Concerning Your Behaviour in the Pulpit, and Mode of Conducting the Public Service

1. Go from your knees to the chapeL Get a renewal of your commission every time you go to preach, in a renewed sense of the favour of Goi Carry your authority to declare the gospel of Clmst, not in your hand, but in your heart. When in the pulpit, be always solemn: say nothing to make your congregation laugh. Remember you are speaking for eternity; and trifling is inconsistent with such awful subjects as the great God, the agony and death of Christ, the torments of hell, and the blessedness of heaven.

2. Never assume an air of importance, while in the pulpit: you stand in an awful pkce, and God bates the proud man. Never be boisterous or dogmaticaL Let your demeanour prove that you feel liBTTER TO A PRBACHSR. 39

that you are speakmg before him who tries the spirit; and to whom you are responsible for erery word you utter. Self-confidence will soon lead to a forgetfulness of the presence of God, and then you will speak your own words, and perhaps in your own spirit too.

3. Avoid all quaint and fantastic attitudes. I once knew a young man who, through a bad habit which he had unfortunately acquired, made so many antics, as the people termed them, in the pulpit as to prejudice and grieve many. A very serious and sensible person who constantly heard him, really thought he was afflicted with that species of paralysis termed St. Yitus’s Dance: and hearing some blame him, entered seriously on his defence, on the ground of its being the visitation of God! As there are a thousand reasons why a young man should not wish the people to form such an opinion of him, so there is all the reason in the world why he should avoid queer noddings, ridiculous stoopings and erections of his body, skipping from side to side of the desk, knitting his brows; and every other theatrical or foppish air, which tends to disgrace the pulpit, and to render himself contemptible.

4. Never shake or flourish your handkerchief; this is abominable; nor stuff it into your bosom; this is unseemly. Do not gaze about on your congregation before you begin your work; if you take a view of them at all, let it be as transient as possible.

Endeavour to gain the attention of your congregation. Bcmind them of the presence of God. Get their spirits deeply impressed with this truth, Thou, God, seest me! and assure them,” He is in the midst, not to judge, but to bless them; and that they should wait as for eternity, for now is the day of salvation.’’ I have ever found that a few words of this kind spoken before the sermon, have done very great good.

6. The pulpit appears to me analogous to the box in which the witnesses are sworn in a court of justice — “to say the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” You are a witness for God; and are bound by more, if possible, than an oath, to speak the truth in righteousness and love; and to declare faithfully and solemnly, according to the best of your knowledge, the whole council of God.

7. Give out the page and measure of the hymn, and the hymn itself distinctly, and with a full voice always giving the singers time sufficient to set a suitable tune; and do not hold the book before your face while giving out the hymn, for this hinders the progress of the sound.

8. While praying, keep your eyes closed: at such a time you have nothing to do with outward objects; the most important matters are at issue betwei God and you; and he is to be contemplated with the eye of the mind. I cannot conceivB how it is possible for a man to have the spirit of devotion in prayer, while he is engaged in gazing about on his congregation. Such an one may say his prayers, but he certainly cannot pray them.

K you wish the people to join with you in this part of the worship, speak so as to be heard, even at the beginning; whispering petitions to God may be genteel, for aught I know; but I am certain it is not to the use of edification. In your prayers avoid long prefaces and circumlocutions: — you find none of these in the Bible. Some have got a method of complimenting the Most High on the dignity of his nature, and the glory of his heavens; this you should studiously avoid. He that cometh to God must know that he is; and a proper consideration of his Being, power, holiness, and mercy, cannot ful dely to impress your mind, and lead you at onoe even to his seat. You should never come into the congregation but in the spirit of prayer. Let your mind be wound up into that s^Hrit in your closet; and then, in your prayers in the congration, you will appear what you should be, a man familiar with God« Examine the Scriptures, and you will find that all the holy men of (rod prayed in this way: they came directly to the throne, and preferred their suit. Ever considering themselves in the presence of (rod, the very commencement of their supplications seems no other than an external continuance of prayers in which theic hearts had been long previously engaged.

