ; which is possibly one reason why
some people object to doctrinal preaching. It rubs
them the wrong way ; as Shakespeare says : " The
truth you speak doth lack some gentleness ; you rub
the sore when you should bring the plaster."
6. In doctrinal as in all ; other preaching the ter-
miyius ad quern is personal salvation. Truth is like
fruit, only good to be eaten. And the intellectual proc-
84 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
esses by which we arrive at truth are, like physical gym-
nastics, valuable only as they subserve life and health.
The truth which saves is Christ, who said, " I am the
Truth." This is the Eome to which all homiletic roads
must lead. The preacher's business is soul-saving ; and
this is done only by bringing souls to Christ, as the
village people at His approach brought their sick and
laid them on couches along the way.
A Specimen Outline
Subject : " The Divinity of Christ."
Text : the words of John the Baptist in Luke vii.l9 :
" Art Thou He that should come, or [look we for an-
other ? "
Introduction : The universal hope. Show how all
nations were expecting a Messiah. Intimations in the
false religions. The Greelvs spoke of the coming of
"Soter"; the Persians of Sosiosh; the Egy[3tians of
Osiris. Quote Yirgil's Eclogue on the birth of Pollio's
son : " The last great age foretold," etc.
The Scriptures are full of this hope ; from the prot-
evangel (Gen. iii. 15) to the prophecy of Malachi in
the gathering gloom (Mai. iv. 2). It was called " the
Hope of Israel " and was really the cohesive force of
the nation. At the time of Christ's advent there was a
general feeling that the time of fulfillment was draw-
ing near. Many false Messiahs appeared at about that
time and were successively exposed and discarded.
Then came Jesus, presenting His claim. John in the
castle of Machaerus ; depressed ; doubting. " The eye
of the caged eagle was filmed." He heard what Christ
was doing, and sent to inquire, " Art Thou," etc.
TOPICAL OUTLINES 85
We, also, wish to know. " The problem of Messiah
is the problem of man." Quote from Whittier :
" Still struggles in the Age's breast, with deepening
agony of quest.
The old entreaty, ' Art Thou He, or look we for the
Christ to be?'"
The argument : Show that if the life and character
of Jesus be placed over against all the prophecies of
Christ in Scripture, in the sacred books of the false re-
ligions and in the universal longings of the race, there
is a perfect correspondence, point by point.
Illustrate by word-pictui'e from " Indenture." See
dictionary. \
(1) The hirth of Jesus. Show how this responds
to the general expectancy that when Messiah came He
would be Immanuel, that is, both God and man. Il-
lustrate : Anselm's Cur Deus-Homo.
(2) His charaGter. Only a sinless one could deliver
from sin. Where shall He be found ? Here Jesus
stands sohtary and alone. Illustrate by the school-
men's question, Non posse jpeccare ov posse nonpeccare?
(But look out or you'll wade in beyond your depth.)
(3) His teaching. The common hope was ex-
pressed by the woman at the well, " Messiah, when He
cometh, will tell us all things." Show how Jesus did
this ; touching the sublimest and most profound prob-
lems with a bold hand : " not as the scribes, but with
authority." {Exousia here means " from within " ; i. e.,
from the inward depths of his own nature.) His ac-
quaintance with truth was intuitive ; wherefore His
preaching was without ifs or perhapses. " Yerily,
verily, I say unto you." Who was this that sent his
86 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
" I say unto you " crashing through the teachings and
traditions of the past ? " Never man spake like this
man."
(4) His miracles. Unlike all other miracles. They
were not only graciously humane but symbolic of
spiritual truth. Illustration : " Go tell John what ye
have seen." The cleansing of lepers, etc., meant above
all that He had power on earth to forgive sin.
(5) His death. This is the heart of the problem.
His death was vicarious. He staggered up Calvary
bearing the shame, bondage and penalty of the world's
sin. In this, above all else, he fulfilled the prophecy of
Scripture and the longing of the universal soul.
Quote the tribute of the infidel Rousseau, beginning,
" Is it possible that this sacred personage should be a
mere man ? " and ending, " Yea, verily, if the life and
death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and
death of Jesus are those of a God 1 "
(6) His resurrection. (Do not turn aside here to
sift evidence : leave that for another occasion.) It was
expected that the Messiah when He came would be
superior to death ; His soul would not be left in Sheol ;
His flesh was not to see corruption. The resurrection
of Jesus is God's Amen placed, like a governmental
seal, on His redemptive work.
(7) His abiding presence. " All power is given
unto Me : and lo ! I am with you alway." He is
with us by the power of His Spirit {a) to save souls,
(b) to sanctify, and (c) to energize His Church for the
great propaganda. His kingdom is coming. Progress.
Illustrate : " Christendom." There is a world of mean-
ing in the word ; centre of civilization ; the enthroned
Lord of the Golden Age.
TOPICAL OUTLINES 87
Conclusion : If this Jesus is the Christ, why do ye
not follow Him ?
(C) THE HISTOEICAL SERMON
One secret of effectiveness in preaching is to take ad-
vantage of the ever-changing moods of the community.
This does not mean that one is to discourse on all pass-
ing events, trivial or otherwise ; but there are times
when public sentiment is so engrossed in some particu-
lar subject as to afford a special opportunity for enforc-
ing its moral lessons. Then it behooves the preacher to
strike while the iron's hot.
One ,of the best ministers I have ever known was
crowded out of his pulpit in 1861 because, while the
mind of the people was filled to the brim with the
question of slavery, jpro and contra^ he insisted on
preaching about " fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge
absolute." In like manner Sir Thomas Browne, in
the time of the English Eevolution, sat in his study
overlooking the Strand, writing on Urn-burial and
kindred themes. The Roundheads were in the field,
swords were clashing and thrones tottering; but this
was nothing to Sir Thomas; his soul was occupied
among the shadows of the dead; he was too liter-
ally in the world but not of it.
The way for a minister to keep abreast of the times
is to make his preaching bear upon such interests as
are closest to human hearts. Our religion touches life
at every point in its circumference ; and it is our busi-
ness to give it practical application to common affairs.
" No pent-up Utica contracts our powers."
1. National anniversaries are not to be ignored.
Patriotism is a Christian virtue. The hand of God in
88 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
the making of our Republic is an inexhaustible theme.
There are episodes in our history which, when properly
presented from our ministerial coign of vantage, have
all the suggestiveness of Abram's call or the crossing
of the Red Sea or the compassing of the walls of
Jericho.
A friend recently presented me with the " Congres-
sional Globe " for 1860 ; and I know of no other book
on divine Providence to be compared with it. That
was the year when slavery was crouching like a lion
for a deadly spring, when Lincoln was being divinely
pushed to the front, when overtures were being ad-
vanced in both houses of Congress for peace at any
price, and when it was becoming evident that the
ghost of old John Brown of Ossawattomie was des-
tined, in spite of all mundane plans and purposes, to go
marching on. I have found that dusty volume full of
material for discourses on God's hand in national af-
fairs.
Why not ? The preachers of the Bible found an
endless source of suggestion in the history of Israel ;
and God " hath not dealt so with any people " as with
us. Nor are we, as ministers, at liberty to allow such
opportunities to pass unutilized. "We are commanded
to render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's, even
as we render unto God the things that are God's.
2. The value of a historical discourse lies not merely
in its lesson of patriotic piety. There are great epochs
in ecclesiastical history which are full of profitable sug-
gestion to all who believe in the supremacy of char-
acter : such as the Church in the Catacombs, the perse-
cutions of the Yaudois, the proclamation of the ninety-
five theses of the Reformation, the heroism of the
TOPICAL OUTLINES 89
Huguenots, the signing of the Covenant in Greyfriars
Kirkyard, the sailing of the Mayjlower. These are
nails on which to hang important spiritual truths.
The eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews
does not exhaust the roll-call of God's mighties. The
men who blazed the way through forests of barbaric
darkness to our religious freedom are worthy to be
held up for the imitation of all who have entered into
the peaceful enjoyment of their heritage. They stood
for truth and righteousness and were faithful unto
death.
" They climbed the steep ascent to heaven
Mid peril, toil, and pain ;
O God, to us may grace be given
To follow in their train ! "
3. It need scarcely be said that historical themes
have no value for iis, homiletically, except for their
spiritual uses. It is not history, but God in history,
with which we have to do. Nor is Providence the
main lesson ; but Providence leading on, prior to the
Christian era, by diverse but converging lines, to the
tragedy of the Cross ; and thenceforward, by diverging
lines of influence, to the universal spread of the Gospel
and its ultimate sway in the Golden Age.
The central figure of history is Christ, marching
through the centuries, " the government upon His
shoulder," divinely majestic ; as Isaiah saw Him on the
heights of Edom, with garments stained by the tread-
ing of the wine-fat, " glorious in His apparel, travelling
in the greatness of His strength." It was for lack of
this vision that Hume and Gibbon were unable to ac-
count for or to interpret the events they chronicled :
for there is no philosophy of history without Christ.
90 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
There is no light in its labyrinths except such as is re-
flected from His Cross. It has no consummation other
than His ultimate and universal reign. A historical
sermon must be a Christian sermon.
4. It must he pervaded hy an oj>timistic spirit. Now
and then, events of national significance are treated as
if everything were going to the bad. If war breaks
out it is significant of the failure of Christian civiliza-
tion. A massacre in China suggests doubt as to the
ultimate conversion of the heathen world. The prev-
alence of municipal corruption opens up depths of
human depravity which the world never dreamed of.
Heaven save us from the weeping prophets ! The pul-
pit is the last of places for an exhibition of the
doldrums. God is not dead. The mountains are full
of His horses and chariots. " The royal standards
onward go ! "
5. Therefore, a historical theme when adequately
treated must be pervaded through and through with
faith. The bells of Saint Germain, no less than liberty
bell in Independence Hall, sounded forth the irresistible
progress of the Gospel. There is a prophecy of the
Millennium in every passing event, since God rules and
overrules in all things, always, everywhere, in behalf
of the kingship of His Son. Let no preacher bring
histor}'- into the pulpit unless he believes in " the one
far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves,"
that ultimate "restitution of all things" which no
power of earth can prevent.
" Take heart ! The Master builds again :
A charmed life old Goodness hath.
The tares may perish ; but the grain
Is not for death."
TOPICAL OUTLINES 91
A Specimen Outline
Subject: " God's Hand in American History."
Text : " He led them through the deep, as an horse
in the wilderness, that they should not stumble " (Isa.
Ixiii. 13).
Exordium : The purpose of the sermon is to show how
God, in a most singular manner, has overruled the blunders
of men to the promotion of His glory in our national life.
Argument :
(1) The story of these blunders begins as far back
as 150 A. D., when Ptolemy made his map of the world.
At that time " the world " signified a fringe of coun-
tries around the Mediterranean ; and had Ptolemy con-
fined himself to these his ^map would have been toler-
ably correct ; but he undertook to guess at the regions
beyond and he guessed wrong. One of his errors was
bringing the western coast of Europe and the eastern
coast of Asia so near together as to make it appear a
small matter to cross the intervening seas.
(2) It so happened that a thousand years later this
map fell into the hands of Columbus, who dreamed over
it and was misled by it. " If India lies so near to the
westw^ard," he said, " why may I not find it ? " Where-
upon he manned his caravels and ventured forth. Now
" westward the course of empire takes its way ! "
The voyage of Columbus was " a fool's errand." He
hoped to discover the fabulous Korthwest Passage ; and
the fact that he found something better was due to the
overruling hand of Providence ; for it is true of nations
as of men, " There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,
rough hew them how we will."
As the little fleet pursued its w^eary voyage a thorn-
bush, borne northward on the Gulf Stream, convinced
92 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
Columbus that land lay to the south ; whereupon he
ordered the shifting of the helm. That changed the
course of history. Had the ships continued on their
westward course, they would have touched on the coast
of Florida. What then ? A Spanish settlement and a
Papal civilization ! As it was he landed on San
Salvador, which he dedicated " to CastiLe, to Jesus and
Mary." But the dominion of the new world was not to
be thus divided. God had better things in store for us.
A hundred years must pass before a permanent settle-
ment could be effected, — a hundred years of " sifting
out the hearts of men."
(3) The sifting process began when Luther nailed
his theses to the chapel door at "Wittenberg, Pope
Leo said that was a blunder ; so did Charles V ; so did
the Elector of Saxony. In any case it awoke the
thunders of the Reformation and kindled fires of per-
secution. The husbandman came thus to his threshing-
floor to purge it. He wanted men for America, men
of courage to stand forth as haters of tyranny, lovers
of freedom ; purged of superstition, devoted to God.
(4) The result was precipitated by a blunder on the
part of James I of England, in demanding that his sub-
jects should conform to the Established Church. It so
happened that at Scrooby there was a company of humble
people who had a foolish fondness for religious inde-
pendence. For a while they patiently endured wrong
and oppression ; but at length they resolved to flee.
They found refuge in Holland ; whence the Half
Moon had just sailed for America. There they re-
mained a dozen years and then followed in the track of
the Dutch pilgrims. " What sought they thus afar ?
Freedom to worship God."
TOPICAL OUTLINES 93
(5) In tlie roeantime the Dutch settlement on Man-
hattan Island was growing and prospering. In 1664
Peter Stuyvesant turned over the settlement to the
British Army and " JS'ew Amsterdam " became " New
York." This looks, from our standpoint, like an
ignominious surrender; but it scattered the liberty-
loving Dutchmen to mingle their blood with the
heterogeneous people who were settling among us.
(6) Now enter George III, with the Stamp Act.
Blessed thrippence on a pound of tea ! Blessed Boston
tea-party ! Blessed Hessian mercenaries ! Blessed
Independence Bell ! Blessed, bloody Valley Forge !
And, above all, blessed be God, who maketh the fool-
ishness as well as the wrath of men to praise Him 1
The Continental Congress had no thought originally
of establishing an indej)endent commonwealth, only of
exacting from the motherland the recognition of certain
" inalienable rights." Washington had no intention of
being a rebel, only of championing the just demands of
a loyal people. Thus it often happens : Jehu starts the
chariot but God holds the reins.
(7) Our fathers never dreamed of such a country as
we have. The Mississippi might have been our western
boundary until now but for a blunder made by Napoleon
when his exchequer was low. In casting about for
means to carry out his plans of conquest it occurred to
him that certain lands in the western part of America
might be disposed of. Thus came about the "Loui-
siana Purchase " by which the Republic was extended
along its southern borders to the western sea.
(8) But tne vast territory of the Northwest was
still disputed ground, Marcus Whitman, a missionary
among the Indians of Oregon, hearing that definite
94 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
plans were on foot to establish the British claim, de-
termined to reach Washington if possible and appeal to
Congress. His friends endeavoured to dissuade him.
" It would be a great blunder," they said. " How
could you ever get across the Rockies in winter?
And, anyway, what does Congress care for the country
out here ? " But Whitman reached Washington ; the
government took action, adding thirty-six times the
area of Massachusetts to our national domain.
(9) But was it worth while to enlarge the borders
of a country which groaned under the curse of slavery ?
John Brown of Ossawattomie came in the fullness of
time to answer that question. A fanatic ? Yes ; crazed
by his contemplation of human wrong. And they led
him to the gallows tree.
A little later that blunder was followed by one more
lamentable. Sumter was fired on: and presently the
boys in blue were keeping time to the rude music of
*' John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes a-marchiug on."
Then the war ; and in due time, the Emancipation
Proclamation, which was issued as a war measure. It
was pronounced a political mistake. Let it rest at that.
The foolishness of men is oftentimes the wisdom of
God. On went our soldiers ; but now they were march-
ing to a different tune :
" In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and
me ;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men
free;
For God is marching on."
TOPICAL OUTLINES 05
So we came to be a free people. It was the Lord's
doing and marvellous in our eyes.
(10) Time passed and we were driven by motives of
humanity into another war. It would not have oc-
curred but for the colossal blunder made by Spain in
oppressing the people of Cuba. In the logic of events
the Philippines fell to our lot ; and, for better or worse,
expansion became an accomplished fact. Eastward the
course of empire now takes its way. It is for us to say
what the result shall be.
Peroration : Tavo lessons.
First, Gratitude.
Second, Responsibility.
It is related that, when Columbus was approaching
the shores of the "Western World, a flickering light was
dimly seen through the darkness. " It may be," said
Columbus, " that the faithful wife of some fisherman is
waving a torch to guide him on his homeward way."
Centuries have passed ; and to-day a colossal figure,
" Liberty Enlightening the World," stands with uplifted
torch in the harbour of New York, For " Liberty "
read Christianity ; and instead of the torch place an
uplifted Cross in her hands. Then shall we behold the
mission of America to the world. Let us meet our
responsibilities as a Christian people ; and the kind
Providence that has directed our goings hitherto will
continue to lead us until the coming of Christ shall
usher in the Golden Age.
(D) THE BIOGEAPHICAL SERMON
A minister has, of all men, most need to beware of
ruts. He is always in danger of being guided by his
personal preference for a particular line of thought,
96 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
forgetting that his congregation is made up of many
men of many minds. I know a clergyman who led his
people for a couple of years through a dry, barren, and
unbroken wilderness of " Comparative Eeligion," prob-
ably because he was specializing for a degree of Ph. D.
in that province. Variety is the spice of preaching.
Nothing is so hypnotic as monotone ; witness the dron-
ing of a lullaby. Wherefore a live minister will not
perpetually harp on one subject but rather present a
variety of themes. He will follow a textual with a
topical sermon, a doctrinal with an ethical sermon, a
historical with a biographical sermon; and all alike
will centre in Christ.
The biographical sermon is effective and popular, un-
less the method be carried too far. The average man
is fond of biography, as shown by the records of our
circulating libraries. The reason is plain to see :
" Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime."
But there are some cautions which the young minister
will do well to observe :
1. DonH preach on every great man who happens to
die. If you do the daily press will probably print your
sermon ; but what of that ? Getting into the papers is
small business ; in the long run there is nothing in it.
The preacher should keep abreast of the times; but
playing post-boy is not the best way. A reference to
current events by way of illustration in the treatment
of important themes is incomparably better than play-
ing second fiddle to the newspapers. Nothing is more
damaging to the dignity of the pulpit than this habit
TOPICAL OUTLINES 97
of news-mongering. This is not to say that the death
of a great man may not be made a profitable theme
for homiletic treatment ; but only to decry the melan-
choly habit of using the pulpit for an excessive display
of graveyard panegyric.
2. There is an inexhaustible supply of material in
the Scriptures. The worthies whose memories are
there embalmed were intended to serve for our profit
and admonition. Abraham and David, John, Peter,
Paul and the Marys have passed in pretty constant re-
view before the churches ; but there are multitudes of
less familiar names. And it is singular how the no-
bodies of Scripture repay the preacher for unearthing
and the congregation for listening to their story. There
is poor, neglected Adam, and that venerable ne'er-do-
well Methuselah, the little maid in Naaman's palace,
the man of Bethphage, Alexander the coppersmith, the
unnamed prophet of Bethlehem-Judah, Simon the
Pharisee, Demas the deserter, "one Mnason of Cy-
prus," the purple-seller of Philippi, Zaccheus the broker,
that worthy couple Aquila and Priscilla, Simon of
Cyrene, Caleb the optimist, David's Three Mighties,
Rhoda the gate-keeper. Mother Eunice, indifferent
Gallio and a host of others. It is one of the evidences
of inspiration that these and like Biblical biographies
are free from superfluous detail, only so much being
narrated as may be " profitable for doctrine, for re-
proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
3. It is seldom wise to preach a series of sermons on
any biography. Dr. "William M. Taylor could hold his
congregations all winter on Peter ; and others have
done likewise ; but where one succeeds many fail.
Interest in any " series " whatsoever is likely to flag ;
98 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
and transient worshippers are certainly not attracted
by it.
It is not an easy matter to preacli a biographical
sermon, unless the preacher is willing to be common-
place, in which case it is as easy as common conversa-
tion. Everybody knows the rarity of good biographies
in current literature ; but now and then one appears,
like Boswell's Johnson, which goes down the ages.
Sermonizing is a more difficult art than book-making ;
inasmuch as it requires more condensation. There is
as much carbon in a diamond as in a wagon-load of
charcoal.
Therefore the first rule is, Be brief. It is neither
necessary nor desirable to enter into minutite. Tell
the story only so far as it will contribute towards the
lesson in view. If a sermon is to be shortened, the
thing to cut out is usually the introduction. The least
important part of the house is its imposing doorway.
It is not well to plunge too abruptly in medias res, but
we must needs come presently to the point.
The second rule is, Be picturesque. Make the life
you are telling stand out. Nor is this difficult ; since
every life has its salient episodes. Take the story of
Herod. There are the dramatis personce: John the
Baptist ; Herod ; Herodias, his wife ; Salome the
dancing-girl ; Joanna the steward's wife ; the execu-
tioner ; and the Spirit of God, present throughout like
the Choragos of the Greek tragedies, keeping behind
the stage, but directing and controlling all. Then the
various scenes :
Scene I. A Marriage in the Castle.
Scene II. The "Wedding Reception in the Great
Hall.
TOPICAL OUTLINES 99
Scene III. In the Dungeon.
Scene IV. A Banquet in the Convivium.
Scene Y. The Execution.
And. then the sequel: the haunted after-life of
Herod ; his cry, " It is John the Baptist risen from
the dead 1 " The deeper depths into which he plunged
in his treatment of Jesus. His frightful end. The
application is clear. Exit Herod the coward ; we have
had enough of him.
The third rule is, Be practical. The end of preach-
ing must be kept in view. Its purpose is to turn the
hearer from sin unto Christ, from worldliness to the
service of God. Wherefore take time for the applica-
tion. Do not leave your congregation looking at any
mere man, but face to face with Christ, The best man
in the Scriptures is worth following only so far as he
followed the ideal Man.
Now and then it is profitable to study the characters
of the unworthy, such as Cain, or Judas Iscariot or
Simon the sorcerer ; and then the exceeding sinfulness
of sin should be used to awaken the cry, " What must I
do to be saved ? " Whatever the caption of the sermon
its quod erat detnoixstrandum is the necessity of looking
to Christ for salvation and to the Holy Spirit for de-
liverance from the power of sin.
One thing is plain ; the preacher who, realizing the
solemnity of his office, approaches the treatment of
every theme, ethical or doctrinal, historic or bio-
graphical, in a spirit of prayerful dependence on the
Holy Ghost and with a firm resolution to put the last
atom of his consecrated energy into his sermon, wall
never make a failure of it. He may fall short of his
ideal, — as, alas ! we all constantly do, — but he may
100 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
rest assured that the good God who " hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise and
the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty," will use the foolishness of his
preacliing for the divine glory in the salvation and
edification of souls. " This is the Lord's doing, and it
is marvellous in our eyes."
A Specimen Outline
Subject : " Aquila and Priscilla."
Text : Eomans xvi. 3.
Introduction : "We hear of them first at Jerusalem
in the year 33, where tradition says they witnessed the
miracle of Pentecost and heard the Gospel. Next at
Corinth, A. D. 55, where they were pursuing their trade
(Acts xviii. 1-3). Paul, a fellow tent-maker, applied
for work in their shop ; and he converted them to
Christ. A year later they were making tents and hold-
ing a Bible school at Ephesus (Acts xviii. 24-26). In
the course of time they drifted to Philippi where they
had a " Church in their house." Fleeing from perse-
cution they reached Rome (Rom. xvi. 3-5) where men-
tion is made again of a " Church in their house " ;
probably not much like St. Peter's, the Roman Church
of our time. In the year QQ they were back at Ephesus
(2 Tim. iv. 19) where, according to tradition, they to-
gether suifered martyrdom. " Lovely and pleasant in
their lives, in their death they were not divided."
Here we have an old time idyl of married life.
Aquila and Priscilla were bound together by a happy
chain of many links.
(1) By a divine ordinance. " The twain shall be
one."
TOPICAL OUTLINES 101
(2) By a social convention. The institution of
wedlock is the basis of social order.
(3) By mutual attraction.
" Love is better than beauty or wit ;
Love is better than gold ;
Love is not found in the market-place,
It cannot be bought or sold. "
(4) By a common industry. They were tent-
makers, and not ashamed of it.
(5) By a common faith. (2 Cor. vi. 14 and 1 Cor.
vii. 12-17.)
(6) By their joint service of Christ. They were
both " in holy orders," engaged in leading others in
« the Way of God."
(7) By a vow of lifelong fidelity.
*' Oh, foul fa' the hands that wad loose sic bands,
And the heart that wad part sic love ;
But there is nae hand can loose my band
But the finger o' Him above."
Conclusion : Are such lives unnoticed ? I^o, they
are " compassed about with witnesses." The galleries
are filled ! The world, taking knowledge of Darby and
Joan, is forced to confess that marriage is not " a fail-
ure " ; nay, not even " a lottery." ^And the Master
looks on, rejoicing in the blessedness of those who thus
find their happy usefulness in Him.
(E) THE EVANGELISTIC SERMON
It is quite the fashion now, in certain quarters, to
cry out against revivals. There is indeed little room
for them in the bailiwick of " progressive thought " ;
102 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
that is, if we understand a revival to mean the quick-
ening of a community to the necessity of old-fashioned
repentance and old-fashioned faith in the old-fashioned
doctrine of justification by faith in Christ crucified,
through the power of the old-fashioned, personal Spirit
of God.
But however we may believe in revivals and keep on
praying for them, the more desirable thing is, obviously,
a constant and equable fervour marked by frequent
conversions and cumulative accessions to the Church.
This is by no means impossible, provided the man in
the pulpit is an evangelistic preacher, as every pastor
ought to be.
1. Our husiness is, before and above all, to bring
the unconverted to Christ.^ The ministry in these last
times, diverted into tangential lines of thought and effort,
has been overmuch disposed to farm out this particular
and fundamental part of its business to professional
evangelists. This is not saying that itinerants may
not be called in, on occasion, to assist an overburdened
^ In President Faunce's book on Preaching he mentions
" four conceptions of the ministry : the liturgical, the magis-
terial, the oratorical and the educational," omitting the evan-
gelistic altogether. He says, "It is sometimes said that the
church is mainly a means of rescue, a life-saving station on a
dangerous coast, whose only mission is to deliver shipwrecked
sailors from impending death. Surely every church, ///&<? every
school, must be able to perform the work of rescue, must be
ready at all hazards to plunge into the surges of poverty and
vice and crime and bring out of despair the lost soul. But to
make this violent and catastrophic experience the norm and
model of all Christian endeavour is to do violence to the es-
sence of the Christian faith." It is scarcely necessary to say
that such a conception of the ministry is clearly at odds with
the teaching of Christ and His apostles as we understand it.
TOPICAL OUTLINES 103
pastor in reaping and garnering ; but as to the wisdom
of summoning an outsider to " work up " a revival in
the parish I, for one, have my doubts. The necessity
for such proceeding may usually be traced to the pas-
tor's neglect of personal duty in the premises. I think
I know ministers whose average sermon, year in and
year out, is about as well calculated to convert souls as
a critical analysis of the principle of germination would
be to harvest a crop of wheat.
2. Every sermon should he evangelistic. I expect
some of my ministerial friends to take issue with this
proposition ; but it holds, nevertheless. Not that there
is no room for " ethical sermons," but, as has been re-
marked, an ethical sermon when rightly constructed
begins at the Cross and again returns to it.
We are accustomed to speak of the double function
of the pulpit : first, to win sinners to Christ, and sec-
ond, to build up Christians in character and usefulness.
But a sermon aimed at spiritual culture, if constructed
along Biblical lines, must make Christ so attractive as
to draw sinners unto Hun ; and, per contra, a sermon
commendins: Christ to sinners, is sure to furnish food
for the strengthening of Christian life and character.
The secret of both salvation and sanctification is " look-
ing unto Jesus " ; wherefore a true sermon always
points to Him, saying, " Look and live ! "
3. There is no homiletic standpoint hut Calvary.
" We preach Christ and Him crucified." The Jews re-
quire some startling novelty ; and the Greeks seek
after profound disquisitions on abstruse themes ; but we
are confined to the circumference of saving truth, paus-
ing here and again there to cry, " Behold the wonders
of divine grace from this point of view ! " Now our
104 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON '
subject is sin, again it is immortality, or judgment, or
charity, or truth, or municipal reform, or faith, or
brotherly love, or heaven, or hell ; but it is always pre-
sented under the shadow of the Cross.
Objection first : " This lugs in the Atonement by the
ears." No ; it does not, if the preacher has a modicum
of common sense. But what if it did ? Is there an}'-
truth so important as this ? Are not sinners dying all
the while for want of it ? Shall a man stand on cere-
mony when his neighbour's house is burning up ? (But
perhaps the preacher does not believe that his uncon-
verted hearers are in immediate danger of spiritual and
eternal death ? In that case, of course, he may as well
preach on supralapsarianism.)
Objection second : " To be forever talking about
Christ crucified must get to be dismally monotonous."
That depends. If a preacher says the same thing over
and over again in the same way he must expect his
congregation to sigh,
''Strange that a harp of thousand strings
Should play one tune so long."
But I have heard a clever musician play charmingly
by merely moving his finger along a single string. It
is this moving of the finger that prevents monotone
and makes melody. The power of preaching is not in
changing the theme (that way lies spiritual impotence),
but in changing the view-point ; and here are immeas-
urable possibilities of variety.
Objection third : " An old story grows wearisome."
True ; but the Gospel is not an old story. Here is its
singular, supernatural charm. Dr. Eliot at eighty,
TOPICAL OUTLINES 106
sitting by his window with the Bible on his knees,
when asked by his daughter, "What are you read-
ing ? " answered, " The news." Of course, a minister
can so present his message as to make it seem an oft-
told tale ; but it devolves upon him to illuminate it.
A word-picture, a metaphor, an epigram, a crisp quota-
tion will break up a commonplace paragraph like a
sunburst or a trumpet blast.
This was Whitelield's method ; and his chariot sel-
dom dragged heavily. Preaching on the danger of
continuing in sin, he painted a blind beggar led by a
dog, — by which he meant the unaided reason, — on a
dark night, approaching the edge of an awful chasm.
" Good heavens ; he's gone ! " cried Lord Chesterfield,
one of his hearers. " He's gone ! Save him ! " Had
the preacher been content with stating his truth after
the usual manner the probability is that Lord Chester-
field's response would have come echoing stertorously
from the Land of Nod.
Objection fourth : " The people are tired of hearing
ministers say, ' Come to Jesus ! ' " No doubt there is
something in this. But there are many ways of saying
" Come to Jesus," just as there are many ways of woo-
ing. Mere sentiment is barred out in these days. A
virile presentation of the Gospel is called for. There
is a way of making Christ so attractive that the soul
needs no invitation to come to Him. The manly ring
in Moody's preaching was always recognized ; he seemed
to be saying : " I have the best thing in the world and
want you to share it." The whole sermon should be
an exhortation, instead of having one tagged on like an
addendum. Men are to be drawn to the Cross not by
coaxing and wheedling, but by considerations which
106 THE OUTLINE OF THE SERMON
appeal to reason and conscience. In other words they
must be drawn " with the cords of a man."
A good illustration of evangelistic preaching is to be
found in Peter's sermon at Pentecost. The preacher
was only a fisherman ; but his sermon, of which we
have a mere outline, was a homiletic masterpiece.
Text : Joel ii. 28-32.
Projposition : The Miracle of Pentecost^ so far from
heing due to overindulgence in new wine on the part of
the disciples, as some averred, was the work of the Holy
Ghost, prophesied hy Joel, and proceeding from, tft£ risen
and glorified Christ.
(1) Jesus, while He lived among them, had shown
Himself " approved of God " as the Messiah, " by mira-
cles and wonders and signs." These evidences of His
Messiahship they had seen with their eyes.
(2)^ Him they " had taken and with wicked hands
haa crucified and slain."
{a) This was according to " the determinate counsel
of God." The death of Christ was necessary, since
without the shedding of blood there could be no remis-
sion of sins.
(b) But they were none the less guilty in the matter
of His death ; " with wicked hands they had slain
Him." The crimson stain of murder was on them !
The murder of the Son of God ! Thus vividly
were they brought to a realization of their frightful
sin. ^
(^ But God had raised Him from the dead. Proofs
adduced from prophecy (Ps. xvi. 8-11) and personal
testimony.
(4V/^This Christ, " being by the right hand of God
exalted, hath shed forth this which ye now see and
TOPICAL OUTLINES 107
hear." Proof that the prophecies referred to must
apply to Jesus of Nazareth.
Ergo : " That same Jesus, whom ye crucified, is both
Lord and Christ." Q. E. D.
Practical application: The congregation, being
"pricked to the heart," and unable longer to keep
silence, cried out : " What shall we do ? " Whereupon
the preacher, having driven the nail, clinched it with
the exhortation: "Repent and be baptized everyone
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins."
Conclusion : " The promise (*. «., of forgiveness and
enduement of power) is unto you and to your children
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord
our God shall call."
It was a great evangelistic sermon. The result was
wonderful, but normal ; multitudes were convinced,
convicted, converted. There was an immediate harvest
of three thousand souls.
Let us preach likewise. The Gospel has lost none of
its power. God's Spirit is as " free " as ever, and as
mighty to save. The trouble is not with the Word,
but with those who profess to declare it. A minister
in Scotland reproved an old woman in his parish for
her indifference, saying : " I am sorry, Janet, that ye
have a quarrel wi' the Gospel." She answered : " My
quarrel's no wi' the Gospel ; it's wi' you, mon." Per-
haps if we were more willing to set forth the evangel
with perfect simplicity and absolute courage, we should
hear less of the prejudice of the common people against
the Chm'ch in these days.
PART THIRD
The Body of the Sermon
THE EXOEDIUM
(A) ITS IMPORTANCE
AN audience is like a spirited team of horses
which form a provisional judgment of their
driver at the instant of his grasping the lines.
Or, to change the figure, as a visitor gets his first im-
pression of a home while waiting in its vestibule so an
audience forms an anticipatory opinion of the forth-
coming discourse, subject to less or greater amendment,
while listening to its introduction. The preacher makes
a point, therefore, when he requires his hearers to prick
up their ears at his opening sentence. It was for this
reason that John Bright, who despised the usual con-
ventions of the Forum, was accustomed to write and re-
write his introductions and commit them to memory
with the utmost care.
The object of the introduction is to intro-duce? It
* A plain worshipper, who had been much upon the sea in the
days of the old sailing vessels, remarked with regard to the
sermons of a certain minister that they were " clipper-built."
Those who recall the special design of such vessels will under-
stand his reference. The peculiar quality of the old clippers
was in the formation of their prows, rather than in the general
form of the vessel. The cut-water was sharp, clean, and pro-
jected backward upon Hnes which offered the least possible re-
sistance to the waves. Therefore they were fast sailors, while
at the same time capable of carrying considerable freight.
And the introduction to the sermon is the '* cut- water "; it,
111
112 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
is the speaker's way of bringing his hearers face to face
with the matter in hand. This was put succinctly by
Cicerco in the words, ^^reddere auditores henevoloa,
attentos, docilesP
1. In a wise exordium the speaker gets on the right
side of his hearers by making them henevolos, that is,
favourably inclined towards him. This rule was
violated by Edmund Burke when he began an address
in the House of Commons in this manner : " Mr.
Speaker, I am under some embarrassment, occasioned
by a feeling of delicacy towards one-half of this House
and of contempt for the other." This was scarcely
calculated to conciliate them.
A fine illustration of the opposite sort is quoted by
Professor Baker in his " Principles of Argumentation "
from an address of Lysias, a famous pleader in the
Athenian courts : " I think, judges, I must first tell you
of my friendship with Pherenicus, lest some of you
should wonder why I, who have never been any man's
advocate before, am his now. His father, Cephisodotus,
was my friend, and when we were exiles at Thebes I
stayed with him — I, and any other Athenian who
would — and many were the good offices, public and
private, that we received from him before we came
home. Well, when he and his son had the like fortune,
too, should offer the least possible resistance. It should be no
burden upon the attention of the congregation, but rather the
reverse. A scow may carry more freight than a clipper, but its
sailing qualities are so imperfect that it is capable of making
but a single passage while the other vessel is making a half
dozen. The clipper is the more effective, and there are some
sermons weighted with an' immense amount of learning,
thought, and argument, which are not effective, only because
they are not " clipper-built." — Breed, '' Preparing to Preach"
THE EXORDIUM 113
and came to Athens as banished men, I thought that I
owed them the fullest recompense, and made them so
thoroughly at home in my house that no one coming in
could have told, unless he knew before, whether it be-
longed to them or to me. Pherenicus knows, as well as
other people, judges, that there are plenty of better
speakers than I and better experts in affairs of this
kind ; but still he thinks that my close friendship is the
best thing he can trust to. So, when he appeals to me
and asks me to give him my honest help, I think it
would be a shame to let him be deprived, if I can help
it, of what Androcleides gave him."
2. And then attentos. An exordium should be like
the court-crier's " Oyez ! Oyez ! " If the congrega-
tion is somnolent it behooves the preacher to wake
himself up.' Dullness in the exordium is like a lullaby
at the trundle-bed. Better be sensational than com-
monplace, if that were the only alternative. Fortu-
nately, it is not.
It is related of Lorenzo Dow, the old-time mountain
preacher, that in one of his camp-meetings, finding the
congregation unusually inattentos, he opened his Bible
and began on this wise : " My text is Philippians four,
thirteen : ' I can do all things.' " Producing from his
waUet a bank-bill, he said, " Paul, that's simply pre-
posterous ; I'll wager this you can't do anything of the
sort." Opening the Bible again he read, " I can do all
^ Mr. Beecher was once asked by a young minister, " What
would you do if you had a lot of people in your church who
settled themselves to sleep at the beginning of the sermon?"
He answered, " I would appoint a very wise and tactful com-
mittee to make observations ; and, on seeing any of the congre-
gation going asleep, they should walk immediately up the mid-
dle aisle and — wake the preacher."
114 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
"Whereupon he replaced the bank-bill in his wallet say-
ing, " So ? I withdraw my offer. Of course you can.
Anybody can do anything by the help of God." This
was an effective method of winning attention. We will
agree, however, that the same object could have been
reached probably in a better way.
3. Bat Cicero's third point is most important. The
preacher's business is to persuade ; but unless his
hearers are dociles there is no possibility of persuading
them ; since
'•'■ A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still."
The ground of docility is expectation. Pupils are
willing to learn when they believe their teachers have
something to say. Give your congregation the impres-
sion that you have a message and they will count it
worth while to hear you.
(B) ITS CONSTITUENT PAETS
It was once the custom to divide the exordium into
three parts: {a) Generale, (b) Speciale, (c) Specialissi-
mum.
To illustrate : suppose the text for a New Year's
sermon be taken from Genesis xxiv. 31, " Come in,
thou blessed of the Lord " ; the exordium generale
would relate to oriental hospitality ; the exordium
speciale to the particular case of Abraham's servant at
the door of Bethuel ; the exordium specialissimum to
the proposed application of the text to the approach of
another year of privilege and opportunity.
It is suggested, however, that a better division would
THE EXORDIUM 116
be into the Introduction Proper, the Narration, the
Proposition and the Explanation.
1. The Introduction Projjer.
(1) This may be, after the old method, in the form of
an address, beginning with " Dear brethren" or "Dearly
beloved " ; though the use of such terms is usually bet-
ter honoured in the breach than in the observance.
They have grown to be so purely conventional as to
mean no more than " Yours truly," which may conclude
equally well a letter of affectionate regard or a chal-
lenge to combat.
(2) It may take the form of an apology ; this, how-
ever, on the rarest occasion. If the preacher has not
had time or opportunity to properly elaborate his dis-
course the congregation will discover that fact without
his dwelling upon it ; and any apology, however satis-
factory to himself, will probably dissipate anticipation
of interest, dulling the ears and hardening the hearts
of his audience against him. An apology is like the
vermiform appendix ; if it has any proper function, no-
body has yet been able clearly to define it.
(3) The introduction proper may state " the origin
of the question." In other words, like the preamble of
the Declaration of Independence, it may give the rea-
sons for taking up the matter in hand.
For example, a discourse on Civic Righteousness
might very properly be introduced by a statement of
political conditions in the country or community.'
^ The origin of the question may be known to all, as in any
discussion of some topic of the hour. For instance, when Lord
Chatham spoke in the House of Lords in favour of the removal
of the troops from Boston there was no need, at a time when all
British eyes were on the American colonies, to explain the origin
of the question. — Baker, "Principles of Argumentation.''^
116 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
(4) Its purpose may be conciliatory. In Paul's
sermon on Mars Hill he showed his dialectic cleverness
when, to introduce a subject which he knew would be
repugnant to his hearers, he began by saying, " Ye men
of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are very re-
ligious."
A good illustration of this form of introduction is
found in Mr. Beecher's notable address to the people of
Liverpool, during our Civil War. On finding himself
confronting a hostile audience he began thus, " Ladies
and gentlemen, there is one fact that I wish to allude
to, not for the sake of reproach or blame, but by way
of claiming your more lenient consideration ; namely,
that slavery was entailed upon us by your action. It
was against the earnest protests of our colonists that
the government of Great Britain, — I will concede not
knowing what were the mischiefs, — ignorantly, but in
point of fact, forced the slave-trafiic upon us. ( Uproar
and confusion.) I was going to ask you, suppose a
child is born with an hereditary disease, entailed upon
him by parents who had contracted it through their
own misconduct, would it be fair for those parents to
rail at their child because it was diseased ? {Cries of
No ! No !) Would not the child have a right to say,
' Father, it was your fault, and you ought to be patient
with my deficiencies ' ? {Applause.) I do not ask you
to justify slavery in us ; because it was wrong in you
two hundred years ago ; but having ignorantly been
the means of fixing it upon us, now that we are en-
gaged in a mortal struggle to free ourselves from it,
we have a right to your tolerance, your patience and
your most favourable constructions."
