misunderstandings among friends; altho' the common domestics in fome gentlemens families have more opportunities of improving their minds than the ordinary fort of tradefmen.

Ir is ufual for clergymen who are taxed with this learned defect, to quote Dr Tillotson, and other famous divines, in their defence ;, without confidering the difference between elaborate difcourfes upon important occafions, delivered to princes or parliaments, written with a view of being made public, and a plain fermon, intended for the middle or lower fize of people. Neither do they seem to remember the many alterations, additions, and expungings, made by great authors, in thofe treatifes which they prepare for the public. Befides, that excellent prelate above mentioned was known to preach after a much more popular manner in the citycongregations and if in thofe parts of his works he be any where too obfcure for the understandings of many who may be fuppofed to have been his hearers, it ought to be numbered among his omiffions.

५

THE fear of being thought pedants, hath been of pernicious confequence to young divines. This hath wholly taken many of them off from their feverer studies in the univerfity; which they have exchanged for plays, poems, and pamphlets, in order to qualify them for teatables and coffeehouses. This they ufually call polite converfation, knowing the world, and reading men inflead of books. Thefe accomplishments, when applied in the pulpit, appear by a quaint, terfe, florid ftyle, rounded into periods and cadencies, commonly without either propriety or meaning. I have liftened with my utmost attention for half an hour to an orator of this fpecies, without being able to understand, much lefs to carry away one fingle fentence out of a whole fermon. O thers, to fhew that their ftudies have not been confined to fciences, or antient authors, will talk in the style of a gaming ordinary, and White Friars |, when, I fuppofe,

The ftyle of White Friars was that of fharpers, bullies, and other fugitives from the law. This precinct, in 1609, obtained from King James a charter of exemption from parifh, ward, and city offices, except in the militia. Being poffeffed thereof, the inhabitants

claimed

pofe, the hearers can be little edified by the terms of palming, fhuffling, biting, bamboozling, and the like, if they have not been fometimes converfant among pickpockets and sharpers. And truly, as they fay a man is known by his company, fo it fhould feem, that a man's company may be known by his manner of expreffing himself, either in public affemblies, or private converfation.

Ir would be endless to run over the several defects of ftyle among us. I fhall therefore fay nothing of the mean and the paltry, (which are ufually attended by the fuftiar), much less of the fovenly or indecent. Two things. I will just warn you againft. The firft is, the frequency of flat unneceffary epithets; and the other is, the folly of using old threadbare phrafes, which will often make you go out of your way to find and apply them, are naufeous to rational hearers, and will feldom express your meaning as well as your own natural words.

ALTHO' as I have already obferved, our English tongue is too little cultivated in this kingdom, yet the faults are nine in ten owing to affectation, and not to the want of understanding. When a man's thoughts are clear, the propereft words will generally offer themfelves firft; and his own judgment will direct him in what order to place them, fo as they may be beft understood. Where men err against this method, it is ufually on purpofe, and to fhew their learning, their oratory, their politeness, or their knowledge of the world. In fhort, that fimplicity, without which no human performance can arrive to any great perfection, is no where more eminently useful than in this.

I have been confidering that part of oratory which relates to the moving of the paffions. This, I obferve, is in efteem and practice among fome church-divines, as well as among all the preachers and hearers of the fanatic or enthufiaftic ftrain. I will here deliver to you (perhaps

claimed afterwards a power and right to protect the perfons of debtors; whereby the place became filled with lawless refugees of all forts, who grew to fuch a height of wickedness and impudence, that it was found neceffary in King William's time, by act of parliament, to suppress and bring them to justice. Hawkes.

(perhaps with more freedom than prudence) my opinion upon the point.

THE two great orators of Greece and Rome, Demofthenes and Cicero, tho' each of them a leader (or, as the Greeks called it, a demagogue) in a popular state, yet feem to differ in their practice upon this branch of their art. The former, who had to deal with a people of much more politenefs, learning and wit, laid the greatest weight of his oratory upon the strength of his arguments offered to their understanding and reason ; whereas Tully confidered the difpofitions of a fincere, more ignorant, and less mercurial nation, by dwelling almost entirely on the pathetic part.

