the pulpit. It is not to illustrate some metaphysical truth, or to inform men of something which they never heard before; but it is to make them better men; it is to give them, at once, clear views, and persuasive impressions of religious truth. The eloquence of the pulpit, then, must be popular eloquence. One of the first qualities of preaching is to be popular; not in the sense of accommodation to the humours and prejudices of the people, (which tends only to make a preacher contemptible,) but, in the true sense of the word, calculated to make impression on the people; to strike and to seize their hearts. I scruple not therefore to assert, that the abstract and philosophical manner of preaching, however it may have sometimes been admired, is formed upon a very faulty idea, and deviates widely from the just plan of pulpit eloquence. Rational, indeed, a preacher ought always to be: he must give his audience clear ideas on every subject, and entertain them with sense, not with sound; but to be an accurate reasoner will be small praise, if he be not a persuasive speaker also.

Now, if this be the proper idea of a sermon, a persuasive oration, one very material consequence follows, that the preacher himself, in order to be successful, must be a good man. In a preceding lecture, I endeavoured to show, that on no subject can any man be truly eloquent, who does not utter the "veræ voces ab imo pectore," who does not speak the language of his own conviction, and his own feelings. If this holds, as, in my opinion, it does in other kinds of public speaking, it certainly holds in the highest degree in preaching. There, it is of the utmost consequence that the speaker firmly believe both the truth and the importance of those principles which he inculcates upon others; and, not only that he believe them speculatively, but have a lively and serious feeling of them. This will always give an earnestness and strength, a fervour of piety to his exhortations, superior in its effects to all the arts of studied eloquence; and without it the assistance of art will seldom be able to conceal the mere declaimer. A spirit of true piety would prove the most effectual guard against those errors which preachers are apt to commit. It would make their discourses solid, cogent, and useful: it would prevent those frivolous and ostentatious harangues, which have no other aim than merely to make a parade of speech, or amuse an audience; and perhaps the difficulty of attaining that pitch of habitual piety and goodness, which the perfection of pulpit eloquence would require, and of uniting it with that thorough knowledge of the world, and those other talents which are requisite for excelling in the pulpit, is one of the great causes why so few arrive at very high eminence in this sphere.

The chief characteristics of the eloquence suited to the pulpit, as distinguished from the other kinds of public speaking, appear

to me to be these two, gravity and warmth. The serious nature of the subjects belonging to the pulpit, requires gravity; their importance to mankind requires warmth. It is far from being either easy or common to unite these characters of eloquence. The grave, when it is predominant, is apt to run into a dull uniform solemnity. The warm, when it wants gravity, borders on the theatrical and light. The union of the two must be studied by all preachers as of the utmost consequence, both in the composition of their discourses, and in their manner of delivery. Gravity and warmth united, form that character of preaching which the French call Onction; the affecting, penetrating, interesting manner, flowing from a strong sensibility of heart in the preacher to the importance of those truths which he delivers, and an earnest desire that they may make full impression on the hearts of his hearers.

Next to a just idea of the nature and object of pulpit eloquence, the point of greatest importance to a preacher, is a proper choice of the subjects on which he preaches. To give rules for the choice of subjects for sermons, belongs to the theological more than to the rhetorical chair: only, in general, they should be such as appear to the preacher to be the most useful, and the best accommodated to the circumstances of his audience. No man can be called eloquent, who speaks to an assembly on subjects, or in a strain which none or few of them comprehend. The unmeaning applause which the ignorant give to what is above their capacity, common sense and common probity must teach every man to despise. Usefulness and true eloquence always go together; and no man can long be reputed a good preacher who is not acknowledged to be a useful one.

The rules which relate to the conduct of the different parts of the sermon, the introduction, division, argumentative and pathetic parts, I reserve till I come to treat of the conduct of a discourse in general; but some rules and observations, which respect a sermon as a particular species of composition, I shall now give, and I hope they may be of some use.

