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and His Atonement. I rejoice that He does not cast off or forget His old servants when their strength fails. Lord, keep me very near to Thee, humble and watchful at Thy feet, waiting for the summons from earth.

'July 20th.-What a comfort religion brings to the soul in leading us to forget the sorrows of the present in the bright contemplation of the future world!

'July 23rd, 1876.-I have not had the power to write a word in my book for some weeks, but this day I have had my soul abundantly blessed in the house of God. The word was sweet to my taste. Immediately after the morning service the Sacrament was administered-an old custom renewed. It was a great blessing to me, and I doubt not to many others. I returned home with my spiritual strength greatly renewed, and my heart filled with love Divine. I keenly felt sympathy with Him when He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." Lord, may I never forget Thy dying love. I often feel very near my end. All I want is that I may wake up to see Jesus face to face.'

The hand which for many years continuously recorded the manifold operations of the Spirit in the heart soon forgot its cunning: In a few weeks after making this record, on September 15th, 1876, her spirit was dismissed from the toils and sorrows of this life to enter upon the rapturous service of the heavenly temple. In the same week the remains of this sainted woman and her husband were interred in the same grave to await the resurrection unto eternal life. When nearing her end Mrs. Manwaring wrote: I am but dust, but I have at times delightful anticipations of heaven: of enjoying there a full draught of that living water, of which I have only had a taste.'

For about a quarter of a century Mrs. Manwaring filled with much acceptance the responsible office of a Class Leader at Southwark Chapel Equipment for service and a faithful discharge of the duties of the office became her paramount passion. Evidence of much preparation of heart and intellect remains in numerous short, pithy, appropriate sentences, written in anticipation of this weekly meeting for Christian fellowship. A lively interest in the welfare of each member of her Class was maintained by a course of frequent visitation and occasional correspondence. In much bodily weakness, and often at great hazard to her health, she proceeded with her work, and was abundantly blessed therein. Her heart aglow with gratitude, accustomed to communion with God, in prayer she pleaded and prevailed. To each member she gave 'a word in season.' For many years to come her name will be 'as ointment poured forth.'

EXTEMPORANEOUS PREACHING:

BY THE REV. H. W. HOLLAND.

BOTH intellectually and religiously the Christian pulpit of our day occupies a powerful position in the mind and heart of the nation. Tens of thousands look to it for weekly religious influence and direction, and whatever may be said of pastoral visitation and subordinate Church-organizations, the pulpit will always be the central and most influential of Christian institutions. The

Minister with great preaching talents, rightly tempered, is one of the mightiest men of his time, and his contributions to the conscience and character of his country are invaluable.

Most people have something at stake in the Preachers of their time, and are helped by sermons in a greater or less degree, according to the fitness of the discourses for their needs. It is impossible with an institution more than eighteen hundred years old to have no variations in methods, means and appliances; and though, owing to its sacredness, fewer experiments have been made with the pulpit than with any of the other great human forces of the world, men are by no means confined to one method of preaching, nor are all discourses of the same general character. Sermons, like all other human things, have taken more or less the colour of their time, yet certain essential features have run through all the temporary shades and hues of the changing ages. The variations have extended to something beyond passing drifts of thought and changing forms of expression: there has been and there still is considerable variation as to the method and manner of Preachers in the preparation and delivery of their discourses. What shall I preach about? how shall I preach? what shall I aim at? These are questions which have caused no little anxiety and mental conflict to thousands of Preachers; for though some Ministers easily fall into the existing ruts, and give themselves no concern whatever beyond the merest perfunctory discharge of their duty, it is not so with all. The majority of Ministers in every Church are anxious to be of religious service to mankind, and strive to be so according to their goodness and their light.

The three general methods of preaching are reading, memoriter, and extemporaneous; and though these three methods somewhat run into each other, and are associated with many varieties, they are sufficiently distinctive for the purposes of a practical classification.

If only one method of preaching is chosen as the subject of this article, it must not be imagined that nothing can be said in favour of the other two. Each of the three methods has its votaries and defenders, and the historic names of illustrious Preachers stand for ever associated with the reading, the memoriter, and the extemporaneous method.

