Page images
PDF
EPUB

to Young Ministers" originally published in the Presbyterian. Taken altogether, we regard this as the best work on Homiletics extant. Perhaps in no department of ecclesiastical literature is there so great a want, as in that which relates to the sublimest of all arts the art of Preaching. The Professors in our Seminaries can find nothing in this department which they can use as a text-book, or even as furnishing a general outline of a course of instruction. And so glaring are the deficiencies and the faults of most of our existing treatises on Homiletics, that many have been induced to question, if not absolutely to condemn all attempts to treat of Preaching as an Art. The work of Vinet, with all its acknowledged excellencies, is intensely French-French in its modes of thought and its adaptations. The work of Porter, which is perhaps more frequently in the hands of our young ministry than any other, fails in many and most important particulars, to meet the real exigencies of the subject. And none with which we are acquainted meets the precise wants of the existing ministry in the Presbyterian Church of the United States. These Thoughts-all of them fragments of pure gold, many of them most precious gems are invaluable, because of their precise adaptations to the necessities of our ministry in this age and in this country. No small part of the interest and the value of this volume is found in its frequent references to the experiments and experiences of the Author, in that Art of which he was an acknowledged master. He seems to have encountered in detail all the difficulties which await the young Preacher, and to have given us the results of his own experiments as to the best methods of surmounting them. Withal there is a point, a simplicity, a freshness about the whole which makes it a most fascinating as well as instructive volume.

Two things are worthy of special notice: the article on Expository Preaching, published originally we believe in the Repertory — an article which we would rejoice to see in the hands of every Preacher; and the thoughts on the Method of Sermonizing-particularly the mischievous habit of constructing the sermon upon a skeleton previously and precisely framed. What has the living to do with the dead, or why should living thoughts be compressed within dead moulds? Why compel the sermon to adjust itself

to the skeleton-a thing apart from itself-instead of letting both, the whole living organism, grow together?

We commend the following two paragraphs to special notice:

"1. Mode of making a brief. I follow a brief penned at my table during a short interval. I made it thus: mere catch-words took a general thought to start with, let the next come of itself, then the next, and so on without effort. It served well. The thing to be noted is, that in a few moments, by letting the mind flow and not interfering with the flow, one may jot down materials for a long discourse. It was not merely heads, these are barren, they are disconnected; it was concatenation, it was genesis. I consider this a little new; but Nevins shows me something like it, for Sabbath lectures: I have done too much in the way of naked skeleton. I wish I could embody my thoughts in a formula; try it thus: 1. Write rapid sketch, the faster the better. 2. In first draught, omit all partition, and do not force your mind to method. 3. Let thought generate thought. 4. Do not dwell on particulars; leave all amplifications for the pulpit. 5. Keep the mind in a glow. 6. Come to it with a full mind. 7. Forget all care of language. 8. Forget all previous cramming, research, quotation and study. 2. Sermonizing. I have just finished a sermon on Isaiah lix, ult. I am not pleased. I was hampered throughout by a preconcerted skeleton. Thus it worked. Things would arise in my mind and flow into my pen just at the right place, but I could not use them because they belonged to another head. The result was, the articulation was broken, the flow was interrupted, the work became a mosaic. I perceive my father was right when he advised me to write my first draught currente calamo, without any plan, with absolute abandon; giving free scope in every direction whenever a vein was struck, and reserving the particulars for the copy."

NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

[Books and other Publications designed for notice in this work, should, if practicable, be sent directly to the "Danville Review," Danville, Ky.; or if sent to the publisher, RICHARD H. COLLINS, 25 West Fourth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, will reach their destination.]

Evenings with the Doctrines. By Nehemiah Adams, D. D., Author of "Friends of Christ," "Christ a Friend," "Communion Sabbath," etc., etc. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1861. 12mo. pp. 415.

The Gospel according to Matthew. Explained by Joseph Addison Alexander, D. D. New York: Charles Scribner. 12mo. 1861. Thoughts on Preaching. By James W. Alexander, D. D. New York: Charles Scribner. 12mo. 1861.

Sermons for the New Life. By Horace Bushnell. Seventh edition. New York: Charles Scribner. 12mo. 1861.

The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records stated anew. By George Rawlinson, M. A. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. Cincinnati: Geo. S. Blanchard.

1861.

A Greek Grammar for Schools and Colleges. By James Hadley, Professor in Yale College. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. 1861.

Plato's Apology and Crito. With Notes by W. S. Tyler, Professor of Greek in Amherst College. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1860. Rickey, Mallory & Co.'s Catalogue Raisonné: A General and Classified List of the most important works in nearly every department of Literature and Science, published in the United States and England; with a Bibliographical Introduction. Cincinnati Rickey & Carroll. 12mo. pp. 259. 1861.

Rhetorical Praxis: The Principles of Rhetoric exemplified and applied in copious Exercises for Systematic Practice, chiefly in the Development of the Thought. For use in Schools and Colleges. By Henry N. Day, Author of "Elements of the Art of Rhetoric," and the Art of Elocution." Cincinnati Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co. 12mo. pp. 309.

1860.

History of the United Netherlands: From the Death of William the Silent, to the Synod of Dort; with a full view of the EnglishDutch Struggle against Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada. By John Lothrop Motley, LL. D., D. C. L., Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, Author of "The Rise of the Dutch Republic." New York: Harper & Brothers. Cincinnati Robert Clarke & Co. 1861. 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 532, 563. Logic in Theology; and other Essays. By Isaac Taylor. With a Sketch of the Life of the Author, and a Catalogue of his Writings. New York: William Gowans. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. 1860. 12mo. pp. 297.

Notes on New Testament Literature and Ecclesiastical History. By Joseph Addison Alexander, D. D. New York: Charles Scribner. 1861. 12mo. pp. 319.

TERMS, THREE DOLLARS A YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.

THE

DANVILLE QUARTERLY

REVIEW.

EDITED BY

AN ASSOCIATION OF MINISTERS.

JUNE, 1861.

Φωτίσαντος δὲ ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου.—2 ΤIM. I: 10

DANVILLE, KY., AND CINCINNATI, OHIO:

PUBLISHED BY

RICHARD H. COLLINS, 25 WEST FOURTH STREET, CINCINNATI,

AND SOLD BY

CROSBY, NICHOLS & CO., BOSTON; ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, NEW
YORK; WM. S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, PHILADELPHIA; ROBERT S.
DAVIS, PITTSBURGH; JOHN D. THORPE, ROBERT CLARKE & CO.,
GEO. S. BLANCHARD, AND RICKEY & CARROLL, CINCIN-
NATI; A. DAVIDSON, LOUISVILLE; KEITH & WOODS,

ST. LOUIS; WM. G. HOLMES, CHICAGO.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by
RICHARD H. COLLINS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Postage, to all parts of the U. S., when paid Quarterly in advance, 34 cents on each number, or 14 cents for a year

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« PreviousContinue »