"To get, then, the mind of Christ,'and to declare it, is the primary end of the teaching offices of the church. The living body of sympathetic men, saturated with the truth and feeling of the Book, must bring it into contact with other men, through that marvelous organ the human voice, and with such aid as comes from the subtle sympathy that pervades assemblies of human beings."

"Direct your arrows at objects without being personal; come near your hearers. Letters dropped into the post-office without address go to the dead-letter office, and are of no use to any body."

"If the truth were known, many sermons are prepared and preached with more regard for the sermon than the souls of the hearers."

"A leading Welsh minister — and Welsh ministers are, I think, among the best preachers — was invited to preach an anniversary sermon before one of the great societies in London. Naturally anxious to disregard no propriety, he consulted the proper authority, the secretary. "Should I read my sermon?" "Oh, it is no matter, only bring some of your Welsh fire with you." " But you cannot, my dear sir, carry fire on paper." "No, that is true; but you may use the paper to kindle the fire.""

"I verily believe that the kingdom of God advances more on spoken words than it does on essays written and read; on words, that is, in which the present feeling and thought of the teaching mind break into natural and forceful expression."

"Style should be like window-glass, perfectly transparent, and with very little sash."

"Be short in all religious exercises. Better leave the people longing than loathing. No conversion after the first half hour."

"Let him who would move and convince others, be first moved and convinced himself."

"The orator is thereby an orator that he keeps his feet ever on a fact."

"I would have every minister of the gospel address his audience with the zeal of a friend, with the generous energy of a father, and with the exuberant affection of a mother."

"We doubt whether a man ever brings his faculties to bear with their whole force on a subject, until he writes upon it."

"The greatest thoughts are wronged, if not linked to beauty; and they win their way most surely and deeply into the soul when arranged in this their natural and fit attire."

"You don't want a diction gathered from the newspapers, caught from the air, common and unsuggestive; but you want one whose every word is full-freighted with suggestion and association, with beauty and power."

"It is a great mistake to think any thing too profound or rich for a popular audience. No train of thought is too deep, or subtle, or grand — but the manner of presenting it to their untutored minds should be peculiar. It should be presented in anecdote, or sparkling truism, or telling illustration, or stinging epithet; always in some concrete form, never in a logical, abstract, syllogistic shape."

"The accent of conviction is made up of a mixture of faith, power, and love combined, forming a characteristic which is at once simple, pious, and grand, redolent of inspiration and sanctity. Here are no fabulous joys and woes; no hollow, fantastic sentimentalities; no wire-drawn refinings, either in thought or feeling; the passion that is traced before us has glowed in a living heart; the opinion he utters has risen in his own understanding, and'been a light to his own steps."

"It is easier to declaim like an orator against a thousand sins in others than to mortify one sin in ourselves; to be more industrious in our pulpits than in our closets; to preach twenty sermons to our people than one to our own hearts."

"Jesus chose this method of extending the knowledge of Himself throughout the world; He taught His truth to a few men, and then He said, " Now go and tell that truth to other men.""

"In general, rely mainly on Scriptural arguments, and prefer those that are plain and unquestionable."

"Every sermon must have a solid rest in Scripture, and the pointedness which comes of a clear subject, and the conviction which belongs to well-thought argument, and the warmth that proceeds from earnest appeal."

"Avoid all controversy in preaching, talking, or writing; preach nothing down but the devil, and nothing up but Jesus Christ."

"Embellish truth only with a view to gain it the more full and free admission into your hearer's minds; and your ornaments will, in that case, be simple, masculine, natural."

"The truth is, no preaching ever had any strong power that was not the preaching of doctrine. The preachers that have moved and held men have always preached doctrine. No exhortation to a good life that does not put behind it some truth as deep as eternity can seize and hold the conscience. Preach doctrine, preach all the doctrine that you know, and learn forever more and more; but preach it always, not that men may believe it, but that they may be saved by believing it."

"Le sermon edifie, et l'example detruit."

""Dear sinners all," the fool began, "man's life is but a jest, A dream, a shadow, bubble, air, a vapour at the best. In a thousand pounds of law I find not a single ounce of love, A blind man killed the parson's cow in shooting at the dove; The fool that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well, The wooer who can flatter most will bear away the belle." * * * * * * And then again the women screamed, and every staghound bayed; And why? because the motley fool so wise a sermon made."

"Style is the gossamer on which the seeds of truth float through the world."

"I preached right to their consciences, and the result was a great revival of religion came up there; and after that I never heard any thing about infidelity."

"Let the sermon thou hast heard be converted into prayer."

"Remember, there are only a few model preachers. We have read of only one perfect Model, and He was crucified many centuries ago."

"His sermon never said or showed That Earth is foul, that Heaven is gracious, Without refreshment on the road From Jerome, or from Athanasius. And sure a righteous zeal inspired, The hand and head that penned and planned them, For all who understood, admired— And some who did not understand them."

"He was a shrewd and sound divine Of loud Dissent the mortal terror; And when, by dint of page and line, He 'stablished Truth, or startled Error, The Baptist found him far too deep, The Deist sighed with saving sorrow, And the lean Levite went to sleep, And dreamt of eating pork to-morrow."

"The lilies say: Behold how we Preach without words of purity."

"It is by the Vicar's skirts that the Devil climbs into the Belfry."

"The gracious Dew of Pulpit Eloquence, And all the well-whip'd Cream of Courtly Sense."

"I have taught you, my dear flock, for above thirty years how to live; and I will show you in a very short time how to die."

"Perhaps thou wert a priest,—if so, my struggles Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles."

"And he played on a harp of a thousand strings, Spirits of just men made perfect."

"Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to others, waste and destruction to themselves."

"As pleasant songs, at morning sung, The words that dropped from his sweet tongue Strengthened our hearts; or, heard at night, Made all our slumbers soft and light."

"The proud he tam'd, the penitent he cheer'd: Nor to rebuke the rich offender fear'd. His preaching much, but more his practice wrought; (A living sermon of the truths he taught:) For this by rules severe his life he squar'd: That all might see the doctrines which they heard."

"They shall knaw a file, and flee unto the mountains of Hepsidam whar the lion roareth and the Wang Doodle mourneth for its first born—ah!"

"Skilful alike with tongue and pen, He preached to all men everywhere The Gospel of the Golden Rule, The New Commandment given to men, Thinking the deed, and not the creed, Would help us in our utmost need."

"He taught them how to live and how to die."

"Go forth and preach impostures to the world, But give them truth to build on."

"A kick that scarce would move a horse, May kill a sound divine."

"Settle in your mind, that no sermon is worth much in which the Lord is not the principal speaker. There may be poetry, refinement, historic truth, moral truth, pathos, and all the charms of rhetoric; but all will be lost, for the purposes of preaching, if the word of the Lord is not the staple of the discourse."

"God preaches, a noted clergyman, And the sermon is never long; So instead of getting to heaven at last, I'm going all along."

"In Spring the Poet is glad, And in Summer the Poet is gay; But in Autumn the Poet is sad, And has something sad to say."

"And, when a damp Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew Soul-animating strains,—alas! too few."

"A dreamer of the common dreams, A fisher in familiar streams, He chased the transitory gleams That all pursue; But on his lips the eternal themes Again were new."

"It was Homer who inspired the poet."