RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Homiletics
congregation, the purpose of the occasional address is to use any given occurrence in the life of the individual or of the congregation for the upbuilding of faith of those who take part in the ceremony. The liturgical act of the Church which is occasioned by a special case is purely objective; the species of address under consideration, however, regards primarily the individual or individuals, justly presupposing that the effect of the case and of the Word in connection with it is dependent upon the quality of the persons primarily concerned. Truthfulness and appositeness with reference to the special occurrence which has occasioned the address are the most fundamental demands. The preacher must therefore have closely observed the life of the members of his congregation and must be in sympathy with their joys and sufferings. He must not exaggerate praise or blame, being guided by the demand for truthfulness. He can not speak at the grave of a man who has kept aloof from the church as he may of a faithful and living member. The purpose of this form of address is to win hearts for Christ; if an address at the baptism of a child in a worldlyminded family, for instance, expresses merely joy over the birth of a son and does not exhort the parents to bring up their child in the fear of the Lord, that address has not been used for the upbuilding of faith. Such an address will produce spiritual gain only if it is based on the Word. It need not necessarily be based upon a special text of the Bible, but its whole substance must be pervaded by the spirit of the Word. Its form is that of the sermon, but although it centers around a uniform thought, it has no theme and divisions like a sermon.
The occasional address is found also in the New
Testament. The words of Jesus when sending
forth the twelve disciples (Matt, x.)
10. History and the seventy disciples (Luke x.) are of the in a certain sense addresses of installa-
Occasional tion. The model of a valedictory ser- Address. mon is found in the address of Paul to the elders at Ephesus (Acts xx. 18 sqq.). Examples of addresses on special occasions are preserved by Eusebius, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and other Fathers. A collection of such addresses from the fourth and fifth centuries has been translated from Greek and Latin by J. C. W Augusti (Predigten auf alle Sonn- und Festtage des Kirchenjahres, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1838-39). In the Middle Ages the development of the liturgical form put free speech into the background. The Reformation, however, by emphasizing the right of the individual, engendered a revival of the occasional address. In spite of all decided emphasis upon the objective value of ecclesiastical acts, it made their effect dependent upon the disposition of the receiving subject. The address usually precedes the ecclesiastical ceremony because its purpose is to prepare the persons concerned for the reception of the blessing which the ceremony confers. On account of this connection with ceremonial, the principal thoughts of the occasional address must center in the essence, effect, and ensuing obligation of those acts. There are addresses on such occasions as baptism, confirmation, confession, marriage,
funerals, ordination, installation, consecration of churches, cemeteries, holy vessels, organs, bells, and the like. There are also to be mentioned sermons on non-ecclesiastical events, such as floods, storms, conflagrations, as well as for special ecclesiastical or general religious occasions.
(J. L. Sommer.) The history and development of homiletical teaching in the British Islands and the United States have necessarily been guided and formed by the religious, educational, and social character of the peoples and institutions of those ii. Homi- countries. Formal teaching of homiletics in letics seems not to have had so large Great Brit- a place in the education of the minisain and try in England and Scotland as in the America. United States; and the output of homiletical literature is correspondingly larger in America. The seventeenth century is the starting point for a survey of Anglo-American homiletics. The great English preaching of that epoch — both Anglican and Puritan — profoundly and permanently influenced all that has followed it; and this in respect both to practise and theory. As early as 1613 there appeared a treatise by William Perkins, originally written in Latin but translated by Thomas Tuke under the title The Arte of Prophecying. It contains eleven chapters and discusses such topics as The Word of God, Interpretation and Expounding, Applying Doctrines, Memorie in Preaching, Promulgation (i.e., Delivery). Several other works of less importance followed this, and in 1667 appeared one from Bishop John Wilkins of Chester, who thus expresses the essence of his teaching: " The principal scope of a divine orator should be to teach clearly, convince strongly, persuade powerfully. Suitable to the chief parts of a sermon are these three: Explication, Confirmation, Application." These subjects are enlarged upon and unfolded in a dry scholastic manner. These and some other works are noticed by Kidder, but none seem to be of great importance. In the eighteenth century a few English and Scotch authors wrote on the art of preaching. Chief among these treatises are those of Philip Doddridge (1751), George Campbell (Lectures on Pulpit Eloquence, 1775), and the once well-known Rhetoric of Hugh Blair, who devotes several chapters of his work to the eloquence of the pulpit. In the nineteenth century the literature greatly increased in amount and value; but interest in the subject, while considerable, does not seem to have kept pace in England with that displayed in Germany and the United States. In America the first treatise on the theory of preaching was that of the famous Doctor Cotton Mather, which appeared under the title Manuductio in Ministerium (Boston, 1726). Pedantic and quaint, it is characteristic of author and age, but has no other than historic value. The effective beginning of homiletical teaching in the United States dates from the founding of Andover Theological Seminary in 1807. There was established a chair of " Sacred Rhetoric," to which was called, in 1812, Ebenezer Porter. He taught the subject with earnestness and success, writing several minor works and finally publishing his Lectures on Homi-
Homiletics Homilies