Homiletics : or, The theory of preaching

Front matter

,^vs OF mucfrr.

Vinet, Alexandre Rodolphe,

1797-1847.

Preface

BY THE TRANSLATOR.

As the form of preaching should be perfectly adapted to times and places,* it ought to be very different now from what it has ever been ; for the peculiarity of these times is, in many respects, radical, and its bearings on all divine and human interests are very decided and general. The mode of preaching which prevailed at the beginning of the nineteenth century could not have been retained entirely unchanged ; the renovating power, which has been changing all things in science, in art, in the physical, social and civil life of man, has, of necessity, been felt by the pulpit, the central instrumentality in human history. Preaching, on the whole, has consequently been advancing, together with the general progress of society. It must, however, be admitted, that in the career of improvement, it has not been in advance of the other instruments of change

* See 1 Corinthians, ix. 19-23. Compare, also, Saint J'aul's address to the philosophers of Athens (Acts, xvii. 2'2-ol)Avit}i tliat which he delivered to his countrymen at Antioch in Pisidia, (Acta, xiii. 16-41.)

iv PREFACE.

wMcli are exerting themselves with, such astonishing efficiency in every sphere of human life ; it is doubtless behind the most of them ; nor is there any object of deeper interest to every true philanthropist, every one who identifies the progress of humanity with the success of the gospel, than that preaching should receive a new and healthful impulse, which shall give it the precedence to which it is entitled — a just adaptation to humanity in its present excited and overactive state, and a controlhng power over all the changes which, with such unparalleled rapidity, are coming to pass everywhere in the world.

It was the chief reason why the translator of this work desired its circulation, that its author insists so earnestly and forcibly on the necessity of modifying preaching, so as to suit it to the character of the age ; that a mind so richly endowed by nature, so furnished with every kind of knowledge, so highly disciplined, and so pre-eminent in spirituality and devotion to the cause of christian truth, has, in this work, given its whole strength to the exposition of a theory which embraces this necessity as one of its fundamental and most prominent ideas.* Careful study of the product of its labor has very much increased his desire.

* See chap, vi., part ii., and especially the installation discourse at the end of the book, pages 491-505.

PEEFACE. V

On a subject of the greatest importance and difficulty, and whicli many eminent men have treated, the author has given to the world an original book ; and we venture to say that among all the productions of his 23owerful pen, it is destined to be regarded universally, as in the first rank of scholarship, learning, intellectual affluence and power, grace and beauty, order and perfection of execution. He confines himself throughout to preaching as his chief subject; but as the theory of preaching and that of secular oratory coincide in their essential elements, (eloquence being in principle the same in every sphere,) he enters freely into the domain of the latter. He shows himself master of it, and avails himself fully of the treasures of wisdom, learning, thought and expression with which the labors of his |)redecessors have filled it ; but he does this only that he may present his work as a more worthy offering at the shrine of sacred eloquence. In return, however, he has laid all kinds of oratory under obligations to him. His book is a directory for all public speakers and all who would excel in argumentative, oratorical and elegant writing. There is _ scarcely a question pertaining to the philosophy of rhetoric and belles lettres, to the laws of language and reasoning, to the mode of influencing the mind by persuasive discourse, which does not find a place in this book, which is not here treated with the

VI PREFACE.

charm of diction, tlie strength and beauty of style the clearness of statement and method, by which this great author is so eminently distinguished. It is a book for the man of taste, of general literature and philosophy ; for the student who desires to furnish his mind as richly as possible with sentiment, with thought, with precise and comprehensive views, with the secret of vigorous thinking and writing ; for every one, in short, who aims to bring all the powers of his nature under the highest form of mental discipline. Nevertheless, it is strictly an offering to the pulpit ; first and last it is a work whose great purpose is the improvement of sacred oratory, the increase of strength, of skill, of wisdom, and efficiency in preaching.

