Sermons and sketches of sermons.

Front matter

SERMONS

AND

SKETCHES OF SERMONS.

Dedication

TO THE REV JOSHUA SOULE,

ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Rev. and very dear Sir,

Preface To The Second Edition

In offering to the public this new edition of Summerfield's Sermons, it is proper to state that a different sketch, selected from his remaining manuscripts, has been substituted in place of the fifty-third in the first edition. It was discovered, soon after the work was published, that an error had been committed in introducing this sketch, the thoughts and language of which are borrowed, almost entirely, from another. Mr. Summerfield was eminently an original thinker ; but he was, at the same time, a diligent and laborious student, and intent on gathering from the ample stores of Christian literature whatever might strengthen his efforts in the great cause to which he was so ardently devoted. Hence he did not hesitate to transcribe occasionally, for a guide in his public ministrations, such expositions of Divine truth as impressed him most forcibly in the course of his reading, though always with some mark of acknowledgment. But, as these marks were merely for his own recognition, they are often not very distinct, and not uniformly of one character. Thus, in the instance here noticed, the evidence of quotation was so obscure as not to attract the compiler's notice. It is proper farther to remark, however, as well for the satisfaction of the reader as in justice to the reputation of the revered and lamented author, that the work has been examined throughout, with a view to ascertain if there were any other inadvertences of the kind : none were found.

The very favourable reception given to the first edition of these sermons affords satisfactory proof of their high appreciation by the religious community, while it encourages the hope that, through God's providence, they will be made a distinguished instrument for good, in comforting and confirming the Christian, and in converting sinners from the error of their ways New- York, December, 1842.

Introduction

At length the public are presented with a volume of Sermons, and Sketches of Sermons, from the preparations for the pulpit of the Rev. John Summerfield; a preacher who, for a brief space, enchained his immense audiences by the more than magic influence of an eloquence, as peculiar in its character, as it was universal in its control over the minds of men. The question will naturally arise in the mind of the reader, " Why have they been so long withheld 1" The answer is, that those who possessed these precious remains, were made diffident of the favour with which their publication would be received, from some indications of disappointment when the life of Mr. Summerfield was presented to the public, written by one who, all agree, was eminently qualified for the task, and who certainly spared no pains to fulfil the expectations of the numerous friends, and admirers of the deceased. In fact, Mr. Holland accomplished all that could be done, in regard to the biography of one whose brief career, though it blazed with unexampled brightness, was nevertheless marked with a sameness of incident, from which no writer could educe the variety which is necessary to give interest to narrative, whether of a general or an individual character.

In the life of Mr. Summerfield there was nothing very peculiar. We mark, indeed, an early development of those strong mental endowments, which were so strikingly exhibited even in his first pulpit efforts 5 but these were associated with the common waywardness of genius, and the concomitant premature relish for the vices of manhood. The process, by which the Lord of .the Harvest called such an instrument into his service has been so often witnessed, that, though it still astonishes by the exhibition of omnipotent power, as do all the works of God, yet, like the firmament above us, being constantly in view, it no longer surprises by its novelty. His conversion was attended with no extraordinary circumstances. The instruments were such as to humble human pride, by showing that " the excellency of the power was of God, and not of man." Even the abiding, indelible impression made on his mind by the wholesomeness of parental precept, and the piety and uniformity of parental example, is so far from being a new exhibition of truth, that we are taught to look for it by the Old Testament Scriptures ; and it has been convi INTRODUCTION.

firmed to us in all ages by the experience of the Church. All. then, that a biographer could do, Mr. Holland has done. He Te corded faithfully, and he made a suitable use of the facts of the

record.

