methodick soever he be hath made more ill Preachers than good for he writ in a very miserable age whose gust was universally corrupted and that difficult manner that he hath to express things is as much opposed to Eloquence as the things themselves are proper for though a simple and plain stile is fittest for instruction yet it becomes very much contrary to what we ought to use in publick if we take not great care The Divines which succeeded him have imitated the same manner and it is now become the general method of the Schools and so dangerous to this kind of Eloquence it is busied only in desertations and subtilties which may perhaps give the Nerves and force to discourse but deprives it of the grace and beauties hence it appears that Logick though it teach the Art of reasoning yet it is not absolutely necessary to Eloquence for though without it a discourse is but a pratling in the Air which signifies nothing yet its succours are not to be received in that naked manner which is usual they must be clad in the Ornaments of Eloquence to add a grace to its discourses §. 9. There may be made the same observations upon the writings of the Latin Fathers which are also much contrary to Eloquence by reason of the miserable estate of those times in which they writ every one knows to what extremities all that which was call'd good sense was reduc'd to at the time of the departure of the Barbarians from Italy All the Fathers of the first age even to Saint Bernard have writ after this hard and dry manner excepting a very little number which are not corrupted by this Gusto by reason of some tincture which they have conserved as Minutius Felix Salvian Arnobius St. Jerom to which we might add some places in the works of Saint Ambrose and Saint Austin The Greek Fathers are more Eloquent than the Latine Fathers though the order of their designs and the matters which they treat on are very little just or conformable to the precepts of Art for they have taken an Air of Eloquence more natural and easie but thereby they become more apt to be abandoned to their Genius as we may observe in Saint Basile and in Saint Chrisostome Saint Gregory of Nazianzen is indeed more polished and without doubt has more of Art but when I advertise the Preachers of the danger of reading of the Latine Fathers by exposing their Eloquence to the end to oblige them to take caution that they ruine not themselves on that part I pretend not to decry all commerce with them which is not only profitable but absolutely necessary for a Preacher to furnish his Spirit with Idea's of sanctity and of the Grandeur of our Religion which we find in all the works of these Authors In the reading of these the most pure of the Christian morality is to be found from whence the Preacher may draw it as from the proper source the most clear and undisturbed The Fathers are the Interpreters of the Evangelists and the Church honours them with the Title of holy because their works are as a heritage and patrimony which they have bequeathed to the faithful as to their true Children §. 10. 'T is not enough that the Preacher lay a foundation by a long study of Divinity and a frequent reading of the Fathers which he ought to do with method but he must also study a Rhetorick proper to the Pulpit whereof we find not any Character amongst the Antients who have not had any perfect Idea of it nor amongst the Moderns who have only copyed from the Antients The Majesty of our Religion the Sanctity of its Laws the purity of its Morality its exalted Mysteries and the importance of all its Subjects ought to give it an elevation which cannot be sustain'd by the weakness of a spirit purely humane It is in vain to search for it in the Rhetorick of Aristotle in the Idea's of Hermogenes or in the Institutions of Quintilian even that sublime kind which Longinus hath formed of all the great expressions of the Antients which he hath collected are feeble and low in comparison of that which our Preacher ought to possess to maintain the dignity of his Character That divine Air which the grandeur of Christian Religion and the Incomprehensibility of our Faith demands is only to be sought in those excellent Idea's which are to be found in the holy Scripture by those who know the secret to penetrate into the depth thereof This is that pure and plentiful Spring from whence all those magnificent expressions flow whose Author is the holy Spirit It is from hence he ought to take those glorious Images and that elevation which makes up the essential Character of this Eloquence he must read with diligence the Prophets and lay out his time in hourly meditations of them if he would preach terror Naturaliter plus valet apud plurimos malorum timor quam spes bonorum Fab. l. 3. c. 8 which must be his most general practice for to preach well he must terrifie the Sinner and awaken him from the Lethargy softness of a vitious age by casting a terror into his Spirit To this I add that the Scripture is a Fountain abounding with all the Riches and all the Ornaments whereof this Eloquence is formed and that all kinds of writing are there to be found Esaiah is elevated Jeremiah moving Ezekiel terrible Daniel tender and all the other Prophets in general contain something so great and excellent as is not in any measure to be equall'd by what is most esteemed in prophane Orators Good sense and right reason was never so clearly unvayl'd in any work of morality as in the Books of Solomon never hath any History been writ with an Air more simple and elevated mixed together nor in a manner more perfect than that of Moses whereof Longinus only cites two words in the beginning of Genesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 8 to give the greatest and most sublime Idea that conception is capable of so far above the highest elevation of profane Authors Never was any thing writ more tender or delicate for the thoughts of Devotion Piety than the Psalms of David the most refined politicks and worldly wisdom are to be found in the Book of Wisdom and Proverbs Finally nothing has been ever conceived in the utmost extent of humane capacity more profound and penetrating than those sacred and adorable mysteries of Grace and predestination which Saint Paul hath delivered in his Epistles And to say a word of the New Testament which is the most essential Book of our Religion to which all that hath been writ by the Prophets is but Preface and Introduction what can one say more great or expressive than what our Saviour himself said in two words Verba quae locutus sum vobis Spiritus vita sunt Job 6. all the other Books may be said to contain only words but this
those Preachers who are all passionate and who begin their Exordiums in thunder least they should seem to be wanting in any thing ruine all by giving themselves too much to their humour It is good to make them comprehend that they never were less capable to move than when they most striv'd to do so I have sometimes seen a Preacher who was of this humour who notwithstanding preach't with very good success indeed he had a rare talent and many tracts in his discourse which did exceedingly affect the spirits His way of speaking was very strong and his whole aire was vehement but he lost these great advantages by a too great passion that he had to move and to make vehement discourses against the Times so that his declamation became too full of Transport his gestures too expressive and his countenance too Comaedian finally his manner was so very much corrupted by the Grimaces and violent agitations and constraints of his whole body that all his motions became so many real Convulsions A Preacher must shun these extravagant transports of zeal which become blameable as oft as they are excessive he must therefore consider well this rule that he never moves less than when he betrays this too earnest desire to his Auditors it seems but a false passion which indures so long and that zeal becomes suspected which is continued with so much heat and whereof the Preacher makes too great ostentation §. 17. There is in most a too great desire to please without putting themselves to the trouble of working real concernments in their Auditors this is another extremity which ought to be avoided For he that would perfectly succeed in preaching must commence by moving first the heart before he think to please What way he should take to effect this I have already described I deny not but that there may be found in this Age a species of good sense joyned with excellent things but by a too great passion that most have to please they bring themselves in danger to loose the true fruit of things by a too careful search after the flower For that which pleases opens the heart and dissipates the spirits which only profits by its close entertainment and he looses what is solid by a too eager pursuit of what is agreeable It is without doubt from that disposition of spirit that there are so many Preachers who endeavour more to please than to perswade and who introduce into the Pulpit all those various gusto's which reign in the world which they make their study that they may appear the more al a mode We have lately seen many Preachers of this kind who prepare themselves to go to a Sermon as to a Ball where he meets all the fair world assembled whom he entertains with the morality in fashion delivered in an amorous stile and with an aire very lascivious What is the effect of these agreeable Sermons but the dissipation of the spirits than which there is nothing more opposed to devotion Unhappiness be to these Preachers al a mode The Evangelists nor the Apostles did not thus What indecence is it to preach the severities of our Religion the abjection of Christianity and the contempt of the Cross with an aire undisturbed and with fine and studied expressions and to mix these feeble ornaments with the greatness and majesty of our Religion This is the most ordinary defect of those who preach to persons of Quality they amuse themselves to make Religion agreeable to the manners of those whom they ought to terrifie in letting them understand that their condition hath an essential opposition to Salvation and that they find not any tract or footstep of the Gospel or of true Christianity in the life that they lead at Court It is true he ought to have compassion on their blindness who are poyson'd with a pestilential aire which reigns amongst them But this ought so much the more to excite the Preacher to speak the Truth For we are taught by the Fathers that the Court alwayes followed the manners of their Preachers if they were holy it fail'd not to be holy also §. 18. There are some others who fail of success because their respects are too humane and too interess'd they are more attentive to their own establishment than to the Salvation of their Auditors they preach themselves and not Jesus Christ Let those Preachers reflect that the great success the of Apostles came as St. Chrisostome saith from their disinteressment St. Paul perfected an entire conversion upon the people because he pretended no benefit by his Sermons But it happens sometimes to those who have resigned all their temporal hopes in renouncing the world yet have no power to subdue this foolish vanity which makes the Preacher labor too much after reputation who after he has renounced all cannot without much pain◠renounce the pleasure of being prais'd Let the Preacher that would cure himself of this weakness consider if all these praises that are given him were sincere which they scarce ever are that he has but preach't very indifferently whilst he has left still a liberty to his Auditors to say that he has done well and that his preaching is not to much purpose whilst he hath given them leave to say that he hath preached agreeably he has only given them a little pleasure but no fruit The greatest praises of a Preacher is the silence of his Auditors and when they rise all pensive from their seats after Sermon and depart from the Church without speaking a word this is a sure mark that they are nearly touched and that they think on what they heard This agrees with what the Great Symachus in one of his Epistles said to the Emperours Theodosins and Arcadius Magnitudo stuporis locum plausibus non relinquit Lib. 10. Epist 22. The greatness of our admiration and astonishment seals up our tongues and deprives us of the power to praise An example of this I have seen at the Sermon of a Preacher who preach't in a manner so vehement and touching that when they departed from the Sermon and astonishment of the Auditors and the compunction of heart which they suffered imposed a general silence which spoke loud to his advantage I cannot forbear the relation of an Adventure which hapned to me a few years ago I went to hear a Sermon one day in Lent to the Court the Preacher that day preach't upon the passion of our Lord with an aire very brisk and polish't The Ladies from time to time lift up their eyes to heaven during his discourse saying that was excellently express'd that was graciously spoken whilst I was almost mad with indignation to hear him discourse so pleasantly in a subject so worthy compassion and take so much pains to please his Auditors whom he ought to have endeavoured to affect with grief and compunction There is one other vanity yet more foolish and deplorable When those that have gained a reputation of good men
