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that such have no claim on the favorable regards of the community, let us add, that there is here found no ground for any prejudice which fixes itself on men of wealth as a class. All the concessions now made may be granted, and still we may claim respect for him, who, while he benefits himself, confers benefits on those around him.

And here, had we not already exhausted the patience of our readers, we might speak in the same light of the different ways of using wealth. On the one hand, he who hoards it might receive our pity and contempt; for he who lets his soul so grovel in the dust as to love money for its own sake, can hardly be regarded with other feelings than contempt for his sordid meanness. And surely he who denies himself a reasonable supply of his own wants, who, Tantalus-like, in the midst of flowing streams dies with thirst, is a just object of our pity. He, too, may well be pitied, who, having in his hands the power, knows not the luxury of doing good. On the other hand, we might dwell on the folly and the sin of the spendthrift, of him who wastes in extravagance and hurtful dissipation a father's frugal earnings, thus becoming a moral pest to those among whom he dwells, and making his own destruction. sure. For those who thus use their wealth, we ask not that they should be regarded with favor. Let the finger of public scorn be pointed at them till they learn to respect themselves, and to act more worthily of their obligations and responsibilities. But there are other ways in which wealth may be employed, connecting its possession with the improvement and happiness not only of a community, but of the world. And many there are in our own age and nation, who, by deeds of beneficence, not only show that they well know the true value, the right uses of wealth, but justly claim for themselves and for others of the same class in the community the respect and gratitude of those among whom they dwell.

We have thus adverted to some of the more common prejudices found in the different classes of our community, and have, at the same time, endeavored to effect something toward their removal. If we mistake not, the views presented on these topics well sustain the remark made at the commencement of our article, that what is needed to set the mind free from these prejudices, is to stand on higher ground and enlarge the field of vision. We need to look upon ourselves and others as members of the great national family, and to see in the labors of the individual that which, from the nature of the social relations, must benefit the whole community. We need also to see and to feel what the old trite couplet well

expresses,

"Honor and shame from no condition rise,

Act well your part, there all the honor lies."

and this is indeed the sum of the whole matter.

The course of remark that has been followed, must have suggested the intimate connection between an enlightened public opinion and the safety and welfare of our country. More especially is this the case in a self-governing community like our own. Let different individuals and different classes of society understand their relation to each other, and their own true interests in their connection with the general prosperity, and we trust there is virtue and patriotism enough in our country to secure the permanency of our institutions and social arrangements.

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ART. IV.-Evangelische Homiletik. Von CHRISTIAN PALMER. Zweite verbess. aufl. (Evangelical Homiletics. BY CHRISTIAN PALMER. Second edition.) Stuttgardt: J. F. Steinkopf. 1845. (Translated from the German of Hüffell, in the Theologische Studien und Kritiken, for October, 1845. By Professors M'CLINTOCK and BLUMENTHAL.) [We know of no good treatise on the art of preaching in the English language. Dr. PORTER'S "Lectures on Homiletics stand, doubtless, at the head of our books on the subject; but that work falls far short of the scientific accuracy which so important a theme demands. The same may be said of GRESLEY'S recent "Treatise on Preaching," which, although it contains much useful and instructive matter, is discursive and immethodical, as well as incomplete. STURTEVANT'S "Preacher's Manual" has been of late republished in this country, much to our sorrow; for it would be hard to find a worse book in any department of scientific theology. A vast mass of materials is accumulated by this author, it is true, but he does not know how to use them; there are bricks and mortar enough, but no building. A scientific treatment of homiletics in English is a thing yet to be accomplished.

In this field, as in most others, the Germans have outstripped us. The most learned and philosophical treatise which they have

* In this wholesale sentence of condemnation we do not agree with the excellent and learned "translators" of the following able article. We may yet have translated from the German a better work than Sturtevant's; and when it comes, we shall hail it as a prize-but if we may judge from the review of Palmer's work, which we here present to the reader, that will scarcely be the one.-EDIT.

yet produced is, "Die Theorie der Beredsamkeit," &c., (Theory of Eloquence, with special Reference to the Eloquence of the Pulpit,) by the late Professor SCHOTT, of Jena. An abstract of its fundamental principles may be found in the "Bibliotheca Sacra," for February, 1845, which we heartily commend to the attention of our readers. The latest work on homiletics is that placed at the head of this article, the first edition of which appeared in 1842. PALMER'S book has obtained a good reputation in Germany, and, indeed, deserves it. In depth and comprehensiveness of thought, as well as in vigor and freshness of expression, it presents a marked contrast to the dry and soulless compilations which English readers have to put up with. It will be seen, from the following article, that PALMER is the exponent of a reaction against rhetorical preaching, which has been going on for some time in Germany, and which has even advanced so far that many preachers eschew all order and form in their discourses. The writer (HUFFELL) is himself the author of a treatise on the "Character and Calling of the Gospel Preacher," (Wesen und Beruf des evangelisch-Christlichen Geistlichen,) which has passed through four editions. It will be seen that while he holds very just views in regard to the use of rhetoric in preaching, assigning to it its proper place as a means only, not as an end, he yet combats the views of the new school so far forth as they tend to encourage a loose and careless style of preaching, and urges the importance of the laws of thought and speech in the pulpit. AS PALMER'S book will probably be translated and published in this country, we have thought that a translation of this article. might be acceptable to the readers of the Quarterly.-THE TRANSLATORS.]