But it was precisely where the biographer could do least, thai most was expected. The public ministry of this extraordinary evangelist burst suddenly upon the world, as a comet shows it self among the heavenly constellations ; but the comet, view it from what place or position you will, is the same. All that can be seen of it is seen at once ; and the future historian finds in its appearance only a simple fact, which can be recorded in a single page. Wherever Mr. Summerfield appeared, there was the same eagerness in all classes of people to hear him, and to see him j and, everywhere, there was the same uniform admiration of the preacher's manner and of his sermons. In Ireland, in England, and in America, whatever were the characteristic differences in the taste, and qualifications, and even the prejudices of the hearers, all heard with the same delight ; all hearts melted, and all prejudices gave way, under an eloquence which it was as impossible to describe as to resist. But still, all this afforded little for his biographer. In any one of these countries, to describe the scene, and detail the facts and incidents of one occasion, on which he published to listening multitudes the Word of L<ife, was to give what occurred on every such occasion ; and these followed each other with a rapidity which afforded no opportunity for other pursuits or engagements. Thus public expectation, with respect to the biography of Mr. Summerfield, was disappointed, because the expectation was unreasonable. All minds, all hearts were impressed with the living Summerfield, and no one could restore him to life, and present him as he had been seen and heard, the messenger of mercy and love, to whose ministry attentive multitudes listened with a delight, which it was vainly hoped could be recalled by the incidents of his life. Upon reading again the work of Mr. Holland, we are constrained to say, it is among the very best biographies that has fallen in our way ; yet we remember to have participated in the common feeling when we first perused it. It was the manifestation of this feeling which discouraged the publication of the sermons and sketches contained in the volume now issued, as it was feared they would fall too far short of what so many heard from the lips of the author to give satisfaction. But they have now been postponed until they can be read by many, without the disadvantage of such comparison ; and by the remainder, after time and intervening events have

INTRODUCTION. Vll

weakened, though they never can efface, the impressions made upon them by the sermons when they heard them from the pulpit. Thus we look with pleasure on the portrait of a deceased friend, after time has mellowed the severity of the bereavement ; though at first, it only revived the poignancy of our grief, by awakening the recollection of our loss.

It was our happiness to know Mr. Summerfield, and to attend upon his ministry ; and since time has, in some degree, removed the spell of enchantment which his eloquence threw around us, we have endeavoured to analyze his discourses, yet fresh in our recollection, in order to discover what it was that gave such unexampled power over the mind and heart to one so young, and, consequently, immature in judgment and experience ; but we have not been satisfied with our success.

It could not be said that he exceeded many whom we have known, in either learning or knowledge, though his attainments in these respects were very respectable ; nor was he superior to hundreds of the preachers of his day, in reasoning or argumentative powers. His voice, though sweet and rich in its tones, had no great compass. His discourses did not strike one by the novelty of his opinions, or by the erudition they displayed. There were, it is true, in all his sermons, " thoughts that breathed and words that burned ;" but, for the most part, they presented only " what oft was thought, though ne'er so well express'd." What, then, was the irresistible charm in his preaching 1 We honestly confess we cannot say. We have some vague idea of it, but cannot imbody it in words. There was, however, one peculiarity which could not fail to strike the hearer : it was what is called, by common consent, simplicity. The truths he dwelt upon had been felt in all their power by the preacher, and he presented them in the simple, chaste, and forcible language of unsophisticated feeling. The hearer who participated in his religious enjoyments, responded instinctively to every feeling of the preacher j and one who knew nothing of such experience, felt that it was the most important want of his nature, and his whole soul went out in cravings for the possession. It was this simplicity of style which never failed to make its way to the heart, as certainly as pompous diction, and parade of language and learning shuts up every avenue to the feelings.

But, though there was much in the clear perception, and the personal experience of the truths presented, and much, too, in the simplicity of the style and language in which they were clothed, it must be admitted that there was something in the manner of

Viii INTRODUCTION.

