a pungent and thrilling appeal. But in less than ten minutes from this imposing introduction, the preacher began to vociferate, his action became vehement, his tone querulous, it was evident that something went wrong, and the fact was, he was preaching not upon his subject, but upon the common indulgence in tea and coffee; detailing the expenses of their daily use at breakfast and supper, and describing their injurious influences upon the stomach and nervous system. Is it asked, by what process of legerdemain he let himself down from the elevated theatre of an assembled world, to so small a thing as a culinary preparation? His transition was not illogical. He desired to prove, that we shall be judged not only for what we have done, but also for what we have left undone; that we shall not be able to excuse our omission of pecuniary gifts by the plea that we have nothing to give, for we may both prolong a useful life, and save money for the poor, by retrenching the superfluities of the table; and then to the condemnation of such superfluities, tea and coffee among the rest, he devoted a conspicuous part of his promised sermon on the judgment. His perceptions were clear, his heart was enlisted in the cause of benevolence, but it was not absorbed by the doctrine which should have raised it above the poor contents of a china cup; it was not assimilated to that sublime doctrine; the doctrine did not look through him, through his style, tones, and gestures; something else had interested his feelings, and an honest indignation at the money wasted in popular narcotics, led his mind from the dread tribunal which ought to have engrossed it, to a dietetic prescription, which probably did more hurt than good. Every minister should remember, that he is in some respects like the animal which is said to take its hue from the last object it touches, and when his mind has been in close contact with any theme, it catches the coloring of that theme, exhibits itself in that coloring, and of course exhibits the theme. He should be careful in preparing his discourse to touch nothing but his subject, lest he lose the tincture of it. Let him so revolve it in his mind, that meditation shall rouse up feeling, and then feeling though subsequent to thought, shall yet direct the train of it, as the rudder though at the stern of the ship directs the course of the prow.

Says Robert Hall, in his charge at the ordination of his nephew, " An excellent man was so impressed with the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, that he made it the constant

topic of his ministry; every sermon he preached was crowded with proofs, or answers to objections, relating to this important topic; and the result was, that most of his hearers became Arians and Socinians ! This effect was not such as he expected, or as might be thought of at the time by others; but the consequence was natural. Such discussions produced, first a dry, speculative attention to the subject, then a fiery, contentious spirit in discussion; in this state the spirit of the doctrine was lost, and the people sunk into such a frame of mind as is suited to the reception of these, or any other heresies that might be sophistically presented to them." Now the origin of the monotonous and polemic style of this preacher was, not that he thought too much, but did not think in the right way, did not receive into his heart the feeling appropriate to his thoughts. The emotions properly excited by the doctrine of the Trinity will bear a man onward in spite of himself, to the related themes of the atonement, the death it saves from, the life it provides; of human depravity giving occasion for the atonement; of regeneration made necessary by depravity, possible by the sacrifice of the Second Person, and actual by the operation of the Third Person in the Trinity. The minister "cannot but speak," as opportunity will permit, of all such themes, when he is rightly and thoroughly affected by either of them; and he will speak not as an attorney, bent on carrying his argument, but as in Christ's stead beseeching men to be reconciled to God. The feeling he manifests becomes an essential part of his teaching; it is itself a proof distinct from all other proofs, and sometimes superior to all. Multitudes have been convinced by the excellence and appropriateness of the feeling, who had remained unconvinced by the solitary applications of syllogism. "There is," said bishop Wilkins, " a common relation to this purpose of divers learned men, who having a great while, with much argument and strength of reason, contended with another about persuading him to be baptized, he being learned also could well evade all their arguments. At length a grave pious man amongst them, of no note for learning, stands up and bespeaks him with some downright affectionate expressions, which wrought so effectually upon the other, that he presently submitted; yielding this reason, Donec audiebam rationes humanas, humanis rationibus repugnabam; caeterum simul atque * Hall's Works, Vol. II. p. 478. 58

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audivi Spiritum loquentem, cessi Spiritui. And 'tis storied of Junius before his conversion, that meeting once with a countryman as he was on a journey, and falling into a discourse with him about divers points of religion, he observed the plain fellow to talk so experimentally, with so much heartiness and affection, as made him first begin to think, that sure there was something more in those truths than his rational human learning had yet discovered; which occasioned his more serious inquiry into them, and afterwards his conversion. Such great power is there in these cordial expressions."*