as the Ambassadour of God and his words are the words of his eternal Master when he preaches everlasting recompence to those that beleive and threatens unspeakable punishments to those who disbeleive it must be his own fault if he have not all the success that his function merits But as it is too true that amongst all Professions there are the fewest in this who succeed well in this Art it will not be unprofitable to search out the way to remedy it since it is a thing of so great importance which I pretend to do by these following Reflections §. 1. We seldome enter into serious consideration of that disposition of mind which the honness of that ministry of the word of God and the dignity of a Function so sacred requires There is not only expedient a great Application and long study to replenish the mind with great Images which are necessary to form the Character of this Eloquence but there must be also long retirements from the noise of the World to prepare the heart by solitude for the reception of the holy Spirit whose Interpreter the Preacher takes upon himself to be It is from this eternal Spirit that he takes his immediate mission by the principles of the interiour life Quomodo praedicabunt nisi mittantur 5. Rom. 12. to dispose him to take his Orders from those who are established in dignity and have received the power of God to communicate it to others He must then take great care that he be not too much abandoned to himself and to his Genius but first he must passionately seek the succours of Heaven by the frequent use of Meditation and Prayer Without this divine assistance it is impossible to penetrate into the mysteries and hidden truths of the Gospel How many does this who ever thinks of it what studies or what retreats do we make to dispose our hearts or what preparations of Spirit do we bring to this holy Function do not we see every day young Preachers without Virtue or Science ascend the Pulpit with the same end that a Comaedian mounts the Theater they invite their Friends by Letters and fill a great Circle with their Relations who engage a great assembly of their honest acquaintance to grace the audience and to incourage those young Declamators they raise their Eyes to Heaven with a feigned complaisance and counterfeit admiration when they have pronounced two or three ill arrang'd periods without stumbling and when they have a little confidently said what possibly themselves have not the courage to act when these trifling Orators have done what they can they are but pittied by those who judge without preoccupation even in those performances wherein they think they have reason to triumph They have a very false Idea of so holy a Function if they think to advance its reverence by such preachings a Preacher must have other qualities to enable him to represent with success the Sword of Gods word like a flame to the Eyes of the Offendors to reduce Libertines under the sacred Yoke of the Gospel and to cast into our Spirits the terrour of the last Judgement by a vigorous representation of the pains of Hell and the dreadful consequence of our unbeleif and to sustain in some sort the Dignity Grandeur and Majesty of the Subjects whereof our Religion makes profession It is also without doubt for this reason that the two Apostles of our Lord were called the Children of Thunder for the word of God which they proclaimed with that dignity which it merited was bright and terrible in their Mouths Few of our Declamators are thus qualified they usually Preach for their recreation or to perform the Injunctions of their Physicians to discharge themselves of some troublesome Fat these are profanations so deplorable that we should with great difficulty beleive it had we not so many examples of it in this Age. §. 2. We do not enough consider that it is on Gods account we speak when we Preach by which means we deprive the Word of its weight and authority for the greatest part of Preachers speak only of their Patrons to whom they make a merchandise of themselves and extinguish in some manner the Spirit of God to give place entirely to their own exorbitant and extravagant Fancies This was not the practice of the antient Prophets who were the Preachers of the old Law they spoke not as private men to the People Pro Christo legati one fungimur tanquam deo exhortante per nos 2 Cor. 5. but as men sent from God and the grandeur of that Master whose commands they delivered attracted the respect of their Auditors I have sometime seen an Ambassador of a petty stranger Prince who had no Talent in speaking but because he was to speak on the account of his Master he assumed on himself an air of authority by which he procured attention and perswaded meerly by the address he had to make himself considered What weight then should we give to the Word of God if we know the Art to treat of it as the word of God and not as a pure invention of the wit of man he therefore that would Preach the Word with success must do as Saint Paul did Per arma Justitiae in verbo veritatis in virtute Dei Cor. 2. §. 3. As this sacred Eloquence travels in a Feild infinitely more large than Eloquence profane It proposes an eternal Kingdome for the object of our hopes and torments which indure for ever of our fears and caution The sanctity of our mysteries the purity of our morality the Majesty of the God which we adore of whom we find so many great Idaea's in the holy Scripture and all those glorious Truths which render our Religion so august are the most ordinary Subjects wherein this divine Eloquence is exercised It demands also to work the effects which it proposes to it self greater natural qualities and a genius more elevated than is required in humane Eloquence A Preacher therefore ought to have great exteriour quaties Gravity in all his Person Dignity in his countenance Devotion in his Eyes a certain ardeur in his Pronunciation a Freedome in all his Action and the Air of a Prophet but a sole assembly of these exteriour qualities is so rare that I have not known a Preacher in this Age that came near this description except one this one had an excellent natural disposition for Preaching joyned with the vivacity of imagination and a fineness of Spirit which he possessed in a soveraign degree and which gave him a wonderful facility in expressing himself the greatest that I have ever seen in any person he had yet a Talent in pronunciation the most extraordinary in the world that one might say that he was an Orator in his countenance in his voice in his gesture and in all his actions he could make his Eyes with an easie motion speak any thing give an inflection to his voice an air to his visage any
and to be excellent in this Art they attribute to themselves the glory and success of their perswasions when they have done no more than what is effected by the impression of the voice and the exterior part of speech upon the heart Our Religion teaches us that it is the holy Spirit alone which does the rest §. 19. Another cause of the ill success in preaching is the Preachers being too much abandon'd to himself without ever thinking to implore the assistance and succours of heaven whereby he is driven to mix his own imaginations and weaknesses with the grandeur and sanctity of our Mysteries like that impertinent Preacher who preach't one day very miserably before a reverend Bishop making this complement after Sermon that he was forced to abandon himself to the holy Spirit because he had been allowed but a little time for preparation Adding that hereafter he hoped to acquit himself better There is something so great and elevated which I know not how to name in our Mysteries that it suffices to expose them simply and without Art to the people to merit all the glory that can be hoped from Eloquence were it honest to preach for Reputation §. 20. He treats unworthily the Word of God who debases himself to the childish amplifications of petty subjects and to meer trifles amongst the great number of important matters which furnish our Religion following the example of those trifling Preachers who spend their Zeal against Paintings Garnitures Dresses and other vanities of Women A good man begins by throwing a terror into our Souls by a remembrance of the Judgments of God and making us tremble by proclaiming the dreadful consequences of our Sins this is the most powerful means to extirpate Luxury and the most capable to introduce Modesty in our Habits and Behaviour He does but trifle that thinks to effect it any other way And in truth in so great and rich abundance of great matters which the Gospel affords he must have a very low spirit who can stay and busie himself about such trivial subjects I know not by what unhappiness our Preachers become so nugatory in the great subjects they have to treat when the antient Pagans were even great and elevated in the least things that they had to say I am ashamed when I read the Oration of Eschines against Ctesiphon where that Orator makes shine with so much Art the power of a Pagan Eloquence in these Trifles We says he are come to the Feast of Corbeils the Victims are upon the Altars the Sacrifice is ready and you are all prepared to beg of the Gods what is necessary for the State But consider before with what voice with what spirit and with what assurance you can present your Vows if you leave the Impiety of those who have violated their Mysteries unpunish'd See how much spirit and how much greatness there is in solittle a subject in comparison of that languor and weakness of most part of our Preachers who instead of being elevated by the Majesty and Greatness of our Mysteries amuse themselves in little things because they have not that force of spirit to fasten upon the greater The grave and serious kind is the character most essential to the Pulpit which admits of nothing that is low cold trivial or childish to obtain this he must imitate the Apostle who in lieu of busying himself in the search of prophane Ornaments made all his Art and all his Eloquence out of the continual meditation of the greatness of Jesus Christ Non doctas fabulas seculi notam fecimus nobis Jesu Christi virtutem speculatores facti illius magnitudinis §. 21. The most refined and sublime matters are not the most proper for preaching but on the contrary those that are the most edifying and simple For these reasons we ought to blame that extravagancy of wit which reigns in this age and labours after curious designs and ingenious distributions and division of discourse which gains so much approbation from the Ladies Such was that division of the Preacher who preaching on the suffering of our Saviour thought he had acquitted himself very dexterously when he had shown in two parts of his discourse The pleasures in sufferings and the sufferings in pleasures This affectation in discourse appears so childish smells so much of the Scholler and Declamator and so little of the gravity of the Pulpit that it is pittied by every one who has the least use of their reason for in those studied oppositions there is seldom any thing that is solid though sometime possibly they may be witty yet the parts are oftentimes comprehended the one in the other when they are exactly discuss'd And this contains but one and the same thing in effect though they are two in appearance Beside they often weaken the Subject by this too curious care to give it an agreeable variety which would be more strong if it were more natural It is for the most part the younger Preachers who seek after this fineness in the division of their discourses It was not the manner of St. Chrysostome nor those great men of the Church they found the most common distributions as being most natural alwayes the best they had a noble contempt of the reputation of being witty in these kind of things which only can succeed by being natural by their simplicity and by the strength of the reasons that recommend them §. 