08 - Chapter 8

LECTURE VIII MODERN HOMILETICS AMERICA IN every phase of human thought and its effective literary expression we of the United States owe a vast debt of gratitude to Europe. We are indeed “the heir of all the ages,” but we march “in the foremost files of time,” and with no hesitant or cringing tread. If we owe much to others we have also achieved much ourselves. This is as true in the sphere of Homiletics as it is in other departments of education and literary production. The influence of European upon American Homiletics is recognized in the two obvious ways of original impulse and continued contact; but no more in Homiletics than in other lines of movement did this recognized and valued influence hinder the growth of a distinct, extensive and worthy body of homiletical teaching and writing peculiarly American and essentially sound, scientific and practical. In America as elsewhere and al ways, practice and theory reacted upon each other and out of these reactions has come a great and valuable product. Of necessity it did not come all at once, and very naturally it increased in volume and in value in the process of time. The contempt which certain German and English critics in the early part of the nineteenth century felt or affected for American literary and scientific achievements is now only amusing, though at the time a certain boyish awkwardness and sensitiveness may be recognized in the American response to these strictures. The simple facts are that early American literature was comparatively little in volume and much of it was immature and poor, but there was a goodly portion which had in it the “promise and potency” of a fuller life that was rapidly coming into consciousness of power and getting ready to command world-wide recognition. This general trend of things is well exemplified in American preaching, both in practice and in theory. We are here concerned with the latter, the development of homiletical teaching and writing in the United States since the beginning of the nineteenth century. For reasons which will appear later on, a marked acceleration and improvement may be noted in this movement since about 1870, and it will therefore be proper to divide our treatment of the subject to correspond with this turning point in the course of events. The Earlier Developments up to 1870

After the publication of Cotton Mather’s little book noted in a previous lecture, and itself of little value and limited circulation, there does not seem to have been in this country any homiletical work worth speaking of during the whole eighteenth century; but early in the nineteenth a start was made, both in teaching Homiletics and in writing books on the subject. The movement gained in power through the century. No doubt the translations of Claude’s Essay, together with other English publications, were used by some American divines and there was some homiletical study, traditional and literary, among the preachers. This at least laid a foundation for the fine developments which have followed. The first thing to notice is the founding of the earliest of American theological seminaries at Andover, Massachusetts, in 1807. This parent institution included in its course of instruction the subject of Pulpit Oratory, as it was first called.

Among the earliest donors of the seminary was a wealthy New England merchant named William Bartlet, in whose honor the chair was later named. The first professor was a Dr. Griffin, but he did not serve long. In 1811 Ebenezer Porter was ap pointed to the chair and its name was changed to that of Bartlet Professorship of Sacred Rhetoric.

Dr. Porter served for twenty-three years, very acceptably and ably. He deserves high honor as the real beginner of homiletical instruction in theological seminaries in this country. In 1819 Dr. Porter published a book under the title The Young Preacher’s Manual. 1 It is a collection of treatises on preaching, including with others of less value Fenelon’s Dialogues, Claude’s Essay, Reybaz on The Art of Preaching. Dr. Porter * See Kidder’s Homiletics, Appendix. seems to have used this as the textbook, supplemented by lectures, for a number of years. In 1834 Dr. Porter published his own volume on Homiletics with the title Lectures on Homiletics and Preaching and on Public Prayer, Together With Sermons and Letters. The book went through a number of editions and is still historically important and full of good and sound teaching on its subject. The opening words of the preface are well worth quoting:

“In entering on my labors as Bartlet Professor of Sacred Rhetoric in this Seminary I found the office to be in some respects a new one in the business of theological instruction. After an examination of many books that have been written on Rhetoric in general and the comparatively few that have been written on Sacred Rhetoric, it became manifest that I must be called to traverse a field to a considerable extent untrodden by any predecessor.” The book contains twenty-three lectures on Homiletics. Its most important topics are Choice of Texts and Subjects; Structure of Sermons; Ex ordium; Explication; Unity; Division; Argument; Conclusion; Style, with several lectures on the General Characteristics of Sermons. On the Ex ordium he remarks (page 86): “The one valuable purpose for which any public speaker can address an assembly is to make them understand and believe and feel the sentiments which he utters. The chief object of an introduction then is to secure that attention which is most favorable to the attainment of this purpose; and the obstacles which prevent this favorable attention are commonly found in the prejudice, the ignorance, or the indifference of the hearers.” To remove these is the main thing, and rules follow for the right kinds of introduction. There are good counsels on unity, divisions, and the conclusion. It is a sensible and clear discussion. The conclusion should recapitulate and enforce, but should not be too long and tedious. Style should be simple, serious, earnest. Its usual qualities are discussed. Good suggestions are made for practice. On the whole, Dr. Porter’s treatise is a sound and sensible book, well adapted to the age in which it was published. It was in every way for American Homiletics a good start.

