CHAPTER VI. SUBJECT-SERMONS. CONSIDERATION OF THE CONSTITU ENT PARTS OF SERMONS, AND OF SOME INCIDENTAL MATTERS. THE Composition of a sermon, though it is substantially provided for by the accumulation and the arrangement of its materials, will yet be facilitated by acquiring correct views of its various parts, and of some other minor points. These points, though minor, are, however sufficiently important to claim attention from one who would consult all those principles of our nature which are concerned in the affectionate reception of religious truth. To this purpose the present chapter is devoted. The Introduction. Introduc The design of this part is, to lead hearers easily and naturally to the subject of the discourse. Such is the Design of an relation of the preacher to his hearers, such the tion. nature of a sermon, and such the occasion on which it is delivered, that seldom, at its commencement, will an effort be required, according to the ordinary rules of rhetoric, to secure the attention, or the favor, of hearers. In regular religious assemblies, a preacher generally, on rising to preach, enjoys the advantage of attention and good will on the part of his audience; and his only special care here need be, not to divert attention, nor alienate good will. Still, some prefatory sentences are commonly advisable, in order to avoid the disadvantage of an abrupt entrance on the treatment of a subject. Besides, some thoughts will often be suggested by the subject, or the text, or by something special in the occasion, that will naturally require to be mentioned before entering on the discussion. an Introduc tion. The quality chiefly desirable in an introduction is, thereQualities of fore, appropriateness to the sermon of which it is a part. As being the commencement of a sermon, and as intended gradually to lead the hearers to a certain subject, it should be characterized by simplicity, both in thought and in language; it should avoid abstruseness and elaborate composition.* Gravity, too, is specially * An example of an introduction which greatly fails in regard to simplicity, occurs in the first paragraph of Dr. Barrow's sermon on the Profitableness of Godliness. "How generally men, with most unanimous consent, are devoted to profit, as to the immediate scope of their designs and aim of their doings, if with the slightest attention we view what is acted on this theatre of human affairs, we cannot but discern. All that we see men so very serious and industrious about, which we call business; that which they trudge for in the streets, which they work for or wait for in the shops, which they meet and crowd for at the exchange, which they sue for in the hall, and solicit for at the court, which they plough and dig for, which they march and fight for in the field, which they travel for at land, and sail for (among rocks and storms) on the sea, which they plod for in the closet, and dispute for in the schools, (yea, may we not add, which they frequently pray for and preach for in the church?) what is it but profit? Is it not this, apparently, for which men so eagerly contest and quarrel, so bitterly envy and emulate, so fiercely clamor and inveigh, so cunningly supplant and undermine one another; which stuffeth their hearts with mutual hatred and spite, demanded in the introduction of so serious a discourse as a sermon ought to be. As the introduction, though not devised till all the main parts of the sermon are provided for, is yet the first to be written, the writer may be presumed to be, at this point, in a state of mind similar to that of hearers; namely, comparatively cool, but entering on a process which will, ere long, enkindle and elevate his feelings. The introduction should, generally, be conformed to such a view of the writer. While, however, it is ordinarily sufficient that this which tippeth their tongues with slander and reproach, which often embrueth their hands in blood and slaughter; for which they expose their lives and limbs to danger, for which they undergo grievous toils and drudgeries, for which they distract their mind with cares, and pierce their heart with sorrows; to which they sacrifice their present ease and content, yea, to which commonly they prostitute their honor and conscience? This, if you mark it, is the great mistress which is with so passionate rivality every where wooed and courted; this is the common mark which all eyes aim and all endeavors strike at; this the hire which men desire for all their pains, the prize they hope for all their combats, the harvest they seek for all the year's assiduous labor. This is the bait by which you may inveigle most men any whither; and the most certain sign by which you may prognosticate what any man will do: for mark where his profit is, there will he be. This some professedly and with open face, others slily and under thin veils of pretence, (under guise of friendship, of love to public good, of loyalty, of religious zeal;) some directly and in a plain track, others obliquely and by subtile trains; some by sordid and base means, others in ways more cleanly and plausible: some gravely and modestly, others wildly and furiously; all (very few excepted) in one manner or another, do clearly in most of their proceedings level and drive at." Besides the nice balancing of clauses, so frequent and so evidently aimed at, the inverted Latin structure of this paragraph is particularly noticeable. part should be appropriate, simple, and grave, it is susceptible of higher qualities. It may sometimes be made deeply impressive. Some striking thought may be here employed, which will secure to the preacher the interested attention of his hearers. When the means of thus advantageously introducing a discourse occur to a preacher, let him not fail to employ them through subjection to the generally correct rule, that an introduction should not be fervid. Only let him take care that the attention and expectation which may be excited by the brilliancy, or picturesqueness, or fervor of his opening paragraphs, end not in disappointment. If he be not able to maintain the interest which the introduction may create, it would be more judicious to check himself somewhat at the commencement, and trust to the influence of his subject for elevation, or emotion, in less hazardous passages.* An introduction should be equally free from affected smartness and from dullness. It should not indulge in complaints or censures. It should not, in any way, create a suspicion that the preacher has but little respect for his * It would be superfluous, probably, to caution against introductions which distinctly propose a great effort, instead of leading the hearers to a subject in a manner which would insensibly, as it were, enchain attention. Horace (De Arte Poetica, 136-142) well illustrates the impropriety of a pretending and pompous introduction, by the instance of an insignificant poet's commencing a poem with the line, Fortunam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum, and contrasting with it the modest manner in which Homer commences his Odyssey, Dic mihi, Musa, virum, captae post tempora Trojae Qui mores hominum multorum vidit et urbes, hearers, or that he considers his office as setting him quite above the ordinary courtesies of life. While he should avoid producing, in this manner, an unfavorable impression in respect to himself, his introduction ought not, on the other hand, to betray a purpose of enlisting the feelings of his hearers by paying them compliments for their intelligence, or other worthy qualities, or by speaking of himself in an apparently humble manner. Apologies and compliments come with an ill grace from the pulpit, where a man stands to explain and inculcate the word of God, where simplicity and godly sincerity should bear sway, and where the preacher should, in self-forgetfulness, be absorbed in the one great purpose of promoting the hearers' spiritual welfare. As to space, the very design of an introduction requires it to be brief. While it should be sufficiently long to prevent the feeling, on the part of hearers, of abruptness when the subject of the sermon is entered on, it should also be sufficiently short to prevent them from thinking that they are needlessly detained from the subject. Exposition. It will sometimes be necessary to explain the language of the text, in order to deduce from it in a satisfactory manner the subject of the sermon. Sometimes, too, when the language is not obscure, an exposition is desirable in order to refresh the hearers' memory in regard to the passage; or it may be advantageous, as furnishing the introduction; for frequently, as has already been remarked, no more suitable introduction can be devised than an explanation of the text. |