Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

vice and awakening conscience, in pursuing pride, avarice, and self-love to their retreats, and in exposing and stigmatising the follies of the great. When the aged Bourdaloue heard him, he pointed him out as he descended from the pulpit, saying, "Hunc oportet crescere, me autem minui." Baron, the great actor, said of him to a companion, "My friend, here is an orator; as for us, we are but actors." Whole assemblies were dissolved in tears, or startled to their feet in consternation. When he preached the funeral sermon of the king, on the words, "Lo, I have become great," he commenced by repeating them slowly, as if to recollect himself; then he fixed his eyes on the assembly in mourning; next he surveyed the funeral enclosure, with all its sombre pomp; and lastly, turning his eyes on the mausoleum erected in the midst of the cathedral, after some moments of silence, exclaimed, Dieu seul est grand, mes frères. "My brethren, God alone is great!" The immense assembly was breathless and awestruck. Voltaire always had on his table the Petit-Caréme of Massillon, which he regarded as the best model of French prose.

There are discourses of Massillon, which, with the omission of the Ave Maria, and a few superficial forms, might be delivered to any Protestant assembly. The union of simple elegance and strong passion has given his sermons a formative influence in every language of Europe; and they stand at the head of what may be called the modern school of preaching.

Space would fail us, if we were to enlarge upon Fénelon, Fléchier, Bridaine, and other pulpit orators of less note Chastely beautiful as is the style of Archbishop Fénélon, it is not exactly that which belongs to eloquence. The saintly gentleness of his temper, as well as the doctrines of quietism which he had embraced, were not the best preparations for passionate oratory. Among his numerous and often delightful works, the number of sermons is not very large. One reason of this may be, that he favoured the extemporaneous method, of which, in his Dialogue on Eloquence, he is the ablest vindicator. There is a sermon of Fénélon's on foreign missions, which is full of fine thoughts, and worthy of examination.

The Protestant churches of France, and of the refugees, produced some great preachers, of whom the most famous are Claude and Saurin. For solid doctrinal discussion, elaborated into the form of eloquent discourse, the preacher last named continues to be admired. In our own day, there has been a revival of Protestant eloquence, in such men as Vinet, Grandpierre, and Adolphe Monod; and Parisian crowds still follow Lacordaire, Ravignan, Felix, and de Courtier.

The subject has grown upon our hands, and must be dismissed, though we leave untouched the preaching of Germany

and Holland, of the contemporary churches of Great Britain, and the inviting field of the American pulpit.

An enterprising publisher might benefit himself and the church by issuing, under wise direction, a few volumes of sermons, which should contain none but masterpieces. There are a few such, in each period, which stand out with great prominence, as exhibiting the highest characteristics of their respective authors. In such a selection would be found Bourdaloue's passion sermon; Bossuet's funeral oration on Turenne; Massillon on the "Small Number of the Elect;" Barrow's discourse on the "Death of Christ;" Jeremy Taylor's "Marriage Ring;" Maclaurin's "Glorying in the Cross;" Edwards on "Their feet shall slide in due time;" Davies's "Bruised Reed;" Mason's "Gospel to the Poor; " Hall's "Modern Infidelity;" Chalmers's "Expulsive Power of a New Affection;" and Monod's "God is Love;" with others, perhaps as worthy, which need not now burden our pages. It has sometimes been made a question how far it is desirable for a preacher to collect and study the written labours of others. There is a use, or rather an abuse, of other men's compositions, which is slavish and dishonourable. No young man of independent mind and high principle will go to books for his sermon, or for its method, or for any large continuous portion. There is a tacit covenant between preachers and hearers, in our church and country, which makes it a deception for any man to preach that which is not original. Pulpit larceny is the most unprofitable of all frauds; it is almost certain of detection, and it leaves a stigma on the fame, even beyond its intrinsic turpitude. But surely an honest soul may wander among valuables without any necessity of thieving. Some have excluded books of sermons from their libraries, and, by a "self-denying ordinance," have abstained from perusing them, lest, forsooth, they should damage their own originality. This is about as wise as if an artist should refrain from looking at the frescoes of the Vatican, and the galleries of Florence, Dresden, and the Louvre. We have seen the works of a western painter who is said to have acted on such a maxim; he would see no Raffaelles or Vandykes, lest he should spoil his native manner. He has certainly succeeded in avoiding all that one beholds in these great masters. But in all labours, to the success of which judgment, taste, and practice must combine, the highest capacity of production is fostered by studying the works of others; and we see not why this is less true in homiletics than in the arts. If a man may not read good sermons, we suppose he may not hear them. The wise student will, with the utmost avidity, both read and hear all that is accessible of the greatest achievements in the declaration of God's truth. At the same time, he will sit down to his labours

as if he had known no performances but his own. He will borrow no man's plan; he will shun all repositories of skeletons, and what are ironically named "Preachers' Helps;" and will be himself, even in his earliest and faintest efforts.

