meaning of Quinctilian's remark, (Instit. Orat. L. 12. c. 1.) neque enim tantum id dico, eum qui sit orator virum esse oportere, sed ne futurum quidem oratorem, nisi virum bonum. Thus also we see the importance of a minister's selecting for his discourses, only such themes as lie within the sphere of his own investigation and practical experience. He may sometimes awaken an interest in his theme by his manner of treating it, even when his audience have a prepossession against his ability or moral fitness to discuss it. But this interest would be much increased if the prepossessions of his hearers were in his favor, or were at least not unfriendly to him. A man who is advanced in life, may preach against the dread of novelties and innovations with great effect, but a young man would encounter a baneful prejudice in his attempts to recommend the new and disparage the old customs. Cicero in his Oration for Sextus Roscius, endeavors to remove the unfavorable impressions which his youth would naturally make upon his audience; and the ancients generally attached great importance to the connection between the private character of an orator and the themes of his public discourses. See Quinctilian's Inst. Lib. 12. c. 1. 6.

But as the preacher is not merely a minister of religion, but also of the Christian religion, it follows that he should unfold in his sermons the positive and distinctive instructions of the New Testament; that the central truth of all his pulpit ministrations should be Jesus Christ, the person, the character, the teaching, the works of the Redeemer. The doctrines which were taught, and the duties which were inculcated, directly or indirectly, by the Saviour and his apostles, are such as will afford scope for the most extensive series of discourses. Never should the preacher be afraid of diminishing the variety of his pulpit addresses, by confining himself to what is taught or implied more or less emphatically in the New Testament. His great object should be to inspire his hearers with faith and love, with that faith which is described in the Form. Concord. as quiddam vivum, efficax, potens, ita ut fieri non possit, quin semper bona operetur. He should so present Christian doctrine as to evince its harmony and inseparable connection with Christian duty. The subjects of some of his discourses should be the truths of Christianity, yet not without reference to the practical virtues which grow out of them. The themes of other discourses should be the duties imposed by the Christian system, yet not without regard to the doctrines which form their basis. The subjects of the preacher's

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discourses, then, should not be purely doctrinal, if by this is meant that they should have no tendency to affect the moral conduct of the hearers; neither should they be merely practical, if by this is meant that they should have no obvious connection with the great doctrines of Christianity.

3. Doctrinal Subjects of Sermons.

When the doctrines of our religion are discussed, they should be treated in the popular, and not in the scientific form. The esential truths of Christianity are, indeed, the same, in whatever way presented; but the interests of science demand that they be reduced to a strictly logical order, that they be considered in their relations to philosophical theories, and that they compose one compact system; whereas the edification of the people demands that these truths be presented in a freer, simpler style, and that those nice distinctions which are needed for the schools be excluded from the pulpit. There are also some objections to the introduction of controversy into sermons. The polemical preacher is apt to be suspected of an undue zeal for all that is new, or all that is old; of animosity toward his opposers, or of a desire to attract attention to himself. This loss of reputation injures him as an orator. Still, there are some subjects on which fatal errors are prevalent in the community, and against these errors the preacher must assume a polemical attitude. He should not fear the unfavorable judgments of men with regard to himself, when he is called to oppose the false opinions of his hearers on subjects of essential importance. That love of peace which would exclude from the pulpit all controversy on the cardinal truths of religion, is more properly called an indifference to the spirit of the Christian scheme. Great objections have been made against the practice of discoursing on the distinctive tenets of the particular church [or sect] to which the preacher belongs. Whenever these distinctive tenets are mere philosophical explanations or subtle analyses, or recondite inferences from admitted principles; whenever they have no immediate connection with the essential genius and spirit of the New Testament, they are not proper subjects for the pulpit. But so far as the dogmas of the creed, to which we subscribe, form the characteristic features of the Christian system, we are bound to preach upon them. When a clergyman professes his belief in a creed, he is not to be considered as obligating himself to defend every word or sen

tence in it, or as precluding himself from all further advance in theological knowledge; but he is under obligation to maintain the fundamental articles of that creed, and to avoid all appearance of despising what he professes to adopt as his system of faith.

It is a mistake to suppose that doctrinal sermons must be chiefly argumentative. Some of them may be chiefly such; others may be chiefly devoted to the unfolding of the nature of the truth discussed, and others to the exhibition of its appropriate influence on the feelings and conduct. Sometimes, these three characteristics may be united in one and the same discourse. In either case the contemplation on the doctrine may be salutary to the moral feelings.

4. Practical Subjects of Sermons.

As doctrinal sermons may be properly called doctrino-practical, so practical sermons may be termed practico-doctrinal. They are devoted, not to exhibitions of mere philosophical ethics, but to the inculcation of such duties as are distinctively Christian. They demand that species of virtue which consists in conformity with the example of Christ, in a likeness to God, in such love to the Creator and to our fellow creatures as flows from faith in the divine word. Such sermons, being devoted to the ethics of Christianity, must also direct our attention to the great truths which make Christianity what it is.

