Aids to Preaching and Hearing

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Preface

This work is not a regular treatise, but a collection of pieces relating to the same subject, and connected only by that general relation. Order has not 5> been wholly disregarded in their collocation, but there

Y is no necessity that they should be perused consecu-

(* tively : any one of them may be read without disadrfi vantage from unacquaintance with the others.

d

The topics I have selected are those which I thought most important to my object ; which was, to promote improvement in preaching and hearing the gospel, by cherishing a just and enlightened sense in the community, of the incomparable dignity and excellency of the preacher's work.

These pages are designed not for preachers only, but for the public. Improvement in the faculty of

▼1 PREFACE.

hearing, would follow, I know, as a natural consequence from improvement in the correlative faculty of preaching ; but the surest way to secure the latter end, is to diffuse among the people just sentiments concerning the appropriate character and spirit of the pulpit ; and to do this, as far as I was able, was my chief motive in the composition of this volume. I discourse, it is true, on subjects connected directly with the function of a particular order ; but the highest interests of all men are involved in that function, and I have framed my discourse so as to suit it as completely as I could to the popular understanding. Some of the topics are of such a nature as to require the reader's patient application, but the discussions of them here submitted to the public will be found, it is presumed, sufficiently plain to be within the comprehension of any one who will give them his attention.

In various ways I hope this book will further the ends at which it aims. It is certainly a powerful aid to preachers to be under the impression, while performing their work, that their hearers are wellinformed on such subjects as are here discussed;

PREFACE. VU

and proficiency in preaching tends to proficiency in hearing ; but this latter will be promoted in a direct manner, also, by acquaintance, on the part of hearers, with these subjects.

The longest of these discussions — that on ability — I have not excluded, notwithstanding its controversial aspect, because, while I am of opinion that clearness of views on the subject of it is essential to clear and consistent preaching, I am not without the hope that those who will read this piece to the end, will think that I have herein ministered not to discord, but harmony among brethren, both by the doctrine I have advanced and the manner in which I have maintained it

The influence of the poet Coleridge on the theology and the pulpit of this country, I have supposed to be undesirable. So far as it has extended, it appears to have been unhappy. It is not surprising that such writings as his should have great power on minds of certain classes. There is a force of genius in them, of which readers of kindred genius cannot but be deeply and delightfully conscious ; and

VI! 1 PREFACE,

there are others, whom weakness and vanity lead to a servile devotion to them. Further ; amidst transcendental emanations, in which he seems to lose himself, at least in which he cannot be followed, there are corruscations of light, exhibitions of intellectual penetration and strength, nicely discriminated, just, and most forcible statements of truth, which must command every intelligent and candid readers admiration : but there are two points especially — two fundamental ones — wherein his poetico-philosophical works have, I think, seriously assailed the Christian system ; one, the piacular or atoning influence of the death of Christ, which in the strict sense he explicitly disowns ;* the other, the doctrine of grace, which, as the reader will see, I have understood him so to inculcate as to confound Divine and Human agency, and to supersede grace in the appropriate sense of the term.

It may disappoint some, that the aid which I here proffer is not more direct. My book, perhaps, would be more welcome to these persons if it were a mass

* See note, page 303.

PREFACE. IX of skeletons, or abstracts of sermons, such as have been so greatly multiplied and so freely circulated of late. I have no confidence in the utility of these productions. The laws of the human mind must be changed before solid improvement, in either preaching or hearing, can be advanced by such means. The churches and their pastors should, I think, conspire to banish them, as hostile, directly and indirectly, to the success of the gospel.

I. Pag$

MENTAL DISCIPLINE. . . . . . . . 13

IL STUDIES OF A PREACHER 50

HI.

IV.

DOCTRINAL PREACHING. PART FIRST. .... 107

v>

DOCTRINAL PREACHING. PART SECOND. . . . 135

VI.