About 1830 Henry Ware, Jr., became Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and Pastoral Care at Harvard University. A few years later he published his little book Hints on Extemporaneous Preaching. It is a clearly written and very sensible treatise, giving cogent reasons for the practice of free delivery after careful preparation. From now on the theological departments of colleges and the rapidly increasing theological seminaries all over the land included Homiletics or Sacred Rhetoric as an established and indispensable part of the curriculum. Sometimes it was made a department of Practical Theology or Pastoral Duties, and sometimes it was an independent subject. Yale College and the Prince ton, Union, Newton, and other theological schools, all fell into line. In 1859 the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was opened at Greenville, South Carolina, with John A. Broadus as Professor of the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, in connection with his other chair of New Testament Interpretation. His plan for Homiletics as quoted by his biographer Dr. A. T. Robertson 1 was as follows:

“Homiletics, or Preparation and Delivery of Sermons; Ripley’s Sacred Rhetoric; Vinet’s Homiletics; numerous lectures; ample exercises information of skeletons, criticism of printed sermons, general composition, and discussion; opportunities for students to preach, but no preaching merely for practice.”

We need not trace this line of development further. No seminary or department for ministerial training in any college could henceforth think of omitting Homiletics as a definite part of its course of study. Out of this has grown chiefly, but by no means wholly, the production of the noble body of homiletical literature which we may now with pardonable pride claim as distinctively American. A number of able and distinguished professors of Homiletics in the numerous and well-equipped schools for training preachers have put forth valuable treatises, many of which have become de- i Life and Letters of John A. Broadus, by A. T. Robertson, p. 168. servedly famous. Besides this many other authors have in various ways, by lectures and treatises and articles, given scholarly and practical attention to the subject. A slight survey of some of the most important of these works up to 1870 is all that can here be attempted. In 1849 Professor Henry J. Ripley, Professor of Sacred Khetoric and Pastoral Duties at the Newton Theological Institution, near Boston, published his Sacred, Rhetoric. It is a brief and sensible, but not particularly able or fresh treatise. By permission there was published with it Henry Ware’s little book previously noticed. This volume of Professor Ripley served as a textbook to Dr. Broadus and other teachers and besides that had a considerable circulation and usefulness among the ministers. In ten years it had reached its fourth edition. In 1853 Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Duties in Union Theological Seminary, New York, rendered a great service to the teaching of Homiletics in this country by his translation of Vinet’s Homiletics noticed in the preceding lecture. This translation of Vinet was widely influential and became the basis of other textbooks. This was notably true in the case of Dr. Broadus, who in the first edition of his own book had many quotations from Vinet and rendered to him acknowledgment of indebtedness. The accomplished professor and devoted pastor and preacher, Dr. James W. Alexander, for a time taught along with other subjects that of Homiletics at Princeton Theological Seminary. The fruits of his reading, experience and thinking were given to the world after his death in a very attractive volume called Thoughts on Preaching, published in 1860. The editor states that “it had long been the cherished wish of Dr. Alexander to prepare a volume on Homiletics for which he had gathered much material in his journals. “These were published in the volume named. Not withstanding its somewhat disjointed state, the volume is full of interest and contains many valuable sayings in the way of criticism, suggestion and illustration. A valuable and important work which appeared in 1864 is that of Dr. Daniel P. Hidder, Professor first at Garrett Theological Institute, Evanston, Illinois, and later at Drew Theological Seminary. The title of the book is A Treatise on Homiletics. The book had several editions. It treats (Chapter I) of the proper character of Homiletics as a science in its own right, because of its divine origin. Chapter II treats of the sources and material of homiletical science which are Biblical in origin and motive. Chapter III is especially valuable for its survey of the literature of Homiletics from the beginnings to modern times. This is supplemented in the Appendix by an excellent bibliography of which frequent use Has been made in these lectures and to which deep indebtedness is acknowledged. As a treatise the book covers the usual ground, discussing different kinds of preaching, themes and texts, preparation of sermons, arrangement, argument, the conclusion, qualities of the sermon, classification, style, delivery, elocution, habits of preparation, and some others. The work is not very well arranged and does not seem to have been very successful as a textbook, but it marks an advance in the treatment of the subject in America and is on the whole a very competent and worthy performance. The year 1867 witnessed the appearance of treatises on Homiletics by two eminent and distinguished Presbyterian preachers and professors. The first of these was Homiletics and Pastoral Theology by Prof. W. G. T. Shedd of Union Theological Seminary, New York, in its first edition.

It came to later editions and is one of the out standing works on the subject. Concerning it Dr. Broadus makes this acute remark: 1

“ Shedd’s Homiletics and Pastoral Duties is an excellent work. It discusses certain topics with the author’s well-known power of analysis and vigor of statement. It is an admirable book to be read by those who are acquainted with the subject in general, or to be studied in connection with some systematic treatise. “ With this judgment I quite agree. The book is solid in matter, strong and clear in statement of the usual topics, but is badly arranged. ifciuiy eiriaiigeu. i Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 547. The other work is Sacred Rhetoric by K. L.

Dabney, D.D., of the Union Theological Seminary of Virginia. The author wrote a notable biography of “Stonewall” Jackson and was in other ways a distinguished and very able man. His treatise on preaching is worthy of his abilities and fame and reached a third edition in 1881. It is a sound and vigorous discussion of the accepted principles of Homiletics. The Chair of Homiletics in the Divinity School of Yale University was worthily and ably filled from 1861 to 1879 by Professor J. M. Hoppin, D.D.

