to which allusion has been made was reviewed in the London Christian Examiner, in 1820, with approbation. In that review, authority for preaching the sermons of other men was attempted to be found in the early ages of the church. As though the Fathers were infallible on this as well as other subjects, St. Austin is quoted as advancing the sentiment, that "it is very lawful for a man to preach the compositions of others who are most wise and eloquent; provided he adjust his own life to the rule of God's word, and earnestly pray to God that he would make his word in his mouth edifying to his hearers." The reviewers of Hora Homileticæ say also, as their own sentiment: "It is easy to imagine cases in which an occasional indulgence in the practice may not only be allowable, but even expedient and beneficial." By what standard of ethics men are governed, who are willing to advance such a sentiment, it is difficult to conceive.

With some secret misgivings, however, as it would seem, the reviewers of the work mentioned finally recede a little from their recommendation of the practice; and, in another place, they say: "We conceive "We conceive it one of the principal benefits of Mr. Simeon's work, that it tends to supersede the necessity for so doing," (i. e., " preaching the compositions of others,")" and is calculated to lead the theological student to make use of the resources of his own mind, while he avails himself of every extraneous assistance." Of the very slender likelihood, that he who avails himself of such helps as those in the volumes named, will make much use of "the resources of his own mind," in preparing a sermon upon one of these "skeletons," let any one judge for himself, while looking at the skeleton numbered 256, and selected at random, in Simeon's books. It is on "the lost piece of silver," Luke xv. 8-10. The skeleton itself is of about half the length of an ordinary sermon. For besides three divisions or heads of discourse, and three inferences, there are given, in the introduction, eight starting points for sentences, towards the filling up; under the first head, twenty more such starting points; under the second, seventeen ; under the third, twenty-one; and under each inference, six more, -eighteen in all; the sum total of "helps" in the composition of the sermon, -exclusive of the plan, is eighty-four sentences or commencements of sentences; or two-thirds of an ordinary sermon. In other words, a skeleton quite bountifully furnished with the flesh necessary to form the

complete body; and leaving little for the borrower to do, except to clothe it with skin, and set it to talking. And who cannot make sermons, by such a process as this? And what inducement has a preacher to "make use of the resources of his own mind, while he avails himself of" such an amount of assistance?

Of course, it is not at all surprising, that, with the example of so good a man as Mr. Simeon to lead the way, other men have embarked in the same enterprise. Two other works of this description have fallen under our notice; Hannam's "Pulpit Assistant," and "Theological Tracts," which furnish "helps " to this sort of sermonizing, in considerable abundance. These works, as well as that of Simeon, have found their way into this country; one of them has been reprinted here, and all of them have been advertised, for the particular information and benefit of the clergy. The first step towards an American book of this description has been attempted, in a recent volume of "Subjects for Sermons," with texts, compiled from the published sermons of authors, both dead and living; and recommended by some good men, who ought to have known better. While this last is a less exceptionable kind of aid than a volume of plans, it begins the temptation to the young preacher to resign his intellectual independence. He who begins with the habit of borrowing his subjects, even, is not altogether sure where he shall finally stop, short of borrowing plan, sermon, and all.

It is not alone, however, in the use of this description of helps, that intellectual independence is sacrificed. A preacher is sometimes found acting the compiler rather than the author. The plan of the sermon may be his own, and perhaps, to some extent, the filling up. But this good brother whom he has heard preach; or that favorite commentator; or that other popular sermonizer or essayist, is drawn upon for sentences, perhaps occasionally for paragraphs, all unacknowledged. And let the borrowed matter be stricken out from the discourse, and it will be seen that but a very small portion of the sermon, and that not of much value, was the preacher's own production.

Most fully is it to be admitted, that between two writers upon the same subject, there may be accidental resemblances, or striking coincidences of thought. It is most readily admitted that two men of equal powers, examining the same subject, and putting upon paper their views of it, will be liable, from the very nature

of the case, to have like thoughts and methods of reasoning. Dr. Johnson has discussed this point to good purpose.* It ought to be borne in mind, however, that, the diversities of intellectual character among men being as wide as those of their countenances, so that scarce any two are exactly alike, an actual identity of the thoughts, or train of thoughts, of two men, upon the same subject, will be a very unusual occurrence. Every man has his own way of saying his own things, and brings out his thoughts bearing an "image and superscription" so peculiarly his, that it puts a difference between his thoughts and those of other men, easily discernible by any hearer or reader who has even common discrimination in matters of style. That two men employing themselves upon the same subject, should write paragraphs, pages, and, least of all, whole sermons, exactly alike, is not to be expected. And wherever such things do occur, they create a necessity that one or the other should prove authorship. And he who cannot prove it, will find himself "in the vocative."

