rules for the use of gestures. Too many gestures are dangerous. Human language, even from the lips of its greatest masters, is unequal to the task of conveying the thoughts with which a speaker's heart is full. A poet like Virgil will convey his meaning by the music of his rhythm; an orator will open the sluices of his pent-up emotions by gestures as ample as the occasion demands. Apart from thoughts, gestures, if too numerous or too passionate, are meaningless. They are not an aim in themselves; they are a means, and are intended to carry off amplitude of thought, language and emotion.

Some lessons also should be given as to the proper way to stand, though even here artificial attitudes should be avoided. Most important of all is the art of speaking distinctly. A congregation will forgive much if only they can hear distinctly. The art of pronouncing final consonants and of not slurring over intermediate syllables is not cultivated as it should be: provincialisms, and even more glaring errors, are not so annoying as the utter loss of the last part of the word, for which the ear is waiting and without which the mind loses the sense of the whole sentence.

The question of the immediate preparation of sermons is one that needs careful treatment. It is impossible to be too emphatic in pointing out the dangers of mounting a pulpit without adequately working out beforehand the exact lines of thought to be followed, if not the language in which the thoughts are to be expressed. In a charge delivered to his clergy in 1909, the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool gave the following advice :

Our distractions are innumerable and there is serious danger of our time for reading and thought becoming curtailed. It is a danger against which we must all guard. Even in the busiest life much can be done by resolution and method. Study is sometimes neglected through lack of inclination to study, and because it is much harder to think than it is to write letters or to attend a committee meeting. A steadfast resolution to read for a certain time every day is half way to victory. The want of method is equally to blame. If a specified time be set apart and zealously guarded; if our odd moments are used to master some good book, lying ready to hand, our preaching would become permanently enriched. The pulpit had never more power than at present. Sermons are often held in slight esteem by their hearers, because they are so lightly regarded by the preacher himself.

This is an admirable statement of the case and the insistence on constant reading is practical and sound. No mind is so large a reservoir of thought that it needs no

replenishing. The springs that open on the hills need the rains of heaven to make them flow down the hillsides and flood the valleys. Yet, year in and year out, a priest will have to preach the same truths to the same congregation. The difference between the fertile and the barren preacher lies in this that the former comes with fresh thoughts and fresh language to the old themes, approaches his subjects by new paths, and deals with it in the light of the relationship it has to the problems of the moment. The results are worth the effort. In that solemn but disappointing book, The Life of Bishop Wilberforce, there is a long extract, in which he gives his ideas on the preparation of sermons. The whole is a perfect statement of the evangel of good preaching and will bear quoting

Immediate preparation, prayer, patient labour to secure for our discourses depth, solidity, and order. Remember the somewhat caustic words, the sermon which has cost little is worth just what it cost.' To secure thought and preparation begin, whenever it is possible, the next Sunday's sermon at least on the preceding Monday. Choose the subject according to the people's needs and your own power. Let it be as much as possible resolvable into a single proposition. Having chosen the subject meditate upon it as deeply as you can. Consider first how to state correctly the theological formula which it involves; then how to arrange the parts so as to convince the hearer's understanding. Think next how you can move his affections and so win his will to accept it.

Having thus the whole before you, you may proceed to its composition. And in doing this, if any thoughts strike you with peculiar power, secure them at once. Do not wait until, having written or composed all the rest, you come in order to them. Such burning thoughts burn out. Fix them whilst you can. I would say, never, if you can help it, compose except with a fervent spirit: whatever is languidly composed is lifelessly received. Rather stop and try whether reading, meditation, and prayer will not quicken the spirit than drive on heavily when the chariot wheels are taken off. So the mighty masters of our art have done. Bossuet never set himself to compose his great sermons without first reading chapters of Isaiah and portions of St. Gregory Nazianzen to kindle his own spirit. In some such way set yourself to compose, and until you have preached for many years, I would say write at least one sermon weekly. Study with especial care all statements of doctrine, to be clear, particular and accurate. Do not labour too much to give too great ornament or polish to your sermons. They often lose their strength in such refining processes. If you see that a word is not understood, vary it: that an appeal is reaching some heart, press it home. If you have the gift, after having written your sermon carefully, make short notes and preach from these. This will help you greatly to shew in your manner that you feel what you say-the first and the chiefest rule for making it felt by others.

