Sect. V. In regard to the end in view. 66 SECT. V....In regard to the end in view. THE fifth and last particular mentioned, and indeed the most important of them all, is the effect in each species intended to be produced. The primary intention of preaching is the reformation of mankind. "The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world *." Reformation of life and manners-of all things that which is the most difficult by any means whatever to effectuate; I may add, of all tasks ever attempted by persuasion, that which has the most frequently baffled its power. WHAT is the task of any other orator compared with this? It is really as nothing at all, and hardly deserves to be named. An unjust judge, gradually worked on by the resistless force of human eloquence, may be persuaded, against his inclination, perhaps against a previous resolution, to pronounce an equitable sentence. All the effect on him, intended by the pleader, was merely momentary. The orator hath had the address to employ the time allowed him, in such a manner as to secure the happy moment. Notwithstanding this, there may be no real change * Tit. ii. II, 12. The different kinds of public speaking in use among the moderns, compared, &c. wrought upon the judge. He may continue the same obdurate wretch he was before. Nay, if the sentence had been delayed but a single day after hearing the cause, he would perhaps have given a very different award, Is it to be wondered at, that when the passions of the people were agitated by the persuasive powers of a Demosthenes, whilst the thunder of his eloquence was yet sounding in their ears, the orator should be absolute master of their resolves? But an apostle or evangelist, (for there is no anachorism in a bare supposition) might have thus addressed the celebrated Athenian, "You do, indeed, succeed to admiration, "and the address and genius which you display in speaking, justly entitle you to our praise. But, "however great the consequences may be of the mea"sures to which, by your eloquence, they are determined, the change produced in the people is nothing, or next to nothing. If you would be ascer"tained of the truth of this, allow the assembly to disperse immediately after hearing you; give them "time to cool, and then collect their votes, and it is "a thousand to one, you shall find that the charm is "dissolved. But very different is the purpose of the Christian orator. It is not a momentary, but a per 66 66 manent effect at which he aims. "mediate and favourable suffrage, It is not an im.. but a thorough "change of heart and disposition, that will satisfy his view. That man would need to be possessed "of oratory superior to human, who would effectually persuade him that stole, to steal no more, the "sensualisst to forego his pleasures, and the miser his hoards, the insolent and haughty to become meek “and humble, the vindictive forgiving, the cruel and "unfeeling merciful and humane." I MAY add to these considerations, that the difficulty lies not only in the permanency, but in the very nature of the change to be effected. It is wonderful, but is too well vouched to admit a doubt, that by the powers of rhetoric you may produce in mankind almost any change more easily than this. It is not unprecedented, that one should persuade a multitude, from mistaken motives of religion, to act the part of ruffians, fools, or madmen; to perpetrate the most extravagant, nay, the most flagitious actions; to steel their hearts against humanity, and the loudest calls of natural affection: but where is the eloquence that will gain such an ascendant over a multitude, as to persuade them, for the love of God, to be wise, and just, and good? Happy the preacher, whose sermons, by the blessing of Heaven, have been instrumental in producing even a few such instances! Do but look into the annals of church-history, and you will soon be convinced of the surprising difference there is in the two cases mentioned, the amazing facility of the one, and the almost impossibility of the other. The different kinds of public speaking in use among the moderns, compared, &c. As to the foolish or mad extravagancies hurtful only to themselves, to which numbers may be excited by the powers of persuasion, the histoty of the flagellants, and even the history of monachism, afford many unquestionable examples. But what is much worse, at one time you see Europe nearly depopulated, at the persuasion of a fanatical monk, its inhabitants rushing armed into Asia, in order to fight for Jesus Christ, as they termed it, but, as it proved in fact, to disgrace, as far as lay in them, the name of Christ and of Christian amongst infidels; to butcher those who never injured them, and to whose lands they had at least no better title than those whom they intended, by all possible means, to dispossess ; and to give the world a melancholy proof, that there is no pitch of brutality and rapacity, to which the passions of avarice and ambition, consecrated and inflamed by religious enthusiasm, will not drive mankind. At another time you see multitudes, by the like methods, worked up into a fury against their innocent countrymen, neighbours, friends, and kinsmen, glorying in being the most active in cutting the throats of those who were formerly held dear to them. SUCH were the crusades preached up but too effectually, first against the Mahometans in the East, and next against Christians whom they called heretics, in the heart of Europe. And even in our own time, have we not seen new factions raised by popular de Sect. V. In regard to the end in view. claimers, whose only merit was impudence, whose only engine of influence was calumny and self-praise, whose only moral lesson was malevolence? As to the dogmas whereby such have at any time affected to discriminate themselves, these are commonly no other than the shibboleth, the watch-word of the party, worn, for distinction's sake, as a badge, a jargon unintelligible alike to the teacher and to the learner. Such apostles never fail to make proselytes. For who would not purchase heaven at so cheap a rate? There is nothing that people can more easily afford. It is only to think very well of their leader and of themselves, to think very ill of their neighbour, to calumniate him freely, and to hate him heartily. I AM sensible that some will imagine, that this account itself throws an insuperable obstacle in our way, as from it one will naturally infer, that oratory must. be one of the most dangerous things in the world, and much more capable of doing ill than good. It needs but some reflection to make this mighty obstacle entirely vanish. Very little eloquence is necessary for persuading people to a conduct, to which their own depravity hath previously given them a bias. How soothing is it to them not only to have their minds made easy under the indulged malignity of their disposition, but to have that very malignity sanctified with a good name. So little of the oratorical talents is required here, that those who court popular ap plause, and look upon it as the pinnacle of human |