Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-11
Lyman Beecher Lectures.

Sermon Bui1dIng-AnOther Lecture in
the Course by President Robinson of
Brown University.
At o'clock yesterday afternoon Mar
quand chapel was well filled by theologians,
ministers from different churches in the city
and ladies, who had assembled for the pur-
pose of hearing President Robinsons lee
ture.
In his opening remarks the~lecturer said
There are two or three remarks which may
not be inappropriate to introduce at this
time. If you have been taken over any I'M
| broken track during this course it has been
unawares. Again the lectures have been
about preaching rather than preaching itself.
1t is thought best then that the subject
| this afternoon should be on ''Sermon Build
| ing" A man then in preaching, should
preach in the most effective way that he can
When man attempts to arrange his sermons
| he will find that he has collected vast
amount of rubbish 1t is like bug that you
| have seen in summer rolling over and over a
little ball, and you open it and you find q
| miserable little worm.
| Another way of making sermons is to con-
| suit various authors, cutting here little and
| there a little until the sermon is made like
patchwork. Another style is an arbitrary
plan, or arranging an order planned before
| hand, or what is sometimes called a skeleton
| sermon. sermon made from a plan arhi-
| trarily determined beforehand, made in a
given way, perhaps from sermon s'encyclo-
padia," is thework of some author, but not
| the work of the preacher or of his thinking
| The speaker said he knew preacher who
/ said he never could think until he began to
write, and then his thoughts came readily
and easily. The mind moves on as the
brooklet of the meadow or in the bent of
| his own servant will. Now, there should be
l a distinct outline at the outset and then keep
right to the purpose the speaker has in view
Suppose preacher selects a topical SER
] mon or doctrinal sermon. What is to be
done after the subject is selected? 1t APP
pears to me that he should reduce the sub
| ject to the smallest limit and then broader
will be his views and more definite will be
! his conclusions.
| The first thing is to analyze the sermon
and resolve it into it's simplest conceivable
I elements The best power that you can have
is the power to analyze. The speaker gave
| an illustration of what he meant by analy-
| zing sermons. The speaker then illustrated
] the various methods and said as many
preachers prepared their sermons there was
no beginning and no end to them. What is
! needed in our pulpits to-day is thought.
You cannot know anything until you have
| first analysed it. When in your analysis
you have reached the germ of the whole
/ then you have reached the whole subject A
| sermon should be like tree or an onion
in its growth, the germ being the center. The
first condition of thinking is amalgamation,
and when you have reached the germ-the
| central thought-then you can branch out to
the utmost border. No we'll thinking mind
| can think but in certain order. I should
first see what the preacher proposes and then
! follow him to- his conclusions. sermon to
be perfectly clear should proceed step by
| step logically and in order, and when the
preacher has reached his conclusions that is
| what carry away with me. It is the grand
| conclusion that never forget. Let the SER
| mon be concentrated in one definite thought,
and that thought will reach great many
! minds. One of the vices of the pulpit is in
| nistaking an apt illustration for an argument
from analogy. Many of the illustrations have
no connection with the subject. 1t is a mis-
take of men that they hoodwink an audience
and then lead them along without clear think
ling.
| There are many sermons that stand SO long
to be dressed that they get chilled through,
and when they are delivered they have no
warmth in them and the life has all gone out
| of them. .0A,-
| A minister may be Analysing his subject
while he is making call or doing any other
duty, and when he sits down to, write he is
borne on with irresistible impulse, and his
sermon may be written at one sitting. Those
| are the kind of sermons that warm the hearts
of the hearers.
| The speaker here gave an illustration of
| Chalmers preaching, and Hall and Foster.
| showing the difference between the great
preachers.
| In concluding, the speaker said: Let every
one write sermon after his own style of
words and not borrow from the words of
others There is nothing like great COM
mand of language. Observe your own indi-
viduality and not try to follow the style of
others. In Gods name be yourselves and
| people will say who listen to your sermons,
''That is freshness
The remaining lectures will be delivered on
next Thursday and Friday afternoons, COM
mencing at o'clock on both days.