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SECTION LIX.

OF THE ACTION OF AN ORATOR.

AFTER a sermon has been composed, and even committed to memory, much still remains for the

ervate the energy which should accompany the delivery of sermons, and in some measure to weaken and prevent the desired effects.

The judicious reflection of our author concerning the consequences of "ministers resting satisfied with reading religious instructions from the pulpit" has great weight in it, and should be seriously considered by ministers whose concern it is to be useful. Facts strongly corroborate the justness of his reasoning. The most accurate and sensible discourses of mere readers are disregarded, and their hearers are comparatively few, while the discourses of others, which appear to flow "ex imo pectore," though, perhaps, less accurate and elegant, are listened to with pleasure and avidity. In this respect, human nature is the same in every country, and will continue to be so till the end of time.

That the above hints, which the translator throws out with all deference, may not appear to lose the weight and support of authority, the reader is presented with the following sentiments of wise and capable judges.

We shall begin with Horace, who tells us, in general, that the speaker who has thoroughly digested his subject will be at no great loss for suitable expressions :

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Verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur."-HOR., Art. Poet., i., 311.

Let us next attend to the united suffrages of two re

orator to execute; for the success of the composition depends upon the manner of delivery.

spectable dignitaries of the Church of England: Bishop WILKINS says, "As for composing, it will not be convenient for a constant preacher to pen all his discourse, or to tie himself to phrases; when the matter is well digested, expressions will easily follow; whereas, to be confined to words, besides the oppression of the memory, will much prejudice the operations of the understanding and affections. The judgment will be much weakened and the affections dulled when the memory is overburdened. A man cannot ordinarily be so much affected himself, and, consequently, he cannot affect others, with things he speaks by rote: he should take some liberty to prosecute a matter according to his more immediate apprehensions of it, by which many particulars may be suggested not before thought of, according to the working of his own affections, and the various alterations that may appear in the auditory; and, besides, they will breed a rappηoia, such a fitting confidence as should be in that orator who is to have a power over the affections of others, of which such a one is scarce capable."-WILKINS's Ecclesiast., § 2. To the same effect, see FENELON'S Dialogues concerning Eloquence, dial. ii., p. 78, &c.

Bishop BURNET gives us his sentiments on this subject as follow: "This leads me to consider the difference that is between reading and speaking of sermons. Reading is peculiar to this nation, and is endured in no other. It has, indeed, made our sermons more exact, and has thus produced many volumes of the best that are extant. But, after all, though some few read so happily, pronounce so truly, and enter so entirely into those affections which they

This concluding particular ought to be the subject of a separate work.

recommend, that in them we see both the correctness of reading and the seriousness of speaking sermons, yet every one is not so happy; some, by hanging their heads perpetually over their notes, by blundering as they read, and by a cursory running over them, do so lessen the matter of their sermons, that, as they are generally read with very little life or affection, so they are heard with as little regard or esteem. Those who read ought certainly to be at a little more pains than, for the most part, they are, to read true; to pronounce with an emphasis; to raise their head, and to direct their eyes to their hearers; and if they practised more alone the just way of reading, they might deliver their sermons with much more advantage. Man is a low sort of creature: he does not (nay, the greater part cannot) consider things in themselves, without those little seasonings that must recommend them to their affections. Besides, the people, who are too apt to censure the clergy, are easily carried into an obvious reflection on reading, that it is an effect of laziness."--BURNET's Pastoral Care, § 9.

The learned Dr. WATTS, in his Thoughts entitled Words without Spirit, describes the following character: "LECTORIUS is a pious man and worthy minister in a country parish his discourses are well formed; his sentiments on almost every subject are just and proper; his style is modern and not impolite, nor does he utterly neglect the passions in the turn of his composures; yet I cannot call him a good preacher; for he does not only use his written notes to secure his method and to relieve his memory, but he scarce ever takes his eyes from off his book to address himself with life and spirit to the people; for this reason

The ancients regarded delivery as a very considerable branch of the art of oratory, and have carried

many of his hearers fall asleep; the rest of them sit from January to December, regardless and unconcerned: an air of indolence reigns through the faces of his auditory, as if it were a matter of no importance, or not addressed to them, and his ministrations have little power or success. In his last sermon he had a use of reproof for some vices which were practised in a public and shameless manner in his parish, and he thought that these sins ought not to escape a public rebuke. The paragraph was well drawn up, and, indeed, it was animated with some just and awful severities of language; yet he had not courage enough to chide the guilty, nor to animate his voice with any just degree of zeal. However, the good man did his best; he went into the pulpit and read them a chiding.

"His conduct is just the same when he designs his address in his paper to any of the softer passions; for by the coldness of their pronunciation, and keeping his eye ever fixed on his notes, he makes very little impression on his hearers. When he should awaken senseless and obstinate sinners, and pluck them as brands out of the burning, he only reads to them out of his book some words of pity, or perhaps a use of terror; and if he would lament over their impenitence and approaching ruin, he can do no more than read them a chapter of lamentation.

"Since there are so many of the kindred of Lectorius in our nation, it is no wonder that some of them arise to vindicate the family and their practice. Do not the English sermons, say they, exceed those of other nations, because they are composed with so much justness and accuracy, and by careful reading they are delivered with great ex

this talent to a degree of perfection of which we have no idea.

actness to the people, without trusting one sentence to the frailty of the memory, or the warmth of sudden imagination? I am sure it may be replied, that if the English sermons exceed those of our neighbours, the English preachers would exceed themselves if they would learn the art of reading by the glance of an eye, so as never to interrupt the force of their argument, nor the vivacity and pathos of their pronunciation; or if they made themselves so much masters of what they have written, and delivered it with such life and spirit, such freedom and fervency, as though it came all fresh from the head and the heart. It is by this art of pronouncing, as well as by a warm composure, that some of the French preachers reign over their assemblies, like Cicero or Demosthenes of old, and that, with such superior dignity and power as is seldom seen nowadays in an English audience, whatsoever esteem may be paid to our writings."

"A paper with the most pathetic lines written upon it, has no fear or hope, no zeal or compassion; it is conscious of no design, nor has any solicitude for success; and a mere reader, who coldly tells the people what his paper says, seems to be as void of all these necessary qualifications as his paper is."-WATTS' Miscellaneous Thoughts, No. xxvi., p. 104-106, 8vo.

Dr. BLAIR shall conclude the authorities quoted upon this point:

"With regard to the pulpit, it has certainly been a great disadvantage that the practice of reading sermons has prevailed so universally in England. This may, indeed,

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