tiplication of particulars under every general head of your discourse. Let your particular heads be not only few, but distinct; and affect not to conceal the number and order of them, if they be distinct and natural, as ome modern preachers do. It is a false delicacy to aim at reducing a sermon to the form of a polite harangue*. The other method of expressing "Of late years it has been much the fashion to have no distinct divisions, but to deliver what is said in the desultory form of an Essay. To whatever causes the custom is owing, I cannot, for several reasons, universally or even generally approve of it in the pulpit. The ablest Rhetoricians of antiquity have given no sanction to the mode in question. Method, according to them, was a capital object of consideration; and it appears from all which they have advanced upon it, that they expected it to be visible. On such a supposition their rules are founded; and could not otherwise have been usually put into practice. For this I may appeal to the principal writers upon Eloquence, from Aristotle down to Quintilian. Agreeably to the precepts of the best rhetoricians, was the practice of the best orators; and particularly of the two luminaries, Demosthenes and Cicero: who frequently, who generally lay down their scheme in a distinct manner. Even where they have not done this, the nature of the antient oratory rendered their method apparent. Their discourses, according to the stated laws of composition, must consist of an exordium, a proposition of the subject, a confirmation, and a conclusion, not to mention the narration and confutation; and they did not think of hiding these several parts, which were known and expected." "His, expressing the number of the heads in their proper order, is not only more pleasing to the common sort of hearers, but a help to their understanding "His, (i. e. the Christian preacher's) usual business is to promote a regular course of instruction and edification. Reason and the affections are to go hand in hand together, in whatever is delivered from the pulpit. The important and glorious truths of the gospel are to be continually urged, in order to influence the temper and regulate the life. Here then two or three commodious divisions become exceedingly proper, as resting places to the soul, as affording materials which it can digest and rest upon for its private improvement. Hence will our congregations receive substantial benefit: whereas vague essays and declamations leave few traces in the mind, and make little or no impression upon the heart." Dr. Kippis's at Bridport, 10th July. 1788, p. 17-20. "Sermons are now no more. Loose, disjointed Essays are all the fashion. Well! were I the only clergyman in England, who preached a divided sermon, I would persevere and glory in my singularity. No hearer, be he ever so acute, can give a satisfactory account, (as Dean TUCKER justly observes) of these fashionable, modern essays. I will go a step farther. Was the best and most regularly divided sermon to be preached without saying 1st, 2d, 3d, general heads, it would be almost impossible to have a clear idea of it. "Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON, in his directions to a clergyman, concerning the composition of a sermon, very properly observes, that divisions not only help the memory of the hearer, but direct the judgment of the writer; they supply sources of invention, and keep every part in its proper place.* Sir James Stonehouse's "Letters," p. 342-344; and also Lawson's "Lectures on Oratory," p. 383. T. and and memory; which a preacher should by all means carefully regard*. "It will be proper to draw your method or plan, on a loose piece of paper laid before you, with the several particulars under their respective general heads; and whatever place of scripture, or inferences, &c. you meet with in reading or meditating, pertinent to any particu.ar point you shall speak to, you may then place them under that particular: For all things may not come to your mind at once, and a thought is so quickly gone (let your memory be almost ever so tenacious and retentive) that you will hardly retain it, unless it be in this manner committed to paper. And whatever place of scripture you make use of, which you do not well understand, consult the ablest commentators on that passage for the meaning of it; that you may not apply it to a wrong sense t." 4. Having thus provided materials, and formed your plan, begin the superstructure, which will now be raised and adorned with great ease, and be continually improving upon your hands. For no man * It is but a bad rule in Alsted, (at least for vulgar auditories) when he advises to conceal and alter the method for variety's sake. Crypsis dispositionis tollit fastidium auditoris.This may be true of itching, curious hearers, but not of such as regard their own profit and edification. Wilk. Eccles. p. 5. + Barecroft's Ars Conc. p. 111, 112, can can talk well on a subject, of which he is not entirely master*. "In the beginning you must endeavour to gain the favour of the audience, by a modest introduction, a respectful address, and the genuine marks of candour and probityt." Let your exordium be short, modest, grave, and striking; either by proposing your method, and entering upon your subject directly; or by a few important general observations which are connected with, or naturally lead to it; or by some short unexpected remark on the words of the text. In your enlargement on particulars, if you find your thoughts do not run freely on any point, do not urge them too much; this will tire and jade * Etenim ex rerum cognitione efflorescat et redundet oportet oratio: Quæ nisi subest res ab oratore percepta et cognita, inanem quandam habet elocutionem, et ferè puerilem. Cicero de Orat. 1. i. § 6. + Cambray's Dialogues on Eloquence, p. 117.-Sed hæc adjuvant in oratore, lenitas vocis, vultus, pudoris significatio, verborum comitas. Cicero de Orat. I. ii. § 43. "It is of mighty importance, that this part, (i. e. the Introduction) should be rightly executed, and it is that in which there is most danger of failing. The best precept appears to be this. When you have formed your whole plan, search among your inferences for the most easy and natural one this will furnish a good introduction: but take care that it do not afterwards appear, at least in the same light."— LAWSON'S Lectures on Oratory, p. 381. T. the the faculties too soon. But pursue your plan: better thoughts may occur afterwards, which you may occasionally insert. Let your best sentiments stand in the beginning or end of a paragraph, and the rest in the middle, which will pass very well in good company. And let every head conclude with some striking sentence, or pertinent scripture. As every compleat sermon resembles a little book, the method of composing the former may be the same with what Ringelbergius tells us he used in composing the latter. 66 My first care, says he, is to form in my mind a perfect plan of the work before me. Then in a large tablet, or a sheet of paper, I set down the titles of the chapters, or the several heads I am to discourse on. Then I look over them to see if they have their proper place, connexion, and coherence, and alter them as I see occasion. Then, whilst my mind is still warm with the subject, I take a brief sketch of what is proper to be said under each head, which I write down on a loose piece of paper; these I afterwards transfer into my plan, and in a fair hand transcribe under their proper heads. By this means, I have the whole subject and method of the work under my eye at once. Then I every day transcribe a chapter for the press, and add, or expunge, as I go along, according as the matter requires. After this, when I see nothing deficient or redundant |