(5) The opening words of the discourse may take
THE EXORDIUM 117
the fonn of an appeal for a hearing ; such as, " Friends,
Eomans, Countrymen, lend me your ears."
There is a fine illustration of this sort of introduction
in the first chapter of Isaiah : " Hear, O heavens, and
give ear, O earth, for Jehovah hath spoken : ' I have
nourished and brought up children and they have
rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner and
the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider, . . . Come, now, and let
us reason together,' saith Jehovah ; ' though your sins be
as scarlet they shall be white as snow ; though they be
red like crimson they shall be as wool. If ye be willing
and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land ; but if
ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured by the sword ' ;
for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it."
2. The Narration.
The object here is to clear the way for the argument
by a statement of facts. This statement should be
clear, concise and comprehensive.
It was remarked by the judge of a court in which
Daniel Webster appeared as counsel in a certain case
that the laboured argument of that distinguished jurist
might have been omitted as totally unnecessary, since
the case had been practically settled by his preliminary
statement of facts.
(1) The context may furnish the narrative. For ex-
ample, a discourse on the text, " He is not here ; He is
risen," would almost necessitate a brief outline of the
events immediately preceding the resurrection of
Christ.
(2) The historical setting of the text may frequently
be used to advantage in opening the theme, e. g.^ a
sermon on self-denial for the sake of others, based on
118 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
the text, " If meat make my brother to offend I will
eat no meat while the world standeth," would naturally
be introduced by a reference to the Corinthian custom
of serving at their tables meats which had previously
been offered on the altars of the pagan gods.'
(3) The narrative may be in exegetical form, giving
the meaning of the text by reference to Hebrew or
Greek usage. It would, e. g.^ be quite proper, in preach-
ing on the Creation of the "World in Six Days, to show
at the outset that word yom translated " day," so far
* In the eighth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians
St. Paul discusses the point of casuistry respecting the eating
of meats offered to idols. What is a merely verbal exegesis of
that chapter worth to a popular audience? It is extremely
difficult to make an audience feel that the question there raised
by the apostle had any religious significance. In the handling
of that passage the people need to know some of the historic
facts of Pagan worship. They need to get a glimpse of the old
Greek and Roman private life. They should see that the
question of which St. Paul treats was a very practical one to a
Roman Christian every time he went into the market to supply
his table. They should be told that the question concerned
the common social courtesies of Roman life. Not only was it
true that meats from the temples were sold in the markets, but
Roman banquets were often sacrifices to the gods. Invitations
to dine with a friend were often expressed in language technical
to religious worship. Hortensius invites Cicero to a sacrifice
to Jupiter : he means that Hortensius desires the pleasure of
Cicero's company at dinner. The ritualistic character of
private banquets remained in form long after the faith of the
cultivated classes in Paganism had collapsed. That which was
true in this respect at Rome was equally true at Corinth. The
apostle's casuistry, therefore, entered into the conventional
courtesies of life in Corinth and throughout the then civilized
world. The question in its principle was world-wide, and per-
petual in its bearings. Christian life to-day in Paris and New
York needs the discussion of it as much as in Rome and Corinth
in St. Paul's Xim^.—Fhelp, " Theory of Preaching^
THE EXORDIUM 119
from always meaning a day of twenty-four hours, is
used for a year, a royal reign, a lifetime, an historical
period, a millennium and the entire sempiternal dura-
tion of the existence of God.
(4) Or it may assume the form of a paraphrase.
An alternate phrasing of the text may greatly clarify
it.
Dr. Alexander Maclaren began a sermon on " The
glorious gospel of the blessed God " by saying that the
text might properly be rendered, " The gospel of the
glory of the happy God." A statement like that en-
chains the attention at once.
(5) Or the clarification of the text may begin with
a description of its time or circumstance or place, e. g.,
a sermon on " I am the light of the world " would be
introduced naturally and effectively by a description
of the lighting of the golden candelabra of the temple,
the fact which probably suggested the words referred
to ; or one on " I am the water of life " by a descrip-
tion of " the effusion of waters," the closing incident
of the feast, which prompted Christ to thus address
the dispersing multitude. Or one on the text " Peace
be unto you " by a description of the scene on Olivet.
How eagerly the disciples gaze upon the face that so
lately was marked with anguish. The greetings over,
they unburden their minds : " Lord, wilt Thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel ? " He replies,
" It is not for you to know the times or the seasons."
Then He renews the promise of the outpouring of the
Spirit ; and repeats the injunction, " Go ye into all the
world and preach the Gospel ! " They gather round
Him in love and wonder and reverence ; He lifts His
pierced hands in blessing and slowly rises from their
120 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
midst. As He ascends through the yielding air His
eyes are bent on His disciples ; His arms are out-
stretched, and His voice, heard for the last time, dies
away in benediction. They utter no despairing cry
like that of Elisha at the translation of Ehjah ; but
silently, with strained eyes, follow Him upward into the
deep blue until the clouds, like a white pavilion, enfold
Him. There are flashes of gold like chariots sweep-
ing through the sky, vibrations of light like the wav-
ing of silken ■ banners, then a crimson glory as if the
great gates of heaven were rolling back. How simple,
yet sublime, this parting of Christ from His earthly
friends !
3. The Explanation.
By this is meant a definition of terms. For example,
in a famous controversy on Divine Grace, in the Sor-
bonne in Paris, the speakers each in turn found it nec-
essary to define " suflBcient " and " elficient " or effica-
cious, since a clear understanding and differentiation of
those terms was vitally important to the argument in
hand.
In' a sermon of Frederic W. Robertson on Loneliness,
based on the text " The hour cometh when ye shall
leave me alone," he begins by saying that there are
two kinds of loneliness : one is insulation in space,
which may or may not be solitude ; the other is insula-
tion in spirit, which leaves one lonely indeed. A man
by himself may enjoy the truest pleasures of fellow-
ship ; while he may be solitary as he passes along a
crowded street.
4- The Proposition.
By this is meant a statement of precisely what the
preacher proposes to prove or make clear.
THE EXORDIUM 121
A proposition is an announcement on the part of the
speaker that he means to do something more than talk
about his theme. A term, such as " Faith " or " Char-
ity," will answer for an essay; but a proposition is
essential to an argument, A schoolboy in a composi-
tion about " Spring " may say many pleasant things
without getting anywhere in particular; but if at the
outset he lays down this caption, " Spring is the pleas-
antest season of the year," that becomes a proposition,
and he must proceed to justify it.'
The proposition should be stated concisely and in
the clearest possible terms. An orthodox Christian
who endowed a lectureship in a certain theological
school stipulated that the interest of his bequest should
defray the cost of an annual course of " lectures on the
Divinity of Christ " ; but this condition was expressed
in terms so equivocal that the man's money is being ex-
pended on a course of lectures avowedly designed to
show that Christ was not divine, as He claimed to be.
(1) The proposition may be rhetorical in form ; as,
" I propose to show thus and so." This is after the
manner of Yirgil's ArTna virumque cano.
(2) Or it may be logical ; i. e.^ in the form of an af-
* The sovereignty of God, for example, is a theme opening
the door to almost any kind of discussion of God's sovereignty.
*' God is a sovereign " is a theme inviting and almost compel-
ling its support by proof. Let the preacher announce for his
theme The Sovereignty of God, and we can imagine a hearer
at once saying to himself, " Let us see what he has to say
about it." But if he announce for his theme, " God is sover-
eign," that same hearer would almost inevitably be saying
silently to the preacher, ''You say, 'God is sovereign ' ; fur-
nish the evidence." Well, the ideal propositional sermon fur-
nishes the evidence. It is bent absolutely and exclusively on
proving its cd&Q.— Johnson, " Ideal Ministry.^*
122 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
firmation, a denial or a question. For example : on
the Doctrine of Justification by Faith. Positive,
" The just shall live by faith " ; negative, " By the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified " ; interrog-
ative, " How shall a man be just with God ? "
(3) It may be complex : as an indictment in court
frequently consists of a number of charges with many
subordinate specifications. A text involving the possi-
bility of such a complex proposition is 2 Peter i. 5-8
(R. v.), already referred to : " Yea, and for this very
cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith
supply virtue ; and in your virtue knowledge ; and in
your knowledge temperance ; and in your temperance
patience ; and in your patience godliness ; and in your
godliness love of the brethren ; and in your love of the
brethren love. For if these things are yours and
abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful
unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here
the importance of each of these several graces is af
firmed as necessary to the symmetry of Christiai
character, which is the matter under consideration.
It has been assumed that the proposition, as a con
ventional part of the exordium, should be stated at thi
beginning of the sermon. These are occasions, however,
when it may wisely be reserved for the close.* Paul,
^ Some years ago, at a great dinner in Boston at which many
rich and liberal men were present, a minister was called upon
to speak. All the speeches thus far had been entertaining,
with no special purpose in view. This man wished to make
sure, before he sat down, of a large contribution for a Boston
charity. He announced his serious intention at once. He
made a by no means uninteresting speech, but was listened to
silently. At the end there was no response to his appeal for
aid. The audience, which had gathered as it supposed merely
THE EXORDIUM 123
in his discourse on Mars Hill, did not disclose his real
purpose — which was to prove that " This Jesus is the
Christ" — until he had secured the attention of his
hearers by an elaborate treatment of the text, taken
from the altar to the unknown God. This method has
the advantage of holding the interests of the audience
in a sustained curiosity as to the speaker's purpose.
The Q. E. D. comes as a surprise at last, like the spring-
ing of a mine.
(C) SUGGESTIONS
rt' 1. It is scarcely necessary to say that all four parts
of the exordium, as indicated, need not be used on
every occasion.
2. There are times when no exordium at all is neces-
sary ; when it is better to plunge at once m medias res.
So Cicero in his First Oration against Cataline, Quousque
tandem, etc.
It is related of David Crockett that on his entering
the House of Representatives, the speaker began to say,
" I have pleasure in introducing a new member from "
— whereupon the doughty Colonel broke in, " Let that
pass! Colonel Crockett needs no introduction. He
has been accustomed to make his own way." There
for amusement, felt tricked in meeting this attack on their
purses when they were obliged to listen. The speaker's frank
statement of his purpose chilled them too much for his argu-
ments to stir them. Had he spoken at first lightly and enter-
tainingly, then slipped skillfully into more serious matters, and,
by well-told anecdotes and strong appeals, roused their sympa-
thies in the object of his interest, he might then have closed
with his appeal for aid, with a strong probability of far different
results. — Baker, ' ' Principles of Argumentation.'' '
12i THE BODY OF THE SERMON
are sermons, likewise, that need no introduction. The
abrupt method is sometimes the best one.'
3. As a rule, the exordium should be as brief as pos-
sible. The address of the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel
xii. 1-10 was mostly introduction ; but there was a
special reason for this. The Parable of the Little Ewe-
Lamb led up directly to the proposition, which was
stated last, " Thou art the man ! " All the remainder
of Nathan's discourse was " Practical application " ; and
it accomplished its purpose in bringing the audience to
its knees.^
% The introduction of "Paradise Lost" is in only
twenty-five lines, and none the less effective on that
account.
^ A certain editor's advice to his correspondents is not out of
place in this connection. He told them through the columns
of his paper that if they had some item of interest to communi-
cate it was well to introduce it with some careful and elaborate
piece of rhetorical work, in which they should exert themselves
to render their composition as elegant and classical as possible.
This introduction was to be followed by the plainest possible
statement of the facts in the case, without ornamentation or
embellishment, and with no figures of speech or illustrations
that did not make the matter more distinctly clear. He again
advised them to follow this statement with a peroration in which
their most elegant writing should be done. All their flights of
fancy were to be reserved for the peroration, all their most
elaborate work. "Then," he added in conclusion, "cutoff
the introduction and the peroration, and send us the rest." —
Breed, *'• Preparing to Preachy
^ The portico should be of the same style as the main struc-
ture, it should be harmonious with it in design, it should be
modest in its proportion, and severe rather than florid in its char-
acter, and it should not attract too much attention to itself, but
rather lead at once into the building. To fail in any of these
particulars is as unfortunate in homiletics as it is in archi-
tecture.— Pattison, " The Making of the Sermon^
THE EXORDIUM 125
It was once remarked of John Howe, whose introduc-
tions were unnecessarily drawn out, that " he was so
long laying the table-cloth as to deprive his hearers of
the pleasure of dining."
4. One of the main purposes of the exordium is to
enable the preacher and his hearers to start on com-
mon ground. In courts and deliberative assemblies it is
usual for speakers, at the outset of an argument, to state
the points on which the opposing parties are agreed.
This clears the deck for action.
Jonathan Edwards, the greatest of modern dialecti-
cians, was accustomed to begin a sermon by laying
down premises and postulates which, if granted, made
his subsequent argument an easy matter and its con-
clusion inevitable. It has been said of his famous essay
on the Freedom of the Human "Will that " one who
gets aboard is bound to travel with him to his journey's
end." The speaker who desires to carry his point will do
well to oblige his hearers, at the outset, to get aboard
with him.
5. It is advisable to study variety in one's exor-
diums.
(1) The easy method is to find the exordium in the
context. This is sometimes necessary and frequently
^vise ; but it may become so habitual as to grow weari-
some.
(2) The exordium may be historical. A sermon on
the Miracle of the Resurrection based upon the text
Matthew xii. 38-40, " An evil and adulterous genera-
tion seeketh a sign, and there shall no sign be given to
it but the sign of the prophet Jonas, etc.," might begin
with a contextual exordium, stating the unreasonable
attitude of the scribes and Pharisees towards Christ and
126 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
the circumstances under which they made this demand
for a sign ; or with an historical introduction referring
to the miraculous deliverance of Jonah from " the belly
of hell." Either or both would be good if not too
long drawn out.
(3) The exordium may be descriptive. An illustra-
tion is found in Spurgeon's sermon on the text, " He
giveth songs in the night." "The world hath its
night. The sun shineth by day and men go forth to
their labours ; but they grow weary and nightfall cometh
on Like a sweet boon from heaven. Darkness draweth
the curtains and shutteth out the light which would
prevent our eyes from slumber ; while the calm stillness
permits us to rest upon the lap of ease and there forget
a while our cares, until the morning sun appeareth.
And an angel puts his hand upon the curtain and with-
draws it once again, touches our eyelids and bids us
rise and proceed to the labours of the day. Night is
one of the greatest blessings men enjoy ; we have many
reasons to thank God for it. Yet night is to many a
gloomy season. There is the pestilence that walketh in
darkness ; there is the terror by night ; there is the dread
of robbers and of foul disease, with all those fears that
the timorous know, when there is no light for discern-
ing. It is then they fancy that spiritual beings walk
the earth; though if they knew rightly they would
rejoice to find it true that
Millions of spiritual creatures walk this earth
Unseen, both when we sleep and when we wake,
and that at all times they are round about us, not more
by night than by day. Night is the season of terror to
most men. Yet even the night hath its songs."
THE EXORDIUM 127
(4) The exordium may be found in some passing
event ; as when the sermon is suggested by impending
war or other public occasion of sorrow or rejoicing. It
is quite proper that such occasion should be taken
advantage of by the preacher in making an appeal to
the reason and conscience of his congregation. Christ
Himself set the example of it.
6. The exordium should not begin too far back.
It is well, as a rule, to steer clear of creation and the
Jews. Sir "Walter Scott would be far and away the
most popular of novelists were it not that his introduc-
tions are so interminable. A sermon should not be built
on the architectural lines of the Egyptian temples, the
pillared corridors of which were so vast that the wor-
shipper was likely to weary before entering the adytum
to bow before his mummied ibex or other disappoint-
ing god.
7. The introduction should not be used by the
preacher as a means of " working himself up." It was
said of Robert Hall that " he required half an hour in
each discourse before he was ready for business." The
working up process should all be gone through with be-
fore the preacher climbs the pulpit stairs. He should
be ready for business at once ; ready for the working
up not of himself but of his congregation from the
opening word,
8. It may be wise sometimes to write the exordium
after the sermon proper has been fully prepared. This
will not infrequently economize labour ; for every min-
ister knows what it is to discard a carefully-prepared
introduction on finding that it was too long, or too tan-
gential to the theme, or unnecessary or, for some other
reason, better left out.
128 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
9. The crucial test of an. introduction is the ques'
tion, Does it introduce ? Does it clear the decks for
the business in hand ? Is it effective ? Does it win
the attention of the audience and prepare them for what
comes further on ?
When Joseph Cook brought in Shakespeare, with the
red-handed queen in the night-walking soliloquy, to
point a lecture on Conscience, saying, " Out, damned
spot ; out, I say ! Here's the smell of blood still ! All
the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little
hand ! " and the comment of the royal leech, " More
needs she the divine than the physician ; God, God for-
give us all ! " he showed his singular skill in getting the
eyes and ears of his auditors and forcing them to " get
aboard," while he carried them through an argument
on Conscience as a fallible but helpful and necessary
guide to character and right living ; a dry enough
theme in the hands of one unable to enliven it.
II
THE AKGUMENT
(A) ITS IMPOETANCE
IT is obvious that inasmuch as the preacher's object
is persuasion, his appeal must be addressed to the
reasoning faculties of those who hear him. Pro-
fessor Hoppin says : " There can be no forcible presen-
tation of truth to the reason which is not itself psy-
chologically rational or is not based upon a true philos-
ophy of thought. A sermon should have logical, in
opposition to illogical, thinking and requires reasoning,
or the giving of reasons, otherwise it would go forth
unballasted on the rough and stormy sea of human
opinion."
The lack of argument in preaching is, no doubt,
largely responsible for the alienation of men like the
poet Otway, who in his " Venice Preserved," expressed
his views in these words :
'' You want to lead
My reason blindfold like a hampered lion,
Check' d of his noble vigour : then, when baited
Down to obedient tameness, may it couch
And show strange tricks which you call signs of
faith." ^
* The pulpit is responsible for a large measure of the polite
indifference with which so very many sermons are treated by men
who assume no such attitude in regard to serious intellectual
effort. We have still need to lay to heart John Foster's com-
129
130 THE BODY OF THE SEEMON
The commonest conversation, though it be only re-
specting the weather or the crops, presently becomes
flat, stale and unprofitable unless it leads to some differ-
ence of opinion. The interest flags and the conference
breaks up when simply indisputable commonplaces are
bandied to and fro.
In political life a man's stature is estimated sooner or
later by his mastery of logic. Here is the line, run-
ning along the borders of great civic principles, which
differentiates the statesman from the demagogue. An
appeal to passion may inflame a mob for the moment, but
the people are governed by sound reason in the long run.
The preacher, above all other men, is expected to be
able to give a reason for the hope that is in him. And
the sermon is his opportunity. He is like an advocate
in court with a case to argue. Preaching is more than
talking about a thing. Clear, succinct, well grounded,
cumulative, progressive and convincing statements are
what tell. Pretty periods and striking epigrams are
merely flowers along the way.
I do not go with those who aiflrm that the time for
argument in the pulpit has gone by. So long as there
is a single sinner left on earth who rejects the Gospel of
Christ there will be need of proving to him its " sweet
reasonableness " in order that he may accept it. The
fact that there is in some quarters a strong prejudice
against logic or argumentation will perhaps account for
the feeble sentimentalism which is preached in some
pulpits in these days. Of course a disputatious preacher
plaint : " There is a great deficiency of what may be called
conclusive writing and speaking. How seldom we feel at the
end of the passage or discourse that something is settled and
done." — Pattison, " Making of the Sennon.'*
THE ARGUMENT 131
is a disturber of the peace ; but a preacher who lays down
propositions without proof, as if Ms say-so were final, is
as ineffective as a daft Jamie " whistling down the wind." '
The term "argument," however, is a broad one.
There are four kinds of composition which may prop-
erly be called argumentative ; it being understood that
all argument, as an effort to persuade, makes its final
appeal to the will.
First, Descrijption. This has to do, particularly, with
men and things. It addresses itself, through the imag-
ination, to the will.
A description may be for the purpose of mere defini-
tion and identification, like that of a piece of property
in a title deed ; or like the description of a criminal at
large ; or as when a natural scientist describes a sky-
lark as " a bird of singular habits and appearance, that
mounts into the air and sings as it flies."
Or the purpose of a description may be to produce or
* The uses of argumentation generally speaking are three, as
follows : (i) Its most important use is to strengthen the faith
of those who already believe. There are very many whose
faith is of such a character that they cry in their deepest souls,
if not in the hearing of others, " Lord, I believe : help Thou
mine unbelief." (2) Argumentation has its uses in the con-
victing and convincing of unbelievers. But the unbelievers
who are won by argument of a formal kind are not generally
those who are decidedly hostile to the truth, so that we do not
mean by the term those who are arrayed against Christianity,
but rather those who yet lack the decision to accept and serve
the Lord Christ. They are on the border line; they are " not
far from the kingdom of God." (3) But argumentation has a
third use ; it may silence those whom it may not convince.
The apostle himself wrote of some whom even he was unable to
win, "whose mouths must be stopped." This process requires
special skill, but skill that may be acquired by diligent prep-
aration.— Breed, *' Preparing to Preach."
132 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
emphasize a moral impression. When, for example, the
preacher paints a man, a place, an incident or anything
else, he does so not for the sake of the picture — which
has of itself no homiletic value, — but because of its
bearing on the object aimed at.
Second, Narration. This has to do with events. It
addresses itself, through the power of association, to
the will.
In Edmund Burke's address in the case of Warren
Hastings he relied for the most part on the story of
Hastings' life in India to substantiate the indictment.
In the preliminary cross-examination his abilities as a
lawyer were taxed to the utmost in bringing out facts
and incidents which, by themselves, had no apparent
connection with the matter in hand. In his address to
the court his oratorical ability was splendidly shown in so
articulating these disjecta inemhra as to make the story
assume the form and power of a convincing argument.
The logical effectiveness of a well-told story is illus-
trated in the bearing of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" on the
final solution of the slavery question in the United States.
The story of an overworked and underpaid needle-
woman as told by Thomas Hood in " The Song of the
Shirt " is in evidence :
'^ Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread.
** O men with sisters dear,
O men with mothers and wives,
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives ! "
THE ARGUMENT 133
This song is said to have raised the wages of every
seamstress in England. It is this sort of argument that
strikes home.
The consummate oratorical skill of Christ is shown in
His use of the parable as a means of influencing the will
in the direction of truth and righteousness.
Thirds Explanation. This has to do especially with
facts. It addresses itself, through the understanding,
to the will.
For example : the determining factor in the question
of papal supremacy is found in a clear and fair expla-
nation of Christ's words in Matthew xvi. 16-19, xviii.
15-18 and John xx. 19-23. These have reference to
(1) the Rock foundation of the Church, which is not
Peter, but Peter's confession, " Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God" (Matt, xviii. 15-18);' (2) the
Power of the Keys, which were not the keys of the in-
visible but of the visible Church, the reference being to
the opening up of the Gospel to Gentiles as well as Jews
(Matt. xvi. 19, first clause) ; (3) the power of " Binding
and Loosing," which has reference to the maintenance of
order and discipline in the Church, and was conferred not
on Peter alone but on the whole apostolic circle (Matt,
xvi. 19, latter part) ; and (4) the Power of Absolution
* Our reasons for saying that the Rock here referred to was
not Peter but his great confession are these: (i) The word
petran is feminine ; while petros is masculine, meaning not a
rock but a stone hewn out of a rock. (2) As a matter of his-
torical fact not Peter but Christ Himself is " the Church's one
foundation." (3) Of all the apostles Peter was most impul-
sive and vacillating and, therefore, least fitted to serve in this
way. (4) His confession "Thou art the Christ, the Son of
the living God " furnished a worthy foundation for a perpetual
Church. (5) It was meet and proper that the man making this
confession should be honoured as a stone hewn out of the Rock,
134 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
(John XX. 19-23), which was conferred not upon Peter
alone but upon all Christians; having no reference
whatever to what is called " plenary absolution " but
only to that declarative form of absolution which is
exercised by all true believers when they say, "He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he
that believeth not, . . . the wrath of God abideth
on him." In a discourse on Romanism along these
lines the logic of the argument is found simply in a fair
statement or explanation of the teaching of Christ.
A good illustration of the force of explanation is
found in Rev. Robert Burdette's statement of his posi-
tion on the temperance question. A previous utterance
of his having been misunderstood, he now proposed to
explain it. " About the power of prohibitory laws to
prohibit ? The laws of the state against murder do not
entirely prevent murder ; nevertheless, I am opposed to
licensing one murderer to ever so many thousand per-
sons, even on petition of a majority of the property-
owners in the block that we may have all the murder
that is desirable in the community under wise regula-
tions, with a little income for the municipality. I be-
lieve in the absolute prohibition of murder. The laws
of the country prohibiting stealing do not entirely pre-
vent stealing : nevertheless, I am opposed to a high
license system of stealing, providing that all theft shall
be restricted to certain authorized thieves who shall
steal only between the hours of 6 a. m. and 11 : 30 P. M.,
except Sundays when no stealing shall be done except
by stealth, entrance to be made in all cases on that day
by the back door, and at the thief's risk. I believe in
laws that absolutely forbid theft at any hour, or on any
day of the week. And on the same ground, and just
THE ARGUMENT 135
as positively, do I believe in the prohibition of the
liquor traffic. And I never said I didn't. And I did say
that I did. And I do. I say that the best way to make
a man a temperate man is to teach him not to drink.
But a saloon is not a kindergarten of sobriety. Your
town is under no obligation to any saloon. All that it
is, in respectability and permanent prosperity, it has
grown to be without the assistance of the liquor traffic.
If the liquor men insist on quoting me on this topic, let
them commit this to memory, that they may repeat it
as they need it : I do not know one good thing about
the saloon. It is an evil thing that has not one redeem-
ing thing in all its history to commend it to good men.
It breaks the laws of God and man. It desecrates the
Sabbath ; it profanes the name of religion ; it defies
public order ; it tramples under foot the tenderest feel-
ings of humanity ; it is a moral pestilence that blights
the very atmosphere of town and country ; it is a stain
upon honesty ; a blur upon purity ; a clog upon prog-
ress ; a check upon the nobler impulses ; it is an in-
centive to falsehood, deceit and crime. Search through
the history of this hateful thing, and read one page over
which some mother can bow her grateful head and
thank God for all the saloon did for her boy. There
is no such record. All its history is written in tears
and blood, with smears of shame and stains of crime,
and dark blots of disgrace."
Fourth^ Demonstration. This is after the method of
Euclid. It addresses itself through all the mental
powers to the will.'
^ It cost Abraham Lincoln a long struggle to understand what
constitutes proof; and in order to master the principles of
reasoning he left the law office where he was reading, and
136 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
1, A demonstration may be direct : following either
the inductive or deductive method ; as explained further
on.
2. Or the demonstration may be indirect. As in a
mathematical proposition like this : " If two straight
lines are perpendicular to the same straight line they
are parallel with each other " ; where it is shown that
if they were not thus parallel they would meet ; an
absurd conclusion, because it violates certain of the
axioms and definitions.
This indirect method is called reductio ad absurdum.
It was used by Whately, when, in refuting a current
form of argument against Christ, he showed that the
same mode of reasoning would prove that no such per-
son as Napoleon ever lived.
The extreme view of evolution, which not only ex-
cludes all divine interposition in the province of natural
law but applies the theory rigidly and without excep-
tion to every department of human life and experience,
is conclusively met, from the Christian standpoint, by a
clear showing of the fact that, ruling out the miraculous,
it makes not only Christianity but Christ Himself the
mere product of the automatic processes of insensate laws.
(B) THE EEQUISITES OF A CONVINCING
AEGUMENT
The object of argument in preaching, to wit: per-
through a cheerless winter spelled out his geometry by the light
of pitch-pine knots in his father's log hut. " Then in the
spring, when I had got through with it, I said to myself one
(lay, ' Abe, do you know now when a thing is proved ? ' And
I answered right out loud, * Yes, sir, I do.' 'Then you may
go back to the law shop.' And I went." — Fatiison, ''Mak-
ing of the Sermon,^*
THE ARGUMENT 137
suasion, must constantly be kept in mind. To the end
that, by a convincing appeal to the will, through all the
avenues of mental approach, the hearer may be moved
to action, four things are necessary :
First, A Theme, in and about which, for the time, all
consideration shall centre. Unity is essential to effect-
iveness. One reason why expository preaching, which
is ideally most effective, is so frequently dull and incon-
sequential, is because it lacks oneness of aim, like sheet
lightning. A sermon may be full of beautiful thoughts
and forcible suggestions without getting anywhere in
particular. One large thought, well presented from
various points of view, sufficiently illustrated, argued to
a finish and practically driven home, is better than the
best pyrotechnical display of rhetoric. Napoleon was
accustomed to say, '' One bad general is better than
two good ones." Wherefore, stick to your text.
Second, A Proposition. It is the proposition that
distinguishes a sermon from a religious essay. In the
proposition, which is not always announced to the con-
gregation but is necessarily present to the preacher's
mind, the preacher lays down, more definitely than in
his theme, what he proposes to do.
In Edmund Burke's great defense of the American
Colonies he began by announcing his purpose on this
wise : " When Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in
the year 1766 I a^^Tva first that the Americans did not,
in consequence of this measure, call upon you to give up
the former parliamentary revenue which subsisted in
that country, or even any one of the articles which
compose it. I affirm also that when, departing from
the maxims of that repeal, you revived the schemes of
taxation, and thereby filled the minds of the colonists
138 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
with new jealousy and all sorts of apprehension, then it
was that they quarrelled with the old taxes as well as
the new ; then it was, and not until then, that they
questioned all the parts of your legislative power and
by the battery of such questions have shaken the solid
structure of this empire to its deepest foundations. Of
these two projpositions I shall, before I have done, give
such convincing, such damning proof, that however the
contrary may be whispered in circles or bawled in
newspapers, they nevermore will dare to raise their
voice in this house."
Now and then a thoughtless critic of doctrinal dis-
cussion smiles at the fact that men once adventured
their lives on the importance of the word Filioque, or
on the single letter of the alphabet which marks the
difference between homoousian and homoiousian / but
this is because they are unappreciative of the great
truths involved in those historic debates. The word
Filioque was the caption of a great proposition, to wit :
that the Holy Spirit " proceeds from the Father and the
Son," a statement which rent asunder the "Western and
Eastern Churches. The letter which differentiates the
words homoousian and homoiousian was a mighty plat-
form for debate, because it expressed the proposition of
the Trinity ; and in the prolonged controversies of
which it furnished the basis the doctrine of the Divinity
of Christ was finally and permanently formulated in
the symbols of the Christian Church.'
^ This memorable dispute was satirized by Boileau on this wise:
" D'une syllabe impie un saint mot augments
Remplit tous les esprits d'aigreurs si meurtrieres —
Tu fis, dans une guerre et si triste et si longue,
P6rir tant de Chretiens, martyrs d'une dipthongue / "
THE ARGUMENT 13d
Third, Forceful Logic. The preacher should be a
master of the art of putting things ; his sermon
should be like a well-ordered and mobilized army of
facts. To carry one's point — that is the business in
hand. And certain things are necessary to this end.
1. Concreteness. In a famous mill-wheel case, in
which Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster were the at-
torneys of the respective litigants, the former delivered
a long and elaborate speech in which he argued that his
client's patent had been infringed, basing his argument
on a scientific principle known as " the fixity of points."
Webster replied by producing two wheels and saying,
" Gentlemen of the jury : there they are. Look at them ! "
It was a brief argument but it carried his case.
2. Concentration. George Whitefield once wrote to
Benjamin Franklin that he was on his way to Phila-
delphia where he proposed to preach a sermon in be-
half of his orphanage in Georgia. " Of course I must
hear him," said Franklin, " but I don't believe in his
orphanage ; and I defy him to get any money from
me." In speaking of the sermon afterwards he said
that from the opening sentence it was nothing but
orphans and the orphanage ; facts, figures, pathetic
incidents were all directed to a single end ; so that
presently Franklin said, " I will give hun a few pence,"
then, " He shall have my loose silver " ; and he ended
by making a generous donation.
3. Clearness. " I had rather speak five words with
my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others
also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."
The best writers are not infrequently careless in this
particular. A few quotations in point :
Captain Marryat : " I must go and help Alice with
140 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
the heifer ; she is not very quiet, and I see her going
out with her pail."
Encyclopedia Britannica : " Richard Steele's father,
who is said to have been a lawyer, died before he had
reached his sixth year."
Henry Maudesley : " At length, worn out by annoy-
ance, he resolved to end it. He awaited the night of
December 31st, pistol in hand, and as the clock struck
twelve, fired it into his mouth."
Dickens in Martin Chuzzlewit : " The present busi-
ness of these pages is with the dragon who had his
retreat in Mr. Pecksniff's neighbourhood ; and that
courteous animal being already on the carpet, there is
nothing in the way of its immediate transaction." *
^. Graceful rhetoric. There is no reason why a
man competent to preach a good sermon should not
express it in the best possible form.
The carelessness of a preacher in so simple a matter
as the discriminating use of the words " shall," usually
indicating futurity, and " will " correctly denoting voli-
tion, may prevent the full effect of liis sei'mon upon the
minds of some hearers by stamping him as a slightly
educated man.^
' See Hill's " Principles of Rhetoric " for these and other
instances of common faults.
"^ The general rule to be followed in the use of the two words
is, that when the simple idea of future occurrence is to be ex-
pressed, unconnected with the speaker's resolve, we must use
shall in the first person, and will in the second and third ; as
" I shall die, you will die, he will die " ; but when the idea of
compulsion or necessity is to be conveyed, — a futurity con-
nected with the will of the speaker, — will must be employed in
the first person, and shall in the second and third ; as, *' I will
go, you shall go, he shall go." — Matthews, ''Words, Their
Use and Abuse."
THE ARGUMENT 141
In Franklin's bo)(hood, feeling the inadequacy of his
preparation for the best literary work by reason of his
ignorance of good rhetoric, he bought an odd volume
of The Spectator and, after reading its essays carefully,
tried first to reproduce them in prose as nearly equal
to the original as possible, then changed them into
verse, then back into prose again ; until by persistence
in this and similar exercises he made himself a master
of clear and graceful expression.
5. The attaining of these four qualities demands
great industry. It is only by earnest work and suit-
able preparation that a theme can be elucidated. " By
hammer and hand all arts do stand."
N. B. There are some text-books which, until the
preacher has mastered them, should be kept near at
hand. He should familiarize himself particularly with
these :
(1) The principles of logic ; too much overlooked
and neglected by the pulpit in these days.
(2) The laws of evidence. A minister ought to
know, almost as well as he knows the faces of his
church-members, the various kinds of proof and the
relative values of evidence, testimonial, cu'cumstantial,
et cetera. He ought to know precisely the weight of
authority and the worthlessness of mere assertion. If
he is arguing against the theatre, for example, he
should be able to discriminate between the i2>se dixit
of a theological recluse and the testimony of a man
like Edwin Booth who knew about it.
(3) The rules of rhetoric. It is a mistake to part
with the rudimentary text-books of one's early school-
days. The old grammar, thumbed and dog-eared,
should be kept near by for reference ; because we know
142 THE BODY OF THE SEKMON
that better than any other, and, in a matter of doubt,
can turn immediately to the proper page of it.
"We never grow away from these fundamental things.
The plays of Shakespeare are simply superb combina-
tions of the letters of the alphabet in accord with
sensible rules of grammar and rhetoric. Not even in
our religious life do we " leave the rudiments of the
Gospel " in the sense of forsaking or ignoring them :
we " leave " them only as a brook leaves the fountain
on its way to the sea or as a temple leaves its founda-
tion by rising higher, stone by stone, upon it.
(C) POSITIVE PEOOF, OE DEMONSTEATION
1. The Antecedent Probability.
In framing an argument the first business of the
logician is to create an antecedent probability as to the
truth of his proposition. This places him in a coign of
vantage by throwing the onus jprobandi on the other
side.
In a case before a criminal court the attorney for the
prosecution usually tries, at the outset, to create such
an antecedent probability, with reference to the guilt
of the prisoner at the bar, by showing that he had a
motive for committing the crime charged against him.
This mode of procedure is familiar in connection with
scientific research. The discovery of the planet Nep-
tune in 1846 by Le Yerrier was due to the fact that
perturbations were observed in a certain quarter of the
heavens, which could only be accounted for on the
hypothesis that some unknown body was disconcert-
ing the otherwise normal order of things. Having
this probability in mind Le Yerrier kept his telescope
THE ARGUMENT 143
patiently turned in that direction, with the result re-
ferred to.
To cite another instance: the fact that chemical
nitrogen is lighter than atmospheric nitrogen forced
upon the minds of scientific chemists the presumption
that the latter contained an unknown ponderable con-
stituent. This antecedent probability led to a systematic
quest which was rewarded by the discovery of the new
element known as argon.
It need scarcely be said that such a presumption has
not of itself the value of proof. It creates an hypothe-
sis which is favourable to the subsequent argument, but
nothing more.
The vast array of facts adduced by Darwin in the
interest of his theory of development was sufficient to
create a strong hypothesis in its favour ; but, as Darwin
himself — a man more logical than many of his less
scientific disciples — was frank to admit, it awaited
demonstration. And it still awaits it. No amount of
" progressive approach " can make us citizens of the
Metropolis of Truth until by a definite ergo we enter its
gates.
The familiar theory of the Baconian authorship of
Shakespeare is an illustration in point. The argument
from a cypher laboriously traced through the plays and
poems is strong enough to create a presumption ; but
when that presumption is subjected to the acid test of
historic fact, it goes to pieces. A recent reviewer says,
" What the Baconians ask us to credit is that a man,
whose conception of love, of beauty and of friendship
found — as his whole character and career as well as the
rest of his writings prove — exact expression in his essays
on those subjects and in his ' Essay on Marriage and
lU THE BODY OF THE SERMON
Single Life,' was the author of ' Venus and Adonis,' of
the Sonnets, of Romeo and Juliet, and was the delineator
of Yiola, of Portia, of Rosalind, of Hermione, of Imo-
gen ; that a man without a spark of genial humour was
the creator of the ' Merry Wives,' of Falstaff , of Mer-
cutio, of Touchstone, and of Dogberry ; that a writer
in whose works there is no trace of any dramatic
imagination, of any light play of wit and fancy, of any
profound passion, of any esthetic enthusiasm trans-
formed himself into the poet of the marvellous dramas
in which all these qualities are essential and predominat-
ing characteristics ; that the master of a style, the notes
of which — in colour, in tone, in rhythm — are unmis-
takable, became at will the master of a style in which
not one of these notes is, even in the faintest degree,
discernible ; and lastly, that a man should by the very
poetry of which he acknowledged himself the composer
refute all possibility of his being equal to the composi-
tion of poetry to which he never made any claim." It
thus appears that, while a well established antecedent
probability is a strong help to the argument, if loosely
or unadvisedly constructed it works just the other way.
A sermon on the Atonement might properly begin
with (a) a clear statement of the probability that if,
there is a God anywhere in the universe, and if that
God is our Father, He would surely not leave His
children in their sore extremity without making an
effort of some sort to deliver them from the power of
sin. This would naturally be followed by a statement
of (b) the fact that this effort would probably be put
forth in accord with the demands of the moral law.
(c) Then, as this involves the necessity of expiation
for sin, the vicarious sacrifice follows almost as a matter
THE ARGUMENT 145
of course ; since it is just what should be expected of
God. The establishment of this antecedent probability
clears the way, in this manner, for the sermon proper ;
which would be an argument to show that God has
done this very thing, for the purpose of saving all who
are prepared to abandon the thought of self -salvation
and to accept, by faith, the benefits conferred in this
divine plan.
2. The Positive Demonstration ; which consists of
three things.
(1) Proof. This is aimed at the understanding. It
is a mathematical process. It welds a chain of reason-
ing, link by link, and then with an er'go, like a final
clamp, fastens the auditor to the proposition beyond
the possibility of reasonable resistance.
But this is not enough ; a man convinced is not
necessarily persuaded. He must be led on to do some-
thing about it.
(2) There must be illustration. This is by no means
for the mere sake of rhetorical ornamentation. By
making logic vivid, through an appeal to the imagina-
tion, it emphasizes and enforces it. The statement that
Christ " tasted death for every man " is capable of cold
demonstration by arguments based on evidence ; but
when the preacher brings his congregation to Calvary
and holds them there long enough to make them see
the awful tragedy and feel as if the very blood of the
atonement were falling upon them, while the hearer is
musing the fire burns, " the eye affecteth the heart "
and produces a personal interest in the matter ; and he
presently begins to feel as Luther did when he was
found standing before a crucifix in his monastic cell at
Erfurt, weeping and repeating, " FUr mich ! Fiir mich ! "
146 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
(3) The last step is persuasion. By this is meant
a personal appeal, through the emotions, to the will.
This is the clinching of the argument ; and the busi-
ness of the man in the pulpit is not finished without it.
" Come to Jesus " is sometimes criticized as a hack-
neyed phrase. It may be true that the formula has
been overworked ; but the exhortation which it stands
for is after the fashion set by Christ and His apostles,
and it will continue to be used so long as it remains
true that the heart furnishes an avenue to purpose and
leads to action. There is a point in every argument
where Philip can best influence Nathanael by foregoing
the further use of the syllogism and saying simply,
" Come and see."
3. Kinds of Positive Proof or Demonstration.
To " make one's point " in argument is never an easy
matter. Certainly it is not so in the province of re-
ligion where the preacher meets a singular prejudice,
due primarily to the fact that the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It is wise, therefore, to know the imple-
ments of our trade and be able, on occasion, to use not
only the best but, if necessary, more than one.