BUT the principal thing to be remembered, is, that the conftant defign of both thefe orators in all their fpeeches was to drive fome one particular point, either the condemnation or acquittal of an accufed perfon, a perfuafive to war, the inforcing of a law, and the like: which was determined upon the fpot, according as the orators on either fide prevailed. And here it was often found of abfolute neceffity, to inflame or cool the paffions of the audience; efpecially at Rome, where Tully spoke, and with whose writings young divines (I mean those among them who read old authors) are more converfant than with thofe of Demofthenes, who by many degrees excelled the other, at least as an orator. But I do not see how this talent of moving the paffions can be of any great ufe, towards directing Chriftian men in the conduct of their lives, at least in these northern climates*, where Kam confident the ftrongeft eloquence of that kind will leave few impreffions upon any of our fpirits, deep enough to last till the next morning, or rather to the next meal.

BUT what hath chiefly put me out of conceit with this moving manner of preaching, is the frequent difappointment it meets with. I know a gentleman who made it a rule in reading, to skip over all fentences where he fpied

This diffuafive against an attempt to move the paffions, is not intended to cenfure thofe difcourfes, by which hope and fear are excited, by an exhibition of their proper objects in proper language; but that cant only, by which hypocrites affect to be melted into tears. See p. 177. Hawkef.

fpied a note of admiration at the end. I believe those preachers who abound in epiphonemas ||, if they look about them, would find one part of their congregation out of countenance, and the other afleep, except perhaps an old female beggar or two in the ifles, who (if they be fincere) may probably groan at the found.

NOR is it a wonder that this expedient should so often mifcarry, which requires fo much art and genius to ar rive at any perfection in it; as every man will find, much fooner than learn, by confulting Cicero himself.

I therefore intreat you to make ufe of this faculty (if you be ever fo unfortunate as to think you have it) as feldom, and with as much caution as you can; elfe I may probably have occafion to fay of you, as a great perfon faid of another upon this very fubject. A lady afked him, coming out of church, whether it were not a very moving difcourfe? Yes, faid he, I was extremely forry, for the man is my friend.

Ir, in company, you offer fomething for a jest, and no body feconds you in your own laughter, or feems to relifh what you faid, you may condemn their tafte, if you pleafe, and appeal to better judgments; but in the mean time, it must be agreed, you make a very indifferent figure and it is at least equally ridiculous, to be difappointed in endeavouring to make other folks grieve, as to make them laugh.

A plain convincing reafon may poffibly operate upon the mind, both of a learned and ignorant hearer, as long as they live, and will edify a thousand times more than the art of wetting the handkerchiefs of a whole congregation, if you were fure to attain it.

If your arguments be strong, in God's name offer them in as moving a manner as the nature of the fubject will properly admit, wherein reason and good advice will be your fafeft guides: but beware of letting the pathetic part fwallow up the rational: for I fuppofe philofophers have long agreed, that paffion should never prevail over reason. As I take it, the two principal branches of preaching are, firft, to tell the people what is their duty, and

then

Epiphonema is a figure in rhetoric, fignifying a fententious

kind of exclamation. Hawkef.

1

then to convince them that it is fo. The topics for both thefe, we know, are brought from Scripture and reason. Upon the former, I wish it were often practifed, to inftruct the hearers in the limits, extent, and compafs of every duty, which requires a good deal of fkill and judgment: the other branch is, I think, not fo difficult, But what I would offer upon both, is this, that it seems to be in the power of a reasonable clergyman, if he will be at the pains, to make the moft ignorant man comprehend what is his duty, and to convince him, by arguments drawn to the level of his understanding, that he ought to perform it.

BUT I muft remember, that my defign in this paper was, not so much to instruct you in your bufinefs, either as a clergyman or a preacher, as to warn you against fome mistakes, which are obvious to the generality of mankind, as well as to me; and we who are hearers, may be allowed to have fome opportunities in the quality of being ftanders-by. Only, perhaps, I may now again tranfgrefs, by defiring you to exprefs the heads of your divifions in as few and clear words as you poffibly can; otherwife I, and many thousand others, will never be able to retain them, nor confequently to carry away a fyllable of the fermon.

I shall now mention a particular, wherein your whole body will be certainly againft me, and the laity, almost to a man, on my fide. However it came about, I cannot get over the prejudice of taking fome little offence at the clergy, for perpetually reading their fermons ; perhaps my frequent hearing of foreigners, who never make use of notes, may have added to my difguft. And I cannot but think, that whatever is read, differs as much from what is repeated without book, as a copy does from an original. At the fame time, I am highly fenfible, what an extreme difficulty it would be upon you to alter this method; and that, in fuch a cafe, your fermons would be much lefs valuable than they are, for want of time to improve and correct them. I would therefore gladly come to a compromife with you in this matter. I knew a clergyman of fome diftinction, who appeared to deliver his fermon without looking into his notes which when I complimented him upon, he affu

red