22. Nothing so much contributed to the great success the Apostles had in preaching the Gospel than their own practise of it their example was the best instruction and their preachings were rendred more powerful by their humility by their mortification and by their poverty than by their reasonings or Discourse And indeed the most effectual way of perswasion to Christianity is by the Life and Manners of those that preach It was the Eloquence of Jesus Christ first to practise himself what he taught He that preaches a severe morality with a cheerful and vermilion countenance will not easily perswade to what he exhorts for he gives cause to believe that he practiceth not what he teacheth and his visage destroyes his Reasons All the world hath seen the little success of some who could not by all the emotion of their zeal make the least impression because the rigour of their morality had diminished nothing from their thriving Carkases for the Auditors oftentimes regard more his Countenance than his Reasons The Countenance of the Preacher gives not a little consolation to those who cannot accommodate themselves to that severity which these sanguine Complexions dispence with so much zeal I do not say but that the people whose understandings are dull may be imposed upon but the exteriour part cannot do it for they judge according to appearance and though the Preacher may speak never so great a truth if his Manners be suspected his Reasons will be so also It is somtimes necessary to speak little to perswade much for all appears false
Saints which they must propose to the Faithful as the true Models of that perfection which God demands of them according to their divers Conditions and Vocations 17. Finally the strange misery of the most part of Mankind especially of great men who run after falsity and mistake and who occupy their minds in Chimera's and illusions whereof they serve themselves to maintain the Maximes of their Libertinism There are a great number of other Subjects of equal importance with these as that essential Character of a Christian which is the Iove of our Neighbour with an universal Charity which doth not exclude our greatest Enemies the pardon of injuries conformity to the Will of God in our adversity alms the distrust of our selves the good use of our time and a faithful employment of our Graces penitence humane respects which are so contrary to the profession of Christianity the horrour of sin the care of our salvation the omnipresence of God fervency in his Service prayer and all things that are most capable to move the hearts and contribute to the edification of the people we must above all things endeavour He cannot too often propose to the people the innocence of manners which the sanctity of our Religion requires which cannot easily be attained but a by holy retreat and a love of solitude The commerce of the world how holy so e're it be infects the heart with a contagion which will corrupt our manners in spite of all our precaution The purity of Christian Religion is so great that we cannot attain any perfection in it but by a desertion and holy separation from the world and from men This is that which the great Martyr of Sieily Saint Agatha had so well learned when she bless'd God with all her heart that he had taken from her the spirit and care of the world Qui tulisti a me amorem seculi In effect there is no man so good as he that lives conceal'd and the most secret way is the most secure to arrive at Heaven It remains to atchieve fully these Reflections that I propose some Model Those who have good natural disposition for this Eloquence may frame themselves To effect this I have given two examples of the most perfect Preachers that I have known in this Age though their accomplishments may appear miraculous yet those who have heard them speak will acknowledge that I have not represented them greater than they really were and that those whom I have described are not only Preachers in Idea but such as were so indeed without which I might be suspected to impose and amplifie The first had the greatest natural disposition for Eloquence that I have seen his person was graceful his visage was very agreeable he was grave and modest and all his outward behaviour was very taking his voice was not the most excellent but very clear and intelligible and I know not so insinuating as irresistably ingaged the attention The qualities of his spirit were answerable he had a great penetration and exquisite understanding a strong reason an easie comprehension a fine imagination and a judgment very solid his learning consisted in a perfect knowledge of Divinity which enabled him to decide all matters clearly and without ambiguity To this he had joyned a perfect knowledge of the Fathers of which he made use with so much happiness and address that they seem'd to have been writ purposely for him But nothing contributed so much to the renown of his learning as that admirable Eloquence wherein he was extreamly happy he could make what impression he pleased upon his Auditors by a pleasing variety he gave to every thing His reasons so mutually supported each other that the last was alwayes more strong than the first and besides he had nothing false or sophistical in his reasonings but all exceeding solid the force of his discourse increasing by degrees the nearer it approach'd to the end striking the spirit with more vigour at the conclusion than at the beginning Finally his true talent was to enlighten fully the understanding and to touch yet more sensibly the heart all his discourse was a marvelous illumination of the matters whereof he treated and after he had cast into the spirit the seed of the movements that he proposed by the wonderful power that he had he set in an instant all the engines of the soul on work by those movements that he judg'd most capable to be touched and inflamed the heart by all the heat and ardeur of the passions whereof he perfectly knew the art by a peculiar Rhetorick that he had formed they hearkned to his Sermons with pleasure because it enter'd into their minds by this pleasing artifice and he never preach't so long but his Auditors could have wished his Sermon longer and they never apprehended him near his conclusion without a very sensible Regret For in those moments that he took possession of their hearts he became absolute master to do what he pleas'd he had this Art in so eminent a degree that I have known some Libertines who could not resolve to hear him out of fear of being constrained to render themselves to his reasons for whosoever heard became without resistance his captive But nothing spoke so much to his advantage as the profound silence of his Auditors When he had finished his Sermon one might alwayes have seen them rise from their seats with their countenances pale and disfigured with their eyes heavy and dejected and to depart from the Church strangely moved and pensive without saying a word especially in the most touching Subjects and when he took occasion to speak of what was terrible he shewed that he had the same reflections with that great Master of this Art Naturaliter plus valet apud plurimus timor malorum quam spes bonorum The spirits of the people are less sensible to the hopes of good than to the fear of evil This made him alwayes say that a Preacher should generally preach terror and this indeed was his chief Character but as he sometimes preached out of humour to which the greatest men are subject he had in certain subjects such a heaviness of spirit as would not have without difficulty been understood with out that touching and pathetick Air which was his first talent The other Preacher that I have known had an equal natural disposition and I dare say all the learning of the former but he possess 't it in a very different manner I never saw more of Art in any Orator nor never more diligence to conceal it for under the appearance of a simplicity and negligence he cover'd the greatest Art that ever was This negligence was accompanied with so many graces that alwayes charmed because his Auditors were perswaded by his manner of speech that he thought of nothing less His soveraign Talent was the secret that he had found to make it believ'd that all his Art was natural because that it was couched under the most studied
LICENSED Roger L' Estrange Decemb. 13. 1671. REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THESE TIMES Particularly of the BARR AND PULPIT LONDON Printed for Richard Preston in Turn-stile Alley in Holborn 1672. THE EPISTLE TO HIS Ingenious Friend T.B. SIR ELoquence is so natural to persons of your House that it is difficult to form any Ideas but what you have already conceived or to write any thing upon this glorious Subject that you have not perfectly considered All the world knows that it was this Eloquence joyned with a great Capacity with a Probity yet more great and with all those Vertues which Quintilian gives for its companions which hath advanced your Father to the first preferments in the Church and who yet attracts the admiration of of this renowned Kingdom The chiefest glory that you have acquired in pursuing such noble paths you have obtained from Eloquence It is to her that you owe those great praises that you have merited in your first sally into the World For this cause Sir the Reflections that I present you belong most justly to your self do you protect them Sir and it will render them more acceptable to those who read them For who can refuse to read or give their approbation to what appears authorized by a name so auspitious to Eloquence as yours is How oft Sir have I admir'd that solid Spirit that excellent Judgment that vast and illuminated understanding which you have in all things and in which you are so very much distinguish'd from all those that are considerable upon the account of their vertue and great qualities But as you aspire not to any other reputation but what flows mixt with pleasure from an honourable discharge of your sacred Function I forbear to make a further discovery of what all the world observes in you which all your modesty cannot conceal Yet how would the Publick accuse me if out of fear of wounding your modesty I should neglect to speak of that unexampled moderation which you have witnessed in the flower of your Age in renouncing all things to apply your self only to copy even to the least Tracts from that admirable Model which you have perpetually before your eyes It is there Sir that you find an inexhaustible fountain of bounty of Knowledge and of Piety which are not to be met elsewhere How infinitely above others are you rendred capable of all these excellences by a Study such as that is and by an imitation of such a Father O what a happiness is it to have a domestick example which alone includes all others It is not Fortune alone that distributes these advantages there is required vertue which must be as naturalized in a Family to merit these favours of Heaven I have said perhaps too much for a man that desires not to be known For it is not enough to conceal my name but I should also have conceal'd my Zeal and contented my self that you know who I am and with what passion I am Sir Your very humble and obedient Servant N. N. THE Epistle TO THE READER THat Eloquence which rendred the possessors of it so illustrious in the happy age of Augustus and in that of his Immortal Predecessors Has now lost all its wonted Charms and natural Beauties The nobleness of its end and dignity of its use is so little preserved in this vain and voluptuous Age that it is no wonder to see it degenerated into a thing meerly superficial We labour in the composition of Perfumes and our cares are only scrupulous in the disposition of Words and an arrangment of Sentences with a beautiful variety of Periods we commonly hunt after glistring Metaphors and making choice of expressions which go to the pomp and ostentation of our Language even sometimes to the contempt and ruine of Piety whilst we neglect