now and then fome famous popular preachers, who
had zealoufly inveighed againll the vices of their
times, and whofe lermons had produced fudden
and amazing effcds on their auditors : but all
thefe effeds had died away with the preachers,
who produced them, and all things had gone back
into the old ftate. Law, learning, commerce, fo-
VoL. II, h " ciety

4 ^lutv.<. i;"^ . \



Iviii A Irief Dijferiaticn

ciety at large had not been improved. Here a
new fcene opens, preachers arife ]els popular, per-
haps lefs indefatigable and exemplary, their ler-
nions produce lefs ftriking immediate effc6ls, and
yet their auditors go away and agree by whole na-
tions to reform.

Jerom Savonarola, Jerom Narni, Capiftran,
Connede, and many others had produced by
their fermons great immediate effarts. When
Connedle preached, the ladies lowered their head-
drefles, and committed quilled caps by hundreds
to the flames. When Narni taught the populace
in Lent from the pulpits of Rome, half the city
went from his fermons crying along the ftreets.
Lord have mercy upon us^ Chrifl have mercy upon usy
fo that in only one paffion week two thoufand
crowns worth of ropes were fold to make fcourges
with •, and when he preached before the pope to
cardinals and bifhops, and painted the crime of
non-refidence in its own colours, he frightened
thirty or forty bifhops, who heard him, inftantly
home to their diocefes. In the pulpit of the uni-
verfity of Salamanca he induced eight hundred ftu-
dents to quit all worldly profpeds of honour,
riches, and pleafure, and to become penitents in
divers monafteries. Some of this clafs were mar-
tyrs too. We know the fate of Savonarola, and
more might be added : but all lamented the mo-
mentary duration of the efrefts produced by their
labours. Narni himfelf was fo difgufted with his
office, that he renounced preaching, and Ihut him-
felf up in his cell to mourn over his irreclaimable
contemporaries, for bifhops went back to court,
and ropemakers lay idle again.

Our reformers taught all the good dodrines,

which



on Puhlick Preaching'. lix

which had been taught by thefe men, and they
added two or three more, by which they laid the
ax to the root of apoftacy, and produced general
reformation. Inftead of appealing to popes, and
canons, and founders, and fathers, they only
quoted them, and referred their auditors to the
holy fcriptures for law. Pope Leo X. did not
know this, when he told Prierio, who complained
of Luther's herefy. Friar Martin had a fine genius t
They alfo taught the people what little they knew
of chrijiian liberty^ and lo led them into a belief
that they might follow their own ideas in religion
without the confent of a confeflbr, a diocefan, a
pope, or a council. They went further, and laid
the llrefs of all religion on jujlifying faith. Tliis
obliged the people to get acquainted with Chrift
the objedl of their faith, and thus they were led
into the knowledge of a character altogether dif-
ferent from what they faw in their old guides, a
character, which it is impoffible to know, and
not to admire and imitate. The old papal popular
fermons had gone off like a charge of gunpowder,
producing only a fright, a bultle, and a black
face : but thofe of the ne-we learninge, as the monks
called tiiem, were fmall hearty feeds, which, being
fown in the honeft hearts of the multitude, and
watered with the dew of heaven, foftly vegetated,
and imperceptibly unfolded bloffoms and fruits of
ineftimable value.

Thefe eminent fervants of Chriit excelled in va-
rious talents, both in the pulpit, and in private, '
Knox came down like a thunder-ftorm, Calvin
rtfembled a whole day's fet rain, Beza v/as a fhower
of the foftelt dew. Old Latimer in a coarfe frieze
gown trudged a foot, his teftament hanging at one

