new its good moral impression. Accordingly, that passage is the most felicitous as a text, which expresses most strikingly the general theme of the discourse, and also suggests the specific propositions into which the sermon is divided.

8. Classification of Discourses according to the Mode of treating their Texts.

One class of discourses is denominated synthetic. In these sermons a proposition is laid down and logically discussed. The proposition is suggested, but may not be all that is suggested by the text. It is considered in its philosophical or practical relations, and not necessarily in the specific relations which the text discloses. The preacher advances from the proofs to the thing proved, and on this account is his sermon called synthetic. His text, when treated in this manner, is kept subordinate to the logical train of his thoughts, and therefore is not, or need not be chosen until after the subject is selected. This class of sermons has its advantages. It encourages a habit of connected and consecutive thought; it enables the preacher to discuss particular subjects thoroughly and comprehensively; to secure unity and thereby depth of impression. A second class of discourses is the analytic. In these sermons the phrases of the text are explained and applied, the thoughts which it suggests are elucidated in the order which the text itself presents, and no effort is made to combine these thoughts into one general proposition. The preacher, therefore, announces no specific theme of his discourse, but proceeds backwards from the biblical truth to the various considerations which sustain it, analyzing the text into its component parts, and on this account his sermon is called analytic. His whole train of thought is kept subordinate to the order of the words and phrases of which he treats, and therefore the text must be selected previously to the subject. This second, as well as the first class of sermons, has its peculiar advantages. It is adapted to the easy comprehension of the people; it allows a pleasing and enlivening degree of variety in a single discourse; it pursues the unconstrained order of thought laid down in the Scriptures; and this is the order most congenial with the spontaneous feelings, especially with the religious feelings of a popular audience. The continual allusion to the words of the text, impresses men with the belief that their preacher has received his doctrine from the inspired volume. Many important parts of the Bi

1846.]

The term, Homily.

475

ble are explained, applied and enforced in this method of preaching, and the truths of the discourse become so intimately associated with the passage from which they are derived, that whenever that passage is afterwards read, it will serve as a memento of those truths and of their personal application. This simple method of treating a text was commonly adopted by the earliest of the Church Fathers, when they did not choose to dispense with a specific text altogether. Our systematic structure of a sermon is the invention of more modern times. It evinces more artifice and labor than the analytic method, and on that account is less agreeable to the minds of uneducated and unpretending Christians.

The third class of discourses is the analytico-synthetic. In these sermons the entire text is made use of, but its parts are combined into one whole, its various ideas reduced to a general proposition; and this proposition embracing the truths taught or implied in the text, is discussed in a logical as well as a biblical manner. The train of the preacher's thought is, in this class of sermons, coördinate with the train of the ideas involved in the text; and therefore it is seldom advisable to select the proposition to be discussed, before the choice of the text with which that proposition is to be collateral. This class of sermons embraces the advantages of the first two classes and excludes their evils. It allows unity of impression, and also the obvious dependence of the whole discourse upon the inspired word. It avoids the excessive looseness and incoherence into which the analytic method often tempts the preacher, and likewise the severe tension of mind which is sometimes required by the synthetic method. It therefore preserves the hearers' interest longer than do the scattering remarks of the textual, or the syllogistic reasonings of the topical preacher. Not every text, however, is fitted for the analytic, or the analytico-synthetic discourse, nor can every subject be properly discussed in the logical style first named. It is, therefore, expedient to interchange the three classes of sermons. This interchange secures variety in the ministrations of the sanctuary, and the practice in each method of writing facilitates the execution of the other two methods.

It may be proper to remark, that the second of these classes of sermons is the homily in the proper and narrow sense of that word, and is sometimes distinguished by the phrase, free homily. The third of them is also called the homily, but in a wider and less technical signification. The term, homily, is sometimes though improperly applied to any discourse which allows a free

and unrestrained flow of thought. The second and third of these classes are also designated by the epithet ascetic, because they are with peculiar frequency applied to the mere inculcation of practical duties.

9. Variety in the Themes for the Pulpit.

Secular orators, having their themes determined by the very nature of the occasions on which they speak, are not tempted like clergymen to fall into a monotony of address. They may indeed often employ the same illustrations, but they are obliged to speak on very different subjects. Preachers, being allowed to choose their own topics, are apt to confine themselves within a very narrow circle. Whatever their text may be, it may lead them to the discussion of some favorite theme on which they have already preached themselves out. They are drawn into this curriculum sometimes by their love of ease, and sometimes by their hope of deepening the impression of their favorite ideas by a frequent repetition of them. But the reiteration of the same truths in the same style, does not enforce them upon the mind. We must approach these truths from different starting-points and in different directions, in order to present them effectively to our hearers. Sermons on various topics must be made to converge to one moral result. Every theme has numerous relations, and each of these relations should be exhibited so as to diversify the services of the pulpit. preacher must have no uniform plans for his discourses, but must accommodate his methods of discussion to the nature of the subjects discussed. He must not always preach on doctrines, nor always on duties; not uniformly on historical, nor uniformly on philosophical themes. He must avoid all one-sidedness in his own intellectual and moral training, for it is the partial education of clergymen which indisposes them to take an extensive sweep of subjects for their discourses. He must also feel a desire for the comprehensive and symmetrical development of the character of his people; and if he aims to cultivate all the Christian graces in all his hearers, he will see the necessity of leading them through an extended range of subjects. His sermons should be appropriate to his audience, and to the times, but every audience has a character somewhat peculiar, and requires a style of preaching somewhat different from that required by other audiences. Every Sabbath may also present its own exigency, and demand a variation from the style of discourse appropriate to the

The

1846.]