The reader cannot fail to remark that the illustrative examples, which are very abundant, are taken almost exclusively from French and Grerman authors. The Editor was inclined at first to add others from the productions of English, Scotch and American preachers ; but he found that the size of the book would be increased too much if any degree of justice were done to these preachers, who, in number, power and excellence of every kind, stand altogether unrivalled ; and when he considered that in this country these authors are comparatively well known, while those of the French and German churches are Strang-

PREFACE. VU

ers, except to a few, he had less regret that no additional examples could be well admitted.

The translator's work has been merely one of translation. Certain passages seemed to require paraphrase or commentary, which the Editor was tempted to give, but as he perceived, invariably, that closer application to the author's thought, made comment superfluous, he determined simply to render the French into English. In a few cases, he has made brief remarks at the bottom of the page ; but the text is strict translation, with no variations from the manner of the author, which were not required by fidehty to his meaning.

The author generally renders into French the examples which he cites from works in other languages ; the awkwardness of translating these translations has been, in most cases, avoided by making or adopting translations from the originals. In two instances a friend has favored the Editor with translations from the German.*

The Editor has added an index, in order to assist the reader in referring to the very numerous and various subjects which are contained in the book.

* These are tlie citations from Theremin and Herder, at the con elusion of Chap. vi.. PART II.

SUBJECT OF PULPIT DISCOURSE.

CHAPTER L

UNITY OF THE SUBJECT.

Idea of unity and its importance. 64

Its forms in Pulpit Discourse 66

Additional remarks 66

Chapter II. Interest Of The Subject

Interest in the objective sense 69

Literest in the subjective sense 69

X CONTENTS.

PAOB

Purely oratorical interest 69

Christian interest 71

Subjects to be excluded 72

Subjects to be treated. 75

§ L Doctrinal subjects 76

How to be understood 76

Too much analysis to be avoided 76

Pure science to be avoided 77

Apologetical subjects 77

Controversy 78

Natural religion 78

§ 11. Subjects of Morality 80

Their importance 80

Descriptive and preceptive Morality 81

General and particular Morality 81

The same subject with a view to dififereuce of impression. . 81

Occasional Sermons 85

§ III. Historical subjects 88

Importance of instruction by means of recitals 88

Matter of Historical Sermons 89

§ IV. Subject drawn from the contemplation of Nature 90

§ V. Psychological subjects 91

Importance of Psychology 92

Philosophy in general 93

Remai'ks on these last three classes of subjects 93

Advice to the yoxmg Preacher 95

CHAPTER HI.

OF THE TEXT.

1. Of the Text in General 96

A Text not essential to the Sermon 96

Disadvantages of Texts 99

Means of avoiding the disadvantages of Texts 103

§ Rules in choosing Texts 106

1. They are to be drawn from the Divine Word 106

2. To be understood in the sense in which their authors used

them 110

CONTENTS. Xi

PAGE

3. To be clear 135

4. To be fruitful 137

5. To be suitable 139

6. To have unity 139

7. To be various and individual 145

Not to depart -n^ithout necessity from the order of the Text. 146

Two Texts to the same Sermon 146

CHAPTER II. Of Proof 169

1. Proof properly so called or reasons 171

Authority 171

Experience 171

Reasoning 171

Value of reasoning 174

General rules for the use of it , 174

Affirmative and negative argumentation 177

Simple and combined 179

Direct and indirect 186

Forms of the latter 188

2. Motives 203

XU CONTENTS.

PAOE

Of inclination or affection 203

Motive from Goodness 206

Motive from Happiness 207

Self-love 213

Ridicule 213

Sense of the beautiful 214

Sympathetic affections 215

Authority essential to Eloquence 228

Difference between Catholics and Protestants 230

Between our times and preceding ones 230

Between individuals 234

Conditions on which one may preach with authority 235

Reprehension 239

Its Rules 242

Resume of Part I 261

PAKT SECOND.

DISPOSITION.

Of General Disposition 261

§ 1. Idea and importance of Disposition 261

Necessity of order 262

Its principle 268

§ 2. Disposition under the logical point of view 274

Decomposition of the theme 275

Various possible divisions of the same subject 277

Rules to be observed in general disposition 281

Counsels in regard to the plan and parts of the Discourse. . . 284

§ 3. Disposition under the Oratorical point of view 287

It supposes logical disposition 287

Continued and progressive movement 289

Forms of oratorical progress 292

CONTENTS. XIU

OF THE EXOEDIUM.