(A) Deduction. This, in simple terms, is reasoning
from the general to the specific, or from laws to facts.
Its simplest form is the syllogism ; in which one or
more premises lead to a definite ergo or conclusion.
To use a time honoured example :
First premise : All men are mortal.
Second premise : Socrates is a man.
Conclusion : Socrates is mortal.
The syllogism need not be stated in conventional
terms. Much of our average conversation is syllogistic
in fact though not in form. Not infrequently the
THE ARGUMENT 147
colloquial sjdlogism is lame, one or more of its premises
being: omitted as self-evident or for some other reason
unnecessary ; in which case the syllogism is technically
called an enthymeme. For example, " Polo is a danger-
ous game, wherefore it is better not to play it," If this
enthymeme were filled out it would stand thus :
First premise : It is imprudent to indulge in danger-
ous sports.
Second premise : Polo is a dangerous game.
JErgo ; It is not wise to play it.
(B) Induction. This is the reverse of the deduc-
tive method. It reasons from the specific to the
general, or from facts to laws. It is sometimes called
the " Baconian method " ; though it is as old as Adam,
who used it when he said, " I heard thy Yoice in the
garden ; and I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I
hid myself."
This is the method employed in the argument for the
theory of evolution. A great number of facts is ad-
duced, showing the resemblance of one order of life to
the next in sequence ; seeming to indicate that each of
the series is evolved from the one preceding it, and
leading on presumably to the conclusion that, by the
calm operation of natural laws, without any interposition
from any quarter whatsoever, all things in the visible
universe have been evolved from a single primordial
germ. Thus the argument proceeds from specific facts
to a universal law. The facts in the premises are not
questioned ; the only doubt is with reference to the con-
clusion. Does the ej'go hold ? There's the rub.
The same method is used for the most part in Paley's
" Evidences." He found no diiRculty in adducing
numberless illustrations of design in nature ; since
148 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
everything from the shining sun to the nightingale's
throat is obviously adapted to its uses. The argument
if expressed syllogistically would stand thus :
First premise : All things in nature are adjusted to
their uses.
Second premise : Design necessitates a designer.
Therefore, there must be a personal God.
It is the fashion of our time to cry down deduction
and insist on the Baconian method. In point of fact,
neither is mathematically effective.' There is no such
thing as mathematical proof in the province of religion.
Here, in the necessity of the case, inasmuch as the point
to be proven lies beyond the circumscription of the
physical senses, the final appeal is to authority. No
religious fact can be incontrovertibly established with-
out a " Thus saith the Lord." The man who, " being
in torment " for the sins of a self-centred life, entreated
that a messenger might be sent from the unseen world
to admonish his five brethren lest they should suffer a
similar fate, was corrected thus, " If they believe not
Moses and the Prophets {i. e., the Scriptures) neither
Avould they believe though one rose from the dead."
Thus did Christ emphasize the fact that divine authority,
^ Induction adds to our knowledge ; but the knowledge so
added is to a certain extent guesswork, for it rests on the
supposition that what is true of all known members of a class is
true of all unknown members of the same class. . . .
Thus it has been asserted that animals which ruminate have
cloven hoofs ; but science has not discovered a connection be-
tween rumination and cloven hoofs. If a new ruminant should
be found, one might infer that it would have cloven hoofs ; but
in the absence of knowledge of a casual connection, and in face
of the fact that some animals with cloven hoofs (pigs and tapirs,
for example) are not ruminants, such an inference would have
little ioxcQ.—Hill, ''Principles of Rhetoric "
THE ARGUMENT 149
as expressed in the Scriptures, is the court of final re-
sort in spiritual things.
(C) A Priori. This is reasoning from cause to
effect.
It is the fashion, in these days, to minimize the a
priori method for two reasons :
First., because it involves a presumption at the outset.
As when one says, " If there be a God, a first cause of
everything, then Providence, in all its minutest details
and particulars, follows as a matter of course."
The fact stated in the objection is indisputable ; but
as an objection it is urged too far : since, were there no
axioms or postulates assumed in our average reasoning,
or if all causes had to be demonstrated before being
used as premises, we should find ourselves at our wit's
end. No man would be at liberty to claim his own
birthright until he had produced the marriage certificate
of his great-great-grandparents. And much the largest
part of all literature would have to be committed to the
waste basket, because no author, or scarcely any, has
presumed to go back of the postulates of thought, such
as self-consciousness, or has claimed to demonstrate the
original cause or origin of things.
The second objection to the a priori method is that it
does not prove. If by proof is meant mathematical
demonstration the point is conceded ; but it must be
remembered that no proposition in the spiritual world
can be established by what is commonly called " the
scientific method," that is, by the evidence of the
physical senses. It is for this reason that man is en-
dowed with a sixth or spiritual sense, namely, faith ; by
which he discerns the things that lie outside the scope
of physical vision and beyond the circumscription of the
160 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
finger tips. It is as unreasonable for a man to expect to
demonstrate a religious truth by the processes used in
physical science as it would be to insist on seeing with
his ears or hearing with his eyes. " Spiritual things
are spiritually discerned." The telescope proves the ex-
istence of the planet Mars by enabling us to see it ; but
the telescope has yet to be invented which can make
heaven a demonstrated fact to the soul of a man.
(D) A Posteriori. This is the reverse of the fore-
going, i. e., reasoning from effect to cause.
As Napoleon was pacing the deck of his flag-ship on
the Nile on a starlit night he heard a group of his
subordinates discussing theology and calling in question
the being of God. As he was passing he paused and
pointing upward said, " But, gentlemen, who made
those ? " This was reasoning from effect to cause ; and
this is the method pursued by all who " look through
nature up to nature's God."
An Arab, camping in the desert, on being challenged
to prove the existence of God, pointed to a line of
camel-tracks in the sand and made this answer, " How
do I know that last night a camel passed this way ? "
But too much must not be claimed for this method.
It is conclusively effective in such problems as are ca-
pable of solution by the evidence of the physical senses ;
but it cannot " prove " the things which are " unseen
and eternal." The facts are plain enough ; the premises
are conceded ; but the er^o, the conclusion, is lame and
impotent for all such as deny the reality of the super-
natural. And, we repeat, controversialists in this prov-
ince are always handicapped by the fact that " the
carnal mind is enmity against God."
A Scotch lad who had run away to sea retm'ned,
THE ARGUMENT 151
after a while, with many unbeliev^able tales of adven-
ture. "We sailed and we sailed," said he to his
mother, " until we came to the Eed Sea ; and there we
saw along the shore some of the wheels of Pharaoh's
chariots. And we sailed on into the open again,
where fish, with wings like birds, went flying across
our decks, and " ",My son," interrupted his canny
auditor, " I ken weel aboot Pharaoh's chariot- wheels ;
but as to your fleein' fish, ye maunna be trying to fash
your auld mither wi' sic awfu' lees ! " Haecfabula
docet : the average man is credulous enough in most
matters but a sceptic with reference to the most real
and credible things.
(E) The argument from analogy. This makes its
appeal through an association of ideas. It has never
been more effectively used than by Bishop Butler,
whose " Analogy," after long occupying an honourable
place in the curriculum of most colleges, has been sup-
planted in some cases by Drummond's " Natural Law
in the Spiritual World," a more gracefully worded
volume but much feebler as an exponent of this historic
method of persuasion.
While the argument from analogy falls short of
proof, it is more than illustration. It is illustration
with an inferential ergo.^
For example : suppose an argument on Immortality
is being urged through the well established principle
known as the Conservation of Force. In accordance
with this principle, energy being a constant factor in
the problem of the universe, no slightest portion of it
is ever lost or annihilated. A current of electricity,
when driven along a wire to a point where the wire is
^ For an effective argument of this sort read i Cor. xv. 35-44.
152 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
too small to transmit it, is not dissipated but thrown
off in the form of light. So the power used by a
blacksmith in swinging his hammer is not wasted but
transformed, as it passes from his arm, into another
form of force produced by the atomic friction of his
anvil. By this law the physical energy in John Mil-
ton's biceps muscle must be regarded as indestructible.
But what of the energy of the mighty brain that pro-
duced " Paradise Lost " and " Areopagitica " ? Shall
that be blotted out or cease to be ? ^
Or suppose one's theme is The Atonement, and he is
endeavouring to meet the usual objection that the inno-
cent cannot suffer for the guilty. It is an easy matter
to show that the innocent are always and everywhere
suffering for the guilty : kings for their unruly subjects,
parents for their wayward children. A pang of rheu-
matism in one's knee may be due not to any personal
violation of the laws of health but to the fact that
one's great-grandfather once sat in a draught. Vicari-
ous pain is the commonest thing in human experience.
* Professor Hill, in his ''Principles of Rhetoric," gives the
following illustration of the analogical method : We may ob-
serve a very great similitude between this earth which we in-
habit, and the other planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and
Mercury. They all revolve round the sun, as the earth does,
although at different distances and in different periods. They
borrow all their light from the sun, as the earth does. Several
of them are known to revolve round their axis like the earth,
and by that means have like succession of day and night.
Some of them have moons, that serve to give them light in the
absence of the sun, as our moon does to us. They are all, in
their motions, subject to the same law of gravitation as the earth
is. From all this similitude it is not unreasonable to think
that these planets may, like our earth, be the habitation of vari-
ous orders of living creatures.
THE ARGUMENT 153
It runs along the double line of heredity and environ-
ment. When it is voluntary its other name is sympa-
thy ; and in sympathy om* human nature reaches its
highest and best. The man who most joyously wills to
spend and be spent for others is the very best of men.
But men are created in the likeness of God. He is our
Father. Would it not, ergo, be expected that God
would somehow express this sympathy, this voluntary
vicariousness of suffering, in some manner most hu-
man, most divine, most glorious ? Would it not be
monstrous in Him as a Father did He fail somehow to
express it ? Such an expression is found in the tragedy
of the Cross. Here He " tastes death for every man."
This is precisely what, by analogy, we should expect of
our Father. It is just like God.
But, as said before, the analogical process is not
proof. Indeed, what is ? Proof is a matter not merely
of forcible approach but of an open gate. Therefore,
analogy fails most of all. The French engineer De
Lesseps, having learned that Rameses II had built a
canal from Bubastes to the Red Sea, concluded that it
was possible to build a similar canal across the Isthmus
of Suez. Thus far the argument held good. But
when he proceeded to analogize further by undertakuig
a like enterprise at Panama, he failed. His failure,
however, struck the key-note of success further on.
(F) A Fortiori: i. e., from the less to the greater.
This form of argument is of frequent occurrence in the
teaching of Christ, who used it with singular skill.
For example, " Behold the birds of the heaven, that
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into
barns ; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are
not ye of much more value than they ? And which of
154 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
you by being anxious can add one' cubit unto his stat-
ure ? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment ?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they
toil not, neither do they spin : yet I say unto you, that
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the
field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith ? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall
we eat ? or, "What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall
we be clothed ? For after all these things do the Gen-
tiles seek ; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things. But seek ye first His
kingdom and His righteousness ; and all these things
chall be added unto you " (Matt. vi. 26-33).
Also, " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye
shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you ; for
every one that asked receiveth, he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or
what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him
for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall
ask for a fish, will give him a serpent ? H ye then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how irnuch more shall your Father which
is in heaver give good things to them that ask Him ? "
(Matt. vii. 7-11).
In many of Christ's parables we have remarkable il-
lustrations of the effectiveness of this method. For
example, " And He spake a parable unto them to the
end that they ought always to pray and not to faint ;
saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not
God, and regarded not man : and there was a widow in
that city ; and she came oft unto him, saying, Avenge
THE ARGUMENT 155
me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while;
but afterwards he said within himself, Though I fear not
God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth
me, I will avenge her, lest she wear me out by her con-
tinual coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the un-
righteous judge saith. And shall not God avenge His
elect, which cry to Him day and night, and yet He is
long-suffering over them ? I say unto you, that He will
avenge them speedily. Howbeit when the Son of man
Cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ? " (Luke xviii.
1-8. Also the parables in Luke xv., and in Luke xvi.
1-8, xix. 12-27, etc.).
Paul, the greatest dialectician of his time, was a
master of this a fortioi'i or " much more " method.
See, for example, in 1 Corinthians ix. 7-12 : " What sol-
dier ever serveth at his own charges ? Who planteth a
vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof ? Or who
feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock ?
Do I speak these things after the manner of men ? Or
saith not the law also the same ? For it is written in
the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when
he treadeth out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God
careth, or saith He it altogether for our sake ? Yea,
for our sake it was written : because he that ploweth
ought to plow in hope, and he that thresheth, to thresh
in hope of partaking. If we sowed unto you spiritual
things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal
things ? If others partake of this right over you, do
not we yet more f Nevertheless we did not use this
right ; but we bear all things, that we may cause no
hindrance to the Gospel of Chi'ist."
See also Romans viii. 28-39, where we have a com-
plex argument of this character which could scarcely
156 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
be surpassed. Observe its successive steps, interwelded
like an anchor-chain.
The proposition is expressed in the form of an inter-
rogation : " What shall we then say to these things ? "
First link : "If God be for us, who can be against
us?"
Second linh : " He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with
Him freely give us all things ? "
Third link : " Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth."
Fourth linh : " Who is he that shall condemn ? It
is Christ Jesus that died."
Fifth linTc : " Who is at the right hand of God."
Sixth linTc : " Who also maketh intercession for us."
Conclusion : " Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ ? ShaU tribulation, or anguish, or persecu-
tion, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ?
Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the
day long ; we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord."
(G) The argument from testimony. This is the
usual method of courts of justice and is generally re-
garded as most effective. But discrimination is neces-
sary.
{a) The testimony of prejudiced friends is received
cum groAio salts. It is for this reason that many are
THE ARGUMENT 157
disposed to discredit the statements made by the four
evangelists as to the nature, life, character and re-
deeming work of Christ. They were, indeed, friends of
His and in a sense prejudiced ; so that, if their testi-
mony stood alone, on its own merits, the result might
be a Scotch verdict ; but considering the fact that they
speak by divine inspiration, and as their statements are
abundantly verified by other evidence, the case is as
nearly demonstrated as would be possible to the minds
of reasonable men.
{b) The case is strengthened when it can be shown
that the witnesses are of good character. To impugn
the character of a witness in a court of justice is the
usual way of weakening or invalidating his testimony.
Of some men it can be said that their word is as good
as their bond, while others "cannot be believed on
oath."
(c) It is a matter of importance that the deponents
should have been eye-witnesses of the things aifirmed.
Hearsay goes for little. The men in the jury box want
to hear from those who can say like the aged John :
" That which we have heard, that which we have seen
with our eyes, that which we beheld and our hands
handled declare we unto you " ; or like Peter, when re-
calling the scene in the Mount of Transfiguration :
" For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of His
majesty. (The reference here is to His transfigura-
tion.) For He received from God the Father honour
and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from
the excellent glory. This is My beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased. And this voice we ourselves heard
158 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
come out of heaven, when we were with Him in the holy
mount."
{d) There is special value in the testimony of " ex-
perts." Professor Sayce, e. g., gets a hearing when he
testifies as an archseologist to the proper interpreta-
tion of certain inscriptions on the monuments. And
when Greenleaf, a standing authority on the value of
evidence, says that the miracle of Christ's resurrection
is as well verified as should be expected in any court of
justice, his statement carries great weight with it.^
{e) There is a special value in the unwitting and
often unwilling testimony of hostile witnesses.* For
example, in an argument to show the Divine Character
and Godhood of Jesus there are three witnesses whose
evidence cannot be left out : (a) The man who be-
trayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. He flung down
the blood-money with the cry : " I have betrayed in-
nocent blood ! " (b) The judge who sentenced Him to
death. He placed Him in the judgment seat at Gab-
batha and said to the howling mob, " Take ye Him and
' It is, however, to be noted that the value of the testimony
of an expert may be impaired by the fact that he is an expert.
A specialist is in danger of seeing things through the distort-
ing glasses of a theory, of looking at them from a professional
rather than from a common-sensepointof view, and sometimes,
it is to be feared, of unfairly judging the work of a rival. Both
the value of expert testimony and the risk attending it are shown
by the fact that whenever such testimony is introduced, —
whether the question relates to a prisoner's sanity, to the author-
ship of a letter, or to the infringement of a patent, — experts are
usually called to support each side of the question. — Jfili,
" Principles of Rhetoric ^
^ The student is advised to read, for a fine illustration of this
mode of argument, Schaff's " Person of Christ," in which the
testimony of many hostile witnesses is given to His perfect life
and character.
THE ARGUMENT 159
crucify Hira. I find no fault in Him at all." (c) The
centurion who had charge of His execution. On be-
holding the patient fortitude of the victim on the Cross
he said : " Verily, this was a righteous man," and later
on, " Yerily, this was the Son of God ! "
But all evidence whatsoever must be carefully
sifted and offered at its just value. A case in point is
that of five scientific savants who recently took it
upon themselves to weigh the imponderable soul.
They placed a number of moribund paupers in scales ;
and, finding that there was a slight difference between
their weight immediately before and after dissolution,
they announced the fact that the soul weighs about
one ounce. One ounce of vital spirit, escaping in ariic-
ulo mortis like an expiration of air from the body of a
man ! Of course this would be regarded as important
if true ; but when the standing of the " scientists " and
the validity of their testimony was examined it was
easily made to appear that there was nothing in it.
(H) The argument from tradition. It cannot be
claimed that a thing is to be cherished beyond all pos-
sibility of displacement for no other reason than be-
cause our forbears believed it ; but common sense sug-
gests that the old should remain until something is
found that can better answer its uses.
The argument from tradition rests on the familiar
postulate that the presumption is always in favour of
the status quo. A thoughtful man holds himself ever
in readiness to renounce falsehood and adopt truth ;
but even the dull farmer of Egypt will not throw away
the crooked stick which he calls a plow until he has
found a better implement for stirring the soil. Thus
are the children of this world wiser than those philos-
160 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
ophers who, deeming themselves children of light, are
prone to throw away their lanterns long before the
break of day.
In the dark period of the Encyclopedia in France,
Lord Chesterfield, while being entertained at the table
of a learned infidel, was asked by his hostess : " How is
it that, in this age of progress, the religion of the cruci-
fied Nazarene is still cherished by your enlightened
nation as its established faith ; and that, too, with the
full consent of a Parliament made up of supposedly
sensible and learned men ? " To which he replied
apologetically, " It is, madam, a mere temporary make-
shift and a tribute to the past. "We mean to better
ourselves as soon as possible ; and, I assure you, we are
at this moment casting about for a better religion with
which to supplant it." That was a long time ago ; and
men like Chesterfield have been constantly casting
about for a substitute; but they have not found it.
Thus we persist in the religion of our fathers, and quite
justly, until it is shown to be false, inadequate or less
useful than some other.
" Oh, that old time religion ;
It is good enough for me."
Nevertheless it is an easy matter to push this form of
argument too far, A man of lazy mental habits will
prefer to move in " the outworn rite," as a dull wagoner
keeps to the ruts of the turnpike rather than seek a
better way. It is the business of the preacher to pre-
serve the old landmarks in so far as they make for the
perpetual rights of property in truth, but no further.
He is a wise scribe who, " like an householder, bringeth
forth out of his treasure things new and old " ; but al-
THE ARGUMENT 161
ways "out of his treasure," that is, the Scriptures,
which in the beginning were divinely adjusted to the
progress of the ages. The word of John Robinson at
Delft Haven was well spoken, " There will be ever new
truths bursting forth from the Word of God."
(I) The argument from experience. This is perhaps
the least effective of all modes of reasoning used in
public address.
The blind man in the ninth of John had what he
thought the best evidence in the world as to the genu-
ineness of the miracle wrought upon himself, to wit ;
" Whereas I was blind, now I see " ; but this had so
little power to convince his religious superiors that
they cast him out of the synagogue.
The trustworthiness of God was to the mind of
David a fact demonstrated by past providences ; so
that, when his faith was shaken, he had but to say, " I
will remember thee from Jordan, from the hill Mizar
and the land of the Hermonites " ; nevertheless the
comparatively slight value of this deposition is evident
not merely in the fact that many of David's contem-
poraries were unmoved by it, but in the effort of " rev-
ei-ent criticism " in our time, to explain away both the
Davidic authorship of the saying and the devout infer-
ence from it.
The preacher may and should, on occasion, certify to
his own experiential knowledge of God and the truths
which centre in Him ; yet always with becoming
modesty and a due recognition of the fact that what
seems incontrovertibly convincing to him may be but
an idle tale to others. " Seeing is believing " ; and
every one must see for himself. There is room for
" testimonies " in other places than in Methodist " class
162 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
meetings " ; but when Paul tells the story of the sun-
burst on the way to Damascus he must not be surprised
if his auditors lift their eyebrows and say, " The man
is beside himself."
(J) The argument from the consensus. The fact, so
frequently observed, that there is no tribe or nation
without a sense of Deity, — evidenced in the universal-
ity of shrines, altars and sanctuaries, — is a weighty
factor in the discussion as to the divine being. Plu-
tarch says : " If we traverse the world we shall find
people who have no walls nor fleets nor armies, no
kings nor legislatures, no theatres nor schools ; but a
people without a temple was never seen."
The doctrine of Divine Providence is strengthened by
the tribute paid to it in the false religions.' The
fetich- worshipper, bowing before a shark's tooth or a
crooked stick as a luck-giver, acknowledges that a
Something-not-himself is the arbiter of life and destiny.
The doctrine of immortality is emphasized by refer-
ence to the testimony of all nations and generations.
Cato : '^ The soul, secure in its existence, smiles at the
drawn dagger and defies its point." Cicero at the tomb
of TuUia, watching the light of the sepulchral lamp :
" It cannot be, my daughter, that thy life thus flickers
and goes out ! "
The presumption is greatly in favour of that which is
so generally believed as to be almost a generic intui-
* With the sole exception of Confucianism ; which is prop-
erly not a religion at all but a system of social economics. The
philosophy of Confucius is briefly comprehended in his state-
ment : <' Whether there be a God, I know not ; and whether
there be any future state, I know not. I only know that we
are living here and now and must make the most of it."
THE AKGUMENT 1G3
tion. Nevertheless this does not close the debate :
else vox pqpidi would really be vox Dei. Common
opinion would be final authority in all matters of truth
and ethics.
(K) The argument '•^hy sign?'' This is an appeal
through the reason to the will by an association of
ideas.'
A boy in a melon patch is inclined to pluck melons
of a certain appearance, because he has learned from
frequent observation that melons of that sort are ripe.
A laundress hesitates to hang out her clothing when
the barometer is falling, because she has learned by
observation that this suggests foul weather. That
such reasoning involves no scientific knowledge of the
barometer is indicated by the case of the maid-servant
who turned the barometer back to " Bright and Fair "
because the next day was her day out.
If we take a map of the world and draw a line about
the countries called "Christendom " we shall have shut
in all light and shut out " the regions of darkness and
the shadows of death," This singular association of
Evangelization and Civilization does not mathematically
prove that they are synonymous terms but it strongly
points that way.
* We argue from sign when, on seeing the flags flying on Os-
borne House or on the Capitol at Washington, we infer that the
queen is in her mansion or that Congress is in session. We
argue from sign when from the fact that ice is forming we in-
fer that the temperature is below freezing point. The traveller
argues from sign when, on seeing a guide-board bearing the
words " Groton 5m" and a hand pointing in a certain direc-
tion, he infers that if he goes five miles in that direction he
shall arrive at a place called Groton. — Hill, ^^ Principles of
Rhetoric:'
1G4 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
(L) By the evidence of the senses. This is commonly
regarded as the most satisfactory form of argument : in
fact, however, it is inconclusive. The physical senses
are by no means always to be trusted. The diverse
testimony given by credible witnesses in any court of
justice shows that one cannot always " believe his own
eyes." Any clever sleight-of-hand performer can " pull
the wool " over them. One man thinks he hears a gun
while to another it is a clap of thunder, and each is pre-
pared to take his oath upon his own impression. The
belief in ghosts, sea-serpents and numberless other illu-
sions is due to crooked observation. This is not to say
that the seeing of the eyes and hearing of the ears have
no evidential value ; but that, as they do not furnish
the necessary factors for a mathematical demonstration,
too much reliance must not be placed upon them.
(M) Proof hy concrete instmices : such as detailed
facts and statistics.
The war of the United States against Spain was pre-
cipitated by a speech of Senator Thurston's in which he
showed that in less than a single year 200,000 Cubans
had been taken from their homes and confined in ren-
concentrado camps, of whom not less than 100,000 had
died of hunger and exposure. This statement of facts
made such an appeal to the instincts of common hu-
manity, in behalf of the little island lying under the
shadow of the great Republic, that the necessary ap-
propriation for the conduct of a war of deliverance was
immediately made by Congress without a dissenting
vote.
But statistics and concrete instances do not always
tell a correct story or lead to a just conclusion. It
is true that " figures never lie " ; yet a clever book-
THE ARGUMENT 165
keeper with an eye to the main chance can change a
ledger into a veritable dream-book without difficulty.
It is really not the figures that do the lying, but wrong
summaries, comparisons and inferences. E. g.^ Social-
ists are accustomed to say that all wealth is the product
of labour, with abundant figures to prove it. The next
step in their argument is expressed in the aphorism of
Prudhon, " Property is robbery," and again with fig-
ures to prove it. The ergo is that wealth should be
placed, by hook or by crook, in the hands of the la-
bouring class. It is easy, however, to show by a suffi-
cient array of figures that wealth is not always or only
the product of labour, but of labour ;plus thrift, econ-
omy, self-confidence, courage and common sense. And
it is easy to show by figures that property, so far from
being robbery, is usually in the hands where it belongs,
because those are the hands that earned it. Thus the
bottom falls out of the conclusion, and figures put
figures to rout.
(N) Cumulative argument ; that is, piling up fact
on fact in proper order and making one's case by sheer
avoirdupois. In this method the skill of the reasoner
lies not only in presenting a great array of facts but
in marshalling them in progressive and climacteric
form.
For example: Twenty reasons for believing the
Bible to be the Word of God.
{a) There is an antecedent probability of a revela-
tion from God.
(J) The Scriptures claim to be such a revelation.
(c) Inerrancy. The errors in current versions are
such as to suggest that there were no errors in the
original as it came from God,
166 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
(d) Literary character.
(e) Unity.
(y*) Completeness.
(ff) Freshness. Goethe : " Other books tiro m« ;
but not this. The more I read it the newer it seems
to me."
(A) Antiquity.
(t) Indestructability. Bonfires have not consumed
it.
(J) Propagation. It is the "best seller" in the
world to-day.
(k) Influence on personal character.
( T) Power among the nations. Christendom is the
product of it.
(m) Code of morals.
(n) Doctrines.
(o) Science. It furnishes the basis of cosmology,
astronomy, geology, anthropology, philology and every
other important branch of science.
(p) History. The Bible is the one universal his-
tory that carries us back to the origin of things.
(g-) Prophecies.
(r) Tone of authority, " Yea and Amen."
(«) Adaptation to human wants.
(t) Plan of salvation. It points out the only ra-
tional way of escaping from the shame, bondage and
penalty of sin.
It is not claimed that such an argument makes an
end of controversy ; that indeed is not to be expected
so long as children, write in their copy-books : " Many
Men of Many Minds " ; but it is one good method of
persuasion, and on occasion the wise preacher will
use it.
THE ARGUMENT 167
(0) The appeal to authority. The vital importance
of having some court of final appeal in moral questions
is scarcely open to discussion. If a tradesman finds it
necessary to adjust his yardstick and pound-weight to
standards in the patent ofiice at Washington, how much
more should thoughtful men be able to weigh and
measure their opinions by some authoritative standard
of truth.
The Bible is accepted by Christians as their " infalli-
ble rule of faith and practice."
There are three possible seats of authority for the
adjustment and final settlement of moral problems.
The first is the Bible ; which, of course, cannot be
regarded as trustworthy unless it is infallible. An
Alpine tourist wants a sure-footed guide whose record
proves that he knows every path and has made no
mistakes in guiding travellers on their way. Our need
of authority is not met by a book which is true in spots
and can be trusted only in some ways.
The second seat of authority is the Church. The
fact that this, also, must be absolutely trustworthy in
order to meet the necessities of the case is evidenced
by the promulgation of the preposterous bull of papal
infallibility. A subsequent papal manifesto as to
" Certain Heresies " goes far to show, however, that
Komanism gives to the pronouncements of the Church
an authority merely coordinate with that of the Scrip-
tures ; if, indeed, it does not subordinate the authority
of the Church to the ultimate and absolute authority
of the Word of God.
The third possible seat of authority is the individual
consciousness. This is the final court of the rationalists.
The argument of the radical school of thinkers against
1G8 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
all truths involving any phase of the supernatural makes
an ultimate stand at the individual consciousness and
allows no higher authority. It is clear, however, that
authority can be authoritative only up to the measure
of its infallibleness. This makes every man his own
god and personal opinion the final arbiter in all things.
Wherefore, if there is to be any reliable standard of
truth and righteousness the choice lies between an in-
fallible book, an infallible church and an infallible ego.
Of the three horns of this trilemma wise Christians
choose the first, preferring to make their appeal to the
Scriptures as the Word of God.
But the preacher's appeal to authority, on this wise,
has its limitations. A Christian presenting to a Moslem
an argument based on the authority of the Bible is
handicapped by his hearer's loyalty to the Koran.
And in using this form of argument before an audience
of unbelievers he is simply beating the air ; because the
Scriptures are mere " literature " to them. Hence the
necessity, on the part of the pulpit, of a constant and
consistent vindication of the absolute truth and author-
itative trustworthiness of the Scriptures as the Word
of God.
(D) NEGATIVE PROOF, OR REFUTATION
In preaching it is not always necessary to controvert
the arguments of the other side. As a rule, indeed, it
is better to present gospel truth in its positive form,
trusting in the promise, "My word shall not return
unto Me void, but shall accomplish that which I please
and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
There are times, however, w^hen the preacher is put
upon the defensive and is bound to expose the weak-
THE ARGUMENT 169
ness and untrustworthiness of assaults upon his faith.
(We are " set for the defense of the Gospel " : Phil. i.
16.) On such occasions it is of immense importance
that he should so understand the art of refutation as
to rout the adversary and make clean work of it.'
1. Beductio ad Absiordum.
This, as the term indicates, is the refutation of an
argument by showing that it goes beyond the bounds
of reason and proves too much.
^ A good illustration of this method is given in the following
brief on the expulsion of the Jews from Russia : from Baker's
" Principles of Argumentation."
(A) It is claimed that the expulsion of the Jews is de-
fensible on
I. Economic and social grounds, for
(Sub-heads.)
II. National grounds, because
(Sub-heads. )
(B) Refutation : the expulsion of the Jews is not defen-
sible on
I. Economic and social grounds, for
(Sub-heads.)
II. National grounds, for
(Sub-heads.)
General proof:
I. The results of the expulsion of the Jews are injurious to
the country, for
1. Commerce is seriously crippled by it, for
(Sub-heads.)
2. The strong and energetic part of the Jewish popu-
lation is emigrating, etc., etc.
Recapitulation :
Since, then, the expulsion of the Jews from Russia is not
defensible on economic, social, or national grounds ; and since
in its results it is injurious to the country of Russia ; and since,
furthermore, it offends the moral sense of the civilized world,
I conclude that the expulsion of the Jews from Russia is un-
justifiable.
lYO THE BODY OF THE SERMON
A controversialist not infrequently exposes himself to
this sort of treatment by pushing his facts too far ;
like the schoolboy who, when required to furnish an
original example in multiplication, presented the fol-
lowing : " If a baby gains ten pounds in the first three
months, it will gain forty in a year and, at the age of
sixteen, will weigh six hundred and forty pounds."
The absurdity of an argument is often as apparent as
here ; but the point of weakness is not always so obvious.
In Paul's argument for the resurrection in 1 Cor-
inthians XV., we have an instance of refutation by this
method : " Now if Christ is preached that He hath been
raised from the dead, how say some among you that
there is no resurrection of the dead ? But if there is
no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been
raised : and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our
preaching vain, your faith also is vain. Yea, and we
are found false witnesses of God ; because we witnessed
of God that He raised up Christ : whom He raised not
up, if so be that the dead are not raised. For if the
dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised :
and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain ;
ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only
hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most
pitiable."
It must be observed that Paul was not writing for
the benefit of unbelievers who denied the resurrection
on philosophic grounds but of Christians who denied or
questioned it while professing loyalty to the Gospel.
His refutation is therefore perfect and conclusive, since
it proves the absurd impossibility of denying the
resurrection and still believing in Christ.
THE ARGUMENT lYl
The contention of some officers of the United States
Army for the sale of liquors in the canteen on the
ground that the morale of the army demands it and
that discipline cannot be maintained without it is best
refuted by the reductio ad dbsurdum • inasmuch as
their claim, urged to its logical conclusion, makes our
army an army of incorrigible inebriates and the officers
themselves a pitiable body of men incompetent to en-
force discipline. If their argument proves anything it
proves much more than they intended, namely, that a
self-respecting Republic needs a different army and a
different sort of men to command it.*
One of the most effective forms of reductio ad dbsur-
dum is the dilemma.
It is frequently the case that an overzealous advocate
puts himself, by assuming a false postulate, into a posi-
tion where, being unable either to recede or advance, he
is easily driven to the wall. As when a judge, presid-
ing in a civil court, required a witness to give a cate-
gorical answer to a certain question. " I cannot an-
swer yes or no," remonstrated the witness, " without
* Professor Matthews makes an admirable application of the
reductio ad absurdum as follows : "If miracles disturb or in-
terrupt the established order of things, they'do so only in the
same way that the will of man continually breaks in upon the
order of nature. There is not a day, an hour, or a minute in
which man, in his contact with the material world, does not
divert its course or give a new direction to its order. The
order of nature allows an apple-tree to produce fruit ; but man
can girdle the tree and prevent it from bearing apples. The
order of nature allows a bird to wing its flight from tree to tree j
but the sportsman's rifle brings the bird to the dust. Yet, in
spite of this, it is asserted that the smallest conceivable inter-
vention, disturbing the fated order of nature, linked as are its
parts indissolubly from eternity into one chain, must break up
the entire system of the universe I "
172 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
some qualification." " Yes, you can," said the judge,
" and you must. A categorical answer is always pos-
sible." " Will you permit me, your honour, to test
that decision ? " " Certainly." " Then give me a;
categorical answer to this question : Have you ceased
beating your wife ? " To reply either yes or no
would so manifestly have involved the judge in an
absurd situation that his decision suffered an immediate
collapse.
The dilemma is illustrated in Christ's interview with
the young ruler who asked : " Good rabbi, what shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life ? " The title " good
rabbi " was that which the Jews customarily used in ad-
dressing their religious teachers. Its use in this case im-
plied on the part of the young ruler a profound respect
for Jesus as a wise and good man. But Jesus would
have none of it. His answer was : " How callest thou Me
good ? There is none good but one, that is God." By
this He obviously meant that the young man's saluta-
tion went too far unless it could go further ; for Christ
claimed to be more than a " good rabbi " ; He claimed
to stand solitary and alone, wiser than the wisest and
better than the best ; He claimed to be nothing less than
" equal with God." It was a stupendous claim ; for it
made Him an impostor unless He was what He claimed
to be. To say that He was merely " a good man " is
absurd ; because it affirms either too much or too little.
A logical thinker is bound, in view of the claims of
Jesus, either to denounce Him as an impostor and a
charlatan or else to receive Him, as Thomas did, say-
ing, " My Lord and my God."
A complex form of the dilemma is the trilemma.
It may be found in the remarkable silence of Christ as
THE ARGUMENT 173
to the alleged errors of the Scriptures. The three horns
of the trilemma are as follows : (1) These alleged
errors were not in the Scriptures and He knew it. (2)
The errors were there but Christ was not aware of it.
This would be to aifirm that He was less familiar with
the Scriptures than are those " Biblical experts " who
profess to have discovered thousands of them. If, in-
deed, with the assumption of omniscience on His lips,
He really knew less of Scripture than some of our
modern professors of Biblical science, then surely He is
not competent to be our instructor in spiritual things.
In that case, it would obviously be wiser for such as are
in serious quest of truth to sit as disciples at the feet of
those who know more than He. (3) He was aware of
the fact that the Scriptures are full of errors but He did
not choose to reveal it. But in this case, how could He
be an honest man ? The Jews of that time had an im-
plicit faith in their Scriptures as an infallible rule of
faith and practice. If ever there were " Bibliolaters "
it was those Jews. "Were they mistaken in a matter of
such moment, and did Christ know they were mistaken
and still not tell them so ? Then certainly He is not
competent to be our guide in righteousness ; for ever-
more " an honest man's the noblest work of God."
2. The Rule of Residues.
By this is meant the process of weeding out all alter-
natives and leaving only one possible conclusion.
For example : There are three ways of accounting for
the material universe and the present order of things.
(1) Matter is eternal and things are substantially as
they always have been. (2) The material universe is
a fortuitous concourse of atoms ; and in so far as there
has been any change in the order of things, for better
174: THE BODY OF THE SERMON
or worse, it is the result of the calm, automatic process
of natural laws. (3) God is the original Creator and
Sustainer of all.
By the elimination of the first and second theories the
third becomes a necessary conclusion and no further
argument is needed to sustain it.
Or suppose the question under consideration is, " WTiat
shall I do to he saved f " The possible answers — such
as, " Do nothing ; you will go to heaven anyway " ; or
" Do your utmost to keep the moral law ; no more can
be expected of any man " ; or " God is love ; don't
worry about your salvation ; no harm can befall you,"
— having been disposed of, the whole category of con-
ceivable subterfuges having been exhausted, nothing is
left but justification by faith, as set forth in John iii. 16.
3. Exposure of False Premises.
It must be remembered that all reasoning, false or
true, is simply a proceeding, by one or another method,
from certain expressed or assumed premises to a con-
clusion. As the conclusion hangs on these premises,
precisely as an anchor depends on its chain, to break
one or more of the premises is to destroy the binding
force of the whole argument.
Take, e. g., the common fling at Calvinism based on
the alleged quotation from Calvin, " There are infants
in hell a span long." It would be possible to meet this
allegation by an elaborate consideration of the historical
position of the Calvinistic churches on Infant Salva-
tion ; but inasmuch as the force of the criticism rests
entirely on the authenticity of the quotation referred
to, the same end would be accomplished in a more
summary manner by denying (a) that the quotation is
to be found in any of the Calvinistic symbols ; (5) that
THE ARGUMENT 175
it was ever uttered by Calvin, Jonathan Edwards or
any other historic exponent of Calvinistic doctrine ; (c)
that it expresses the views of any authority on Calvin-
ism now in the land of the living, and (d) that any-
body now on the premises believes it. Of course a
challenge like this could be successfully met by simply
locating the quotation and naming its author ; but, in
default of such rebuttal, the bottom of this particular
charge against Calvinism drops out.
A recent sermon on " Character " by a distinguished
clergyman begins with the words, " "We are in the
world to be made." The argument of the sermon is
based on that statement as its first premise ; and just
there is its vulnerable point, inasmuch as it can be
shown easily that if we are in the world simply " to be
made " then self-seeking is our chief end : while, in
fact,
" . . . Unless he can
Erect himself above himself,
How poor a thing is man ! "
Dr. Watson, in his book " The Mind of the Master,"
undertook to prove that the Sermon on the Mount is a
sufficient creed for any Christian Church, since it con-
tains the sum and substance of Christian truth. If
this premise were true, the conclusion would follow as
a matter of course ; but (1) if Christ did not intend
the Sermon on the Mount to be a summary of His
teaching, (2) if, as a succinct statement and exposition
of the moral law, it lacks doctrinal character and is
properly no " creed " at all, (3) if it omits all reference
to the divine grace and suggests no means of escape
from the penalty of sin ; then, the premise being des-
176 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
troyed, the argument of the book, despite its literary
charm, is dissipated into thin air.
4- Detection of Fallacies.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.^
(1) One of the common fallacies in argument is
technically known as ;post hoc, ergo jpropter hoc, i. e.,
confusing a mere sequence with cause and effect.^
The book of Job furnishes a fine illustration of the
exposure of this fallacy. It was assumed by Job's
comforters that retribution always follows sin, here and
now ; ergo Job was suffering for his sins. The book is
an argument to show that, while suffering is always,
directly or indirectly, the result of sin, it is not always
punitive in the present life but may be disciplinary and
therefore a token of divine love and beneficial in the
long run.
' A fallacy is very often extremely hard to detect, for rarely
is it self-evident. Generally it is imbedded in a mass of other
entirely trustworthy material. It may be but a part of a sen-
tence in a volume of many pages, yet if it exists it is fatal to
the ultimate convincingness of the argument. As in a calcu-
lation, one single figure incorrectly stated will enable us to
arrive at any result whatever, though every other figure and
the whole of the operations be correct, so a single false assump-
tion in any process of reasoning, though every other be true,
will enable us to draw what conclusion we please. — Baker,
" Principles of Argumentationy
* This is perhaps the commonest form of fallacy. It is a
stock-in-trade of the demagogue. Pointing to desirable eco-
nomic or political conditions which have just begun to appear,
he names some legislative measure of his party some time pre-
cedent, and declares that the desirable results come from it.
