(3.) Superadded to the general qualities of a good style, a few special characteristics vascy be named as highly desirable in the style of sermons, although with some variation of degree in accordance with subjects and occasions.
No discriminating criticism of sermons can be made, apart from a proper classification of each particular ser- mon, on the basis of its subject or special design. By such a classification, sermons are usually distributed into five classes, viz. expositor}', hortatory', doctrinal, practi- cal, and miscellaneous or occasional. The last-named class requires a somewhat extended subclassification with reference to special topics and occasions, e. g. a, missions; b, education; c, temperance; d, charity; c, funerals ;y; ordinances; 9, festivals, etc.
To a thoughtful mind, the law of adaptation will hardly fail to suggest important, though not easily de- scribed, variations in the style to be employed in treat- ing topics so different in character. Yet a sermon on any one of these subjects, or, in fact, on any suliject ap- propriate for discussion in a Christian pulpit, will fall short of the highest excellence if lacking in such quali- ties of style as the following :
i. A combination of simplicity with dignity. It is essential that a sermon embody such a choice of lan- guage as will tend to make wise the simple; yet, in his effort to be plain, the preacher must avoid triviality. He must employ words and present images correspond- ing to the grandeur of the truth which he proclaims, and which may also be understood by the unlearned. Simplicity in the sense recommended is opposed to the affectation of elegance and the straining after pompous words and unusual expressions. It employs the lan- guage of the people, but makes it the instrument of ele- vating their thoughts and ennobling their character.
ii. It is incumbent on preachers to make frequent use of scriptural quotations and allusions as a means of de- claring and illustrating God's message in its proper form and spirit. Hence the style of their sermons should be in harmony with the tenor and spirit of the Holy Script- ures. The peculiar quality hereby indicated, and which the quotations themselves do not supply, is sometimes called scriptural congruity. It is the picture or frame- work of silver in which the apples of gold may be fitly set.
iii. Another peculiar quality of style demanded in sermons is directness of address. It is the province of poetry to sweep circles and various curvilinear lines of beauty through the realms of thought. Its objects may be well accomplished by exciting admiration and emo- tions of pleasure. True preaching has a higher aim, and consequently needs to focalize its power in order to produce conviction in the mind and proper emotions in
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the heart Hence a good pulpit style tolerates neither the indirectness of an essay nor an}' rhetorical embel- lishments which are not auxiliary to directness of ad- dress. It rejects circumlocutions and demands those forms of expression that make hearers feel that they are personally the objects of the sacred message. As a good portrait looks every person calmly in the eye, so a good sermon seems to speak directh' to everj' hearer. When, in connection with a just reference to the principles above stated, preachers severally maintain their individ- uality of thought and expression, they will tind sermon- izing not only a fascinating engagement, but one full of encouragement from the happy results following.
So far as this subject has a literature, it is found in works on homiletics and preaching (q. v.). (D. P. K.)
Se'ron (SZ/pwi/; in Syr. and one Gr. MS. "Hpwi'; Vulg. Seron),a. general of Antiochus Epiphanes, in chief command of the Syrian army (1 Mace, iii, 13, o dfj'xiov tT]Q Sm>af.i(.wQ Swpi'ac), who was defeated at Beth-horon by Judas Maccabajus (B.C. 166), as in the day when .Josh- ua pursued the tive kings "in the going-down of Beth- horon" (1 Mace, iii, 24 ; Josh, x, 11). According to Jo- sephus, he was the governor of Coele-Syria and fell in the battle {^Ant. xii, 7, 1), nor is there any reason to suppose that his statements are mere deductions from the lan- guage of 1 Mace. — Smith.
Serosh, in Persian mythology, was one of the mightiest of Ormuzd's genii, king of the earth, and di- rector of all things in it. He was not, however, one of the seven amshaspands, but only an assistant to Ardibe- hesht, one of their number.
Serpent. The frequent mention of this creature in the Bil)le, together with the important part which it plays in early mythology, justifies a fuller treatment of the subject here than could well be given under the special terms by which the several species are designat- ed. (In doing this we largely avail ourselves of mate- rials afforded in the Dictionaries of Kitto and Smith.)
I. Bible Names. — The following are the Heb. and Gr. words by which either the serpent in general or some particular kind is represented ui the A. V. with great variety and little precision.
1. Nachdsh (TlJnS, so called probably from its hissing ; Sept. and New Test, ocpic). the generic name of any ser- pent, occurs frequently in the Old Test. The following are the principal Biblical allusions to this animal: Its subtlety is mentioned in Gen. iii, 1 ; its wisdom is al- luded to by our Lord iu Matt, x, 16. The poisonous properties of some species are often mentioned (see Psa. Iviii, 4: Prov. xxiii, 32); the sharp tongue of the ser- pent, which it would appear some of the ancient He- brews believed to be the instrument of poison, is men- tioned in Psa. cxl, 3 ; .Job xx, 16, " the viper's tongue shall slay him;" although in other places, as in Prov. xxiii, 32; Eccles. x, 8, 11; Numb, xxi, 9, the venom is correctly ascribed to the bite, while in Job xx, 14 the gall is said to be the poison. The habit serpents have of lying concealed in hedges is alluded to in Eccles. x, 8, and in holes of walls, in Amos v, 19; their dwelling in dry, sandy places, in Dent, viii, 15. Their wonderful mode of progression did not escape the observation of the author of Prov. xxx, who expressly mentions it as "one of the three things which were too wonderful for him" (ver. 19). The oviparous nature of most of the or- der is alluded to in Isa. lix, 5, where the A. V., however, has the unfortunate rendering of " cockatrice." The art of taming and charming serpents is of great antiqui- ty, and is alluded to in Psa. Iviii, 5; Eccles. x, II ; Jer. viii, 17, and doubtless intimated by James (iii, 7), who particularizes serpents among all other animals that " have been tamed by man." See Skkpent-ch arming.