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to psychology? Sometimes he speaks of it as a distinct "science;" he then calls it, very vaguely, "the science of human nature," and again, it appears to be equivalent to "intellectual and moral philosophy." If he uses the term in its most general sense, including all the sciences pertaining to our spiritual nature, we can appreciate the importance he attaches to it; but if he employs it in the limited sense of the modern German philosophers, we cannot withhold the expression of our surprise, that it should be singled out and made so prominent.

But we proceed to the third subject discussed in this volume, viz., "Power in Speaking." We know not where we have seen so much important truth on the subject of pulpit eloquence, presented in so few words. This single piece is enough to rescue the book in which it stands from neglect. We wish we could quote it at length; but the following selections must suffice:

"The elements of power in speaking, are partly inherent in the structure of the discourse itself, and partly extrinsic or accidental to it, relating to those auxiliary circumstances which contribute to ensure a discourse attention and success. It is my present intention to do little more than enumerate the principal of these elements.

"Importance belongs to the subject of a powerful discourse. It is only deep emotion that prompts the tones and utterances of eloquence, and no trivial theme can excite such emotion. Power in utterance is the result of power in intellectual conception and emotion, and such power must have greatness in its object. The experience of every one attests the truth of this statement. How differently does he speak, who earnestly pleads for his country's honor, or for the life of a fellow-creature, or for the salvation of the human soul from everlasting death, from him who has no other object than to please men, or merely to meet a professional call.

But he who would speak with genuine power, should not only confine himself to matters of importance, but, in speaking of such matters, should take the side of TRUTH. Truth is the law, the food, the strength, the delight of rational being. To commune deeply with truth is to acquire power; to speak of truth after long and deep communion with it, is, almost unavoidably, to exert great power upon others. I need not stay to show what advantages in speaking, truth gives its advocate over him who has the side of error to defend. How often, amidst a distracting diversity of opinions and arguments, has the mere statement of the truth, from judicious lips, proved at once decisive, and put all debate and all doubt to rest.

"It contributes greatly to power in speaking, that the subject of the discourse be one of personal concern to the hearers. It is impossible for a speaker to be interested himself, by what neither does nor should interest his hearers. The mere impression, on the contrary, that what he is about to discourse of, is what will, of itself, awaken strong feeling in the auditory, tends to stir up his spirit into intense exertion, and thus to prepare him to express himself with ease to himself, and also with great effect.

"It greatly heightens power, when the subject, besides being of general interest to the hearers, is adapted particularly to classes,

circumstances, and seasons. Many a speech has been thought, and justly thought, to have been very eloquent, not because it was intrinsically powerful, or because it was well pronounced, but because the speaker was wise in suiting his subject to the peculiar state and need of his hearers. It was eloquent relatively to them, though not so in itself. A word which rebukes a man in crime, or comforts him in trouble, or relieves him in perplexity, is a word of power, though spoken with stammering lips. It is this, above all extrinsic things, which gives a discourse pungency, that it be spoken pertinently to present wants and demands.

"It is essential, also, that the speaker understand well the subject of his discourse. He who speaks of what he does not understand, speaks with no confidence in his own utterances, or with an unwarranted confidence; and, in either case, his discourse will want the characteristics of true power. For assumed confidence always betrays itself, and to waver or faint in one's own judgment is to beget faintness, in those to whom that judgment is expressed. Distinct apprehensions, enlarged and comprehensive views of the extended and various bearings and connections of things, and firm convictions of truth, are indispensable to strong feeling and strong modes of expression. Without such inward furniture for speaking, a man, in discourse, can be expected to exhibit nothing in just proportion and symmetry.

"No one can speak with much force, who does not express what are strictly his own, and not another's, convictions. Where thoughts are borrowed, and held only in memory, however excellent they may be in themselves, as they are no legitimate part of the mind's own strength and life, they are apt to want something of nature, something of fitness and honesty, in the manner in which the mind gives them forth.