PREACHING ON ABILITY. PART FIRST. . . . 167

VIL

PREACHING ON ABILITY. PART SEOCND. . . .215

• •

Xll CONTENTS.

VIII.

Pag:

BOW TO REPENT. 255

IX.

AIDS TO PREACHING.

I.

MENTAL DISCIPLINE.

Studious and pious habits have, by some persons, been thought unfriendly to each other ; hence there have been men of piety who re* nounced learning, as well as men of learning who neglected piety ; aitd thus have arisen two of the most fruitful sources of evil to man- ! kind, — I know not which is worse, — ignorant j religion, and irreligious knowledge,

As in other cases, mutual repugnance here, has sprung, at least to some extent, from mutual misunderstanding. Pious men have sometimes identified learning with what the Scriptures have reprobated under the name of the wisdom of this world ; and men devoted to

learning have sometimes strangely misconceived of religion, as almost the same thing with contempt of intellectual excellence.

The former mistake, — I omit now the consideration of the latter, — is not difficult to be explained. Learning, as generally cultivated and used, and as treasured in books, bears the image and superscription of the unsanctified world, and indeed is that world's chief stronghold and champion : Such learning is destined to come to nought. Except to resist and countervail its tendencies, the simple spirit of piety can choose to have but little to do with it : And on the supposition that all learning must be such, — a mistake which it is not surprising some pious men have fallen into, — entire noil-intercourse with learning, except if possible to abolish it, would not be undesirable or unwise. But learning need Hot bear the world's stamp, or be pervaded with the world's spirit. Piety may dwell with it, may enjoy and use it, as lawfully as wealth, or honor, or any of the good things of this life. Indeed, piety and learning have a peculiar affinity for each other ; the association of them is natural, and ought, if possible, to be invariable. All their elements and tendencies harmonize perfectly ; and, if combined, would increase each other's efficiency : Piety would exalt and illuminate learning, and learning would contribute to the dignity, the strength and the enlargement of piety : They ought always, therefore, as far as possible, to dwell and live, with and in each other ; each loving and cherishing the other as itself.

II. The church, on this point, has been under no mistake. The outcry against learning, which, in almost every age, has to. some extent been raised within her borders, was not her own voice, but that of frenzied fanatics, or unlettered bigots, in membership indeed, but, in this respect, not in fellow-feeling with her. What friend has learning ever had, as constant, as faithful, as munificent, as efficient, as the church? What testimony has she given in behalf of learning by her standing demand for it in the ministry ? Her first ministers, heaven-taught, had the various languages of men as perfectly at their command as their own vernacular tongue ; and what in them was the product of miracle, she has required to be as perfectly as possible supplied in their successors by thorough education.

16 AIDS TO PREACHIffG.

The church has encouraged learning in all her members ; has expended treasure and life in maintaining it both within and without her pale ; and has at this moment thousands of devoted, enterprizing, and indefatigable laborers, night and day, employed in its service* III. The days of miraculous illumination being past, those who deem themselves called of God to the work of the ministry, should conclude that they are also called of God to the most sedulous cultivation and discipline of their mental powers, — the only way to learning and the just use of learning, when miracles are no more. However strong and ardent may be their desire to engage at once in the business of saving men, and whatever temptations, labors, expenses, difficulties, may be incidental to a complete course of preparatory discipline, they should not enter the sacred office until they shall have finished such a course ; and all their lifetime, they should continue the processes of mental culture and improvement, separating themselves from all secular pursuits, abjuring every form of self-indulgence, observing fixed and severe rules of study, seeking and intermeddling with all wisdom, and going, from day to day, and year to year, the same unvaried round of intellectual application.

Assuming, then, that those who are, or are preparing to be, employed in the work of the ministry, are, by every means in their power, and for the highest and most sacred of all purposes, pursuing that intellectual improvement and furniture, without which they cannot meet the just demands of their function, I shall endeavor in the following remarks to explain some of the most important of the principles which should govern them in prosecuting that pursuit.