It is upon this fallacy that much of the success of patent med-
icines depends. A man has been unwell. He takes some
much-advertised nostrum, and after a time he is better. He
and the public declare that surely the medicine cured him. —
Baker y " Principles of Argumeniationy
THE ARGUMENT 177
A striking illustration of this mode of refutation is
found in Christ's reference to a company of Galilean
worshippers who had been slain by Pilate while they
were ministering at the altar. It was aflB.rmed that
these men had suffered justly, and according to the
divine law of retribution, for a violation of the altar ;
but Jesus said : " Think ye that these Galileans were
sinners above all the Galileans, because they have suf-
fered these things ? I tell you, Nay : but, except ye
repent, ye shall all in like manner perish. Or those
eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and
killed them, think ye that they were offenders above
all the men that dwell in Jerusalem ? I tell you. Nay :
but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Thus briefly did Jesus puncture the fallacy that exact
punishment is dealt out in this world for every sin ; in-
sisting that eternity must be taken into the reckoning,
and that every sin must be followed sooner or later by
its precise measure of penalty, unless there is found
some divinely accredited mode of escape from it.
(2) Equivocation. The fallacy here lies in a doubt-
ful and disingenuous use of words ; ' nor is it always an
easy matter to expose it.
No argument can be carried to a just conclusion
* " Is a constitutional government better for a population than
an absolute rule?" What a number of points have to be
clearly apprehended before we are in a position to say one
word on such a question ! What is meant by " constitution " ?
by "constitutional government " ? by '* better " ? by "a popula-
tion " ? and by " absolutism " ? The ideas represented by these
various words ought, I do not say, to be as perfectly defined
and located in the minds of the speakers as objects of sight in
a landscape, but to be sufficiently, even though incompletely,
apprehended before they have a right to speak. — Cardinal
Newman.
178 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
unless the contestants stand on common ground. For
example, the Biblical controversy is bound to be merely
an indeterminate and indeterminable skirmish so long as
there is no agreement as to the meaning of the word
"inspiration." If the Scriptural definition (which is
also the simple, etymological definition) of the word,
namely Theojpneustia or " God-breathed," were to be
received, the lines would be drawn immediately be-
tween those who believe in the inspiration of the Scrip-
tures and those who do not. The strength of con-
servative scholars at this point lies in the fact that they
accept the Scriptural meaning of the word ; but the
difficulty is in holding their opponents to that defini-
tion of it.
The word "contains," as used in the same contro-
versy, is an instance of similar equivocation. To say
that the Scriptures " contain truth " may mean much
or little. Quartz " contains " gold, so do auriferous
sands, old red sandstone and sea water ; the question is
whether they contain it in paying quantities or not.
The dictionary is as much sinned against as the
Bible in these days. The terms " divinity," " incarna-
tion," " vicarious atonement," " resurrection " and prac-
tically all words and phrases that designate spiritual
facts are used equivocally : so that a clear argument
moving on to a definite conclusion is quite impossible
unless the parties to the argument are at the outset
agreed as to what they are talking about. Unfortu-
nately such an agreement is impossible so long as either
party is disposed to explain away rather than to ex-
plain the facts in question. The only alternative is to
expose the fallacy in the equivocal use of terms. The
word "vicarious," for example, has a meaning made
THE ARGUMENT 1Y9
definite not only by etymological derivation but by
historic use ; and in an argument on the Atonement an
exposure of any distortion or dissipation of that mean-
ing disposes of much of the ammunition used against
the doctrine denoted by it.
(3) Petititio ^rmcipii, or begging the question.'
The question is often begged, in default of valid
argument, by a false statement of an adversary's posi-
tion. A straw man is set up to be knocked down,
which is an easy thing to do.
For example, the argument against the trustworthi-
ness or so-called " inerrancy " of the Scriptures is
pressed upon the alleged statement of its defenders that
there are no errors in current versions. This statement,
however, is not made ; nor do any sensible friends of
the Bible believe it. "What they do affirm is (a) that
there were not nor could possibly have been any errors
in the original autograph ; and (h) that the errors exist-
ing in current versions are of such a character and so
relatively unimportant as to corroborate that view. The
inspiration of versions is nowhere contended for ; and
to so represent the contention is to " beg the question."
"What is insisted upon is the inspiration and correspond-
ing inerrancy of the original "God-breathed" Word.
nVhen Thwackura, in <*Tom Jones," asked " Can there be
any honour without religion?" and later added: "When I
mention ' religion,' I mean the Christian religion, and not only
the Christian religion, but the Protestant religion ; and not only
the Protestant religion, but the Church of England. And when
I mention ' honour ' I mean that mode of divine grace which
is not only consistent with but dependent upon this religion,
and is consistent with and dependent upon no other," it is clear
that he begged the question in his definition. — Baker, *^ Prin-
ciples of ArgU7nentation"
180 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
(4) Ignoratio elenchi; that is, evading the question.
A distinguished jurist in his advice to young lawyers
bade them, " If the law is with you address the court ;
if the evidence is Avith you, address the jury ; but if you
have neither the law nor the evidence in your favour,
abuse the opposing counsel." That would be to put
the ignoratio elenchi into practice.
It is not easy to carry on a fair argument with one
who persists in dodging the issue. General Braddock
was a great strategist but he suffered ignominious de-
feat in 1755 at the hands of a savage foe because he
had not learned what to do with an enemy that per-
sisted in skipping from tree to tree. To drive such an
adversary into the open and force him to stand and
withstand, of course that is the thing to be done ; and
clever is the man who can do it.
(5) Inconsistency. It is the part of wisdom, when
possible, to show the incongruity between the various
parts of an adversary's case ; as when he cries in one
breath : " Back to Christ ! " in the next belittles the
doctrinal teachings of Christ, and forthwith betrays
the fact that he is not thinking of the historic Christ
at all but of another whom he has conjured out of his
own imagination. Consistency is the Kohinoor among
controversial jewels ; so much so, indeed, that one rarely
meets with it.
(E) SUGGESTIONS
1. "Be ready always to give an answer to every
man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in you."
2. This does not mean, however, that there is any-
thing comely or praiseworthy in a disputatious spirit.
"So far as in you lies, be at peace with all men."
THE ARGUMENT 181
Avoid the attitude of the preacher immortalized by
Hudibras on this wise :
" For he was of that stubborn crew
Of errant saints, whom all men grant
To be the true church militant ;
Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun,
Decide all controversies by
Infallible artillery,
And prove their doctrine orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks."
3. Never unsettle the belief of a man until you are
sure you have a better belief wherewith to supplant it.
The poorest crutch a cripple ever had is better than
none at all. A teacher who simply rings out the false
without ringing in the true is helper to nobody. David
Hume's mother gave up her old-fashioned faith in
pursuance of his arguments ; but on her death-bed she
reproached him because he had left her nothing to
lean on.
4. Know your ground. Don't undertake more than
you can do. Much of our floundering comes from
venturing beyond our depth, as the old poet Quarles
says:
" Free will's disputed, consubstantiation,
And the deep ocean of predestination ;
Where, daring venture oft too far into 't,
They, Pharaoh-like, are drown' d both horse
and foot."
Let technical science and philosophy alone unless you
are sufficiently familiar with them to preach to scientists
182 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
and philosophers without being laughed at.' Eemember
that you are set for the defense of spiritual verities, and
that spiritual things are not acquired by the application
of any rule of three but are " spiritually discerned."
Scientific demonstrations of verities which lie beyond the
purview of the five physical senses are impossible. Faith,
the sixth sense, alone can perceive and apprehend them.
5. Assume self-evident and well established facts.
Waste no time or energy in carrying coals to Newcastle.
Take the axioms for that they are worth and move on.^
6. Stick to the question. A parenthesis in an argu-
ment is like losing one's breath. " Branching " is let-
ting go.
7. Don't run to words. The best speech ever made
by General Garfield was when, at a critical time in the
Civil War, standing on the steps of the old Astor
House in New York, he said to an excited multitude,
" God reigns and the country is safe." Some sermons
are like wagon-loads of charcoal while others are like
diamonds ; in both cases carbon is the base ; compres-
sion makes the ad valorem difference.
^ There is no longer any excuse for a preacher's ignorance of
science ; and we trust that the day has forever passed in which
a man with any pretense to intelligence will attack from his
pulpit what is now recognized as one of the foremost allies of
our Christian religion. As for the man who rushes into a
controversy for which he has neither natural aptitude nor ac-
quired equipment, it may be sufficient to advise him to lay to
heart the advice "not to raise the devil unless you can lay
him." — Pattison, " The Making of the Sermon."
'"Mr. Jones," said Chief Justice Marshall on one occasion
to an attorney who was rehearsing to the court some elementary
principle from Blackstone's Commentaries, "there are some
things which the Supreme Court of the United States may be
presumed to know." — Phelps, " Theory of Preaching^
THE ARGUMENT 183
8. Honor the climax. Gain power as you move on.
Beware of the anticlimax, i. e., running to dribblings,
as in De Quincey's " Such a rogue would not hesitate
at murder, robbery, drinking, incivility or procrastina-
tion ! " Close with your congregation open-mouthed,
not yawning but waiting for more.
9. Be earnest. It is not necessary to saw the air ;
but an appearance of lassitude or indifference in the
pulpit begets apathy in the pews. " Come with me,"
said Jehu, " and see my zeal for the Lord " ; and his
zeal, such as it was, was sufficiently demonstrated by
his way of doing things.
" 'Tis not enough that what you say is true :
To make us feel it, you must feel it too ;
Show yourself warm, and that will warmth impart
To every hearer's sympathizing heart."
10. Be sincere. Do not speak beyond the measure
of your convictions ; and always mean what you say.
Channing was led into doubt, in his boyhood, by hear-
ing his father whistle a merry air on his way home
from a sermon on " The Judgment Day."
11. Spend your resources. Keep nothing back for
use on a future occasion. Empty yourself, and trust
God to fill you again. A good preacher is like a well
which grows better and better as the neighbours draw
from it.
12. Be practical. " Be a man among men," as Jean
Paul said, "and not a dreamer among the shadows."
Aim your sermons at the affairs of life. No abstrac-
tions. No speculations. Remember what the shepherd
in the fable said to the philosopher who, while star-
gazing, fell into a pit : " This would not have happened
184 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
had you, instead of studying the heavens, been watch-
ing your path." *
13, Adjust your sermon to circumstances. Jona-
than Edwards knew how to preach to scholars in the
terminology of the schools, but he was also able to ad-
dress the Pequot Indians in language as simple as a, b, c'
14. Truckle to nobody. Do not modify truth or
ethics for fear of offending people in your audience.'
^ An old sailor in one of George MacDonald's fictions said,
" I ain't a bit frightened of our parson ; I'll tell you why, sir;
he's got a good telescope, and he gets to the masthead, and
he keeps a good lookout, and he sings out, ' Land ! Land
ahead ! ' or ' Breakers ahead ! ' and he gives directions accord-
in'." — Hoodf " Vocation of the Preacher "
* " In the Church of the Wilderness Edwards wrought,
Shaping his creed at the forge of thought ;
And with Thor's own hammer welded and bent
The iron links of his argument,
Which strove to grasp in its mighty span
The purpose of God and the fate of man I
Yet faithful still in his daily round
To the weak, and the poor and the sin-sick, found
The schoolman's lore and the casuist's art
Drew warmth and life from his fervent heart.
Had he not seen in the solitudes
Of his deep and dark Northampton woods
A vision of love about him fall ? "
— Whittier.
^A young man in Bristol announced his text, "He that
believeth shall be saved, and he that beheveth not shall be
damned." He began by condoning the heavy condemnation
and, in an affected manner, shaded off the darkness of the doom
of unbelief. He grew sentimental and begged pardon of an audi-
ence rather more polite than usual for the sad statement made
in the text. "But, indeed," said he, "he that believeth shall
be saved; and he that believeth not, — indeed, I regret to
say, — I beg your pardon for uttering the terrible truth — but
indeed he shall be sentenced to a place which here I dare not
THE ARGUMENT 185
Dr. South was a great preacher, but he would have
been a greater had he not been overinfluenced by his
relations with the crown and the nobility. We respect
the chaplain of Queen Elizabeth who, on being re-
quested to read the service in her hallway, because she
had not yet risen from her couch, indignantly declined
to " whustle his prayers through a keyhole." '
15. Avoid personalities. It is a coward's trick to
denounce a man who cannot talk back. Do not pre-
sume too far on your canonicals.
16. " Be courteous." Keep your temper under all
circumstances ; " and, if you fall or if you rise, be each,
pray God, a gentleman." To lose one's temper in a
controversy is to throw away one's advantage. In one
of Charles Lamb's essays he advises calmness on this
wise : " There is that shrewd little fellow Titubus. We
have seldom known him to be engaged in an argument
when we were not convinced he had the best of it, if
his tongue would but fairly have succeeded him. When
he has been spluttering excellent broken sense for an
mention." The last words were delivered in a whisper. Then
up rose Sammy Breeze. He began, *' I shall take the same text
to-night which you have just heard. Our young friend has
been fery foine to-night ; he has told you some fery polite
things. I am not fery foine and I am not polite; but I
will preach a little bit of Gospel to you, which is this — ' He
that pelieveth shall be saved, and he that pelieveth not shall be
tamned ' ; and I begs no pardons. '^ — Hood, " Vocation of the
Preacher."
* "Out of the pulpit," John Knox said to Mary Queen of
Scots, when she complained that never had prince been han-
dled as she was by him in his sermons, " few had occasion to
be offended with him. There, however, he was not master of
himself but bound to obey Him who commanded him to speak
plainly and to flatter no flesh on the face of the earth." — Fatti'
son, ^'The Making of the Sermon.'^
186^ THE BODY OF THE SERMON
hour together, writhing and labouring to be delivered
of the point of dispute — the very gist of the contro-
versy knocking at his teeth, which like some obstinate
iron grating still obstructed its deliverance, — his puny
form convulsed and face reddening all over at an un-
fairness in logic which he wanted articulation to
expose ; it has moved our gall to see a smooth, portly
fellow of an adversary that cared not a button for
the merits of the question, by merely laying his hand
upon the head of Titubus and desiring him to be calm
(your tall disputants have always the advantage) with
a provoking sneer, carry the argument clean from him
in the opinion of all the bystanders, who have gone
away convinced that Titubus tnust have been in the
wrong because he was in a passion, and that his op-
ponent is one of the fairest and, at the same time, one
of the most dispassionate arguers breathing,"
It is related that a public man at a banquet, losing
control of himself in an argument, thi^ew a glass of
wine into his adversary's face, whereupon the latter,
wiping it off with his handkerchief, calmly remarked,
" That, sir, was a digression ; let us now resume the
argument." And, of course, he had the best of it.
17. Make your hearers think. You may not be able
to convince them of the correctness of your views ; but
at all hazards make them think. It is far better to look
into the eyes of an audience that proposes to put what
you say to the acid test of mind and conscience, than
of one that will receive what you say as men swallow
oysters without masticating them. To make men think,
think for themselves, think in the light of sound reason
backed by divine authority — this is the preacher's busi-
ness. And to that end he must give them something
THE ARGUMENT 187
to think about ; which is impossible unless he has him-
self done some hard thinking beforehand.
18. Take heed and beware of dogmatizing on your
own hook. "Who is a preacher, that he should presume
to impose his personal opinions on other people as if he
were inspired of God ?
19. Study the methods of Christ. He was the
wonderful Preacher. Read His sermon on the Un-
finished Tower, with its lesson, " Stop and think !
Count the cost of right living before you begin it ! "
Read His interview with the woman of Samaria ; ob-
serve His singular tact in bringing her circuitously face
to face with her sin, and then face to face with the
possibility of salvation. He is worthy of our imita-
tion ; because He was the great Master of the art of
putting things.
Ill
THE PEEOKATION
(A) ITS IMPOETANCE
THE peroration winds up the argument. The
sermon is " a nail driven by the master of
assemblies " ; and the peroration is intended
to clinch it.
For this reason, the preacher should devote more
careful and prayerful attention to the close of the
sermon than to any other portion of it. He cannot
safely trust to the moment for his last words.
Edmund Burke, in preparing his defense of Queen
Caroline, was so impressed with the importance of con-
cluding his argument in just the right manner, — so
that " the last impression " on the mind of Parliament
might incline its members to a favourable verdict for
his royal client, — that he not only wrote his peroration
most elaborately but rewrote it twenty times. Justice
was what he claimed ; only justice. In his argument
he rang the changes on that word. His conclusion was
as follows : " Such, my lords, is the case now before
you. Such is the evidence in support of this measure
— evidence inadequate to prove a debt — impotent to
deprive of a civil right — ridiculous to convict of the
lowest offense — scandalous if brought forward to sup-
port a charge of the highest nature which the law
188
THE PERORATION 189
knows — ^monstrous to ruin the honour and blast the
name of an English queen ! What shall I say, then,
if this is the proof by which an act of judicial
legislation, a parliamentary sentence, an ex post facto
law is sought to be passed against this defenseless
woman ? My lords, I pray you to pause. I do ear-
nestly beseech you to take heed. You are standing upon
the brink of a precipice — then beware ! It will go
forth as your judgment, if sentence shall go against the
Queen. But it will be the only judgment you ever
pronounced, which, instead of reaching its object, will
return and bound back upon those who give it. Save
the country, my lords, from the horrors of this catas-
trophe— save yourselves from this peril — rescue the
country, of which you are the ornaments, but in which
you can flourish no longer when severed from the people
than the blossom when cut off from the roots and the
stem from the tree. Save that country, that you may
continue to adorn it — save the Queen who is in jeopardy
— save the Aristocracy which is shaken — save the Altar,
which must stagger with the blow that rends its kindred
throne ! You have said, my lords, you have willed —
the Church and the King have willed — that the Queen
shall be deprived of its solemn service. She has, instead
of that solemnity, the heartfelt prayers of the people.
She wants no prayers of mine : but I do here pour forth
my humble supplications at the Throne of Mercy, that
mercy may be poured do^vn upon the people in larger
measure than the merits of their rulers may deserve, and
that your hearts may be turned to justice ! "
(B) ITS FORM
1. The peroration may take the form of a recapitu-
190 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
lation or summing up,' This, however, is usually not
enough, inasmuch as it does not bring the sermon to a
point. An old whaler, after listening to a discourse
which lacked an effective conclusion, made a just criti-
cism in the remark that it " had no harpoon in it." ^
2. It may assume the form of an application. The
old-time preachers almost invariably closed their
sermons with a series of " practical observations " which
were in the nature of an application of the argument
to the hearers' needs ; and, notwithstanding their
wearisome length in many cases, the custom was a good
one.
But here as everywhere brevity is the soul of wit and
of wisdom as well. Strike, and have done with it.
The historic sermon of William Carey on Foreign
Missions closed his argument in briefest terms : " Where-
fore, let us undertake great things for God and expect
great things from Him ! "
3. It may take the form of a warning or admoni-
^ Recapitulation is synopsis. Its object is to compress and
epitomize, so that the hearer shall feel the whole force of the
discussion at a blow. — Phelps, " Theory of Preaching^
* In recapitulating, the danger is that you fall into repetition.
All that you should aim to do is to revive recollection. You
are now in a position to survey the field ; and it is not necessary
that you should fight your battle all over again. Vary your
language therefore ; avoid the phrases which you have previ-
ously used; choose your words with great care; pack your
sentences closely ; and by compression gain cumulated force.
" In your introduction," a homely Welsh preacher was wont
to counsel young preachers, "show the people where you are
going, and in your application remind them where you have
been." So Phillips Brooks begins this part of one of his sermons
with these words : " Thus, then, I have passed through the
ground which I proposed. See where our thought has led us."
— Paiiison, " Making of the Sermon.''^
THE PERORATION 191
tion. In this case, however, it should be very tender
and sympathetic. The sermon in which our Lord most
severely denounced the scribes and Pharisees for their
superficial piety, uttering woes that were like flashes
of divine wrath, closed with the pathetic words : " Come
unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn
of Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall
find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and
My burden is light."
4. It may embody an earnest appeal or exhorta-
tion.
(1) This may be addressed to the intellect : com-
mending the argument of the discourse to the thought-
ful attention of the hearer : as " Think on these things."
(2) Or to the emotions ; in an endeavour to make the
hearer feel the importance of the matter in hand.
Most men acknowieage the truth of the Gospel, but
multitudes do not feel it.
(3) Or to the will ; and this is most important of all.
The prodigal in the far country knew the folly of his
riotous living ; and, when reduced to rags and tatters
and the shame of the swine-field, he deeply felt it ; but
intellectual conviction and emotional sentiment were
alike ineffective until, by the recollection of the com-
forts of his father's house, his will was aroused so that
he said, " I will arise and go ! " ^
* In this consists the chief difference between hortation in the
pulpit and the scenic impression of the stage. Theatric pas-
sion ends with itself. Homiletic appeals aim at an execution
of something beyond the emotive excitement. " IVhaf will
you do about it ?" is the question which the pulpit always asks,
the stage never. Appeals, therefore, should always be con-
structed with fidelity to this distinction. They should never
I92i THE BODY OF THE SERMON
Let the preacher bear in mind that when he has done
his utmost, his hearer is still his own master and at
liberty to " gang his ain gait." God Himself, in rec-
ognition of this sovereign power of the individual,
" draws him with the cords of a man." "Wherefore, in
the peroration of the sermon, which is the preacher's
last chance, he should exert himself to the utmost to
bring about an immediate decision. For
" Though God be good and free be heaven,
No force diviue can love compel ;
And, though the song of sins forgiven
Should ring through lowest hell,
The sweet persuasion of His voice
Eespects thy sanctity of will :
He giveth day ; thou hast thy choice
To walk in darkness still."
(C) SUGGESTIONS
1. Close hopefully. The average reader likes a story
that ends well. The preacher, most of all men, should
be an optimist, not believing that whatever is is right,
but that, in so far as it is not right, his business is to
help make it so. He is a preacher of " the gospel of
the glory of the happy God " ; wherefore the note of
hopefulness should be the last to linger on his hps.
If he is preaching a New Year's sermon, e. g., let re-
grets for the mislived past engage his attention only so
far as they suggest, by the way of the Cross, the hope
of better things and brighter days. Observe the
stimulating note in Paul's exhortation : " Forgetting the
fall into the theatrical vein, never play upon the emotions as the
end of discourse, never rest with working up a given heat of
feeling, never pause with success in making tears flow. —
I'/ie/J>s, " Theory of Preaching."
THE PERORATION 193
things which are behind and stretching forward to the
things wliich are before, I press on towards the goal
unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus." *
2. Lean hard on authority.^ Keep yourself in the
background, as far as possible, and let God speak
through you. Paul's attitude is the one that wins a
reverent hearing : " I then, as an ambassador of Jesus
Christ." It is not what the man in the pulpit is or
thinks himself to be, but what he stands for, that
counts. Wherefore, keep your credentials in sight, and
make yourself impressive not by your " cloth " nor by
any " holy whine " or other ministerial aii's or affecta-
tions, but by the faithful presentation of your message.
3. Be brief : but not too brief. Leave " sermonettes "
^ The hymns of Charles Wesley, like his brother John's ser-
mons, usually work up to a climax of bright anticipation ; one
of them, however, is difficult to sing because its last verse is
written in the minor key :
" A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never dying soul to save
And fit it for the sky.
" Teach me to wacch and pray
And on thyself rely,
Assured if I my trust betray
I shall forever die."
' The preaching that is most effective has a '* Thus saith the
Lord " back of it and through it. This was the secret of the
apostles' success. This gave to the prophets their command-
ing influence. This made the Reformers a tremendous factor
in their generation. This imparted life and vigour to the min-
istry of the fathers in former days. This is what is greatly
needed in many of our pulpits to-day. — Mc Kinney, " Effect-
ive Preaching.''^
191 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
to preacherlings. Take time to deliver your message
and then make your bow. Give " finally " its face
value. Some sermons are like Charles the Second who
was " such an unconscionable time a-dying." The fault
of Thackeray — best of story-tellers otherwise — was that
he never knew when to stop : as in " The Newcomes,"
where he reached his proper conclusion at the old Colo-
nel's Adsum, and then kept maundering on.*
The great preacher Massillon said, " Believe me, I
speak from experience, and long experience : The more
you say, the less will be retained. The less you say, the
more the hearers will be profited. By overcharging
their memory you destroy it, as we put out lamps by
* The present disposition is to demand short sermons. At a
bookseller's shop in London, John Henry Newman saw sermons
labelled: "Warranted orthodox, not preached before, and
twenty minutes." Twenty minutes " with a leaning to mercy "
was the pithy way in which an English judge answered our
question. Even Mr. Spurgeon considered forty minutes suffi-
cient for a discourse, and he himself rarely exceeded that time.
MuUois says : "The harangues of Napoleon only lasted a few
minutes, yet they electrified whole armies." The old Puritans
were wont to say — although in this matter they preached better
than they practiced — that it was wiser to send the people away
longing than loathing ; and Hesiod's famous dictum, "The half is
more than the whole," has, I think, an unintended bearing on
our present point. Learn to leave well alone, and to cease firing
when your ammunition is gone. Congregations know blank
cartridges, and they are not afraid of them. As you value your
reputation for truthfulness and fair play do not announce that
you mean to conclude and then fail to keep your promise. Do
not say, "Finally — In conclusion — One word more — And now
before we part." This is to recall Pope's ode, only in no
seraphic mood,
" Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying;
Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying ! "
— Pattison, " Making of the Sermon,^*
THE PERORATION 195
overfilling them with oil and di-own plants by im-
moderately watering them. When a discourse is too
long, the end obliterates the middle and the beginning.
Ordinary preachers are acceptable if they be short, and
excellent ones weary us when they are too long."
4. The formal peroration may, on occasion, be
omitted altogether. It is not infrequently the case that
the preacher feels, at a certain point well on in his
argument, that he has made his case ; and there is the
place to stop. A man is done when he is through with
the business in hand. In a country church in Scotland
a good wife whispered to her husband, " Is na the min-
ister near dune, think ye ? " to which he softly an-
swered, " Aye, he's dune lang syne ; but he disna ken it."
5. Do not habitually close with a verse of poetry.
Now and then it will answer better than anything else ;
but as a rule poetry, however beautiful, is not so well
suited as energetic prose to the driving home of a great
truth. Dr. Doddridge often concluded his sermons with
verses of his own composition ; e. g., " Jesus, I love Thy
charming name " ; but the average preacher would bet-
ter not try it.
6. Do not introduce any new matter in the peroration.
When tempted to add a few tangential or incidental
remarks, don't do it. It is always a mistake to dissipate
an impression already made by diverting attention to
matters correlated but of minor moment. Cease firing
when you have no more ammunition that fits your gun.
7. It may be wise, on occasion, to close your argu-
ment with a reference to some passing event or some
matter of immediate interest in the parish. The
practical application is thus literally " brought home."
For example, how better could a sermon on The Un-
196 THE BODY OF THE SERMON
selfish Life be concluded than by a reference to a ship-
wreck in which the captain made his escape with two
life-preservers on, while his wife was drowned and one
of his deck-hands perished after saving many passengers ?
What a comment on the words of Jesus, " Whosoever
would save his life shall lose it ; and whosoever shall
lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's shall save it
unto life eternal."
8. Make no qualified conclusions. Do not " hedge "
your argument Avith any ifs or peradventures or mis-
givings. If any concessions are to be made to the
argument on the other side it should be done anywhere
else rather than in the peroration. The last blow should
be struck with a firm, strong hand, Paul closed his ser-
mon on " Righteousness, Temperance and Judgment to
Come " with such positive energy as to leave his audience
trembling.
9. Master your peroration. Memorize it, if need be.
The moment may suggest something better than you
intended ; but to trust to the moment's doing so is to
lean on a broken reed.
10. In any case and under all circumstances the
peroration should be the climacteric of the sermon.* It
is, for the case presented, the preacher's last opportunity.
His message is now just outside the bay : let it sail in 1 '
* A sermon should be constructed somewhat like those great
stockades that are built by game-drivers in Africa and else-
where, extending perhaps over several miles of country, but
converging as they proceed, until they end in a death trap.
Those who drive the game begin at a distance with much noise
and other means whereby to alarm the game and drive it be-
tween the stockades, and so they are forced onward until they
fall inevitably into the trap. — Breed, ^^ Preparing to Preach.^^
' The word opportunity is from ob-portus, meaning ** at the
mouth of the harbour."
PART FOURTH
The Forensic or Finished Discourse
I
STYLE
I KNOW of no better way of introducing this chap-
ter than to quote from John Kuskin as follows :
" There are two ways of regarding a sermon, either
as a human composition or as a divine message. If we
look upon it entirely as the first, and require our clergy-
men to finish it with their utmost care and learning for
our better delight, whether of ear or intellect, we shall
necessarily be led to expect much formality and stateli-
ness in its delivery, and to think that all is not well if
the pulpit have not a golden fringe round it and a goodly
cushion in front of it, and if the sermon be not fairly
written in a black book, to be smoothed upon the
cushion in a majestic manner before beginning. All
this we shall duly come to expect ; but we shall at the
same time consider the treatise thus prepared as some-
thing to which it is our duty to listen, without restless-
ness, for half an hour or three-quarters, but which,
when that duty has been decorously performed, we may
dismiss from our minds in happy confidence of being
provided with another when next it shall be necessary.
— But if once we begin to regard the preacher, whatever
his faults, as a man sent with a message to us, which it
is a matter of life or death whether we hear or refuse ;
if we look upon him as set in charge over many spirits
in danger of ruin, and having allowed to him but an
199
200 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
hour or two in the seven days to speak to them ; if we
make some endeavour to conceive how precious those
hours ought to be to him — a small vantage on the side
of God — after his flock has been exposed for six days
together to the full weight of the world's temptation,
and he has been forced to watch the thorn and thistle
springing in their hearts and to see what wheat had
been scattered there snatched from the wayside by this
wild bird and the other ; and at last, when, breathless
and weary with the week's labour, they give him this
interval of imperfect and languid hearing, he has but
thirty minutes to get at the separate hearts of a thou-
sand men, to convince them of all their weaknesses, to
shame them for all their sins, to warn them of all their
dangers, to try by this way and that to stir the hard
fastenings of those doors where the Master Himself has
stood and knocked, yet none opened, and to call at the
opening of those dark streets where Wisdom herself has
stretched forth her hands, and no man regarded — thirty
minutes to raise the dead in ; — let us but once under-
stand and feel this, and we shall look with changed
eyes upon the frippery of gay furniture about the place
whence the message of judgment must be delivered,
which either breathes upon the dry bones that they
may live, or, if ineffectual, remains recorded in con-
demnation perhaps against the utterer and the listener
alike, but assuredly against one of them. We shall not
so easily bear with silk and gold upon the seat of judg-
ment, nor with ornament of oratory in the mouth of
the messenger ; we shall wish that his words may be
simple, even when they are sweetest, and the place
from whence he speaks like a marble rock in the desert,
about which the people have gathered in their thirst."
STYLE 201
Be it observed, however, tliat the author of those
earnest words would have been the last man in the
world to encourage a slipshod mode of preaching ;
since he was himself one of the foremost masters of
correct speech.
1. The best definition of literary style is the use of
right words in right places.
The best exemplar for preachers is Christ. He was
a master of good rhetoric, knowing precisely what He
wanted to say and just how to say it.
"What could be finer than this : " Be not anxious for
your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink ; nor
yet for your body, what ye shall pat on. Is not the
life more than the food, and the body than the
raiment ? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they
sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into
barns ; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are
not ye of much more value than they ? And why
are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not,
neither do they spin : yet I say unto you, that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the
field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of
little faith ? " Contrast that with Thomson's poetical
paraphrase :
** Observe the rising lily's snowy grace,
Observe the various vegetable race ;
Tliey neither toil nor spin but careless grow ;
Yet see how warm they blush, how bright they glow !
What regal vestments can with them compare ?
What king so shining, or what queen so fair ! "
202 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
2. Tlie elements of style are three :
(a) Clearness. The familiar saying of Talleyrand,
" The purpose of language is to conceal thought," has
from time immemorial had a special significance in
international diplomacy ; but of late there is even in
that quarter a disposition to favour a lucid and ingenuous
mode of expression. It is possible to conceive of cir-
cumstances in which the astute representatives of secu-
lar government might be justified in making a prolix
concealment of thought ; but the pulpit has no such
occasion.' The ambassador of Christ has no furtive
plans, nor any policies which may not be advocated
openly and aboveboard. Christ's servants are children
of the light and of the day.
In so far as there ever was a " mystery " in the plan
of redemption it is " now made manifest according to
the commandment of the everlasting God." Where-
fore it is the business of the preacher to make his mes-
sage clear, so clear that the wayfaring man, be he ever
so simple, need not err therein. To aim at profundity
in the presentation of the Gospel is pure pedantry.
Profundity is bathos. When a preacher is not under-
stood by his hearers, the warrantable inference is not
^ Doddridge speaks with dolorous magnanimity of the effect
which it cost him to discard from his style certain words, meta-
phors, constructions, which his literary taste tempted him to
use, but which his conscience rejected as unsuited to the ca-
pacities of his hearers. This was mourning the loss of useless
tools. Such condescension is in the direct line of scholarly
elevation. A man grows in literary dignity with every con-
quest of that kind which he achieves over himself. It ought
not to be suffered to put on the dignity of a self-conquest ;
it should be the intuition and the joy of a cultivated taste. —
Phelps y " Theory of Preaching."
STYLE 203
that he is learnedly philosophic but that he does not
himself understand what he is driving at.'
{b) Elegance. There is much false elegance in pul-
pit rhetoric. " Prunes and prisms " make poor con-
gregational diet. Cowper had this in mind when he
wrote :
" See where the famed Adonis passes by,
The man of spotless life and spotless tie ;
His reputation (none the fact disputes)
Has ever been as brilliant as his boots :
* " With a bug, bug, bug, and a hum, hum, hum,
Hither we mighty Philosophers come !
Professors we.
From over the sea,
From the land where Professors in plenty be ;
And we thrive and flourish, as well we may,
In the land that produced one Kant with a K
And many Cants with a C :
Where Hegel taught, to his profit and fame.
That something and nothing were one and the same,
The absolute difference never a jot being
'Twixt having and not having, being and not being;
Where, reared by Oken's plastic hands,
The eternal Nothing of Nature stands ;
And Theology sits on her throne of pride,
As Arithmetic personified.
So we change to a gladder and livelier strain.
For great god Pan is alive again ;
He lives and he reigns once more.
With deep intuition and mystical rite.
We worship the Absolute-Infinite,
The Universe-Ego, the Plenary-Void,
The Subject-Object identified.
The Great Nothing-Something, the Being-Thought,
That mouldeth the mass of Chaotic-Nought.
With a bug, bug, bug, and a hum, hum, hum,
Hither we great Professors come ! "
— Dean Afame/i,
20i FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
And all his flock believe exceptionless
His points of doctrine and his points of dress ;
He makes the supercilious worldling feel
That e' en religion can be quite genteel :
He lets the hesitating sceptic know
A man may be a Christian and a beau :
And so combines (despite satiric railers)
A model for professors and for tailors."
There is a difference to be observed between the
ordinary forms of conversation and those of public
address. When Dr. Johnson was in the Hebrides he
wrote to a friend : " "We were taken up-stairs ; and a
dirty fellow bounced out of the bed on which we were
to lie " ; but in the published account of his travels
the incident appeared as follows : " Out of one of the
beds on which we were to] repose started up, at our
entrance, a man as black as Cecrops from the forge."
"Was this an improvement or not? The simple word
" lie " has an advantage over " repose " ; but there is
an open question as between the blunt " dirty fellow "
and the more elegant but bombastic " Cecrops from the
forge." * A vulgar expression has no place in pulpit
* Macaulay uses the foregoing to illustrate the difference be-
tween Dr. Johnson's colloquial freedom and his literary style :
— "a turgid style,
Which gives to an inch the importance of a mile;
Uplifts the club of Hercules — for what ?
To crush a butterfly, or brain a gnat ;
Bids ocean labour with tremendous roar,
To heave a cockle-shell upon the shore j
Sets wheels on wheels in motion, — what a clatter I —
To force up one poor nipperkin of water ;
Alike in every theme his pompous art,
Heaven's awful thunder, or a rumbling cart."
STYLE 205
oratory under any circumstances ; but false fineness is
quite as bad.*
(c) Force. When in doubt, the stronger form of
expression is to be chosen as the better one. As Kobert
Hall was reading a transcript of his great sermon on
Infidelity he came upon this sentence : " Great God, on
what are Thine enemies intent ? What are the enter-
prises of guilt that, for the safety of their performers,
require to be enveloped in a darkness which the eye
of heaven must not penetrate ? " Whereupon he ex-
claimed, " Did I say ' penetrate ' ? For that weak
word ' penetrate ' put pierce.'^'' This was an improve-
ment.
For the thing to be aimed at by the preacher is the
carrying of his point. A beautiful sermon may be as
worthless as a painted ship upon a painted ocean, much
admired but bringing no cargo into port.^
Sir Astley Cooper tells of a French surgeon, who was
reputed to have operated brilliantly in thirty -nine cases
of abdominal sarcoma; but whose surgical skill was
nevertheless called in question because his thirty-nine
* Strike out all such words as "methinks I see," "cherubim
and seraphim," <• the^ glinting stars',^"^^'^'tlie_ stellar heavens,"
"the circumambient air," " the rustling wings," "the pearly
gates," "the glistening dew," ""Ihe .meandering rills," and
"the crystal battlements of heaven." 1 know how pretty they
look to the young eye, and how sweetly they sound in the young
ear; but let them go without a s\g\\.^/oseph Parker.
^Better far give the people masses of unprepared truth in the
rough, like pieces of meat from a butcher's block, chopped off
anyhow, bone and all, and even dropped down in the saw-
dust, than ostentatiously hand them out upon a china dish a
delicious slice of nothing at all, decorated with the parsley of
poetry, and flavoured with the sauce of affectation. — Spurgeon,
*' Lectures to My Students:'
206 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
patients had all died under the knife. The preacher's
business is not to air his rhetorical skiU or culture but
to save men.
3. As to rules of style. These are mostly to be
found in rudimentary text-books. Not a few preachers,
skilled in the more advanced studies of a university
curriculum, are lamentably ignorant of certain canons
of expression which should have been mastered in their
early school days. One often hears a good, strong
sermon marred by solecisms that provoke the sugges-
tion, Get down your grammar and rhetoric and study
them.
" Little owlet in the glen
\ I'm ashamed of you ;
\ You are ungrammatical
In speaking as you do.
You should say, ' To whom ! To whom ! '
Not, * To who ! To who ! ' " ^
The rules of style have to do with words, sentences,
paragraphs and the nexus, as follows :
{a) As to words. The study of etymology, simple
as it seems, is a most fruitful field for the preacher.
The grammar is here complemented by the dictionary.*
* ** Your small friend, Miss Katy-did,
May be green, 'tis true,
But you never hear her say
'Katydo! She do ! ' "
' A popular novelist of the present day will wait an hour if
necessary for his word. Shelley, sooner than use an inferior
word, left a blank in his lines when the right word did not oc-
cur to him. To express accurately the shimmer of the long
grass or the shade of green under the breaking wave another
poet would pause and watch and think for weeks together.
STYLE 207
The preacher should have a large vocabulary at his
command, though he may customarily use only a small
portion of it. A child can express its simple wants by
the use of less than a hundred words. The ancient
Egyptians had but eight hundred hieroglyphs. The
average man is said to need less than a thousand words
for common conversation. John Milton used eight
thousand, and Shakespeare was master of a splendid
vocabulary of fifteen thousand. In the first edition of
Webster's Unabridged there were twenty thousand,
while the latest edition contains more than one hun-
dred thousand. Some of our best public speakers find
the dictionary of value not merely as a book of refer-
ence but for systematic study ; and it is doubtful if any
better course could be pursued for the acquiring of
skill and facility in expression.'
(1) One's words should, as a rule, be short and
simple. Monosyllables are better than polysyllables.
Although we shall not be able to do this, yet it is well for us
to lay to heart what John Morley says : " It is not everybody
who can command the mighty rhythm of the greatest master of
human speech. But every one can make reasonably sure that
he knows what he means, and whether he has found the right
word. ' ' — Pattison, ' ' Making of the Sermon. ' '
^If ever man was born with great oratorical powers, and
could afford to dispense with all helps to success, it was Lord
Chatham. Yet even he, the king of British orators, did not
trust to the gifts of which Nature had been so prodigal, but
laboured indefatigably to improve them by study and discipline.
As a means of acquiring copiousness of diction and precision
in the choice of words, he submitted to a most painful task.
He went twice through a large folio dictionary, examining each
word attentively, dwelling on its various shades of meaning and
modes of construction, thus endeavouring to bring the whole
range of our noble and fluent tongue completely under his con-
trol.— Matthew Sf ** Oratory and Orators.**
208 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCX)URSE
though the latter have their uses ; as where Dr. John-
son, in an altercation with a fishwoman at Billings-
gate reduced her to silence by calling her successively
a Triangle, a Rectangle and a Hypothenuse, utterly
paralyzing her with his final epithet " Parallelopip-
edon ! " If the preacher desires to make an immediate
impression as a learned man among the unlearned this
method will answer his purpose ; but if he aims at con-
veying spiritual truth there is a better way.
As an illustration of truth in words of one syllable
the first chapter of the Gospel according to John is
unsurpassed. Sesquipedalian words may affright the
ignorant, but to the thoughtful they are mere rodo-
montade. The following rhyme in monosyllables is by
Addison Alexander :
" Think not that strength lies in the big round word,
Or that the brief aud plain must needs be weak.
To whom can this be true who once has heard
The cry for help^ the tongue that all men speak
When want or woe or fear is in their throat :
So that each word gasped out is like a shriek
Pressed from the sore heart or a strange, wild note
Sung by some far-off fiend ? There is a strength
Which dies, if stretched too far or spun too fine,
"Which has more height than breadth, more depth than
length ;
Let but this force of thought and speech be mine,
And he that will may take the sleek, fat phrase.
Which glows aud burns not, though it gleam and
shine ;
Light but no heat ; a flash but not a blaze !