He published in 1869 his well-known book on the Office and Work of the Christian Ministry. This included both Homiletics and Pastoral Duties; but later the work was revised and published in two separate volumes one under the simple title Homiletics. This is a work of great value in many ways. It is too large and comprehensive for a textbook, but gives a brief sketch of the history of preaching and deals with the rhetorical principles of preaching in a very competent and instructive way Broadus says, “with marked ability and sound judgment. “ The book is an excellent one to study, as marking the turning point at which we have arrived in this survey of American Homiletics. It belongs both to the earlier and later periods which we have marked out. It shows how far we have come from the best attainments of the past and it introduces a richer and in some respects a more scientific treatment of the modern period in the history of Homiletics. In its survey of the history of preaching and the literature of Homiletics as fundamental to a better and larger grasp of the true theory of preaching, it strikes a high note. Its mastery and presentation of the topics of homiletical instruction are thorough. But its analysis and arrangement of these topics is peculiar and undesirable. A glance at its copious contents will reveal at once the excellences and defects indicated.

Giving a general introduction on the greatness of the preacher’s work, Dr. Hoppin divides his treatment into two main parts: I. Homiletics Proper; II. Rhetoric Applied to Preaching. Here we see at once a want of clear distinction and the promise of repetition and overlapping. Under Homiletics Proper there is an introduction in which the literature of Homiletics and Rhetoric is surveyed and homiletical terms denned. Then comes the first division of this part which presents a brief but excellent sketch of the history of preaching. The second division expounds the object of preaching as being the instruction, persuasion and edification of the hearer. The third division considers the preacher’s preparation for composing the sermon. And the fourth takes up analysis and composition of sermons with a discussion of the text, introduction, explanation, proposition, division, development and conclusion. The fifth division of the first part treats of the classi fication of sermons (1) according to their treat merit and form and (2) according to their method of delivery written, memoriter, and extempore.

Part II (Rhetoric Applied to Preaching) consists of three divisions, the first presenting the General Principles of Rhetoric, the second Invention and the third Style. Several definitions of style are given and its qualities are discriminated as absolute and relative or those which are universal (limited to language itself), and those which grow out of the relation of speaker to audience. This last consideration brings the author finally to discuss the qualities of purity, propriety, precision, perspicuity, energy and elegance. In range of topics, learning and depth of thought this book takes the highest rank and marks American homiletical scholarship as having attained to a maturity and strength of its own. The Later Developments Since 1870 The marking off of strictly defined historical periods is necessarily more or less artificial, for history is not a plot of ground to be staked off, but rather a flowing stream whose progress, direction, tributaries and volume are to be noted as it flows. Yet, every one knows that there occur certain crises in history when there is acceleration of movement; when new acquisitions are made in both character and power on the part of things already existing and striving to realize larger measures of life. Such a period is noted in the whole of American life since the Civil War of 1861-65. The New Era was one of immense quick ening and extension of the forces of the national life political, industrial, commercial, scientific, artistic and literary. All the departments of intellectual expression felt the drive of the age, and the increase in volume, range and excellence was manifest. This is as true for our subject of Homiletics as for all other branches of theological study and writing.

Several matters of importance are to be noted as belonging to and characterizing the general development of homiletical thought and product in the new time. The first of these is the continuance and extension of homiletical instruction in schools for the training of preachers. Seminaries and theological departments in colleges, as these were founded or enlarged, provided for instruction in preaching as one of the accepted and necessary courses. These courses varied in value and depended much both upon the atmosphere of the institutions and the personality of the professors; but it is fair to say that judging by results, both in the training of men and in the production of books, the teaching was generally sound and good. Always much is to be desired. The teaching was not universally good, and the results were always more or less disappointing. But on the whole the work was eminently worthwhile.

One thing to be noticed is the appearance of homiletical suggestion and instruction in periodical literature. There were journals of theology, some of which were designed especially as homiletical helps. The chief one of these was The Homiletic Review which began in 1877 as the Homiletic Monthly. After a while the scope was enlarged and the name changed. This periodical has had a vast circulation. It has published sermons by distinguished men, outlines and homiletical suggestions of various sorts. Many preachers have found it very useful, but some others have not cared especially for it. Yet, on the whole, it has helped and taught thousands of preachers. In this connection and before giving a general account of the literature of Homiletics proper it is right to say a few words about books on the vitally related subjects. Pastoral Theology is often treated in the books on Homiletics and in addition a few works are devoted especially to that subject. Among these is the work of Hoppin in the later editions, as already mentioned. Then there was a little book, The Pastor, by Dr. H. Harvey. The most notable of these perhaps is that of Dr. Washington Gladden on The Christian Pastor, a volume in the International Theological Library.

Dr. T. H. Pattison and Dr. Arthur S. Hoyt, as well as several others, have issued works on this subject accompanying their works on Homiletics. On the History of Preaching not a great deal has been done by American writers, but something. The subject has received attention in several of the books on Homiletics, notably in that of Hoppin.

There is an attractive little volume by Dr. Fleming James on The Message and the Messengers. In 1876 Dr. John A. Broadus published his Lectures on the History of Preaching which had been given at Newton Theological Institution. This was not intended to be a complete study of the subject and is somewhat fragmentary in its discussions; but it is a fine and stimulating little book, full of suggestion and comment, as well as information. There is also a later volume by Dr. T. H. Pattison, A History of Christian Preaching, which is brief and discriminating in thought and very readable and interesting in style. There is also a more extended work by this lecturer, which he begs pardon for mentioning, but has to do so for completeness. In addition to these Dr. W. C.

