door, to press it upon every man's heart, and " give each their portion of meat in due season."* This power and individuality of application formed the nerve of the preaching of the Jewish Prophets,† and of our Lord's addresses both to classes of men and to individual cases. His language of reproof to the Scribes and Pharisees, to the Sadducees and Herodians, had distinct reference to the particular sins by which those respective bodies were severally distinguished. In his treatment of the young ruler,§ and the woman of Samaria,|| he avoided general remark, to point his instructions to the indulgent habit of sin'talking to their thoughts,' as has been said, in the case of the young man, by a sensible writer, ' as we do to each other's words.' Peter's hearers were pricked to the heart" by this applicatory address.** One cannot but observe that nothing of this kind is found in the instructions of the heathen sages. Plato, Aristotle, and Tully, dealt out to their disciples cold and indefinite descriptions of certain virtues and vices; but without any practical application of their theories, or any endeavours to impress the mind with personal conviction. Horace and Juvenal attempted something in this way, but in a spirit more likely to excite ridicule and disgust, than to open the avenues of the heart to conviction. Their systems indeed afforded no mastersprings to excite feeling or principle. It was a mass of inert matter, without life, motion, or power of interest. The instructions of the Jewish Teachers also were probably of this character. The contrast which * 2 Tim. ii. 15. with Luke xii 42. † Isaiah lviii. 1. Micah iii. 8. Comp. Matt. xxii, xxiii. John iv. 7-26. **Acts. ii. 22-37. the Evangelist draws between their mode of teaching and that of his Divine Master, seems to imply that it consisted chiefly of spiritless disputations, without any attempt to command an influence over the understanding, affections, or conscience.* And indeed little could be expected from discourses drawn much more from the traditions of men, than from the unadulterated source of the oracles of God.† 6 The exigency, however, of the case demands this applicatory preaching. Nothing rouses to consideration, but the sight of a man's own heart laid open before him. Until he feels the Preacher aim the blow at himself, he will continue the customary routine of attendance without uneasiness, and therefore without profit. Mere general discourses, therefore,' as Bishop Stillingfleet remarks, have commonly little effect on the people's minds. But if any thing moves them, it is particular application as to such things in which their consciences are concerned.' Hence the conscience of the audience' should feel the hand of the Preacher searching it, and every individual know where to class himself. The Preacher, who aims at doing good, will endeavour above all things to insulate his hearers, to place each of them apart, and render it impossible for him to escape by losing himself in the crowd. the day of judgment, the attention excited by the surrounding scene, the strange aspect of nature, the dissolution of the elements, and the last trump-will have no other effect, than to cause the reflections of the sinner to return with a more overwhelming tide on his own character, his sentence, his unchanging destiny; and, amid the innumerable millions which surround * Matt. vii. 29. † Mark vii. 1—7. Duties and Rights of the Parochial Clergy, p. 31. At It is thus the Christian him, he will "mourn apart." Minister should endeavour to prepare the tribunal of conscience, and turn the eyes of every one of his hearers upon himself.'* But this applicatory mode should pervade the whole system of our Ministry, and extend to the consolatory as well as to the awakening exhortations of the Gospel. It should direct us to apply the general promises to specific cases as for instance, the promises of Divine forgiveness to every distinct case of penitence and faith -the declarations of Divine direction, support, or comfort, to each particular emergency, as if they had been made for it alone. Indeed, what is considered to be the property of a good portrait, will not inaptly describe a good sermon-that it looks directly at all, though placed in different situations, as if it were glancing with a particular application to each-“ I have a message from God unto thee." Bishop Burnet's remarks on application at the close of our discourses are excellent. Mr. Alleine's preaching affords an interesting illustration of the earnestness and weight which the Bishop would concentrate at this point. 'So loth was he to labour in vain, and to pass from one discourse to another, as one unconcerned whether he had sown any good seeds or no on the hearts of his hearers, that in the close of his applicatory part on any text, he ever expressed his great unwillingness to leave that subject without some assurances that he *Hall on Discouragements, &c. pp. 23, 24. George Herbert's 'Parson was used to preach with particularizing of his speech-for particulars ever touch and awake more than generals.' Chap. vii. Judges iii. 20. Pastoral Care, ch. ix. on Preaching. Claude's observations, with Mr. Simeon's notes appended, may be referred to with advantage. 66 had not " fought" in that spiritual warfare, as one that beateth the air;" when also he expressed his great fear, lest he should, after all his most importunate warnings, leave them as he found them. And here, with how much holy-taking rhetoric did he frequently expostulate the case with impenitent sinners, in words. too many to mention, and yet too weighty to be forgotten; vehemently urging them to come to some good resolve, before he and they parted, and to make their choice either of life or death.'* This applicatory part of our discourses will furnish ample field for the exercise of natural talent and eloquence. The mode of pursuing this system will vary much according to the character of the subjects on which it is exercised. In historical subjects, it may be drawn either from some prominent feature of the record, or from some collateral circumstances connected immediately with it, or with the context in which it stands. In doctrinal subjects, it would be usually deduced in the way of inference, or as illustrating the practical tendency of the subject under discussion, or the experimental privileges flowing from it. The application of a practical subject would naturally follow from the detailed exposition of Christian duty; and would readily suggest for conviction, an inquiry into our influential acknowledgement of the obligation; and for encouragement, and exhibition of its reasonableness and advantages, together with the most effectual methods of overcoming the hindrances of a corrupt nature, tempting world, and powerful enemy. The application of typical or parabolical subjects would be sought from the antitype or doctrine to which *Alleine's Life and Letters. the figure was related. Prophetical texts require considerable care and caution, rightly to apply to practical and experimental purposes. In the prophecies relating to Christ, the path lies in the direct tract of evangelical preaching. The prophecies relating to the church, whether fulfilled or unfulfilled, whether referring to her present and prospective privileges, or to the endurance of tribulations yet in reserve for her-admit of most important personal application, in our interest in her promises, our sympathy in her trials, our anticipations of the glorious prospects of her millennial state, or our danger from judgments impending over her. The prophetic declarations concerning the world, give full scope for exhibiting their connexion with the interests of the church, and the faithfulness of God in her defence, as the strongest support of faith, and the most powerful excitements to peace and love, to humble ourselves before his power, and to seek a lot among his obedient and happy people. The preceding remarks, however, have for the most part supposed the application to be left for the close of the sermon. But Dr. Doddridge's advice was—‘Remember that the final application, reflections, or inferences, are not the only places in which to introduce your addresses to the converted and unconverted.'* The method of perpetual application, where the subject will admit of it, is perhaps best calculated for effectapplying each head distinctly, and addressing separate classes at the close with suitable exhortation, warning, or encouragement. 'You have been half an hour,' said the late Mr. Robinson to a brother clergyman, 'without one word directly aimed at the conscience.' His own * Doddridge's Preaching Lectures, Lect. x. |