Nor is it mere strength that the short word boasts ;
It serves of more than flight or storm to tell.
The roar of waves that clash on rock-bound coasts,
The crash of tall trees, where tlie wild winds swell,
The roar of guns, the groan of men that die
On blood-stained fields. It has a voice as well
STYLE 209
For tliein that far off on their sick-beds lie ;
For them that weep, for them that mourn the dead,
For them that laugh and dance and clap their hands.
To joy's quick step as well as grief's slow tread
The sweet, plain words we learned at first keep time ;
And though the theme be sad or gay or grand,
With each, with all, they may be made to chime
In thought, or speech, or song, or prose or rhyme."
Children are afraid of the dark because they do not
understand it. All mystery, even that of etymological
latitude and longitude, overawes the average man.
But this is not what preachers are after ; their purpose
is not to bewilder but to persuade men.
(2) The use of Latin and Greek words is pedantic
except in the company of people able to understand
them readily, or in cases where a very definite pui'pose
is to be accomplished by their use.*
Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox was so familiar with the
classic tongues and Hebrew that he interlarded his
common conversation with them. In one of his public
prayers he is said to have addressed the Deity as the
Ne plus ultra of desire, the Sine qua non of salvation
and the TJltima Thule of life. This might be forgiven
in one who was known to be so familiar with Greek
and Latin that his ordinary conversation was full of
classical allusions ; of course he was understood in
heaven, but doubtless some of his hearers were puzzled
to follow him.^ Locke wisely says, " If a man be to
^ *' Church ladders are not always mounted best
By learned clerks and Latinists profess'd."
— Cowper.
' The old monks were fond of interlarding their discourses
with learned words and phrases. Witness this, from an Easter
sermon of Bishop Launcelot Andrewes, a. d. 1550: "There
was then a new begetting this day. And if a new begetting, a
210 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
study any language [it ought to be that of his own
country."
(3) It is well to be sparing in the use of adjectives.
"When in doubt, cut them out. Here is a suggestion
from Thackeray : " Take my advice," says Mr. Yellow-
plush, "listen to a humble footmin. It's generally
best in poetry to understand puflBckly what you mean
yourself, and to ingspress your meaning clearly after-
woods — in the simpler words the better, praps. You
may, for instans, call a coronet a coronal, an ' ancestral
coronal,' if you like ; as you might call a hat a ' swart
sombrero,' * a glossy four-and-nine,' ' a silken helm to
storm impermeable and lightsome as the breezy gossa-
mer ' ; but, in the long run, it's as well to call it a hat.
It is a hat ; and that name is quite as poetticle as an-
other. I think it's Playto, or else Harrystottle, who
observes that what we call a rose by any other name
would smell as sweet. Confess now, dear Barnet,
don't you long to call it a polyanthus ? "
new Paternitie and Fraternitie, both. By the hodie genuite of
Christmas, how soone Hee was borne of the Virgm's wombe.
Hee became our brother (sinne, except) subject to all our in-
firmities ; so to mortalitie and even to death it selfe. And by
death that brotherhood had beene dissolved, but for this dayes
rising. By the hodie genuite of Easter, as soon as Hee was
borne again of the wombe of the grave, Hee begins a new
brotherhood, founds a new fraternitie straight; adopts us (wee
see) anew againe, by His fratres nieos ; and thereby, Hee
that was primogenitus a mortuis, becomes primogenitus inter
multos fratres : when the first begotten from the dead, then the
first begotten in this respect among many brethren. Before
Hee was ours : now wee are His. That was by the mother's
side ; so, Hee ours. This is by Patrem vestrum, the Father's
side ; so wee His. But halfe-brothers before ; never of whole
bloud, till now. Born, by Father and Mother both, Fratres
germanie, Fratres fraterrimi, we cannot be more."
STYLE 211
(4) Avoid pleonasm. Alas for the preacher who
has the gift of verbal fluency ! Better one vigorous
child that struggles to the birth than a large family of
weaklings. It is not superfluous to say that more
words than enough are just so many too many.
Christ likens the faith of a practical believer to a
house built upon a rock : "And the rain descended and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that
house, and it fell not ; for it was founded upon a
rock ! " How much more eff'ective than Dr. Campbell's
prolix paraphrase : " Wherefore he that shall not only
hear and receive these my instructions, but also remem-
ber, and consider, and practice, and live according to
them, such a man may be compared to one that builds
his house upon a rock ; for as a house founded upon a
rock stands unshaken and firm against all the assaults
of rains, and floods, and storms, so the man who, in his
life and conversation, actually practices and obeys my
instructions, will firmly resist all temptations of the
devil, the allurements of pleasure, and the terrors of
persecution, and shall be able to stand in the day of
judgment and be rewarded of God."
(5) Euphuism is better in the breach than in the
observance. Call a spade a spade. Such words as
" death " and " hell " are not to be avoided though
they grate on certain ears polite. It was once proper
in America to speak of "our late unpleasantness"
rather than of the Rebellion or the Civil War; but
there were reasons for that. Better say shamming
than "malingering" and lying than "equivocating."
The best of preachers did not veil or modify the lan-
guage of truth.
(5) Sentences. We learned in our boyhood that
212 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
syntax has to do with the construction and proper use
of sentences : but boyhood and syntax, in the case of
many preachers, are both a long way off.
(1) The short sentence is to be preferred to the
more graceful but less forceful circumlocution. Fre-
quent periods or "• full stops " are like the Selahs in the
Psalms ; they are momentary calls to pause and con-
sider. Dr. John Hall of New York owed much of his
fine effectiveness to his use of the short sentence. He
studied to be clear and strong. If he presented a pro-
found thought he never said so and his hearers rarely
suspected it.
(2) The sentence which looks profound has the
presumption against it. Something is wrong with a
speaker's syntax when his hearers knit their brows. It
was of such a one that a Scotch parishioner said :
" Sax days o' the week he's inveesible and on the sev-
enth he's incomprehensible."
(3) The main thing to be desired in a sentence is
strength. To that end its muscles must be well knit.
Too much elaborateness is not helpful to this end. The
wearing quality of a piece of furniture is not enhanced
by sandpapering. Sermons like photographic negatives
are frequently spoiled by too much retouching. Spur-
geon once said to a class of theological students, " We
raise no crops by planting boiled potatoes.^' *
^ A man will stop you in the street and discourse with you
there, and be just as limber and affable in his sentences, just as
curt and direct and crisp and simple in conversational vernacu-
lar as any one ; and yet in the pulpit, two-thirds of what he has
to say will be Latin paraphrases woven together ; three mena-
bers on one side the sentence-pivot, balanced by three mem-
bers on the other, and that recurring all the time. This style
is false to everything but looks. It may be all in sympathy
STYLE 213
(4) A sentence to be used in the pulpit should be
constructed oratorically. The colloquial method will
answer at times but not always. There is a real differ-
ence between a merely rhetorical and an oratorical
expression. " Stand up essays " are not orations.
Preaching is more than reading what has been written,
or reciting what has been memorized. The finest
manuscript on Theology or Ethics is not a sermon
unless the life of eloquence is breathed into it.
In the construction of the sermon the manner of its
delivery should be constantly in mind. It is not denied
that some good preachers read their sermons nor that
others commit their sermons to memory and declaim
them effectively ; but this is not oratory. When
Andrew Fuller first heard Dr. Chalmers in the pulpit
he exclaimed, " If that man would only throw away
his papers he might be king of Scotland!" Great
with his manuscript, how much greater he might have
been without it ! '
(c) Paragraphs. In reading the trial sermons of
with them ; but no man in earnest, talking to his fellow men
with a purpose, falls into that artificial style. The man who
preaches from the heart to the heart can hardly help preaching
so that there shall be a naturalness in his style j and that will be
the best style for h\m.— Beecher, " Yale Lectures.'^
* Of Dr. Chalmers it is said : " He wrote everything to be
spoken ; he wrote everything as if he were speaking it, at least
in feeling, if not in actual sounds ; he wrote everything with
an audience glaring in his face. Hence his sermons have all
the advantage, all the verve and palpitation, of direct extempore
address. They have none of the chilliness of discourses written
before, nor the lukewarmness of discourses served up after the
delivery. From the peculiarity of which we have spoken, they
have all the pith of preparation, and all the quick leap of
impromptu." — Matthews, " Oratory and Orators,^*
214 FORENSIC OH FINISHED DISCOURSE
theological students I have observed that not a few
write continuously, without a break, from beginning to
end. This makes a " continent of mud." The breaking
up of the sermon into frequent paragraphs, providing
they are rightly constructed, helps the preacher to keep
going by marking his progress, and enables his hearers
to follow him.
A sermon should have structural unity. To this end,
(1) Each paragraph should be a unit ; distinct and
separate as one of the several links of a chain.
(2) It should have, also, a marked correlation or
interlinking with the paragraphs preceding and follow-
ing it.
(3) No two paragraphs should overlap ; else there
will be a tedious and awkward semi-repetition, like the
" interfering " of a horse, the shuffling gait of a drowsy
pedestrian, or the march of Falstaff's army " three
steps forward and two steps back."
(4) The relative place of each paragraph in the
argument should be quite clear to those who hear it.
A friend of mine from Virginia said to an old negro
driving an obstreperous team of oxen : " Uncle, where
you gwine ? " to which he answered, " Where I gwine ?
Ax dem fool oxen. I don'no where I'm gwine."
(5) Let each paragraph be positive. Omit if s and per-
hapses. " I wish," said one minister to another, " that
I could be as cock-sure of things as you seem to be."
The Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of Certainty ; and
" cock-sureness " built on strong faith is an important
part of the furnishing of the man appointed to proclaim
it. Dogmatizing, so called, notwithstanding all that
is said against it, is not a bad habit if it recognizes the
fact that no hearer is under bonds to accept any dogma
STYLE 215
under consideration without passing an independent
judgment on it.
(6) The successive paragraphs should march on.
Cicero said the three requisites of a good argument are
" Movement ! Movement ! Movement ! " A true ar-
gument does not merely mark time or walk in a tread-
mill round and round a subject, but it proceeds on a
post-road to its destination.
{d) The nexus. This is important, inasmuch as it
fixes the unity of a discourse, like the welding of the
successive links of a chain.
Professor Pattison says, "The management of his
transitions marks the practiced preacher. They are the
bridges of discourse, and by them he passes from one
point to another, while for lack of them the preacher
finds himself trembling on the edge of some great gulf
with no means to get across to his next thought. Into
that gulf many a hapless sermon plunges and is lost."
(1) As a rule, I think the nexus or " binder " should
be obvious. A speaker in the Roman Forum, as already
remarked, led his hearers from point to point of his
discourse by pointing at the surrounding booths, one
after another, until he reached the " Umbilicus " or
climacteric point of interest. In doing so he would
naturally indicate his firstlys, secondlys and so on.
There is a prejudice in some quarters against such an
announcing of points on the ground that it lacks rhetor-
ical grace ; but if it holds the interest of the audience
and emphasizes the logic of the sermon, that is the main
thing.
(2) The binders of the sermon should be consecutive.
There must be no " asides," no " remarks in passing,"
no parentheses, no breaks anywhere ; but a marching
216 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
right on. A sermon is not a mosaic but a series of
mile-stones on the way to a desired end.
(3) The preacher should study variety in his con-
nectives. It is not always necessary to use firstly and
secondly. " Next " is a good word, or " Now, one step
further." Dr. Lyman Beecher sometimes closed a point
or division of his sermon by saying : " Is that perfectly
clear ? Have you got it ? Then nail it down ! "
(4) The binder should bind ;i.e., it should mark the
connection. Paul was a master of the illative conjunc-
tions ; when he said : " Therefore " or " Wherefore " it
was like helping his hearers over the stepping-stones
of a brook to terra firma on the other side.
(5) The nexus should be as graceful as possible.
Physicians say that when one's knees crack or creak in
mounting a stairway it is due to a superflux of lime in
the joints. The preacher should pass from step to step
of his discourse without an awkward limp or a rasping
sound. A due regard for rhetorical lubrication will
enable him to do it.
II
ILLUSTRATION
IF a sermon be a " thrust," then a dull sermon is no
sermon at all. Nevertheless, it is rumoured that
dull preachers are to be found in some parts of
the world. Charles Lamb came upon one of them of
whom he said, " He is so dry that if you were to prick
a hole in him nothing would come out but sawdust."
Tennyson's Northern Farmer mentions another :
" An' I hallus com'd to's chm-ch, afore my Sally wur
dead,
An' 'eered um a-hummin' awaay, loike a buzzard clock
ower my 'ead ;
An' I never knawed what a mean'd, but I thowt a 'ad
summut to saay ;
An' I thowt a said what a owt to 'a said — an' I coom'd
awaay."
Happy is the man who can preach two sermons
every week in the same parish, year in and year out,
on a single system of truth, and always keep the eyes
of his auditors open and their ears pricked up. In
order to do this the preacher must obviously do some-
thing more than say solemn things in a commonplace
way. He must command a hearing by making his old
message stand forth in changing lights and guises ever
new.
No man likes to travel over a flat country ; better
a steep climb occasionally than a monotonous stretch
217
218 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
of prairie. It is not enough for a preacher to declare
the truth. God makes raw meat, but the cook must
create an appetite by furnishing the feast aright. No
man can hold an audience by the bald presentation of
abstract facts.' The trouble is, we are often content to be
dull ; we are too indolent or indifferent to be interesting.
Let me then emphasize the importance of throwing
the truth into relief. The easiest of arts is photog-
raphy ; any child can touch the button of a kodak ; but
a photograph is not true to nature. No more is any
flat statement. Men must be made to attend, as when
gazing on an Alpine landscape : sun on the peaks, mists
rising from the valleys, floating clouds and the blue
heavens over all. One of the ancient homilists said,
" Paint your ideas." Lord Bacon said, " Parables are
older than arguments." John "Wesley, for this reason,
counselled his theologues to study Spenser's " Faerie
Queene."
It would appear, therefore, that the art of illustra-
tion is entitled to our earnest consideration.
1. The -purpose of illustration is indicated in the
word itself, which means " to make bright," to illumi-
nate a matter or, if one may borrow a definitive phrase
from the vernacular, to " put daylight through it."
* A young man, having regard to predestination, comes to
his pastor and says, " If I am one of the elect, I must be saved,
do what I will; if I am not, I must be lost, do what I may."
It is impossible to answer this by logic. You must resort to
illustration — to an analogy. You say to him : Suppose you
are in a dangerous illness. You are told that unless you sub-
mit to a serious operation, you must die. Do you reason, if I
am predestined to recover, I shall recover without the opera-
tion ; if to die, I shall die in spite of it ? No man in his
senses reasons thus in the ordinary affairs of life. — Dr. Blaikie.
ILLUSTRATION 219
2. Tlie rationale of illustration is set forth in the
kindergarten, where a teacher, e. g., instead of under,
taking to give an abstract explanation of " roundness "
will show a ball or an orange to exemplify it.'
Our approval of this method does not mean, however,
that grown people are to be entertained with jack-
straws. The preacher who took a globe of goldfish
into his pulpit to illustrate the divine omniscience be-
trayed a profound ignorance of the fitness of things.
The best of preachers, namely Christ, was a consum-
mate master of this art. His sermons were picturesque
to the last degree. He found " tongues in trees, sermons
in stones, books in the running brooks " and homiletic
figures in everything. Consequently He was never
dull, however profound ; but was always impressive
and well within the intellectual range of average
men.
Paul was another master of this art. The Stadium at
Tarsus, which he had doubtless frequented in his boy-
hood, was an almost endless source of supply for him.
War, husbandry and architecture were in like manner
* James Russell Lowell said : " There's a deal o' solid kick-
ing in the meekest-looking mule." If the statement had been,
There's a good deal of obstinacy covered by apparent amia-
bility, the remark might have passed without a moment's no-
tice; but attached to such a figure as the poet used, it will be
difficult for the mind ever to get rid o{\t.— Joseph Parker.
' If a man's sermon is like a boiled ham and the illustrations
are like cloves stuck in it afterwards to make it look a little
better, or like a bit of celery or other garnish laid around on
the edge for the mere delectation of the eye, it is contemptible.
But if you have a real and good use for an illustration, that has
a real and direct relation to the end you are seeking, then it
may be ornamental, and no fault should be found with it. —
Beecher, " Yale Lectures .^^
220 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
drawn upon to assist in his clear presentations of relig-
ious truth.^
3. There are numberless kinds of illustrations^ some
of the most important of which are as follows :
(1) Word painting : e.g.. The name of God, being
cognate with goodness, conveys at its root an anticipa-
tion of the saying " God is love." The word " kind,"
which is an abbreviation of kinned, suggests our nor-
mal attitude towards one another ; since we are all
kinsfolk in the family of God. The word " edifica-
tion," a synonym for moral culture or character-build-
ing, means literally the construction of a temple; a
temple for God's Spirit to dwell in. The word " be-
lief " is said to be from hy-UJian, meaning " the thing
I we live by " ; which is another way of saying " As a
• man thinketh in his heart so is he." How can a man
preach on the Holy Spirit without opening the word
Paraclete^ like a door into the high court of heaven ?
Or take the word sacrainent ; get your picture from its
origin ; let the people gathered at the Lord's table see
1 a Roman army with hands uplifted in the sacramentum^
or vow of loyalty to their captain and the golden
eagle, and you have put a new solemnity into the
memorial feast. A man must be a very Dry-as-dust
who takes no advantage of these illimitable possibilities.'
* See Howson's " Metaphors of St. Paul."
' A thoughtful English writer tells us that, when about nine
years old, he learned with much surprise that the word " sin-
cere " was derived from the practice of filling up flaws in fur-
niture with wax, whence sine cera came to mean pure, not
vamped up or adulterated. This explanation gave him great
pleasure, and abode in his memory as having first shown him
that there is a reason in words as well as things. — Matthews,
" Words; Their Use and Abuse."
ILLUSTRATION, 221
The dictionary is an inexhaustible mine of word-pic-
tures like the foregoing ; so much so that, indeed, there
is danger of becoming monotonous or of seeming pe-
dantic by overworking it.'
(2) Figures of speech.
(a) The metaphor; in which a comparison is ex-
pressed in a word ; as when Christ said in the breaking
of the bread, " This is My body " : or as when we speak
of a ship " plowing the sea."
(b) The simile ; in which the comparison is indi-
cated by some such word as " as " or " like." For
example, the parables of Christ, beginning, "The
kingdom of heaven is like unto," etc. Also, " The
wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the
Spirit " ; or " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but
have eternal life."
(c) Personification ; that is, the investing of things
with human attributes, e. gf., " Wisdom crieth without :
she uttereth her voice in the streets " (Prov. i. 20-23).
The Logos figure in the first chapter of the Gospel
according to John is a good example. Also this from
Shakespeare,
* Theophile Gautier, whose language is remarkable for its
copiousness and splendour, enriched his picturesque vocabu-
lary from the most recondite sources. His favourite reading
was the dictionary. He loved words for themselves, their
look, their aroma, their colour, and kept a supply of them con-
stantly on hand, which he introduced at effective points. —
Matihetvs, '* Words; Their Use and Abuse. ^^
222 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
". . . O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse ; how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh mine eyelids down
And steep my senses in forgetfulness f "
Or this by Oliver "Wendell Holmes :
" The spendthrift crocus, bursting through the mould,
Naked and shivering, with his cup of gold."
(3) Passing events. Things are constantly happen-
ing in public life or in the parish which may profitably
be used for purposes of illustration.* When the Tower
of Siloam fell, burying a number of people in its ruins,
Christ did not hesitate to take advantage of the inci-
dent to correct some popular mistakes relative to exact
retribution. On another occasion when the subject of
His discourse was Neighbourliness He found an apropos
illustration in the service rendered by a Samaritan
stranger to a traveller who had been waylaid and
robbed on the Bloody Way. Indeed it was His habit
thus to make use of passing events.
(4) Imaginary tales.
{a) Fables : i. e., untrue or impossible stories with a
moral. Not a few of the great teachers of the past
have made profitable use of the fable for purposes of
moral instruction ; but at this point Christ parts com-
pany with them.
* It is said of the great English character-painter of the last
century, Hogarth, that when he met a peculiar face of a man
enraged or sad or in an ecstasy or however moved, he sketched
it on the spot, on his thumb-nail, for use in his studio. Take
a lesson from him. All things in nature arid in human life
teem with illustrations of sacred truth. Commence early and
keep hnsy.^Willcox, *' The Pastor Amidst His Flock:*
ILLUSTRATION 223
(J) Parables : i. e., fictitious but natural tales, used
both to veil and clarify moral truth. In the use of the
parable, as distinguished from the fable,' our Lord
stands solitary and unapproached by any of the great
masters. Not that othei-s have not attempted it ; as
the ancient rabbis and some of the apostolic fathers ;
but, as Archbishop Trench remarks, they are usually
" very far from felicitous." Parable making, like
proverb making, looks easy until one attempts it.
(5) As to anecdotes : The fewer the better. Young
preachers, make a note of it. Pathetic narratives about
little Mary and her brother are worn out. Neverthe-
less the great evangelists have used them effectively in
driving home the saving truths.^ But the time allotted
^ The parable is constructed to set forth a truth spiritual and
heavenly : this the fable, with all its value, is not ; it is essen-
tially of the earth, and never lifts itself above the earth. It
never has a higher aim than to inculcate maxims of prudential
morality, industry, caution, foresight ; and these it will some-
times recommend even at the expense of the higher self-forget-
ting virtues. The fable just reaches that pitch of morality
which the world will understand and approve. But it has no
place in the Scripture, and in the nature of things could have
none, for the purpose of Scripture excludes it ; that purpose
being the awakening of man to a consciousness of a divine
original, the education of the reason and of all which is spirit-
ual in man. — Trench on the Parables.
* Spurgeon says : "I have often seen some poor fellow
standing at the aisle in the Tabernacle. Why, he looks just
like a sparrow that has got into a church and cannot get out
again. He cannot make out what sort of service it is ; he
begins to count how many people sit in the front row in the
gallery, and all kinds of ideas pass through his mind. Now I
want to attract his attention ; how shall I do it ? If I quote a
text of Scripture, he may not know what it means and may not
be interested in it. Shall I put a bit of Latin into the sermon,
or quote the original Hebrew or Greek of my text ? That will
not do for such a man. What shall I do ? Ah ! I know a
224 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
to the modern sermon is too short for long narratives.
Brevity is the soul of illustrative wit.
(6) Quotations.' The introduction of an apt quota-
tion into a sermon is like the momentary interruption
of a speaker by another voice. A wise preacher will
not hesitate to pay tribute to wiser thinkers than him-
self; or to levy upon them for contributions to the
consideration of any matter in hand. John Bunyan
has thrown into fine relief the dull discourse of many
a poor parson. And what chanticleers the poets and
hymn-makers have proved themselves to be in drowsy
parishes ! If you are preaching on " God hath made
of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face
of the earth," you can do no better than give Burns a
chance to paraphrase in " A man's a man for a' that."
Shakespeare ? Certainly : on many important truths.
Byron ? Yes, there is scarcely any better authority on
remorse ; as where he says, " My days are in the yellow
leaf." If we turn our backs on inspired sinners we
shall lose the benefits of homeopathy. And a truth is
a truth no less in Isaak Walton than in Isaac Watts.
Great masters of prose and poetry have said some
noble things, better than you or I could say them.
The parishioner who, on being advised to take snuff
to keep himself awake, retorted by suggesting that the
pastor put snuff into his sermons was not far afield. If
the preacher is convinced that his own intellectual
product does not find a ready market he would do
story that will, I believe, just fit him. Out it comes, and the
man does not look up at the gallery any more; but he is
wondering whatever the preacher is at."
^ Quotations can be regarded as illustrations only so far, of
course, as they ** illustrate," /. e., throw additional light on
the matter in hand.
ILLUSTRATION 225
wisely to interlard it— giving due credit, of course —
with the sayings of brighter men.
4. Sources of illustration.
(1) The Bible. Here is the preacher's Golconda.
The time would fail me to tell of Adam and Noah, of
the patriarchs and prophets, of Samson and Jephthah
and Shamgar with his ox goad, of the apostles and
ministering women, who come at our call to let side-
lights into our sermons on truth and righteousness. It
is a singular thing that the eldest in the congregation
will prick up his ears as he did in his boyhood when
mention is made of Joseph's coat of many colours or of
Daniel in the lion's den.
Do you want to emphasize The Seeking Love of God ?
"Where will you find an illustration so appropriate or
forcible as the woman with a candle searching in every
nook and cranny for her lost coin ? Or the shepherd
with his lantern out on the dark mountains, listening
for the bleating of his lost sheep and pressing on until
he finds it? Or the father of the prodigal, looking
over the hills towards the far country and waiting, wait-
ing, until lo, yonder the lad appears in rags and tatters,
ashamed to come nearer ; so that the father must needs
go out and meet him while he is yet a great way off ?
If the preacher wants a " Handbook of Illustrations "
the Bible will serve his purpose.' So Christ Himself in-
* "Like as a father pitieth his children," " as an eagle stir-
reth up her nest," "gone after that which is lost," "lighting
a candle and sweeping the house diligently," " as a strong man
rejoicing to run a race," "can a woman forget her sucking
child," "how often would I have gathered thee as a hen doth
gather her brood under her wings " ; by such illustrations at
once humble and lofty does the Bible make its way into the
hearts of mtn.— Joseph Parker.
226 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
tiinated in these words : " Therefore every scribe who
hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like
unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth
out of his treasure things new and old " (Matt. xiii. 52).
The preacher is here likened to an oriental host who re-
ceives a stranger into his home. Desirous of entertain-
ing him he displays his hoarded wealth. As there were
no banks or other places of safe deposit in those days,
such treasures must needs be buried in the ground or
kept in a recess in the wall. It is from such a treasury
that the householder brings forth " things new and old " ;
antique coins ; necklaces worn by princes of long ago ;
golden shields bearing the dint of old-time battles;
precious stones plucked from the crowns of captive
kings ; the loot of the campaigns of ages. AU these are
spread before the eyes of his wondering guest. The
preacher is a " scribe." It is his special function to
expound the divine "Word. The key is at his girdle.
His business is to bring forth the wealth of Scripture,
illustrative and otherwise, new things and old, to dazzle
the eyes.
(2) The parish round. The man who has two good
eyes in the front of his head will get illustrations out
of his daily experience as one plucks flowers along a
country road.
This was Beecher's way. One of his parishioners saw
him one Saturday on a Brooklyn ferry-boat watching
her pushing her way to the dock ; and he said, " I'll see
what he has to say about that to-morrow." Sure
enough, in the morning sermon on The Foundations of
Faith he said, "As I was coming across from New
Tork yesterday I observed that, as the boat forced her
way into the narrow basin, the timbers on either side
ILLUSTRATION 227
gave way, once and again, but always righted them-
selves. So it is with the great fundamentals of truth ;
they may bend and yield but never to the breaking
point. The essential things are grounded forever." '
The best illustrations are those which come to the
preacher in this manner. I stood once on the landing
at Antwerp where a great company of people, mostly
peasants, were awaiting the arrival of a ship from
America which was to bring back a considerable number
of long-absent friends. As the vessel came into view,
slowly plowing her way up the Scheldt, the excitement
passed all bounds. As she drew nearer, so that at
length faces could be recognized, the waiting company
stood on tiptoe, many of them calling names and wav-
ing hands of welcome. But when the ship came along-
side the dock, and the gangplank was out and old friends
had landed one by one, a great silence fell upon all.
The joy of reunion was too deep for utterance. Old
fathers and mothers embraced their bearded sons, with
no greeting but tears and kisses. Is this a foregleam
of the great " hame-bringing " in heaven ; when parted
friends shall look again into each other's eyes and little
children " lost a while " shall come creeping back into
their mother's arms ? O blessed day of greeting and
hand clasping ! All the bright days of earth rolled into
one shall not equal it — the day when our ship comes in !
(3) Travel. The preacher who goes only to the
next town should bring something back with him ;
* Some men think in metaphor, some men think in syllogisms.
When Henry Ward Beecher spent some weeks in my house, I
was struck with his constant use of the word " is like." It
sounded as a quotation from the New Testament, " The
kingdom of heaven is like Vinio.' ^—Joseph Parker.
228 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
something seen through the car- window, perhaps ; much
more if he should chance to spend a vacation in foreign
parts.
But let him beware of opening his traveller's budget
too frequently or of displaying too freely the labels on
his suit-case. There are others in his congregation who
have been to Paris ; and those who have not would
rather not be reminded of it.
(4) History and biography. There is no end of
illustrations to be gotten from the records of the past.
" Lives of great men all remind us." Are you to preach
on Missions ? Get before your mind the picture of
"William Carey, " the consecrated cobbler," looking up
from his bench to his map of the world and praying,
in the intervals of his hammering, " 0 God, save those
pagans in India ! " No matter what you are to preach
about, the mighties of the centuries are at your beck
and call. To preach a commonplace sermon on Courage
while Joan of Arc and John Knox " who never feared
the face of man," and Savonarola and Jenny Geddes
with her cutty-stool, and great platoons of less hackneyed
heroes, stand in waiting, is a rank homiletic misde-
meanour. The chronicles of war and peace, of councils
and parliaments, are ready at hand ; and our congrega-
tions stand, like little Peterkin at the old soldier's knee,
w ith open eyes beholding. I see no objection, moreover
to drawing on reputable books of fiction. Pecksniff
and Chadband furnish a logical corollary for " "Wo unto
you, scribes and Pharisees." But history is far more
effective, of course, as a narrative of fact.
*' There's wit there,
Ye'U get there,
Ye'U find nae ither where."
ILLUSTRATION 229
(5) Mytholog3^ There is no good reason for hesi-
tating to draw on the false religions of the world for
enforcement of Christian truth. Ormuzd and Ahriman ;
Jason and the Argonauts ; Prometheus, Atlas, ^scu-
lapius ; the Fates and the Furies ; Ixion and Tantalus ;
Elysium and Jotunheim, the Styx, Lethe, Parnassus ;
all stand for distorted forms of rudimental verities and
show, in bold relief, the pathetic consequence of search-
ing for truth with no ultimate basis of authority, even
as blind men feel their way along the wall.
(6) Science. The facts of natural science are such
as lie within the purview of the five physical senses.
The facts of religion which are " unseen and eternal "
are verified by faith, which is the sixth or spiritual
sense. It is not our business to preach science ; and
most ministers find themselves on thin ice when they
undertake it ; but there are analogies here which we
may use to advantage. "Witness Drummond's " Natural
Law in the Spiritual World." Botany, astronomy,
geology are rich in homiletic suggestion. The preacher
who does not follow the archaeologist in his excavations
among the ruins of the ancient world is quite behind the
times. The scientist is not always devout, but science
is rightly called the handmaid of religion. Inventions
and discoveries are mile-stones in the journey of the
coming Christ.
(7) Art. I am sorry for any preacher who can go
through a picture gaUery without gleaning an armful
of homiletic illustrations. The next time you visit the
Metropolitan Museum of Art take a long look at
Bastien Le Page's picture of Joan of Arc / long enough
to see the visions which she is seeing with those pale,
far-away eyes of hers, and to hear the Call to Duty
230 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
which is ringing in her ears. Then take a long look a6
Gabriel Max's picture of The Last Token^ where a girl
facing the beasts of the arena is looking up with ques-
tioning eyes towards the gallery, from which some
friendly hand has dropped the rose that is lying at her
feet. Is there no side-light there for a sermon on
Sympathy or Kindness ? Then another long look at
The Rehearsal^ where an amateur musician is " trying "
for a place in the choir ; timid, awkward ; lips just part-
ing ; what will be the result ? Has she a voice ? "Will
she win out ? This is a picture that lingers in memory,
to find an application on all Commencement days.
(8) Personal experience. Here, as the roadside
placard says to the engineer, " Go slow." Yet Paul
never preached so well as when relating the story of
his conversion — the sunburst and the Voice from heaven.
There are times when the first person singular pronoun
can be used wisely and effectively : for " as iron sharp-
eneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the face of his
friend." '
It would be a hopeless task to indicate all the various
sources of illustration ; suflBce it to say :
That the use of the imagination affords one of the
legitimate and most effective means of throwing truth
into bold relief ; and
That the proper use of the imagination, with this
* I once said to General Booth : " You do not give your sol-
diers much training before they go out to preach." "No,"
said the general, " we simply say, Go and tell the next man
you meet what God has done for you ; simply relate your ex-
perience ; you have nothing to do with arguments and difficul-
ties ; just tell whoever you can get to listen what Christ has
done for -^oxxy^-Jose^h Parker.
ILLUSTRATION 231
end ia view, is largely a matter of habit.* One can
walk among the wonders of Nature as blind as Peter
Bell, of whom Wordsworth wrote,
" Al^primrose by the river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more ; "
or he can hear voices and see visions which are imper-
ceptible to the physical senses, as Longfellow did, to
whom Nature appeared " kneeling, with folded hands,
at evening prayer." One can read a book with no per-
ception of anything except what is printed on its pages
or, if he give play to his imagination, he can read ten
times as much — and all true — between the lines.
For, really, a truth presented in outline is only partial
truth and, therefore, not truth at all. He who would
know the meaning of the Incarnation must fill out the
silhouette presented in the Story of the Nativity. He
who would understand the doctrine of the Atonement
must read a thousand things between the lines of the
Tragedy of the Cross. He who would learn how life and
immortality are brought to light in the Gospel must see
the narrow boundaries of the empty sepulchre in Joseph's
garden open out and stretch away into a perspective of
interminable vistas. This means that a wise preacher
must not only use his imagination with effect but must
cultivate it, and form the habit of using it ; and must
curb it withal ; and must regard it as one of his homiletio
assets to be wholly consecrated to the service of God.
* Yes, the faculty for picture making may be developed, and
there are a great many men that haven't it, but could have it.
It depends upon practice. It might come with difficulty and be
slenderly successful at first, but may gain from year to year un-
til it becomes quite natural. — Beecher,
m
HUMOUE IN THE PULPIT
OF all men a minister has least occasion to be
melancholy. He may have a torpid liver and
poor digestion, but he should make it clearly
understood that these are not included in his " holy
orders." For, indeed, he is a herald of the best news
that ever fell on mortal ears.
It is possible, however, for a minister to carry his
cheerfulness too far. One of my dearest friends is con-
stantly getting into hot water because he habitually
sees the humorous side of things. He could not pos-
sibly have kept his countenance at the funeral where it
was announced that " the hymn about to be sung was
written by the corpse." I know another, an incorri-
gible punster, who alienated one of the most useful
spinsters in his congregation by telling her of a child
that had been born half black : and when she asked,
" What colour was the other half ? " he answered, " That
was black, too." It is rarely safe for a minister, as
Holmes says, " to be as funny as he can,"
In the ministrations of the pulpit particularly a sense
of humour is a potent but dangerous gift.' It is serious
^ One of the most useless modes of preaching is that which
depends for the interest it excites upon the risible sensibilities ;
and the most offensive species of this genus of sermons is that
which degrades the Bible to the antics of rhetorical buffoonery.
—Phelps, «* Theory of Preaching r
232
HUMOUR IN THE PULPIT 233
business to be an ambassador of Christ. There is a
mine of wisdom in Co\\'per's words :
" He that negotiates, between God and man,
As God's ambassador, the grand concerns
Of judgment and of mercy, should beware
Of lightness in his speech. 'Tis pitiful
To court a grin when you should woo a soul j
To break a jest when pity should inspire
Pathetic exhortation ; and address
The skittish fancy with facetious tales.
When sent with God's commission to the heart."
The world entertains a profound contempt for a
clerical mountebank, however it may go in flocks to
be amused by and applaud him. It was once the
fashion to preach on such subjects as "The Snuffers
of Divine Love," and "A Spiritual Mustard-Pot to
Make the Soul Sneeze with Devotion" (Rev. John
Stoughton, 1640). As late as 1819 a book was given
to the English public by Rev. James Murray, entitled
" Sermons to Asses, to Doctors of Divinity, to Lords
Spiritual and Ministers of State." But fortunately
that sort of sensational vulgarity is out of vogue.
I am not prepared to say, however, as some minis-
ters seem to think, that humour has no place in the pul-
pit. To take that position is severely to discountenance
some of the most devoted and successful preachers, such
as Spurgeon, Joseph Parker, Henry Ward Beecher,
DeWitt Talmage and Moody, all of whom made liberal
use of humour in their presentation and application of
gospel truth, yet usually without any loss of dignity
or effectiveness.
In Paxton Hood's " Throne of Eloquence " he mildly
oharacterizes as " not very eloquent " the following
234 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
paragraph from a sermon by the eccentric Rowland
Hill : " I met a drove of pigs in one of the streets of
a large town, and to my surprise they were not driven,
but quietly followed their leader. This singular fact
excited my curiosity ; and I pursued the swine until
they all quietly entered the butchery. I then asked the
man how he succeeded in getting the poor, stupid, stub-
born pigs so willingly to follow him, when he told me
the secret. He had a basket of beans under his arm,
and kept dropping them as he proceeded, and so se-
cured his object. Ah, my dear hearers, the devil has
got his basket of beans, and he knows how to suit his
temptations to every sinner. He drops them by the
way ; the poor sinner is thus led captive by the devil
at his own will ; and if the grace of God prevent not,
he will keep him forever." Yet Dr. Hood proceeds to
say that this passage was the means of the conversion
of " a man of culture, an officer home from the Indian
service."
As for myself, much as I dislike vulgar buffoonery, I
dislike dullness more. The former may be excused on
the ground of ignorance or thoughtlessness, but the
latter is inexcusable on any ground whatever. Better
be Burns' ridiculous person,
" . . . . Clearin' the points o' faith
Wi' rattlin' an' thumpin',
Wi' stampin' an' jumpin',"
than Cowper's insufferable stupid, who
" . . . . Mounts the rostrum with a skip,
Cries hem, and then skips down agaio,"
quite satisfied with having led his congregation into
the pleasant confines of the Land of Nod.
HUMOUR IN THE PULPIT 235
But it is not necessary that one should be either.
There are ministers who think that the only way to
keep their " cloth " unsoiled is to preserve it in the dol-
drums, as housewives keep their woolens in moth-balls.
This is a calamitous mistake. True piety is never
melancholy. A pleasantry in the pulpit, on occasion,
is not an unpardonable sin.
It was formerly the custom, particularly among the
Puritan divines, to win attention at the outset of the
sermon by some unusual, often grotesque twisting of
the text. One of these, on Isaiah Iv. 1, " Ho, every
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he that
hath no money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy
wine and milk without money and without price," pre-
sents the Lord as a huckster vending his wares at the
corner of the streets : " Good people, what do you lack ?
What do you buy ? "Will you buy any balm of Gilead
and eye-salve ? Any myrrh, aloes, or cassia ? Shall I
fit you with a robe of righteousness or with a white
raiment ? Say, then, what is it you want ? Here is a
very choice armoury; shall I show you a helmet of
salvation, a shield or a breastplate of faith ? Will you
please to walk in and see some precious stones? A
jasper, a sapphire, or a chalcedony ? Speak, what do
you buy ? What do you buy ? "
This is not so bad as it might be. At any rate it
probably made the congregation prick up their ears
and attend to better things further on. Attention is a
sine qua non. The preacher must catch his hare before
he can cook it.
It needs to be borne in mind, however, in this con-
nection, that the sublime and the ridiculous are always
coterminous and not infrequently overlap. I once saw
236 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
an illustration of this in one of Dr. Parker's Thursday
lectures. He was speaking of the incidental blessings
of the Gospel, the light that radiates from the Cross
oven upon those who reject it. He dwelt on the in-
debtedness of the ungodly to the grace of God; set
forth with great power the fact that infidels borrow
from the arsenal of Christianity the very weapons
which they use against it ; made them out to be bene-
ficiaries without gratitude and borrowers without
thanks. At this point, lifting both his hands, he cried
with a loud voice, " Stop, thief ! Stop, thief ! " The
effect was like an electric shock. Men turned, follow-
ing the speaker's gaze, to see if some veritable thief
were fleeing down the centre aisle with an armful of
valuables. In a moment came the revulsion ; and a
quiet ripple of laughter swept over the audience. I
doubted at the time the value of this rhetorical ma-
neuvre ; yet I am conscious now, after an interval of
years, that the incident served to impress upon my
mind indelibly the important truth which Dr. Parker
was trying to prove.
As to the use of satire, there are occasions when
nothing else will answer. There are cases which can
be adequately met only by laughing them out of court.'
Witness the derisive speech of Elijah at the Lord's con-
troversy on Carmel. The four hundred and fifty
priests of Baal have been vainly calling on their god to
* A volume of reasoning may be condensed into a keen re-
tort ; and the absurdity of an opponent's statements or logic
may be exposed by an impromptu jest more effectually than by
a series of syllogisms. Many a fallacy has been pricked to
death by the needle of ridicule, which the club of logic has
thumped in vain. — Matthews, " Oratory and Orators**
HUMOUR IN THE PULPIT 237
consume the bullock on his altar : " Cry aloud ! " shouts
Elijah, "cry aloud! For he is a god. Either he is
talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey ; or,
perad venture, he sleepeth and must be awaked ! "
We have another instance in Samson's alliterative
battle-song, after slaying the Philistines: "With the
jaw-bone of an ass have I slain them I One heap, two
heaps, asses on asses, masses on masses, a thousand
men ! "
In aU literature there is no more effective instance of
satire than Isaiah's description of the making of an idol.