Wilkinson has given to the subject a fine discussion of some great preachers in his Modern Masters of Pulpit Discourse; and a similar service has been performed by Dr. L. 0. Brastow in Representative Modern Preachers, and The Modern Pulpit. On social subjects there has of late been a flood of writings articles and books. Many of the Yale Lectures, as will be noticed presently, discuss this part of the preacher’s equipment for his task.

Some attention has been paid to psychology in relation to preaching. In 1901 a book by Dr. J.

Spencer Kennard was published under the title Psychic Power in Preaching. Dr. Kennard was a well-known Baptist pastor and evangelist. He had long and deep interest in his subject. His treatment is based on the older psychology, but is marked by clearness of thought and force of expression. He has a good discussion of the psychology of style, and all through his book insists upon the power of personality in preaching. In 1918 Dr. Charles S. Gardner, Professor of Homiletics in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, published his Psychology and Preaching. This able and thorough discussion is founded on the newer psychology. The thinking is deep, but usually clear. There are particularly fine discussions of Belief, Attention, Suggestion, Assemblies. The book is well worth the careful study of the modern preacher. It closes with an excellent chapter on The Modern Mind. It is a sane and careful book.

One of the most notable events in regard to our subject was the establishment of the Yale Lectures on Preaching. The following action was taken by the Corporation of Yale College, under date of April 12, 1871 1 1 “ Voted to accept the offer of Mr. Henry N. Sage of Brooklyn of the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars for the founding of a lectureship in the Theological Department in a branch of Pastoral Theology, to be designated The Lyman Beecher Lectureship on Preaching, to be filled from time to time upon the appointment of the Corporation by a minister of the Gospel of any evangelical denomination who has been mark edly successful in the special work of the Christian i See A Voice from the Crowd, by G. W. Pepper, Introductory Note. ministry.” With few exceptions this lectureship has been filled every year since its foundation by some prominent English or American preacher.

Mr. George Wharton Pepper, a Philadelphia lawyer, has the distinction of being the only layman invited to give the lectures. His volume, A Voice from the Crowd, is useful, not only for its contents, but for an appendix which contains the full list of all the courses since the foundation of the lectureship. The Yale Lectures have not been specifically homiletical. They have dealt rather more with the pastoral and social work of the preacher and with problems of thought and adjustment connected with his work. Only two of the series have been distinctly historical, those by Dr. W. M. Taylor on The Scottish Pulpit and by Dr. John Brown on Puritan Preaching in England. One lecturer, and that a very brilliant and delightful one, has used some of the greatest preachers in history as examples for the taking title of his work. The book meant is The Romance of Preaching, by Charles Silvester Home. Dr. Trumbull gave a very valuable course on religious pedagogy in his Teaching and Teachers. A number of the volumes have dealt with the social and reformatory aspects of the preacher’s work and duty. Of these we may name especially the two series by Dr. Washington Gladden Tools and the Man (1886) and Social Salvation (1902); and those of Charles H.

Parkhurst, Charles E. Brown and Henry Sloane Coffin. Several of the series were not published. This was the case with those delivered by Dr. John A. Broadus in 1888. These were given extemporaneously from notes. Dr. Broadus pursued this plan on purpose to illustrate that the thing could be done. Another reason for not having them written out was that he desired to use some of the material in revising his Preparation and De livery of Sermons. At the time of their delivery this series attracted large and interested audience s and some of the more important subjects have been retained and briefly discussed in the revised edition of the author’s well-known book. 1 This brings us back to our proper subject and also to a man and a book that now claim especial notice. In 1871 Dr. John A. Broadus, while Professor in the Southern Baptist Theological Semi nary, then located at Greenville, South Carolina, published his now world-famous treatise on The Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. The story of its origin is related by the author himself in his Life of James P. Boyce (page 201). When the Seminary reopened after the Civil War the at tendance of students was very small. In the class of Homiletics there was only one student and he was blind. But the undaunted professor adhered to his resolution to make his subject worthwhile, and as the brother could not take notes he gave his lectures to him in a conversational way, but covering with thoughtful care the main subjects of i Life and Letters, p. 386. homiletical discussion. In his own words, “The professor tried to lay out a somewhat complete course and give it to him in lectures to which the brother listened with unfailing manifestations of kindly interest. “ That was the origin of a book which was published five years later and has be come the leading text-book on Homiletics in all the world. The success of the book was immediate. The author had to mortgage some property and borrow money for the making of the original plates. The first edition was published by Smith, English & Company of Philadelphia. The book paid for itself in a year or two. Some years later its publication was taken on by A. C.

Armstrong & Son of New York, and by Hodder & Stoughton in London. It reached in this country nearly twenty editions before it was revised and at least as many since then. From the regular publishers alone, therefore, there have been nearly, if not quite, 40,000 copies printed. Besides this there was a pirated English edition under a slightly different title, before the laws of international copyright were well established. More over, the book has been translated into other languages and has had quite a wide use. Soon after the revised edition appeared the editor received a letter from a French missionary in North Africa requesting a copy, and near the same time an inquiry from a Scotchman who was trying to found missionary work in Chile. Within the last few months a letter has come from the head of a Presbyterian college in New Zealand making inquiry concerning the continued publication of the work and stating the writer’s conviction that it was the best of all books for teaching students the art of preaching. A number of gratifying and pleasing instances of appreciation are noticed in Dr. Robertson’s Life and Letters of John A.

