Education > Essays on rhetoric

ELOQUENCE OF THE PULPIT. 137
of those truths which he delivers, and an earnest
desire that they may make full impression on the
hearts of his hearers.
With regard to the composition of a sermon, a
principal circumstance which must be attended to
is its unity. By this we mean, that there should be
some main-point to which the whole tenor of the
sermon shall refer. It must not be a pile of different
subjects heaped upon each other, but one object
must predominate through the whole. Hence, how¬
ever, it must not be understood that there should
be no divisions or separate heads in the discourse;
or that one single thought only should be exhibited
in different points of view. Unity is not confined
by such narrow limits ; it admits of some variety ;
it requires only that union and connexion be so
far preserved, as to make the whole concur in some
one impression on the mind. Thus, for instance,
a preacher may employ several different arguments
to enforce the love of God ; he may also inquire
into the causes of the decay of this virtue; still one
great object is presented to the mind: but, if be¬
cause his text says, “ He that loveth God must love
his brother also,” he should therefore mix in the
same discourse arguments for the love of God, and
for the love of our neighbour, he would offend very
much against unity, and leave a very confused im¬
pression on the minds of his hearers.
Sermons are always the more striking, and gene¬
rally the more useful, in proportion as the subject
of them is more precise and particular. Unity can
never be so complete in a general as in a particular
subject. General subjects, indeed, such as the ex¬
cellencies or the pleasures of religion, are often
chosen by young preachers as the most showy, and
the easiest to be handled; and no doubt general
views of religion should not be neglected, since on
several occasions they have great propriety. But
these subjects produce not the high effects of preach¬
ing. Attention is much more commanded by taking