CHA P. V. Of Texts to be difcuffed by way of I Proceed now from general to more particular rules, and will endeavour to give fome precepts for invention and difpofition. (1) I fuppofe then, in the first place, that no man will be fo rafh as to put pen to paper, or begin to difcufs a text, till he has well comprehended the fenfe of it. I have given no rule about this before; for a man, who wants to be told, that he ought (1) Some precepts for invention and difpofition. The invention of arguments is the finding out of reafons proper to prove any article in queftion; and the difpofition of them is the arrangement of them in that order, which is most likely to produce the effect, that is, the conviction of the auditor. The skill of a preacher very much appears in both these. The firft diftinguishes a rational discourse from mere declamation, and the last diftinguishes it from thofe confufed compilations, which differ as much from a regular fermon as a beggar's basket differs VOL. I. from a table properly adjusted. Voffius diftinguishes logical invention and difpofition, from rhetorical invention and difpofition; and they are diftinguishable not only by their end: but by their own nature. Objecto et fine diftant, ea reapfe differunt. - Oratori non fatis eft docere, quod ei cum dialectica eft commune: verum etiam ftudet conciliare, et permovere animos; unde rhetor neceffe habet præter locos hoyar, five probationum, etiam agere de locis Tw now, statwr. Ger. Joh. Vefii de rhet. natura et conftit. cap. xviii. N 1 ought not to preach on a text, before he underftands it, ought at the fame time to be informed, that he is fitter for any other profeffion than that of a minifter. (2) (2) A preacher muft underftand his text. Every kind of knowledge may fubferve religion but the knowledge of the holy fcriptures is the grand article to a chriftian minifter. "The study of fcripture is not only a minifter's general but particular calling. Suppofe you thould know what Plato and Ariftotle, with the reft of the princes of worldly learning have written, and fhould encircle all the arts within your circumference, you would be Paul's unlearned perfon, as unfit to be a minifter as he, that hath read all the body of the law, is to be a phyfician, if ignorant of this art. I do not here intend to nourish the vain conceit of thofe fons of ignorance, who think human learning unneceflary for the minifter's furniture; truly without this we fhould foon come to our old mumpfimus, and run into the barbarifm of former times." Gurnall's fword of the Spirit, chap. xxx. fol. edit. of his works. Buddeus requires in a preacher, 1. Natural abilities, 1. Judgment to difcern true from falle, to lay down principles, to draw conclufions, &c. 2. Genius to compofe, and to arrange his fubjects perfpi I fuppofe cuoufly, diftin&tly, and elegantly, &c. and 3. Memory to retain languages, and branches of knowledge of various kinds, &c. 2. Spiritual gifts, by which he means chriftian graces, fuch as faith, love, &c. which are not only fpiritual themselves: but which alfo fanctify the gifts of nature. 3. Moral virtues, fuch as love of labour, prudence, fortitude, &c. 4. Bodily endowments, &c. And 5. What he calls, a certain instinct, or a peculiar impulfe to a certain kind of study, Infiintum quemdam, feu impulfum fingularem ad certum ftudiorum genus; in quo provida numinis cura, res mortalium fapientiffime difpenfans, vel maxime fefe exferere folct. He allows, there are different degrees of thefe qualifications, and that, therefore, a young preacher should not be difcouraged, although he may not find these in himself in their highest perfection; efpecially, as much application of a little genius is equal to little application of a great genius." After all, he enquires, whether a young gentleman, who, after he has taken up the miniflry, finds himself incapable of executing it, may lay it down, and betake 1 fuppofe, fecondly, that the ftudent, having well understood the fenfe of his text, begins by dividing it, and that, having the feveral parts before his eyes, he very nearly fees what are the fubjects, which he will have to difcufs, and confequently, what ought to enter into his compofition. (3) betake himself to fome other courfe of life. He would not have him determine rafhly on his cafe but, if his inability be fuch, that he cannot fill his office, he allows, it is right to refign it. He refers the reader to a book of Hyperius de facrarum literarum ftudiis non deferendis, cui jungatur differtatio, utrum ftudiofus theologia, falva confcientia, theologie ftudium deferere, et jurifprudentiæ, aut medicine, fe confecrare poffit ? quæ exftat in Jo. Fred. Mayeri mufæo miniftri ecclefiæ, par. i. cap. 1. p. 15. feqq. Buddei Ijagog. tom. pofter. lib. i. I fuppofe, before the memory is overburdened. A man cannot ordinarily be fo much affected himself, and confequently he cannot affect others, with things he speaks by rote: he should take fome liberty to profecute a matter according to his more immediate apprehenfions of it; by which many particulars may be fuggefted not thought of, according to the working of his own affections, and the various alterations, that may appear in the auditory and befides, they will breed a napnota, fuch a fitting confidence as fhould be in that orator, who is to have a power over the affections of others, which fuch a one is fearce capable of. Wilkins's ecclefiaft. fot. 2. This reminds me of what Quintilian fays upon extempore speaking. Maximus vero ftudiorum fructus ei, et velut præmium quoddam ampliflimum longi laboris, ex tempore dicendi jaculias: quam qui non crit confecutus, mea quidem fentertia, civilibus officiis renuntiabi et flam fcribendi facultat. m potius ad alia opera convertet, I fuppofe, farther, that he is a man not altogether a novice in divinity: but that he is ac convertet. Quid multus ftylus, et affidua lectio, et longa ftudiorum ætas facit, fi manet eadem quæ fuit incipientibus difficultas ? Perifie profecto confitendum præteritum laborem, cui femper idem laborandum eft," &c. Quint. inf. lib. x. cap. 7. Father Knittel, a jefuit, has given a rule for obtaining the art of extempore preaching of a fingular kind. There is, it fhould feem, more ingenuity than folidity in it. I have never feen the book: but, I own, I am not prejudiced in favour of it by its title: Via regia ad OMNES fcientias et artes. The following is all I know of it. Extremum regiæ hujus viæ praxes exhibet non parum curiofas, viginti feptem numero, expedite diffufeque dif quainted currendi, difputandi, quærendi, refpondendi, scribendi, argumentandi, &c. de quocunque themate, juxta artium hucufque propofitarum, analogice cum primis, ductum inftitutas. Quas inter loco non poftremo habendus eft partus ille artis analogica fatis ingenii habens et feflivitatis plurimum, qui modum non unum nobis præbet de quocunque themate concionandi perorandique extempore, et pro eodem ex omni prorfus verbo, etiam minimo, non inveniendi tantum argumenta, fed memoriæ quoque imprimendi. Septem quippe argumenta dicendi de humilitate, v. g. quam fit accepta Deo, derivat, nec invita adeo Minerva, ex Virgiliani versus vocibus ; Ille ego qui quondam gracilis modulatus arena. Rurfus diverfa de immaculate menta exillo grammaticorum, conceptione differendi argu Qua maribus folum tribuuntur, mafcula funto ; Et quidem e fingulis ordine verbis, arripit. Sic de laude principis adturo, materiam vocula fex, in orationis dominicæ præfatione contente fuggerunt. De charitate, octo argumenta illud pfalmi, Dixit Dominus Domino meo, fede a dexteris meis, fuppeditat. Poftremo viri fapientis laudes ex analogia, h. e. fimilitudine et diffimilitudine, quæ illi cum. re prorfus difparata, v.g. cum fornace eft, non abfurde deducit, quo feil. probatum det, nullum fibi thema proponi poffe, de quo aptam dicendi materiam capere non queat ex verbulo quolibet, et ex re quacunque, utut diverfiflima, A&t. eruditor. Lipf. anno 1682. |