IV. The highest wisdom in conducting this business, as well as every other in which our faculties can be employed, is, without question, subjecting them absolutely to the command of a holy Will-nmaking every intellectual exertion, an instance of a strictly spiritual and religious manner of life. He who in a course of study maintains the closest walk with God, takes the best way to make study available to its immediate purposes. He is more likely to excel in mental improvement,

in strength and vigor of understanding, in

2*

18 AIDS TO FUACfllHG.

ability to think, investigate and instruct, in learning and all intellectual treasures and resources, than if he should allow the desire of intellectual preeminence, or the love of learning, to domineer within him, altogether unregulated, unrestrained, unmeddled with, by any religious principle or feeling. Will it be questioned, that nothing is so well suited to draw out all the powers of the mind into their most perfect operation, as to bring it into intercourse with Him who is the source and centre of all minds 1 His presence alone, felt and enjoyed, will more quicken illuminate and enlarge the mind of man, than all other influences beside. It rouses and stimulates all that is spiritual or intellectual within us, to be consciously in the presence of a man of great intellectual excellence : Must not he then who, by the sense-surmounting power of faith, dwells in the secret place of the Most High, have of all men, other things being equal, incomparably the purest, richest, mightiest mental life? A consciousness of the presence of the Supreme Mind — what intellectual alertness, what stirring of the mental fires, what proclivity to thought, what

. XftNTAL DISCIPLINE: 19

capacity of* great and just coiuceptions, what security against partial, low, uncomprehensive views, must not that feeling imply.

V. It will not be questioned that it is practicable to have such access of mind to the mind of the Infinite Spirit. What else is living piety"? Piety is but a name, if it be not} the mingling of man's 4 mind and spirit with> the mind and spirit of his omnipresent Maker.)

Nor do I suppose that any one doubts the practicability of maintaining a constant and ever-deepening sense of the presence and fellowship of God, in a course of severe study. It is, indeed, impossible to be directly communing with God, while giving the mind wholly to study. The human mind can give itself directly to but one thing at once : This, however, is true in respect to all other as well as intellectual occupations. But it is possible to conduct other pursuits with various degrees of spiritual feeling. They may be conducted by men presumed, on the whole, to be pious, with almost no recognition during the day of the Divine Providence or Existence ; or, notwithstanding the law of finite mind, which forbids its attending perfectly to more than ode thing at once, they may be engaged in with a heart so filled with the Spirit of God, as to have every instant a heavenward aspiration, and to be, in a manner, in a perpetual intercourse with heaven ; insomuch that it maybe said with strict truth, that every thing is .done, even eating and drinking, to the glory of God, and in the name of Christ. Thus may men practise agriculture, or any manual occupation; and why may not the deepest and intensest studies be prosecuted in the same manner ? Why may we not be exploring the causes and relations of things, conversing with truth in its purest and brighest forms, enriching our hearts and understandings with the choicest treasures of wisdom and learning, and be doing this in the very frame of spirit, in which we should wish to die, or to stand before the last judgment seat— doing it in the fear of God, and with instant prayer for his blessing and assistance ?•— It is a strange, however frequent mistake, to think that there is any incongruity between the severest mental application, and the highest degrees of spiritual mindedness.

There is, indeed, danger that high intellectual pursuits, uncontrolled by pious feelings, may lead to every species of irreligious indifference and misbelief; but there is no necessity that such pursuits should be so uncontrolled. There are no pursuits in which men can engage, more congenial with the spirit of piety. Thinking, studying, reflecting, — what so directly tends to intercommunion between the mind, and its infinite Author ? Plainly, there ought to be no studying, no thinking, unassociated with thoughts of God, and acknowledged dependence on him. It has been with perfect justness observed, that the thought of God, to a serious mind, might be expected to come second to almost every thought. It is, indeed, wonderful that the contrary sentiment should have ever been avowed. That those who have the charge of business, of government, of domestic affairs, should be supposed to have temptations to unspiritual habits, is not surprising ; but that men devoted to the search of truth as their only calling, and, above all, that theological students should complain of such temptations, is as if a man should undertake to excuse his neglect of a duty, by pleading the multitude of the inducements and facilities which he had for performing it. From no members of the church should as high measures of personal holiness be expected, as from her ministers, and those who are preparing for the ministry. No places under heaven should be more distinguished for spiritual living, than the seats of our theological schools.