He takes us out into the woods with the carpenter to
select a suitable log — " a log that will not rot " — then
into the shop, where he measures the timber and saws
it asunder — for his god must not be too tall to pass
under the lintel — and then proceeds with ax and chisel
" to fashion it like a man." In the midst of his work,
overcome with hunger, he pauses to kindle a fire out of
a portion of the log, rubbing his hands, and saying,
" Aha, I am warm ! " Then prostrating himself before
the remainder he prays, "Deliver me, for Thou art
my God ! "
The reductio ad absurdum is humour at its best in
argument. How Thomas Carlyle revelled in it ! Where
will you find anything finer than his treatment of the
Darwinian hypothesis. " Omnia ex conchis ! " he ex-
claims. " All things from a clam-shell ! The religion
of dirt ! The religion of frog-spawn I "
It is an open question how far the pulpit should
meet, in serious argument, such fatuous propositions as
are advanced in Christian Science, theosophy, spiritual-
ism, papal infallibility, Protestant sacerdotalism, et
cetera. The pulpit must surely never descend to
238 FORENSIC OR FINISHED DISCOURSE
billingsgate or vulgarity of any sort ; but there is a
\visdom of the serpent which, cooing like a dove,
pierces error with a mortal sting.^
But humour for its own sake has never a place in the
pulpit. The work is too serious, the issues involved are
too vast and far-reaching. We are ambassadors of
Christ, under orders to destroy the works of the devil
and build up a kingdom of righteousness on earth. To
this end the Cross is our constant theme, and our one
weapon is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God.
It is better to save a soul from death than to be
known the world over as a great preacher. It is better
to help a single soul in trouble than to entertain ten
thousand. The court jester has his place ; but Christ's
fishermen have little use for cap and bells.
^ We call him a humourist who, like Cervantes, can shatter to
pieces an already diseased and dying error; like Richter,
distil from laughter the wisdom of the universe; or, like
Chaucer, paint life-portraits of such true beauty as to last
through all time. — Hood, ** Vocation of the Preacher J**
PART FIFTH
The Delivery of the Sermon
I
METHOD OF DELIVERY
A SERMON is not finished until it reaches its
destination ; and its eificiency depends, in
large measure, on the way the preacher de-
livers it. " The end crowns the work." It is related
that, on a certain occasion when a young member of
the Corps Legislatif had made a dismal failure of his
maiden speech, the great Mirabeau volunteered to de-
liver the same speech, and did so, word for word, mak-
ing a notable success of it.
There are four ways of delivering a sermon.
First : from manuscript.
This, however, is rather reading than preaching. In
any case it is not oratory. But one who prefers this
method is bound to do his best with it.
(1) He should know how to read well.
(2) He should have his manuscript so clearly written
or, preferably, typewritten that he need not blunder
through it.
(3) He should make himself so thoroughly familiar
with it by reading and rereading that, being saturated
with it, he may as far as possible lose himself in the
ardour of preaching it.
(4) At the appointed time he should stand up, throw
his shoulders back and preach. One objection to the
manuscript, as stated by James G. Blaine, is that it
"acts as a non-conductor between the preacher and his
congregation." This difficulty becomes fatal to success
241
242 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
when the preacher bends over his manuscript and
mumbles it.
(5) He should keep his eyes on his hearers. Just
how that can be done with a written sermon surpasses
my power of suggestion ; but it must be done. For
attention is largely kept up through the eyes. " Look
on us ! " said John and Peter to the cripple at the Gate
Beautiful before they healed him. It is recorded that
when Jesus preached in the old home church at Naz-
areth " the eyes of all were fastened upon Him."
(6) He should be so master of himself as to forget
himself. The great secret of success in the pulpit is to
lose sight of everything but one's message, the divine
message, the life-giving message which we are under
bonds to deliver to needy souls in the name and under
the commission of the living God.
Second : from a " brief."
This is the slipshod plan. It is, on the one hand, open
to substantially all the objections urged against the use of
manuscript and, on the other, reaps none of the real ad-
vantage of the extempore plan. If a man can swim at all
he ought to be able to swim without the aid of bladders.
The fact that a preacher can improvise between his
" notes " is proof conclusive that, with a little more labour,
he could wholly dispense with them. Why not take time
to memorize the brief and so get along without it ?
Third : the memoriter method.
This is open to still graver objections. To begin with
it involves an unwise and unnecessary expenditure of
purely mechanical brain-force in learning by rote.
This is not worth while ; for the result, after all, is not
preaching but reciting, not oratory but declamation.
In one of Fenelon's Dialogues sur V Eloquence he says,
METHOD OF DELIVERY 243
" What eloquence is that of a man whose hearer knows
beforehand all his expressions and all his moving ap-
peals ? A likely way, indeed, to surprise, to astonish,
to soften, to convince and to persuade men ! A strange
method of concealing art and letting nature speak!
For my part, I say frankly that all this offends me.
What, shall a steward of the mysteries of God be an
idle declaimer, jealous of his reputation and ambitious
of vain pomp ? Shall he not venture to speak of God
to his people without having arranged all his words
and learned, like a schoolboy, his lesson by heart ? "
I have known more than one promising young
preacher to be worn out in the frightful grind of
memorizing two sermons a week. I have known others
more fortunate who, beginning in this way and growing
thin and desperate in the effort to keep it up, have at
length cut loose and found an immeasurable joy in
free preaching. But for those who insist on pursuing this
plan there are certain conditions which must be observed.
(1) They should know how to declaim and declaim
well.
(2) They should see to it that the sermon is memo-
rized perfectly. Otherwise there will be such awkward
and painful pauses as used to occur on Friday afternoon at
school when a youthful Demosthenes "forgot his piece.'"
* Few men can memorize with facility, and fewer can be sure
of finding at a moment's notice what they have thus stored
away. There is always the danger of forgetting. Memory is
as cranky as an automobile. A child cries, the fire engine
rattles by, a restless auditor drops a hymn-book, something out
of the ordinary occurs, the speaker's mind is diverted, he
misses a word or two, loses his grip on himself, and the rest of
the discourse is irretrievably ditched. It is a laborious and
dangerous method, — Nichols, ^' Preaching.'^
244 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
(3) Room should be left, if possible, for improvisa-
tion ; when the speaker can stand aside for a moment
and reason freely with his hearers. This will give him
a breathing spell ; and increasing practice may lead on
to independence and a permanent release from his
memoriter ball-and-chain.
(4) The work of committing to memory should be so
well done that the preacher will be absolutely free
from all conscious effort to recollect; otherwise he
cannot deliver his message with effect. Hilariter is a
good word for the pulpit. Freely, joyously, without
the hindrance of the least self-consciousness, leaning
hopefully on an almighty arm, filled with the enthu-
siasm of the divinely-struck moment, thrilled through
and through with the life-giving truth of his message
and longing to make every hearer see it as he sees it — so
should the preacher preach. Therefore, whatever his
mode of preparation and delivery, he should above all
things trust God and let go !
Fourth : without notes, but after full preparation.
This method is the one which is coming more and
more into favour in these days. The drift of current
sentiment is indubitably against the manuscript. One
of the questions almost invariably asked by pastoral
committees with respect to a candidate is, " Does he read
his sermons?" It may be, as frequently asserted, that
" some preachers do best one way and some another " ;
the fact remains nevertheless that a minister is handi-
capped by his manuscript, certainly unless he can on
occasion do without it.'
^ The extemporaneous discourse has the advantage of alert-
ness. It gives a sense of liveliness. It is more immediately
striking. It possesses more activity and warmth. It conveys
METHOD OF DELIVERY 245
Joseph Parker says : " For many years I have been
unable to agree with my brethren as to the proper
definition of preaching. In consequence of this dis-
agreement as to definition I have heard men praised as
preachers whom I do not regard as preachers at all.
From my own point of view they were vigorous readers
of admirable essays, but they had no right or title to be
regarded as preachers. In my judgment there is all
the difference in the world between reading and preach-
ing. The reader stands at a distance from the hearer ;
the preacher goes down to the hearer and talks to him
directly and, as it were, personally. The reader may
be reading something six months or six years old,
whereas the preacher speaks to the immediate moment
and the immediate environment."
As to the correctness of this dictum, there may be a
difference of opinion ; but there is no room for any such
difference as to current taste and popular demand.'
an idea of steadiness and readiness, of poise and self-possession,
even to the most rude perceptions. Men have an admiration
for it, as indicating a mastery of powers and an independence
of artificial helps. A rough backwoodsman in Virginia heard
Bishop Meade preach an extemporaneous sermon, and, being
somewhat familiar with the ways of the Episcopal Church, he
said, "he liked him. He was the first one he ever saw of those
petticoat fellows that could shoot without a rest." — Phillips
Brooks, *^ Lectures on Preaching.^'
^ The demand for extempore preaching is not peculiar to our
time. In looking over a volume of the Edinburgh Review for
1802 I have come upon these words : " Pulpit discourses have
insensibly dwindled from speaking to reading ; a practice of
itself sufficient to stifle every germ of eloquence. It is only
by the fresh feelings of the heart that mankind can be very
powerfully affected. What can be more ludicrous than an
orator delivering stale indignation, and fervour of a week old;
turning over whole pages of violent passions written out in
246 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
Wherefore, if for no better reason, it is the part of
wisdom for young ministers to cultivate the habit of
preaching without paper. I do not believe, what is so
often said, that in some cases this is impossible. Any
man who is able to write sermons and read them can
preach without reading, if he is willing to meet the
necessary conditions.
The first prerequisite to preaching of this sort is that
the minister shall have something to say.
It is much easier to beat the air with a parchment
scroll than with an empty hand. In the seclusion of
his study one can easily write thirty pages of charming
rhetoric on The Ethical Suggestion of the Iota Sub-
script, but to stand up face to face and eye to eye with
a congregation of immortal men and women and say
these things ore rotundo is another matter. The differ-
ence is like that between a disquisition on caloric and an
alarm of fire. An essayist may have a message or not,
as he pleases ; but a paperless preacher will fail utterly
unless he has something to say.
The second condition of success is faithful prepara-
tion.
I do not like the word " extempore," still less " im-
German text ; reading the tropes and apostrophes into which
he is hurried by the ardour of his mind ; and so affected at a
preconcerted line and page that he can proceed no further ! —
It is commonly answered to any animadversions upon the
eloquence of the English pulpit, that a clergyman is to recom-
mend himself not by his eloquence, but by the purity of his
life and the soundness of his doctrine; an objection good
enough, if any connection could be pointed out between
eloquence and heresy ; but if it is possible for a man to live
well, teach well, and preach well at the same time, such objec-
tions resting only upon a supposed incompatibility of these
good qualities are duller than the dullness they defend."
METHOD OF DELIVERY 247
promptu," in connection with preaching.' The man
who supposes that he can satisfy an audience of think-
ing people with an improvisation is a poor student of
human nature and deserves to fail. We are living in
strenuous times ; energy is concentrated ; two-hour ser-
mons have followed the hand-loom and the stage-coach
into innocuous desuetude. The people who come to
church nowadays want to hear a message, a message on
vital truth, a message without verbose circumlocution,
quick, earnest, from a hot heart and an active brain to
a personal conscience. They are too busy to lend an
ear to offhand fluency " full of sound and fury, signify-
ing nothing."
It is the custom of some ministers to use a manuscript
in the morning and preach without notes in the even-
ing. In some cases they put the week's work on the
written sermon and scurry about for the other ; and
then they wonder why their second service is a failure !
Let them reverse the process and mark the result. Our
congregations know when dribblings are set before
them. All homiletic goods are " marked in plain
figures " ; and the people naturally appraise our ser-
mons at the value which we ourselves put upon them.
It may be a good plan, at times, particularly for a
young minister, to preach a written sermon at one serv-
ice and an unwritten sermon at the other ; hut if any
discrimination is made in point of labour between the
two, the latter should always have tJie benefit of it.
^ You know Sheridan's famous remark: <*The gentleman
relies on his memory for his wit, and on his imagination for his
facts." That was thought to have been spontaneous ; but there
were, after his death, found among his papers as many as thirty
different versions of it. — Beecher,
248 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
In the preparation of a sermon intended to be de-
livered without notes, there are three important points :
(1) The skeleton should be thoroughly wrought out.
The theme, the proposition quod erat demonstrandum^
the various steps in the coherent train of thought, with
such illustrations as may be necessary to illuminate
them, should be well in hand at the outset. Gather up
the lines before you undertake to drive.
(2) The discourse should be carefully written out.
This is necessary, not only in order to fasten the argu-
ment, but to prevent " branching " and unprofitable
prolixity.* It frequently happens that what seemed
important before being written takes on a very difi'erent
aspect when put into cold black and white.
(3) Then cast the manuscript aside and review the
entire line of thought until it is photographed distinctly
on the memory. Do not memorize the manuscript.
The important matter is to know precisely what one
wants to say. "We have a truth to demonstrate ; let us
demonstrate it. "We have a moral precept to enforce ;
let us enforce it. "We have a path to pursue ; let us
pursue it. "We have a destination to reach ; let us get
there.
This means work : but work tells. It is much harder
to do well without a manuscript than with it ; but suc-
cess means more in the end. Opus finis coronat. A
young minister who sets out to read one sermon and
* It is well for the young preacher to keep up the habit of
writing, with whatever of skill, elegance, and force he can com-
mand. Reading will put words of beauty and power into our
hands ; careful writing separates, signalizes, infixes them and
makes them our possession forever. The pen gives march to
the mind. It teaches exactness, discrimination, and helps the
whole constructive faculty. — Storrs.
METHOD OF DELIVERY 249
preach another without a manuscript on each Sabbath,
taking at least as much pains with the latter as with
the former, bending all his energies to the object in
view, patiently persisting, undaunted by an occasional
failure, is certain sooner or later to dispose of his manu-
script as a growing child does of its leading strings.
The third essential factor in the problem is self-for-
getfulness.
The great advantage of the unread sermon is that it
permits an absolute abandon.^ The manuscript is not
only a non-conductor between the speaker and his audi-
ence, it is a grave distraction to the speaker himself.''
Here also is the chief objection to i^resLchmgrnemoriter ;
the effort to remember is a diversion. "When the
preacher rises to his task, nothing should stand between
him and the matter in hand. He should be so entirely
* I think I started Storrs preaching extemporaneously. He
was going to give an address at Princeton and another at Am-
herst, and he was complaining that he did not feel well ; it was
in the summer, and he had not anything ready for Amherst or
for Princeton. I said, " Storrs, I think you're foolish ; what
do you want to write for? Get the gauge of your subject, and
take your luck. You can't do worse than fail, and that won't
be very much. Go ahead." He said, " I've a good mind to
try it." I said, " Try." So he went up there, and he gave an
extemporaneous speech. I don't know as the Connecticut
Valley has done echoing that speech yet. It was a wonder.
Every one was surprised with the grandeur of the speech. It
was a great effort. It was the triumph of spontaneity. — Inter-
view with Beecher.
* The extemporaneous preacher is, more than any other, en
rapport with his hearers. They realize that he is saying what
he feels at the time, not something which he felt days before
and embalmed in his manuscript or his memory. Their thirsty
minds respond with eager attention, when offered a draught,
not from a bottle of carbonated emotions, but from the bubbling
spring. — Nichols, " Preaching.'^
250 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
the master of his argument that he can forget himself
wholly in the presentation of it. The moment he thinks
of his voice or gesture, the moment he consciously tries
to remember, the spell is broken. He is like an engine
drawing a loaded train on an up-grade ; all goes well
until a moment of self -consciousness breaks the coup-
ling ; the attention flags and he finds himself alone on
his engine while his train is at the foot of the hill.
Let yourself go ! Run with your message ! You
have done your best in honest preparation ; now trust in
God.
" Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt."
"We are all too apt to forget the divine factor in our
work. God has distinctly promised to help the preacher
who has helped himself, in the delivery of his discourse.
The Holy Spirit, of whom we have received our mes-
sage, is with us as we deliver it ; He stands beside us.
In this, as elsewhere, we are " labourers together with
God." The yoke is for two. It is not I who preach,
but God and I. "We can trust Him for strength, but
only when we throw om'selves upon Him.
There is a world of meaning for us — who ever stand
in the pulpit before powers adverse to truth, — in such
assurances as these : " It is not ye that speak but the
Spirit of your Father," and "The Holy Ghost shall
teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say."
The fourth essential is: Don't be discouraged by
failure. " Tumble me down," sings old Robert Herrick,
" and I will sit triumphant on my ruins yet ! " I know
of a preacher who failed repeatedly in his endeavour to
METHOD OF DELIVERY 251
preach extempore and yet made good and did it splen-
didly before he was through with it. One Sunday at
the close of service as he joined his wife, who was
mortified by a worse failuro than usual on his part, she
said, " Now, I do hope you're satisfied." His answer
was, " Yes, I am. I am satisfied that I've done my
worst. From this time on I'm bound to grow better
and better." And he did. If you fail, up and at it
again ! Don't be a quitter. Don't give up. Believe
in yourself ; ' and better still believe in God.
" If thou canst plan a noble deed,
And never flag till it succeed,
Thine hour will come. Go on, true soul ;
Thou' It reach the goal ! "
In any case let us, as ministers, remember that we are
not our own but God's men, not doing our own but
God's work. Wherefore " if any man speak, let him
speak as the oracles of God ; if any man minister, let
him do it as of the ability which God giveth ; that God
in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to
whom be praise and dominion forever and ever."
* It is related that, at the close of our Civil War, while the
unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Charleston was under
discussion by a group of naval veterans, Admiral Dupont gave
a considerable number of reasons for his failure to pass the
Confederate batteries; whereupon Rear- Admiral Porter said,
"There's one reason you haven't given, Dupont; you didn't
believe you could do it."
n
IMPEDIMENTA
THE world is to be saved under God by " the
foolishness of preaching." The phrase is sig-
nificant. The foolishness referred to is not in
the substance of preaching, since that is intrinsically
" the wisdom and power of God." It must be, then,
in the preacher, and in his method of presenting truth.
Our ministry offers an inestimable coign of vantage.
It is the puo-sto for which Archimedes longed that
he might move the world. But are we making the
most of it? Is our whole power put upon the long
arm of the lever ? Is the influence of our preaching
what it ought to be ? If not, what hinders ? Many
things hinder. I venture to indicate some of them.
It is not necessary that a man should be eight feet high
in order to write a disquisition on the children of Anak.
But there is so much to be said that one scarcely
knows where to begin. Of course we ministers are
hampered, at the outset, by our personal infirmities ;
such as indolence, lack of consecration, and frequent
unwillingness to be led and governed by the Holy
Spirit. We are hindered also by our narrow views of
spiritual truth, our bigotries and prejudices, our self-
assurance, our shallow knowledge of Scripture, our in-
experience, our worldliness, our neglect of prayer, our
default in pastoral faithfulness. But these are not the
imfpedimenta to which reference is now made ; some,
252
IMPEDIMENTA 253
rather, which are less excusable but respecting which
there is more likely to be a difference of opinion.
1. " The cloth.'''' We, by your leave, are " the cloth."
The phrase is abominably expressive. It is a sad com-
ment on human nature and things generally that the
most sacred of professions should be thus characterized
by its livery. Garb is more than godliness to the
looker-on in Vienna. And unfortunately we lend our-
selves to the calumny. The minister of Christ should
be, above all, a man among men. Why, then, does he
wear frontlets and phylacteries ; or, to be more accu-
rate, a vest buttoned high ? Why the " clerical cut " ?
Is it to publish a holy separation ? The Hebrew word
for separateness is pharash, from which, Pharisaism.
Why should clothiers furnish us with " garments made
after the most approved clerical pattern at ten per cent,
off " ? Are we any the less men because we are minis-
ters ? " Holy orders," indeed ! If we are bound to
put on sanctimonious airs, we should find some better
way. Time was when the priest wore a white tunic
from neck to ankles, with a girdle of blue and scarlet,
and a tall tiara on his head ; but we are come upon
better days. Priest is not " presbyter writ large." A
presbyter is something less and something more than a
priest of the olden time.
The " clerical cut " means, I suppose, that we are to
walk apart in an atmosphere of peculiar sanctity or
authority, or both : as if to say, " Stand aside ; for I am
holier than thou." There may occasionally be truth in
that ; but the salt and light of a godly walk and con-
versation go further in evidence than a shovel hat.
There are wiser ways of proving ourselves in the apos-
tolic succession. '
254 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
The Carpenter at Nazareth, so far as known, made
no change in His wardrobe when He gave up handi-
craft for homiletics. And the fishermen who followed
Him would have cut a sorry figure in a clerical outfit.
Influence is better than authority, ten times over ; and
influence is just as great in hodden gray as in
" Silken coats and caps and golden rings,
With ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things."
^. The pulpit. This is a relic of medieval pietism,
and altogether a superannuated superfluity. The won-
der is that the ministry of Christ, swathed in mortuary
byssus and boxed up in an ossuary, should have so long
kept its name to live. Nowhere else are logic, elo-
quence, flashing eye and earnest voice so handicapped.
It is the strange misfortune of the ministry to have
borrowed its name from these ill-born and unshriven
twins — the Cloth and the Pulpit. Thus Cowper,
" The pulpit, therefore, (and I name it, filled
With solemn awe that bids me well beware
With what intent I touch that holy thing !)
Must stand acknowledged, while the world shaU stand,
The most important and effectual guard.
Support and ornament of virtue's cause."
How and where did it originate — this cage, this pali-
sade, this homiletic refrigerator ? In the time of Ne-
hemiah ? Oh, no. The alleged " pulpit " which he
erected by the water-gate was merely " migdol," i. e.,
a raised platform. And there is no other mention of
"the pulpit" in Holy Writ. In point of fact, the
origin of this thing was contemporaneous with the
clerical arrogance which ushered in the darkest period
IMPEDIMENTA 265
of church history. It marked with a peculiar emphasis
the increasing dignity and pretension of " His Rever-
ence " over the unshod people. The platform was too
low ; it was raised higher and higher on the cathedral
pillar, as clerical dignity went up ; and it must needs
be fenced around, lest the incumbent should fall out.'
But why should we perpetuate it ? The minister of
Christ has long since found his proper level. His
medieval grandeur is gone. Let us be thankful that he
is no longer regarded as " a little tin god on wheels."
The pulpit has this triple excuse for being : (1) It
holds a manuscript ; which it has no business to do.
(2) It hides the preacher's inferior parts, on the false
assumption that the congregation takes no pleasure in
the legs of a consecrated man. And (3) it exalts and
separates the preacher from his flock. He stands be-
fore them like an angel leaning out of a balcony. But
this is precisely what he should not seem to be. For,
in the logic of events, he no longer " sits on a hill re-
tired, in thoughts more elevate," but has come down
among the people. This is the mind of the Master;
He became one among us that He might win us.
; 3. The manuscript. Preaching is oratory conse-
' On a little narrow platform one can walk backward and
forward, to be sure ; but if he go towards the edges ever so
little he is in fear of stumbling off. Yet even that is better
than a box-pulpit. What has that to do with preaching ?
What do you want with it ? What is it for ? This evil is not
confined to pulpits merely, but to all places where a speaker
has to address a large body of men. I think the matter so im-
portant that I tell the truth and lie not when I say that I
would not accept a settlement in a very advantageous place if
I was obliged to preach out of one of those old-fashioned swal-
low's nests on the wall. — Beecher, " Yale Lectures^
256 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
crated to God, Reading is not oratory. Not that
many of the most distinguished and successful preachers
have not read their sermons, such as Gregory, Augus-
tine, Chrysostom, Baxter, Edward Payson, and Jona-
than Edwards. But were they great by reason of their
manuscript, or in. spite of it ? ^
The main objection to extempore preaching is that
it affords room for indefinite indolence and slovenly
work. Professor Porson, in contrasting the two foren-
sic masters of England, said : " Mr. Pitt conceives his
sentences as he utters them, while Mr. Fox throws him-
self into the midst of his, and leaves it to the Almighty
to get him out." The fact is, however, that Pitt made
^ The practice of the early Church is clearly against the
manuscript ; and it was not introduced into the pulpit until the
fifteenth or sixteenth century. The practice seems to have
originated in the reign of Henry VIII, and subsequently in-
creased in the Church of England ; considerable prejudice be-
ing created against extemporaneous preaching because the
Independents and Puritans were generally given to it. Charles
II, however, attempted to correct this method ; and a very
curious letter was sent at his direction to the clergymen in the
English Church providing that the practice of reading sermons
be wholly laid aside. The effort failed, however, and the use
of the manuscript continued in the Church of England. At
the same time, however, it was rarely employed upon the Con-
tinent. Some of those who in later times were accustomed to
read in the earlier parts of their ministry regretted the practice.
Jonathan Edwards in his later life declared in favour of me-
moriter preaching, or even actual extemporizing. Dr. Chal-
mers, who thought himself unable to extemporize and always
used a manuscript, found that it was impossible for him to em-
ploy notes when he was addressing the operatives in the out-
skirts of the city of Glasgow, and Dr. Hanna testifies that
Chalmers' sermons to these plain people were more effective
and more truly eloquent than those which he delivered with so
much applause in his own great church. — B reedy ^^ Preparing
to Preachy
IMPEDIMENTA 257
laborious preparation before he trusted to the moment
for his sentence; Fox also delved while others slept,
and then pursued on a low plain the highest method,
to wit : " When ye are brought before kings and rulers
trust to me, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom
which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay."
What is preaching ? It is jury -pleading. Our client is
Jesus of Nazareth ; our case, " This Jesus is the Christ " ;
our jury, the people ; our purpose, to convince them.
We are, in this view, too scrupulous about our rhet-
oric. If theological essays were thunderbolts, we
would aU be Boanerges. It is the truth, not its cloth-
ing, that saves and sanctifies. The more simple and
direct, the better. It does not follow that because God
led the children of Israel " around by the way of the
wilderness " into the Promised Land, we are to do like-
wise. Listen to this : " The incomprehensibility of the
apparatus developed in the machinery of the universe
may be considered a supereminent manifestation of
stupendous majesties, whether a man stands upon the
platform of his own mind and ponders scrutinizingly on
its undecipherable characters, or looks abroad over the
magnificent equipments and regalities of nature, sur-
veying its amplitudes in all their scope and its unfath-
omabilities in all their profundity.'" What was this
preacher trying to say ? This : " When I consider Thy
heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the sun and the moon
which Thou hast ordained ; what is man that Thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest
him ? " Then why not say it ?
The manuscript must be held in large measure re-
* Quoted by Paxton Hood in his "Throne of Eloquence."
258 THE DELIVERY OF THE SERMON
sponsible for this sort of thing. Fine writing, well-
turned periods, sesquipedalian phrases. Words ! Words !
A wilderness of words ! And somewhere at the centre
a kernel of truth, like Gratiano's " two grains of wheat
hid in two bushels of chaff. You shall seek all day ere
you find them ; and when you have them, they are not
worth the search."
The man who habitually uses a manuscript in the
pulpit confronts an almost irresistible temptation to
make for himself a reputation as a clever rhetorician, a
philosopher, a master of profundities and sublimities.
The Gospel is as plain and straightforward as the king's
highway. Profundity is mud : and it is much easier to
be mired with a manuscript than without it. Herbert
Spencer defines life to be " a definite combination of
heterogeneous changes both simultaneous and successive
in correspondence with external co-existences and se-
quences." He wrote that ; otherwise he never could
have said it.
Thomas Carlyle has this to say of the preacher : " Of
all public functionaries boarded and lodged on the
industry of modern Europe, is there one worthier of
the board he has — a man ever professing, and never so
languidly making, still endeavouring to save the souls
of men ? But I wish he could find the point again,
this speaking one, and stick to it with deadly energy ;
for there is need of him yet."
Aye, need of him yet and need of him always, until
the last sinner bows the knee to Christ. But no need
of a preacher or a sermon without point. Let us get
back again to the root meaning of sermo : it is "a
thrust " ; a thrust with the sword of the Spirit, which is
the Word of God.
PART SIXTH
Getting Attention
I
DULLNESS
DULLNESS is our besetting sin. "Shame on
ye," said a Scotch preacher to one of his
nodding auditors ; " dinna ye see that even
Jamie Frazer, the ediot, is awake ? " Whereupon up
spake Jamie, " Aye, minister : an' if I was na an ediot
I wad be sleepin' too, the noo." A wise reproof ; for
not infrequently the wonder is not that the wits of our
people sometimes go wool-gathering but that they ever
abide at home.
A young theologue after preaching his trial sermon
at Andover asked Dr. Edwards Park what he wOuld
suggest as a closing prayer; the ready reply was,
" Now I lay me down to sleep." Another, on a like
occasion, asked, " What was your opinion of my train
of thought ? " and was answered, " Your train lacked
nothing but a sleeping car." Still another asked,
" What did you regard as my best passage ? " to which
the professor answered, " Your passage from the pulpit
to the door."
We have no business to be dull. The preacher who
cannot get and hold attention is like a fisherman who
sits contentedly on the bank while his hook is caught
in the overhanging limb of a tree. He might as well
quit fishing, i. e., turn from preaching to peddling maps.
How shall we account for it ?
261
262 GETTING ATTENTION
It is related of Alexander Pope that, in one of his
better moods — which were seldom enough — he betook
himself one Sabbath to a church in the Strand in the
hope of hearing some heavenly truth that might sweeten
the depths of his cynical life. But, as iU chance would
have it, a distinguished theologian discoursed that day
at such length on one of the many impertinent pro-
fundities, that the poet fidgeted and fumed with im-
patience, vainly racking his brain for means of respect-
able escape, until — giving himself over to the inevitable
— he invoked his old-time muse (always an irreverent
jade) and wrote on the fly-leaf of a prayer-book this
stanza — which is not to be found in his published
works —
'' I whisper, gracious God,
What have I done to merit such a rod ;
That all this shot of dullness now should be
From this, thy blunderbuss, discharged on me?"
The name of the reverend " blunderbuss " who dis-
coursed on this occasion is withheld, for obvious rea-
sons. Possibly it was the court chaplain or the Eight
Keverend the Archbishop of Canterbury, or — since even
Apollo was once caught napping — George Whitefield,
who was just then the lion of London. But I would
rather believe it was some venerable Dry-as-dust whose
sole renown is embalmed, like a fly in amber, in the
historic fact that, on the Sabbath referred to, he dis-
charged, as probably his custom was, a shot of dullness
from his homiletic bow. Let it sufiice for our comfort
that there are no such preachers in our time ! "With
what eagerness do the multitudes now betake them-
selves to the sanctuary, saying :
DULLNESS 263
" How pleased aud blest am I
To hear the people cry,
' Come, let us worship God to-day ! ' "
And with what rapt attention do they regard the
anointed Son of Thunder as he sets forth breathing
thoughts in burning words ! I am constrained to con-
fess that one preacher, to whom I am habitually forced
to listen, seems sometimes as dull as a beetle droning
on a summer's night ; but this will probably be re-
garded as an exceptional case. Let us congratulate
ourselves that Pope's anointed hypnotist is, as they
say, " a back number " ; but before finally dismissing
this reverend brother of the Strand let us raise the in-
quiry, by way of philosophic reminiscence: Why was
he dull?
1. Was it hecause his hearer's^ Pope included^ were
dull ? In fact no audience is ever overeager to hear
spiritual truth. "The carnal mind is enmity against
God." In view of this fact it is not to be wondered at
that a moving-picture show or a " sacred " concert is
more popular than preaching. This does not mean
that we are to abandon preaching for vaudeville, but
that we are somehow to give zest to it.
The average hearer is also averse to thinking. He
wants to be entertained rather than to be argued with.
This means not that we are to give up argument for
story-telling, but that our argument must be clothed in
presentable and captivating garb. It is related that
once when Chrysostom, the man with the golden lips,
perceived that he had lost the ears of his congregation
he recovered them by calling attention to a swinging
lamp ; but the reference would have been merely a dis-
traction had it not borne directly on the matter in
264 GETTING ATTENTION
hand.^ In any case when the people nod it devolves
upon the preacher to somehow wake them up.
2. Or jperhajps the subject under treatment was dull.
(1) The preacher may have chosen a proposition too
large for him ; in which case he is likely to sympathize
with the boy who, being obliged to wear his father's
coat, said that he "felt lonesome " in it.
(2) Or it may have been too small. There is a dis-
position on the part of some preachers, in their eager-
ness to avoid the commonplace, to select some point so
infinitesimal as to have escaped notice, and then to
dilate and " enlarge upon it." As a rule, this is a tire-
some job. I preached on " Selah " once ; once was
enough for me. Probably my congregation felt the
same way.^
^ Emanuel Deutsch, in his paper on the Talmud, recites from
that wonderful collection of ancient Hebrew traditions the story
of an old Jewish preacher who, in the course of a hot Eastern
afternoon, while he was expounding some intricate subtlety of
the law, beheld his hearers quietly fall away in drowsy slumbers.
Suddenly he burst forth, " There was once a woman in Egypt
who brought forth at a birth six hundred thousand men ! "
We may fancy how the audience started at this remarkable
tale. Very quickly the preacher proceeded : " Her name was
Jochebed ; she was the mother of Moses, who was worth as
much as all those six hundred thousand armed men put to-
gether who went up out of the land of Egypt." His hearers
slept no more that afternoon. — Hood, " Throne of Elo-
quence. ' '
"^ Paxton Hood presents a list of small subjects which were
seriously treated by Escobar, such as these :
" How many keys gave Christ to Peter ? "
" What became of the Ark of the Covenant at the first de-
struction of Jerusalem ? "
" Was the grief of Our Lady at the crucifixion greater or less
than her joy at the resurrection ? "
" Why is God three Persons rather than four or five or any
DULLNESS 265
(3) Or his theme may have been in negative form.
This is always a mistake. Doubt is never interesting,
because it is so commonplace. Men would rather
"watch an architect than a house-wrecker at his work ;
unless the latter uses dynamite. An infidel draws
better than a sceptic because his methods are so vio-
lently bold. If a preacher abandons his faith, he can
best fill his church not by lifting his eyebrows or ques-
tioning but by saying squarely, " I don't believe this or
that."
(4) Or the subject under consideration may have
been too abstruse. Was the preacher discoursing on
" fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute " ? Too
deep ! People want truth that can be translated into
the terms of common life. They come to church be-
cause they are thirsty for the water of life : when they
get an unsatisfying portion they are left, like the
Ancient Mariner, lamenting,
'' Water, water everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink :
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."
(5) Or the theme may have been commonplace.
The fact that a subject is old is nothing against it, pro-
viding it be reviewed from a new standpoint or clothed
in unusual garb. In fact such themes as God, The In-
carnation, The Atonement, Immortality, Heaven, The
other number ; particularly as musicians account three an im-
perfect number? "
" Who governed heaven when God was in the Virgin's
womb?"
'* The rib of Adam having belonged to both Adam and Eve,
which will have it at the resurrection? "
266 GETTING ATTENTION
Keunion of Saints, are always new to many and fresh
to all when properly presented. But they are hope-
lessly dull when set forth by a dull man in a dull way.
3. The dullness may have heen in the treatment of
the theme.
(1) The sermon may have been too long drawn out.
Not a few preachers are criticized for " lacking terminal
facilities." Paul was a great preacher ; but the Scrip-
ture does not vouch for his wisdom under all circum-
stances, as witness this : " And when the disciples were
come together at Troas to break bread, he preached
unto them and continued his speech until midnight.
And there were many lights in the upper chamber
where they were gathered together (which probably
means that the ventilation was bad). And there sat
in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, be-
ing fallen into a deep sleep : and as Paul was long
preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down
from the third loft and was taken up dead," Not
many overlong sermons are followed by such fatal
consequences ; but usually they do induce drowsiness.
Far be it from me to advocate " sermonettes " ; but
there is a just limit, and he is a wise man who knows
when to leave off. Luther's rule is good as far as it
goes :
" Begin low,
Speak slow,
Else higher,
Take fire,
When most impressed
Be self-possessed,"
but it is incomplete without this addition :
When done,
Sit down.
DULLNESS 267
(2) Perhaps there was too much logic ; with no ap-
peal to the imagination or the emotions. " All work
and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
(3) Or perhaps there was too little logic. Jack may
weary of play : better give his brain something to do.
(4) Possibly there was a superflux of rhetoric.
"Well rounded periods, sonorous and melodious, " fault-
ily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null" are as
hypnotic as soothing syrup.* I can imagine a preacher
saying : " If any person in this distinguished assem-
blage is sincerely desirous of avoiding the otherwise
inevitable doom of the incorrigibly impenitent and of
attaining the full measure of ethical self-respect here
and the consummation of felicity hereafter, it behooves
him to yield, without further demur or procrastination,
an intellectual assent to the elemental postulates of the
Gospel and to receive cordially the gratuitous offer of
the remission of sins " : but how much more interest-
ing to say, " He that believeth shall be saved."
(5) Or the sermon may have been monotonous ; in
which case the complement of a monotonous delivery
would produce an ideal lullaby. Prosing in the pulpit
means dozing in the pews. Study variety ; in the se-
lection of your themes, in your treatment, in your de-
livery, every way.
* How calming the effect of words like those with which De
Quincy broke it gently to his cook that she had ruined his
roast by cross-cut carving : " Owing to dyspepsia affecting my
system and the possibility of additional derangement of the
stomach taking place, consequences incalculably distressing
may arise, so much so indeed as to cause nervous irritation
and prevent my attending to matters of overwhelming impor-
tance, if you do not remember to cut the mutton in a diagonal
rather than in longitudinal form."
268 GETTING ATTENTION
(6) Or it may have lacked application ; not the
" practical application " of the peroration, but the close
and immediate bearing on life which should run all
through it. Jonah might have stood on a street-corner
in Nineveh and preached till doomsday on the Meta-
physics of Sin without a hearing ; but when he cried
over and over, " Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be
destroyed ! " the people turned and listened and went
home to put on sackcloth. It is only when we present
truth in terms translatable into life that we get a hear-
ing or deserve it.
Objective truth is like a life-boat ; pleasing enough as
it hangs upon the davits, but ineffective until one gets
into it. When one's appreciative hearers stop after
church to say, " That was a beautiful sermon," the
preacher may be pretty well assured that he has missed
the mark. If we must shorten our sermons, as they do
say, the place to do this is at the inane beginning and
not at the practical and profitable end. Preaching is
not fencing : the sword must not be unsheathed and
brandished ; it must be driven home.
4-. The dullness may have heen due to the fact that
the preacher was a didl man. I have heard of a trav-
eller who saw no wonders in the Yosemite. But it is
the business of the preacher in his personally conducted
tour along the picturesque roads of gospel truth to stir all
sluggish souls. If he himself is but a hireling, discharging
a perfunctory duty with a heart unmoved, what then ?
In the Parable of the Good Shepherd the sheep are
deaf to the hireling's voice. An unmagnetized bar of
steel draws no iron fiUngs. The secret of pulpit power
is the vitalizing, energizing touch of the Spirit. He
who feels the truth can make others feel it.
DULLNESS 269
"We have an idea that the people who stay away
from church have no interest in spiritual things. This
is doubtless true in many cases but not always so.
Suppose we inquire within.
Suggestions
(1) The preacher's dullness may be constitutional ;
this, however, does not absolve him from the responsi-
bility of getting rid of it. We all have blood disorders.
Our hardest grapple is with our delinquent great-great-
grandparents who by eating sour grapes set the teeth
of coming generations on edge ; but heredity surrenders
to brave men. Even the phlegmatic can wake up.
(2) But suppose the minister is simply lacking in
ministerial zeal ? This is a graver difficulty, and noth-
ing but heroic treatment can reach it. Doubt is proba-
bly at the root of the matter ; doubt of the great
verities which are the preacher's stock in trade ; doubt
as to the personality of God, or the virgin birth of
Jesus, or the vicarious atonement, or the resurrection ;
or as to the authority of the Word which underlies
them all. In this case the man in the pulpit would do
well to get down on his knees and " do the first works "
over again. " Zeal " is from zeein, meaning to boil.
Water does not boil without fire ; and there is no
baptism of fire except from the Spirit of God.
(3) The preacher may, however, be loyal to truth
and righteousness yet lack interest in his particular
theme. Then, surely, his theme is ill chosen and he
would do better to drop it. It is always unwise and
unwarrantable to preach beyond the measure of one's
faith. " The value of great preaching," says Paxton
Hood, " depends on the measure in which it represents
270 GETTING ATTENTION
the preacher's own familiarity with truth, — this is the
preaching which searches Jerusalem with candles."
(4) It is for lack of constant, personal contact with
the Infinite that we preachers are ever dull. O Spirit
of God, baptize us with fire and power ! Send us to
our pulpits, as Moses went into the Egyptian court,
straight from the vision of the burning bush, with the
message " I AM that I am hath sent me unto you" !
II
SENSATIONALISM
THE preacher must have the attention of his
audience or his preaching will be as unprofita-
ble as baying the moon or sowing sand or
whistling jigs to a mile-stone. In order to gain attention
he must literally produce a " sensation." But how ?
There is a proper kind of sensationalism. Nobody
will find fault with Peter and John for getting the
attention of the beggar at the Gate Beautiful by saying,
" Look on us ! " If men cannot be made to look how
shall they see ? "Faith cometh by hearing." It is for
the preacher to make his auditors open their eyes and
prick up their ears.
The name of Dr. Talmage, of the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle, has been so generally associated with the reproach
of sensationalism that a word from him in this connec-
tion will not be amiss. " If a man," he says, " stands
in his pulpit with the dominant idea of giving entertain-
ment— mere intellectual entertainment or the stirring
of the risibilities of his cons'res'ation — he is committino^
blasphemy ; but if he proposes to make a sensation by
introducing gospel principles in preference to worldly
principles and bringing men to repentance for their sins
and to faith in God, then the more sensationalism he
has (with such ends in view) the better. The charge of
sensationalism is generally made by dried-up ministers
who cannot get an audience. Go into some church
271
272 GETTING ATTENTION
where a man preaches to seventy-five people on a clear
Sunday morning, and before he gets through you will
probably hear him deplore ' sensationalism in the
pulpit.' "
But there is such a thing as paying too dear for one's
whistle. It is both vulgar and unprofitable for a
minister of the Gospel to play the buffoon or, under
any circumstances, to transcribe his epic into doggerel
to please a people with itching ears.
