CHAPTER XI.

PULPIT ELOQUENCE.

LOQUENCE! My dear sir, people have little time

as inclination to think of it, during preaching-the usual time to form an opinion! Conscience is too busy within them to allow it; at least this is the preacher's aim! Their salvation is more desired than their admiration. This fact can hardly escape the transitory hearer, who seldom leaves without feeling some stirrings of conscience; hence it is no uncommon thing to hear of offence having been taken, and dislike, and determination to "go there no more "-expressed in various ways. Could you see the letters he receives almost daily, you could better realize all this. The panorama of new faces presented nightly in our congregations tell a story, for they do not usually enlarge; but, had all continued to come who have showed themselves here the last four weeks, two or three chapels would have been insufficient, ere this, to have held them. There will be a reflux by and by, when they get over their huff, or when it is found conscience cannot be silenced. Amen!

I have been thinking lately of what is recorded of some of our Lord's hearers, who, after one of his discourses, exclaimed, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" And what next? "Many from that time went back and walked no

more with him." No longer acknowledged him either as the Messiah, or their teacher, and ceased to wait upon his ministry. A fear of losing hearers is a great temptation to unfaithfulness in the pulpit. Many a good revival has been prevented by a change in the style of a preacher, through fear of men. So greatly had our Lord's hearers diminished, in consequence of the discourse referred to, he mournfully inquired of his disciples, "Will ye also go away?" But did he soften the truth after that, or flinch from its faithful utterance? No. Among those of his hearers who remained was Judas, the traitor. The abyss was near over which he was so soon to plunge. Truth must utter a warning voice, whether it gave offence to others besides Judas, or not. "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" It is seldom a faithful ministry is long without some such causes of humiliation, and comfort. when rightly viewed, he may enjoy much secret satisfaction. in the thought of having the honor of being as his Master with regard to a diminished congregation, in consequence of a faithful declaration of the truth!

But

But to proceed: A friend of mine defined eloquence to be "a round and flowing style;" but much of what you have heard here lately, and which you have so kindly approbated, has been abrupt and impulsive; fragmentary, indeed, and angular as broken flints! which those who are fond of oratorical grace and beauty, to say nothing of their sins, are never likely to admire. At any rate, I find it good and convenient to take this into the account; and if the contrary occurs after presuming upon such a style, one is agreeably disappointed. This style, it cannot be denied, is usually wanting in smoothness, roundness, stateliness, softness, cadence, and-what not! There

is a style, soft, insinuating, and flowery, which frequently bears away the palm; descriptive, too, as a picture gallery, full of figures which appear before the eye of the mind as if they fed on roses, and were dressed to the verge of foppery! and when set off with the necessary accompaniments in the orator, which he is not likely to forget, in tones, looks, and gestures, is highly fascinating. Rocks are never thrown down by such element's! (Nahum i. 6.) Nor is it likely God often points to it, saying as of old, "Is not my word like as a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." (Jer. xxiii. 29.)

I say nothing against a pictorial style of preaching, if natural, easy, appropriate, and not carried to excess, and the preacher has a genius for it. It is a species of painting. It is like putting his sentiments in dress; a method, so to speak, of giving a kind of visibility, color, and substance to his ideas. And if those sentiments or ideas are of themselves suitable to inform the judgment and assist the conscience, or to excite hope, or fear, or love, such illustrations greatly increase their power. I know a successful preacher who frequently adopts this style in the fervor of his appeals, and with considerable effect. Nothing against this style, if to all this be added "strength of sentiment, and weight of matter;" otherwise, he may be worthy of as much attention and patience as he who endeavors to render floating gossamer pictorial.

There is also a lofty, showy, diffusive style, sonorous in words and sentences, with a manifest straining after tinsel and brilliancy-which some consider eloquent. He who wins reputation and popularity by that, the great public will expect to maintain it. This has destroyed many.

Passion is the fountain of eloquence; and the warmer the

fountain the better, if the people are not to be convinced only, but melted and moved. Real eloquence is but the expression of the heart's enthusiasm; it is the language of the heart and its passions, and, in proportion to their warmth, it is apt to be vivid, broken, and impetuous.

"But here again the danger lies"

to reputation for a certain style of cloquence! "The hottest springs send forth their waters by ebullitions," says an old Christian writer on prayer. The simile applies to the subject on hand. It suggests the idea of abruptness and irregularity of sentences, at least; not very friendly withal to that flowing elocution which won for an orator those graceful lines:

"Eloquence, obedient to his call,

Sailed down his flow of words with swan-like pride!"

No swans are ever seen among the rapids of Montmorency!

To return to the old writer's simile: The waters projected from hot springs, though they may be useful and have their medical qualities (like the style of pulpit speech we have been speaking of), yet they are never expected to discourse the eloquence of a Niagara, or to exhibit the flowing majesty of the

Rhine or the Hudson.

To one capable of the higher flights of eloquence, but who adopts more generally a humbler style for the sake of usefulness, there may be some little sacrifice, perhaps; if of vanity and pride, the better it will be, unquestionably, both for himself and for his hearers. Ah! sir, motive, right, conscientious motive, renders all that sort of thing easy enough! Give me

a warm heart, burning with love and sympathy for poor hellexposed sinners, and there is no difficulty in persuading oneself to adopt both matter and manner to effect the purposes of the heart. And when the results are visible-when "the slain of the Lord," and the healed, and the saved are many, there is an income of joy, gladness, and satisfaction to the heart, which eloquence has never yet realized from mere popular applause!

That kind of preaching which usually wins the title of eloquence is, somehow, singularly unsuccessful in the awakening and conversion of sinners. At the same time we are acquainted with plain men, whom nobody considers eloquent, and sinners are being constantly saved under their ministry. Why is this? Is it because the orator, by absorbing the admiration of the sinner, diminishes in the same proportion the power of conscience to exercise its functions? Or, that the themes upon which he expatiates are not suitable to stir the conscience, or plant conviction in the heart? Far be it from me to express lightly of good elocution, which is simply a good delivery-the power to express one's thoughts with elegance. and beauty, and in a clear and convincing manner. what is this, after all, but pure and simple eloquence! with regard to those "arts of rhetoric," etc., etc., which your friends admire so much in certain of their great orators, they are unfit for this service. With all due respect, they would be as unsuitable to him who would bring down scores of hitherto hardened sinners to their knees to cry for mercy, as Saul's armor was to David when he would encounter the giant of Gath! He preferred his sling, a few stones from the brook, and his simple faith and trust in the power of God! And so do we in the matter of preaching; fragmentary, fre

And

But,