public speakers, as they may well be; and yet few if any would fail to recognize many of the elements of the same idea in both. While under the spell of the former, his enthusiasm, his pathos, his dramatic attitudes which throw life into his creations of fancy and personality into his narratives of fact, his sudden and felicitous transitions of thought which never fail to leave the sympathetic emotion stirred and grateful, compel us to recognize in him a master of his art. And so, too, while listening to the latter as he was when among us in the days of his strength, one would find, in his majestic mien, his distinct and deliberate utterance, his strong and lucid sentences, his steady and stately march forward to his object of which he never allowed himself or his hearers to lose sight, and in his crowning outbursts of strong feeling, enthusiastic or indignant,—a full proof of the power which inhabited his speech. The impression received in the two cases might be such that we should be unable to decide which of the twain ought to be regarded as the more efficient speaker. We should never-we could never-confound those two types; they would be as distinct in our view as though they were called by names entirely unlike; and yet we could deny to neither the possession of any element essential to a high order of eloquence. Dissimilar as they are, they certainly possess something in common, and that something, whether it can be defined or not, is to us the grand characteristic of eloquence-its primitive and universal quality. And this quality is discerned, not so much in the man or in the manner as in the effect it produces,—in the impression it makes. Not that it is not in the man and the manner chiefly, for there it unquestionably is, but that our cognition depends mostly on its effect. And hence the difficulty of conveying to another the full idea of an eloquent effort, and the still greater difficulty of copying the peculiarities of the speaker. The only way in which a truly eloquent speech could be fully and fairly reported, would be by exhibiting our own sensibility on which it had impressed itself.

We shall here attempt to define eloquence no farther than to call it effective utterance. By its being effective, is meant that it possesses a power which enables the speaker to accomplish in a high degree the objects at which he aims. By utterance is

its true objects in a high degree. For there is nothing nature or the functions of the pulpit that serves to ren general definition less applicable to that than to any othe in which human instrumentality is employed in similar f The practical question, however, is still before us. W the conditions on which this effective utterance depends limits of this essay will allow of but a very slight and su discussion of the points suggested by this inquiry.

All this

"True eloquence," says the distinguished man to w ference has been made, "does not consist in speech. and phrases may be marshalled in every way but they compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, the occasion. It comes, if it come at all, like the outb of a fountain from the earth, or the breaking forth of v fires, with spontaneous, original, native force." and, therefore, where there is neither the man, the subje the occasion, all attempts to be eloquent by learning and e oring to apply mere outward rules, must result in failure i do not beget disgust. But this is not quite all the truth o subject. If it were, then all attempts to render utterance effective than "the man, the subject and the occasion" naturally make it, would be futile. Correct views on the ject, study and effort may, perhaps, do something to pu spirit of eloquence within him, to create or combine the ci stances which aid its development, and multiply the insp occasions at will. Demosthenes was hissed from the Ath stage on his first attempt at oratory; and there is no reas

eloquence, doubtless, struggles mightily in many souls cumstances and occasions combine happily to manife for want of the effort necessary to prepare an appropr um of expression, it discloses little force and produces fect. And, on the other hand, effort has made uttera effective where occasions and circumstances have been able, and the original ability vastly inferior. Thes things may be indispensable conditions of eloquence, b not themselves causative of it. True eloquence may without them, but it will not necessarily always exist A few conditions of Pulpit Eloquence may be s follows:

1. There must be strong, fresh and vital thought.

In speaking thus of the necessity for strong, vigoro it is not meant that it must always be profound, meta scientific, and incomprehensible except to deep a thinkers; or that it should never be pathetic and delicacy. Much included in the former classes is not tinguished for innate vigor; while much of the lat adapted to stir the spirit to its very depths. We mean utterance, to be effective in the true sense, must be of thought, and of such thought as is adapted to ma impression upon the listener. Words derive all their the thoughts they embody or suggest; and the same equally true of all other forms of utterance. Mann and the expression of the features may do much t speaker eloquent, whose mere words are next to p simply because they either express or suggest more th

cause is removed, and as that cause is not strong thou might exert its power indefinitely, but something be the pulpit itself, it is obvious that the impression must so soon as the pulpit and its accompaniments disap such a case the soul is a mere mirror, reflecting the f the agency which is before it, and the reflection re actual presence of the agency.

Now, instead of a work like this, it is the chief by the pulpit to teach, and this implies the development o It need not be afraid of rousing the sensibility;-true always does this;-but it should reach it through the And if it can succeed in lodging a strong thought in of its audience, it need have no fear that the emotions main quiescent. They will own its presence and respo call until the thought itself is forgotten. And su tional activity will be healthy and strengthening; wher which is produced artificially is emotional and perverting the very abuse which creates sentimentalists, both liter religious. And no one supposes that the true objects o ture are very much promoted by multiplying novel reade that the true objects of religion are more largely subser increasing the number of those who are forever thirsti for purity and moral strength, but for the frenzy of mere tional excitement.

The pulpit, therefore, cannot be truly eloquent except becomes the medium of thought. Nothing will or can at its absence. It may employ classical terms, expressive ge

he graces of rhetoric, finely modulated tones, and all the wining forms which artificial polish can bestow ;-it may be impassioned, vehement and terrible, lift up its voiee like Jupiter, wing its arms with the force of Vulcan, and shake its locks like Samson ;-it may soar in its imagination like Milton and pour out words with the fluency of Apollo;-it may avert its eye and speak in tones as subdued and plaintive as Sorrow herself, bending over the grave of her last hope; and yet, whatever may be the measure of skill displayed in any of these departments, if there is no thought corresponding in force to the external manifestations, one of the primary elements of true eloquence is absent. Indeed, as a general thing, the power of the speaker will be lessened by any such outward excesses; for all outward forms tend to create disgust which are seen to be artificial-which fail to become the exponents and effects of an inward force. The small talk of fashionable life is not destitute of the graces of manner, but it requires much patience to listen to it without curling one's lip. A dandy will discuss, with great accuracy of language and some discrimination of idea, the covering of a button, become enthusiastic over the tasselling of a cane, go off into a rhapsody at the odor of perfumery, and foam like a maddened lion when his honor is called in question; but we should hardly carry away from any one of these exhibitions a high idea of eloquent speaking. And it is because the thoughts in question are so inherently, as well as relatively small, that no language or manner can give them force, but instead, are themselves belittled by the association. And no sacredness which may be supposed to belong to the topics and ideas of the pulpit can wholly obviate a similar impression when barrenness of idea is sought to be atoned for by vehemence of manner, affectation of sensibility or grandiloquence of style. Thought governs the world. And in constituting it the ruler of men, men were constituted to yield submission to it. None are so mighty as to be above its reach, and none to whom the pulpit is wont to speak so feeble that they will not become the ministers of its power. And it is the strong, vigorous thought appropriately expressed that is most readily and widely appreciated. Universal truths are those which commend themselves most nearly to