the preacher, which greatly added to the effect of his preaching. But who can describe this manner 1 It was not the gracefulness of his attitudes and action, though these were perfect. Every movement, whether of body or members, was not only exactly correct, but intuitively expressive of thought or feeling, appear ing to obey some immediate impulse of the soul. There was no thing theatrical, nothing studied, nothing which gave the slightest suspicion that it was done for effect. All seemed to come un sought, the immediate, spontaneous sympathy of a body, which lived and acted in obedience to the promptings of the soul within it. Yet this was not the peculiar charm, however important an auxiliary it might be. It was not even the first, or the strongest impression made on the auditory, though it could not fail to be taken into the account. But that which we remember to have struck us most forcibly in the manner of Mr. Summerfield was the meekness, the humility, the lowliness of heart which appeared in his whole deportment, bringing forcibly to the mind, the language and the example of Him who said, " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." Every one saw personified, the Saviour of men in the act of washing the feet of his disciples, and the soul clave to the minister who bore the image and superscription of his Lord. It was this that so prepossessed you as to subdue, and shame, every previously-formed intention to criticise the coming sermon. The affections were surrendered at once, and the decisions of the judgment were anticipated by the suffrage of the heart.

These selections from Mr. Summerfield's manuscripts are entitled " Sermons and Sketches of Sermons," because many of them are really sermons, having not only the outlines of regular discourses, but the filling up is nearly perfect. Yet it is not intended that the reader should suppose they are here found as they were delivered. The elements of the structure, in all its parts, are entire, but the painting is hardly anywhere visible. Indeed, this was often the inspiration of the moment, when his fertile though sanctified imagination, was kindled by the holy fire with which the angel touched the lips of the prophet, delivering a message from heaven. He seemed to have as little warning of these touches as his hearers, and hence we could not expect to find them in his closet preparations.

Those who may be disappointed at finding in these sermons, less than they hoped for, of that peculiar, impressive eloquence which they admired in Mr. Summerfield, ought to remember too, as we have before hinted, how much they were impressed by the deliv*

INTRODUCTION.

IX ery of the sermons. They will recollect that when he read a hymn, or a chapter in the Bible, we wondered how we could have overlooked the many beauties and excellences in the composition which then, for the first time, presented themselves. If this was owing to his manner of reading the hymn, or the chapter, how much more were his sermons indebted to the manner of their de livery.

During the sixteen years which have elapsed since the death of the lamented author of these sermons, the relative into whose possession his manuscripts came, has submitted them to several friends whose opinions he values highly, and they have all strongly urged him to publish at least a selection from the voluminous manuscripts containing the preparations for the pulpit, notwithstanding the unfinished state in which they were left. His own convictions of their value, and of the extensive good they were calculated to do, being thus corroborated, he has at length ventured upon the publication. In doing this, he has adhered faithfully to the ■manuscripts> giving nothing but what is the author's own ; except, that the quotations from the Scriptures which are referred to have been supplied.

We have read the proof-sheets of these " sermons and sketches," as well as many of them in manuscript, and we are gratified to find them more perfect than could have been expected of an extemporaneous preacher. It was the author's practice to prepare first a brief outline of his sermon, and, as soon after having delivered it as possible, to commit it to writing at greater length, from his recollection of the course he had taken when in the pulpit. His recommendation to a friend, then a student, but now an eminent minister of Christ, in reference to sermonizing, will give the best idea of his own method of study and preparation for the pulpit. "In reply to your remarks on extemporary discourses," he says, " I am gla'd to find your own soul in such perfect harmony with mine. You very much magnify the difficulty of it, but you have not yet been called to grapple with it; and I am fully persuaded that, even in your infancy as a minister of Christ Jesus, you will strangle the serpents : such is my decided impression, from the views you have already taken of the subject ; and yet you cry, ' Hie labor, hoc opus est !' I do not know that anything I could suggest would be applicable to your circumstances, because the mode of training for the ministry in our church, differs so totally from yours. ###*##

" In your case I would recommend the choice of a companion or two, with whom you could accustom yourself to open and am-

X INTRODUCTION.

plify your thoughts on a portion of the Word of God in the way of lecture ; choose a copious subject, and be not anxious to say all that might be said j let your efforts be aimed at giving a strong outline ; the filling up will be much more easily attained. Prepare a skeleton of your leading ideas, branching them off into their secondary relations : this you may have before you. Digest well the subject, but be not careful to choose your words previous to your delivery. Follow out the idea in such language as may offer at the moment. Don't be discouraged if you fall down a hundred times ; for, though you fall, you shall rise again ; and cheer yourself with the prophet's challenge, ' Who hath despised the day of small things 1'

" To be a correct extemporaneous preacher, you will need to write a good deal, in order to correct style, and prune off the exuberance of language ; but I would not advise you to write on the subject upon which you intend to preach. If you fill up on paper the matter of your text, you will contract a slavish habit of cumbering your mind with the words of your previous composition. Write on other subjects, and leave your words free and spontaneous for pulpit exercises. I never preach without having prepared an outline, but I never write a sermon out at length."