Broadus. (See especially pages 254, 286 and 337.)

Dr. W. C. Wilkinson, a very competent critic, describes it as “on the whole the best single treatise existing on its subject.” The contents and character of this notable book need detain us but a moment. After a thoughtful introduction, the general subject is discussed in five parts The Materials of Preaching, Arrangement, Style, Delivery, and Public Worship. The last was added as a postscript to the treatment of the special homiletical topics. The Materials of Preaching especially studied are the Text, Subjects, Particular Occasions, then the General Materials Explanation, Argument, Illustration and Application. The second part on the Arrangement of a Sermon discusses its importance, its several parts, and adds a chapter on the different kinds of sermons. Part third treats of Style, giving some general observations and especially discussing the qualities of style, Perspicuity, Energy and Elegance. To this is added a chapter on Imagination. Part four, The Delivery of Sermons, gives a decided preference to the method of free speech after careful preparation. Two of the chapters, those on Voice and Action, as more properly be longing to the subject of Elocution, the author in his later years as Professor did not usually teach in his classes.

If we ask what has been the reason for the phenomenal success of this book, perhaps the readiest answer would be its admirable combination of scholarship and common sense. This was characteristic of the man. He learned and practiced all his life the principle of thinking with the cultured and talking to all people. The book shows an easy mastery of its theme. The literature of the subject from Aristotle down was laid under tribute; but there was plenty of individual thought and of freshness of statement concerning the accepted commonplaces of homiletical theory. In and through all the treatment there is unobtrusively present a spirit of reverence and devotion which makes itself felt.

Since the appearance of Dr. Broadus book a great number of valuable practical works on Homiletics have been published in this country. Reverting to the Yale Lectures, a number of these are worthy of more extended notice than is possible within our limits. Some of the most important of the series have dealt with the modern prob lems of the preacher, as for example Fairbairn’s The Place of Christ in Modern Theolog?/, Gordon’s Ultimate Conceptions of Faith, Van Dyke’s Gospel for an Age of Doubt and Forsyth’s Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind. Some have emphasized the ministerial character, as those by Tucker, Peabody, Faunce and others. Some have spoken chiefly of the preacher’s church work, as Greer, Jefferson and others; but a number have addressed themselves especially to the homiletical aspects of the preacher’s work and have treated of the art of preaching. Of these the two most important are the first series by Henry Ward Beecher and the Lectures on Preaching by Phillips Brooks. Beecher discussed preaching in his characteristic way and the result is a valuable and delightful book full of his own experience, and rich and suggestive on many points, though well open to criticism on some. Brooks Lectures constitute one of the most successful and perhaps the most widely read of the Yale series. It is famous for its definition of preaching as “the communication of truth through personality.” This was not in tended as a complete definition, but is a vivid and vigorous statement of what the eminent preacher conceived to be the essential thing in preaching.

It was what he himself in his noble ministry exemplified. The book is simply and delightfully written. Its clear style and earnest spirit make it one of the most pleasing and helpful volumes on this subject. Other notable volumes in the course are those of E. W. Dale, Matthew Simpson, John Watson, and others.

Going back to the general course of the production of books on Homiletics in this country, we should notice the very striking work of G. W. Hervey, Christian Rhetoric, which appeared about 1870. Of this work Hoppin says (page 3): “This author deserves notice as having produced an original work quite independent of Eudolph Stier in his Keryktik and Sikel in his HaKeutik, but building up a system of Rhetoric on the Biblical side, infusing a new spirit into Sacred Rhetoric, and seeking for power to work upon the souls of men chiefly in the divine oracles, and by studying the methods of the prophetic and apostolic preachers. It is an interesting work, elaborate, but perhaps not too much so for practical use, and worthy of study. Broadus also * has a good word to say concerning this book. He thinks the author goes too far in claiming what he calls a “partial inspiration “ for the modern preacher, but that he is quite right in urging dependence upon the help of the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer. My own opinion coincides with that of these eminent authorities. The book is hardly practical now as a text-book, but for thorough and earnest students of the subject of preaching it is full of interesting matter and suggestive teaching.

Another work of primary importance is The Theory of Preaching by Professor Austin Phelps, D.D., of Andover, which appeared in 1890. In the preface the author says: “Very soon after I began to lecture in the department I formed the habit of preserving manuscript notes of the inquiries of students in the lecture room and in pri- i Preparation and Delivery, p. 547. vate conversation. These notes soon grew upon my hands immensely. Answers to those inquiries constitute nine-tenths of this volume. The book discusses The Sermon in three lectures; The Text in four; The Explanation in five; The Introduction in four; The Proposition in six; The Division in four; The Development in two; and The Conclusion in eight. Concerning this work the criticism in Broadus book (page 547) may be quoted:

“The result is a unique volume, crowded with good thoughts and valuable hints; but it is not a complete or well-organized treatise. He spends too much time proportionately on some topics and wholly omits the consideration of others. Those who are already acquainted with the subject will find here very much that is fresh and useful. The style is clear, vivid and strong.” Two later books by Professor Phelps serve to complete in a way his general discussion. These are Men and Books, and English Style in Public Discourse. In recent times the number of books about preaching, more or less strictly homiletical in character, has been poured forth in an ever increasing stream. Most of these works are able and worth careful study. It is manifestly impossible even to mention them all, much less to devote any further time to an analysis of their contents. Let it suffice to name only a few of the most important.