h 3 end



Ix A brief DiJU'ertalton

end of his leathern girdle, and his fpeftacles at
the other, and without ceremony inftrucfted the
people in ruftick ftyle from a hollow tree ; while
the courtly Ridley in fattin and fur taught the
fame principles in the cathedral of the metropolis.
Cranmer, though a timorous man, ventured to
give the moft powerful and lafcivious tyrant of his
time a new teftament with the label, 'whoremongers
end adulterers God will judge; while Knox, who faid,
ihere was nothing in the pleafant face of a lady to af-
fray him, aflured the Queen of Scots, that, " if
there were any fpark of the fpirit of God, yea of
honefty or wifdom in her, Ihe would not be of-
fended with his affirming in his fermons, that the
diverfions of her court were diabolical crimes, evi-
dences of impiety or infanity." Thefe men were
not all accomplifhed fcholars : but they all gave
proof enough, that they were honeft, hearty, and
difinterefted in the caufe of religion •, and to thefe,
and not to literary qualifications, all were indebted
for popularity in the pulpit and publick confi-
dence Out of it. Happy had it been for fucceed-
ing ages had they been trufted lefs !

All Europe produced great and excellent preach-
ers, and fome of the more ftudious and fed ate re-
duced their art of publick preaching to a fyftem,
and taught rules of a good fermon. Bifhop Wil-
kins enumerated in 1646 upwards of fixty, who
had written on the fubjed. I have endeavoured
to procure a fight of all their books : but fome
few I have not been fo happy as to find. Several
of what 1 have feen are valuable treatiles, full of
edifying inftru^tions ; moft of them are very fmall:
but ail, I think, are on a fcale too large, and by
affx;ding to treat of the whole office of a minifter,

leave



on Publick Preaching. Ixi

leave that capital branch, publick preaching, un-
finifhed and vague.

One of the moil important articles of pulpit
fcience, that, which gives life and energy to all
the reft, and without which all the reft are nothing
but a vain parade, is either negleded or exploded
in all thefe treatiles. It is elTential to the mini-
ftration of the divine word by publick preaching,
that preachers be allowed to form pnncip'ei of
their own, and that their fermons conta'n their
real fentiments, the fruits of their own mtenfe
thought and meditauon. Preaching: cannot be in a
good ftate, in thofe communities, where the ihame-
ful trafHck of buying and felling manufcript ler-
mons is carried on. Moreover, all the animating
encourao-ements, that arife from a free unbiallcd
choice of the people, and from their uncontami-
nated difinterefted applaufe, ftiould be left open
to ftimulate a generous youth to excel. Com-
mand a man to utter what he has no inclination
to propagate, and what he does not even believe,
threaten him at the fame time with all the miferies
of life, if he dare to follow his own ideas, and to
promulge his own fentiments, and you pal's a fen-
tence of death on all he fays. He does declaim :
but all is languid and cold, and he lays his fyftem
out as an undertaker does the dead. Inftcad of
referring him to thofe, who deal moil in religion,
and therefore beft underftand the value of every
thing in it, the people I mean, give him to under-
ftand, that even their confent to be taught by him
is not neceftary to be obtained, and you inilantly
turn his eye from his bible, his people, and his
God, and fix it on the feat of a patron, Vv^ho muft

be



Ixii A brief DiJJertation

be approached by a circle of collufion and in-
trigue.

Thefe books confider the pulpit as the religious
tribunal of the civil magiitratc, preachers as fer-
vants of the crown, and preaching as a human art,
a branch of rhetorick to be taught in the fchools.
In one thing they made it different from all other
arts and fciences, tliefe they confidered as capable
of improvement : but that they pretended was in
a ftate of abfolute perfe6lion. Other fciences they
left open, and would have laughed at a propofal
to admit every future youth to fludy philofophy
by fwearing him to believe and maintain the ideas
of Plato, to live in the faith and to die in the com-
fort- of the fpeculations of Cicero, or the catego-
ries of Ariftotle : but this fcience, religion, this,
they faid, an inhuman reprobate had begun, a
fickly child improved, and a female tyrant com-

,^\ pletely finiflied off. This was going beyond a
Ciefar, who thought nihil a5ium dum aliquid agen-
dum^ yea beyond an apoftle, who exclaimed to his
followers, leaving rudiments let us go on unto perfeC'
tion. Brethren^ be ye followers of me. I count not
myfelf to have apprehended : but this only have I at-
tained^ forgetting thofe things which are behind^ and
reaching forth unto thofe things^ which are before., I
prefs toward the mark, for the prize of the high-call-

(2) ing of God in Chrijl Jefus.