out of a sloathful impatience what goes to the essence of it True Eloquence consists not in the number of Syllables nor in a musical ordering of Dactyles or Sponds to make up harmony Of which kind was that Oration of Ovid which Seneca calls solutum Carmen Alas how miserably do they mistake who make it consist in a few fugitive words True Eloquence is a thing that survives in the most ingrateful Memories and makes its passage into the most secret parts of Man descends to the bottom of his heart and pierces even to the Center of the soul It is above the scrupulous Precepts of Grammarians Priscian has no longer any Jurisdiction over us nor are his Precepts of more force to us than the Edicts of the Great Mogul The Compilators of common places the Copiers of others Rhetoricks or the Translators of some Chapters of Quintilian are not of the number of those who do successfully attach or captivate the Soul they may have their Faction and be satisfied with their applauses but yet all their victories are only in Picture their triumphs in Masquerade and all their false miracles but a shadow The world is so far become reasonable as that pedantry has lost its credit even in the Vniversities Their travel is to be pittied who are busied in the gathering and tying together of Flowers and decking their declamations in affected Ornaments which only surprize the Ignorant and the Vulgar True Eloquence has the mean of an Amazon rather than of a Wanton She is not so curious of her Ornaments as of her Armes and had rather gain the soul by an entire victory than debauch it for a few hours by a light satisfaction all her charms are the charms of a Majestick Beauty which only triumphs over great Souls and dazle not the Imprudent by a borrowed and affected lustre It must well consided that besides the knowledge of all Sciences an Orator must be acquainted with all the different avenues to the seat of Reason he must perfectly know the strength and weakness of humane spirit and those parts of the soul that are most pregnable I have often blushed with indignation at the reading of some of our Late Writers so much are also their stiles vitiated and depraved and to see so few Imitators of that vigorous and majestick stile of our illustrious Bacon which was the legitimate off-spring of his fine pregnant and powerful Imagination As on the Stage Farce has supplanted Comoedy so in the Press the lascivious and burlesque hath usurp'd upon the grave and modest And what is most deplorable we have seen the holy Scripture it self debased by an impudent and ambitious Jargon and even those Authors which pass for the most polished the most elaborate Discourses are but nugas canoras Six words are oftentimes cramed with twelve figures and all their Sentences pompous and magnificent but that Magnificence is so far removed from sobriety and the Majesty of an Oratory stile that the most rash and prodigal Poesie has nothing more licentious The most of our young Orators as well as Poets are distempered by this wild and extravagant fury In others we find an inequality
Natural Qualities requir'd to succeed in this Art of Speech is extreamly rare there is required an extraordinary elevation of Spirit a great judgment formed by a natural solidity to which the usage of the world and a profound knowledge of Letters must give perfection There is also required a vast Memory and an extended Imagination an easie Comprehension a Voice clear and distinct a Visage that hath nothing of forbidding a Pronunciation fine and animated joyned with an Air of Authority and many other Qualities which being usually incompatible of themselves are very difficultly found all together assembled Cernimus vix singulis aetatibus binos Oratores laudabiles extitisse De Orat. 'T is this that gave cause to Cicero to complain in his time when Eloquence was so flourishing that he could not without great trouble find in that Age two Orators that merited esteem yet this is no reason but that they may be found no was well as at other times for Nature is as liberal of her gifts in these last times as she was in the first but ordinarily we have not so much light to know in our selves those qualities when they are there or sufficient care or application to cultivate them so that they are there as if they were not at all §. 4. Besides this natural disposition there is required to be eloquent a great capacity and a great application These were the three things which rendred the Eloquence of Brutus Erat in Bruto natura admirabilis exquisita doctrina industria singularis De clar Orat. which Cicero praised so much so very accomplish'd There must be a great Attachment to study and an extraordinary diligence at the Cabinet to replenish the Spirit with knowledges necessary to Eloquence It is good to draw from the Sources to study to the bottom the Ancients principally those which are original and in fine to make a Subject of our perpetual Meditation the Rhetorick of Aristotle who hath taken the care to expose so exactly all the particular motions of mans heart The Orator ought to make the chief end of his Study to move the Souls of his Auditors by the movement of his Affections which are the true resorts of this Machine which is so difficult to enflame when we bestow no time in the study of them Without this knowledge an Orator is in a condition to determine nothing nor to obtain the attention of an Oracle which he must ordinarily be esteemed nor can his spirit be capable of any reasonable production according to the opinion of the judicious Critick Neque concipere neque edere partum mens potest nisi ingenti flumine literarum undata By what means can he enlighten others if he himself be not enlightned or how can he perswade if himself be not perswaded And who is there now who can sustain the travel of a study so opiniastre and of a perseverance so great as must be that of the Orator who must be ignorant of nothing §. 5. The true Eloquence being so difficult to acquire we think at least to recompense it by the appearances of a false Eloquence which had its first course amongst the Greeks and Latines in the declinings of their Republicks which never had any subsistence or entertainment than in the servitude of these Nations The Sophists whose Lives Philostratus and Eunapius have describ'd establish'd in their publick places this false eloquence which gives all to the exteriour part by aiery and wandring Discourse and hath no other tendency than to amuse the people but as this Eloquence has nothing of natural the Figures themselves and the Ornaments serve only to render it more weak All its Movements are false it touches not at all the heart nor enters in any manner into the Spirit all that it gives is a pleasure superficial and is no more than a simple pastime for the foolish and idle But as it is easie to mistake universally the false for the true for the former quickly offers it self to the Spirit but the latter is not found than with study and with care the first is immense by the multiplicity of its appearances which serve to disguise it whereas the other has none and consists in some kind in a point indivisible We ought not to be astonished if we take Appearance for Truth in Eloquence as in other things but when we arrive to true discernment we find that there is little of true Eloquence or perfect Oratory and that the most part of those which speak in publick are no other than pure Declamators §. 6. We exercise not our selves to obtain this Eloquence in the way that is most ordinary and sure to succeed in the pursuit that is frequent exercise in composition Nulla res ad dicendum proficit quantum scriptio Cic. fu Brut. to which we must apply our selves with no little assiduity to acquire a habitude for nothing is equal to the advantage we receive by it It was by this way that Demosthenes and Cicero are come to that degree of perfection which every one knows and without speaking of the first who spent so many years in that acquest Caput est quod minime facimus est enim magni laboris quod fugimus quam plurimum scribere De Orat. no person is ignorant that the latter employ'd all his leisure which his Affairs allow'd him to exercise himself to speak well by this frequent use of Composition §. 7. We study not to speak things correctly nor to make our Images and Portraicts equal we speak usually too much or too little the Mean that we must hold is known to very few persons for that it is almost imperceptible to attain which Knowledge we have but very few Rules And as a skilful Painter knows how to distinguish Passions in different Subjects wherein he is to express them he does not make the joy of a Prince like that of a Valet nor the fiercness of a common Souldier equal to that of his General There are also in the motions of the Soul different degrees which the Orator ought to distinguish to avoid the confusion of Images Which are not well comprehended or understood but by those who are perfect Masters of the Art The Ignorance of this Principle so little practised occasions the making so many false pictures of Eloquence In omnibus rebus videndum quatenus etsi enim suus cuique modus est tamen majus offen dit nimium quam parum De clar Or at It is important in the multitude of Idea's which present themselves to the Fancy to make a just choice and to avoid taking the false for the true this demands an exact discernment a great experience and an exquisite understanding we ought above all to make a reflection that the extremity and heat of our Fancy may not transport us and the too much shocks more than the too little This is that which the Roman Orator reproves so many times in his books of Rhetorick
For the too much is alwayes a mark that we are transported beyond our selves which is a great fault but the too little may seem a mark of Moderation and Reserve which is alwayes a Virtue §. 8. We think it not enough to bestow our Cares in the study of our natural disposition to follow its inclination without committing some constraint in affecting Manners which becomes us not and in forcing through violent studies wherewith we become overburdened or in fine in imposing an air of Greatness or of more Art than we are able to sustain this began as Cicero notes first to make Eloquence degenerate from that Grandeur which it had in Athens under Pericles Lysias Eschenes and Demosthenes for that Demetrius Phalerius affected more of Art than his Genius could bear Phalereus non tam armis quam Palaestra inslitutus Cicero in Brut. §. 9. The Pronunciation which is one of the most important parts of Eloquence is yet one of the most neglected It renders Eloquence sensible to the people by the composition of the exteriour part and which hath the Art to impose by the appearances when it wants the power to touch by its effects If its virtue be so great as to make impression in Subjects feigned and supposed as it doth upon a Theater in a Comedy what can she not do when things true are her object But this admirable Art becomes unprofitable to those which speak in publick because of the little care they have to use and apply it 't is true he must have much of the natural in him who succeeds well in this Art but where he wants that application may supply The Eloquence of Demosthenes became admirable by his pronunciation though he had not any natural disposition and he was obliged for his success to the pains that he took to obtain it But because we are soon weary of these constraints we cannot resolve to give our selves the pain that is required to form our selves to this exeroise whereby we lose that great advantage that the pronunciation gives to an Orator by giving a certain agreement to his person and by the passionate expressions which it inspires even into his Eyes and Visage Also we may truly say that nothing frustrates more the ordinary effects of Eloquence than the little care we have of the exterior part whose faults become so much more sensible as they are above in delicacy the other pleasures we receive from Eloquence which being an Art to please by the profession which it makes hath nothing more opposed to it than that which is violent and disagreeable in the action §. 