On Diligence in Study
In what was said to you about Extemporaneous Preaching, I sought to draw away your attention from the manner to the matter. He can never preach well who has nothing to say. The all-important thing for
* “Langsara, Laut, Lieblicli.”
a messenger is the message. Of all the ways of preaching God’s word, the worst, as has been admitted, is the purely extemporaneous — where a man arises to speak in God’s name without any solid material, and without any studious preparation. A thousand-fold better were it to read every word of an instructive discourse, in the most slavish and uncouth manner, than to vapour in airy nothings, with suavity of mien, fluency of utterance, and outward grace of elocution. It is this which has become the opprobrium of extempore preachers; and it must be admitted that the danger is imminent. As all men dislike labour in itself considered, the majority will perform any task in the easiest way which is acceptable. And as most hearers unfortunately judge more by external than internal qualities, they will be, for a certain time, satisfied with this ready but superficial preaching. The resulting fact is, that in numberless instances, the extemporaneous preacher neglects his preparation. If he has begun in this slovenly way while still young, and before he has laid up stores of knowledge, he will, in nine cases out of ten, be a shallow, rambling sermonizer as long as he lives. Immense gynmastic action and fearful vociferation will probably be brought in to eke out the want of theology; as a garrison destitute of ball, will be likely to make an imusual pother with blank cartridge.
Omitting, for the moment, the imfaithfulness of STich a ministry, the man who thus errs will find the evil consequences rebound upon himself. It is only for a time that the most injudicious or partial congregation can be held by indigested and unsubstantial matter, however gracefully delivered. They may not trace it to the right cause, but they know that they are wearied, if not disgusted. The minister, having rung all the changes on his very small peal of bells, has nothing for it but to repeat the old chimes. “Somehow or other, Dr. Windy seems to hitch into the old rut. He gives us the same sermon. Especially he wears us out with the same heads of application.” “While this is going on among the hearers, it is wonderful how long the offender may remain ignorant of the reason; just as we old men do not know how often we repeat the same story.
Another inevitable result of unstudied preaching, is the habit of wandering or scattering. ISTothing but laborious discipline, unintermitted through life, can enable a man to stick logically to his line of argument. Discerning hearers know better than the careless preacher, why, after stating his point, he constantly plays about it and about, like a boat in an eddy, which moves but makes no progress. “Skeletons,” as they are ludicrously called, however good, do not prevent this evil, unless they be afterwards thought out to their remotest articulations. The idle but Yoliible speaker will flutter about his first head, and flutter about his second, but will mark no close ratiocinative connexion, and effect no fruitful deduction. Evidently he who is continually pouring out, and but scantily pouring in, must soon be at the empty bottom.
Indolent preachers fall upon different devices for concealing the smallness of their staple, and for preaching against time. I have alluded to the bringing in of irrelative matter; kindred to this, and generally accom2:)anying it, is undue amplification. The minute bit of gold must be beaten out very thin; hence wordiness, swoln periodicity, and Cicero’s complementa nuinerorxnn. Such ministers seldom remain long in a place. The Presbytery is not, indeed, informed that Mr. Slender has j)i’eached himself out; some reading elder, or surly Scotch pewholder is made the scapegoat; but the fact is, that the preacher goes away to fascinate some new i:)eople with his cc.ft voice and animated manner.
Ministerial study is a sine cpia non of success. It is absurdly useless to talk of methods of preaching, where there is no method of preparation. Ministerial study is twofold — special and general. By sjjecial stiicly I mean that preparation for a given sermon, which is analogous to the lawyer’s preparation of his case. If faithful and tliorongli, this may lead to high accomplishment; but, as in the instance of case-lawyers it may be carried too far, and if exclusively followed must become narrowing. The man who grows old with no studies but those which terminate upon the several demands of the pulpit, becomes a mannerist, falls into monotony of thought, and ends stiffly, drily, and wearisomely. At the same time, he wants that enlargement and enriching of mind derived from wide excursions into collateral studies, of which all the world recognizes the fruits in such preachers as Owen, Mason, Chalmers, and Hall. Yet even this inferior way of study into which busy and overtasked men are prone to slide, is infinitely better than the way of idleness, oscitancy, and indecent haste. For thus the student who begins betimes, manages to pick up a great deal more than is necessary for his special task. In premeditating one sermon, he often finds hints for three more. By tunnelling into the rock of a single prophetic passage, he comes upon gems of illustration, nuggets of doctrine, and cool springs of experience, all which go into the general stock. Yet no wise student will restrict himself to the lucubration asked by next Sunday’s sermon.