9. Say the Lord’s prayer in the same tone and elevation of voice in which you said your own. I have observed many, when they came to this solemn’ form, suddenly dropping their voice, and repeating it as if it made no part of their devotion. Is this treating the institution of Christ with becoming reverence?

10. If you read the liturgy of the church, and this should be done in every large congregation on the morning of the Lord’s day, read it with a full and solemn voice — hurry nothing — whisper nothing. Many are prejudiced against this most comprebensive, important, and impressive service, because it is ^onerally ill read. Do it justice; get into the spii’lu it breathes; and both you and your congregation will soon find that it is no dry, formal service — no lip labour. As a form of devotion it has no e<yual in any part of the universal church of Qod. It is founded on those doctrines which contain the sum and essence of Christianity; and speaks the language of the sublimest piety, and of the most refined devotional feeling. Next to the Hble, it is the book of my understanding, and of my heart.

11. Bead your text distinctly, and begin to speak about the middle of your voice, not only that you may be readily heard, but that you may rise and fidl as occasion may require, which you cannot do if you begin either too high or too low. Never drop your voice at the end of a sentence; thk is barbarous and intolerable. In a multitude of cases, where the last word is not heard, the whole sentence is lost. Every sentence you speak should tend to edification; and it cannot edify unless it can be heard; therefore never begin too low; this k a greater evil than even screaming itself.

12. Be sure to have the matter of your text well arranged in your own mind before you come into the pulpit, that you may not be confused while speaking. But beware of too much dividing and subdividing; by this means the word of Gk»d

4 — 2 has been made to speak someihiDg, anything, or nothing, according to the creed or prejudices of the preacher. How little of this division work do you meet with in the discourses of the prophets the sermons of Christ, or the preachings of the apostles. Besides, this mode of preaching is hackneyed to death, and can never succeed but in judicious hands. Unless the matter of the text be abundant, it rather fetters than enlarges the mind; and that which is ominously called the skeleton, i.e., a system of mere bones, is in general but ill clothed with muscles, worse strung with nerves, and often without the breath either of a spiritual or intellectual life. By this mode of preaching, the word of Grod is not explained; from it scarcely anything can be learned but the preacher’s creed, and his ingenuity to press a text into its service. His divisions and subdivisions explain his own mind and views; but they generally leave the text and context as they were before. No congregation can grow in the knowledge of the Scriptures by such teaching as this. On this subject a man of deep sense and piety once observed: ‘* The major part of what we hear at present in sermons is. Three heads and a candusionJ’ 13. In whatever way you handle your text, take care, when you have exhausted the matter of it, not to go over it again. Apply eveiythiiig of importance as you go along; and when you have done, ‘learn to make an end. It is not essential to a sermon, that it be half an hour or an hour long. Some preach more in ten minutes than others do in sixty. At any rate, the length of time spent in preaching can never compensate for the want of matter; and the evil is doubled when a man brings forth little, and is long about it. There are some who sing long hymns, and pray long prayers, merely to fill up the time; this is a shocking profanation of these sacred ordinances, and has the most direct tendency to bring them into contempt. If they are of no more importance to the preacher or his work than merely to fill up the time; the people act wisely who stay at home and mind their business till the time in which the sermon commences. Have you never heard the following observation? “You need not be in such haste to go to the chapel! you Will be time enough to hear the sermon, for Mr. X. Y. always sings a long hymn, and makes a long prayer.” Therefore never sing long hymns, pray long prayers, nor preach long sermons; these last are intolerable, unless there be a great variety of interesting matter in them, accompanied with great animation. I have often preached only ten

4 — 3 or fifteen minutes at a time; Why? because I had no more to .say on that subject; and I did not think that what I had abeady uttered was of consequence enough to entitle it then and there to a second hearing.

14. As to the matter of your preaching, I will only say, preach Jesus, preach his atonement preach the love that caused him to die for the redemption of a lost world; and, through him, proclaim a free, full, and present salvation, provided for every human soul; and God will bless your labours wherever you go.