PAGK

Rules relating to its contents 299

Rules relating to its character 804

CHAPTER HI.

Declaration of the design and announcement of the plan 308

Should the plan of the Discourse be announced 309

Different opinions 809

Conclusion 815

Chapter IV. Of Transitions

Idea and advantages of Transitions 317

Their difficulty "SIS

Their qualities 818

Sources from whence they are to be drawn 319

Chapter V. Of The Peroration

Its nature 320

Its grounds 322

Its forms 323

Rules to be observed ^ 327

CHAPTER VI. General considerations on the form of Pulpit Discourse, Ideal and

Reality 830

Traditional form 331

What should be opposed to the invasion of form 334

Individuality 835

Theremin 335

Herder : 839

CHAPTER VIL Self-Culture with reference to Disposition 340

XIV CONTENTS.

PAET THIED.

ELOCUTION.

Chapter I. Of Elocution In General

PAGE.

Writing is still inventing and disposing 343

Importance of style 343

Objections 344

CHAPTER II. Fundamental qualities of style 366

Correctness 377

Propriety 378

Precision 381

§ 4. Naturalness 392

§ 5. Congruity 396

Simplicity 397

Popularity 399

Familiarity 402

Nobleness 407

Gravity 410

Scriptural tone 411

Chapter III. Superior Qualities Or Virtues Of Style

§ 1. Of strength and beauty of style in general 421

Difference between Poetry and Eloquence 423

Active character of the latter 424

Exclusion of superfluous ornaments 426

The whole not to to be sacrificed to details 428

Qualities of an eloquent style 431

CONTENTS. XV

PAGK

§ 2. Of Color 433

1, Direct means of painting 434

Description 435

Epithets 436

2. Indirect means 439

Antithesis 440

Metaphor 441

Allegory 444

Comparison 444

Its relation to Eloquence 448

Its forms 449

Expository and Allocutive style 449

1. Figm-es which abide within the limits of the Expository style 452

Repetition 452

Gradation 453

Accmnulation 453

Reticence 454

Correction 458

Pretermission 456

Irony 456

Hyperbole 457

Paradox 457

Oratorical hypothesis 457

2. Figures which transcend the limits of the expository style. 459

Interrogation 459

Exclamation 460

Dramatisme in its various forms.. 462

Quahties connected with color and movement 465

Variety 465

CHAPTER IV. The Material part of Discourse or Sound 470

Imitative Harmony 471

Euphony 471

Number 472

XVI CONTENTS.

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Periodic style 474

Laconic style 418

Appendix

A Discourse deliveeed by M. Vinet, at his Installation as Professor OF Practical Theology in the Academy of Lausanne, November 1st, 1837 477

ADVERTISEMENT OF THE EDITORS.

The remarks we prefixed to the Pastoral Theology are yet more particularly applicable to tlie course on Homiletics^ and we refer the reader to them.

The original manuscripts, which in some parts of the course are numerous and various, have been compared with one another, and that which we have taken as the basis of our labor, has often been enriched by ideas borrowed from the others. On points, on which M. Yinet left only short and imperfect notes, we had recourse to the note-books of his hearers, and, as in the Pastoi^al Theology^ we have indicated the passages borrowed from their note-books, and those in which the original text has been somewhat modified, either by completing imperfect sentences or by combining detached fi'agments, by enclosing them in brackets. [*] We have omitted this caution only in matters of detail, too unimportant to be noticed.

The work we pubhsh, especially in respect to form, would certainly have been more perfect, if the author himself had revised it; still the last form, which, after

* These are omitted in the translation.

XVUl ADYERTISEMENT.

successive revisions, lie gave to many extended portions of his course, is doubtless very nearly tliat whicli lie would finally have adopted, and may be considered as definitive. In every particular this volume, in all its parts, gives with scrupulous fidelity the thoughts of M. Yinet on one of the most important branches of his teaching ; nor can we doubt, that while it will be eagerly received by the portion of the public, for whom it is directly designed, it will be also read by others with lively interest and great advantage.