10. Those which make profession to speak in publick are not so careful to put in use their Logick either by a pure negligence to instruct themselves in it or by a natural debility to practise it or in fine by a very blameable regret they have to put themselves in pain of a little Meditation in which the Discourses of Ceremony or of Interests of State with those of Religion have not any part and those which are purely for pomp and preparation are ordinarily those wherein Logick finds its self most defective for that they are too wandring or too abstract for the general matters whereof they treat Logick is the first Rule of Discourse and the universal Organ of Speech to discourse without this Instrument 't is but to beat the Air and make a noise we canot say any thing that 's judicious or supportable without it How oft do we abandon it and when we put it into use how many extravagances do we commit either by the confusion of the expressions wherewith we perplex it or in fine by the Idea we form of false Reasonings to supply the want of the true Reason which cannot inhabit but in a Spirit fine and penetrating The rareness of such a Character is the reason that we find Eloquence so defective in the most part of those which make profession of it for that the Reasonings on which they establish it are either too mysterious or too common or altogether false and Chimaerical and if we examine things well we shall find that commonly in the usage of Eloquence in this age there is no defect so essential as that of Reasoning to which we have no great care to form our selves This is not so much obtained by the study of Logick which we learn at the Colledge as by the reading Aristotles Rhetorick and by the frequent commerce we must have with good Books the reading whereof imprints upon the spirit a justness of apprehension which cannot be acquired without it A right judgment is sometimes a Gift which comes purely from Nature but when we have it not we must labour to find it in Books whereof we must be careful to make a good choice for we may meet with some Books which instead of rectifying may quite destroy our judgments We must therefore take counsel of the most knowing persons upon what we are not able to understand our selves The neglect of this is the reason why so few persons are capable and young men yet more than others for that their experience and the usage of things have not yet form'd their Spirit But though the want of Logick be the most ordinary defect of those that speak in publick yet it is a thing whereof there alwayes appears the least want for none but men of the finest spirits whereof there is alwayes the fewest are capable of that knowledge not but that the people perceive very well the natural order of Discourse and all that there is of Logick in it without knowing it but their Light reaches not so far to see what is false in his Reasonings or defectuous in the order and pursuit of his Design Upon which we may make three Orders of Spirits the first of those which attend only to the Words to judge of their Beauty the second of those which go further and who judge of the Thoughts the third of those which go even to judge even of the whole Design Order and Proportion of the Parts which last is not known but by the most intelligent There are some Orators who leave not their Auditors liberty to examine the bottom of their Discourse by a certain Charm of Words and of Thoughts wherewith they surprize them There are some others which quite blind us by the agreeable manner of expressing things I have known a person of this sort who alwayes pleas'd though his Discourse was very little correct either in the Order or Reasoning but after all he pleas'd none but Women and the Ignorant the more understanding esteem'd him not §. 11. When we apply our selves to the study of Eloquence we are accustomed to mistake by the false measures we take of it or of its Subject or of those to whom we address our selves For an Orator who hath a great elevation of Spirit many times takes too great a pleasure in pursuing his own Fancy without giving any care to proportion
perfect Orators since a perfect Orator cannot be form'd but in an Age happy and in a people of good Gust §. 16. The Soveraign Art of Eloquence consisteth in a scrupulous attention to Nature as to its true Model and first Original whereof we have so little knowledge by reason of the little care we take to pursue the Tracts and to observe the conduct we must study then to know well this great Model and to examine all its Resorts by a profound study of Philosophy and a long observation of natural things for so often as we depart from Nature we fall into errour and mistake the heat of our most passionate motions is but a false heat the most dazling splendour of her Figures are but a false and deceitful blaze and the greatest of her Reasons hath nothing real and is no other than a sophistical Declamation and pure Illusion §. 17. We find very little of construction in the Discourses of the most of our publick Orators because they apply not themselves to study the Rules of Speech Those which have a genius for Eloquence find it a trouble to abase themselves to those little scrupulous cares which are necessary to succeed well the natural elevation of their spirit cannot be subjected to those circumspections and those that have not that genius are subject to fall into the fault of affectation to supply by words that which they want of light to understand things well §. 18. The most ordinary source of those defects which we meet with in the expression which is so essential to Eloquence comes from the natural defects of the imagination The expression falls into a Lux and into superfluity when the Imagination is too quick and ardent she falls into galimatia's and into obscurity when the Imagination is too abundant and too profuse In fine it falls into a faint languishing and insipidness when the Imagination is too cold too heavy and enveloped §. 19. We scarce ever study that just temperament which is of so much use in the mixing in our Discourse Reason with Authority Comparison and Similitude with Example and Induction In the usage it self which we make of this great Instrument of perswasion we apply not our selves with any care to arrange our reasons in such a manner as that the one may sustain the other by the order which we give them for the stronger Reasons ought to succeed the weak and the most solid to those that are the less solid to the end that the Discourse may sustain and elevate it self the nearer it approaches to the period of its perfection This is a thing of such Importance that the only neglect of this observation renders somtimes the reasonings which are very strong and solid little effective for that they weaken themselves when the proportion of the reasons is not observed This proportion consists in the not urging of any thing that may appear weak when we have said any thing more perswasive For the latter Reasons make the most lasting impression in the spirit and ought therefore as I have said before to be the most strong Besides the mannagement of the Reasons which ought to be placed in their natural order and ought not to be confounded they must also be orderly mannaged in the use which we make of Induction least we be exposed to an inconsiderate multiplication Also our Orator must have that admirable Art which knows generously to retrench superfluities in things as well as words and to suppress too frequent Ornaments without hearkning to the transport of the Imagination which by a natural inclination suffers it self to be carryed away to a vain splendour of Discourse which usually hath nothing of solid Eloquence he cannot move with success those great Machines of het Art without these precautions which are of the highest consequence for that they reduce things to their natural estate But these Observations are but seldom practic'd because they are but little known §. 20. That Eloquence which touches not the spirit and makes not its way to the heart is not true Eloquence it is no more than a pure instruction which ought not to be used but in the School And all those Beauties which smite the spirit without affecting the heart are not true Beauties That great Air it self which Longinus teaches affects but little when it doth not dazle nor astonish as he avows himself for that it enters not into the thoughts of those to whom we speak All those great expressions without as great thoughts are like those great Ships that are not ballanced they float and never sail in safety §. 21. That Eloquence in general which bestowes too much care in the arrangment of words Cum verborum derogat affectibus fidem et ubicunq ais o lentatur veritas abesse videtur Quint. l. 10. c. 4. Non ad judiciorum certamen sed ad voluptatem aurium scripserat Isocrates Cic Orat. and of that outward splendour which glisters in the expression almost never succeeds We are usually displeas'd with all things which appear studied and artificial That great Orator Isocrates which wrote as it seems only for pleasure was not fit for affairs and had never succeeded at the Barr for that he was too polish'd This was the manner also of the Sophists upon whom Socrates rallyes so pleasantly in Plato's Phaedra and Longinus notes in the great artifice of Hiperides who used to fill his Discourse with too many Ornaments and too many beauties It is a great Art to know how to mannage these Ornaments and to dispose them in their due place when necessity obliges to make use of them The Artifice of Eloquence cannot have any effect but against it self when it is too dazling for thereby it becomes suspected and we regard it only as a Page which is gawdily drest Quae parâ—nt retia vitat avâ—s Ovid. for no other end than to surprize Besides that which strikes the spirit and the sense with too much splendor wearies and oppresses In fine 't is necessary that the matters themselves be not without beauty to bear those great Ornaments which become ridiculous in little Subjects for there is nothing more contrary to Art than to adorn what merits it not And 't is not of the least importance in this Art to know what is to be neglected and what is not To be too expensive in Ornaments is but a vain and fruitless prodigality for we often find that which glisters most in Discourse is most usually false Those studied Figures those fine Antithesies and those splendid Epithites are not alwayes conformable to good sense True Eloquence doth not dazle or surprize but insinuates by little and little into the spirit The Reasons that are most capable to move are ordinarily the most common as Aristotle teacheth us Topic. 1. And the most natural Language to which we are carried by the sole desire we have to make our selves understood is most proper and the best Those Discourses which require