By general study I mean that j)reparation which a liberal mind is perpetually making, by reading, writing, and thinking over and above the sermonizing, and without any direct reference to preaching. Such studies do indeed pour in their contributions to every future discourse with a continually increasing tide; but this is not seen at once, nor is this the proximate aim. ‘No man can make full use of his talent, who does not all his life pursue a high track of generous reading and inquiry.
Your general studies will again subdivide themselves into those which are professional ^.nd those which are non-p7’ofessio7ial. Both are imj)ortant and mutually advantageous. But the first claim is that of biblical and theological literature and science, upon which, at present, my remarks shall be brief, and respecting only the point in hand. Let Theology afibrd us an instance; though every word I write may be just as well applied to History and Interpretation. Besides all your sermon making. Theology as a systetn must he your regular study. Neglect this, and your pulpit theology will be one-sided; many topics will never have due consideration. I shall augur badly for your career, if you are found uninterested in great theological questions. Some established work should be daily in your hands; and of such works a few should be often re-perused. Find a clergyman who knows nothing of such pursuits, and you will oljserve his preaching to be unmethodical, and little fitted to awaken inquiry among deep thinkers in his flock. He will soon attain his acme, and will continue to dispense milk where he should give strong meat. The analogy of other professions will occur to yon; the lawyer or physician who reads law or physics only for this or that case, can never take high rank.
Non-jpTofessiondl studies open a wide field, and every minister must be governed by the indications of Providence. Extremes are perilous, and I know too well how, under the pretext of cultivating general literature, and even art, a servant of Christ may almost alienate himself from what should be the darling studies of his life. Witherspoon has observed, that it is not to the credit of any gospel minister to be famous in any pursuit entirely unconnected with theology. Yet he who is a mere theologian, is a j)oor one. Bacon said, long ago, that no man can comprehend the canton of his own science, unless he surveys it from the heights of some contiguous science. Take Law for instance, though this is only one example out of a hundred. An acquaintance with jurisprudence is of the greatest value to the minister. No man can understand the practice of our Church Courts who does not discern their connexion with the Civil, rather than the Common Law. Our very terms, especially in the older forms of process, savour of Justinian and the Code; and ignorance of this has frequently led to the substitution of English for Roman modes, altogether subversive of the unity of our system. This will be more clear if you compare the progress of a Scottish ecclesiastical action with that of one in America, and observe how utterly we have lost all reference to the libeUus and other civil forms of trial. Matthew Henry was sent by his father to Holborn Court, Gray’s Inn, that he might study law, as a preparation for theology; and every j)art of his commentary shows familiar acquaintance with the terms of this science. This was not a rare 023inion among the old Presbyterians. ‘^ I must be so grateful as to confess,” says Baxter, “that my understanding hath made a better improvement of Grotius’ De Satisfactione Christie and of Mr. Lawson’s manuscripts, than of any thing else that I ever read. They convinced me how unfit we are to write about God’s government, law, and judgment, while we understand not the true nature of government and law in general; and he that is ignorant of politics, and of the law of nature, will be ignorant and erroneous in divinity and the Sacred Scriptures.” Half the disputes about Imputation could have been precluded, if the combatants, instead of acquiescing in definitions of Webster, had familiarized themselves with the usage of genuine English writers in regard to the word guilt. ‘^ But this is only a single specimen. * Take one example out of many.” But concerning the nature or
The times demand that a well-furnislied preacher should draw both argument and illustration from every science. Tell me how you spend your forenoon in your early ministry, and I shall be better able to predict how you will preach. If you idle, stroll, or even habitually visit, before noon, your mental progress may be divined.
proper effects of this spot or stain, they have not been agreed: some call it an obligation, or a gtiilt of punishment; so Scotus.” — Jeremy Taylor, Apples of Sodom, Fart 11.