15. You may easily find many treatises written on the Gift of Preaching, the Eloquence of the Pulpit, the Composition of a Sermon, &c., &c., both in our own language, and in foreign tongues; and he who has a good judgment may profit by them: but I must confess, all I have ever read on the subject has never conveyed so much information to my mind on the original, and, in my opinion, only proper mode of preaching, as Neh. viii. 8: “So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” A few moments spent in considering this subject will not be lost

The Israelites having been lately brought out of the Babylonish captivity, in which they had continued seventy years, according to the prediction of Jeremiah, chap. xxv. 11, were not only extremely corrupt, but it appears they had, in general, lost the knowledge of the ancient Hebrew to such a degree, that when the book of the law was read, they did not understand it; but certain Levites stood by, and gave the sense: i.e. translated it into the Chaldee dialect. This was not only the origin of the Chaldee Targums, or translation of the law and prophets into that tongue; but was also, in all probability, the origin of preaching fix)m a text: for it appears that the people were not only ignorant of their ancient language, but also of the rites and ceremonies of their religion, having been so long in Babylon, where they were not permitted to observe them. This being the case, not only the language must be interpreted, but the meaning of the rites and ceremonies must also be explamed; for we find from Nehemiah, chap. viii. 13, &c., that they had even forgotten the feast of Tabernacles, and everything relative to that ceremony.

As we no where find that what is called preaching on, or expounding a text, was ever in use before that period, we may thank the Babylonish captivity for producing, in the hand oi Divine Providence, a custom the most excellent and beneficial ever introduced among men.

What the nature of preaching was at this early period of its institution, we learn from the abovecited text.

First, “They read in the book of the law of God.” The words of God are the proper matter of preaching, for they contain the wisdom of the Most High, and reveal to man the things which make for his peace.

Secondly, They read “distinctly,” tnao mphorashy from ttna parashy to expand; they analysed, dilated, and expounded it at laie.

Thirdly, “They gave the sense:” by» t3m ff som sekel, “put weight to it:” i.e. showed its importance and utility; thus applying verbal criticism, and general exposition, to the most important purpose.

Fourthly, They caused them to understand the reading; nupt^. •ua’i vaiyahinu hammikTa “and they understood,” had a mental taste and perception of the things which were in the reading; i.e., in the letter and spirit of the text.

This mode of expounding is still more necessary to US. First, Because the sacred writings’as they came from Grod, are shut up in languages no longer vernacular. Secondly, Ninety-nine out of a hundred know nothing of these languages, liiirdly, Provincial customs and fashions are mentioned in these writings, which must be understood, or the force and meaning of many texts cannot be comprehended. Fourthly, Sacred things are illustrated by arts and sciences, of which the mass of the people are as ignotant as they are of the original tongues. Fifthly, There is a depth in the word of God which cannot be fathomed, except either by divine inspiration, which no idler has reason to expect; or by deep study and research, for which the majority of the people have no time. Sixthly, The people trust in general to the piety, learning, and abilities of their ministers; and maintain them as persons capable of instructing them in all the deep things of God; and, beUeving them to be holy men, they are confident they will not take their food and raiment under the pretence of doing a work, for which they have not the ordinary qualifications.

You may well exclaim, “Who is sufficient for these things!” and I may with equal propriety answer, He who is taught by the Spirit of Grod, and neglects not to cultivate his mind in the knowledge of his divine testimonies.

16. While you are engaged in the pulpit in recoimlnending the salvation of (xod, endeavour to feel the truth you preach, and diffuse a divine animation through every part. As the preacher appears to preach, the people hear and believe. You may set it down as an incontrovertible truth, that none of your hearers will be more affected with your discourse than yourself. A dull, dead preacher makes a dull, dead congregation.

17. Shun all controversies about politics; and especially that disgrace of the pulpit, political preaching. I have known this do much evil; but though I have often heard it, I never knew an instance of its doing good. It is not the bread which God has provided for his children: and from the pulpit, it is neither profitable for doctmie, for reproof, nor for instruction in righteousness. If others will bring this chaff into the house of God, copy them not: you are called to feed the flock of Christ; and this you cannot do but by the sincere milk of the word, and the bread of life. For what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.