The first which I shall mention is, to attend to the unity of a sermon. Unity, indeed, is of great consequence in every composition; but in other discourses, where the choice and direction of the subject are not left to the speaker, it may be less in his power to preserve it. In a sermon, it must be always the preacher's own fault if he transgress it. What I mean by unity is, that there should be some one main point to which the whole strain of the sermon should refer. It must not be a bundle of different subjects strung together, but one object must predominate throughout. This rule is founded on what we call experience, that the mind can fully attend only to one capital object at a time. By dividing, you always weaken the impression, Now this unity, without which no sermon can either have much

beauty or much force, does not require that there should be no divisions or separate heads in the discourse, or that one single thought only should be, again and again turned up to the hearers in different lights. It is not to be understood in so narrow a sense it admits of some variety; it admits of underparts and appendages, provided always that so much union and connection be observed, as to make the whole concur in some one impression upon the mind. I may employ, for instance, several different arguments to enforce the love of God; I may also inquire, perhaps, into the causes of the decay of this virtue; still one great object is presented to the mind; but if, because my text says, "He that loveth God, must love his brother also," I should, therefore, mingle in one discourse arguments for the love of God and for the love of our neighbour, I should offend unpardonably against unity, and leave a very loose and confused impression on the hearer's mind.

In the second place, sermons are always the more striking, and commonly the more useful, the more precise and particular the subject of them is. This follows, in a great measure from what I was just now illustrating. Though a general subject is capable of being conducted with a considerable degree of unity, yet that unity can never be so complete as in a particular one. The impression made must always be more undeterminate; and the instruction conveyed will commonly, too, be less direct and convincing. General subjects, indeed, such as the excellency of the pleasures of religion, are often chosen by young preachers as the most showy, and the easiest to be handled; and, doubtless, general views of religion are not to be neglected, as on several occasions they have great propriety. But these are not the subjects most favourable for producing the high effects of preaching. They fall in almost unavoidably with the beaten track of common-place thought. Attention is much more commanded by seizing some particular view of a great subject, some single interesting topic, and directing to that point the whole force of argument and eloquence. To recommend some one grace or virtue, or to inveigh against a particular vice, furnishes a subject not deficient in unity or precision; but if we confine ourselves to that virtue or vice as assuming a particular aspect, and consider it as it appears in certain characters, or affects certain situations in life, the subject becomes still more interesting. The execution is, I admit, more difficult, but the merit and the effect are higher.

[To be continued.]

POPERY IN 1824.

WE have heard with our ears, because our fathers have told us, and we have seen with our eyes, because it has been faithfully transmitted to us in the page of history, of the deleterious effects of popery on the understandings and con

sciences of men; blinding the one with a false light, and enslaving the other by the absurd dogmas of men of corrupt minds, "who have erred concerning the truth." In addition to its persecuting spirit, which has been painfully felt by thousands of innocent individuals who have fallen under its tyrannical influence, popery has been the hot-bed of infidelity, from which those swarms of desolating" locusts" have come forth in Germany, and France, and elsewhere, who not only "shook the earth," the thrones of kings and emperors, "but also heaven," prostrating, as far as their diabolical influence was felt, the ministry and ordinances of Christianity.

It was to be hoped that the wide diffusion of moral and religious principles, in the present age of Christian enterprise, would have softened, in some measure, at least, the asperity of the "beast and the false prophet." Indeed, this seemed to be the case; but recent events indicate, that whatever of liberality and true catholicism were manifested on the return of "his holiness" to power, it was but a dictate of human policy accommodating itself to times and circumstances, and watching for a favourable opportunity to revive the ancient claims of the pretended successors of St. Peter.

We have been led to these remarks by seeing, as published in the Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, a "CIRCULAR LETTER" of pope Leo the twelfth, in which his holiness expresses his solicitude for the prosperity of the church, and in which he seems anxious to preserve its unity and exclusive dominion. This is followed by a "Bull of Indiction," "for the Jubilee of the year 1825," in which he piously invites his sons and daughters, to come from far and near to visit the seat of wealth and fashion to all the Italian states, the venerable city of Rome. Some extracts from these documents follow.