We may sink very low in pious feeling while pursuing our studies ; we may become remiss in devout meditation, and in private prayer : ; we may indulge worldly feeling, and fix our heart on the honor which cometh from man; we maybe inflated with ambition, and dwell in spiritual darkness, and have almost no symptom of the Divine life left within us. Or, on the other hand, we may rise to an unusual height of sympathy and intercourse with heaven ; may make our studies a link for communion with the spirits of the blessed in their rapt meditations; may read, and write, and reflect, an<^ take our recreations, and return to our books,-^r-and be doing all to the glory of God, and under the light of his countenance. I will not mention all the reasons why the latter course should be chosen ; but merely repeat, by way of recommending it, that it is at the same time the road to the highest possible success in study, and that which, of all other courses, best agrees with the just tendencies and demands of a studious life,

VI. It may now be thought, perhaps, that enough has been said to our purpose ; — that if regard be not paid to the counsel which has been given, little may be expected from the prescription, or the observance of any other counsel ; and that if the course recommended be followed, no further directions will be necessary. However just the former conclusion may be, the latter can by no means be admitted. A mind unsullied by evil might still need instruction, in order to be able to see every path of wisdom and truth it should pursue : much jnore then, any human mind, at best pure but in part, however elevated and fixed in holy feeling and resolution. Could we rise at once above every disadvantage of our present imperfect state; could we from this moment transcend in purity of heart, the greatest of saints, we would have the do-

84 aids to PRBACimre.

cility of a little child, and be conscious, also, of more than a little child's necessities and dependence. Holiness, in the highest degree in which it is ever possessed on earth, does not supersede instruction as to what is wise and prudent in particular practice ; it only give3 aptitude to seek for and appreciate and follow good instruction. Hence while study should be begun and prosecuted in intercourse with God, he does not truly maintain that intercourse, but is an instance of deplorable self-conceit, who, on account of fancied illumination from heaven, thinks himself above the need of all teaching as to the particular principles and rules best to be observed in pursuing a course of study.

VII. As Hope is the spring of endeavor, a student should keep himself, amidst all his intellectual toils, under the impression of the most animating fact, that the human mind, in every power, is inimitably improveable.

,'To the loftiest height of intelligence ever attained by man, the ascent was from an em-

\ bryo state of intellectual life. Nor was that ascent the bare result of necessity, or of any thing in the nature of mind, or of peculiarity

XENTAL DISCIPLINE. 25

in the structure of a particular mind. It can now be hardly questioned that the best human mind, if shut out perfectly from all external influences, would be, at even the remotest period of its existence, scarcely cognizable as a mind : Nor would it be in a less undesirable condition, though not so inmured, provided all fit care and culture should be withheld from it. The life of the mind, like that of the body, depends for its growth, on its receiving appropriate nou-j rishment and attention. It must at first be duly cared for and fostered by others ; afterwards by both others and itself ; and then, by itself at least perpetually, in order to reach and retain its just stature and strength. It needs culture ; but there is the highest encouragement to bestow culture upon it, in its wonderful improveability. There is almost] no point of improvement, which any soundj human mind should despair to reach. The original peculiarities of different minds are undoubtedly great, and they are, usually, proportionably great in development, if not suppressed through neglect or unhappy discipline; but I hazard the assertion that the intellectual elevation to which the generality of distinguished men have attained, is below that which might be attained by almost any person of good natural parts, provided health and life should not prematurely fail, and if from the early buddings of intellect, suitable methods of application and training should be employed, with due diligence and perseverance. Without, however, going to what any one will think an extreme on this subject, it may be confidently said, that one who has given himself to the cultivation of his mind, may find limitless scope for his hopes of intellectual increase. He may, and he should, while pursuing his exhausting labors, enliven his spirit with thoughts like these : " Mind the brightest thing in existence, is that which is the most susceptible of advancement. My Maker, that he might see in me his own image, gave me a mind ; and by his grace I have been taught its value, and inclined to prefer the care and education of it before all the delights of sense. Moved by His spirit, I cry after knowledge, and lift up my voice for understanding ; I seek for her as silver, and search for her as hid trea-

