The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-11-15
MIR. GLADSTONE ON PREACHING.

not principally touch the question that ma
be raised as to the relative merits OF writtel
sermons. The sermons Of DR.. Macleod were
it appears, to great extent, written but no
read. The sermons of DR.. Chalmers wer'
certainly in some cases, if not in all, botl
written and read. But all Scotch minister
of any note who read their sermons, take, Oh
used to take, good care to read as if reading
not. To a great extent Scottish sermon'
we're delivered without book, having beer
committed to memory. When notes were
used, they were sometimes, as much as might
be, concealed on small shelf within the
pulpit, for the people had prejudice, almost
a superstition, against the papers, and could
not reconcile them with the Holy Ghost in
the preaching of the Gospel. Reading, pure
and simple, was very rare.
"Apart from the question of the merit Of
this or that form in the abstract, there was a
traditional and almost universal idea Of
preaching as kind of spiritual wrestling
with congregation and the better profes-
sors of the art entered into it as athletes, and
strove habitually and throughout to get q
good grip of the hearer, as truly and as
much as Cumbrian wrestler struggles, with
persistent and varied movement, to get a
good grip of bis antagonist. To give effect
to this idea in preaching, or in other speak.
ing, the hearers must be regarded as one.
All fear of the individual must be discarded
Respect for the body must be maintained,
and may be exhibited by pleading, by expos.
tulating, by beseeching; but always with a
reserve and underthought of authority, of
title to ezhort, rebuke, convince. 1t is really
the constitution of direct and intimate per.
sonal relation, for the moment, between
preacher and hearers, which lies at the root
of the matter; such relation as establishes
itself spontaneously between two persons who
are engaged in an earnest, practical CONVEX
sation to decide whether some given thing
shall or shall not be done; and for this rea-
son it is that We suggest that the mass of
living humanity gathered in a congregation
should perhaps be dealt with as one, and
that, unless in exceptional junctures, the
preacher might find pathway of power, as
the singer, the instrumentalist, or the actor
does, in treating crowd as a unity.
"What has been said is tentatively, and
so to speak provocatively, not to offer the So
luton of great problem, but at any rate to
set others upon solving it. For a great
problem it is; and a solution is required
The problem is, how, in the face Of the press,
the tribune, the exchange, the club, the mul
tiplied solicitations Of modern life, to awaken
in full the dormant powers of the pulpit,
which, though it has lost its exclusive priv
leges, is as able as it ever was manfully to
compete for and to share in the command of
the human spirit and of the life it rules.
The Church cannot indeed, do what she
will, make her twenty thousand ministers
produce good sermons at the rate of two
millions year. She knows very well that
to be good preachers without book, they mus!
be good theologians; and that with all the
holy and watchful care they are bound to
exercise in all the parts of divine service, it
is far more difficult for them than for those
who have no liturgy to collect and concen-
trate themselves with full power upon the
act of preaching. If the priests have the
highest Office to discharge, they must be CON
tent and glad to face the greatest difficulties;
and some aid in the task, we are confident,
they may obtain from careful study of the
methods pursued in the Italian and in other
foreign pulpits; or more generally, and for
all who have not the continent within reach,
by noticing and digesting the practice in our
own country of non-Anglican, and, certainly
not least, Of Scottish Presbyterian pulpits.