Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

mind and soul of a composer, who aspires to become, as a Preacher of the Gospel, an instrument, in the hands of Providence, of "turning many to “righteousness." Living under such influence, he prepares a discourse to be addressed to an assembly of fallen creatures, alienated from God and Religion, for whose redemption the blood of the, Son of God was shed, and to whom is offered a covenant of mercy, very generally, either egregiously misunderstood, stupidly disregarded, or wilfully transgressed. Instead of producing an abstract philosophical essay, or a metaphysical dis.. quisition, difficult to the writer to express, and, in consequence, to the hearer to comprehend, he cheerfully sacrifices all parade of learning, and ostentation of knowledge, and confines himself to the elucidation of the Evangelical Covenant. The congregation he is to address, he esteems as his children. "He has them, therefore, in his "heart;" and the expressions of his desire for their welfare, and of his zeal for their happiness, are manifested, in his solicitude to reclaim them from the seductions of negligence, to withdraw

* "Though the Science of Morals and natural Religion is highly to be valued, yet the Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel require your principal Regard beyond all Comparison. It is of the Gospel that you are Ministers: all other Learning will leave you essentially unqualified; and this alone comprehends every Thing that is necessary. Without it, you will never approve yourselves to God, as Workmen that need not to be ashamed, nor make your Hearers wise unto Salvation."Abp. SECKER.

them from the paths of error, and to deliver them from the punishment of sin.

Such is the design of a Sermon. Whereas judging from the generality of English discourses, the object of one writer, seems to be to display his talent of reasoning, of another, his accuracy of expression; of a third, his knowledge of Theology ; but to give men a comprehensive idea of the Gospel Covenant-to persuade them to bear in mind, in their whole behaviour, the relation in which they stand to their Redeemer and Judge-to consider themselves as the Temple of God, in whom the Almighty, by his Spirit, vouchsafes to dwell -appears to be only a secondary part of their design. Be our attachment to our excellent establishment ever so great, we are compelled to acknowledge, that the Sermons * usually preached and published, are not so animated in their style,

* "I have," says a popular writer, "attempted to show, that however many of those (Sermons) may be esteemed beautiful moral Essays, they are devoid of that evangelic and pastoral unction, which the pulpit demands: that they are not calculated to reach the affections, nor, in correspondence with the object in view, either to disturb, terrify, soften, encourage, or console. They contain no communicative sensibility, and have nothing that is glowing, seraphic, or incentive. If any authority were requisite to corroborate my opinion on this subject, I find the sentiments of Bishop Warburton in perfect consonance with mine: in his Directions for the Study of Theology, he has these words:-" A pathetic address to the passions and affections of penitent hearers, perhaps the most operative of all the various species of instruction, is that in which

and vehement in their manner, as the frequent contemplation of the happiness of heaven, or the torments of hell, awaiting every hearer of them, might be expected to produce :-the defection from the Church in many, and the unpardonable neglect of her ordinances, accompanied with the total absence of vital religion, in more, of her professed adherents, are, I fear, incontrovertible evidences of the truth of the assertion. Of printed Sermons, I could mention many volumes, very creditable to the several authors, as specimens of didactic composition-the arguments well selected, the arrangements happily made, the language elegantly expressed-but this is all. Does the Preacher, in every page, exhibit solicitude for the glory of the Master whose credentials he bears? Does he demonstrate an evangelical zeal for the everlasting welfare of his fellow-creatures, committed to his charge, applying that solicitude, and directing that zeal to every faculty of their mind, and every passion of their heart, to convince them of the necessity of living in favor with the Almighty-of considering themselves as accountable to his justice—and therefore, impressing the duty he himself feels, as one commissioned to announce truths, in themselves inexpressibly awful, and in their consequences, infinitely important? Go into a conventicle. You hear the preacher

the English pulpit is most defective."-See an Essay on the Eloquence of the pulpit in England, prefixed to the translation of Select Sermons, from Bossuet, by Mr. Jerningham,

conjuring and imploring the assembly, in the most urgent and affectionate manner, to avoid the punishment denounced against sin, and embrace the happiness promised to religion. The scenes of future misery, which he delineates, affect the senses, and melt the hearts, of his admiring auditors in his descriptions, his exhortations, his appeals, his denunciations, he artfully interweaves his own, solicitude-the pungent misery he feels and the alarming apprehensions he entertains, about their salvation. When an ignorant person hears such declarations-when he perceives the Peacher so benevolently interested in his behalf— when the voice, the manner, the language of the speaker, all concur to shew him a danger which he never saw before; when he contrasts the imposing warmth of the conventicle-where every sentence is adapted to his understanding, and addressed to his feelings-with the frigid caution of the Church, which he has attended, it may be, all his life, without being once awakened from the security of sin, and terrified with the anticipation of punishment-can it be any wonder, that the Church should, under such circumstances, yield to the conventicle, and that error should triumph over truth?

It will here, I doubt not, occur to every one, that the subjects which are proposed to the attention of our congregations, are not always the most interesting; the Scriptures supply many, seldom introduced into the pulpit, yet are very important in

themselves, and would be rendered extremely affecting to the auditory, by the exercise of judgment, and the display of zeal, by which some of the Clergy are pre-eminently distinguished. Common topics are too generally enforced; by which means little* attention is given to public discourses, and a lamentable ignorance pervades the hearers. I shall not be understood to signify, that texts should be chosen for their singularity. I am supposing, that when a Preacher chooses a subject, he consults his judgment, and considers what is best adapted to "bind up the broken-hearted, "and to give deliverance to the captives, sold "under sin." Impressed by such a sense of duty, we need not be apprehensive that he will be directed by an offensive and ridiculous singularity of choice.

* "Coming to Church the Bulk of Mankind even still consider as a ↑ Duty; but hearing as they ought, they partly neglect, and partly experience to be difficult. Therefore we must not only admonish, but assist them. For this End, we must shew them from first to last, that we are not merely saying good Things in their Presence, but directing what we say to them personally, as a Matter which concerns them beyond Expression. More general Discourses they often want Skill to take home to themselves; and oftener yet Inclination; so they sit all the while stupidly regardless of what is delivered. Therefore we must interest them in it, by calling upon them to observe, by asking them Questions to answer silently in their own Minds, by every prudent Incitement to follow us closely. Abp. SECKER.

† A very alarming and a very awful change has taken place, both in religious sentiments and public morals, since the worthy Archbishop composed this excellent Charge,

« AnteriorContinuar »