Morning journal and courier., 1889-01-18
FREEDOM IN PREACHING.

Fs B
 she Theological Seminary.
 Freedom is favorite word, and it was never 50 glorifed before as it is in our age. We speak free language. Latin and French are languages of iron law. Greek and English are languages of free people. We can say what we please and when we please. We do not all pronounce words alike. At the present there may be tend ency to carry freedom to excess. Freedom action of other free agents. It is also limit ed by the nature of things. No power can make two plus two equal five, nor can right be made wrong. Everything is limited by the nature of it's environment. The greastest lesson we have to learn in this world is to learn how to be free but all freedom has it's limitations.
 There are very different conceptions of public speaking. A speech is nothing until it is spoken. It is more than an objective written page of thoughts. No matter how much man prepares, he ought to make us feel the speaker more than the speech.
 Freedom in speaking is subject to various limitations. In the first place, some of it's limitations should be regarded. There ought to be mastery of the subject. A speaker
 
 right to freedom which comes from per- verting text of Scripture. There is much less of this than formerly, but yet there is room for improvement. Neither have we right of freedom which comes from running in ruts.
 orderly arrangement which differs from an informal prayer meeting talk. The people have a right to expect this.
 There is also need of perspicuity. A preacher must first get his thoughts clearly before himself, then he must make his own conception perspicious to all his hearers.
 In the second place some of the Limitations to freedom must be disregarded.
 There is a tendency to fastidiousness as to language. minister should study to form the habit of correctness, but when he comes to speaking he should not be over fastidious. An old minister once said to young man. "Better break grammar if you can break hearts,"
 Again, there is apt to be bondage to what has been prepared. Rely on your memory. Do not be afraid of making omissions; your audience will never know what they have missed. Oftentimes the memory is more logical than the mind. A good memory is one that remembers what ought to be remem- bered and forgets what ought to be forgotten Embarrassment as to the externals of de- livery.-This is limitation of freedom in speech which ought to be disregarded. By all means let minister strive after the high est possible attainment, but when it comes to actual delivery be free to say what is in you as 8 living man. There is sometimes dread of repeating. Some preachers are afraid to break away from their manuscripts for fear that they will repeat themselves and some member of the congregation might remem- Der it. Politicians repeat; yet they are fol- lowed about the country by reporters. MT. Beecher repeated himself; MT. Sturgeon re- peats; MT. Cough repeated, and oftentimes his repeated stories were better than his new ones; Chrysastom repeated, and Jesus him self repeated many times. What was true for Galilee was often true for Judea.
 Then there is often fear of exaggeration or fear of being misunderstood. A man born to be preacher will sometimes use hy- periodic sentences. He will not have time one way and finish it another, as the grand apostle Paul did so frequently. Again there is fear of failure. This is natural and ap- propriate, and it may be exceedingly helpful to the speaker. It is good thing to fail, so accept my best wishes when hope you will make failure sometime. If one is so afraid of failure that he ties himself up, he may tie himself down 50 that he will not rise.
 Lastly, there is dread of the unpardonable sin of the modern pulpit-preaching too long. Be not fettered by this. If there is some- thing in you, let it come. If the sermon is long one day, make it unusually short the next Sabbath. If you lengthen the other part of the services the choir will be agree- able.
 How does the need of freedom in preaching bear on the different modes of delivervs In other words, how shall be combine the great est thoroughness of preparation and the greatest possible freedom of speaking9 You will have to sacrifice one or the other at diff ferent times.
 If vou raad Tour aerm0na ha fraa vOu can. Reading gives some men greater free dom. preacher may relieve some defect in delivery by reading. Reading also helps some men in handling special subjects. The tendency in reading sermons is to make preachers overestimate the importance of in- teresting and instructing his hearers and un- derstanding the importance of persuasion. A jury lawyer does not read his plea. O'Connell says good speech is 8 good thing, but the verdict is better. But if you read be as free possible. At any rate, do not try to conceal the fact that you are reading.
 Recitation, verbatim recitation, is incom- patible with true freedom. However, there may be rare cases. Free speaking after writing in full is not extemporaneous speak ing. I have made up my mind to avoid the term, "extemporaneous" speaking. It is not extemporsneous speaking where man has been spending days on his subject. Let us call it free speaking.
 One of the best methods of preaching is this one of free speaking. Draw up sketch, or, as a lawyer would call it, brief. but leave it at home. This combines many of the advantages of the other methods. One who uses this method can divergs in both directions. There are great advantages in free speaking. The preacher can thus feel the presence of his audience. One may i'm agine his congregation present in his study, but that is not the presence of the reality. Before his audience the preacher can watch their faces and see what effect he is produc- ing.