The author possessed extraordinary powers in the use of the pen ; he wrote with a facility and accuracy that was truly astonishing ; apparently, with as much ease and facility as he spoke He has left seven post octavo volumes of pulpit preparations, containing between three and four hundred sermons and skeletons of sermons. They are written in a style of elegance hardly to be surpassed $ an erasure or an interlineation is rarely to be found in his voluminous manuscripts. His indefatigable application to the study of the Holy Scriptures must have been with pen in hand, as he has also left two large books, one a counting-house leger, containing a vast amount of notes or comments on the Scriptures, written so extremely fine, and the words so abbreviated, that it is difficult to decipher them without a glass ; and, what is remarkable, an immense amount of these notes are written with a fine lead-pencil. Doubtless he discovered that he could make the pencil move faster than the pen. It is supposed, from the arrangement and the character of this labour, he must have contemplated writing a commentary on the Bible.

That the author studied the Bible thoroughly is evident from the knowledge of it he acquired, and which is so manifest in all his sermons. That he searched the Scriptures for himself, and searched deeply, is also clear, from the nature of the innumerable

INTRODUCTION. XI

notes contained in these large volumes. He did not rely implicitly on commentators, nor on the opinions of others ; he laboured to open the mine himself, and to search for hidden treasures ; and he laboured successfully. Very early in life, and long before he thought seriously of the Christian ministry, he was in the habit of closeting himself, week after week without intermission, from 4> o'clock in the morning until 8 in the evening, sixteen hours a day! Let the author himself speak in reference to commentators from whom he differed, as well as from the popular opinion on some points. " Names," says he, " are only entitled to the respect due to individuals, ffhere is a certain independence of mind which spurns the trammels of hereditary knowledge, and seeks for knowledge itself. Our natural sluggishness, and mental apathy is the great reason why we bow implicitly to the opinions of great and good men ; we do not bestir ourselves. I admire the man who does examine the opinion of another man, without bowing to his ipse dixit. Yet the world owes much to ancestral intellect.

" This independence of mind is quite different from that little pride which knowledge puffeth up ; it is found, in the Christian, connected with the deepest self-abasement and humility before God, at whose feet he has laid both his ignorance and his knowledge."

When we take into the account, that the author commenced preaching before he reached the age of twenty years — that he was of a frail body and delicate constitution ', and reflect on his abundant labours — that " he moved with the speed of a chariot-wheel down hill, till the axle catches fire" — preaching five, seven, and ten times a week, amounting to four hundred sermons in the first eighteen months of his ministry, besides delivering addresses on various occasions, we are filled with astonishment. His whole soul was bent upon " doing the work of an evangelist, and giving full proof of his ministry." To restrain him was impossible. If his friends remonstrated with him on his excessive labours, he was always ready with a reply, such as " The love of Christ constraineth me ;" or " My time is short, I must be about my Father's business."

It is important to bear in mind that a number of the following discourses, especially some of the most extended, were delivered during the early part of the author's ministry, when he was comparatively a mere youth ; and that the whole are, as nearly as possible, a transcript of the manuscripts as they were left, and which were not intended for publication. Under these circumstances, xii INTRODUCTION.

due allowance should be made, as it must be admitted that there are few authors who would venture to put to the press, writings which had been kept as memoranda for their own eye, only.