This

(i) " Tu Elifabetha operi ab Henrico parent! feliciter in,-
(hoato, ab Edwardo fratre in immenfum auSiOy coronidem
jam confummato imponeres. . . Vtitcr incepit ....
adolefccns promo'vit . . . filia abfol'vit." Epiji. Synod.
Elizabet. Ri^g- Dat. Suec^e ex Fri/torum oppido, ex Synodo zz
Jprilis (587. Fi'is. occid.

(2) Heb. vi. 1. Phil. iii. 13, 14. 17.



en Puhlick Preaching, Ixiii

This is the place, where, would our limits al-
low it, we Ihould take our ftand, and reconnoitre
the reformed pulpit : but it fliall fuffice to obferve,
that in all reformed countries the pulpit was taken
into the fervice of the ilate, and became a kind of
attorney or folicitor general retained to plead for
the crown. The proof of this lies in the articles,
canons and injunflions, which were girded on the
clergy of thofe times, and how thoroughly the Hate
clergy have underftood this to be the true condi-
tion of the pulpit, their fermons will abundantly
prove. The bed ftate inftru6lions to preachers
were given in the Directory by the affcmbly of
divines : but even thefe include the great, the fatal
error, the fubje6lion of God's word to human law.
If, when all other inftitutes were taken into the
fervice of the Hate, the pulpit had efcaped, it
would have been wonderful indeed : but, if the
pulpit be a ^/^f^, and the preacher a ^^w/^i'w^r, in
the name of common fenie, what are we to expecft
from both !

From this fad conftitution we derive the lifelefs-
nefs of later preaching. The ill fated youth be-
fore he is aware finds himfelf bound to teach the
opinions of a fet of minifters, who lived tv/o hun-
dred years before he was born. His mailers be-
lieved their own articles, and therefore preached
them with zeal : but it would be unreafonable to
expedl a like zeal in him for the fame doftrines,
for he does not know what they are, or, having
examined them, he does not think them true, and
thus fubfcription to other men's creeds becomes
the death of good preaching.

With thefe principles I went about the follow-
ing work, and for thefe reafons I have all through

endeavoured



Ixiv A brief Differtr.lion

endeavoured to pofil-fs the mind of the candidate
for the pulpit, with an abhorrence of dominion
over confcience, and to excite him to enter into
that religious liberty of thinking and afting, with
which chriftianity hath made him free.

There were at the reformation a great number
of wife and good men, who thought the revival of
primitive chriftianity only begun at that period,
and they endeavoured, though under great dilad-
vantages, to improve thefe beginnings, and to go
on unto perfeftion. Others have fucceeded them,
and entered into their pious views with difmtereft-
ednefs and fuccefs. Among thefe the Englifh pro-
teftant diiTcnters Hand firft in merit •, and, as their
congregations are conftitutionajly in poffelTion of
chriilian liberty, they have produced fomeofthe
greatell preachers in the world. It would be eafy
to give a long lifb of names from the dawn of the
reformation to this day : but I facrifice the plea-
fure of doing lb to the modelly of my friends.
This, however, I will venture to fay, and no man
Jhall flop me of this boafiing^ we have in our
churches nov/ exaft copies of our ancient models.
J he profhets^ do ihcy Urn fo*- ever? Yes, they do!
The fpirit of Elijah rejls upon Elifha ! The grave
Iblidity of Cartwright and Jacob feemed to refide
in Owens and Goodwins and Gills. The viva-
city of Watts and Bradbury and Earle lives in
others, whom I dare not name. The patient la-
borious Fox, the filver Bates, the melting Baxter,
the piercing Mead, the generous Williams, the
infl.ru6tive Henry, the fofc and candid Doddridge,
Ridgley, and Gale, and Bunyan, and Burgefs, in
all their variegated beauties yet flourifh in our pul-
pits, exercifmg their different talents for mutual

edification.



cfj Puhlick Preaching. \x^

edification. We have Farnabas the fen -of Corifo-
iation, and Boanerges the thunderer 'flill. Ye
fervants of the mod high God, who fhew nnto us
the way of falvation ! Peace he within the v;alls of
your churches, ^.nd pro/peri ty wit hi fi yhiir- â–  . i. j
dwelling-houfes. . . You have no pafaces, you
need none, palaces can add nothing to you.