H 0 MIL E T I C S.

INTEODUCTION.

The office of the Evangelical Ministry consists of different elements, among which The Word has the predominance. The Christian religion, the religion of liberty and persuasion, is a word. Jesus Christ, who is at once the Author and the Object of Christianity, is called The Word.* Even before his advent in the flesh, he spoke internally to the conscience of every man ; for the word is not only that series of articulate sounds which conveys ideas to the mind ; the word is the thought itself. The thought is a word, as the word is a thought. But this Word, which spoke out of time and internally, has spoken in time and externally. Jesus Christ spoke by facts ; he spoke by his life, and by his death ; but he spoke also in the ordinary sense of the term. He preached. f We are called to repeat his words ; but he sends us, as he himself was sent ; that is to say, as he f " Summus ecclesiastes Dei filius, qui est imago patris absolutissima, qvii virtus et sapientia genitoris est seterna, per quern Patri visum est humanse gentis largiri quidquid bonorum mortalium generi dare decreverat, nullo alio cognomine magnificentius significantiusvo denotatur in sacris literis, quam quum dicitur verbum sive sermo Dei." Erasmus Ecclesiastes, lib i., cap ii.

is united, in thought te his Father, he would have us unite ourselves to him in thought ; that we should be one with him as he is one with his Father. He strikes upon our mind as on sounding brass, which does not resound without vibrating ; it is his pleasure, that as we are the offspring of his thought, our brethren should become the offspring of ours. God has purposed that man should be the channel of truth to man. Natural paternity is the symbol of our spiritual relationships ; we mutually engender one another.* Not only are words to be transmitted and repeated ; a life is to be communicated. The truths of which the Gospel consists must become living and personal in living persons. The Word did not speak once for all (unless we take the letter for the Word) ; the Word speaks without ceasing, and the letter of the Gospel is only the necessary means through which this Word speaks to all. This is the only just idea of the institution of the ministry. The minister is a minister of the Word of God. Christianity, a religion of thought, should be spoken.\

We are authorized to call men ministers of the gospel or pastors who do not exercise the ministry of the word. In doing so, we do but follow the apostles and the primitive church ; but still we cannot understand them otherwise than as giving instruction, that is to say, the word, the preeminence among all the labors of the ministry. " Let the pastors who fulfil their functions well, be accounted worthy of a double honor, especially those " (there were then pastors whose office was not speaking) " who labor in preaching the word, and in instruction." 1 Timothy, v. 17, comp. with 1 Corinthians, xiv. 1-4.

* See rjEssai sur la manifestation des Convictions Religieuses, pp. Ill, 112.

f See Pastoral Theology, page 24 of our translation, and the beginning of the Resume of the first part of Homiletics.

The Word is the pastor's great instrument. It varies according to its different uses ; it breaks the bread of life now into smaller, now into larger pieces ; if need be, it reduces it to to crumbs.

The minister speaks either on the part of man to God, or on the part of God to man ; in doing the first he prays, in doing the second he preaches. It is of the second only that we are now to treat.

He preaches to individuals — to the community dispersed, to the community assembled in one place. We are to speak of the latter kind of preaching.

He must preach to the assembled community, in order to reach those who cannot be otherwise reached, in order to prepare in the temple the invisible church which no temple can contain, and which, in its pure state, exists in none ; in order to give to the word all the distinction and efficac}'- of which it is susceptible. A community may be addressed by writing, but the written word camiot hold the place of the other, or render it superfluous.

This predominance of the word in Christian worship, gives the latter a distinct character. It gives reality to the notion of the church. There is no Mahometan, no Brahminical church, and certainly there is not a church in the religion of Homer. With the Jews, instruction was separated from worship, (we say the Jewish people^ rather than the Jewish church ;) if there was a Jewish church, instruction, not worship, formed it, and that church had no centre. It is only among Christians that worship and instruction, which are coordinate one to the other, which are interpreted one by the other, form a whole.