In any retrospect of the work of preaching in successive ages, there is one snare which the young minister of Christ cannot too solicitously avoid; it is that of looking upon the utterances of the pulpit with a mere literary eye, as objects of criticism upon the principles of rhetoric and taste. Extensive scriptural knowledge, solid thought, sound judgment, thorough inward discipline, and bursting spiritual emotions, will frame for themselves as a vehicle such a discourse as shall be truly eloquent. In this way, and in this way only, does a discourse on divine subjects come to be subjected to the rules of art. But no rules of art can ensure a sermon which shall please God; and every rule of art may seem to be observed, while yet the result shall be as "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." The best sermons are not those which most approach to classical perfection. As preaching is a universal function of the ministry and intended for the whole race, that property which only one man in a million attains cannot be indispensable to its exercise; yet such a property is eloquence. If we could have revealed to us which were the thousand sermons which had most honoured Christ and most benefited men, we should perhaps find among them not one of those which have been held up as models from the desk of professors. "That is a good sermon," said Matthew Henry, "which does thee good." The greatest effects have been produced, in every age, by discourses which sinned against every precept of the schools. The sermon of John Livingstone at the Kirk of Shotts, which was the means of awakening not less than five hundred persons, was never written at all, and if we may judge by what remains to us of his writings, was in a manner exceedingly rude and homely. Yet it was kindled by the fire of God. The more profoundly we are impressed with the utter inefficacy of all intellectual construction and oratorical polish, and feel our absolute dependence on the Spirit of God in preaching, the more likely shall we be to come before God's waiting people with performances, which, however defective or anomalous, as measured by critical standards, shall answer the great end of preaching, being carried to their result by the irresistible demonstration and persuasion of the Holy Ghost.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

A New Translation of the Received Text of the Apostolical Epistles, slightly interpolated, and illustrated by a Synoptical and Logical Paraphrase of the contents of each: the whole setting forth the Sum of an Ancillary Series of Annotations on the Epistles. By THOMAS W. PEILE, D.D. London. Pp. 71.

THE above publication is in the pamphlet form, and comprehends only the Epistle to the Romans; so that we presume it is merely the first part of a series, intended to embrace all the epistles, and to exhibit in a brief compass the results of the author's expositions of these portions of New Testament Scripture, which extend to several octavo volumes. It would surely have been well, however, for Dr Peile to have distinctly announced this, and also to have given some explanation of the precise object he had in view in presenting the results of his labours in so peculiar a form. Not a word is said of that here, although there is a preface occupying more than the half of the entire publication. The subject taken up in this preface is an important one in the present times, that, namely, of our disorganised and lapsed condition as a nation; and sentiments are uttered concerning both the existing evil, and the proper mode of attempting its removal, in many of which we substantially concur. They are brought out, however, in a way-under a kind of high-church aspect, yet, at the same time, with a liberal and comprehensive spirit-which, we fear, will not be found the best fitted to win for them a general acceptance. But however this may be, we are at a loss to understand how the learned author should have chosen this particular channel for unfolding them. They seem very much out of place at the commencement of a translation and logical synopsis of the epistles of the New Testament, where few would think of seeking for them.

In regard to the translation itself, as it seems to have been undertaken with a good design, and executed in a scholarlike spirit, we should be glad if it were found to serve the purpose the author may have aimed at in its publication. Viewed simply, however, as a translation, it seems to us to labour under some defects, which are likely to mar its permanent or extensive usefulness. In the first place, it wants that simplicity of expression which we instinctively associate with a proper translation of Sacred Scripture; so that even when correct as to the meaning, still the language does not seem to give a quite fitting impression of the original. Secondly, in the liberties it takes, both as to the free renderings of particular words, and the use of interpolations to help out the meaning, it introduces an extraneous and diluting element into the divine character of the Word; mixing up what is man's with

what is God's, more, we confess, than accords with our taste. We have no objections to see new translations of Scripture; but we would have them free from all human interpolations, or virtual commentaries, excepting in so far as the difference of idiom in the two languages may render absolutely essential. Finally, it appears to us, that in aiming at precision and exactness of meaning, Dr Peile not unfrequently narrows the comprehensive import of the original, and even sometimes gives a false turn to the idea. Thus, to give an example of both in one passage, chap. i. 17 is rendered "In it revelation is made of a righteousness of God, designed to come of faith upon such as have faith,”– where "a righteousness of God" suggests to our mind something different from the simple expression "God's righteousness," nor does the apostle's "of faith to faith" get what we conceive to be its proper exposition by our author's rather mystical explanation, "designed to come of faith upon such as have faith."

While we make these exceptions, however, it is due to the author to state, that, generally speaking, we consider the mind of the apostle faithfully exhibited, and the doctrines of the epistle distinctly and correctly given, both in the translation and in the synoptical view of the contents at the close.

The Second Epistle of Peter, the Epistles of John and Judas, and the Revelation. Translated from the Greek, on the basis of the common English Version, with Notes. New York American Bible Union. Pp. 253. 1854.

THIS also is a translation of certain portions of Scripture, but one that is accompanied with a very specific announcement of its object, as aiming only at giving the most natural and correct representation of the original. It appears from the introduction that the American Bible Union contemplate the preparation of a revised version of the New Testament, but whether as the one they intend ultimately to adopt for exclusive circulation, or for circulation along with the common version, is not stated. But in the rules prescribed for the guidance of those who are engaged in making this revised version, it is laid down, -1. That the common English version must be the basis of the revision. 2. That whenever an alteration is made from that version on any authority additional to that of the reviser, such authority must be cited in the manuscript, either on the same page or in an appendix. 3. That every Greek word or phrase, in the translation of which the phraseology of the common version is changed, must be carefully examined in every other place in which it occurs in the New Testament, and the views of the reviser be given as to its proper translation in each place. And another direction provides for the revisers of other portions getting copies furnished to them of any particular part as soon as it may have been completed.

These rules are certainly very proper and judicious; and if the requisite amount of learning, impartiality, and discretion, working in accordance with them, were applied to the production of a careful revision, the result might be valuable, at least for the closet and the family. As

« AnteriorContinuar »