The subjects in the department of Christian morality may be divided into general and special. The former class comprises all those themes which present evangelical duty as a whole. It is useful to exhibit the virtues of the Christian as forming a complete system; as intimately combined one with another, so that no one may feel himself justified in selecting a portion of these duties for practice and neglecting the remainder. There are various points of view from which one may take a comprehensive survey of the whole circle of Christian virtues, and may show the incompatibility of any, even the smallest sin with the spirit of the gospel. The second class of practical subjects, the special, comprises the specific virtues or vices, or the particular moral relations of individuals. It is desirable that the preacher exhibit the nature of evangelical virtue in its single modifications, as well as in its generic and systematic character. He should be careful not to select for the main subjects of his discourses, those

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virtues or vices in which the majority of his audience feel no personal interest. He may preach on the duties of children to their parents, because many of his hearers are interested and profited in considering the appropriate methods of treating those who are advanced in life. He may preach on the mutual obligations of rulers and private citizens, but an ordinary audience would not be edified by an entire discourse on the duties of a civil ruler, nor on the peculiar obligations of a school teacher. Such themes are too special for a promiscuous auditory. The preacher should likewise avoid all minute casuistical discussions in relation to exigencies which his hearers will probably never experience; see 2 Tim. 2: 23. Titus 3: 9. He should also avoid such graphic descriptions of vice as will excite disgust in the virtuous, or inflame the bad passions of the vicious. Such descriptions often awaken in the minds of the inexperienced, a new desire to mingle in the scenes which are so vividly pictured forth. A glowing description of the delights connected with sin, is fitted to entice many hearers into the sin from which the description was intended to dissuade him.

There is a second classification of practical or ethical discourses. They may be divided into such as warn and reprove, and such as cheer and invigorate. The preacher may so portray the vices to which his hearers are exposed, and the virtues which they ought to cherish, as to deter them from the former and persuade them to the latter. He may either descend in his description from the general to the particular, or he may rise from the particular to the general. In the latter case, he may begin with some incident recorded in the Bible, and from it may infer some general principle of ethics, which may be the subject of his discourse. The life of Christ affords a rich abundance of historical data, from which the most important rules of morality may be derived. Ecclesiastical history also furnishes many facts on which ethical instruction may be grafted. Care should be taken, however, that facts selected from history should be such as will be, in their moral relations, readily comprehended by the people. It is much better to illustrate our ethical teachings by the actual occurrences of history, than by the fictitious narratives which are sometimes composed for this purpose. Why resort to fiction, when the sacred narrative is exuberant in its moral instruction? Besides, the use of this narrative gives a biblical aspect to the sermon, and thus imparts an authority to it. The habit of indulging in fictitious description is apt to lead the preacher into a meretricious style of ornament, and also to ob

scure his own and his hearers' view of the substantial truth to be illustrated. In addition to this mode of delineating the virtue or the vice, which is the subject of the discourse, and illustrating it by veritable history, the preacher may exhibit the reasons for practising or avoiding the conduct described, the encouragements to a right demeanor, the temptations to wrong, and the consequences which result from the one and the other. In his public reproofs, he should guard against too great particularity; he should not administer reprimand very often, lest the effect of it be lost by its commonness; he should never betray a petulant or angry temper, and should adapt his rebuke to the character of the persons censured. He has no right to omit the duty altogether, of preaching against the specific sins which are committed by his people; for in 2 Tim. 4: 2. 2 Thess. 3: 15. Titus 2: 15, he is commanded to reprove men, as decisively as in other passages he is commanded to comfort them. In his condemnatory discourses he should not discourage the guilty from attempting to amend their life, nor in his consolatory discourses should he impart a greater degree of hope than the character of the afflicted will justify.

It has been already stated, that the subjects of sermons may be either, Christian doctrine, so exhibited as to encourage the performance of duty, or Christian ethics, so exhibited as to illustrate its dependence on doctrinal truth. But there may be other subjects of discourses, derived either from history, which is a progressive revelation of the divine will, or from natural philosophy, which is a reflection of the divine character, or from psychology, which is related in various ways to religious doctrine and practice.

5. Historical Subjects of Sermons.

Allusion was made in the preceding Section to the use of historical incidents in sermons; but the present Section is devoted to the selection of an historical narrative, as the chief theme of a discourse. Some event or series of events recorded in the Bible, some account of the early establishment of Christianity and of the triumph of the church over Judaism and Heathenism, may be a proper subject for a Christian discourse. The preacher may also devote a sermon occasionally to an exhibition of the state of God's people during the middle ages, to their conflict with spiritual despotism, to their struggles at the Reformation, to the progress and the influence of the Reformation, to the success of Missionary and Bible Societies; to the abuses and corruptions which have