It would be difficult to press in shorter compass so rich an abundance of good advice. A few points of criticism

may be allowed. It is not usually practicable, nor indeed desirable, for a priest to attempt sermon preparation on Monday morning, after the exhaustion of a long week-end. Bishop Wilberforce never knew the demands of a Saturday night in the confessional, followed by a long fast on the Sunday morning; still the preparation will be all the better the sooner it is begun. Bishop Hedley is in entire agreement with the advisability of choosing a subject resolvable into a single proposition. His principle was to divide, if division was necessary, a small field and not a large one. Divide a field and not a country. Divide vain-glory and not pride: the prayer of petition and not prayer in general: Bethlehem and not the Incarnation."

Bossuet's testimony to the inspiring powers of Isaias will be that of every other preacher, let him be as humble as Bossuet was great. The Hebrew prophets had the tradition of a race who spoke with God. They were steeped in the atmosphere of the Divine Presence and the sound of God's Voice was ever in their ears. The vision of His glory opened before their eyes. Hence, in all that they wrote or spoke, God streamed from lips and pen; how we know not, we can only feel the fact, we cannot explain it. One of the secrets of Newman's charm as a preacher is the consummate art with which he availed himself of the treasures of quotations from Scripture. Many of his finest effects have been produced by an apt allusion which lit up the dullest and greyest of truths with the radiance of the vision of Psalmist and Prophet. So, too, Bishop Hedley, and that truly Celtic orator, the late Father Maturin. Isaias is particularly helpful, because the dominant features of his prophetic utterances are so mightily dependent on the divinity and Sacred Humanity of Our Lord-His mission as the man of Sorrows-on the Church, the Vision of Jerusalem, and on the light that shines upon it. How can any man's mind remain dull and torpid when he reads of these sublime verities in the language of one of the greatest poets of all times, as well as a prophet of God?

Many will be found to disagree with the writing of sermons. The rival theories make a fine point for debating. A written sermon, if it sometimes necessitates disregarding a passing inspiration, lest the thread be broken, is at any rate a safeguard against repetition, platitude, and

1 Lex Levitarum, p. 17.

anti-climax.

It does enable the preacher to finish and come down. It is something to ensure freedom from the embarrassment of the preacher whose thoughts are exhausted, but who knows not how to bring his sermon to a close. His embarrassment is great; that of the congregation is greater. Even those who possess the gift of ready utterance will not seldom admit that they would have preached better if they had less facility of expression. Words as a rule are more abundant than thought. Thoughts lie hid deep in the mind. To uproot them and dislodge them needs much labour and sweat.

How often can a man say that he has adequately measured his thoughts? He can break off chips and larger fragments, and if he be a sluggard he will be content. The mind of such a man is like a quarry, whose riches have been prematurely abandoned. Its surface is rugged, but its depths are unopened and never will be exhausted. This need not imply a sermon laden with too great a burden of thought, but every sermon ought to suggest an ample reservation of much more that might be said, did the preacher so choose. Adverse criticism of the writing of sermons may be disarmed by the advice given to preach from notes, after the sermon has been read and re-read many times in preparation. Literary artists, who are careful above all things to keep an exact balance between thought and expression, will avoid even this compromise : the ordinary preacher in all probability will find that the needs of his congregation can be met by it. It will secure him from the faults inherent in insufficient preparation, from tautology, from vagueness, and from slipshod phrases, whilst it will allow him to alter his line if the fervour of the moment suggests something more immediately apt and telling.

It is not possible to write all the sermons that are to be preached some kinds of sermons cannot be writtenbut experience will show that the preacher who prepares oftenest and most carefully, writing and re-writing until his thoughts are satisfactorily shaped, who takes the greatest pains to keep his mind as fresh and as open as his reading will permit, will reap in the pulpit, when sudden emergencies arise, the full effect of his self-discipline. Over and above writing comes reading. The field to be covered is vast-as vast as the expanse of the human mind: theology, philosophy, apologetics, history, economics, with all their

various divisions and subdivisions, will provide harvests to store up in the granary of the priest's mind. But rich as the harvests may be, let it not be doubted that the demand upon the store will be great and incessant. The growth of human thought means the growth of human difficulties, and woe be to us if we are unable to meet them. All this involves labour and sacrifice. Yet the priest and preacher is the authentic bearer of the commission of Christ to go out and teach. He is a schoolmaster to bring little ones to Christ. To achieve this divine ambition nothing should be too high in aim or too noble in conception, if by means of it he can carry out the purpose of his Master, whose feeble instrument he is.

EDWARD STEPHENS.