18. A sentence or two of affectionate prayer in different parts of the discourse, has a wonderful tendency to enliven it, and to make the people hear with concern and interest. On this subject a great foreign orator gives the ministers of the gospel the following advice. “When you have proved the truth of the principles you laid down, you have done but little of the great ministerial work. It* 18 from this point, the proof of your doctrine, that you are to set out to triumph over the passions of your auditory; to strip the sinner of every subterfuge and excuse, that conviction may lead him jo repentance. To produce this effect, leave your proofs and divisions behind you; address yourself to the conscience in powerful interrogatives; repeat nothing that you have before said, you have now to produce a new effect, and must use a new language. Employ the utmost energy of your soul to show them that happiness is to be found nowhere but in God. What should I say more? Forget method, forget art itself. Lift up your soul in affectionate prayer to God: become the intercessor of your auditory that the multitude which withstood your menaces, may be constrained to yield to the effusions of your love.” So preach and pray, that your congregation may be made better, or purpose to become better, in consequence of your labour.

19. Seldom quote poetry in your sermons: if you avail yourself of the sentiment of the poet, give it in plain prose. To say the least of this custom, it certainly is not agreeable to the rules of congruity to interlard prose discourses with scraps of verse. It is nothing but custom that renders this impropriety at all supportable. Beverse the business, and see how oddly a poem will appear which has here and there scraps of prose in it. I suppose the Europeans borrowed this method from the Asiatics; but it is more tolerable in their languages than in ours. All the Eastern tongues are highly figurative, and such a language put into numbers will easily form poetry. The transition, therefore, fix)m their poetic prose to verse, is by no means so great and imcouth in their language as in ours. It must be granted, that many puUic speakers use it sometimes; but the very best speakers use it very seldom. I wish it to be generally avoided; not only because I believe it does no good, but also, because there are few who know how to do it well, and the poet is often murdered by his injudicious rehearser. How can a man, who has scarcely a dignified sentiment in his prose, quote with any propriety a sublime thought in verse]

20. While I have you in the pulpit, I will give you a conduding advice relative to this part of the business. Never ape any person, however eminent he may be for piety, or ministerial abilities. £ veiy man has tkforte as it is called, of his own; and if he keep within it, he is impiiegnable. The providence of God has caused many of the natural maimers of men to differ as much as their persons: and it is nearly as impossible for a man to imitate the peculiar manners of another, as it is to assume his features. It is on this account that no one has ever succeeded who has endeavoured to copy another; and as the aiming to do it is easily discoverable, the man who acts thus is despicable in the eyes of the people. And that man is justly despised by others, who has so &r despised himself and his Maker, as to endeavour to throw off his natural self, in order to act in another man’s character. In former ages such a person was termed hypocrite; i.e., one who endeavours to personate another. I need not tell you how much and how deservedly this character is execrated in sacred things. By such conduct all is risked, and all is lost: that which you had of your own is ruined in attempting to get that which belongs to your neighbour; and his excel-

6 lencies not suitiiig yon, you fail in the attempt to personate him, and are thereby rendered ridica* loos. The &ble of the dog and shadow, will folly illustrate the residue of my meaning on this pan of the subject.

21. Besides prayer and preaching, you will often have two other important duties to perform; viz. to baptize, and to administer the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. These I advise you, and indeed it is the advice and direction of the Conference, to administer “according to the form prescribed by the Church of England.” You may abridge this form, and this you will find often necessaiy; but you cannot mend it.

When you baptize, let it be, if possible, in the face of the congregation, and not in the vestry, nor in private. Take occasion in a few words to explain its nature and importance, both to the congregation and to the parents; and insist on the personal attendance of the latter, that you may give them those directions and charges relative to their bringing up their children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, which the case requires; and take heed that all whom you baptize be properly registered; and let the register book be kept in the most secure place, because it is of

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grieat importance; and in all eases in which a baptismal r;iBter can be applied, these registers are complete evidence in law.