In discussing the merits and difficulties of extemporaneous preaching, it will not be necessary to enter into any essential question of conduct, theology or devotion; more especially as there is no creed which cannot be taught by the extemporaneous method, and there is no Church which forbids its use to her Ministers. Preaching has its human as well as its Divine side, and the human element may be investigated all the more freely by the exclusion of those sacred elements which affect the profoundest welfare of mankind. A reverential silence is not inconsistent with a fixed belief.

There are many mistaken notions on the subject of extemporaneous preaching which it is necessary to sweep away in order to a clear apprehension of the exercise. Extemporaneous Preachers have been credited with the most absurd practices by those who were either ignorant of, or opposed to,

its methods. In the belief of some, extemporaneous preaching means talking in the pulpit on religious subjects at random-without knowledge, forethought or the slightest plan of discourse. It is possible that here and there a Preacher may get into a pulpit who deserves this sarcastic description. But such miserable exceptions cannot weigh against the great body of thoughtful and careful extemporaneous Preachers. The few who preach without thought are soon lost in the confusion of their own gabble, and either pass into oblivion or are held in well-merited contempt.

Extemporaneous preaching does not mean the entire abandonment of the use of the memory. It is impossible for a Minister of accurate thought and earnest conviction to preach without the use of his memory. Certain catch phrases, occasional sentences, and sometimes whole paragraphs spring up in the mind of the speaker, and they so excite him and impress him as to burn themselves so indelibly into his recollection that he would find it impossible to forget them. Such words and phrases require no effort to recall them. They spring up spontaneously in the soul, and rush unbidden through the lips, as naturally as the air one breathes. Every extemporaneous Preacher knows that there are parts of his discourse which complete themselves during the delivery of the sermon without any effort of his own.

The sermon Reader reads his discourse from paper; the memoriter Preacher reads his from the tablets of his memory. The sermon Reader turns his bodily eyes to his manuscript; the memoriter Preacher looks inward and threads his way through the unseen hieroglyphics of his recollection. The extemporaneous Preacher, after more or less preparation, discourses on the subject he has chosen as thoughts and language come to him when in the act of discourse; he follows with more or less closeness the route he had previously determined to pursue. He neither rejects his memory nor depends upon it; and he is neither a slave to a plan of discourse, nor without one. It is not necessary to construct an elaborate and exhaustive definition of extemporaneous preaching. The brief sketch already given will suffice. But before the advantages and value of extemporaneous discourse in the pulpit can be exactly ascertained, it is needful to weigh certain objections which are commonly urged against the practice.

The advocates of extemporaneous preaching are often told that it leads to insufficient preparation. Let us know what is meant by the phrase-An unprepared Preacher. Does it mean one who has taken no pains to inform himself upon the subject about which to discourse before the people? If such be a Preacher's habit, he is unfit for the sacred office, and ought to be dismissed. Unforeseen cares and engagements may interfere with the arrangements of the most conscientious Ministers. In the uncertainties and afflictions of this life, it is impossible that all Ministers should be at all times equally well prepared to preach. Yet what is there in extemporaneous preaching that either naturally or morally conduces to insufficient preparation? The only thing that can be said in answer to this question is, that when a Preacher has the gift of extemporaneous discourse, he is in danger of

taking advantage of it against both his audience and himself. Yielding to natural indolence, or engrossed with matters foreign to pulpit preparation, he neither occupies his time nor his strength in storing his mind and heart with those treasures of thought and emotion out of which to produce his sermon when his preaching-hour arrives. No conscientious and earnest Minister can fall into these evil habits; not only because they are inconsistent with the sacredness of his vocation, but because they are incompatible with the acquisition and use of the gift of extemporaneous preaching. No right-minded man will be induced to neglect the proper preparation of his discourses; and a Preacher who does not duly feel the importance of his work, will not be induced to prepare his sermons thoroughly, no matter what method he may employ.

