II. Literature. — The inspired Scriptures, especially those of the New Testament, must ever be considered the primary and most valuable source of homiletical instruction. Patristic literature on this subject, as al- ready shown, is meagre and Iragmentarj'. Homiletical literature, in following ages, may be classified in four principal departments: 1. Treatises' on preaching; 2. Aids to preaching, so-caUed : 3. Sermons, or the products of preaching ; 4. Biographies of preachers and miscel- laneous articles relating to the objects and manner of preaching. The first only of these departments will be particularly considered in this article. Immediately consequent upon the revival of preaching in the IGth century, there also occurred a renaissance of homiletical productions, which have continued to midtiply e\-er since. Prior to the middle of the ITth century there were ex- tant some seventy different treatises, "^vrit particularly upon this subject," chiefly in the Latin language. These books were classified by Draudius in his Bihliotheca Classica, under the head of " Coricionutoruni instruct 10,^' and by IMolanus, in his Bihliotheca J/aieriarum, inider the head of " Concionandi mumis." To these, bishop Wilkms remarks, " may be added those many other dis- courses wherein these things'have been largely handled by the by, though not chiefly intended, in all which many learned men have laid down such niles as, accord- ing to their several geniuses and observations, seemed most usefid." In the envuneration of works referred to, no proper distinction was made between the office of preacher and pastor. Hence we find enumerated in the list the works of Bowls and Hcmingius, both entitled Be Pasture ; also that of Hen. Diest, styled Be rutione studii Theologici. Some of the earlier books on the sub- ject of preaching by English authors were written in Latin, e. g. that of William Perkins, entitled 'M rte of Prophecijing, or a treatise concerning the sacred and onely trve manner & method of preaching. First writ- ten in Latin by ^Ir. William Perkins, and now faithfully translated into English (for that it containcth many worthy things fit for the knowledge of men of all de- grees) by Thomas Tukc. Motto, Nehemiah viii, 4, 5, G (Cambridge, 1613)." Cotton Mather's Manductio ad Ministerium, written about 1710, in addition to a Latin title, had a very formal and sonorous Latin preface. In the text of liis treatise the learned author makes this
remark concerning homiletical literature prior to the period in which he wrote : '■ There is a troop of autliors, and even an host of God, who have written on the Pas- toral care from the days of Gregory down to the days of Gilbert; yea, and since these, every year some to this very day. I cannot set you so tedious a task as to read a tenth part of what lias been oflered on the art, and the gift, and the method of preaching."
In modem times, several different epochs of homilet- ical literature may be recognised corresponding to the character of preaching at different periods and in diffc r- ent countries. In Germany, the Lutheran reformation was characterized by great earnestness and even blunt- ness in the mode of preaching, not only in controversial discourses, but even in the proclamation and enforce- ment of evangelical truth. Luther wrote no work on preaching, but by his example and occasional precepts, some of which are recorded in his Tahle-Tulk, he greatly influenced his coadjutors and followers as to their the- ory and practice as preachers. The following are some of Luther's characteristic sayings. Portrait of a f/ood l)reacher : "A good preacher should have these virtues and qualities : 1. He should be able to teach plainly and in order ; 2. He should have a good head ; 3. a good voice; 4. a good memory; 5. He should know when to stop ; 6. He should study diligently, and be sure of what he means to say; 7. He should be ready to stake body and life, goods and glory, on its truth ; 8. He should be willing to be vexed and criticised by everybody." A d- vices to yovvfj ■preachers : " Tritt frisch auf thu's maul auf hor bald auf," i. e. Stand up cheerily, speak up man- fullj', leave off speedily. " When j^ou are about to preach, speak to God and say, ' My Lord God, I wish to preach to thine honor, to speak of thee, to praise thee, and to glorify thy name.' " " Let all your sermons be of the simplest. Look not to the princes, but to the sim- ple and unlearned people. We should preach to the lit- tle children, for the sake of such as these the oflicc of preaching is instituted. Ah ! what jiains our Lord Christ took to teach simply. From vineyards, sheep, and trees he drew h.is similes; anything in order that the multi- tudes might understand, embrace, and retain the truth." '• If we are found true to our calling Are shall recci\-e honor enough, not, however, in this life, but in the life to come."
After Luther's death a reaction occurred, in which there was a return to scholastic formulas and other ob- jectionable features of the mediaeval homilies and pos- tils. This second period has sometimes been called that of the postilists, in allusion as Avell to Protestants as Catholics. In the foUoAving period the pietism of Spe- ner and Franckc promoted a hcalthfid reform in the Protestant pulpit of German}-, although the reform Avas to some extent neutrah/.ed by the nearly simultaneous de\-elopment of the Wolfian philosophy, Avhich gloried more in logical forms than in the poAver of the cross. This philosophy Avas fascinating to students, and, hav- ing gained an ascendency in the universities, it antag- onized the plainer and more evangehcal mode of preach- ing commended by Luther and Francke,