personal side of the preacher is strikingly emphasized by Beecher in his Yale Lectures: "Make religion attractive by the goodness that men see in you; be so sweet, so sparkling, so buoyant, so cheerful, hopeful, courageous, conscientious and yet not stubborn, so perfectly benevolent and yet not mawkish or sentimental; blossoming in everything that is good, a rebuke to everything that is mean or little-make such men of yourselves that everybody who looks upon you may say, 'That is a royal good fellow; he has the spirit that I should like to lean upon in time. of trouble, or to be a companion with at all times.' Build up such a manhood that it shall be winning to men."

One great object of preaching, like other forms of public speaking, is persuasion. The final test is whether men act. They are convinced of the truth through the intellect; they are persuaded to act upon the truth through the heart. How this can best be done is one of the problems of successful preaching.

In his lecture on The Secrets of Effective Preaching1 the Rev. J. H. Jowett says: "Months ago I determined that there should be more of the tender lover in my pulpit speech, more of the wooing note of the Apostle Paul, more of the gentleness and tender constraint of my Lord." He advocates less scolding and more pleading, less driving and more wooing in pulpit delivery. It is this tenderness of speech, the truth spoken in love, that wins men. Doctor Jowett further suggests that the preacher should question himself thus: "Do I feel sin to be loathsome? Am I possest of a tender sensitiveness, that can discern even the faintest movings in the hearts of my people, and which will reveal

'The Secrets of Effective Preaching, delivered before the Free Church Congress, Cardiff, March, 1901. Hodder & Stoughton.

to me their inclinations long before they receive any outward expression? And, Lord Jesus, have I been a wooer, a lover, and are any in Thy kingdom because they were just enticed into it by the tender persuasiveness of my life and speech? And have I linked the proclamation of duties to the love of Calvary? And has my teaching had New Testament perspective and proportion, and have I evinced delight in my own message?"

The affectionate spirit in preaching is what is most needed. This will impart beauty and feeling to the spoken word. It will give zeal and sincerity to the message. Thus will the whole man speak when possest of the truth and a genuine love for men. Schleiermacher possest this "persuasive, penetrating, kindling effusion of feeling" in his preaching, and little do we wonder when we read these fervent words he wrote to his father: "From my heart I do wish that God's blessing may be upon my sermons, so that they may be sources of true edification and speak to the heart, as, I trust, they will ever come from the heart. To you I need not say how deeply I am moved at the thought of being numbered among those to whom so important an office is entrusted, nor need I assure you that I do not now, and never shall, look upon it merely as a means of livelihood.”

It is said of Cardinal Newman that the tones of his voice seemed as if they were something more than his own. His musical voice had such a rare charm for his hearers, that they did not miss the entire absence of gesture. His body and soul glowed with supprest emotion as he entered more deeply into his subject. He is vividly described by Principal Shairp as having this peculiarity in delivery: "Each sentence was spoken rapidly, but with great clear

ness of intonation, and then, at the close of every sentence, there was a pause that lasted for several seconds. Then another rapidly but clearly spoken sentence, followed by another pause, till a wonderful spell took hold of the hearer. The look and bearing of the preacher were as of one who dwelt apart, and who, tho he knew his age well, did not live in his age. From his seclusion of study, and abstinence, and prayer; from habitual dwelling in the unseen, he seemed to come forth that one day of the week to speak to others of the things he had seen and known in secret. As he spake, how the old truths became new! how they came home with a meaning never felt before! The subtlest of truths were dropt out as by the way in a sentence or two of the most transparent Saxon. What delicacy of style, yet what calm power! how gentle yet how strong! how simple yet how suggestive! how homely yet how refined! how penetrating yet how tender-hearted! And the tone of voice in which all this was spoken sounded to you like a fine strain of unearthly music.

Probably no American preacher is more closely studied than the late Phillips Brooks. He exemplified in his own life and preaching the force of a consecrated personality, which he so earnestly advocated to others. He claimed that the qualities most to be desired in the sermon-"clearness, logicalness, vivacity, earnestness, sweetness, and light"should first be in the preacher himself, else they would not find their natural place in his message. Sincerity, courage, joy in one's work, purity and personal uprightness, he emphasized in his counsel to others and fully demonstrated in his own life. With his broad and genial optimism he

1 Quoted by Alexander Whyte, in Newman's An Appreciation in Two Lectures. Longmans, 1902.

said: "The world has not heard its best preaching yet. If there is more of God's truth for men to know, and if it is possible for the men who utter it to become more pure and godly, then, with both of its elements more complete than they have ever been before, preaching must some day be a complete power." Regarding Phillips Brooks himself, what higher tribute and recommendation can be offered to his honored name than these words of Doctor Brastow? "Any man who would know better what it is to be a helpful, pastoral preacher, a real preacher, full, simple, earnest, unconventional, the preacher of an imaginative, suggestive, and ethical mind, who cares chiefly to make the truth effective, who is bent upon getting it at work in the minds and hearts of men, who would fuse and fire the truth with the energies of a manly human soul, may well give himself with diligence to Phillips Brooks.”1

The ultimate purpose of all true preaching is the salvation of men. The work of the Christian minister is the preaching of Christ and of Christianity as the one religion based on love. If his heart and tongue be not on fire with holy zeal in proclaiming this greatest of all gifts to mankind, he can not and will not succeed. "Whenever a minister forgets," says Lyman Abbott, "the splendid message of pardon, peace, and power based on faith in Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh, whenever for this message he substitutes literary lectures, critical essays, sociological disquisitions, theological controversies, or even ethical interpretations of the universal conscience, whenever, in other words, he ceases to be a Christian preacher and becomes a lyceum or seminary lecturer, he divests himself

1 Representative Modern Preachers, by Lewis O. Brastow, D.D., Professor of Practical Theology in Yale University. The Macmillan Company, 1904.

of that which in all ages of the world has been the power of the Christian ministry, and will be its power so long as men have sins to be forgiven, temptations to conquer, and sorrows to be assuaged.

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A young man asked an old minister who had heard him preach: "What do you think of my sermon?" "A very poor sermon, indeed," said he. "It took me a long time to prepare it," said the astonished young man. "Ay, no doubt of it." "Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?" "Oh, yes," said the old preacher, "very good, indeed." "Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Were not the metaphors appropriate, and the arguments conclusive?" "Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon. "Will you tell me why you think it was a poor sermon?" "Because," said he, "there was no Christ in it." Said the young man : 'Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always; we must preach what is in the text." The old minister said: "Don't you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? So from every text of Scripture there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is, Christ. And, my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, 'Now what is the road to Christ?' and then preach a sermon, running along the road toward the great metropolis-Christ. And I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if ever I do find one that has not got a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch,

1 The Christian Ministry, Lyman Abbott, quoted by Rev. Arthur S. Hoyt, in The Work of Preaching. The Macmillan Company, 1905.