It would have been eafy to have exemplified all
the good rules of Mr. Claude from the printed dif-
courfes of thefe great men ; but 1 have quoted
very few of the fermons of our late miniilers, and 1
think none of theirs, who are now alive. I would
not willingly give a moment's pain to themodefty
of perfons, whom I fo fincerely efteem. If I have
at* any time exemplified a fault exploded by Mr.
Claude- by a quotation from the fermons of men
of great name in other communities, I hope, ad-
mirers of the preachers cenfured will believe me,
when I afifure them, I have taken a great deal of
pains to avoid giving ofi^ence on this head, I
have exemplified many pulpit vices from obfcure
preachers of no note, when I could have done it
from the fermons of their popular contemporaries,
who led for the time the pulpit fafhion. The few
examples I have given are none in comparifon
widi the many I have left unnoticed.

Some of our brethren will complain that the
notes are not all in Englijh^ and my reply is this —
Firfl, the fubjlance of all is in Englilli — Second-
ly, fome muft not be tranfiated — Thirdly, moft
of thefe were intended for fmall exercifes for ftu-
dious lads^ hoping they might be hereby allured
to ftudy the pulpit before they entered it — -And
laftly, if thefe be not fuflicient realbns, I promife to
make the complainant a prelenr, it he will call

Vol. II. 1 for



Ixvi A brief Dijfertation

for it, of a beautiful copper-plate print of the
old man, his fon, and the afs, on condition he will
get the rhymes at the bottom by heart.

Serioufly, were I to follow the didlates of my
own heart, I fhould throw myfelf at the feet of the
meancft of my brethren, and beg pardon for pre-
fuming to feem to inftruft thofe, who are appoint-
ed to inftru<51: others, and who have fo often edi-
fied me. I would confefs, I faw innumerable er-
rors in this work, for all which I could make
only one apology, that is, that they were involun-
tary. I afk no pardon for exprefllng my abhorrence
of intolerance. Always when I met it in a courfe
of reading, I thought I met the great devil, and
my refentment was never abated by his appearing
in the habit of a holy man of God. 1 have fome-
times allowed myfelf a little mirth in that awful
fcience religion, and in the prefence of that grave
thing called a fermon : but in this thing the Lord
pardon his fervant, that when my majier went into
the houfe of Rimmon to worfhip there, and he leaned
en my hand, and I bowed myfelf in the houfe of Rim-
mon : when I bowed myfelf in the houfe of Rimmon, the
Lord pardon hisfervant in this thing!

Chesterton,
May 19, 1779.



Contents



Contents of the Second Volume:



CHAP. vr.



Of Texts to be difcufled by way of
Obfervation,



Some texts muft be difcufled by

way of obfervation — —
As Clear texts — __ i—

Hijiorical texts —

Some texts require both explication

and obfervation > â–  â– â– â–  -
How to arrange tlie difcuflion of

paflages of this kind —
Obfervation fometimes includes ex

plication • — ^ —

Obfervations fhould generally be

theological — — ■

But in fome cafes they may be

taken from other topicks •—
i »



Examples



Johnxii. 1,2



Afts i. lo



Page



Afts xi. i.



XI



13



Obfervations



CONTENTS.



Obfervations flioiild neither be

pedantick — — ■ —

nor vulgar • —

Topicks — — ■ — — '

/As I. Genua ■ -^ —

II. Species



III. Charadter of a virtue or



Examples [Page



a vice — —

IV. Relation > • ' ■ . - —

V. Implication • —

VI. Perfon fpeaking, or ad-



Pfal. 1. 14.
cxxiii. 3.

zThef. iii.5.



ing



VII. State

VIII. Time

IX. Place

X. Perfon s addrefied <

XI. Particular ftate of per-
fons addrelTed '— —

XII. Principles ■ —

XIII. Confequences • ■

XIV. Endpropofed

XV. Manner



XVI.Comparifonof fome fub-
jeds with other fubjedts

XVII. Difference' — —

XVIII. Contrail — —

XIX. Ground —

XX. Compofition — —

XXI. Suppofition — — ■
XXii. Objedion — —



Rom.xii.17.
Rom.xiI.17*

iTher.v.i6.
I Tim.ii. i.
Phil, iii, 14,
Rom.xii.17,

R0m.xii.i7.
John V. 14.