Elucidation of the Theme.

477

preceding Sabbaths. The doctrines advanced by the preacher need not be new, but his illustrations, his appeals, his modes of adopting and enforcing old truths, may be altogether original; suggested by his individual experience, his communion with his own heart, with the minds of his fellow men and with God. By such a variety in the selection and the treatment of his themes, he will preserve the freshness of his own spirit, and will be able to command the interested attention of his audience. He must, however, guard himself against an affectation of novelty, a search for what is new in distinction from what is good, a prurient desire to avoid all such themes as have been discussed by others. In shunning what is hackneyed, he should not be led to tolerate mannerisms and conceits. Among the moderns, good specimens of originality and variety are found in the discourses of Reinhard, Ammon, Schleiermacher and Dräseke; among the ancients, in the sermons of Ephraëm Syrus, who flourished in the fourth century.

10. Elucidation of the Subject of a Discourse.

Next to the choice of the subject, comes the elucidation of it. The feelings and the will are not excited by a theme, unless it be distinctly exhibited in its nature and relations. The first class of subjects to be discussed, comprises those particular events or acts which are within the sphere of individual experience or observation. These are elucidated by a more or less graphic description of them. A description may be prosaic, designed merely to give a clear idea of the described events or acts to the intellect; or it may be poetical, designed to bring these events or acts into our ideal presence and to excite the imagination and feelings; or it may be oratorical, designed to influence the whole soul, and especially the will. The oratorical description is, of course, the appropriate one for the pulpit. It combines and modifies both the prosaic and the poetical. It should never allow such a minute and vivid delineation of circumstantial matters, as will obscure the hearer's view of the main subject of the discourse, and allow him to lose himself among pictures when he ought to be occupied with the great reality. The description of an act is distinguished from that of an event, by the term narration. It is apt to be less poetical than the description of an event, and is better adapted to the character of sermons. The narration constituted a distinct part of the ancient judicial orations. It sometimes appears as a distinct part of sermons, but is often,

like the description of events, intermingled with the other parts of the discourse. It appears most prominent in sermons on the parables, or on historical passages of the Bible. Dräseke introduces one of his sermons with a graphic narration of the circumstances in which Paul and Martin Luther were converted to spiritual Christianity.1

The second class of themes comprises not individual objects of experience and observation, but general and abstract notions. The phrase, abstract notions, is applied in its most extensive import, to such as are not perceptions or conceptions of individual objects of sense; and in its most limited import, to such as are not immediately derived from these perceptions or conceptions. Thus our notion of body is abstract in the widest sense, and our notion of power is abstract in the narrowest sense; for our notion of body is immediately derived from our perceiving an individual of the genus body, but our notion of power is derived, not immediately but mediately, from our perceiving a movement which suggests that notion. Ideas of the reason, as well as notions of the understanding, are termed abstract, and are included in this second class of themes. The phrase, concrete notion,

This sermon was preached at the celebration of the anniversary of the union between the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches in Prussia. The text is Acts 9: 8, and the preacher passes in the following manner, from his text to his theme: "Paul is on his way to Damascus, with a commission from the High Priest, to carry bound unto Jerusalem any men or women whom he might find adhering to the new doctrine. And lo! near the end of his journey, there shines round about him suddenly a light from heaven. This may have been a flash of lightning. But for Paul it was something more. It penetrated into his soul with a power never before experienced, with a power increased by the voice from heaven; and it changed the whole current of his life. In what manner and to what degree he was transformed, is familiar to all. Luther, after the close of his academic education, became the teacher of the High School at Erfurt, and the science of law was his chief study. There, on a certain day, he took a walk for the purpose of freely expressing his dissatisfaction with this study to his bosom friend Alexius, and of consulting with that true hearted companion in regard to some more agreeable mode of life. And lo! the heavens are darkened by a storm, and suddenly he sees his friend struck by the lightning, killed, and sinking to the earth by his side. Then was an impression made upon his mind, such as was never made before. And from without there came an influence transforming his inner life, and from within came forth a power changing his outward character. This is the idea which I wish to delineate by a few characteristic touches, and I will endeavor to show how Luther's faith penetrated the interior of his life, and how his inward life penetrated and pervaded his faith." Dräseke's Predigten zur dritten Jubelfeier der Evangelischen Kirche. No. 10.