method. He says, "Nor will the practice of extemporary preaching deprive a man of the advantage of attaining to that accuracy which is a result of written composition. I am addressing myself to those who have energy enough to persevere for some years, or for whatever time may be required, in the practice of carefully compiling their sermons during the week, and then preaching them extemporarily on Sunday. The time will come when full notes, containing only the more important parts in extenso, will be sufficient, and at last nothing more, in most cases, be needed than such a sketch as may be written on one side of half a sheet of note paper, the rest of the study being carried on mentally, or without the aid of writing. I suppose that for several years more or less of writing will be necessary, because that alone will demonstrate to the preacher that he has mastered the subject and properly arranged his materials, and so will enable his mind to rest on the fact that it has already produced what it now has only produced in the pulpit. And I can imagine persons preferring to the last to write very full abstracts of what they intend to say, and doing this from a religious regard for their work. A sermon, such persons will feel, is too important a work, too much depends upon it to justify the preacher in leaving anything to the chances of the moment. This must be done to some extent in a debate, and it may be done generally in secular oratory, when the main object is to please; but it is irreverent and unwise to trust in this way to the moment for the matter or arrangement of a sermon. It will, therefore, I think, be better that the preacher, however practiced, should never wholly lay aside the pen.' Notwithstanding the wisdom of this, we are convinced that some men-they are exceptions do better by bold effort, forcing themselves at once to hardy thinking and free expression, and so by daring, winning. If they stand shivering on the brink in their half resolve and caution betokened by their keeping up the writing process, they will never plunge in. These bolder men, if they succeed, will make the best extempore preachers, because they trust themselves wholly, and lay their power of speaking in thinking, in the inward energy of the mind, rather than in rhetoric or the outward expression. But all would agree who know any

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* The Duty and Discipline of Extemporary Preaching, p. 33.

L

thing about the subject, or have any personal experience in
regard to it, that there must be a severe preparation, that there
must be intensely hard thinking, planning, even composition
of the discourse-it may be wholly mentally before coming
up to the act of speaking. Thought and method, like a strong
engine and snow-plough, should clear the tract for the trains to
thunder smoothly and swiftly over. Dr. Richard S. Storrs, in
his admirable lectures on this subject, gives essentially the same
advice. He says,
"It is indispensable, therefore, that the
main plan of the sermon be from the start so plainly in view
that it comes up of itself as it is needed, and does not require
to be pulled into sight at any effort. To this end it must be
simple, obvious, natural, so that it fixes itself in the mind; it
must be clearly articulated in its parts. If possible, let it be
so arranged that one point naturally leads to another, and, when
the treatment of it is finished, leaves you in front of that which
comes next. Then take up that, and treat it in its order, until
through that treatment you reach the third, and find it inevit-
able to proceed to consider that. By such a progressive ar-
rangement of thought you are yourself carried forward; your
faculties have continual liberty; you are not forced to pause
in the work of addressing yourself directly to the people.
There must be connection as well as succession in the thought
which one would express without notes; and the more fully
and deeply the plan of the discourse is imbedded in the mind,
and made self-suggestive, the more elastic and buoyant is the
tread of the mind in all the discussion. If needful to this
result, I would write the plan of the sermon over twenty times
before preaching it; not copying, merely, from one piece of
paper upon another, but writing it out carefully and fully, each
time independently, till I perfectly knew it; till it was fixed
absolutely in the mind."* The late Rev. Henry Ware, of
Cambridge, Mass., author of a most valuable essay upon Ex-
temporaneous Preaching, though a retiring and modest man,
was really the pioneer of this great reformation in pulpit deliv-
ery in this country-which reform has been so exceedingly slow
in its progress that it seems even now to halt as if uncertain
of future success. In the recent biography of Mr. Ware, the

* Conditions of success in Preaching without Notes, p. 109.

difficulties he encountered in taking this bold step are graphically told. He was not naturally fluent and was constitutionally diffident. His first attempts were in his weekly prayer-meetings, and perhaps but one to six or seven of his sermons followed this method; and he put so much labor into these efforts, that his regular extempore sermons gained for him very little time or study. But when his eyesight became impaired he realized the benefit of this method, and his extempore speaking was distinguished for its simplicity, gravity, and impressiveness. He says in a letter to his brother: "Don't give up the ship for one unfortunate fire. Why, I have suffered more than Indian torture fifty times; but then I had Indian perseverance, and it is only by not flinching that we can gain the end at last. You must expect, as a matter of course, sometimes to do ill. The state of the mind, state of health, stomach and bowels, nature of the dinner you have just eaten, &c., &c., all these unaccountably affect the powers of the mind. And then, sometimes you will make too much preparation, that is, trying to arrange the words, and sometimes make too little, that is by arranging no thoughts, and in either case you will flounder. But after beginning it were wicked to be disheartened."