XBNTAIt DISCIPLINE. 27

*ure : And I shall gain, if I faint not, the object of my desires ; I shall find myself in possession of a better and still better mind ; I shall be constantly acquiring a more and more perfect use of my powers ; I shall be increasing continually in my ability to think, to analyze, to reason, to discourse; my thoughts will be becoming more and more just; my vie ws be enlarging ; my knowledge growing ; my mind, in all respects, rising, expanding, strengthening, stretching forwards and upwards toward the perfection of mental being. Let me but persevere in my disciplinary course, and nothing can intercept the glorious result. Not more irresistibly does the rising sun advance on his way, than my mind will continue to improve under the faithful use of proper means of cultivation." There need be no check certainly to this thrilling anticipation of intellectual advancement, except,, at most, in regard to that short twilight season of superannuation, through which a few of mankind pass near the close of life. Nor is it certain that even this exception should always be made, as it is not perhaps evident, that senile dotage might not,

▲IBB TO FHAOHITO, in some instances, be avoided, by judicious discipline, seasonably commenced and never discontinued.

VIII. But while the unbounded improveableness of the mind should constantly inspirit him who is climbing the steep ascent to intellectual excellence, he should keep clearly in view, what it is whose improvement he seeks. This is the whole mind, and not exclusively one or more of its attributes. The just discipline of the mind, is the discipline, /in due measure, of all its powers. Where ! some of these are cultivated to the neglect ( of others, the result is intellectual disproportion and general imbecility. Nor is it probable that the favorite faculties themselves will be as well developed and improved, as they would have been under no more than a due share of attention. Let analogy here instruct us. The general health of the body is necessary to the vigorous and full growth of any part ; so that if by excessively educating one member, we impair the vital energy of the system, we injure the object "of our partiality more, perhaps, than perfect neglect would have done ; and thus, doubtless, a par* mental DisciPLnra. 29

tial discipline of the mind has often defeated [ its own purpose. A youthful student, on a very hasty examination of his peculiar mental structure, perhaps without any examination, thinks that nature designed him for a mathematician or a poet, and determines to nurse, with the utmost assiduity, the particular power which, hy destination, is to make him illustrious. Henceforward he remits attention to every study which is not in his own view directly adapted to increase his reasoning oy his inventive faculty. The consequence is, the total failure of his unadvised plan. He becomes distinguished for nothing, or nothing but vanity and weakness.

Such, more frequently perhaps than is commonly supposed, is the direct result of disproportioned mental discipline. And is it not what the known nature of the human mind should lead us to expect from the course pursued 1 Are not the several faculties of the mind, integrant, composing, and constituting one whole ; so that one part being absent or defectively developed, the whole is necessarily disordered, and, like a machine in a~ similar condition, incapable of equal and efficient move-

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30 AIM TO PKBAOHUfO.

ment ? Nay, to speak with perfect truth, are the mental faculties aught but the simple essential mind itself, regarded in relation to its several states and functions ? and, if so, is not the neglect of any one faculty, the neglect of the substance mind ? and should not the mind be expected to suffer from such neglect, and the injury to appear in every mental operation and development ?