We would here notice some of the ways in which it may, and probably does, happen, that a preacher leans upon other minds, and slides into the vice of pulpit plagiarism. One, perhaps, is, that he reads much, and with great admiration, some particular author; and from an overweening admiration, falls insensibly into the favorite author's track of thought upon a given subject; and from familiarity with his author's thoughts, mistakes them for his own, when he comes to write. An example of this we have noticed in a volume of very popular sermons, in which the preacher rounded off one of his grandest sentences with three or four plain and undeniable lines from Milton's Paradise Lost, turned into prose; and with no acknowledgement of the true authorship of that portion of the sentence. Another way may be, that simply in the process of treasuring up other men's thoughts in the memory, the preacher does so little of separate and independent thinking for himself, upon the subject in hand, that when he commences writing, he draws upon his memory rather than upon his understanding; upon other men's stock, instead of his own. Where a preacher has read upon a subject more than he has reflected for himself, his memory will almost certainly lead him into offences of this description. Another way in which he may come to commit the fault, is by reading an author upon a subject on which he pro

*Rambler, 143.

poses to write, and then sitting down to write his sermon, with his own thoughts stamped in advance by his author. He depends so much upon reading, that he gives himself no opportunity to originate thoughts upon the subject; or he perhaps wants patience and a spirit of intellectual enterprise for the work of origination. It is a humiliating thing, to be asserted of a preacher with justice, that "he never originates any thing."

And here, more particularly, the proper balance of the preacher's mind is disturbed by the use of the kind of helps called skeletons, already described. He first familiarizes himself with the borrowed outlines of the subject, and adopts it as his own; and then ekes out the rest of the sermon by doing just enough thinking to serve his purpose, and reach the measure of an ordinary sermon. This is much as though a man about to build a house were to take possession of a foundation already laid by a neighbor; with a frame standing upon it, the roof enclosed, and partitions put up; and who, truly, must be very destitute of enterprise, or means, or both, if he could not finish a habitation so far on the way to completion. But it would require rather a supple conscience for such a man to say: "I built this house." He has simply completed what another began. A preacher is the veritable author of so much of a sermon as he himself has made, and no

more.

Let us now look at some of the general principles upon which the preacher should act, so that he may maintain his own intellectual independence, and maintain, also, that which is of still greater consequence, an unspotted professional character. We have considered the offence; the temptations to its commission; and some of the ways in which the offence is committed. Where, now, is the path which the preacher may pursue, with safety to himself, and with honor to the gospel of his Lord and Master?

Let him settle this point, in the outset. The sermon shall be honestly my own production; I go about the business of making, not of adopting, or making over, a sermon! Let the text be of his own choosing. Let the development of the subject from the text be his own discovery. In the careful examination of the text, as it stood in the Hebrew Bible, or Greek Testament, let him make out his own explanation of the text; and come to a conclusion which he can call his own; and let that meaning be his subject. Let him proceed to investigate still farther, the subject thus discovered.

If

the investigation be his own, he may be sure that the thoughts will be his own. If, next, the arrangement of the thoughts be his own, the plan is wholly his, as it should be; being the result of a judicious classification of his own thoughts, gained by his own research and reflection, he owes no man any thanks for his plan. Having gone thus far, independent of human help, (the proffered aids of the Divine Spirit always understood, and supposed to be enjoyed,) it will follow of course, that he will be able, and will choose, to do the filling up of his plan or outline. The privilege of preparing a sermon by such a process is inestimable. In composition, let the style be his own; every sentence receiving the natural impress of his own mind. The servilely following of any master, should be shunned with care. "He who follows," said

Stuart, the painter," will always be behind." Imitations inevitably betray themselves to discerning hearers, who know how other men have written. The style of scores of the best writers, should be critically studied; but, after all, let the preacher speak like himself. By carrying these rules rigidly into practice, from the beginning of professional life, a preacher will make sermons which will be better for his own use in the pulpit, than any he can borrow or purloin. Honesty will make him rich. If he can say of even "two mites, which make a farthing," "They are my own," then his purse is in better condition than with any amount of banknotes, or of silver and goll, of which his conscience compels him to exclaim: "Alas, master! for it was borrowed!"

We are not to be understood, as holding the sentiment, that the Christian preacher, in order to maintain his intellectual independence, must refrain from consulting and studying the writings of other men, the books of the great, the good, the wise; of the fathers of past ages of the Church, and of the fathers and brethren of the present, who have embodied the results of study, of research, and of experience. All these are to be used diligently, and through life. They are not, however, to be used in the exceptionable ways which we have been considering. They are not to be regarded as theological or religious posts, against which indolent men may lean; or as clerical sofas, on which men of intellectual laziness and effeminacy may lounge, and slumber out their lives. The subject of the proper use of authors, is kindred to this; and needs, and we may hope will yet have, a thorough discussion, in its relation to the preacher's work.