We conclude the discussion of this specific topic and of the whole theme with three practical suggestions, as summing up the results of what we have been able to arrive at on this very important point.

1. Let the preacher who, before God, earnestly desires to be effective in the pulpit and is determined to conquer indolence and native imperfections, but to whom has been denied the extemporaneous gift, make a brave attempt to secure and combine the advantages of the three methods that have been mentioned, since, as has been seen, there is good in them all. Let him write out his sermon carefully and fully. Let him commit it to memory, or, at least, make himself perfectly familiar with it; and then let him preach it as a free discourse, without a scrap of writing before him, and without great care to adhere strictly to the preconceived and precomposed language. This, if we mistake not, judging from what he says in his Yale Lectures,* and also from his practice, is essentially the method of Rev.

* God's Word through Preaching, C. vi, p. 131, seq.

John Hall, the eminent and earnest Presbyterian minister of New York. If one will only take the pains-the unwearied pains to follow out this plan, or something like it, he can secure the benefits of the written method with its thoughtful composition and precision of style; of the memoriter method with its ease and sense of confidence which it brings; and of the extemporaneous method with its freshness, naturalness, vivida vis animi, and freedom of attitude and spirit. This is doing in the way of preparation all that one, humanly speaking, can do. It is the employment of all his powers, the very utmost of his effort and care.

2. Let one who is learning to preach and who finds himself tempted to facile methods of preparation, for a time at leastand perhaps to the end of his life-mingle the two styles, viz: that of preaching from written notes and that of preaching extemporaneously. Let him speak half of the day in one and the other half in the other method. This is strongly recommended by Dr. Shedd.* In this way the valuable exercise of the pen will not be lost. The clear arrangement, the accuracy of style, the literary and artistic elaboration in the shading of thought, and the elegant finish and brevity which the constant use of the pen is fitted to secure, will be maintained, while at the same time the extemporaneous method will be restrained from its extreme and loose tendencies, and will gain also real strength. This is the method which, we sincerely believe, most preachers could, with the best success, follow.

3. Let him, who is strong enough, and has the apostolic faith (for preaching is faith), dare to make use of a more excellent way. We speak especially now to the young preacher. The all-absorbing desire to save men's souls-the working, and thinking, and living for that purpose-being taken for granted, let him cut loose entirely from the trammels of writing. Let him beautify and deepen his own mind and character. Let him dwell in communion with the Spirit of truth. Let him train himself and trust to hardy thinking. Let him forget himself. Let him purify himself to become the true exponent of Godnot aiming to be eloquent, but to speak only what God gives him to speak, what is simple, what is the exact fact, what is the

* Homiletics and Pastoral Theology, p. 242.

real verity respecting God, nature, the soul, the law of God, Christ and his cross, repentance, faith, the experience of the heart—its real trial, anguish, doubt, sin, fear, hope, joy, love— in a word, living truth, and the plain, earnest thought and feeling which correlate this truth and which the Holy Ghost teaches, and thus by despising eloquence, by not meaning to be eloquent-to be eloquent. Let him rise above the fear of man and yield himself boldly and wholly into the hands of God to guide, to teach, to inspire, to use. Let him abjure the slavery of the writing-desk-though not the severe labor of study, and, having given all his powers to the interpretation of the Word, and having his mind filled with the truth, and his heart with the love of his flock,* let him stand up in his simple manhood on a level with those he addresses, and speak like a prophet, like a messenger of the love of God in Jesus Christ to men. Should this become the method of preaching for the next hundred years of our American Christianity, as it was of the apostles and earliest preachers of the faith, then will a great light spring up, and it will be recorded in this New World what it was written aforetime in old Judea: "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed."

* We soon learn to speak what we love; the heart supplies us much better than the memory, and has also a language which the memory does not know. A holy pastor, moved by God, and by regard for the salvation of souls which are confided to him, finds, in the livliness of his zeal, and the fulness of his heart, expressions having the impress of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love and of light, a thousand times more powerful to move, to reclaim sinners, than all those who are furnished by labor and the vain artifice of human eloquence. The talent of an orator is not what is required; it is the talent of a father; and what other talent does a father need in speaking to his children but affection for them, and a desire for their welfare.-Massillon: Dix-septième Discours Synodal.