With the Catholics, preaching has little place ; on the contrary, it is almost everything with us. Except at certain spasons of worship and on certam days of the year, the temple is an auditory. It seems to have no other purpose than to gather hearers around a man who speaks to them. Thus we say of the Catholic, he goes to mass, of the Protestant, he goes to sermon. We thus unconsciously give perhaps too exclusive predominance to preaching in Protestant worship. Among other inconveniences, this system has that of attributing too much to the individual.

This is not inconsistent with what we said of the transmission of truth from one individual to another. Nevertheless, is it not possible that the habit of going to the temple only to hear discourses, and making little of all the rest, has the effect of displaying only a person and an occasion, a preacher and preaching 1 And is it not important that the efficacy of worship should be more independent of the person of the preacher.*

Be this as it may, in both the forms of worship which have suggested these observations, the word is of high importance. In the one as in the other, a minister is essentially a man who speaks the word of God. Now, may the word of preaching, which is a word of reconciliation or of sanctification, "according to the oracles of God," (1 Peter, iv. 11,) be reduced to an art 1

Eloquence, certainly, is always the same ; it is not one thing in the pulpit and another in the senate or at the bar. There are not two rhetorics any more than two logics. Still, the nature of ecclesiastical discourse involves differences, adds rules, which constitute a particular art under the name of Homiletics.

We will consider first what is common to Rhetoric and Homiletics, then what is special to the latter. Rhetoric is the genus, Homiletics the species.

The subject matter of Rhetoric corresponds to the object oi public eloquence. What is eloquence in general 1

La Bruy ere tells us : " It is a gift of the soul which makes us masters of the mind and heart of others, which enables us to inspire them as we will, or persuade them to whatever we please."f

* See Pastoral Theology, pp. 25, 28, of our translation.

f La Bruyere Les Caracteres, chap, i. Dcs ouvrages de Vesprit.

I would say, it is the gift of acquiring the mastery by language, for a gesture, a look, may be eloquent. It relates, too, to continued discourse, and not to one word only. La Bruyere points out to us the source and effect of eloquence rather than its nature ; there is still, however, something of importance in his definition. Eloquence is a gift^ and a gift of the soul. It is the gift of thinking and feeling with others as they think and feel, and of suiting to their thought the words and the movement of our discourse, of speaking the thoughts of others.

Eloquence rests on sympathy. One can never be eloquent except as he can speak or write under an influence from those to whom he addresses himself; they must Inspire him, and unless this condition is met, he may be profound and interesting, but he cannot be eloquent. In order to be eloquent, he must feel the necessity of communicating his life to others, and of comprehending intimately what chords must be made to vibrate within them.

Pascal, penetrating farther into the secret of eloquence than La Bruyere, says : " Eloquence consists in a correspondence which we endeavor to establish between the mind and heart of those to whom we speak, on the one hand, and the thought and expressions which we employ on the other. And this supposes that we have carefully studied the human heart, to know all its recesses, and then how we may be able to adapt to them justly-arranged discourse- We must put ourselves in the place of those who are to hear us, and try on our own heart the train of thought which we give to our discourse, to ascertain if one be suited to the other, and whether we may confidently expect that the hearer will be obliged to yield to us."*

What with La Bruyere was a gift, with Pascal was a method. But it is at once a gift and a method. And the same * Pascal, Pewsees, Partie ii., Art. xvii, § 105.

idea meets us under each point of view, namely, the vital and inward penetration of the hearer's soul by that of the orator. We find yet another element — that of persuasion — the determinate direction of the soul and the will. Eloquence in the sense of La Bruyere and Pascal is an exercise of real life, an effort against a resistance, a compulsion,'^ a drama we may say, in which only one person appears, but in which there are two, and which has its plot, its incidents, and its catastrophe. The catastrophe may be, in some cases, a determination, a voluntary act of him to whom we speak ; in others, a feeling which is also an act, and in a religious and philosophical point of view, is an act par excellence.

Thus, without denying the epithet eloquent to language suited to convey light and conviction to the mind, we apply it more particularly to that whose purpose and effect is to determine the will in a certain way, or to a certain act, immediate or eventual.