much of spirit and ornament as Panegyricks and Funeral Orations contain little that 's very solid and generally owe their success to the pronunciation We may discover the truth when they come to the Press which I advise those that make them not to publish When they want that heat of action which first gave them life they make no longer any impression There are Images in Eloquence as there is in painting which somtime must be shown to the view ar a distance and somtime near at hand §. 22. There is required in Eloquence less of Genius to invent things than to place them in order For that place which we must assign to have them dispos'd where they ought to be will cost more than the pains we are at in cogitation and invention for every reasonable spirit may have reasonable thoughts but it is not so easie to give to our thoughts that grace which renders things agreeable and which makes them to be admir'd This is it in which consists Eloquence I mean not that Eloquence of words which we ordinarily know but too much but the Eloquence of things which we seldom well understand and have little knowledg of and the perfect attainment of which we cannot hope than from an happy Nature We may know the price of this Art by the great difference in the same things diversified This right disposal of things ordinarily makes the beauty of an Oration and though this Air be usually the bounty of our Nature yet we have means to acquire it when Nature hath denyed it as a frequent use of Composition under a good Master or an intelligent friend and a diligent commerce with ancient Authors it is from them that we learn that justness which gives to the Spirit that agreeable variety and which the spirit communicates to all its thoughts and Imaginations when we have a Genius for it §. 23. There is not according to the sentiment of Cicero any true Eloquence Eloquentiam quae admirationem non habet nullamjudico Cic in Brut. but that which doth attract an admiration and there is nothing more capable to render it admirable according to the judgment of that great man than the pictures that it makes of manners and those motions that it excites in those divers passions which it toucheth This cannot be effected without a perfect knowledg of the heart of man which ought to be the soveraign Science of the Orator The Portraicts that he makes of manners cannot be false if he know well the principal which is the heart and he will know without doubt how to move with success the most hidden Parts of the soul that is to say the Passions by the same knowledg of the heart which is the sourse The little cares that the most part of those that speak in publick have to know the depth of that abysm which appears so difficult to descend is the cause that we have so few successful Orators For this cause those who make profession of Eloquence ought to make very serious Reflections for all being well considered no man is properly eloquent who knows not the heart of man and all its intricate Maeanders to expose them to the people §. 24. Quis ignorat eloquentiam descivisse a veteri gloria no inopia hominum sed desidia juventutis parentum negligen tia et inscitia precipientium The evil Education of Youth caused by the extream luxury and delicateness of this Age by the indulgence of Parents by the little experience of Masters and by the ignorance of the most part of those with whom we converse is one of the most certain Causes that there is so little success in this Art it being one of the greatest obstacles to Eloquence We conduct our Youth through false and unequal paths and through very unskilful methods who being corrupted even in their principals it is no wonder if their success be so little happy and their purfuits unprofitable §. 25. I do not affirm that there are not yet some sparks of wit remaining which eminently shine in some of the Orators of this Age who cease not to merit applause and reputation but because Eloquence purely natural cannot atchieve any thing without the succour of Art as may be usually observed either by the false principles which we assume or the little application of those who make profession of it it cannot arrive to merit the general admiration of the people by the marveilous effects which it would produce upon their hearts if it were accomplished I have thus finished the Reflections as may be made upon the use of the Eloquence of this Time considered in general and upon that which may hinder its effects in those occasions which it hath to make appear its power over hearts Those that follow are Reflections upon the use of Eloquence in particular and the two principal Species of it The Eloquence of the Barr and that of the Pulpit wherein I have remarked the abuse which may be committed in the one and in the other and the means to succeed with moderate felicity in both REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THE BARR ELoquence in General may be reduced to two Species Whereof one is occupied in Interests of State The other in those of Religion also one is prophane the other Sacred The first hath a vaster Cariere than we are able to think she is not bufied only to sustain an Ordinance nor to defend a Law she exerciseth her self in rhe Campaign as well as in the Cabinet she presides over States and is imploy'd in Councils of War she rules in the Camp and hath the greatest part in the Government and Ministry of Kingdomes But because she is at all times more particular in Cabinets where we cannot penetrate to come to the knowledg of her where she passeth for a Mistery and is no where so publick as at the Barr I 'le confine my self to the state which she holds there being the place where she appears with most advantage §. 1. At the Barr we give no time to the study of Eloquence but what we gave in the first studies of our Youth which are ordinarily too precipitate too confused or too superficial This renders us unable to form any just or reasonable Idea of it Besides the great advantages that the Greeks and Romans had by the force of their Genius and by their great natural dispositions they had to speak they made Eloquence their continual study during their lives they travel'd all the World to understand the most choyce Masters of this Art they laid out a long time and study to form their spirits upon the great models which they went to seek out of other Countries they did not occupy themselves as if they were to gain nothing by it they placed their pleasure their hopes their fortune and all their ambition in the study of it for ir was then able to elevate them to the greatest Honours But the young men of these Times with a very
indifferent genius's believe that the reading of a Romance or a Comedy is sufficient to acquire all the Eloquence which is necessary to the Bar. We are not excited by the same hopes of Glory as the Greeks and Romans were amongst whom Eloquence attained so much splendour because it was the way that conducted to the highest Honours even to the Soveraign power it self §. 2. When all the Qualities requisite to succeed in the Eloquence of the Barr concur in an Orator with all the perseverance of Application and is encouraged in it by a prospect of Interest and Ambition yet those little condescentions to which he must submit in a scrupulous and exact usage of the practick would be able to weary the spirit and to take away the power to form an Idea according to Art and Nature he must have a care to shun this default and to prevent it by an anticipated study of Eloquence where we must form the spirit before we abandon the Imagination to the barbarous terms of the practick §. 3. The Eloquence of the Barr is too much subjected to the divers Fantasies of Language which reign in this Age according to the different gusts which prevail and corrupt it by taking away the natural beauties in giving it false and adulterate There was a tedious kind of Eloquence which had once the vogue amongst the Romans which consisted in a long and perplexing Discourse But this gust changing with the Age one more judicious succeeded Nevertheless it is true that the Eloquence of the barr demands a Manner diffused and extended Subselia grand iorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant Cic. in Brut. But that Embarras of words to which these kind of Declamators usually abandon themselves alwayes displeaseth We are not now taken with things so little real and solid §. 4. Too great a care to appear regular exact and just in our Discourse is somtime very dangerous it wearies both the attention of those that speak and those that hear We ought to shun this fault and must not alwayes be so scrupulous to speak nothing but what is exact it suffices to have a care to maintain a certain equality and evenness for there is nothing more essential to him that speaks than to speak according to his Genius without force or constraint Besides those scrupulous Orators that speak with so much circumspection have nothing of great or elevated the care they take to speak things so correctly renders flat their spirit and they have not the power to move the heart by the greatness of their thoughts they expose our Language by this constraint and too much scruple to loose its force and abundance being too desirous to preserve its sweetness and delicateness §. 5. There is also another extremity to be avoided which is a too great negligence not only in the ornament of the words but also in the right order and disposal of things Those which have already established their Reputation and which are accustom'd to a long usage of the air of the Barr are most subject to fall into this Errour for when they arrive to above forty years of age and to great imployment they think then of nothing but of what is profitable and solid they abandon the ornaments of Eloquence for they have no time to spend in the thoughts of it And the care of Interest surmounts that of Glory and Ambition §. 6. There are some occasions notwithstanding where this negligence is pardonable and where the heat of a Discourse and the impetuosity of the Genius succeeds somtimes better than all our care the most exact words or all the Ornaments of Art The difficulty is to know and distinguish it when we have sufficient force of spirit and understanding to know it we need not be much troubled to surmount the scruples which may arise from the negligence of certain places in our Discourse which regularly ought not to have been neglected §. 7. There are also certain manners peculiar to the Barr which are known but to few Orators for that they are not discovered but by a great penetration of spirit a serious inquiry into the sourses and in studying with much meditation the great models of Eloquence which we have amongst the Ancients These are the extraordinary efforts of this Art which surprizeth the Judges and which works unforeseen and unexpected effects in their spirits Such was that which Cicero praises in one Canus Ruffius who being accused with much vehemence by Sisenna cryed out with a very touching and animated voyce to the Judges O ye Judges I am circumvented except ye succour me c. That shew of fear that he had to be surprized and the protection he so passionately demanded of his Judges touched them so much that they became favourable to him There are an infinite of like places in Demosthenes and Cicero but we must make reflection that these are not the glistering parts of an Oration or that splendour of words that works these effects These Charms of Eloquence are more in the things themselves than in the words whose beauty we cannot unfold nor give certain Rules to it for that they are inexplicable yet we cannot fail if we have a right judgment of a true discovery Somtime in these great Subjects of Eloquence we must imitate that Master-piece of the Painter who to express the grief of Agamemnon at the sacrifice of his Daughter drew him with his face covered despairing that his Art could express the sorrows of a Father after he had exprest that of his friends in a manner so vigorous These also are the expressions that Cicero requires in matters of importance Significatio saepe major erit quam oratio Cic. in Brut These places ought to be prepared by a passionate and tender Discourse and by all the most studied attractions of that Art to have that success that they ought to have §. 8. Nothing hath so much power on the spirit of his Judges Melior moderatio et nonnun quam etiam patientia bonus altercator vitio ira cundiae carcat Quint. l. 6. c. 4. as the opinion of a general probity and especially a moderation in the affairs which wound his own Interest or that of his Party An affair becomes suspected when it is mannaged with transportation and Choller may ruine the most just Cause for we are apt to believe that Cause to be unjust which useth only passion for its defence Moderation above all other vertues knows the best how to regulate the outward motions and wherewith we are the most sensibly touched And indeed they must have a very ill opinion of their Judg who think him capable to take pleasure in their Choller and in their ill humour §. 9. Loci inanes nec erudita civitate tollerabiles Cic. Nothing so ill consists with the Eloquence of the Barr as that fruitles cumber of Common Places wherewith our Pleaders swell their Discourse beyond proportion and serves only to weary the