"It is essential to a powerful speech, that its parts, however numerous, should belong to one subject, and constitute a complete whole. Digressions, and graceful intermissions of earnestness, designed for relief, or as a foil to what should have peculiar prominence, are not only admissible, but often a very high excellence. But whatever has a tendency to divide attention should be avoided, and the more so, if it be in itself attractive and powerful; it will be injurious to the discourse, in proportion to its intrinsic excellence. "This suggests another observation. A man who would speak with efficiency and success, should intend to accomplish some definite and specific end by his discourse. He should have but one subject, and cleave to that subject throughout, and should also aim in every thing to accomplish a chosen object. He should never arise to address an assembly, without distinctly proposing to himself to make some particular impression upon them, and engaging all his powers of argument and persuasion in fulfilling that design.

"Natural and simple method is greatly tributary to power. Three points should be prominent in the speaker's aim: to say what ought to be said, to say nothing else, and to say every thing in its place. The best thoughts, spoken out of place, may escape attention, or be injurious; and the most common ones, spoken fitly and in place,

may be of overpowering interest. All the parts of a speech should be so collocated and disposed, as to meet perfectly the demands of nature and propriety: one part should add strength to another; progress in speaking should be progress in strength; strength to the last should be cumulative; and the interest of the hearers should not only be sustained, but increasingly deepened quite to the end.

"It is impossible to be too regardful of method. But by method is not to be understood a formal, and much less a numerical division into heads. Judgment and taste will discern whether this be or be not expedient.

"Great attention is due to the style of a discourse, which is addressed to the public ear. The style fitting such a discourse is so different from that which becomes one intended for the press, that if it be given to the public through that medium, such importaut changes may be necessary as to require recomposition.

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Style is not natural, if it do not vary somewhat according to the nature of its subject, and is not marked with the speaker's individuality of mind. But with such variety there are certain attributes of style which always characterize powerful speaking. To speak with power, for instance, is to speak with plainness, and such plainness as will express the meaning not only so that it may be understood, but so that it cannot be misunderstood; for what power is there in an utterance, the sense of which is uncertain to the hearer? To plainness, must be added simplicity; because a meaning may be obvious when yet it is so expressed as to have attention seduced from itself to some vain word or ostentatious image in the sentence. From plainness and simplicity, purity should not be disjoined; since, in speech, as in every thing else, true power has no dwelling with vulgarity; and since the end of all legitimate speaking is the elevation and refinement of man. Further, the style of a powerful speaker is animated, as well as plain, simple, and pure. There is life and spirit and pathos in his words; and he deals gracefully and naturally in allusions, analogies and images. The highest order of public speakers, those who keep the attention of auditories enchained, are men of rich invention, fertile imagination, and deep sympathies; whose style of speaking is strongly stamped with these attributes of their minds. Finally, boldness rather than caution, and energy rather than elegance, are appropriate qualities of the style of a strong speech; it being the object of such a speech, not to please, but to persuade, not to give specimens of fine expression, but to impress some subject of great importance strongly on men's

minds.

"One of the most important of the elements of power in speaking, is just action; or an external deportment in the speaker, becoming the subject of his thoughts, and the feelings which it should excite in his mind. * * When a powerful emotion becomes manifest by its effects upon the speaker's look and manner, it communicates itself to the audience, independently of words, so as to make the most ordinary enunciation irresistible. If, before a man speaks, his eyes glow with delight, or be suffused by silent grief, he is already eloquent. By a sort of contagiousness, emotion so manifested, diffuses itself with a power which no one can withstand.

"The last specification relates to the connection of personal holiness in the speaker, with power in his discourse. This connection rests on two grounds. Such is the relation of truth to virtue, that an enemy to the latter is esteemed no friend of the former, and therefore insincere in its advocation. And a discourse from such a man, however able in itself, will have but little good influence on the audience. No man, therefore, of an ill reputation, ought to be a public speaker; or, if he will speak, let it be for error, not for truth. Unto the wicked, God saith, what hast thou to do, to declare my statutes? or that thou shouldst take my covenant into thy mouth?' Personal holiness, on the contrary, gives the advocate of truth great advantage, by the command, which he has, by means of it, of the confidence and esteem of mankind. When a man, qualified for speaking in other respects, has a holy life and a good name, to sustain him in his challenges of public attention, he has an authority and a power, which, without these recommendations, the tongue of an angel would not exert. His pure character, his known love and practice of moral excellence, his bright example, point the sentences of truth which proceed from his lips, and fasten them in the minds of men."