When it is remembered, too, that during his short sojourn on earth the author laboured under almost continual ill health, and was often brought, by his intense application to study, and his unremitting public labours, to the very verge of the grave, it will appear rather a matter of astonishment that his manuscripts are so numerous, and so nearly perfect, than that much is left unfinished. It will, we are persuaded, be a matter of rejoicing, that in what is now presented of the remams of Mr. Summerfield, "he, though dead, yet speaketh."

One* who had the privilege of examining the manuscript sermons remarks: "Having enjoyed the rare intellectual luxury of poring over his manuscripts, we are prepared to state, that his preparations for the pulpit evince the full concentration of all the powers of his mind, and the best use of all the resources of knowledge within his reach on the subjects on which he expatiated. But, though rich in thought and logical in their arrangement, the composition is left (purposely, it would appear) unfinished. Definitions and exegetical remarks are generally written out with studious accuracy and precision ) but the occurrence, on almost every pao-e, of broken hints, followed by a significant dash of the pen, indicates the orator's impatience of the trammels and tedium of previous composition, and the stirring of deep emotion within the breast that could find full vent only amid the hallowed excitements of the sanctuary. He did not offer to God of that which cost him nothing ; but it was the altar that sanctified his gift, and the fire that consumed his sacrifice issued immediately from the propitious heavens."

The celebrated poet, James Montgomery, Esq., than whom no man living is more competent to form a just estimate of literary merit, on examining a part of the MS. sermons (chiefly the sketches), thus writes :f " I went with critical scrutiny through nearly one hundred sketches of sermons, in his own handwriting ; and I give it as my deliberate conviction, that though they were very unlike what I had anticipated from a fervent, fearless, self-sacrificing preacher, the delight of wondering, weeping, and admiring audiences wherever he went, they were, in one main respect, far superior, being calculated less for instant effect than for abiding usefulness. Though but studies, they are, nevertheless, exceedingly methodical in plan ; and in execution they are distinguished

* Rev. Matthew Richey, in a note in the Life of the Rev. William Black. *• See Holland's Life of Summerfield, page 11.

INTRODUCTION. \m

chiefly by sound doctrine, exact judgment, and severe abstinence from ornament. Such ornament, however, as does occur, is often exquisite j and from being occasionally interpolated (as after thoughts), I cannot doubt that, in uttering these condensed compositions at spontaneous length, illustrations the most lively and beautiful sprang in like manner out of the subject, when the preacher himself was full to overflowing, yet filling the faster the more he overflowed.

"And this was the right kind of preparation for one who always had words at command, but whose feelings commanded him. He came to the pulpit with the whole scheme of his discourse clearly and succinctly marked out in his mind. Then, when indeed he was 'in the spirit,' warmed, exalted, and inspired with the divinity of his theme, the chain of premeditated ideas, link by link, in seemingly extemporaneous succession, would be developed, while every thought, emotion, and appeil would body itself forth in the most vivid and appropriate language. Then truly would his bow abide in strength, and every shaft which he sent from the string, like the arrow of Acestes of old, would take fire in its flight, shine through the clouds, and vanish in the immensity of heaven.

"But as the Sabbath and the sanctuary were the day and the place of resurrection when his closet skeletons, thus clothed upon, became living, breathing, speaking oracles, the retrogression into their original forms would be proportionately to the preacher's disadvantage. Hearers, who had been rapt towards the third heaven in the fiery chariot of his delivery, and almost seemed to hear ' things which it was not lawful for man to utter,' when they afterward became readers at home of the few faint outlines, however symmetrical and harmonious, would scarcely recognise their shadowy resemblance to the glorious apparitions which had gone by, never to be renewed except with the presence, the eye, and the voice of the preacher himself. In fact, every attempt to present on paper the splendid effects of impassioned eloquence, is like gathering up dew-drops, which appear jewels and pearls on the grass, but run to water in the hand j the essence and the elements remain, but the grace, the sparkle, and the form are gone."

The reader, we hope, will find, upon perusing these precious remains of the beloved Summerfield's pulpit labours, that although "the grace, the sparkle, and the form" of the dew-drops are gone, the water which remains is living water, clear, pure, satisfying j — as it ever issues from that fountain that springeth up into everlasting life. 1