Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-02-18
Lyman Beecher Lectures.

President Robfnson's Last Lecture to
the Yale Theological Students-He Dis
courses ON Extemporaneous Preaching
REV. DR.. John Hall to Deliver the
Next Course.
President Robinson, of Brown University,
delivered his last lecture before the Yale
theological students yesterday afternoon, his
subject being ''Extemporsneous Preaching"
He spoke in substance as follows Your at
tention was invited yesterday to the kinds of
sermons in general and the sermons needed
in our own land. Let us consider to-day the
methods of delivering sermons: There are
three methods. First, writing and reading
second, writing and committing to memory ;
third, extemporaneous preaching The last
appears to me to be the best method. To
write out discussion and then sit down to
commit it to memory requires great deal of
mans time. Again, the audience will de-
tect a memorized sermon. There is the
single faculty of memory to carry the whole
discourse. If you carry sermon in your
mind from Sunday morning until half-past
| -, it will be as empty as a coffee pot on the
morning after it has been used for breakfast.
L d
hear one that has not been written. One ad-
vantage of an unwritten discourse is that it is
an economy of time He who can think out his
discourse, thinking as he walks, on the street,
by the wayside, while another sits with bowed
head to write out his thoughts, is rule
successful.
Another advantage in the unwritten SER
1csf Iok hrIy,r hn in,
| relation to his audience, and is an advantage
which can never exist in reading written
sermon. Another advantage in the unwrit.
ten sermon is the freedom of the speaker.
He should speak in natural tones. The col
loquial speech and colloquial tone are of ad-
vantage in speaking. For the benefit of
those who have not been highly educated
poraneous discourses. When man
is preparing an extemporaneous sermon
he will think it over and over again, and
when he breaches his sermon his thoughts
will flow like the weaver's shuttle. Often he
will not have completed his sermon until the
choir are singing the last verse of the hymn
previous to his sermon. Yet there are dis
advantages in extemporaneous preaching. the
first of which is the exhaustion of the nerv-
i.ons energy. A man that is carrying dis
course on his mind on his way
to church cannot be talked with
or delayed. His whole nature is
oppressed until his sermon is delivered
Another disadvantage is that a person
preaching extemporaneously may see some
body in the audience who is superior in
thought and this will, to greater or less
degree, cause nervousness on the part of the
speaker. A man who breaches extemporane-
ously may find himself before an intelligent
audience with poorly prepared sermon, but
inspiration may come to him and he may de-
liver an excellent discourse. Agaiu the dan
ger of repeating in even written discourse
is often apparent and more SO in the case of
unwritten sermons. To sum up then, the
advantages would appear to be about even.
But perhaps if man is studious enough ex-
temporaneous preaching is the best. The
extemporaneous consists in arranging the
thought SO that we can express it intelli-
gently at the time of delivery.
The speaker referred to the old time de-
batting societies and thought every theologi-
cal school should have debating society.
Then again one should acquire the most
perfect knowledge of his mother tongue. He
should use the mother tongue with care and
speak in well chosen language. A man who
is to speak correctly must be habituated to
it, he must be a thoroughly educated man.
The question arises who should seek to
acquire this habit of extemporaneous speak
ing? It is not certainly that man who can
talk by the hour, or, to use vulgar express
sion, is blessed with 'gift of gab." 1t is
not the men who have the most facility of
speech that make the best. extemporaneous
speakers, but it is those who after careful
preparation go before an audience with fear
and trembling. That then, which is the
most essential is to make the most thorough
and careful preparation before preaching ex
temporaneous sermons. DR.. Hall has said
that to stand before an. audience the first
requisite was preparation, the second was
preparation, the third was preparation. The
man who is to proceed extemporaneously
must have the end clearly in mind which he
proposes to reach in conclusion. The mind
thinks of one thing at time and
passes from one thing to another,
then to each sentence of the paragraph, then
to the words of the paragraph. The thing
which is the most requisite of all is absolute
thought from beginning to end. The funda-
mental requisite of preaching in our day is
logical thought. Many object to extempora-
neous preaching because the preacher often
digresses and does not conclude his sermon
The mind itself should carry the order of
thought I should say, have the entire sub
ject in the mind in extemporaneous preach
ing and not be obliged to refer to notes or
heads of subjects. It is indispensable that
he who is to preach should have freshness of
mind, and above all go before an audience
prepared and in the fear of God. 1t is only
him that we have to fear. ~,
Thanking you for your attention during
this course of lectures my humble prayer is
that each of you will become humble, pray
erful preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ
On next Thursday and Friday afternoons
and the Thursday following, Rev. DR.. John
Hall will deliver lectures to the theoIogues in
Marquand chapel.