IT cannot be denied that nearly all that has been done in homiletics, at least until of late, has been the offspring of sheer empiricism. We have treatises upon sermon-making, with directions and propositions enough-all simply because sermons are preached; but rarely has the question been raised why we preach thus and not otherwise, or, indeed, why we preach at all. To be sure, in all these books we can recognize some dim outlines of a consciousness that preaching is a very necessary and important thing; but sadly discordant results have followed from all attempts to give shape and form to these unsubstantial shadows.

Neither can it be denied that the prevailing mode of preaching (we mean the rhetorical form) has had too wide a sway; a sway, however, to be easily accounted for. Eminent masters of rhetoric VOL. VII.-5

led the way, and it was easy, especially for men wno thought that the true material of preaching had been exhausted, to follow in their footsteps. The masters, it is true,-the REINHARDS and the THEREMINS,-held fast the Christian elements of the sermon amid all the graces of oratory in which they arrayed it; but their successors have not always imitated them thus far, and many of their sermons are nothing else than mere specimens of rhetorical artwork.

Of late a better spirit has arisen, and under its influence we have begun to see our old errors: in a word, a reaction, in many respects both necessary and just, is taking place in our midst. But we fear that this movement, like most reactions, is in danger of going too far, and of subsiding into a one-sided theory, just as bad as the old one. Formerly, the rhetorical form was everything; there is danger now that we shall end with making it nothing. How often, in the history of the race, has truth suffered by these sudden leaps of human thought from one extreme to the other! Too often the newest passes for the best.

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We have had frequent occasion of late to lament the sad negligence, both in point of logic and language, which has characterized many printed sermons that have come under our eye; for, in spite of innovation, we still remain of our old opinion that neither sound logic nor true rhetoric is incompatible with evangelical preaching. But the first attempt at a scientific development of the new principles is, perhaps, to be found in the work before us, the Evangelical Homiletics" of Christian Palmer, a work to which we give our attention the more readily, not only because it presents many clear and truthful views, but also because it attempts (though without a strictly scientific execution) to unite into one whole the straggling and scattered elements of the reaction to which we have referred. We do not intend fully to review Palmer's work, or even to give a complete exhibition of its contents, but principally to make use of it for the development and extension of our own views. And while we shall be compelled to assail some of his positions, we are sure that our excellent friend will only rejoice to find that his book is producing such stirring effects in us, and in others, through our means.

Our object in this article is to answer the questions, why preaching is kept up at all in the Christian church, and why the form of preaching is such as it is. But a few preliminary remarks must be offered before we enter upon the main topic of inquiry. It is an error, we think, to ascribe the low estimate in which preaching, and indeed Christian worship generally, may be held at

any particular period, to faults either in the form of our preaching or the nature of our worship. The evil lies far deeper than this. It must be looked for in the decay of vital piety; men undervalue preaching, because they do not sympathize with its objects; men neglect worship, because they have no heart for it. Attempts may be made to remedy this state of things by greater attention to the external garb of the sermon and the worship, and we do not censure them; but yet, we repeat, that the real cause of this crushing evil is to be looked for elsewhere. Reinhard was a very refined and elegant preacher, it is true, but his audience was doubtless as much edified, so long as he set forth the gospel message--the one thing needful, with clearness and power, as the audience of any other preacher, even though his style were the very reverse of Reinhard's. We are thus compelled, in the very outset, to come into conflict with the views of Palmer, who is continually attacking Reinhard and his school on the ground of the rhetorical form of their sermons; although he finds himself constrained at last to admit the necessity of a proper attention to logic and rhetoric. More of this hereafter. It is more to our purpose just now to cast a glance at the notions of our author in regard to the true conception of the sermon, and consequently to the grounds of its preservation in Christian worship. "The idea of the sermon," says he, "presupposes that of a congregation and its worship. The sermon of the missionary, and that of the preacher to a Christian congregation, differ entirely from each other, although the same gospel is to be preached in both." Our author says that the rationalists hold a different conception of preaching. We are no rationalists--though we think we could raise a strong Christian objection here we let it pass, however, for the present, hoping by and by to convict our author of false conclusions from his own premises. He continues:

"It is clear, then, if preaching is what we have represented it to be, that it cannot be placed at the mercy of the transient impulses of any and every member of the church. To form clear and vigorous conceptions of Christian truth, and to express such conceptions in appropriate language, requires high endowments of nature, and not less the culture of art (?) Hence the necessity of a special profession of theology, and of a special education thereto."-P. 9.

But on page 315 our author states that preaching is kept up in the Christian church simply because this special form of interpreting the word of God is sanctioned by ecclesiastical usage. Now, granting to the word "usage," in this connection, even the full benefit of the sense which Schleiermacher attaches to it when he

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