Dr. J. A. Kern, Professor first at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and later at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, published in 1897 a very excellent and valuable book on The Ministry to the Congregation. Dr. T. Harwood Pattison, Professor of Homiletics at Kochester Seminary, New York, produced several works on preaching, including one on The Making of the Sermon. These volumes are sensible, scholarly and practically useful. In 1907 there was published from the pen of Dr. Herrick Johnson, Professor first at Auburn and then at McCormick Seminary, a very suggestive and helpful volume on The Ideal Ministry.

More lately Dr. Arthur S. Hoyt, Professor of Homiletics at Auburn Seminary, has published two works one called The Work of Preaching and the other Vital Elements in Preaching. These practical and thoroughly modern books are written in concise and clear style and have been widely read, as they deserve to be. From two eminent New York pastors there have recently come lectures on preaching which have been published in book form. One is by the venerable and wise Dr. D. J. Burrell, who gave a series of lectures at the Union Theological Seminary of Virginia on The Sermon. As was to be expected the treatment is judicious, strong and spiritual, drawn from the study, observation and practice of many years. The other book is a similar series of lectures, given at several different institutions and then published, by Dr. S. Parkes Cadman under the title Ambassadors of God. The lectures cover various aspects of preaching, historical, Scriptural, social, and are only slightly homiletical. They are elevated in style, show wide reading with thought abreast of the age, and urging with elo quence and power the preaching of the saving gospel in Christ.

Concluding Reflections Our long survey of the development of the art or theory of preaching would be in vain unless it left us with some definite idea of how the great function of preaching the gospel should be suit ably discharged. We may perhaps gather up in a brief and practical form the main lessons of our study somewhat as follows:

(1) Preaching is, as it has been from the beginning, an essential part of the Christian religion.

It means evangelization, the proclaiming and urging of the good news of salvation from sin through Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; and the instruction and edification of believers in Christian doc trine and duty. With this essential content, preaching rests for its authority upon the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, in which the gospel of His grace in Christ and the life growing out of its right acceptance are included and unfolded. Preaching, therefore, remains essentially the same as it was in the early Christian centuries, an exposition and enforcement of the Word of God. Preaching also is an established and accepted element in the public worship of God. The services of the churches include a discourse based on the things that have just been said addressed to the worshipers and any others who may be in attendance. This conception of preaching in its fullness remains as it has stood out through all the Christian centuries, a definite and integral part of the ongoing and constant manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth.

(2) Eegarding preaching in the highest sense as an art, that is, as a function of the human individual which may be learned and improved by study and practice, we find that the fundamental things in that art are practically the same through all time. The constant problem of the preacher, if he has mastered the technic of his art, is to adapt these essential and abiding principles to the habits of thought of his own age and to the particular needs of his own congregation. Hence, the teaching and study of the art of preaching, in other words, Homiletics, abides an essential in the proper training of the Christian minister. Just here it is apposite to remark that the Literary Digest in a recent number has a brief article with the heading How Not to Train Preachers. The article opens with the words, “ Pulpit power is one of the most pressing needs of the clergyman of to-day. “ The article then mentions that the Boston Transcript, one of the great dailies of our time, criticizes the instruction offered to preachers in summer schools and mentions some of the topics which are taught in those schools to the exclusion or disparagement of homiletical teaching. The Boston paper is then quoted as follows:

“ Whether we like it or not, the pulpit to-day is in a severer competition with rivals than ever be fore in Christian history. Concerts, magazines, newspapers, automobiles, outdoor sports, moving-pictures and many other attractions decimate the church congregations. And the preacher, while he may urge duty as the ground of church attendance, owes it to his people and to his own ordination vows to learn how to present his message in the most attractive and persuasive and compelling way of which he is capable.

“The teaching of pulpit address and homiletical power is far more difficult than instruction in ecclesiastical history or applied ethics. But it should be taught. Somehow, probably by the most practical and detailed kind of laboratory method, of actual demonstration sessions, should the best methods of preaching be imparted and the efficacy of our preachers be increased. The sermon, in its preparation and delivery, is far the most important instrument at the minister’s command.

Therefore any summer school or winter school or divinity school which aims at preparing devout young men to enter the ministry or helping work ing-ministers to greater efficiency should give a large place to the instruction, the development, of the minister as preacher. “

(3) It remains to speak a closing word upon our personal duty as preachers to acquire and use the best art in the discharge of our great office. We must, of course, avoid everything that is merely artificial. True art is not artifice. If our survey of homiletical teaching has not taught this it has not taught us anything. True art is to know how to do best the thing that is to be done. That a preacher should be a good preacher, yes, the very best preacher that he can be, is self-evident. No workman in any art or craft can be excused who does not know how to do his work. It must be the preacher’s constant aim, as it sometimes is his most disheartening problem, to preach in the way and with the impression best possible to himself.