patience of the Judg and make him distast that which may be good in the rest They are ordinarily the young men that are most subject to this default they wander about because they want force of spirit to enter immediately into the matter We should render them a great service if we could make them resolve to leave that length and circuit of Discourse which is so much contrary to decorum and becomes odious and insupportable A Discourse spun out with these childish amplifications becomes languishing it only makes the Judges yawn and lulls them into a slumber §. 10. It is also the delight of young men to glister in all they say But true Eloquence seeks not after that vain splendour which is only proper to dazle the spirit We alwayes fall into errour when we study too much to please That Lawyer which relies more upon a passage of Seneca for defence of his Cause than upon good Reason very much deceives himself those glistering passages have not any force to perswade they serve only to waken the spirit of the Judge when it is weary §. 11. We seldome take any care of the exteriour part which relates to action which Cicero calls the Eloquence of the Body whose perfection consists in the gesture and pronunciation because we do not enough comprehend the necessity and importance thereof Quintilian only hath given us any precepts of it which Aristotle and Cicero have omitted possibly believing that it was a gift only of Nature which could not be reduced into Art or Method and have contented themselves only to note us the importance of it which they have done in several places of their works This right pronunciation is so important that we cannot neglect it without renouncing what is most powerful and perswasive in Eloquence It is that which rules most in Discourse and which irresistibly invades the soul and in which consists the greatest force and ornament The great Talent of Hortensius who equall'd Cicero in Reputation was the skilful mannagement of the action He was so admirable in an ardent manner of speaking that Roscius and Aesop the most famous Comedians of that time went alwayes to hear his Orations to learn from him their measure Having so little care to form our selves to this action we need not be astonished that we see so few tracts of that Eloquence which wrought so many wonders in the Times of Cicero and Demoit henes who alwayes endeavour'd to express in themselves by their ardour and vehemence those passions which they intended to excite in the Spirits of their Auditors It is true we have seen Orators some years past who gave weight to all their Reasons by the force wherewith they animated their Discourse but after all their ardency was so ill mannaged that what they said lost its grace by the desire they had to be too passionate for when once the fire mounted to their faces we could understand no more their pronunciation became so confus'd by their excessive transport Some others appear too cold they shew in their greatest affairs little of that emotion which is necessary to enflame the spirit of the Judges which are not at all touched in these great Subjects but by great movements We may say to these languishing Declamators that of Cicero against Calidius who spoke things very touching with an air of tranquility An ista si vera essent sic a te dicerentar All those which speak at the Barr are subject to add to the evil pronunciation which they learn'd at the Colledg One constant and disagreeable tone and an impression of the accent in the penultima syllables which occasions rather laughter than perswasion §. 12. The Subjects which furnish the present condition of the Bar having nothing of great or elevated cannot give to Eloquence those advantages which is found in the more important matters of the Antients Such were the deliberations of War and Peace the considerations of the good of the State and the publick interest the accusations and defenses of Princes and Kings which the great Orators discoursed with so much splendour The interests which are at this time the Subjects of the Barr are sometimes so little considerable that they are not capable to furnish matters of such worth to Eloquence as made it in those times to triumph over hearts His accedebat spl endot rerum magnitudo causarun quibus ipsa plurimum elo quentia praeslat Dialog de cous co eloq Crescit cum amplitudine rerum vis ingenij nee quisquam illustrem orationem facere potest nâ—si qui causam paremi invenit 16. This was one of the advantages that Messalla notes in the Dialogue of Quintilian the antient Orators had above those of his time in effect petty Subjects make petty Orators and the Spirit of him that speaks in publick is elevated by the merit and elevation of the Subject §. 13. There is an Eloquence of pure Authority which is of very great use at the Bar and though it be not passionate and its manner of declaiming be cold and serious yet it has the dignity that is required to imprint respect and veneration we hearken to it as to an Oracle being preingaged in its favour This is the Eloquence of the Judges and those which make Orations to Princes and great Lords who ought to observe this calm and peaceful Eloquence who must speak without emotion to preserve their Character for it ought to have nothing in it but submissive and respective and ought to be regulated according to the rank and quality of those to whom it is addressed either more or less respectively according to their degree or merit REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THE PULPIT T Is a thing above wonder that in so great a number of Persons who apply themselves to Preaching we find so few who succeed seeing they have so many advantages infinitely above all others who speak in publick The Eloquence of the Barr cannot furnish its Orators with matters so important to treat with things so touching to speak nor with such great motives to perswade as this Eloquence of the Pulpit all those Engines which she imployes in moving the Passions are so powerful the Figures of Rhetorick which are as sanctifyed in the Mouth by the commerce it has with the holy Spirit so glorious and the mysteries that it unfolds are so transcendent and it speaks by the dignity of its Character with so much authority that if there be any Eloquence which is perfect Mistress of hearts by the power that it hath to move and by its natural independance it must be this from whence comes it then that we have so few good Preachers It is not the fault of the Auditors since Faith prepares their Spirits to a perfect submission to what they come to hear the sight of Altars inspires them with respect and they are already perswaded by the principles of their Religion of what they come to attend Finally since the Preacher speaks
grace to his gesture and an agreement to to his discourse such as he pleased and all these in such a degree as never had Orator an equal power to him to raise attention and as never any person was more Master of what he said nor of the manner wherein he spoke he could give to the Spirits of his audience what impressions he pleased The greatest places where he Preached was too little to hold the concourse of those that followed him Though this great facility he had in speaking betrayed him into a neglect of preparing himself yet by the mere power of his action in the most indifferent and neglected discourses he could impose upon the People by his manner of speaking the most common things that he said were listend to with the same applause and admiration as those which were the most extraordinary things the choisest Preachers could say He had certainly been the most accomplished Preacher that ever was had his judgment and his capacity answered to his other Talents and if he had not been so excessive in his action which was too significant and besides had not all the gravity that the sanctity of the place required §. 4. These natural Talents sometimes exert themselves in so much splendor that they rob if it be lawful so to speak the word of God of that esteem veneration which we ought to have for it they often procure themselves attention not for that it is on Gods account they speak Non in sapientia verbi ne vacuetur crux Christi 1 Cor. 3. but because they speak agreeably because they are Eloquent Preach novelties or bear some Character of dignity or advancement in the Church or for some other outâ—ard qualities like the People of Jerusalem who went to hear Ezekiel because he was Eloquent For this reason it was that Saint Austine went first to hear Saint Ambrose before he was converted The Preacher ought to shun as a thing too humane and too sensual the giving place in his discourse to the curiosity of the people which he may easily do in taking the resolution to profit rather than please He cannot faile too of success if he know how to speak of good things and to speak them with judgement and knowledge § 5. I do not intend that it is necessary for all those that are called to the ministry to have all those great qualities that I have numbred 't is good that in the Church there should be men of different capacities to be accommodated to those of their Auditors which are so various It suffices to a Preacher that preaches to the common People to know the principal duties of Christianity An indifferent Preacher is sufficiently qualified to entertain Religion and make it subsist in a Village maugre the ignorance and stupidity that reigns amongst us for that mediocrity of genius may always be in an estate to instruct especially if it have joyned with it any Talent inspeaking and though he want the Genius to raise deep concernments yet he may be numbred amongst those Preachers who have the power to make a great noise by an animated manner of speaking which oftentimes works the same effect upon the hearts of the People as the Drums and Trumpets do upon the Souldiers in a Battel The noise astonishes them and makes them run with precipitation upon the Enemy without any reflection whither they go It is not the impulse of Reason which moves the grosser Spirits and awakens them to their duty for they understand it not but it is the emotion and ardeur with which they speak and the loudness of their Exclamations which makes the impression it is not the things themselves that move but the manner of delivering them because the manner is sensible and the things are not It is also manifest that the People judge not so much by the reasons as hath been said as by the tone of the voice they beleive him that speaks most loud and with most confidence and it is to this boldness that they owe the success of their perswasions for the truth is the Soul is not ordinarily moved than by what first vigorously strikes the sense But after all this these popular Preachers must be let to understand that they become ridiculous when they strive to be numbred amongst the fine Spirits and endeavour rather to please than to edifie it suffices in Preaching to the People to propose simply to them the great verities of Religion and the sanctity of its morals without labouring so much for Forms and Ornaments which oftentimes serve only to burthen the Preacher as well as his Audience § 6. The most part of Preachers are rendred very ignorant by mingling themselvs too much in the commerce of the world neglecting to apply themselves with that diligence that is required to the work of the Ministry 't is this reduces them â—oa necessity to copy one from another to furnish themselves with matters for their Sermons They take not the pains to fetch it from the Sources nor indeed have they any knowledge of them this is the cause that they use such ill Reasons to perswade to vertue for they have not a capacity for good reasons nor the Art to make them understood when they have them They usually ruine themselves by this copying from other men and extinguish their own Genius by striving to assume that of others From hence I may say all those deformities which are so ordinary amongst them first receive their birth that which makes so many ill Preachers is the false method they choose they ought not to serve themselves with the designs nor the thoughts of others till they be able to transform them and make them proper to their own Spirits §. 7. This Eloquence only becomes solid in a great capacity nor can any hope to be fortunate in this Art who has not before replenished his mind with all the knowledges necessary to treat the word of God with dignity The most important is that of Divinity without which a Preacher cannot with that confidence and authority give clear resolutions in the subjects whereof he treats It is a great weakness in him that preaches when he cannot determine precisely what is of Faith and what is not or to hesitate when he should decide But we know that there is nothing more great necessary or agreeable in this Eloquence of the Pulpit than Divinity which is the Science of Religion and there is nothing more miserable and disgusting when it is not treated with that sufficiency and dignity with which it ought to be §. 8. A too frequent commerce with the Schoolmen brings a much greater prejudice than advantage to the Preacher when he knows not how to make use of it as he ought and wants Wisdome or a necessary precaution in the reading of them for there is nothing so contrary to Eloquence as the learning of the Schools and I am perswaded that the Lecture of Thomas Aquinas how solid and