But is there only the subjective, is there nothing objective in the notion of eloquence 1 According to Pascal and La Bruyere, it is a power which lends itself indifferently to evil and to good, to error and to truth. If it be so, must we not utterly repel both eloquence and rhetoric which is its theory or method %

I adopt the principle and deny the consequence. It is not to be doubted that there is in eloquence a power of persuasion to evil as well as to good, and that the principle of this power in both cases, is the gift of finding and giving vibration to certain chords in the heart. We may, if we will, refuse to apply the word eloquence to both results, but what do we gain 1 A word. It were better, I think, while we acknowledge that bad men may be eloquent, and that one may be eloquent in advocating what is evil, to add on the other side —

* Compelle intrare.

1. That however man may be inclined to evil, evil has no witness or representative in his conscience; that truth, on the contrary, has its witness in the depths of his soul ; that he acknowledges her when she shows herself, and that " if the flesh be weak the spirit is willing."* It hence results that eloquence is more strictly allied to truth than to error, to good than to evil. Truth is in itself eloquent ; we do not make it eloquent, we only disclose it ; truth, in whatever sense we take the word, is the condition and substance itself of eloquence. In order to persuade to evil, we must give it the appearance of good.

2. What is not perhaps the definition of eloquence, is its rule ; or if you will, the rule of eloquence shall be our definition of it. Eloquence, we say, is a deliverer, who comes to the aid of good principle against bad, of truth against error. Yet more we say, that although the object or the life which eloquence has in view is always drawn immediately from affection^ and although the orator's object consequently, is to create or develop affection, he cannot but make it conformable to eternal and divine ideas, and that in this sense only, eloquence is a power for liberty and not a power for tyranny.

3. The just inference from the feet we have affirmed is, that the more eloquence is used in the service of error, the more sliould it be used in the service of truth, and that truth should be defended with the weapons of truth. Its best advocates too often dissemble ; and that because faith in truth, which alone gives us courage, is rare. It is treachery to a holy cause, to employ in its defence means which are not suitable to it. Indeed, to be eloquent is to be true ; to be eloquent is not to add anything to truth, it is to remove one after another the veils that cover it ; and this process is not negative, for truth lies in facts. In this sense, Pascal is an orator 'par excellence^ because he is as nakedly true as pos-

* Gospel according to St. Matthew, xxvL, 41, 2 sible. But truth lies not in facts alone ; it lies also in the sense of truth. To unite one's self to truth, to be sympathetic with one's subject, is to be true a second time. Truth spoken with love, will it be less truth ? No, doubtless, but what is truth within us, when separated from us is no longer truth.

These requisites to eloquence in general are complicated with those which are peculiar to public discourse. And all taken together, constitute the art of oratory.

An oratorical discourse is a discourse delivered to an assembly with the view of inculcating on it certain ideas, impressing it with certain sentiments, or inducing certain resolves, or of doing these three things at once. The last, however, is the final purpose ; that in relation to which the 0^ other two are means, instruments. The orator should address the heart as well as the understanding, since his desire is to reach the will, and our will is under the control of our affections.*

Oratorical discourse thus appears as a contest, a combat ; this idea is essential to it. At one time, the orator combats an error by a truth ; at another, he opposes one sentiment to another sentiment. In its just use, oratory is a combat waged against errors of the mind and heart, with the weapon of speech. The orator seeks to make himself master of our will. His attempt is a bold aggression ; he lays siege to the soul as though it were a fort ; a fort, however, which he can never take unless he keeps himself informed of the interior of the place ; for eloquence is but an appeal to sympathy. Its secret consists in disengaging and arresting properties in others which correspond to what is in us, and in every one ; its object is to lay hold of a hand which, unknown to ourselves, we are ever extending to it. It arms it-

* On the province of emotion in eloquence, see Part i., Section ii., Chapter ii., § 2.

self against us from ourselves ; it fortifies itself by our admissions ; it supplies itself from our gifts ; with our confess, ions it overwhelms us. In other words, the orator invokes intellectual and moral principles, which we hold in common with him, and does but enforce conclusions from these premises. He proves to us that we agree with him, and causes us to feel and like this agreement. In a word, as has been said, in a bold form of speech, we are only convinced of what we believed before.*