14

19
20

22

24

29

8?



Rom.viii.37

Ads i. 1.

vii. 22.
Rom. xiv. 3



John i. 14.

V. 14'

Mat. xvi.zz.

Lu.xvii. lO.



102

no

117

120
124

129

'37
146

158

166

174
174
J 82

V93
198
203
206
215
222
XXIII.



CONTENTS.



XXIIT. Chara6ler of expref-

fion — —

As of Majefty — —
Tendernefs — —
Meannefs — —
Necellity — — •

Utility ' '

Evidence — —

XXIV. Degrees — —

XXV. Intereils —

XXVI. Diftinaion — —
Definition — — —
Diviiion —

XXVII. Comparifon of one
part of a fubjed with ano-
ther part of the fame fubjed

Example of obfervation at large



Examples



John xiv. I

6

Afts i. 6,

John xiv. 1 6,



Exod. x,^, 5
Gal. i. g
Mat. xii. lo,
I Cor. XV. 1 4,



Rom. viii. i
Eph. ii.4, 5
iThef. iv.7



Page

232
232

234
236
240
242

243
249

254
258
262
264



i6s

268
271



CHAP. VII.
Of Application.



Difcufllon by application —
What — — —

What fubjefts fliould be difcufled
in this way _.

Example of this method of dif-
culTion at large — ^ — —



Zeph. ii. I.
I Cor. ii.28.



325
326

329



Phil, x'l. 12.

C H A P.



232



CONTENTS.

CHAP. VIII.

Of Proposition,



Examples
Rom.viii'i c



Difcuflion by propofition, what
Example of this method at large

CHAP. IX.



Of the Exordium.



Exordium, what — —
Whether exordiums be necelTary
The ends propofed in Exordiums
They arc principally two —

Exordiums mull be fhort

clear — ■

cool and grave — —
engaging and agreeable —
conne6ted with the text —
fimple and unadorned —

not common

May iometimes be figurative
Vices of exordiums • ' ■ ■ — '—
Affedation . —



Ule of apothegms — —
Citations from profane authors
In what cai'es they are proper —
The bed are taken from theology
How to compoic them — —
They may be taken from com-
mon-places, facred hiftory,
types, &c. â–  â– 



John vi. 54



Page
395
39^



Pfal. xc. 12-



461
466
468
469
470

47*
475
477
477
480
481
481
482
484
484
4S5
485



C H



486
A P.



CONTENTS.



CHAP. X.
Of the Conclusion.

I Examples


In particular, lome Itiould be
violent — — — ■
tender ■ — — . —

elevated ■ —-

May fo me times be mixed —

Muft always be diverfified —

The beft conclufions —



Page
489

491

492
493
495
499

499
300



End of the Contents of the Second Volume.



An



In the Pre/s, and JpecdiJy ii-ill be pulliped.
Elegantly printed in a neat Pocket Volume,

A PLEA for the DIVINITY of our Lord
JESUS CHRIST.

EDITION the THIRD.

By ROBERT ROBINSON.

Sold by J. Buckland, in Pater- nofter Row, London ;
and T. Fletcher, in Cambridge.

Whert alj'o may he had.
Three Volumes of a Translation of

SAURIN's SERMONS.

The Fourth is in the Prefs, and will be publifhed as foon
as convenient, to complete the Set.



A N

ESSAY

O N T H E

COMPOSITION of a SERMON.



CHAP. VI.

Of Texts to be difcufTed by way of Obferr-
vation.

SOME texts require a difcuITion by way of
confideration, or ohfervatioru The following
hints may ferve for a general direftion.