Paul said to Timothy, “Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching.” This was anticipating in the reverse order the famous saying of Phillips Brooks that preaching is communication of truth through personality. As a definition that phrase needs filling out, but it is essentially correct. The personality of the preacher must be his care.

He must himself be fit in soul, in experience, in mind, in heart, in habits, in endeavors, and then he must be careful as to the content and form of his message. He must seek from every source the truth of God and in his public ministration as an ambassador of God to men he must find the most suitable and effective means of making his truth known and fruitful in the lives of his fellowmen. And after all his study and prayer he must ever keep in mind the great principle of Paul, the apostle, that his speech and his preaching must not be in the persuasive words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

INDEX Alan of Lille, 77-82.

Alexander, J. W., 220.

Allegorical Interpretation of Blaikie, W. G., Preachers of Scotland, 201n; Work of the Ministry, 204.

Scripture, 47, 48, 53, 54, 64, Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric,

76, 88, 90, 92.

Ambrose, 45, 47, 50, 52, 54,

55, 63, 65.

American Homiletics, 213ff.

178, 201.

Bonaventura, 83f, 88.

Borromeo, 116.

Bourgain, 184n.

Andover Theological Semi- Brastow, 227. nary, 215.

Andrea, Jac., 143.

Anselm, 74.

Anthony of Padua, 83.

Aquinas, 83, 86 Broadus, John A., 46n, 123, 183, 184, 189, 203, 218, 219, 221, 227; Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, 230-

233, 235, 236.

Aristotle, 28, 32-36, 47, 58, 89, Brooks, Phillips, 207, 234, 241.

95, 103, 118, 153, 211.

Arnobius, 49.

Brown, Chas. R., 229.

Brown, John, 205, 229.

Art, Preaching and Homiletics Burgess, Henry, 203f . as Art, 15ff, 186, 2391 Burgon, J. W., 181.

Augustine, 42, 47, 50, 55-64, Burnet, Bishop, 157, 161.

71, 82, 83, 92, 96, 100, 118, Burrell, D. J., 237.

121, 154, 190, 211.

Cadman, S. P., 237f.

Caesar, Julius, 37, 40.

Calvin, 125, 126, 129, 130.

Campbell, George, Pulpit Elo quence, 177f, 201.

Bartlet, Wm., 215.

Basil, 50.

Bassermann, 196.

Beecher, Henry Ward, 234.

Bernard, A., 184n.

Berthold of Regensburg, 83.

Carpenter, W. B., Lectures on

Preaching, 205.

Bible, Basis of homiletical Carpzov, 155, 166. theory, 17ff.

Bidenbach, 155.

Biesterveld, 135n, 143, Cato, the Censor, 37, 69.

Christlieb, Theodor, 96, 137, 143, 147n, 180, 196.

Chrysostom, 45, 50, 52, 53, 54, Gaichies, Maxims on Elo- 65, 118, 121, 124, 154. quence, 163.

Cicero, 28, 37f, 59n, 62, 95, Gardner, C. S., Psychology

118, 153, 161. and Preaching, 228.

Claude, Jean, Essay on the Garvie, A. E., 181f, 205-210, Composition of a Sermon, 212.

Gaupp, 195.

Gaussen, 148.

148-151, 201, 215.

Cocceius, 156, 168.

Coffin, H. S., 230.

Cope, E. D., on Aristotle and 163, 164.

Gisbert, Christian Eloquence,

Korax, 30f.

Gladden, W., 229.

Coquerel, A., Observations on Glanvil, Joseph, 160.

Preaching, 189.

Cranmer, 131.

Cruel, R., Geschichte der deutschen Predigt, 83n, 88.

Cyprian, 49, 63.

Gordon, George A., 233.

Gregory I, 42, 45, 52, 64-66,

72.

Gregory Nazianzen, 50, 51, 52,

55, 65, 72.

Gresley, 202.

Dabney, Sacred Rhetoric, 222. Grote, George, History of Dale, R. W., 205, 234.

Davidson, A. B., 19.

Greece, 29, 30.

Guibert of Nogent, 73-77, 92.

Doddridge, Philip, Lectures Guzman, 117. on Preaching, 173-177.

Dominic, 83.

Dungersheim, Jerome, 89.

Dupauloup, 190.

Emerton, E., Erasmus, 77.

Hagenbach, 196.

Harms, Claus, 180.

Harnack, Th., 137, 165n, 166,

196-199.

Hartog, J., 199n.

Erasmus, Desiderius, 95, 97- Hemming, Nic., 143.

115, 134.

Fairbaim, 205, 233.

Fenelon, Dialogues on Elo Henry of Hesse, 88.

Henson, H. H., 205.

Hering, Geschichte der Pre- digt, 147n, 166n, 196. quence, 152-154, 163, 190, Hervey, G. W., Christian Rhe-

215.

Ferrario, 147.

Foerster, 155.

Forsyth, 205, 233.

Francesco, L., 148.

Francis of Assisi, 83. toric, 234f.

Hettinger, 196.

Hildebrand, 73.

Ilomiletic Review, 226.

Hoornbeek, John, 156.

Hood, E. P., 202f.

INDEX

245 Hoppin, J. M., 222-224, 235.

Home, C. S., 205, 229.