In respect to Leo himself, if he have any genuine piety, it must be of very recent date, as his "gallantries at Rome" and elsewhere, previous to his elevation to the pontifical chair, were matters of public notoriety; but being a great favourite of the late pope, his enormities were winked at, and he was employed as a legate to other courts, until the death of his predecessor, when he became the successful candidate to the ecclesiastical crown.

"The Circular Letter of the most Holy Lord, our Lord Leo the twelfth, by divine provi dence Pope, to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops. "To the venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops, Pope Leo the Twelfth.

"Venerable brethren, health and apostolical benediction! "As soon as we were elevated to the high dignity of soveREIGN PONTIFF, we immediately began to exclaim, with St. Leo the Great, O Lord! I heard thy voice and was afraid; I considered thy works, and was filled with terror. For what is so extraordinary and such a subject of dread, as labour to one who is weak, elevation to a lowly one, and dignity to one who is unworthy? And yet we neither despair, nor faint, because we do not presume upon ourselves, but we depend on him who works in us.' (Sermon the third on his birthday, which was held on the anniversary of his elevation to the office of sovereign pontiff.) These expressions, which were uttered from lowliness of mind, VOL. VIII.

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by this pontiff, who can never be sufficiently praised, we adopt and profess as true with regard to ourself.

Having thus introduced himself to his "venerable brethren," as he calls them, he proceeds to exhort them in language, which, if adopted by a pious and scriptural episcopacy, would be truly appropriate, to a "personal residence in their respective diocesses," that they may faithfully perform the duties of their office, and preserve the unity and identity of the church. Were the Roman Catholic church the only true church, or a true church at all, all this would be well enough; but for a man who has trampled on all laws, outraged even common decency, usurped the place of Jesus Christ himself, by being placed as the supreme head over a corrupt church, anti-christian in its spirit and many of its practices, to assume such a language, is truly shocking, and seems to us to border on blasphemy. But what follows will show the principal object of all this pious care and zeal. His holiness doubtless feels the influence of the present exertions in the Protestant world, to spread the knowledge of divine truth by means of Bible and Missionary Societies; and therefore wishes to oppose a timely barrier against its farther progress within his dominions.

"Apply your minds, venerable brethren, to this subject. It is not the small spark,' of which St. Jerome speaks; it is not, I say, 'a small spark, which, almost as soon as we obtain a glimpse of it, becomes again invisible; it is not a little leaven which seems a small matter. But it is a flame which attempts to devastate nearly the whole world, and to consume walls, cities, and the most extensive forests and countries; it is a leaven which, when sprinkled upon the flour, tries to corrupt the whole mass.' (In Epist. ad Galat. 1, iii, cap. 5.) In this cause for alarm, the service of our apostleship would completely fail, unless He who keepeth Israel neither slumbered nor slept, and who says to his disciples, Behold, I am with you always to the end of the world; and unless he deigned not only to become the Keeper of the sheep, but likewise the Shepherd of the shepherds.' (St. Leo, in the sermon just cited.)

"But what is the tendency of these remarks? A certain sect, which undoubtedly is not unknown to you, improperly arrogating to itself the title of PHILOSOPHY, has raised from their ashes the disordered [or routed] phalanxes of nearly every kind of error. This sect, holding out the alluring, yet specious semblance of piety and liberality, makes a profession of toleration, as they term it, or of indifferentism, and extols it not only in civil matter, about [its utility in] which we are not now speaking, but likewise in the business of religion; it teaches that God has granted ample liberty to every one, that, what sect or opinion soever pleases a man according to his own private judgment, he may embrace or adopt it without endangering his salvation. Against this impiety of doting men, the apostle Paul gives us the following admonition: Now I beseech you brethren, mark them