1. There is the sensationalism of the manifesto.
I see no objection to the publication of church
notices, with sermon themes, in the secular press ; but
such announcements may easily be so overdone as to
remind one of the " barker " at a tent-door calling
attention to the prodigious attractions of the Snake-
charmer and the Wild Man of Borneo. Not infrequently
there are " scare-heads " in the Church Column, as well
as elsewhere, in the Yellow Press. This is not only
unseemly but ineffectual. People who come to church
with the expectation of seeing Jupiter hurl a thunder-
bolt and hear, instead, a simple shepherd piping on an
oaten reed will scarcely come again. Once is enough ;
the minister has played them false.
2. There is, also, the sensationalism of the theme.
(1) A secular theme may " draw " ; but our business
is to make the Gospel draw. Science and philosophy,
politics and current events, have no right in the pulpit
except as they contribute towards our purpose as fishers
of men.
(2) An heretical topic will attract a certain class of
people ; just as a crowd would gather anywhere to see
a man strike his mother in the breast. Give it out that
in your next sermon you propose to deny the inspira-
SENSATIONALISM 2Y3
tion of the Scriptures or the virgin birth of Jesus or
any other of the fundamentals and you can confidently
count on a full congregation. But, apart from the
moral considerations involved, it is scarcely worth
while ; because people are bound to weary of your
most interesting antics when they discover that you
are simply a dishonest man,
(3) An outlandish subject will collect a crowd ; e.g.^
" Love and Courtship," " The Snuffers of Divine Grace,"
or " The Nimble Sixpence " ; but before resorting to
this catch-penny method you would do well to reflect
on the loss of self-respect and the sacrifice of general
esteem which are involved in it.'
3. And there is the sensationalism of treatment.
{a) It cannot be affirmed that humour has no place
in preaching; but it is to be handled, like an edged
tool, with great care.
(b) An affectation of great learning may deceive
the simple, but only for a while. Pedants affect pro-
fundity ; simplicity is the fashion of true scholarship.
The people can be trusted to distinguish between a fog
and a sunrise.
{c) The use of florid rhetoric is equally unwise and
unprofitable. The line between eloquence and grandil-
oquence is clear enough : yet the most eloquent are
those who most frequently cross it. It is only the arm
of the best batsman that strikes the ball out of bounds.
The high sounding bathos in Henry Meville's sermon
^ Dr. Burgess once preached a sermon on the Swine of
Gadara, divided as follows :
1 . The devil will play at small game rather than none.
2. They run fast whom the devil drives.
3. The devil bringeth his service to a pretty market.
274 GETTING ATTENTION
on the Resurrection of Christ would have been impos-
sible to a less oratorical man ; listen to it : " He went
down to the grave in the weakness of humanity, de-
signing to pour forth a torrent of lustre of life. He
did not bid the firmament cleave asunder and the con-
stellations of eternity shine out in their majesties and
dazzle and blind an overawed creation. He rose up a
moral giant from His grave-clothes and, proving Death
vanquished in his own stronghold, left the vacant
sepulchre as a centre of light to the dwellers on the
planet. He took not the suns and systems which
crowd immensity in order to form one brilliant cata-
ract, which rushing down in its glories might sweep
away darkness from the benighted race of the Apos-
tate ; but He came forth from the tomb masterful and
victorious ; and the place where He had lain became
the focus of the rays of the long-hidden truth ; and the
fragments of His gravestone were the stars from
whence flashed the immortality of man."
Let us turn now from these unwarrantable methods
of gaining and holding attention to some legitimate
ways of doing so.
To begin with let it be considered that the subject
matter of our preaching is of itself sensational to the
last degree. Its truths are tremendous in their import
and take hold upon the innermost fibres of the soul.
Dullness in the pulpit is, therefore, intolerable. It can
only be accounted for on the assumption that the
preacher has not apprehended his theme. If an old
reference may be pardoned, David Garrick was quite
right when, being asked by a clergyman, " Why is it
that you draw multitudes while I preach to empty
pews ? " he made the reply, " I set forth fiction as if it
SENSATIONALISM 275
were true, while you preach truth as if it were fiction."
"W"e in the ministry need to be more and more drenched
with the reality of truth. Would that God might give
us clear eyes to see those things which, being unseen,
are most real and eternal. How we could preach,
then ! No need of adventitious helps. "We should
find no difficulty in bringing our people face to face
with the great solemnities.
In our seminary course we were taught to divide
truth under three heads, to wit : Theology, Anthropol-
ogy, and Soteriology. These comprehend the sum and
substance of the Christian system. Each of these divi-
sions of doctrine has in it such possibilities of interest
and conviction that we who preach them are without
excuse if they do not force their way to the centre of
our hearers' hearts.
First : Theology^ i. e., the science of God.
God ! A great word. A word of three letters only,
but of infinite dimensions ; easy to speak but how diffi-
cult to apprehend ! " Canst thou by searching find out
God ? " Our work is to bring Him near to the hearts
and consciences of the people. It is ours to declare
the Name and the meaning of it,
(1) God essential. Try to define Him. Here is the
best definition that ever was formulated : " God is a
Spirit (What is spirit ?), infinite (What is infinite ?),
eternal (Eternity !), unchangeable (How can we grasp
immutability ?), in His being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodness and truth." Thus the moment we
attempt to simplify the mystery, lo, a new mystery is
found in every word ! Turn your telescope towards
the farthest nebula in infinite space, and from far
yonder comes the word, " Canst thou by searching find
276 GETTING ATTENTION
out God ? " Turn your microscope upon the last re-
duction of life, protoplasm or primordial germ, and
out of that comes a whisper, " Canst thou by searching
find out God ? "
In this connection I venture to introduce, at some
length, a portion of one of Joseph Parker's discourses,
in which he displays the marvellous facility and power
of expression which made him a master among eloquent
men : " God ! Unknown and unknowable ; even so,
yet none the less the one reality, and the one energy of
the universe. What it is possible to know it must be
possible to explain, to put into an equal number of
words, which, being aU set together, sum themselves
into the exact measure of the thing that is known.
What can be known can of course be contained by the
faculty which knows it. The vessel is of necessity
larger than its contents. If, then, any faculty of mine
knows God, that faculty contains God, and is in that
sense larger than God, which is impossible and absurd.
Whatever I can know is, by the very fact that I can
know it, less than I am ; bigger, it may be, as to mere
size in length and breadth, a huge disc that glares with
light, or a globe flying fast, yet with speed that can be
set down in so many ciphers or lines of ciphers on a
child's slate, so clearly that we can say : It is so much
an hour the great wings fly, and not one mile more.
What is that but mere bigness, an appeal to our easily
excited wonder, a Size that shakes our pride and bids us
mind our ways, or a weight that may fall upon us from
the sky ? It is nothing but infinitized mud, nothing
but an ascertainable quantity and intensity of fire — a
wide and high stair leading to nothing ! — Unknown —
Unknowable. Thanks. I am tired of the Known and
SENSATIONALISM 2Y7
the Knowable, tired of saying this star is fifty millions
of miles in circumference, that star is ninety millions of
miles farther off than the moon, and yonder planet is
five million times larger than the earth. It is mere
gossip in polysyllables, getting importance by huge-
ness, something that would never be named in inches,
that owes its fame to the word millions. It is so that
men want to make a mouthful of God ! A great
mouthful, no doubt, say even to the extent of super-
millions squared and cubed into a whole slateful of
ciphers, but pronounceable in words. Failing this,
they suppose they have destroyed Him by saying He is
Unknowable and Unknown. It makes me glad to think
He is ! That any One or any Thing should be unknow-
able and should yet invite and stimulate inquiry is educa-
tionally most hopeful. O soul of mine, there are grand
times in store for thee ! I cannot rattle my staff against
the world's boundary wall, and say. The End ! — Poor
staff ! It thrusts itself into a cloud ; it goes over the
edge ; it is like to be pulled out of my hand by gravita-
tion from another centre stronger than the earth's core,
a gravitation that pulls even the earth itself and
keeps it from reeling and falling. Yes, prying staff,
thou canst touch nothing but a most ghostly emptiness.
Soul of man, if thou wouldst truly see — see the Bound-
less, see the Possible, see God — go into the dark when
and where the darkness is thickest. That is the mighty
and solemn sanctuary of vision. The light is vulgar in
some uses. It shows the mean and vexing detail of space
and life with too gross palpableness, and frets the sen-
sitiveness of the eyes. I must find the healing dark-
ness that has never been measured off into millions and
paraded as a nameable quantity of surprise and mystery.
278 GETTING ATTENTION
Deus absconditus I God hideth Himself, oftenest in the
light. He touches the soul in the gloom and vastness
of night, and the soul, being true in its intent and wish,
answers the touch without a shudder or a blush. It is
even so that God comes to me. He does not come
through a man's high argument, a flash of human wit,
a sudden and audacious answer to an infinite enigma, or
a toilsome reply to some high mental challenge. His
path is through the pathless darkness — without a foot-
print to show where He stepped ; through the forest of
the night He comes ; and when He comes the bright-
ness is all within ! My God — unknown and unknow-
able— cannot be chained as a Prisoner of Logic, or de-
livered into the custody of a theological proposition, or
figured into literal art. Shame be the portion of those
who have given Him a setting within the points of the
compass, who have robed Him in cloth of their own
weaving, and surnamed Him at the bidding of their
cold and narrow fancy ! For myself, I know that I
cannot know Him, that I have a joy wider than knowl-
edge, a conception that domes itself above my best
thinking, as the sky domes itself in infinite pomp and
lustre above the earth whose beauty it creates. God !
God ! God ! best defined when undefined ; a Fire that
may not be touched, a Life too great for shape or
image, a Love for which there is no equal name. Who
is He? God. What is He? God. Of whom begot-
ten ? God. He is at once the question and the answer,
the self-balance, the All."
(2) God personal. It is ours to bring God near.
Sir John Franklin relates that when trying to persuade
a tribe of Esquimaux of the divine presence and inter-
est, the chief answered him, " There may be a God, but
SENSATIONALISM 279
He surely knows notliing about us. Behold our
poverty, our rude homes, our tattered garments ! Bo-
hold yon icy crags ! There may be such a Being as
you mention ; but, if so, He is surely afar off." It
devolves upon us to let the people know that God is a
real personality, with eyes to see, a heart to pity and
mighty arms to help.
(3) God paternal. It was observed by Madame de
Gasparin that if Jesus had done nothing in His earthly
ministry but to teach men to say, " Our Father which
art in heaven," that would have been abundant com-
pensation for the vast outlay involved in His coming to
dwell among men.
Thus to declare the infinite, eternal, and unchange-
able One is surely a work that should enlist our utmost
enthusiasm and insure us against the least possibility of
dullness. Our call comes like the Yoice that spoke to
Moses in the wilderness. While following Jethro's
flocks amid the solitudes he saw an acacia-bush on fire.
He drew nigh. The flames enveloped the bush, yet not
a twig was burned ! As he wondered a voice said,
" Draw not hither ; put off thy shoes ; the place is
holy ground." He reverently bowed his head ; it had
come at last ! He was afraid to utter a word. " I am
the God of thy fathers," said the Yoice ; " I am come
down to deliver thy people. Behold I will send thee."
— " Who am I that I should go ? "— " I will be with
thee." — " What is thy name ? " — " Go say unto them,
Jehovah hath sent thee." He went. He gathered the
elders and people together and, with signs and wonders,
showed them that Jehovah is God. He made his way
to the Egyptian court and presented his demand :
" Thus saith Jehovah ; let My people go ! " Pharaoh
280 GETTING ATTENTION
replied with a derisive smile, "I know Isis; I know
Osiris ; I know all the gods of Egypt ; but who, pray,
is this Jehovah ? " Moses said, " I will declare Him
unto thee. Thou believest in the Nile-god, in holy
Scarabaeus, in the Frog-headed One, in Apis, in the
divine Leek, in all forms of adorable life ; but Jehovah
will prove Himself the master of thy gods." He
waved his rod, and the Nile became a rolling torrent
of blood. He waved it again, and frogs came up from
the waterside into the ovens, and kneading-troughs and
bedchambers. Again, and the air was full of gnats
and beetles. Oh, they should have enough of holy
Scarabaeus ! Again, and a murrain fell upon the
cattle ; behold Apis was put to shame ! Again, and
destruction was rained on wheat fields and leek gar-
dens. Yet once more, and the homes of Egypt sent
forth a wail for the first-born. Thus " I-Am-That-I-
Am " proved Himself the God of gods !
This is our commission ; to let the people know that
Jehovah reigns and wiU have His way among the chil-
dren of men.
Second : Anthropology, that is, the science of man.
We do not know ourselves. It is a true saying,
" The proper study of mankind is man." It devolves
upon us to make the people see themselves not " as
ithers see them," but as they are, and as they appear
in the clear sight of God. In so doing we shall find
ourselves at no loss for material to enchain their atten-
tion. There is no room for dullness here.
(1) "We are to throw upon the canvas the picture of
man as God created him. He breathed into his nos-
trils the breath of life so that he became a living soul.
He made him a little lower than the angels. Here he
SENSATIONALISM 281
is, under the trees of Paradise, his heart full of happi-
ness, his conscience clear as the sunlight. He walks
with God in the cool of the day. He has kingly
dominion over all creatures. What a splendid heritage
is his ! What a glorious outlook is before him !
" O mighty brother soul of man,
Where'er thou art, or low or high,
Thy skyey arches with exultant span
O'er roof infinity ! "
(2) We are to throw upon the canvas another pic-
ture,— of man exiled from Paradise, sent out into a
wilderness of toil and sorrow, his head fallen on his
breast, his heart full of shame, his conscience smitten
with remorse, tottering on towards the Valley of the
Shadow of Death. He is lost and ruined ; on his brow
is written Ichabod, " The glory is departed ! "
(3) We are to throw upon the canvas another pic-
ture— a spectre black as midnight — Sin.
It was sin that wrought the calamity. Sin has dug
every grave. Sin has unsheathed every sword. Sin has
desolated homes, corrupted social life and ruined gov-
ernments. Sin bloats the face of youth and scars its
beauty ^Yith foul traces of sensuality. Sin dethrones
the proudest intellects and sets maddened souls on fire
of hell. Sin sharpened the dagger that pierced the
heart of the only begotten Son of God.
It is easy to preach smooth things. The multitudes
demand them (Isa. xxx. 10), but these are not for us.
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet
and show the people their sin ! Sin, and death follow-
ing after ! Not sin in the abstract, not sin floating in
the air like the breath of a pestilence or exhaling like
282 GETTING ATTENTION
miasma from the slums, but sin abiding in human
hearts and making itself manifest in human lives — sin
in you and me.
So came the call to Nathan, "Go, show David
his sin." The king had murdered Uriah and taken
Bathsheba to wife. He had kept his crime in his- own
breast, but his soul was troubled. Over the blue skies,
where once he loved to read the legend of the divine
glory, was written, " Murder ! " The winds that
whistled round his palace shrieked, " Adultery ! " In
the watches of the night he saw in letters of fire on the
dark walls of his chamber, " Uriah ! " "When he knelt
in prayer, voices called to him from the corners of his
closet, " Bathsheba ! " In the temple the hosannas and
hallelujahs of the great choirs had an undertone like a
wail of sorrow that ever reminded him of his sin. The
court-preacher — a sensationalist — entered. After a re-
spectful salutation he laid before the king a case for
judgment, a trifling case yet worthy of the royal at-
tention. " A poor man had one little ewe lamb. It
was dear as a daughter, ate of his food and drank of
his cup. His rich neighbour had many flocks and
herds; bat when his hospitality was overtaxed, he
spared to take of his own possessions and seized upon
the ewe lamb." Thus far, when the king interrupted
him, " As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this
thing shaU surely die ! " The moment has come. A
sermon is a thrust. Draw thy blade, O prophet of the
Lord ! " Thou art the man ! " The iron enters into
David's soul; he sees himself stripped of purple and
ermine, a sinner before God. Up the winding stair-
way he staggers to his closet on the house-top, the face
of Uriah staring into his — a cold, resolute, blood-stained
SENSATIONALISM 283
face, ne bends in his closet and, from every nook and
cranny, the filmed eyes of Uriah are gazing at him.
He kneels — listen now at his door : " Have mercy upon
me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness ; accord-
ing unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out
my transgressions ! For I acknowledge my transgres-
sions ; and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee,
Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy
sight." — This is the tremendous fact which we are to
declare to our people : we are all alike and there is no
difference, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. In our brain, our conscience, our heart,
is the plague-spot. To preach this as it ought to be
preached is of necessity to touch men at the very core
of their being. If we did but apprehend the truth in
its reality we should preach with such effect as was
seen when Jonathan Edwards spoke of " sinners in the
hands of an angry God " ; when men and women cried
out in their anguish and clung for support to the pillars
of the church. Oh, no, we have no need of adventi-
tious helps to win attention. There is no room for dull-
ness here, if only we have ourselves realized the exceed-
ing sinfulness of sin.
A scene in Whitefield's church in London is described
by Paxton Hood. In the congregation are many
notables, including Hume, Walpole, Dr. Johnson, Sir
Joshua Keynolds, Garrick, Goldsmith, the Duchess of
Marlborough, the Countess of Huntingdon, Cowper,
Toplady and Lord Chesterfield. " The whole audience
is hushed, is breathless ; of what is he talking ? The
madness, the folly, the blind depravity of the sinner.
That then is the subject. And he is describing the
wanderings of a poor blind beggar — not a very attract-
284 GETTING ATTENTION
ive subject for the Humes and "Walpoles and Chester-
fields in his audience,— a poor blind beggar, led by a
dog, the image of the merely natural reason without
the light of revelation ; a poor blind beggar, wandering
in a dark, wild night through cold and rain and tempest.
The wanderer wends his way till at last he reaches the
edge of a fearful cliff and precipice ; he does not know
the dread and danger beneath ; he does not know that
death is there, in that abyss ! His dog is not faithless,
but he has lost his way ; he does not know, the night is
very dark, and the dog has taken the fatal step ; he is
over the cliff, but still the poor blind man holds on ; an-
other step, another step — ' Good heavens ! He''s gone !
Save him, Whitejield! ' From whence did that come ?
— those words that thrilled and rang through the chapel,
and broke the peroration of the description. "Whence ?
From a rustic ; and all those scholars and peers smile
contemptuously ? Not so ; from Chesterfield's pew ;
from Chesterfield himself ;— that cold and heartless fol-
lower of fashion, whose motto for all society was nil
admirari, whose prime article of creed it was to school
and discipline the passions and the feelings so that they
should never be observed ; he it was ; he was quite ob-
livious ; he knew not Avhere he was, but carried aw^ay
and carried along by the pathos of the speaker he too
was in the dark and lonely night, near that blind
beggar on the cliff."
Third : Soteriology, i. e., the science of salvation.
This is the third link in the gospel chain of reconcilia-
tion with God. The substance of the Gospel is per-
fectly comprehended in three tremendous truths :
(1) The Incarnation. Great is the mystery of god-
liness, God manifest in flesh ! We are to stand at the
SENSATIONALISM 285
threshold of the stable in Bethlehem and bring to the
knowledge of our people this adumbration of Deity.
Here are heard the songs of angels, the laughter of chil-
dren, the joy of those who have been groping for the
infinite and found it. Behold, all the sons of God are
shouting for joy ! Who does not covet the privilege of
standing thus to usher sorrowing, bewildered souls into
the presence of the enfleshed God ?
(2) The Atonement. All souls are asking, " What
shall we do to be saved ? " All are desiring to know
how man may be reconciled with God. We preach the
redemptive glory of the Cross. We cry, " Look and
live ! "
The fashion of criticizing Dr. Talmage for his sensa-
tional methods has been referred to ; but there is this to
be said: he consistently and persistently preached
Christ as the Saviour of men. And this, more than all
his eccentricities, more than anything else, was why the
people thronged to hear him. " Come on, young min-
isters," he said ; " take this pulpit, take all the pulpits,
and in the language of the street and the market-place
preach Christ ! " and again : " When this famine-struck
world realizes that the Church is a government-station,
set up by the government of the universe to provide the
bread of eternal life for all the people, the rush will be
unprecedented and unimaginable." And again : " One-
half the things a man is expected to believe in order to
enter the Church and reach heaven have no more to do
with his salvation than the question. How many vol-
canoes are there in the moon ? or. How far apart from
each other are the rings of Saturn ? or. How many teeth
were there in the jaw-bone with which Samson smote
the Philistines ? I believe ten thousand things, but
286 GETTING ATTENTION
none of them lias anything to do with my salvation
except these two : I am a sinner and Christ came to
save me."
A poor demented creature, a fisherman's wife, once
came to the parish minister with her hands full of wet
sand, saying, " Do you see it ? Oh, my sins ! They
are as the sands of the seashore for multitude ; as the
sands of the seashore ! " " Where did you get it ? "
asked he. " Down by the beacon." " Go down by the
beacon and put it there. Dig deep and pile it up as
high as you can. Wait there until the tide rolls in."
She went down by the beacon, heaped up the sand and
stood waiting. She watched the Waves as they crept
higher and higher until they swept over and swept
away her sins ! Thus to a simple soul was the truth
made clear. Men of the pulpit, the crimson tide rolls
in ! Beneath the cross we preach the Gospel of redeem-
ing Love. The tide rolls in ! "It cleanseth me ; it
cleanseth me ; oh, praise the Lord, it cleanseth me ! "
(3) The Resurrection. " Life and immortality are
brought to light." The darkest night the world ever
knew was when Jesus lay in His se^Dulchre. The Sun of
Righteousness was eclipsed. But the brightest dawn
was when He broke the bands of death, ascended up on
high and took captivity captive. Here at the open
sepulchre we stand pointing to the open heavens,
whither He has gone. Lo, yonder the keys of death
and hell are at His girdle. By the miracle of the res-
urrection the seal of divine indorsement is put upon
His mediatorial work. Here is comfort for those who
mourn. Here is courage for all who tremble at the
approach of the King of Terrors. Here is the triumph
of heavenly grace. Why need I fear ?
SENSATIONALISM 287
" The world recedes, it disappears ;
Heaven opens on mine eyes ! Mine ears
With sounds seraphic ring.
Lend, lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly !
O grave, where is thy victory ?
O death, where is thy sting ? "
In a sermon on the Eesurrection by Dr. Talraage he
painted a procession coming forth from the graveyard
at the call of Jesus : " Good-morning ! You have slept
enough ! " and proceeding on their way to heaven, past
banks of clouds and floating worlds. " Farewell, dis-
solving earth ! But, on the other side, as we rise,
heaven at first appears no larger than your hand. And
nearer it looks like a chariot, and nearer it looks like a
throne, and nearer it looks like a star, and nearer it
looks like a sun, and nearer it looks like a universe.
Hail, sceptres that shall always wave ! Hail, anthems
that shall always roll ! Hail, companionship never
again to part ! " His sermons abound in this kind of
imagery ; and it is difficult to believe that even those
who criticize do not covet the ability to equal it.
What splendid opportunities we have in these stu-
pendous themes for enchaining the attention and cap-
turing the hearts of men ! We stand like the sentinel
above the gate of Orleans. The walls have been
breached and the people are reduced to the last ex-
tremity. A cry is heard from above the gate, " I see
the rescue of the Lord ! " There is nothing in sight
but a cloud, far yonder on the hills. Nearer it comes.
" I see the glistening of spears ! " "I see the waving
of the Gothic banners ! " It was indeed the squadron of
Theodoric ; and the people were saved. Oh, men of the
ministry, it is for us to stand thus upon the outer ram-
288 GETTING ATTENTION
parts of death, announcing the interposition of the God
of Salvation. The banners are waving, the shields of
heaven are aglow with morning light, heaven itself is
opened, hosannas and hallelujahs are ringing all around
us.
These are the truths we are commissioned to preach.
Oh, for the touch ^of the live heavenly coal upon our
lips to enable us to preach them aright ! Let us pray
that the vision of the burning bush may be vouchsafed
to us. Let us pray for the power of the Holy Ghost to
prepare the way of the Truth by unbolting hearts to
receive it. For if this everlasting Gospel is true at all
it is awfully, eternally, divinely true. So may God
help us to receive it, and so to preach it.
Suggestions
In order to make his message rightly " sensational,"
i. e., so as to produce in the hearer a definite impression
and a corresponding response, the preacher must comply
with certain prerequisite conditions.
First, He must be sincere and must satisfy his hearers
that he is so.
His power of persuasion is measured by their convic-
tion that he believes what he says. I have heard men
deliver themselves of their message with such an air of
indifference as to convey the impression that, to their
minds, truth has the advantage of error only as twee-
dledum differs from tweedledee.
Second, He must be in earnest.
Earnestness is sincerity in action. A hundred
chariots may pass and nobody will care; but when
Jehu comes " driving furiously " everybody knows
there is business in hand. It is related as a matter of
SENSATIONALISM 289
fact that at Gettysburg a slender gunner, in defending
his battery, hurled a stone which three men could not
lift the next day. The heat of battle must be reckoned
with in estimating the forensic factors that make for
conviction. Icicles light no fires.
In one of Dr. John Brown's letters he speaks of hear-
ing Dr. Chalmers in a country church in the Highlands
and describes his preaching in this way : " As we en-
tered the kirk we saw a notorious character, a drover
with a brutal look,
' There was a hardness in his cheek,
A hardness in his eye.'
He was the terror of the countryside. We not only
wondered at but were afraid of him when we saw him
going in. The minister entered, homely in his dress
and gait, but having a great look upon him, like a
mountain among the hills. When he began to preach
the tide set in. Everything aided in his power ; deep
called unto deep. How astonished and impressed we
all were ! He was at the full thunder of his power :
the whole man was in an agony of earnestness. The
drover was weeping like a child ; tears were running
down his ruddy cheeks ; his face smoothed out like an
infant's ; his whole body stirred in emotion. And when
the wonderful speaker sat down, how beautiful to our
eyes did the thunder look. We went home quieter than
we came. We thought of other things, that voice, that
face, those great simple living thoughts, that flow of
resistless eloquence, that piercing, shattering voice."
Third, He must address himself directly to the point.
Directness is the word. Men'are too busy nowada^^s
to lend an ear to inane generalizations. They go to
290 GETTING ATTENTION
church to hear the preacher tell them what, in his
opinion, they individually ought to believe and be and
do. The practical application of the sermon must not
wait for the peroration but must run all through it.
Fourth, He must be logical.
The people want to know what they must do to in-
herit eternal life : it is for him to show them The Only
Way: but he must prove that it is the only way or
they will not believe it. He must follow the divine
method : " Come now, saith the Lord, and let us reason
together." His thesis must have no flaw in it. He
cannot satisfy thirsty souls with a gourd that holds no
water. It is the grip of argument that, under the
power of the Spirit, captures men as prisoners of hope.
Fifth, He must preach hopefully.
A pessimist is out of place in the pulpit. The rain-
bow about the throne should be reflected even in Jere-
miah's tears. Be of good courage, for " God works in
all things : all obey His first propulsion from the night."
"Wherefore let us not preach " as dying men to dying
men," but as living men to men who live forever. Let
us put to shame the poet who wrote of us,
" They wear long faces, just as if their Maker,
The Lord of glory, were an undertaker."
Why should not we be the cheerfuUest of men ? Has
not God blotted out our sins and opened the gates of
heaven for us ? Has He not called us to the ministry
of reconciliation and given us a message of peace?
Wherefore it behooves us not only to be, but to give
the world to understand that we are, the hopeful,
happy children of God.
SENSATIONALISM 291
Sixth, The preacher who would suitably impress his
hearers must give himself with utter abandon to the
business in hand. Self -consciousness is our arch-enemy.
Let the truth make us free ; free to serve the truth with
all our might. We can afford to forget ourselves when
engaged in our Master's work. Aristotle said, " He is
the freeman who belongs to himself and not to an-
other " ; but we are free because we are bought with a
price and constrained by love towards Him whose we
are and whom we serve. Wherefore when we stand up
to deliver His message to souls for whom He died we
should be able to lose sight of ourselves in a passionate
desire to do our best for Him and them. So comes the
abandon of implicit faith and love. We are handi-
capped no more. Doubt and self-mistrust, defects of
mind and presence, mnemonic helps and props of every
sort, fear of the face of man, all these to the winds !
We have a message ; and the love of Christ constrain-
eth us ! ^
^ How may one who earnestly desires to be fresh and orig-
inal safeguard himself against sensationalism ? The answer is
in three parts : i. Let him cultivate good taste. 2. Let
him be thoroughly Scriptural in his preaching ; and let it be
the whole design of his preaching to set forth the message of
the Word of God. 3. Let him earnestly desire to save and
help others. Let it be his earnest prayer, " Lord help me to
preach the saving word to those to whom I minister, and thus
to glorify Thy great and gracious name." — Breeds ^^Prepar-
ing to Freach.**
PART SEVENTH
Pulpit Power
I
THE SECKET OF PULPIT POWER
PREACHING is persuasion towards God. The
business of the preacher is to counsel, to con-
vince and to convert ; i. e., to bring men into
immediate vital touch with God. If this be the ob-
jective point all other considerations must yield to it.
The style of discourse is of consequence only so far as
it contributes to this end. The rounding of a sentence
is less important than the point of it. Primarily, there-
fore, not beauty of diction but persuasive power is the
thing to pray and strive for.'
1. The secret of jpower.
(1) It is not physical ; though there is much to be
said for a good physique. Thaddeus Stevens was a
man of imposing stature ; but Alexander H. Stephens,
his contemporary, though small, wizened and pain-
racked, was a stronger man. Rufus Choate, when
remonstrated with for injuring his constitution, replied,
" I used up my constitution long ago ; for years I've
^When John Bunyan preached in London, he attracted
greater audiences than the most learned divines of the land,
because he preached with greater power. The celebrated
Dr. Owen was often among his hearers ; and when Charles II
expressed his astonishment that a man of the doctor's learning
could hear the tinker preach, Owen is said to have replied,
"Had I the tinker's abilities, please your majesty, I would
most gladly relinquish my learning." — Spring, ^* Power of the
Pulpit r
295
296 PULPIT POWER
been living on my by-laws." A sound body is a fine
asset for a preacher ; ' but there's many a tall building
with an attic to let.
(2) Neither is it intellectual. The man who pre-
sumes on genius will find it profits him nothing un-
less there is a genius for plodding back of it. And
the same is true of culture : a caution for college-bred
men. The best superintendent of frontier missions in
our country to-day is a man who doesn't know will
from shall, but just understands his business and keeps
" everlastingly at it." *
(3) Our true power is spiritual and supernatural.
The third Person of the Godhead is its author and fin-
isher. And there is no good reason why we should not
all be adequately endued with it. For a great promise
is given us : to wit : " If ye then, being evil, know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
* A sound body somehow inspires confidence. Strong, clear
utterance wins a hearing, where a thin, discordant voice evokes
ridicule. Poor health discounts the truth. The condition of
the body affects the mind. Sickness fosters a jaundiced view
of life. No man can appreciate or proclaim the splendid sym-
metry of an historic creed, whose temperature tops the normal
or whose joints are full of rheumatism. A dyspeptic preacher
is in danger of making the Gospel indigestible. Many a head-
ache has found its way into the sermon. If the minister is
physically depressed, he unconsciously radiates from the pulpit
an influence which is not conducive to spiritual vitality. —
Nichols, * ' Preaching. ' '
' ** Give me the line that plows its stately course
Like a proud swan, conquering the field by force ;
That, like some cottage beauty, strikes the heart
Quite unindebted to the tricks of art."
— Cowper,
THE SECRET OF PULPIT POWER 297
them that ask Him " (Luke xi. 13). Blessed a fortiori !
"What father would refuse to feed his hungry child ?
" How much more " then will God bestow His baptism
of fire and power upon the preacher who really desires it !
At the burning of Farewell Hall in Chicago, back in
the '60's, Mr. Moody, having lost his parish with most
of his earthly possessions, set out for New York with a
feeling that his life was broken in sunder. On the cars
he kept praying that God would endue him with more
power for a greater work. His plea was, " Make me
willing, O Lord, in the day of Thy power ; willing to
receive all that Thou wouldst bestow upon me." In a
room at the old Metropolitan Hotel he kept up that
prayer, hour after hour, kneeling, walking the floor,
pleading, " O Lord, make me willing to be as strong for
service as Thou wouldst have me." Towards evening
a friend knocked and, receiving no answer, entered.
Mr, Moody was standing, with tearful eyes uplifted,
and saying softly in a broken voice, " O Lord, stay now
Thy hand ! No more ! No more ! " His prayer had
been answered. God had fed his hungry soul, had
filled him even to the lips. And then began that mar-
vellous work of evangelism in America and Europe —
when souls came to Christ like doves flocking to their
windows — which must ever be a mystery to those who
doubt the importance of the energizing influence of the
Spirit of God.
9. This power is attainable. The secret is out.
Christ Himself disclosed it when He breathed upon
His disciples, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost,"
and thus qualified them for their work.
Three things are assumed on the preacher's part :
First, his call. If there is any doubt in his mind
298 ' PULPIT POWER
concerning this matter he would do well to pause until
he has settled it. Otherwise his ministry will be like
that of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok who ran without
being sent and had nothing to say.
Second, his consecration. At the outset of Isaiah's
ministry he had a vision : " I saw the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the
temple. Above it stood the seraphim : each one had six
wings ; with twain He covered His face, and with twain
He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly. And
one cried unto another and said, ' Holy, holy, holy, is
the Lord of hosts : the whole earth is full of His glory.'
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried ; and the house was filled with smoke. Then
said I, ' Woe is me ; for I am undone ; because I am a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen the King, the
Lord of hosts.' Then flew one of the seraphim unto
me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar ; and he laid it upon
my mouth, and said, ' Lo, this hath touched thy lips :
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.'
Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ' Whom shall
I send, and who will go for us ? ' Then said I, ' Here
am I ; send me.' "
It is safe to say that no minister can ever meet the
demands of his high calling until he has — with all his
powers of body and soul — answered the revealing of his
Lord's plan and purpose in words of like significance,
" Here am I : send me ! "
At the beginning of Paul's ministry he also had a
vision : " It came to pass that, as I made my journey
and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, sud-
THE SECRET OF PULPIT POWER 299
denly there shone from heaven a great light round
about me. And I fell unto the ground and heard a
voice saying unto me, ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
Me ? ' And I answered, ' Who art Thou, Lord ? ' And
He said unto me, ' I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest.' And I said, ' What shall I do, Lord ? '
And the Lord saith unto me, 'Arise, and go into
Damascus ; and there it shall be told thee of all things
which are appointed for thee to do.' " In speaking of
this experience Paul says, " I was not disobedient unto
the heavenly vision" (Acts xxvi. 19). His uncondi-
tional surrender to Christ was followed by the endue-
ment of power. He counted everything else but loss
that he might " win Christ and be found in Him " ;
and he was found in Him, lost in Him, mighty in Him,
triumphant in Him.
Third, his ambition. E'o preacher has a right to be
satisfied with anything less than a realization of the
highest possibilities that are in him. An archer's
arrow pointed at the sun falls short ; but even so, it
was better than not to pull the string at all.
" I wonder if ever a soug was sung
But the singer's heart sang sweeter I
I wonder if ever a hymn was rung
But the thought surpassed the meter f
I wonder if ever a sculptor wrought
Till the cold stone echoed his ardent thought ?
Or if ever a painter with light and shade
The dream of his inmost heart portrayed ? "
1^0 man of God is ever as strong as he ought to be ;
but every one is as strong as he is willing to be. The
Lord, whose resources are infinite, stands ready to
charge us with power if we will have it so. But oh,
these reluctant souls of ours ! We go mourning all
300 PULPIT POWER
the day over our leanness when a table of fat things
and wine on the lees is spread before us. God wants
us to be strong ; do we care for it ? He has made
abundant provision of strength ; are we ambitious to
have and utilize it ? Can we say Amen to the words
of William Carey : " Let us undertake great things for
God and expect great things from Him " ?
3. How shall we ajppropriate this jpower which God
stands ready to bestow upon us f
Three things are prerequisite :
(1) We must have convictions ; definite convictions
as to the great verities of the Christian faith. Ifs and
perhapses are poor diet for our training table. The
man who believes is the man who adventures. Our
doubts make cowards of us all. Find a man who
speaks in terms of certainty, such as " I know " and
" I am persuaded," and you will see him crossing
plains and climbing mountains to advance the banners
of his faith.
The preacher, above all men, must be able to say
Yea and Amen.
" 'Tis not enough that what you say is true ;
To make us feel it, you must feel it too ;
Show yourself warm, and that will warmth impart
To every hearer's sympathizing heart."
He must believe in God the Father : not merely in
law or energy or " a something not ourselves that
maketh for righteousness " or in any other diaphanous
ghost of a god.'
1 *' An immense solitary Spectre waits !
It hath no shape, it hath no sound.
It hath no place, it hath no time ;
It is, and was, and will be j
THE SECRET OF PULPIT POWER 301
He must believe in God the Son ; not as a " good
rabbi," not as a transcendental dreamer tagged with a
divine " value judgment," not as the best of men ; but
as precisely what He claimed to be ; namely, the only
begotten Son of God who came into the world, out of
the glory which He shared with the Father before the
world was, to die for sinners that, by faith in Him as
the only Saviour, they might have eternal Ufe,
He must believe in God the Holy Ghost ; not as an
impersonal affluence or effluence or influence, or as any-
thing that can be designated by the neuter pronoun
" it," but as the personal Author of life and energy and
light in spiritual experience. If other men, other
Christians, need the kindly offices of the Holy Spirit,
the preacher more ; because all the factors that con-
tribute to success in his appointed work are immedi-
ately from him.'
And he must believe in all the fundamental verities
It is never more nor less, nor glad nor sad ;
Its name is Nothingness.
Power walketh high, and Misery doth crawl,
And the clepsydron drips,
And the sands fall down in the hour-glass ;
Men live and strive, regret, forget,
And love and hate, and know it.
The Spectre saith, * I wait ! '
And at the last it beckons, and they pass ;
And still the red sands fall within the glass,
And still the water-clock doth drip and weep ;
And that is alll "
* Consider that in no unmeaning sense every true sermon is
a product of inspiration, the Holy Ghost working in and
through the natural powers and producing a result to which
even the finest human abilities would by themselves be incom-
petent.— Morris f " The Greatness and Joy of Preaching.^*
302 PULPIT POWER
which centre in the One God who manifests Himself in
these three Personalities, as they have been authorita-
tively revealed in the Word of God.
(2) The preacher who cares for power must have a
clear conception of his work as a fisher of men. In
other words he must have a covetous passion or, as the
Quakers would say, a " concern," for souls. Our Lord
said that He came into the world to seek and to save
the lost ; and He said also, " As the Father hath sent
Me into the world so send I you," This, then, is our
primary errand and our commission, to capture men for
Christ as prisoners of hope. To that end it is obviously
necessary that we should be profoundly convinced of
two facts ; that they are lost without Christ and saved
by faith in Him, Then comes the " passion " which
expresses itself in terms of intercession as earnest as
the prayer of Knox, " O God, give me Scotland or I
die ! " '
(3) The preacher who is ambitious for spiritual
power must have faith. He must have faith {a) in the
saving virtue of the blood that cleanseth from sin, {h)
^ As the passion of gold absorbs some men, and the passion
for power absorbs others, so, if a man is called of God to pro-
claim the unsearchable riches of the Gospel, all lesser ambi-
tions will be swallowed up in his longing to lead men to Christ.
Pitying their destination, distressed by their peril, realizing the
pricelessness of souls for whom the Son of God thought it
worth while to die, he puts all personal considerations aside,
that he may devote himself to the salvation of the lost. Like
Paul, he feels that necessity is laid upon him, and exclaims,
" Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel ! " Then
will his sermons, shot through with the love of God, tinctured
with the blood of the Cross, be evangelistic in the true sense ;
and, driven forward by the power of the Holy Ghost, they will
find a lodgment in the hearts of men. — Nichols, " Preaching.**
THE SECRET OF PULPIT POWER 303
in the trustworthiness of the divine Scriptiu-es which
vouch for it, and (c) in the surety of our covenant, " He
that goeth forth with weeping, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him."
So much, in general terms, as to the secret of power
in preaching ; now as to the power in a particular
sermon. It depends upon five things :
Firsty a definite purpose. A sermon with no ob-
jective point in view is not likely to arrive. Direction
is the thing. The postman who, in making his collec-
tion in holiday week, found a letter inscribed " To
mother : in care of God," first smiled and then looked
serious enough for tears. Perhaps, after all, that letter
reached its destination via the Dead Letter Office : but
there are many well meant and well written sermons
on iN'othing . in Particular addressed to Nobody in
Ko-man's Land. The preacher thus goes joy-riding
with his hearers ; and the sum total of benefit is the
transient pleasure by the way.
Second^ the plan of the sermon must he adjusted to its
purpose. A lawyer, retained to argue a case, proceeds
to formulate his brief accordingly. The sermon is
nothing in itself ; only a means to an end. Power is
worth while only for the sake of its product. An
engineer is expected to keep his locomotive in good
order so that it may make a good run. The preacher
who sets out for the Mount of God and arrives at Mount
Parnassus may be complimented on having made a
beautiful sermon but he has certainly not made a good
run.
Third, industry is needed to hring purpose and plan
to a successful issue. Preaching is not an easy business.