Should any tell yon that your baptism is not sufficient or legal; convince him of his mistake if you can, and show him that his assertion is false. Your baptism is as legal and as effectual to all Christian and civil purposes, as that of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This was ever the sense of our law in reference to the baptisms performed by dissenters: but it had not fully expressed that sense tiU a few years back. I attended the arguings in the court of Arches before Sir John Nichol in the case of Kemp v. Wickes, Clk. who refused to grant Christian burial to the child of the former, being a dissenter; because he alleged it had not Christian baptism, being baptized by a dissiting minister. But the learned Judge examining the practice and doctrine of the Christian diurch, from the apostles till the final revision of our liturgy, proved that in all cases where water was used as the element, and the sacred name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost invoked in the act of sprinkling or immersion: there baptism was administered to all Christian ends and purposes, without any particular reference to the person who

5 — 2 officiated; that the church always abhorred the iteration or repetition of baptism, even in cases where persons officiated who were deemed heretics, when it was fully proved that water was used; and the person was sprinkled or dipped in the name of the ever-blessed Trinity. He then gave it as the judgment of the court, that such a baptism, administered by any dissenting minister, or person in holy orders, pretended holy orders, or pretending to holy orders, was an efficient and legal baptism to all Christian and civil purposes. This is, therefore, the doctrine of the Church and State relative to this point; and this ever was the doctrine of both, previously to this declaration; for the interpretations of Mr. James Wheatly, and the Rubrics of Rang James in the Common Prayer, are of no legal authority, and consequently worthy of no regard as to the subject in question. The ofsite is both a false and a dangerous doctrine, utterly unworthy of the charitable and dignified spirit of Christianity. It is dangerous, as it might involve one of the most important state questions that could come before a British public. Mr. Thomas Seeker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was the son of a dissenting minister, born in 1693, was baptized after the form of that church, and studied at three dissenting schools saccessively, until he was 19 years of age; when he went to the university of Oxford, and afterwards entered the communion of the church of England. He was, in 1732, nominated one of the chaplains of the king: in 1733 was appointed rector of St. James’s; January 5th, 1734, he was elevated to the bishopric of Bristol; to that of Oxford in 1737: in 1750, exchanged the prebend of Durham and rectory of St. James’s, for the deanery of St. Paul’s; and in 1758, he was named and confirmed to the archbishopric of Canterbury. He officiated at the funeral of King George H.; and at the proclamation of his present majesty, whom he had baptized when rector of St. James’s; and whom, with his queen, he married and crowned, 8th of September, 1761; and on the 8th of September, 1762, he baptized the prince of Wales, and afterwards several of their majesties’ children. We hear nothing of his ever having been re-baptized. If his baptism was not a Christian, efficient, and legal baptism, consequently, he could not baptize or confer orders; but he did both. Now, were we to allow the anti-Christian and dangerous doctrine, that no baptism is either efficient or legal, but that which is conferred by a popish priest, or a clergyman of

5 — 3 the church of England; then these monstrosities and abominations would follow: — Our blessed king is no Christian, for he was baptized by a person who was never himself baptized; and he is no rightful Sovereign, for he was consecrated by a man who was no Christian. And, added to all this, the true succession in the church is interrupted and broken; for all the baptisms and ordinations of Archbishop Seeker, not only while presiding in the see of Canterbury, but also while he was a country clergyman, and successively, bishop of Bristol and bishop of Oxford, were invalid and anti-Christian; and all the ecclesiastics and high church dignitaries which have descended through that line, are spurious; and the whole state of the English church is unsettled and corrupt! God save us from such anti-Christian, unholy, and unconstitutional doctrines!

In administering the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, be deeply reverent and devout in all your deportment. Pour out the wine into the cups leisurely, and take heed that you spill not one drop of it. Shedding the wine on the table-cloth, to say the least of it, is highly unbecoming and ungraceful; keep firm hold both of the bread and of the cup, till you feel that the communicant has

hold with yourself. The droppmg the bread, and spilling the wine, has in several cases, when the communicant was about to receive them, produced great disturbance in weak and scrupulous, though pious minds.

Treat the sacred elements with great respect; for although they are not the body and blood of Jesus Christ in any sense of the word, yet they represent both; and, consequently, they represent the sacrificial offering of our Lord Jesus for the redemption of a lost and ruined world. Impress this on the minds of the people; get them to fix their hearts upon the sacrificial offering thus represented; and then they will discern the Lord’s body, aad not eat and drink their own condemnation. Where the minister conducts this solemn ordinance as he should, no institution of Christianity is of more use to the souls of the faithful