It is a

Thirdly; another means of obtaining the right mode of religious teaching is, an imitation of the best models. There is a kind of imitation which enslaves, but another kind which elevates the mind. As the Pythian priestess, after a thorough purification in the waters of Castalis, sat on the tripod in Apollo's temple, and was there inspired by the evaporations from the subterranean cave, so he who sits with a pure heart at the feet of masters in eloquence becomes ravished with the spirit breathed out from these masters, and exhilarated as he could never be without this communion with the favored few. remark of Augustine, that "if a man have an acute and fervid mind, he will acquire eloquence more readily from reading or hearing eloquent men, than from practising on the rules of eloquence." Though in theory rhetorical art is founded on rhetorical science, as every art is founded on science; yet in fact the art of rhetoric was practised before its rules were formally expressed, and these rules were suggested not a priori, but by an induction of rhetorical specimens, which were exhibited before rhetorical rules as such were ever thought of. By noticing the effect of certain modes of address, philosophers were apprized of principles on which every address should be modeled, and if the orations of Demosthenes or Cicero will suggest principles of secular eloquence, so will the sermons of Chrysostom, or Barrow, or Hall, or Whitefield suggest the principles of sacred eloquence. A critical analysis then of such discourses as have been followed by marked results, will suggest the principles on which these results have been produced; and these principles may be abstractly stated in the form of rules, or, which is far better, their excellence may be infused into our own style by a rational imitation. We do not become servile

Ecclesiastes, 252, 253.

copyists of a model by seizing and retaining its spirit. When we imitate the manner which experience has proved to be most efficient, we make the manner as natural to us as it was to its authors; and any slavish mimicry, any constrained resemblance to the letter is the very thing, which makes our imitation unworthy of the name. We cannot become like an author by deviating from his ease and naturalness. We must resemble him in his independence of thought, and originality of feeling. Our imitation of his essential excellences cannot be too strict. "Such imitation," says Longinus, "is not to be looked upon as plagiarism, but as lifting our souls to the standard of the genius of others, and filling us with their lofty ideas and energy." Men may imitate foolishly to their hurt, as they may think foolishly to their ruin.

If the compositions of uninspired men are in a judicious way to be imitated, much more are those of the inspired. Holy writers, composing as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, adapted their words to the nature of mind, just as the Framer of mind, who knew what was in it, prescribed; and if we conform our words to the general principles of the scriptural model, we shall conform them to a philosophy divinely sanctioned, and of course successful. The more thoroughly we shape our discourses according to the great features of the pattern shown us in the Bible, so much the more divine will be their structure. Indeed, the imitation of the scriptural model in its essential features, is not only a rhetorical requisite, but a moral duty; so that there was more reason than one or two for the precept given to an old Swiss reformer, "si vis fieri bonus concionator, da operam ut sis bonus biblicus." It is indeed to be lamented, that the biblical manner, in distinction from the biblical matter of instruction, is not more attentively studied. It is a fruitful though too much an untravelled field. Could there be as an integrant part of theological education, a faithful inquiry into the intent and bearings, the order and relation, the primary and ultimate effect with which the sacred penmen have discussed each doctrine of the Bible, a new variety, vivacity, and power would be imparted to the teachings of the pulpit.

It is to be distinctly understood, that the most important means of acquiring the right mode of exhibiting truth is an imitation of the scriptural mode, that the scriptural mode is to be imitated in its general principles without deviation, that in its specific details it is also to be imitated, save where a cautious

judginent detect valid reasons for an exception, and that there can be no such reasons, whenever these details express the same shade of meaning and produce the same moral effect, which they did when the Bible was written. It has, however, been insisted upon by some, that we must adopt the minutiae of the scriptural mode invariably, and must preach in all respects as the sacred writers wrote. This minute imitation betrays so much reverence for the Bible, that to discountenance it will appear to some imprudence at least. Yet the charge of imprudence may be hazarded in opposing any principle, which, though false, is received as true, and which, though not generally defended in form, exerts a general but tacit influence in cramping the originality, and repressing the free impulses of the pulpit. We wish a rigid virtue but a pliant eloquence; close and straight lines for the conduct, but an easy and spontaneous flow for those thoughts and emotions which persuade men to godliness. And when we search into the causes of the constrained, and unbending, and timid rhetoric which has so long been complained of in the church, we find one of these causes to be an attempt, uncommanded and unnatural, to imitate the minute details which are so excellent as to have received the sanction of Inspiration, but which, like other details of style, can be imitated only by coërcing the mind. The writer is enslaved and cannot write well, who compresses the spring and elasticity of his own spirit in copying the unessential features of any model, no matter what the model is. It may then help to throw us back upon those elements of mind, which must have their free activity in every orator, to consider the grounds for believing, that while there can be no exceptions from the rule to follow the general principles of the inspired manner, there may be frequent exceptions from the rule to follow the minute details of it.

First, it was the great principle of the sacred penmen, to accommodate themselves to the particular state of the individuals whom they addressed. They wrote for man, in the language of man, in the manner of man; yet not of man in the abstract, but men in particular; not primarily for the whole world, in all ages; but primarily for the world as it was when they wrote. Their manner in its great features was designed for, and adapted to the whole race; but in its lesser details, to the particular tastes and prejudices of particular communities. This is a fundamental principle of interpretation; and if it had been observed, metaphysicians would not have reasoned from the Bible, as