In France the most celebrated epoch of pulpit elo- quence occurred during the reign of Louis XIY, a mon- arch who, notwithstanding personal vices and official cruelties that have made his name detestable, was a zealous patron of preaching. Through his command and example, attendance upon court preaching was made fashionable in a dissolute age, and it cannot be doubted that the influence of his patronage greatly stimulated the study and practice of pulpit oratory among the Catholic clergy of his day. It is not less true that his influence fostered among the preachers that appeared before him a spirit of servility and adula- tion wholly unworthy of the ministerial office. The ex- tent to which such truly great men as Bossuet, Massil- lon, and even Bourdaloue carried personal compliment, not to say flattery, in their sermons before the king and the aristocracy, is equally offensive and amazing to readers of the present day. When to the names just mentioned that of Fenelon is added, we have a represen- tation of the highest phase of pulpit oratory known to the Catholic Church of France in any age. The Prot-
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Church of France, including Switzerland, has fur- nished many distinguished preachers. Calvin and Farel, of the period of the Reformation, were worthily suc- ceeded by such men as Du Moulin, Faucheur, Daille, Claude, Superville, Saurin, Vinet, Monod, and many others. The positions of these men were comparatively obscure, and their circumstances often greatly embar- rassed by persecution ; yet the specimens of printed ser- mons by which they are represented to succeeding gen- erations compare favorably with any to be found in their own or other languages. During the current century, Roman Catholic preachers of great ability have been rare in France. Beyond Lacordaire, Ravignan, and Hy- acinthe, few can be named as having attained a national reputation.
Great Britain may be said to be the home of mod- ern pulpit eloquence. Taking England, including Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, into one viewr, it may be doubted if any country of the world has produced more or better sermons during the last three hundred years. Since the days of Wycliffe, preaching in Great Britain has been common among " all classes and conditions of men." Successive generations have been educated to appreci- ate it, so that not only has the pulpit been free to speak, but the masses of the people have been disposed to hear. The British pulpit, moreover, has been favored above that of any other European country in two aux- iliary conditions of great importance, namely, the free use of the Word of God and the religious observance of the Lord's-day. Without the former, there is no valid basis for pulpit instruction or appeal, and hence the sermon usually degenerates into a mere oration. Without the latter, hearers are wanting, or at least irregular in attendance, a circumstance that deprives preachers of one of the most inspiring motives for dili- gent preparation and high effort. More truly than in any other country, unless possibly in the English-speak- ing portions of North America, the pulpit of Great Brit- ain has been an exponent of the religious life and senti- ments of the people. Its utterances have consequently been greatly diversified at different periods and in dif- ferent circumstances. In times of religious indifference, and in those portions or branches of the Church in which religious sentiment has run low, preaching has declined to its lowest grade of influence; whereas in periods of religious awakening, and in the more evangelical sec- tions of the Church, pulpit eloquence has attained its maximum power, not only in the sermons of a few men of extraordinary talent, but in the average ability and success of great numbers of preachers. England, having not only had a free pulpit, but also a free press, has fur- nished a body of sermon literature unsurpassed in qual- ity and extent by that of any other country in the world. The more distinguished preachers of Great Britain may be classified by epochs and religious associations. The names of Wycliffe, Latimer, Knox, and Jewell repre- sent the great preachers of the Reformation. A similar selection for the 17th century would embrace the names of Jeremy Taylor, Barrow, Baxter. Bunyan, Howe, Charnock, Tillotson, South, and possibly many others. In the 18th century, Wesley and Whitetield, as preach- ers of extraordinary zeal and effectiveness, were instru- mental in awakening a religious movement which ex- tended not only throughout Great Britain, but, in fact, throughout the English-speaking world. One of its effects was to improve the tone and quality of preaching in all the churches. The number of great preachers who have adorned the British pulpit in the course' of the 18th and 19th centuries is beyond enumeration. The following are representative names, and associated with volumes of published sermons : Cecil, Robert Hall, Chalmers, Wardlaw, Richard Watson, Robert Newton, Duff, Guthrie, F. W. Robertson, Stanley, Melville, Pun- shon, and Spurgeon. To this list might be added the names of a large number of other preachers of no less moral and intellectual worth, and of nearly equal though somewhat more local celebritv.
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The freedom of the English pulpit, and. in fact, a greater freedom than was enjoyed in England at that dav. came to America with the Pilgrim Fathers. Hav- ing been by them established on the Atlantic coast, it has been i xti tided with the advance of civilization un- til the whole continent has fell its power. The pulpit in America, as in Greaf Britain, has been greatly aided i mplishmenl of its mission by the general ob-