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But the affected

thing to his earnestness and rough force. speaker can do nothing to redeem the littleness to which he voluntarily descends.

A spurious elegance of manner, it is true, is, not unfrequently, the result of false notions of grace, and of a misguided desire to obey the indications of taste. It is not always an intentional fault: it is contracted, perhaps, from the unconscious imitation of an esteemed model: it is a vice inculcated, in many instances, by false instruction. But, from whatever source it springs, its effect on delivery is that of insincerity and artifice, or of display: it is not merely an obstacle but a positive nuisance. No matter how studiously it aims at grace, it proves but laboured deformity.

The only effectual corrective for false taste in elocution, consists in the attentive study of genuine beauty, as it imbodies itself in the simple forms of nature and of true art. Perfect simplicity is perfect grace. Elegance, if it would not degenerate into fantasy, must not deviate from simplicity. The highest ornaments of eloquence, are the truest touches of nature, in utterance and action. Elocution, as the art which moulds the exterior of eloquence, necessarily recognizes and obeys the laws which regulate the higher art to which it is tributary. The best elocution, therefore, is that which preserves a perfectly simple and natural manner.

ADAPTATION OF MANNER TO THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF A DISCOURSE.

One of the common results of defective early instruction in reading, is the habit of uttering all the portions of a discourse, -particularly when it is read and not spoken,-in nearly the same tone; and along with this fault usually goes that of using, throughout, the same style and form of action. Appropriate manner would, on the contrary, exhibit an obvious change of voice, in passing from the explanatory and quiet utterance of the opening paragraphs to the argument and illustration by

which the subject is exhibited and sustained, and a still more impressive variation of tone, in the closing application, or direct address, which appeals immediately to the feelings of the audience. The whole discourse, (if constructed on the plan now implied,) would exhibit a progressive force of voice, from the quiet to the earnest, and thence to the vivid, effects of utterance. Appropriate elocution thus renders the reading of a sermon one continuous climax of effect to the ear, by which the hearer becomes more and more deeply interested or forcibly impressed, till the close.

A similar remark would apply to the proper style of action in the successive parts of a discourse. The merely explanatory statements addressed to the understanding, would produce little or no gesture, the argumentative and descriptive passages would elicit a growing freedom and force of action, as the speaker's own feelings and those of his hearers became more deeply interested in the train of thought and the attendant emotions, developed in the progress of the discourse; and, in the concluding address, the full eloquence of earnest and impressive gesture, would naturally be brought out by the heightened interest of the speaker's mind in his subject and his audience. The whole man would now be alive with the spirit of expressive utterance: the hand would render its full tribute of aid to tongue and eye, in stamping the impress of the speaker's soul on the sympathies of his hearers.

All sermons, it is true, do not admit of a regular and systematic progression of effect like what has just been described. But the consequence of speaking, for an hour, on one subject, ought naturally to be that of drawing out more and more of the natural resources of eloquence, which continuous thought should always have the power to develope. There ought, perhaps, to be more regard paid, in rhetorical training, to such modes of treating subjects as would insure the eloquence of progressive effect. The lawyer who arranges his pleading so as to bring out his arguments in successive stages of accumulating force, and the player who never willingly leaves the stage without a strong effect of voice or action, might afford

an instructive lesson to the preacher; for it is now too often the fact that his last point would weigh no more than his first, and that, at the very close of his discourse, he seems to have made no progress, reached no conclusion, gained no position, by what he has read or spoken. The lawyer who should so wind up his pleading, or the player who should thus tamely go off the stage, would be justly deemed to have made an utter failure in his part. The professional phrase which one barrister sometimes uses, when speaking of the professional efforts of another, that 'his learned brother took nothing by his motion,' would very often apply most justly to the vague and immethodical, and consequently ineffective speaker in the pulpit.

The principle of climax, or growing force and effect, should be distinctly perceptible not only in the successive stages of a discourse, but in every paragraph and in every sentence which it contains. The preacher's voice and whole manner should perpetually indicate, in progressive intensity, that he is consciously drawing nearer and nearer to the consummation of his train of associated thought and feeling. The aim of the preacher's mind, as indicated in the increasing earnestness of his manner, should, during every successive paragraph of his discourse, be growing clearer and more impressive to his audience, till his object is fully effected, at the close.