is a rich Treasury of things And as it is the Character of the Spirit of man to speak much and in effect to say little so 't is the Character of the holy Spirit to speak little and therein to comprehend much all the holy Scripture hath in it most excellent things couch'd in the most humble and simple expressions which ordinarily enlarge our conceptions beyond the Letter What is more plain and more succinct then these words Verbum caro factum est Joh. 1. Joh. 19. crucifixerunt eum how many Commentaries hath been made upon these words how many dissertations at this day how great must then be the penetration of Spirit which is necessary to discover the depth of These Mysteries We stay our selves upon the superficies of words without searching to the bottom by meditation Who is at this day a Preacher so illuminated to penetrate into all these mysterious darknesses and holy obscurities of sacred Scripture to discover the hidden Treasures thereof alass our want comes from our little meditation thereof Parvuli petierunt panem non erat qui frangeret cis Lament Jer. c. 4. It is the unhappiness of this age that there are so few persons found capable to break the holy Bread of Gods word which ought to be the most ordinary nourishment of the faithful that is to say there are few Preachers so illuminated as to unfold the whole sense of the holy Scripture to the People or who know how to make use of Art which is the most certain means to succeed in their Preaching they Preach their own Imagination and thoughts abandoning the thoughts of the holy Spirit Is not this to be wanting even in the principals for we cannot have a true Idea of Christian Eloquence but from the holy Scripture which is the first original §. 11. There is required besides this reading of the Fathers a diligent study of Divinity joyned with that Art of Eloquence which is formed upon that of the Prophets that the Preacher forms a morality whereof the principles must be taken from the Gospel for all other morality is no more than a certain Pagan probity and pure Philosophy This is not only to be found by the study of the Evangelists but as well in the Epistles of Saint Paul and in the Homilies of Saint Chrysostome where it is so well explained These Homilies ought to be the most ordinary study of the Preacher whereof also he will find great instructions in Saint Austin Saint Jerome Saint Gregory the great in Saint Bernard This diligence ought not to be in the search after beautiful thoughts and shining words which is the fault of most young Preachers which in truth conduce little to the edification of the People or true compunction of heart §. 12. This true morality cannot be taken then from these pure and holy sources whereof I have spoken especially in these times where every one frames to himself morals according to his own fantasie and we find so many extravagant Preachers who impose from the Pulpit their own morose humours and sour temperaments for pure morality which are accompanied with the ridiculous Visions which their Spirit of novelty or their preoccupation inspires Have we not seen some Preachers who notwithstanding their profound ignorance in all that a Preacher ought to know undertake a decision of all things with the utmost rigour and deliver with the assurance of a Prophet and an unparalel'd confidence the greatest absurdities in the World and in matters of morality to hazzard every novelty when the Smoak of their Zeal has once mounted to their heads 'T is the custome of our Nation to run after all that is new or that has any air of singularity but when we have sounded the depth of those Preachers who practice to derive respect on their discourses an affectation of severity on themselves we shall find that they are not altogether so hard to themselves as they are to others Such a one was a young Doctor who Preached five years ago before an honourable Audience who who commenc'd his Sermon by promising in a tone of a Reformator that he would Preach nothing but severe morality and the pure rigour of the Gospel and a little after he canted forth the story of the new Pope wherein he forgot nothing that might rejoyce or give a subject for entertainment to the more sportive part of his Audience Those that would Preach this severity must do as Jesus Christ has done that is to say Preach by his example The Character of Christian severity is to be sweet to others and hard to our selves to do otherwise is to play the Impostor or Comoedian not a Preacher We have seen in this past age false Zealots who made profession to preach â—n morality more rigid than others during which they were lifting up their impure hands to Heaven and fomenting errour upon Earth Finally these Preachers who are so excessive only because they are ignorant and who make Enormities and abominations of mere trifles who will damn a Woman for wearing of Lace or colour'd Ribbonds or for having been a promenading upon a Festival day these Preachers I say dishonour their ministry by the excess of their sottish exaggerations they discourage the faithful by making false Images of crime and authorize Libertinism by these terrible Ideas they give of Vertue whereby they render it more dreadful and salvage than it is §. 13. The little success that most Preachers meet with comes from the little care they have to understand the morals of our Religion and the small Talent they have in dispensing it for nothing so sensibly touches the Spirits as the pourtracts which we make when we make them well in which we are oft rendred wanting by a vain curiosity and a too scrupulous kind of ratiocination This way we take to shun the difficulty we find in the well painting of manners whiâ—h is a thing not only the most capable to attract admiration to the Orator but also the most difficult to succeed in this he must commence by a perfect knowledge of the heart of man he must know the particular of all its motions to make a true pourtraict and to paint men so naturally that they may know themselves in the Pictures that are made of them 'T is in this that almost all Preachers are wanting who represent false Images of manners to their Auditors in making them too difficult or too easie so that they faile of the intended effect for that the Images being false we know them not and what he sayes is quite lost because no person can take it as spoken to himself they Preach to the rich as to the poor to the Courtier as to the Citizen they make the morals of a City the Subject of a Village Sermon and they make elaborate Sermons where simple Catechismes and naked instructions are most proper Every one knows the story of the Preacher who preached all the species of sin against the
negligence in the world so that his Audience easily abandoned themselves to the pleasure that they took in hearing him they suffer'd themselves to be lead without caution or any resistance as his reasons were strong and as he knew how to expose them with all their powers they made extraordinary and proportionable impressions but his manner of delivering them was so pleasing that they could not understand them without being ravished This was the ordinary effect of that Eloquence which was less in the words and things than in the manner of ordering and speaking them And as he had an Art to please in all that he said and that when he spoke he seem'd season'd with the graces which he had delivered he became soveraignly Eloquent for thereby he never failed of perswading he knew how to mix the force of his reasons with Authority and with a temper which adorned all that he said insomuch that he led the spirit of his Auditors in Triumph which way he pleased because they could not defend themselves from the pleasure by which he surprized them All his Morals were correct because his reason was so the Subjects that he treated of were alwayes rendred great by the importance of those Truths whereof they were composed he had nothing false in his thoughts nor superfluous in his words and when he made any digression he alwayes returned to his Subject with all imaginable facility and without the least maim in the sense or connexion By these agreeable wayes he went more directly to the heart than the other who fetched a larger circuit making his way first through the Spirit One was indeed more moved and struck by the force and vehemence of the former but more charmed penetrated and surprized by the graces and agreements of the second After all both the one and the other were fully accomplished in the Character that they assumed and in that Eloquence which they had formed to themselves A Preacher so perfect as these were whose Images I have drawn is one of the greatest gifts that God can bestow on his Church because it is a means to sanctifie whole Provinces and Realms by reforming the Licentious and the irregularity of manners which reigns amongst the People This is that sacred leaven which God by the care of his Providence hath opposed to all the corruptions which have course in the world So that I believe the few good Preachers that we find in these dayes proceeds from the little care they take to ask of God these kind of Graces which cannot be sought with too much passion Let us then pour out our tears at his holy Altars with a Lively Faith with ardent Vows and with a long perseverance Let us alwayes make to God that Prayer that he commended to his Apostles which after their example we are bound to practice Messis quidem multa operarii vero paucirogate ergo Dominum Messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam Luke cap. 10. Thus I have finish'd these few Reflections I have chosen this Method that I might not seem to speak like a Master of a Science which is no less universal than delicate I might be justly accused of presumption if I pretended to give my Opinions as Rules from my self on the contrary I confess I have drawn some of them from the writings of the best Oraors and some I may modestly challenge as the result of my own observation upon the little conformity I have found amongst the Orators of this Age to those antient Precepts of Demosthenes Ciceto and Quintilian whom if I have not cited so often as I approved their Opinions it is not that I would have attributed to my self any part of the glory that is their due but to avoid breaking the thred of my Discourse by too frequent Citations The death of the most excellent Mr. Cowly is very much to be lamented which with that of his Life gave an unhappy period to the design he had conceived to give us the pattern of several Stiles fitted for several Subjects His example might have put some bounds to that Poetick rage from whose invasion our holy places have not escaped Certainly none knew better than he how modestly to confine that Wanton And in this it may be truly affirmed he hath lefvery few successors The Stiles of our most witty men seem the dictates of the same spirit which inspires them in their raptures Though our Common Laws allow but very little place to this Art yet methinks the desire of glory should inflame them and the care to support the Majesty of our Law and the Dignity of its Professors should ingage the Students to lay out some time in the acquisition of this Art and those gentler Sciences that compleat an Orotar But so far are they now from it that when they enter upon that Study they think it necessary to bid adien to all those Sciences which teach Humanity Modesty and sweetens Conversation How miserable a thing is it and how ridiculous to hear in common discourse Plato and Cicero cited out of Cook and Plowden as if the treasures of the Greek and Roman wisdom were to be found couched in those mangled fragments I know not why it should be inconsistent in a well formed and tempered mind to mix these beautiful Studies with those which are more severe this I am sure would add to the honour of our Laws the want of which renders them deformed and despised For though our Law deserves those just commendations by which it is prefer'd to all the Laws of the world yet lex est mutus Magistratus saith Cicero the Law of it self is dumb and speaks not but by the tongue of a learned and eloquent Lawyer Much might be said in commendation of our Language which possibly equals the most celebrated in Europe in the plenty of soft grave and majestick expressions fit for all arguments But since it is a Subject fit for another Discourse I omit further enlarging upon it FINIS