It is objected against the general use of the extemporaneous method of preaching, that all have not the natural gift. Let this be conceded at once. It is much more easy for some than for others to preach extemporaneously. Yet it is more a question of practice than of nature. If a man believes he ought to occupy the pulpit, he ought at least to justify his belief by proving himself possessed of the qualifications necessary to enable him to discharge in an efficient manner the duties of his high vocation. Crediting the majority of Preachers with such qualifications, it is reasonable to say that it is not impossible for them to become acceptable and useful extemporaneous Preachers. The faculty of extemporaneous speech is one of the earliest gifts of nature to mankind. Watch children at play, listen behind the nurserydoor, or observe them while they tell to their mother the story of some new joy, pouring out a stream of words and thoughts as fast as their tongues can move, and you will see that we begin the world as extemporaneous speakers, and if we could keep the innocence and the flowing emotions of childhood, there is no reason why we should not go on exercising this natural gift to the end of our days. For the highest triumphs of the human soul, genius is required, but all ordinary human excellencies may be acquired to a valuable extent by men and women of good understanding and persevering industry.

In sermons, ideas may be compared to fruit, and words to the leaves; and it is sometimes said that the extemporaneous tree grows far more leaves than fruit; that occasionally the product is all leaves and no fruit, like that of the barren fig-tree. But both in public and in private it is too frequently the lot of listeners to find more leaves than fruit. Verbiage in the pulpit is very wearisome, and an injustice both to the theme and the audience. Congregations expect to be fed on something better than leaves. Preachers to whom words come easily, are in danger of becoming mere fluent speakers; yet there is a natural tendency in the evil to correct itself. The Preacher whose discourse is only a garrulous flow of jingling words will very soon find himself disliked. It is held by some, that exactness of statement and closeness of reasoning cannot be as perfectly secured in extemporaneous as in written discourse, and therefore extemporaneous preaching ought not to be practised. The premises

may be accepted while the conclusion is declined. Logicians wishing to reach the highest style of their art would have recourse to writing, and to rewriting; sentences would be taken to pieces and put together again, and the work of reconstruction would be continued until human skill could do no more. But, is an exhibition of such workmanship the great mission of the pulpit? Are sermons to be listened to only by the most highly cultured? Sermons, generally speaking, are for the multitude, and not for the few.

It is the duty of every Preacher, in all the ordinary circumstances of Churchlife, to seek the greatest good of the greatest number; and we are not to be told in sober earnest that such an end can always be best gained by severe closeness of reasoning. Bishop Butler's masterly sermons have their use, but were all sermons like them, it would be a calamity to the universal Church. A certain diffuseness is necessary for a successful address to the multitude. People's heads must not be made to ache with strained attention. The charm of a sermon for the populace is that it holds their minds in agreeable and vigorous exercise, and this is one of the special advantages of extemporaneous preaching.

Extemporaneous Preachers have sometimes, in the heat or carelessness of the moment, said rash and injurious things, and instances of indiscretion are strongly pleaded against the practice. In moments of excitement and inadvertence most people are in danger of saying things which they afterwards regret. This danger of abandon is not peculiar to the pulpit, neither does it work more mischief in the Church than elsewhere, provided the Christian spirit is maintained. An occasional slip cannot be pleaded fairly against a method beneficial in its general results. Besides, if the freedom is dangerous on the one side, it is frequently glorious on the other. Some of the finest and most useful things ever uttered in the pulpit have been wholly unpremeditated. They have lighted up the soul with a glow as of inspiration, such as would never have been caught in the quiet routine of the study.

Extemporaneous discourse does not give opportunity for a polished and finished style of composition. Neither the file nor the square can be applied to the sparks as they are smitten from the anvil, but the heat is of more value than the polish which comes of the long process of smoothing and lubrication. If sermons were only intended for the refined and the cultured, and if their finish constituted their sole efficacy, no man should preach extemporaneously; but the use of a sermon is very different from that of a gem of art. Less enduring in itself, a sermon ought to be more enduring in its efficacious results than the best mere work of art can ever be, although the artist may have painted 'for eternity.' The Christian Church is not an art-gallery. The object of preaching is the moral and religious good of mankind, and not the satisfaction of critics. How many young Preachers, in the folly of their early inexperience, have sighed for an educated congregation; a cultured people, who could appreciate the rich genius and the classical finish of the youthful aspirant after pulpit fame! For the generality of Preachers, highlyeducated congregations are not to be found. Take the professional and literary

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