304 PULPIT POWER
An ounce of work is worth a ton of genius in this
matter, as elsewhere in this practical world of ours.
Think ; read ; write ; then keep on thinking till your
sermon is done. " By hammer and haud all arts do
stand."
Fourth^ the vital contact must he made. The preacher
must be en rajpjport with his people ; else his strongest
argument will be as water poured upon the ground
which cannot be gathered up again. A ninety ton
engine is no more efficient than a wheelbarrow unless it
b6 coupled with the train. "Wherefore get your grip on
your congregation. You will not accomplish this by
putting on ministerial airs. If you are speaking of
sinners say " we " not " you." Get on common ground
with the people. If you want their sympathy present
your positive pole. Show them that you are seeking
not theirs but them. They will not believe you unless
they believe in you.
Fifth, and most important of all, the preacher must
he m vital touch with God. "Come, Holy Spirit,
come ! " The man in the pulpit is a mere mannikin,
worked by interior clockwork, unless animated and
invigorated by the breath of God. His sermon may be
beautiful ; but what of it ? I have heard beautiful
sermons that were iridescent and — so far as I was con-
cerned— transient as bubbles blown into the air ; and I
have heard poor sermons by poor preachers in poor
churches that gripped me the day they were preached
and have ever since stayed by me.
II
CHKIST OUR MODEL
WE are much given to urging upon our people
tlie importance of imitating Christ ; yet none
too much so. For Christ is the Ideal Man.
He was, to quote from the JSTonesuch Professor, " the
only man who ever brought the bottom of his life up
to the top of his light." Wherefore the height of our
ambition is to be like Him.
The best preacher that ever preached in this world of
ours was Jesus Christ, of whom it was said, " Never
man spake like this Man." No doubt the secret of His
power was fundamentally in His divineness ; and there, of
course, we cannot hope to approach Him. There were,
however, some characteristics of His preaching which
admit of imitation ; and the more closely we follow
after Him in these particulars the greater will be our
success as fishers of men.
(A) To hegin with, observe His choice of themes.
1. Doctrinal. His sermons were largely doctrinal.
The man who says
"For forms of faith let canting bigots fight ;
His faith cannot be wrong whose life is right,'*
takes clear issue with Chi'ist ; for insistent as He was on
morality, He never minimized the importance of truth.
(1) As to God. It is true He did not originate the
thought of the divine Fatherhood, which was familiar
305
306 PULPIT POWER
even to the adherents of some of the false religions ;
but He illuminated and deeply emphasized it. He did
not say, " God is love," and drop the matter there ; He
gave place to justice also in His rounding out of the
divine character. He did not present a flaccid, senti-
mental God whom sinners could defy with impunity
but, in the truest sense of the word, a respectable God ;
i. e., a God whom men can respect for the attributes
which they respect most in their fellow men.
(2) As to man. He treated man as a child of God ;
made after the divine likeness ; endowed with reason,
conscience and a sovereign will ; and, as Kepler said,
" able to think God's thoughts after Him." But this
man whom Christ presented in His preaching is always
set forth as a sinner ; fallen from his high estate ; lost,
but not hopelessly lost ; a ruin, but a splendid ruin
capable of restoration by the grace of God.
(3) As to the reconciliation of God and man by the
atonement of the Cross. Those who speak slightingly
of the Blood would do well to consider how Christ re-
garded it. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, whose blood cleanseth from all sin. This
fact is the vital centre of His Gospel. He said, " I, if
I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me," and " this
He said signifying what death He should die." It
had been prophesied that He should be " wounded for
our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that
by His stripes we might be healed " ; and, being thus
written, this it must be (Luke xxiv. 25-27).
(4) As to justification by faith : the doctrine which
Luther called artiGulum ecclesice stantis aut cadentis.
He came to accomplish a full and free salvation. He
tasted death for ever^^ man. The redemption thus
CHRIST OUR MODEL 307
provided is " without money and without price " ; but
there is a condition affixed to it, namely, faith ; which
is like a hand reached out to receive it. Why not ?
Surely the good God who proffers the gift has a right
to make such terms as please Him. And what terms
could be more reasonable or magnanimous ? The air
is free ; but a man must breathe it. Water is free ; but
one might stand knee-deep in the Amazon and perish
of thirst if he refused to dip up the water and drink it.
The key-note of the Gospel is " Only believe," i. e., ac-
cept it. " He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting
life ; but he that believeth not, ... the wrath of
God abideth on him."
This saving faith was, in the preaching of Christ, set
over against three things: {a) Indifferentism. The
sinner who does nothing will jDerish in his sins. If the
prodigal is ever to exchange the far country for his
father's house he must say, " I will arise and go." (]))
Moralism. The only " good work " which Christ ever
recognized as having power to save is faith in Hunself.
" Then said they unto Him, ' What shall we do, that
we might work the works of God ? ' Jesus answered
and said unto them, 'This is the work of God, that
ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.' " {c) Cere-
monialism. The fiercest denunciations ever uttered by
Christ were directed against the Pharisees, the best
church-members of their time and most scrupulous ob-
servers of the ceremonial law. " Woe unto you, mask-
wearers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell ! "
2. So much for the doctrines He preached : now
with reference to His ethical themes.
Doctrine and ethics go together. Truth begets con-
duct ; for " as a man thinketh in his heart so is he."
308 PULPIT POWER
The world lias two etliical symbols wldch are uni-
versally regarded as perfect; to wit: the Decalogue
and the Sermon on the Mount. There is a disposition
in some quarters to regard the Sermon on the Mount
as a sufficient basis of belief for the Christian Church ;
this, however, betrays a total misunderstanding of its
purpose. As the Decalogue was given on the occasion
of the organization of the Jewish Commonwealth, to
serve as a sort of " Constitution," supplemented by the
" By-laws " of the Levitical System, so the Sermon on
the Mount was delivered at the beginning of Christ's
ministry, to answer a like purpose in the kingdom
which He was about to set up. For this reason it was
distinctly ethical : and certainly not intended to dis-
place any of the great doctrinal principles set forth
elsewhere in His teachings.
His ethical teaching was co-extensive with all the
relations of life. It is not enough that the true relig-
ion should set forth a single truth, however important,
or even a considerable group of important truths ; it
must present such a comprehensive system of truth as
will meet all the exigencies of human experience. It
must express itself in the terms of Pascal's Law of
Hydraulics ; namely, " Any pressure exerted on the
mass is transmitted equably in all directions." The
true religion must be an educating force in the entire
encyclopaedia of morals. We have reason to expect,
therefore, of the Gospel, that it will apply to t^e duties
and responsibilities of life every way.
(1) Domestic life. Jesus was Himself a homeless
man ; yet He had much to say of the sanctities of
home-life.
He set His seal upon wedlock as a divine ordinance •,
CHRIST OUR MODEL 309
sajdng, " Wliat therefore God hath joined together let
not man put asunder " (Matt. xix. 6). He gave it pre-
cedence of all other human relations, saying, " For this
cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall
cleave to his wife " (Matt. xix. 5).
He left no uncertamty as to His views of filial duty :
emphasizing the rights of parents on one hand {e. g.^
Mark vii. 9-13) and the rights of children on the other
(]\ratt. xviii. 5-10, Mark x. 14-16).
He was equally clear as to domestic piety {e. g.^
Matt. vi. 6) and the close connection of the home with
the sanctuary ; ever honouring the appointments of the
Church of God.
(2) Social life. Jesus was a social reformer, in the
truest sense.
He laid the foundation of human equality in the
Fatherhood of God; whose corollary is the brother-
hood of man. In tracing the influence of those signifi-
cant words " Our Father " along the pathway of his-
tory, we shall presently come to Mars Hill, where the
Apostle Paul is saying, " God . . . hath made of
one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face
of the earth." If we follow on we shall reach the
meadow at Runnymede, where the barons are extorting
from John Lackland a distinct but inadequate recogni-
tion of their rights in the body politic. If we follow
still further we shall come to the Reformation, with its
manifesto of religious rights. If further still, we shall
hear Independence Bell ringing out the proclamation,
" All men are created free and equal and with certain
inalienable rights ! " And if we gaze onward with pro-
phetic eyes we shall see the dawning of the Golden Age,
" when man to man the world o'er shall brothers be."
310 PULPIT POWER
Christ dignified labour; not merely by Himself belong-
ing to the Third Estate, nor merely by His sympathetic
attitude towards the "weary and heavy laden," but
preeminently by His advocacy of the just claims of the
toiling class. His proposition, " The labourer is worthy
of his hire," struck the key-note of the wage-system
for all succeeding ages. The worlmien of His time
lived, for the most part, on charity, or a dole sufficient
for the sustenance of life : but wherever His teaching
prevails to-day labour is regarded with honour and the
labourer is a self-respecting man.
Christ made it possible for the man at the bottom to
rise to the top. We have much to say about " the sur-
vival of the fittest," but He put the emphasis on the
survival of the unfittest. The demand of godless so-
cialism in our time is for a levelling down : " Down
with wealth ! Down with the aristocracy ! Down
with noble birth and breeding ! " But the preaching
of Jesus calls for a levelling up. He lends a hand to
drabs and drunkards ; He insists on a fighting chance
for the worst of men.
Christ taught social economics from the standpoint
of unselfishness. The fundamental fact in the philoso-
phy of Adam Smith is thus stated : " A prudent self-in-
terest is the sufficient basis of economic science." In
the teaching of Jesus the exact opposite is set forth ;
to wit : a just consideration of the rights of others is
the beginning and end of true socialism. The divine
norm or fundamental fact is by Him expressed in the
Golden Rule : " Therefore all things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
(3) Civil life. The political philosophy of Christ is
briefly summed up in His saying, "Render therefore
CHRIST OUR MODEL 311
unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's " (Matt. xxii.
21). It was on Wednesday of Passion "Week that He
uttered these words. He was teaching in the Temple
Court; His enemies were eager to ensnare Him. A
dangerous question was propounded : " Is it lawful to
give tribute unto Caesar ? " Here was a dilemma. To
say, " No " would expose Him to the charge of con-
structive treason ; to answer " Yes " would antagonize
the Jewish J!^ationalists. He called for a penny and
asked, "Whose is this image and superscription?"
They replied, "Caesar's." Then, said He, "Render
therefore unto Csesar the things which are Caesar's, and
unto God the things that are God's." The question
which immediately arises. What are the things that are
Csesar's ? is satisfactorily answered.
(a) A just recognition of Caesar. Government is a
fact to be reckoned with. The Gospel is at odds with
anarchy. Christians are not at liberty either to antag-
onize government or to hold themselves aloof from it.
(5) The support of government. The tribute money
must be paid, because it stands for an honest quid pro
quo. It represents walls and bulwarks, roads, viaducts,
public improvements, schools, legislatures, protection in
the enjoyment of rights and privileges. In other
words the " penny " is due from every good citizen " for
value received." When Peter was asked, " Does your
Master pay the capitation tax ? " he answered, " Yes "
(Matt. xvii. 24-27).
{c) Subjection to the powers that be. Here is
where the difficulty arises : for there is a point where
the civil law may clash with conscience. It is easier
then to violate conscience than it is to disobey the
lower law and take the consequences. Christ was en-
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joined, once and again, to desist from preaching. This
He declined to do ; but He offered no resistance when
the penalty was laid upon Him.
(4) As to cosmopolitan life. In the fifth century
there lived in Athens a philosopher named Hierocles,
who was called a Neo-Platonist because he undertook
the futile task of combining the Platonic system with
the religion of Christ. The gist of his teaching was
contained in a series of concentric circles, outlining the
Law of Influence as he conceived it. At the centre
was Self. The innermost circle included the duties of
Domestic Life ; the next, of Society ; the next, of the
Commonwealth ; and the outermost, of Humanity. It
was thus set forth that a man's influence is inversely as
the distance from the centre. If this were true our re-
sponsibility would be at its maximum in the service of
Ego ; diminishing with the increase of the benevolent
radius and reaching zero at the antipodes.
But this is not the teaching of Christ. His religion
is the one catholic religion. He who preaches it must
of necessity be a cosmopolite, inasmuch as he acknowl-
edges an obligation to the last man on the remotest
verge of the outermost circle. The purpose of Christ is
the conquest of the world. To this end He presents a
Gospel which is adapted to all. How universal its
truths ! How far-sweeping its ethics ! We never shaU
be full-grown Christians until we apprehend the length
and breadth and depth and height of it. O God, en-
large our hearts ; save us from mean and narrow views
of the Gospel of Thy beloved Son !
In the teaching of Jesus we observe a clear develop-
ment of this ecumenical idea. It was not an easy mat-
ter to persuade His disciples, who were narrow-minded
CHRIST OUR MODEL 313
Jews, to cast aside their ethnic prejudices and live as
debtors to all sorts and conditions of men.
The sum total of the teaching of Christ, in this par-
ticular, was expressed in the three words, " Man,"
" Brother " and " Neighbour " ; to each of which He
gave a new definition.
{a) He spoke of man as a child of God ; and His
broad application of this term may be inferred from His
words : " That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven ; for He maketh His sun to rise on
the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust" (Matt. v. 45). He taught the
universal kinship of the children of men. The word
" kinship " is used advisedly in this connection ; and
there is a whole treatise on sociology in it. The words
" kin " and " kind " are cognate ; so that kinship inevi-
tably suggests the correlated duty of kinnedness or
kindness. Thus Jesus says, " Ye have heard that it
hath been said. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate
thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefuUy use you and
persecute you " (Matt. v. 43-44).
(b) He gave a new meaning, also, to the word
brother. It had been used before His advent but not
as He used it.
As the filial spirit, which enables us to approach God,
is not derived from our natural relation to Him but
through the Spirit of adoption which Jesus gives us, so
the true feeling of fraternity comes not from our
natural kinship but from our relation with Jesus as the
only begotten Son of God.
He called out of the world ieh-Jdesia) a company of
314 PULPIT POWER
believers who were thenceforth to be known as " the
household of faith." These are children of God by the
Spirit of adoption ; and Christ is among them as Elder
Brother, the first-born among many brethren (Rom.
viii. 29). He assigned to them a peculiar kinship or
" filiation " which is accorded to no others ; as it is
written, " Looking round on them that sat round about
Him, He saith, Behold My mother and My brethren "
(Mark iii. 32-35).
To the members of this household He gave a new
commandment: "A new commandment I give unto
you, That ye love one another ; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men
know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to
another " (John xiii. 34-35). This is called a " new
commandment " not because mutual love had not been
inculcated before, but because within this charmed
circle it was placed upon a new basis of motive and
measurement, namely, " that ye love one another as I
have loved you." The precept had previously gone no
further than, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy-
self " ; but self is now wholly eliminated : and the
standard of measurement is not a man's love for him-
self but Christ's love for him.
(c) We now come to the teaching of Jesus as to the
relation which His followers sustain to those outside of
the household of faith. This is indicated in the term
" neighbour." The word was already familiar, but not
in its broad Christian sense. It meant nachhar / that
is, one living near by. Our Lord used it in this re-
stricted sense when He said, " When thou makest a
dinner or a supper, . . . call not thy rich neigh-
bours ; . . . but bid the poor, the maimed, the
CHRIST OUR MODEL 315
lame, the blind ; and thou shalt be blessed " (Luke xiv.
12-14). But in the Parable of the Good Samaritan He
gave the term a broader sweep. In answer to the ques-
tion, " AVho is my neighbour ? " He pointed to those
who had seen the sufferer on the Bloody Way and asked,
" Which of these three thinlvest thou proved neighbour
unto him that fell among the robbers ? " The reply was,
" He that showed mercy on him." Then said Jesus, " Go
and do thou likewise " (Luke x. 25-37). In other words,
a man is bound to be neighbour to every other man.
The duties of humanity are not determined by any
question of vicinage ; only by the question of need. I
am bound to be neighbour not only to the man who
lives next door but to those who live at the other side
of the globe, to the dwellers on the outermost limit of
the circles of influence. My neighbour is any man,
anywhere in this wide world of ours.
As preachers, desiring above all things to foUow our
Master and Model, we must needs extend our influence
as far as possible. God's grace in our hearts should be
like a pebble dropped into the ocean, which sets in mo-
tion circles of influence, ever widening until they have
touched the shores of every continent and island of the
sea. How far shall I make my power felt ? " Far as
the curse is found ! " Far as the vast dominion of
grace ! Far as the shadow of the cross ! Far as the
reach of the everlasting arms in the saying that is
written, " God so loved the world ! " The word
" amplius^'' which Michael Angelo called " the Key of
Noble Art," is the word for Christian service. Our
thoughts are too small, our purposes too selfish. We
have not yet caught the magnificent sweep of the
Gospel. Up with the imperial standards of Christ!
316 PULPIT POWER
We follow Him to the conquest of the world ! Kever
was leader like ours ; who hath upon His vesture and
thigh a name written, " King of kings and Lord of
lords." And His grace is the universal lodestone ; as
He said, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto
Me."
(B) "We have occupied ourselves thus far with the
subject-matter of the discourses of Christ ; it remains
to consider His homiletic meihod.
1. And to begin with, His simplicity. He addressed
Himself to the sublimest and profoundest problems
which fall within the purview of mortal men : yet His
hearers never had reason to complain that His sermons
were " too deep " or that He was " preaching over their
heads." This was one reason why " the common peo-
ple heard Him gladly." It was marvellous how He
brought His great thoughts within the intellectual reach
of average men. This, however, was in line with the
purpose of His Gospel which was intended for all.
It would help us greatly in the preparation of our
sermons if we were to have continually before us the
picture of Jesus with a child on His knee, saying,
" Yerily, verily, I say unto you : except ye become as
this little child ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom
of God." A famous teacher of homiletics was wont to
advise his pupils to put some of their sermonic fodder
so low in the manager that the lambs could nibble it •
but Christ, by both precept and example, counsels us
to place the whole Gospel within the reach of all.
2. His picturesqueness. He never preached truth
on a flat surface but always in relief. It glowed in the
colours of sky and field. It forced its way to brain and
conscience through Eyegate and Ear-gate. It de-
CHRIST OUR MODEL 317
manded attention not for its own sake only but for the
splendid attire in which the great Master clothed it.
"We are usually content with a mere statement of
truth : He rarely was. He knew the aversion of the
natural heart to spiritual things : wherefore He called
to His aid all forms and figures of speech. If He spoke
of Influence, it was now salt, now Light. If His theme
was Religion, it became a pearl of incomparable valae,
so precious that a wise merchant might well dispose of
all his treasures to secure it. Service is wielding the
sickle in a yellow field. Indolence is standing in the
market-place with folded hands. Consecration is stew-
ardship. Benevolence is helping a man who has been
waylaid on the Bloody Way. Forgiveness is erasing a
charge of ten thousand talents ; and Ingratitude is go-
ing out, with that cancelled charge in hand, to collect
a bill of a hundred pence. "Worldliness is a fool boast-
ing of great possessions, which are destined to be se-
questrated at nightfall. Avarice is a camel trying to
go through a needle's eye. Heaven is home ; and HeU
is being out in the dark, away from God. Prayer is
an importunate man knocking at his neighbour's door
for bread at midnight. Censoriousness is a man with
a beam in his eye complaining of another with a mote
in his. Insincerity is a whited sepulchre, fair without
but within full of dead men's bones. Providence is
God's care for an odd sparrow. Thus the great Preacher
shows us how to bring abstract truths within the range
of simple minds and how to force them upon the atten-
tion of all.
3. His versatility. In the brief compass of His re-
corded words He touched upon all the great truths of
the spiritual life and upon all the essential requirements
318 PULPIT POWER
of the moral law, yet with such variety of treatment
that one never grows weary of hearing Him. This fact
is worthy of our careful consideration ; for we are over-
inclined to preach in ruts and grooves. The circum-
ference of truth is large enough to afford variety in
abundance ; but, unless we guard against our natural
disposition, we shall stand foot-fast, on a small arc of
the great circle, drawing out one sort of doctrinal or
ethical thought until our congregations nod as they
murmur, " When will he be done with it ? " I do not
mean that we are to go far afield in search of novelty ;
but, standing beneath the shadow of the Cross, with all
the points of the compass at our command, why should
we stare fixedly at one small sunlit spot on an infinite
horizon ?
4. His use of Scripture. At the beginning of His
ministry He went into the synagogue at Nazareth and
opened the Book ; and, having found the place where
it is written, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, be-
cause He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to
the poor ; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord," He began
to say unto them, " This day is this Scripture fulfilled
in your ears " (Luke iv. 16-21). And thence, through
His entire ministry, He went " preaching the Word."
It is written, " The people pressed upon Him to hear
the Word of God " (Luke v. 1). He was the great ex-
pository preacher. The Law and the Prophets were
ever on His lips. Of the Scripture He said, " It can-
not be broken " (John x. 35) ; and, " One jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be ful-
CHRIST OUR MODEL 319
filled " (Matt. v. 18). As to the Prophets He found the
Messianic hope running through them like the theme of
an oratorio. All prophecy " must needs be fulfilled. "
Fulfilled ! Fulfilled ! This was His constant word.
Luthardt says, " The position which Jesus takes with
respect to the Old Testament, and the estimation in
which He holds it, may be clearly seen by the use He
makes of it. He unquestionably regards the Old Tes-
tament as absolutely the Word of God." Canon Lid-
don says, " The trustworthiness of the Old Testament
is, in fact, inseparable from the trustworthiness of the
Lord Jesus Christ ; and if we believe that He is the
true light of the world, we shall resolutely close our
ears against any of the suggestions of the falsehood of
those Hebrew Scriptures which have received the stamp
of His divine authority." This was the testimony of
Jesus all through His ministry to the very end. On
the day of His resurrection He, unrecognized,
joined two of His disciples, who, as they journeyed to
Emmaus, sadly discussed the failure of their hopes.
At length He said, " O fools and slow of heart to be-
lieve all that the prophets have spoken ! " And then
" beginning at Moses and all the prophets He ex-
pounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things con-
cerning Himself " (Luke xxiv. 25).
It is not strange that our Lord, whose preaching was
so faithful to the Scriptures, should have prescribed the
same method for us. He commissioned His disciples to
"go preach." Preach what? The Word. The law
of the kingdom is germination. The figure is seed-
growing. " He spake a parable unto them saying, ' A
sower went forth to sow his seed ' " ; and Avhen His
disciples asked Him the meaning of this parable, He
320 PULPIT POWER
said, " To you it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of God. Now the parable is this : The seed
is the "Word of God." Wherefore, in the work of the
kingdom His disciples went everywhere preaching the
Word (Acts viii. 4 ; Col. i. 25 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2).
We are not required to regenerate souls. This is the
divine prerogative. But we are bound to disseminate
the Word ; and through the Word the Lord saves men.
The Church shall not fulfill her obligation until her
missionaries go to the uttermost parts of the earth,
scattering the words of Scripture as leaves of the tree
of life. God will do the rest. His promise is sure.
" As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed
to the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall My Word
be that goeth forth out of My mouth ; it shall not re-
turn unto Me void ; but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it " (Isa. Iv. 10).
The experience of the past has proven beyond all
peradventure that the secret of success in evangelization
is implicit faith in the Word of God. A Bible preacher
is a preacher of power. A Bible preacher is a fisher of
men. Mr. Moody, not long before his death, showed
me a petition signed by sixteen thousand of the people
of Australia and Tasmania, entreating him to come
over and " preach the Old Bible and the Blood of
Christ." " The Old Bible," said he, " has not lost its
power. They may rail at it, they may revile it, but it
stands as an impregnable rock. And it has power to
save men ! " This was the secret of Mr. Moody's mar-
vellous success. He sowed the Word, and God fulfilled
CHRIST OUR MODEL 321
His promise; the song of harvest-home greeted the
great evangelist as he entered the heavenly city.
If we would be good soldiers of Christ, we must be
loyal to the Scriptures. In our equipment (Eph. vi.
11-18), though there are many parts of armour, there
is but a single weapon ; namely, " the sword of the
Spirit." He who would enter battle with a wooden
sword must know himself foredoomed to failure ; but
a fine confidence nerves the arm of the Christian who
reads on his Damascus blade the name of the divine
forger. In the hour of temptation, in the front of
duty, in the service of the kingdom, he shall quit him-
self as a good soldier, if only he grasp firmly "the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
5. His practicalness. He did not guess, or theorize,
or speculate, or spend his strength on the splitting of
hairs or the building of castles in the air. He spoke
straight at the minds and consciences and hearts of
men with reference to truths and duties necessary to
be known for present welfare and, above all, for the
endless life. His only wi'itten sermon, so far as we are
informed, was when the religious leaders dragged an
adulterous woman up the temple stairs and threw her
down before Him saying, " Moses saith that such as she
shall be stoned ; but what sayest Thou ? " He stooped
then and, as it might appear, wrote on the dust of the
pavement : " Let him that is without sin cast the first
stone at her ! " A sermon an hour long would not
have cut so deep or carried so far. See them now, go-
ing out " one by one, beginning at the eldest " ! That
was a sermon with a harpoon in it. The custom of
Christ was to aim His preaching so as to make right-
eousness search out sin and put it to an open shame.
322 PULPIT POWER
6. His optimism. He could afford to be optimistic
because He saw the end from the beginning. He knew
that, however wrong and error may seem to have the
upper hand for a time, truth and righteousness are
certain to prevail in the long run. "Wherefore His
preaching rings with " Fear not." Our faith in Him
should lift our preaching to the same major key.
" Fear not ! The waster builds again :
A charmed life old Goodness hath ;
The tares may perish, but the grain
Is not for death."
If the eleven disciples who came down out of the upper
room, after the ascension of Christ, had been asked
what they now proposed to do, and if they had an-
swered, "We are going forth to the conquest of the
world," they would have been laughed at. But at the
end of the first century the eleven had become half a
million ; at the end of the fifth century they were ten
millions ; at the end of the fifteenth they were one
hundred millions ; at the end of the eighteenth they
were two hundred millions ; at the end of the nineteenth
they were above four hundred millions ; and still the
royal standards onward go ! Why should we borrow
trouble for the future? Let us preach as if we be-
lieved our Bibles and as if the impressive logic of events
had not been lost upon us.
7. His tone of authority. " He spake as one having
authority, and not as the scribes." The word " author-
ity " is exousia ; that is, something coming from within.
He did not derive His authority, as the scribes did,
from ancient worthies or from precedents; but from
His own consciousness. The Court of Ultimate Appeal
CHRIST OUR MODEL 323
was in His own breast ; as He said, " I am the Truth."
It was for this reason that He could speak with a Yea
and Amen and " Yerily, verily, I say unto you." In
this we cannot copy Him. Our ipse dixit is but as tin
thunder in the presence of men and women who are as
wise as we. Nevertheless we are quite at liberty to
dogmatize, if only we dogmatize upon the authority of
the written and incarnate Word of God. We cannot
say " Verily, verily, I say unto you " ; but we can say
" Thus saith the Lord," or " Remember the words of
the Lord Jesus, how He said." And when we postulate
our statements on such authority we are not at Liberty
to speak in doubtful terms. We are not at liberty to
put an if or a peradventure into any truth which Christ
affirms with a "Verily, verily." Our certitude is
measured by our faith.
The reason why people come to church is not because
they want to know what the preacher thinks about this
or that : they want to know what God has to say about
it. They expect us, as students of His Word, to know
its content ; and we are under bonds to declare faith-
fully, fearlessly and confidently the whole counsel of
God.
Our success as preachers will be measured in the
long run by our imitation of the method of Christ.
But back of the preacher is always the man. We can-
not preach like Christ unless we live like Him. Where-
fore let us pray that the mind that was in Christ Jesus
may be also in us.
" Lord, make me like Thyself:
Lord, make me be myself ;
Seeming as one who lives to Thee,
And being what I seem to be."
324 PULPIT POWER
It is said that centuries ago, in the public square of
an Italian city, an unknown wandering friar preached
to the people about Christ and Him crucified so elo-
quently that all were melted to tears: and then he
went his way. As the years passed the story of that
wonderful sermon was handed down from generation
to generation until it became a tradition. At length
the devout people of that city resolved to erect a
monument to the memory of the eloquent friar. The
marble shaft was prepared accordingly ; but what name
should be inscribed upon it ? No one knew his name ;
none could remember ever having heard it. The ar-
chives of the city were searched in vain. In due time,
however, the marble shaft was erected : and there it
stands to this day, inscribed with a single word, a
name, but not the preacher's name. The word is
" Jesus " — the name which is above every other that
is named in heaven or on earth.
My brethren in the ministry, when our work is
finished and our voices are hushed, though our names
be forgotten, may it be remembered of us that we
preached Christ and Him crucified; and however we
may pass into forgetfulness, may we leave behind us
the fragrance of His Name : who in all our preaching,
as in our lives, must be Alpha and Omega ; first, last,
midst and all in aU.
Index
A FORTIORI mode of reasoning, 153
A posteriori mode of reasoning, 150
A priori mode of reasoning, 149
Adjectives, to be used sparingly,
210
Admonition in the pulpit, 190
Alexander, Addison, on the ad-
vantage of short vi'ords, 208
America, God's hand in its history,
91
Analogy, as argument, 151
Andrewes, Bishop, on " the new be-
getting," 209
Anecdotes, to be used with cau-
tion, 223
Anthropology, in the pulpit, 280
Apologies, to be omitted, 115
Application of the sermon, 76, 190,
268
Aquila and Priscilla, outline of
sermon on, loo
Argument in preaching, 59 ; im-
portance of, 129 ; uses of, 131
Aristotle on the outline, 59
Art in illustration, 229
Atonement, the doctrine of, 285 ;
antecedent probability of, 144;
supported by analogy, 152
Authority, three sources of, 14 ;
appeal to, 167, 193, 322
Bacon, Roger, 29, 143
Baker, Prof. George P., 59, 115,
122, 169, 176
Beecher, Henry Ward, 60, 113,
116, 212, 219, 226, 227, 231,
247, 249, 255
Begging the question, 179
Belief necessary to efficiency, 300
Biographical preaching, 95, 228 ;
on scriptural characters, 97 ;
specimen outline, 100
Blaikie, Dr., on the use of analogy,
218
Booth, General, on personal ex-
perience, 230
Breed, Dr. David R., ill, 124,
131, 196, 256, 291
Brevity, 56, 124, 182, 193, 266
Brief, use of in the pulpit, 242
Brooks, Phillips, 11, 25, 35, 38, 53,
82, 245
" Brother," Christ's definition of,
313
Bunyan, 15, 224, 295
Burdette, Rev. Robert, an expla-
nation of his position, 134
Burke, Edmund, 132, 137, 188
Business, outline of sermon on, 78
Call to the ministry, 297
Calvary, the preacher's standpoint^
77. 103
Calvinism and infant damnation,
174
Campbell, Dr., paraphrase of the
house on the rock, 211
Canteen in the army, 17 1
Carlyle, Thomas, 54, 237, 258
Caturce, Jean, at the stake, 39
Chalmers, Dr., written sermons,
213, 289
Chesterfield at church, 160
Christian Science, how to treat it,
35. 237
Chrysostom, 263
Cicero, on the exordium, lia
Classification of sermons, 63
Clearness, 139, 203
Climax, to be honoured, 183
" Cloth," the, 253
Concessions in argument, 1 96
Consensus, as proof, 162
Construction of the outline, 59
325
326
INDEX
Cook, Joseph, on conscience, 128
Courtesy, in preaching, 185
Cowper, 203, 233, 254, 296
Cox, Dr. Samuel H., use of Latin
and Greek, 209
Cumulative argument, 165
Deduction, as proof, 146
Definition of the sermon, II
Delivery of the sermon, 241
Demonstration, 135, 142
DeQuincy, on cross-cut carving,
267
Description, in the exordium, 126;
as a form of argument, 131
Dictionary, study of the, 221
Dilemma, the, 171
Directness, 289
Divinity of Christ, outline of ser-
mon on, 84
Doctrinal preaching, 81 ; specimen
outline, 84
Dogmatizing, unwarranted, 13, 83,
300» 323
Dow, Lorenzo, sensational intro-
duction, 113
Dramatic element in preaching, 98
Dullness, the preacher's unpardon-
able sin, 261
Earnestness, 183, 269, 288
Edwards, Jonathan, on the freedom
of the will, 125; preaching to
the Pequots, 184
Elegance, false, 203
Emerson, not a model for preach-
ers, 55
Equivocation, in the use of terms,
177
Essays are not sermons, 48
Ethical preaching, 12, 74 ; should
be positive, 75 ; specimen out-
line, 78 ; Christ's method, 307
Euphuism, out of place in the pul-
pit, 211
Evading the question, 180
Evangelism, the new, a misnomer,
22
Evangelist, the preacher an, 13
Evangelistic preaching, loi
Events, passing, may be used to
advantage, 222
Evidence, laws of, 141
Evolution, an unproved theory,
136, 143
Exhortation, 105, 191
Exordium, its importance, III; ob-
ject, 59, III ; parts, 1 14
Experience, argument from, 16,
230
Explanation, 120; has to do with
facts, 133
Expository sermons, defined, 63;
examples, 64
Extempore preaching, 244.
Fables, as distinguished from par-
ables, 222
Fallacies, detection of, 176
Faunce, President, four conceptions
of the ministry, 102
Fenelon, on memoriter preaching,
242
Figures of speech, 221
Filioque, not an unimportant word,
138
Forum, the Roman, custom of
speakers in, 215
Franklin and The Spectator, 141
Freedom of the will, 192; Edwards
on the, 125
GarfiELd, President, an effective
speech, 182
Garrick, on players and preachers,
274
Gladstone and Bright, 56
Grant's Chattanooga campaign, 60
Gregory, Dr. Daniel S., 14, 19
Hall, Dr. John, on expository
preaching, 63; a secret of his
power, 212
Heresy, an attraction, 272
Hierocles, his concentric circles, 20,
312
Hill, Prof. A. S., 148, 152, 158, 163
Hill, Rowland, an outlandish illus-
tration, 234
Historical preaching, 87 ; its spirit-
ual uses, 89; specimen outline,
91
Hood, Faxton, 184, 238, 264, 283
INDEX
327
Hood, Thomas, "The Song of the
Shirt," 132
Hoppin, Professor, on the object of
preaching, 18
Humour, is it permissible in the
pulpit ? 232
IcoNOCLASM, is it worth while ? 45,
181
Illustration, for emphasis, 145 ;
definition and use, 217
Impedimenta, 252
Importance of the outline, 53; of
the exordium, ill; of argument,
129; of the peroration, 188
Inconsistency in argument, 180
Inductive mode of reasoning, 147
Industry, necessary to the preach-
er's success, 303
Infant baptism, curious sermon on,
48
Instances, argument by, 164
John the Baptist, outline of ser-
mon on, 98
Johnson, Dr. Herrick, 55, 61, 121
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, his literary
style, 204; altercation with a
fishwoman, 208
Justification by faith, 306
Lamb, Charles, on the discom-
fiture of Titubus, 185
Luther's rule of preaching, 266
Lysias, introduction to Athenian
address, 112
McKiNNEY, on eflfective preaching,
193
Macauley, on Dr. Johnson's literary
style, 204
Maclaren, Dr. Alexander, a felici-
tous paraphrase, 119
Mansell, Dean, on the affectation
of profundity, 203
Manuscript, a non-conductor, 241,
25s
Massillon, on brevity, 194
Matthews, Dr. William M,, 140,
171, 207, 220, 236
Memoriter preaching, 242
Metaphor, defined, 221
Mirabeau, his eflfective delivery,
241
Missionary, the preacher a, 20
Monotony, in preaching Christ,
104 ; in delivery, 267
Moody, the secret of his power,
297 ; loyal to the Bible and the
Cross, 320
Moses at the Egyptian Court, 279
Mythology, its use in illustration,
229
Narration, in the introduction,
117; of events, 132
Nathan rebuking David, 282
Negative preaching, 265
" Neighbour," Christ's definition of,
314
Newman, Cardinal, on the use of
equivocal terms, 177
Nexus, its importance, 215
Nichols, Rev. Thomas M., 243,
302
Object of the sermon, 14
Optimism, in preaching, 90, 290;
the optimism of Christ, 322
Origin of the question, 115
Otway, on the importance of argu-
ment, 129
Outline, importance, 53 ; according
to nature, 54 ; secures unity, 54 ;
how to construct it, 59 ; modified
by classification, 63; topical,
textual and expository examples,
64
Parables, defined, 223 ; in Christ's
preaching, 154
Paragraphs, should be frequent,
213
Paraphrasing, in the exordium, 119
Park, Dr. Edwards, 261
Parker, Dr. Joseph, 205, 219, 225,
230, 236, 276
Pattison, Prof. T. Harwood, 30, 31,
34, 56, 124, 129, 135, 182, 185,
190, 194, 206
Paul, on Mars Hill, 49, II6, 123 ;
his charge to Timothy on preach-
ing, 13; his prayer for the
Ephesian Church, 66 ; his use of
328
INDEX
a fortiori logic, 155 ; his argu-
ment on the resurrection, 170 ;
his use of illative conjunctions,
216 ; a master of illustration, 219
Peroration, its importance, 188; its
form, 189; when it may be
omitted, 195
Personalities in the pulpit, 46, 76
Personification, in illustrating truth,
221
Persuasion, 146
Peter, his sermon at Pentecost, 14 ;
his sum in addition, 70 ; outline
of his Pentecostal sermon, 106 ;
was he the rock? 133
Phelps, Prof. Stuart, 25, 29, 32, 38,
40, 56, 59. 118, 191, 203, 232
Picturesqueness of Christ's preach-
ing, 316
Pleonasm, to be avoided, 211
Poetry, in closing the sermon, 195
Politics, preaching, 310
Pope, Alexander, 262
Popery, rests on false exegetical
basis, 133
Positiveness, in preaching truth,
214
Power in preaching, 289; attain-
able, 297 ; three requisites, 300
Practicalness of Christ's preaching,
321
Preaching, ethical, 15 ; topical,
textual and expository, 36 ;
preaching the Gospel, 49
Premises, exposure of false, 174
Probability, antecedent, 142
Profundity, to be avoided, 44, 203
Proof, a mathematical process, 145 ;
positive, 142; negative, 168
Proposition, explained, 120; to be
kept before the preacher's mind,
137
Providence, the plan of, 72
Pulpit, an obstruction, 254
QuiNTiLiAN, on the constituent
parts of the outline, 59
Quotation, an important help in
preaching, 224
Recapitulation, 189
Reductio ad absurdum, 136, 169
Reform, social, 18 ; in Christ's
preaching, 309
Refutation^- when called for, 168
Requisites of a convincing argu-
ment, 136
Residues, rule of, 173
Review, the Edinburgh, on the use
of manuscript in the pulpit, 245
Revivals and evangelism, 15, loi
Rhetoric, important, 140 ; a means
to an end, 267
Robertson, F. W,, on loneliness,
120
Ruskin, John, on the sermon as a
divine message, 199
Salvation, the object of preach-
ing, 83, 102
Science, preaching, l8l, 229
Scriptures, the preacher's authority,
13, 31 ; means of conversion, 14 ;
of sanctification, 16; of social
and civil reform, 18 ; of world-
wide evangelization, 20 ; inex-
haustible supply of material in,
97 ; reasons for believing, 165 ;
the non-believers' trilemma, 173 ;
inspired, 178; source of illustra-
tion, 225
Selection of texts and topics, 33
Sensationalism, proper and im-
proper, 271
Senses, evidence of the, 164
Sentences, 211; should be ora-
torical, 213
Series of sermons, 97
Sermon, definition of the, II; its
object, 16; a case in court, 48
topical, textual, expository, 63
ethical, 74; doctrinal, 81 ; his
torical, 87 ; biographical, 95
evangelistic, 10 1 ; for the New
Year, 192; delivery, 241
Sermon on the Mount, not a suf-
ficient creed, 175 ; ethical, not
doctrinal, 308
Sermonettes, 193
Sign, argument by, 163
Simile, defined, 221
Simplicity, 82; in Christ's preach-
ing, 316
Sincerity, in preaching, 183
INDEX
329
Smith, Adam, on economic science,
310
Soteriology, in the pulpit, 284
Spurgeon, 28, 41, 126, 205, 223
Statistics, as argument, 164
Storrs, Dr. Richard S., 248, 249
Style, definition, 201 ; elements of,
203 ; rules of, 206
Suggestions as to texts, 38 ; as to
topics, 44 ; as to the exordium,
123; as to the argument, 180;
as to the peroration, 192
Talmage, 271, 285, 287
Tennyson's " Northern Farmer,"
217
Testimony, in argument, 156
Texts, use of, 25 ; Christ's custom,
26 ; apostles' and early fathers',
27 ; argument for and against,
30 ; selection of, 33 ; two or
more, 38 ; old texts, 39 ; ob-
scure, 40; difficult, 41; com-
plex, 42
Thackeray, on the use of adjec-
tives, 210
Theology, the new, ineffective, 21 ;
theology in the pulpit, 275
Topics, suggestions as to, 44 ;
small, 45 ; negative, 45 ; large,
74 ; Christ's choice of, 26, 305
Tradition, argument from, 159
Trench, Archbishop, on parables,
223
Trilemma, 17a
Unpardonable Sin is the rejec-
tion of Christ, 43
Variety, in texts and topics, 33 ;
in introductions, 125 ; prevents
dullness, 217
Versatility of Christ's preaching,
317
Voltaire, opposed to use of texts,
30
Watson's " Mind of the Master,"
17s
■Webster, Daniel, statement of
facts, 117; on "the fixity of
points," 139
Wells, Ralph, on teaching the
commandments, 16
Wesley's hymns, 193
Whitefield, his persuasive power,
139 ; his blind beggar, 283
Whittier, on Jonathan Edv/ards,
184
Word painting, 220
Words, in right places, 201 ; to be
studied carefully, 206
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