III. Preaching-places and Customs. — In New-Testa- ment times our Lord and his apostles found places for preaching wherever people could be assembled. The mountain-side, the shores of seas and rivers, the public street, private houses, the porch of the Temple, the Jewish synagogue, and various other places were found available for the proclamation of the Gospel. So far as the preaching customs of the first period of Christianity can be inferred from authentic records, they were simple in the extreme. Sometimes the message of the preach- er was communicated in conversation, and when deliv- ered in a more formal manner it rarely had any other accompaniments than the reading of the Sacred Word and prayer. For a considerable time there could have been no Church edifices adapted to the convenient preaching and hearing of the Word ; but the earliest structures erected for Christian worship doubtless had that design in view. It was, therefore, a corruption in practice when churches began to be constructed for cer- emonial display — as with altars for the celebration of mass, niches for images, and long-drawn aisles for pro- cessional parades. The conversion of heathen temples and basilicas into Christian churches, which in the 4th century became common, tended largely to foster and extend that form of corruption. At the period named, the most common form of preaching was that of the exhortation and the homily. A few of the great preachers, like Cyril, Chrysostom, and Augustine, de- livered courses of homilies in daily succession, espe- cially during Lent. More commonly short exhortations, sometimes two. three, or even four in succession, were delivered either at morning or evening prayer, or both. This was more particularly true in cities and the large churches, and it was only when presbyters and deacons were authorized to preach that preaching could be fur- nished with frequency or regularity in villages or coun- try-places. Sometimes large assemblies were gathered at the graves of martyrs to hear panegyrics upon the virtues of those who had suffered death in persecution. The custom of preaching extempore was at first gener- al, but after a time yielded, in the case of ordinary preach- ers, to that of reciting discourses not unfrequently com- posed by others. Preachers frequently preceded their discourses by a brief prayer for divine assistance. Fol- lowing prayer was the salutation "Peace be unto you," or "The Lord be with you;" to which the people re- sponded, "Peace be with thy spirit." Sometimes the salutation gave place to a benediction, as may be seen in several of Chrysostom 's homilies. Sometimes a text of Scripture was taken as a basis of the discourse, some- times several were taken for the same object, and some- times none. Generally the discourse was concluded with a doxology. It was usual for preachers to sit and the people to stand during the delivery of the discourse. It was common for the people when pleased by the utter-
ances of a preacher to give applause by clapping their hands and by vocal acclamations. Sometimes handker- chiefs were waved and garments tossed aloft. At other times groans and sobs and tears were the responses made by sympathetic hearers. So great value was attached to the discourses of some of the more venerable and elo- quent preachers that ready writers were employed to report the words they uttered. Copies of reported dis- courses were circulated among those who prized them, and were held for reading to other assemblies. In this way the homilies of the fathers descended to later times, when they could be better preserved and more rapidly multiplied by printing. During the mediaeval period, where preaching was not wholly abandoned, sermons and homilies were to a great extent substituted by pos- tils (q. v.), which were very brief addresses delivered at the conclusion of the mass, and holding about the same relation to the preceding ceremonies of worship that a postscript holds to a letter, or a marginal note to the text of a book.
The preaching customs of modern times differ in mi- nor particulars somewhat with reference to differences of national habits, but more with reference to the pre- dominance of the idea of worship or of religious address. In a certain class of churches the services are conducted with primary reference to forms of worship. In churches of that class, by whatever name designated, preaching is made subordinate. In other churches the leading idea of a Sabbath assembly is that, of an audience gath- ered together to receive instruction from the Word of God, both as read from the sacred page and as declared by his appointed messengers. In the latter, preaching is regarded as of principal importance, prayer and psal- mody being auxiliary to it.
The principal places for preaching in modern times are churches constructed with primary reference to that object. It may be here remarked that even in Europe church architecture has been greatly modified since the period of the Reformation, in a perhaps unconscious adaptation to the more general practice of preaching. Few large cathedrals have been built, but many churches of smaller proportions, and more available as auditori- ums. Protestant churches in all countries are supplied with permanent seats for audiences, and, with rare ex- ceptions, the pulpit occupies the central position allot- ted in Roman Catholic countries to the principal altar. On the continent of Europe movable seats only are used in the Roman Catholic churches, but in countries dis- tinctively Protestant, pews or fixed sittings are gen- erally introduced to accommodate hearers during the preaching services. But preaching, especially among Protestants, has by no means been limited to churches. While maintained with regularitj' in them, it has been extended as a missionary agency to highways and mar- ket-places, to public commons, to natural amphitheatres, to groves, to ships' decks, to extemporized tabernacles, and even to music-halls and theatres. In short, zealous evangelists show themselves ready, both in civilized and heathen countries, to preach wherever and whenever their fellow-men can be gathered to hear them.