I cannot but think that failure in intellectual education, is to a great extent referable to the cause I am considering. There are comparatively but few minds to which the power of education is to any considerable extent applied; but how much fewer to which it is applied with the assiduity which the high excellence and destination of the humap mind demand? And even where it is applied with the greatest diligence, how often is that diligence used without so much as a distinct aim, to discipline all the mind's energies in equal degree, and draw them out into symmetrical development ? Some examples there are of what man may become by judicious education, and they are the admiration of the mfTAL DISCIFLIOT, 31

world. Had such education, every human being's natural right, been general, to what rank in intelligence would not the race have attained ? We wonder at the small results of education, but we should rather wonder that the results are so great, considering the extreme want of pains and discretion in conducting the business of education.

IX. I have not intended, by any thing which has been said, to recommend a course of discipline which should disregard original diversity in different mental constitutions, or the mental peculiarity of each individual. A symmetrical intellectual development does not demand such a discipline. On the Con* trary, no discipline which does not accommodate its appliances to what is peculiar in each mind's jnake and temperament) is at all V suited to produce a well-proportioned or a full intellectual maturity. And I submit this remark as one of prime importance, and deserving a place among first principles, in the science of mental culture. To frame one discipline for every mind, is not less absurd \ than to prescribe one medicine for every dis- ) ease, or one dietetic regimen to every invalide j

Some minds are originally gifted with one faculty in large, and another in small dimensions : some are surprisingly precocious, and others very late in development : some are quick and others slow in movement : some phlegmatic, and others mercurial in constitutional temper; It is easy to see what must be the result, when minds thus variously constituted are subjected to precisely the same training. Not one of them may attain to its just stature; not one be of full dimensions or well-proportioned; many may be perverted and many spoiled ; while by discretion in training all might have become specimens of mental excellence — ornaments, more or less brilliant, to human nature. It is manifest, what scope now presents itself for the exercise of censure upon prevailing practice in the discipline of mind, especially the minds of the young ; but I forbear : I cannot, however, suppress the remark, that nothing appears to be of deeper concern to teachers — those who by profession are culti- <

vators of mind — than the most careful attention on their part, to the native as well as the acquired faculties of those particular

MSNTAL DISC1PLINB. 88

minds that Providence commits into their hands, to be trained and educated for life and eternity.

X. There is, however, another observation, which I deem it more important to introduce in this connexion. It is that youth, — and especially those young men, who, having gone through the primary parte of a liberal education, regard themselves as not wholly incompetent to judge rightly of their own mental peculiarities, — may fall into a serious mistake as to this important point. They may mistake in two ways : They may decide justly in respect to their individual idiosyncrases or peculiarities of mind, yet not take the right course in mental selftraining : Or they may misjudge in the former respect. How often has it happened, that young men, feeling in themselves the strong and resistless promptings to certain mental applications, have piously and perhaps justly concluded, that they should cherish these promptings as indications of the Divine Will respecting what they should do with themselves ; but have thenceforward made the indulgence of these high natural propensities, almost the whole of their future education ; and thus have weakened all their other powers, and, in a manner already explained, their essential mind itself; and so have defeated their own ardent purpose, and the end of their creation 1

The tendencies of the mind in one direc* tion, are often an admonition, not so mucA) that these tendencies are not to he neglected, *s that certain others are with greater pains to he elicited and strengthened, so that the mind's balance and symmetry may be preserved. It is, indeed, of the highest moment, that the natural aptitudes of the mind be favored, and sedulously cherished in education. The greatest results may depend upon attention to this point. Many a mind has scarcely become conscious of intellectual life, under quite a considerable course of teaching, until its peculiar bent of nature happened to be fallen in with by disciplinary influence ; when at once, new and surprising manifestations of power began to take place. Still nothing were more unwise, than, on making such discoveries as this, forthwith to withdraw attention from the mind's other