I. When texts are dear of themfelves, and
the matter well known to the hearers^ it would be
trifling to amufe the people with explication. Such
texts muft be taken as they are, tliat is, clear,
plain, and evident, and only obfervations fhould
te made on them, (i)

2. Mod



(l) Preachers muft not at-
tempt to explain clear /ubjeSis.
A very fenfible writer calls
this turn of mind " a capaci-
ty of being always frivolous,
and always unanfwerable. I
have known it, adds he,
more than once afcend the
pulpii: one of this fort, tak.

VoL.U.



ing it in his head to be a great
admirer of Dr. Tillotfon and
Dr. Beveridge, never failed
of proving out of thefe great
authors, things, which no
man living would have de-
nied him upon his own fingle
authority." Spe^ator. 'voL ii.
Tt. 138.
A I have



( 2 )

2. Mod hljlorical texts miift be difcuffed In this
way, for, in a way of explication, there would
be very little to liiy. For example, what is there
to explain in this paflage? Then Jefus^ fix days
before the pajfover, came to Bethany, where Laza-
rus



I have often wondered
from what principle in feme
of our miniilers this imper-
tinence could arife, and the
moil plaufible fpeculation
fcems to be this. It arifes
from emulation ViX\di inattention.
Some great divine has pro-
perly ftated, and proved cer-
tain articles in a regular bo-
dy of divinity, where they
could not be omitted, and at
a time, when the truth of
them was doubted. A mo-
dern divine makes this great
man his model, and, not at-
tending to times andcircum-
ilances, imitates him in eve-
ry thing. We could eafily
exemplity this remark : but
we choofe rather to irive an
example of a dark explicati-
on of a clear pallage to ferve
the bafe purpofe of party-
zeal.

^' John xxi. 18. When thou
p.- alt be old another Jhall gird
thee, and carry thee ivhithcr
thou nxioiildejl not. This pro-
mifeofjefus Chrift to S.Peter
belongs to the church, and
particularly to the head, the
pontiff of Rome. When Pe-
ter fliould be old, that is to
fay, in the advanced ages of
the church, the popes Ihall
he orirt by another, and con-
ducted whither they woi::d



not. Who is the other, that
fhall gird and carry him whi-
ther he would not r It is the
holy Spirit of God, who will
condudt the popes by fuch
hidden and fecret ways, that
in fpite of their weaknefs and
refillance, in fpite of their
worldly and wicked maxims,
they Ihall be diverted from
their propofed ends. We
mull dillin!Tuiih between the
Romsn court and the Roman
fee. The fame men, pope,
cardinals, and clergy com-
pofs one bcdy conhderable
in thefe two points of view ;
as a court, they are like
other courts, and a wicked
intereiled policy governs all
they do : but as a fee, they
are governed by the infalli-
ble Ipirit of God, and con-
ftrained often to do that as
fpiritual perfons, which as
fecular men they never in-
tended to do. Hence it fre-
quently happens, he comes
pope out of the conclave,
who was hardly a cardinal
when he went in ; and he
comes out a cardinal, who
entered the conclave pope in
defign ; thus all the delibe-
rations of the holy fee are
inrallible oracles of truth."
Had this expofitor ever read
the words that follow his
text.



C 3 )

rus was, which had been dead, whom he raifedfrom
the dead. There they made him a /upper, and Mar-
tha ferved : hut Lazarus was one of ther/i, that
fat at table with him : Joh. xii. Would it not be
a lofs of time and labour to attempt to explain
thefe words ; and are they not clearer than any
comments can make them ? The way of obferva-
tion, then, muft be taken. (2)

3. There

text, this /pake Jefus fignify- glorify God? Mem. des in-
ing by <what death Peter Jhould trigues de la cour de Rom. p. 3,
Omnia enim ftolidi magis admirantur, amantque
Inverfis quce fub verbis latitantia cernunt ;
Veraque conllituunt quae belle tangere poirunc
Aures, et lepido qu.'E funt fucata fonore.

Luc ret. lib. i.
(2) Hijiorical pajfagcs mujl help him. Ohf. Thoie will
he difcitff'ed by nvay vf obfer^a- have a great deal to anfwer
tio7i. I have feen no expofi- for, who, though they have
tor, who affords more obvi- a fecret kindnefs for good
pus, pertinent, and edifying people, dare not own it in a