V. Suit yourself to the audience, the place, and the time. As it is a great fault not to be understood at all, it is alfo bad if you are understood with difficulty. There are figures of fpeech which give great help to the understanding; fuch as the profopopœia, the form of a dialogue, the ftrong delineation, as if a thing were prefent to the view (hypotypofis). But above all, there fhould be a frequent use of fimilitudes; for this is the manner of the Scripture throughout. A ftrong text often repeated has good effect; as our Saviour, three times in four verfes, ufes that ftriking expreffion, the worm that never dieth. Him you are to imitate; not only in the manner, but in the duty of preaching: never omit it; he was always ready for it.

VI. It is of great fervice to ftop fometimes, to recollect your felf, and preserve your prefence of mind. This is particularly neceffary toward the conclufion, when every nerve must be straineď to fix what you have explained in the mind of your hearers. Unifon of tone, or monotony, is ever to be avoided as lifeles and unaffecting.

VII. Let human learning be the fervant, but let divine learning rule. Build nothing but upon the Scriptures: a preacher thould have them nearly by heart; for which purpose, he should read at least two chapters every day of his life, and notify therefrom into his claffes or his fymbola. As one egg hath more nourishment than a pot full of herbs, one fentence of the Bible will have more effect than a thousand from Ariftotle or Cicero, which are dry and bloodless. Many err in this refpect, who totally, or at leaft very fhamefully, neglecting the divine oracles, think they have done finely, when they have painted themfelves with the colourings of Heathen orators, &c.

VIII. Write down your plan, arguments, texts, difpofition, &c. in a rough draught firft; and have all your materials ready before you begin to build. As the work goes on, you may pick and chufe, leave out or alter, as you fee beft. No practice but this can make the compofition good: omnis concio bis fcribenda.

IX. Above all things divide clearly, and fort your matter well: the work is more than half finifhed when this is done: your words and fentences will come eafy, and as it were of them

felves. To methodise and digeft well is the point both for the Ipeaker and the bearer-Qui bene diftinguit*, bene docet--a fermon well digefted may be got by heart over night,

X. Never exceed an hour; but rather fall fhort of it. None can attend more, even though you were to preach roses and jewels; nor can the memory carry off more. When the attention is ex-' kaufted, you speak without effect; the full ftomach loaths the' honey and the honeycomb that which iş moderate and well dif pofed, will be the fweeteft-in fine ne corrumpas.

XI. Teach nothing to others, of which you are not perfuaded yourfelf-fi vis me flere, &c. Nothing will reach the heart, but that which comes from the heart. How great is the difference between him who collects and repeats, and him who speaks affec-' tionately of that truth which he knows and feels! To gather scraps from homílies and sermons, and then confarcinate, is poor work: but if nothing better can be done, make it your own, by thinking well on what you have collected from others,

XII. Reprove vices fharply, but not perfons. Great men,' and perfons in authority, should not be named, or even pointed' at; which exafperates without amending: private admonition' should rather be used. Never fpare the yices which are most in fashion; but even here all bitterness is to be avoided-according to that admonition of St. Paul, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-fuffering and doctrine. 2 Tim, iv. 2. Let your pity prevail against your indignation-remember Chrift weeping over the

* Three eminent writers, Fenelon, Voltaire, and Bishop Berkeley, are against formally dividing a fermon: but the reafons on the other fide are stronger. See Maury fur l'Eloquence, &c. p. 424. In Cicero's excellent oration pro lege Manilia, the tranfitions from one head to another are marked and mentioned throughout as distinctly and plainly as preachers do in their fermons-Quod extremum propofu-quod reliquum eft, &c. It seems to be a perfect model of method in composition, and should be thoroughly studied as fuch. Non mibi tam cofia quam modus in dicendo quærendus eft, fays the author in his exordium. What would the human figure be, unless it were built upon bones and joints, properly connected and covered, fo that the whole has a regular and elegant ap pearance? The late learned Dr. Samuel Johnson, in his directions to a clergyman concerning the compofition of a fermon, very properly obferves, that "divifions not only help the memory of the hearer, but direct the judgment of the writer: they fupply fources of invention, and keep every part in its proper place." Bofwell's Life of Jobnfon, Vol. II. p. 324

guilty Jerufalem; and never forget, that fins, not finners, are to be lashed.