MANNER IN DEVOTION.

The prevalent inattention, in our community, to the effects of manner and address, are in nothing more perceptible than in the customary tones and attitudes of the devotional exercises in public worship. Some preachers cannot, even in such circumstances, abstain from an irregular and revolting violence of voice: their earnestness seems to know no controlling power of reverence and decency: their impassioned vehemence of manner seems to recognize no difference be

tween the tones which might justly be used in importuning a fellow-being, and those which are appropriate in entreaty addressed to God. It is no unusual thing to hear a whole prayer thundered out, in the accents of imperious command. What a lesson might such speakers learn of the docile and respectful child, that proffers its request in subdued though earnest tones! The child, wiser instinctively than the man, is aware that, in such cases, violence shuts, but does not open, the heart. It adopts, therefore, the irresistible eloquence taught it by nature, and urges its request in pleading tones, piercing by their very suppression: and its suit is, in such circumstances, seldom refused.

Some preachers adopt the opposite extreme of voice, and uniformly employ a high, feeble whine, in their devotional utterance; as if an audience with God were a scene of servile humiliation and abject timidity; as if the act of communing with the Father of spirits were a powerless prostration of the soul, and an occasion of mere wailing and lamentation. The appropriate fervour and sublimity of devotion, which, not less than humility and self-abasement, are its just characteristics, are thus entirely lost sight of; and the effect of the whole exercise, is to impress upon the mind the meanness of man, rather than the grandeur and majesty of God.

A voice moulded by appropriate emotion, would impart to the tones of prayer a degree of the manifold power which characterizes the grandest of all the instruments of music,— that which we term emphatically the organ, and which from its majestic compass and effect, we consecrate to the office of worship. The deep, full, and solemn strains of adoration, would then pour themselves forth on the ear, with a strength but softness of effect allied to the deep tones of the wind when breathing low, through the forest, or with something of their ample swell, when raising the sublime hymn of nature to the power and glory of the Creator. The pleading and pathetic voice of penitence would be recognized by its plaintive notes. The low murmur and broken whisperings of contrition, the earnest and thrilling intensity of the soul's aspiration after

pardon, purity and peace, the fervent breathings of heartfelt gratitude, the rapture of devout joy, would all, in turn, be felt, as they rose or fell upon the ear, in the successive outpourings of the heart.

The inexpressive, level, mechanical, 'recitative' strain, which is so often heard in the utterance of the language of devotion, is the most efficacious of all means of quenching the spirit of the exercise, and reducing worship to a hollow ceremony.

Vividness and fervour of feeling are, in no respect, incompatible with the softened tones of subdued and reverential emotion. The chastened expression of earnestness is the most eloquent of all the moods of the human voice: suppressed intensity of tone penetrates the heart more deeply than the strongest utterance. The study of the natural language of expression, with a view to the discrimination of vocal effects, and the acquisition of true and natural modulation, cannot be too earnestly urged on the student of theology. The voice is the instrument of his usefulness; and surely the ability to use it justly, to use it skilfully and impressively, well deserves the most assiduous application of his powers. The measure of devotional feeling, in an assembly, must ever be in accordance with the depth and fulness of heart imparted by the tones of the minister. The cold and dry manner in which the exercise of devotion is often conducted, sufficiently accounts for the slight sympathy which it excites. Yet it would demand no great amount of time, from the minister, to acquire the power of giving true and effectual utterance to his inward feelings, and of bringing his congregation into accordant sympathy. The existing evil consists obviously in the habit of unmeaning and inexpressive tone on his part,—a habit which neglect or perversion has allowed to become a portion of his self-education, but which a moderate degree of study and application would enable him to correct.

The attitudes into which the pastor suffers himself to fall, in the act of devotion, are not unfrequently a cause of inharmonious and discordant impression on the feelings of his peo

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