Horton, R. F., 205.

Hoyt, A. S., 226, 237.

Humanists, 88, 91, 93, 94, 97,

115, 121, 142.

Humbert de Romanis, 84f .

Hunnius, 143.

Frangaise au Moyen Age, 77n, 83n, 85, 87, 184n.

Lentz, Geschichte der Homi- letik, 74n, 77n, 83n, 84, 85, 143, 147n, 155, 166n.

Liguori, 163.

Literary Digest, 239f.

Loescher, 166.

Hyperius, Andrew, 116, 135- Luiz of Granada, 117-120.

142, 143. Luther, 124, 126, 127, 128, 129.

Isidore of Seville, 68ff.

Marenco, L., L Oratoria Sacra,

183n.

Mather, Cotton, Manuductio ad Ministerium, 169-173,

214.

Maury, Cardinal, Principles of

Eloquence, 164.

Maybaum, Judische Homilitik,

196.

Melanchthon, 133-135, 142.

Meray, 184n.

Meyer, F. B., Expository

Preaching, 205.

Monod, Ad., 189.

Kennard, Psychic Power in Preaching, 227. Nebe, Dr. A., Zur Geschichte Ker, John, History of Preach- der Predigt, 46n, 126, 127, ing, 201n.

Kern, J. A., 236.

Kidder, D. P., Homiletics, 134, 147n, 163, 165n, 169, Nitzsch, K. I., 195.

173, 220f.

Korax, First Treatise on Rhe- Oratory and Rhetoric, Among James, Fleming, 227.

Jebb, R. C., Attic Orators, 29,

30.

Jerome, 154.

Jesus, As Preacher and

Teacher, 22.

Johnson, Herrick, 237.

Joseph of Segovia, 147.

Jowett, 205.

Keckermann, 155.

128.

Newton Theological Institu tion, 218, 219, 227. the Greeks and Romans, toric, 30.

Lampe, 168. Origen, 46-49, 121.

Lange, J., 165. Osiander, L., 143.

Latimer, 132. Ostervald, 165.

Lecoy de la Marche, La Chaire Otto, 196.

246 THE ART OF PREACHING Palmer, C., 192ff.

Pancratius, Andrew, 143, 155.

Paniel, Geschichte der Christ- lichen Beredsamkeit, 46n,

49, 50, 51.

Parker, Joseph, 203.

Parkhurst, 229.

Paton, 117.

Pattison, T. H., 226, 227, 237.

Paul, Teachings about Preach ing, etc., 25ff, 44, 54, 61,

108, 241.

Perkins, William, 131, 144,

145, 157.

Pepper, G. W., 228n, 229.

Phelps, Austin, Theory of Preaching, 235f.

Pietism, 147, 166, 168.

Plagiarism, 72, 161, 171.

Porter, E., 215-217.

Potter, Thos. J., 204.

Princeton Theological Semi nary, 218, 220.

Quintilian, 28, 32, 38-40, 47,

95, 161.

Rabanus Maurus, 70-73.

Rambach, 165.

Reformation, 67, 88, 121, 122,

123, 126.

Reinbeck, 166.

Reinhard, 167.

Renaissance, 93, 122, 123.

Reuchlin, John, 94, 95f, 115.

Revival of Letters, 67, 93, 94,

121, 122, 123.

Ripley, H. J., 218, 219.

Robertson, A. T. 2,18n.

Robinson, Robert, 149.

Saint Francis de Sales, 152.

Saint Vincent de Paul, 152.

Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, 68n, 69,

77n.

Schleiermacher, 180.

Schleupner, 155.

Schweitzer, A., 194f.

Segneri, 147.

Seven Liberal Arts, 40, 69,

71, 105.

Shaw, N. H., II Pergamo, 183.

Shedd, 221.

Simpson, Matthew, 234.

Skinner, Thos. H., 184, 219.

Smith, Geo. Adam, 205.

Smith, Prof. Robertson, 21.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 218, 228.

Spener, 165.

Spurgeon, Lectures to My

Students, 203.

Stalker, 205.

Stier, Keryktik, 192, 235.

Sturtevant, 201f.

Surgant, Ulrich, 91.

Tauler, 85.

Taylor, Jeremy, 161.

Taylor, W. M., 229.

Tertullian, 46, 49.

Theremin, Preaching a Virtue,

192.

Theory and Practice, 14, 32.

Ticknor, George, History of Spanish Literature, 117.

Tillotson, 157, 168.

Trumbull, 229.

INDEX

247 Union Theological Seminary, Weller, Hier., 143.

218, 219, 221.

Valerio, 116.

Van Dyke, 233.

Van Oosterzee, 147n, 156,

168n, 199-201.

Villavicentio, 116.

Vincent, A., 184n.

Vinet, Alex., 151, 184-189,

219.

Voetius, G., 156.

Ware, Henry, Jr., 217.

Watson, John, 205, 234.

Wilkins, John, Ecclesiastes r

157-160.

Wilkinson, W. C., 227, 232.

Williams, Edward, The Chris tian Preacher, 149, 157n.

Yale College, 218, 222.

Yale Lectures, 205, 227, 228ff,

233f.

Zanotto, F., Storia della Pre- dicazione, 183n.

Zwingli, 124, 126, 131.