XIII. Detest all pride, first in yourself, and then in others. Let your fpeech, and even your countenance, breathe humility, and lowlinefs of heart. The pompous orator is a mimic, or a tragedian; more fit for the ftage than the pulpit; and his only object is to gain applaufe. The preacher who is truly humble, defpifes no man, nor doth he hurt any one by private reflections. He will not only bear reproof, but court it: he will get fome faithful friends to tell him his faults. Chryfoftom fuffered himfelf to be admonished and corrected by an old woman. He that is to know himself, must have faithful friends, or bitter enemies : and the divine Spirit only can enable him to make a proper use of them.

XIV. Imitate nobody in preaching. It is ufeful to hear good preachers, but to imitate their manner is not fo. Every man is moft powerful in his own natural character. In other fciences imitation is good: here it is bad. Every man should confult his own genius, and cultivate it to the best of his ability. When a is out of himself, then he is affected; and affectation spoils

man

every thing.

XV. Do what you fay. Without this nobody believes you. Be the fame out of the pulpit as in it: otherwife it will be cast in your teeth, he fays and does not." Be ye then doers of the word, and not preachers of it only. The Gospel is never fo effectually recommended, as when we fee it realized in the life and manners of the preacher.

Conclufion.

THE improvement of our time is the first confideration in human life; for on time depends eternity. Nothing but time can make a scholar or a divine; and he that makes the most of it, by fome fuch method as is here recommended, is the wifeft man.

Many never discover its value till they have loft it, and would give the whole world, if they had it, to recover it again. The only laudable avarice is that of our time; of which there have been many great examples. Cato Uticenfis made it his practice to carry a book with him into the fenate-houfe, that inftead of hearing idle talk, he might read till bufinefs, began. Plato had Sophron, the poet of Syracufe, laid at his pillow when he was dying. Abbas Dorotheus had a book open while he was eating, and by his bed fide againft he waked. Bernard faid, " let us talk this hour out on this hour eternity may depend." Beware of thieves, but especially of thofe who rob you of your time, for which they can never make you any amends. Read, note, be vigilant, be active, stock your memory; let no hour or minute be without its ufe. Magna vita pars clabitur malè agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota aliud agentibus, i. e. in doing what is nothing to the purpose: Teach us, good Lord, fo to value our time, and pumber our days, as to apply our hearts unto wifdem,

BISHOP ANDREWS.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIM,

WITH THE USE MADE OF HIS CHARACTER, BY BISHOP HORNE.

THE attention of Dr. Horne to the writings of this eminent prelate commenced in the early part of his life, and increased with his years; till he published Bishop Andrews's Devotions, nearly after the pattern of Dean Stanhope's edition.

Bishop Andrews was, without exception, the first preacher of his time; and his difcourfes and lectures, though fomewhat obfolete, from their antiquity, in ftyle and manner, are yet fo excellent for the truth, learning, eloquence, and piety, found in them, that when we have laid down rules for a preacher, no character can be produced, in which they were better exemplified.

His funeral fermon was preached by Bishop Buckridge. It is there faid, that they who spake truth of him could not but speak well of him; and if they fpake falfely of him, his life and manners did confute them. As foon as he was put to school, he counted all the time loft that was not spent in his ftudies. He fat late, and arose at four in the morning: not like moderns at feven or eight, with their heads and stomachs aching-qui nondum hefternam edormiverunt crapulam. He loved not the things of this world, though he had them as a steward. He fent alms under other mens' names: he stayed not till the poor fought him, but he first fought them.

In most of his fermons he was fo careful and exact, that there were few of them which were not thrice between the hammer and the anvil, before they were preached, He ever milliked often and