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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
indlspepsableaess to 3 . preacher t * qth pf t ^ }> h i \ $$ Q $ b \ % sl qp $ & practical knowledge of human nature , h , e reiiijarks'The necessity f was under fpr s , p ma . ny years Jn sijc ^ e ^ sipfi of preaching 1 from the same texts , and sometimes more than once in ' £ Iie
year , excited and perfected in me the spirit of invention . A 3 S ' all niy sermons were printed , and might be cpmpared , I was compelled ; every time I came again upon the same text , to find out something niewta say ; and I cannot deny that this necessity may have suggested to me many ideas which I should not otherwise have thought -df /
He had a practice of puttipg down thoughts that appeared suitable to the pulpit , just as they occurred to him in the course of his reading ; and often , he tells us , on consulting this collection of scattered thoughts , he was able to attach an important subject to a text , which at first seemed either barren or exhausted : — ' Nevertheless ( he continues ) , I never had recourse to this expedient till reflection on a text had failed to furnish me at once with a suitable
topic . Commonly , to find one or more topics , it is only necessary to understand the text and fathom its meaning . ^ Allow roe to explain to you , in what manner I found both historical and didactic texts might be studied and treated , in order to make the most advantageous use of them . For an historical text , the essential point , as it seems tome , is to know how to transport ourselves to the scene of the transaction—to conceive it vivicjly with all its circumstances , and to make it , as it were , pass
before the eye . With this view , the narration must be examined in its connexion with what precedes and what follows it . We must form the distinctest image possible of the time and the place , and search into the causes of the fact , and the circumstances which brought it oii ; we must call to mind 'the events which happened at the same time ,
together with their effects , so far as they have any bearing on the point under consideration , or may serve to elucidate it ; and , in one word , we must , conformably to the rules of historical interpretation , judge every particular in reference to the spirit and pharacter of the age to which the fact related belongs . If , after these general preliminaries , we fix our attention on the actors in the transaction , and mark the
opinions , the sentiments , the desires and the wants which they express , an 4 the manners and character , which they ex hibit ; if we examine the impression and the effects of their words , their actions , and all their movements ; and if , finally , we look into the general result pf Jjje whole ,- —it is scarcely possible that we should not find something worthy of being offered to the meditation of an audience .
* At the same time , it is equally necesjsary for a preacher to Jmow well what suits the age in which he lives , and the flock which he has to instruct , and to have these considerations incessantl y present to his mind . When many subjects present themselves tq his thoughts , if he has a strong sense of duty , he will not consider which is the most easy or
the most agreeable to treat ; but he will choose that which , under actual circumstances , arwj accQrdling to the known wants pf his hearers , will prpve moat useful and best adapted tp produce a salutary impre ^ jon , pi * tjieir Jieart an < l conduct ; and he will treaf ji . t . ^ rith aJJ $ kp care , #£ which be is capable . If * tins way , every sermon will haye flft ffoft pertinence a » d utility of an , occasional discourse ; and $ e ymter morer
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1832, page 799, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1826/page/7/
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