"Preaching should be doctrinal," says the author, in the heading of another chapter. If this piece was written for the purpose of opposing a certain method of preaching which has gained some currency among a particular class of circulating preachers, and all the language here employed is to be interpreted with direct reference to that method,—of which, however, no intimation is made,—it may be regarded as substantially correct. But if, as the form and structure of it would indicate, it is to be regarded as an essay of a more general character and application, it must be pronounced as savoring strongly of ultraism. The inevitable tendency of it would be to exalt, in sermonizing, reasoning, at the expense of passion and imagination. The contemptuous manner, in which experimental and descriptive preaching is spoken of, is scarcely just or decorous. Either of these opposite modes of preaching, when exclusive, becomes defective. It is the intermingling of them all, that best accords with the dictates of nature, and with the practice of inspired teachers. If we are not mistaken, the greatest, we had almost said the only defect, in our author's practice, grows out of the doctrine here advanced. We refer to the attempt to call forth a passion by a process of reasoning, instead of pourtraying the object that is adapted to kindle such passion. This mania of doing every thing by logic, of attempting to reason men into love or "joy," so far, as it prevails, is, at the present time, greatly weakening the power of the ministry, and is, in itself, as absurd as dealing in experience without doctrine, or in illustration without principle.

The two succeeding topics, "Preaching on Ability," and "How to Repent," we find it difficult to characterize. The personal relations of the author to two great parties in the Presbyterian church, between which he seems to stand about midway in doctrine, while he is evidently attached to but one of them in feeling, give a strange air to this part of his work.

2. The Harmony of Christian Faith and Christian Character; and the Culture and Discipline of the Mind. By JOHN ABERCROMBIE, M. D., F. R. S. E., Author of " Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the Investigation of Truth," "The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings," &c., &c. New York. Harper & Brothers. 18mo. pp. 146. 1839.

We are always pleased with the religious productions of this judicious and pious layman. He is not only a man of a high order of intellect, but of sober, practical views. We do not, indeed, regard the little volume before us, as a splendid effort of genius; on the contrary, it is a plain, simple, straight-forward work, adapted rather to benefit the "industrious classes" of society, for whom it was expressly prepared, than to augment the author's fame. Still, the most common thoughts in his hands betray the workings of a great mind. There is a dignity, composure, and elevation of thought, with occasional veins of originality and marks of power, that render it a pleasing book to the most enlightened reader, and give it, what too few of our popular works possess, a healthful influence over the common mind.

The first part of this book is a sort of sermon on 2 Pet. 1: 5—7. "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity." It commences thus:

"In the style and composition of the Sacred Writings, nothing is more remarkable than the manner in which, by a few simple expressions, there is laid before us a detailed and harmonious display of Christian faith and Christian character. In such expositions, each single word is often found to be a clear and distinct subject of contemplation in itself, while the combination is arranged with such consummate skill, yet simplicity and clearness, that it becomes at once a study for the philosopher in moral science, and a guide to the most humble Christian in his daily conduct through life. A beautiful example of this nature is furnished by the passage which we have placed at the head of this essay; and, in its connection with the observations which go before it, taken along with the peculiar relation of its own component parts, it displays the foundation of Christiau hope, and affords a delineation of Christian character in a manner the most harmonious and comprehensive."

The writer's train of thought may be sufficiently gathered from the following extracts:

"In attempting a brief illustration of a subject of such extent and importance, the first object of attention which meets us is, that, in all this exhibition of moral qualities, the primary and fundamental principle is faith. This is at once the source of spiritual life and the supporting element of moral health; and, until a man be firmly established in this great principle, it is vain for him to expect to make any progress in the cultivation of Christian character. When we thus consider faith as the source or primary moving cause, essential to the culture of every sound quality of the mind and to ev

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