THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
and pedantry, but some loss of life, beauty, and power. English preachers had never given as much attention to expository preaching as the Reformers on the continent, and sermons of the topical sort are more frequent in England. Some traces of the stiff and severe analysis of scholasticism remain; but the tendency is toward a more popular and simple presentation of truth. In general the eighteenth-century style is stately and solemn, sometimes heavy and pompous.
(1) Roman Catholic. In England the Roman Church had a distinguished pulpit representative in John Milner (d. 18:26). In Ireland Bishop Doyle was an admired pulpit orator, and is
2. Leading Preachers.
said to have been the first Irish Catholic preacher of distinction to use the English tongue. Walter Blake Kirwan (q.v.) began as a Roman Catholic but became Protestant. He was a man of remarkable eloquence. (2) Church of England. The lax and worldly group is represented in Jonathan Swift (d. 1745) of Dublin, and Lawrence Sterne (q.v.), rector of Sutton; both were more distinguished in literature than in the pulpit. The churchly orthodox include Francis Atterbury (q.v.), bishop of Rochester, who was more showy than profound; Joseph Butler (q.v.), bishop of Durham, author of the Analogy and of a series of sermons on Christian ethics; Samuel Horsley (q.v.), bishop of St. Asaph's, the powerful opponent of Unitarianism, and a vigorous preacher. The Evangelical group includes George Home (q.v.), bishop of Xorwich, a pleasing and popular preacher; William Grimshawe (d. 1763), rector at Haworth; William Romaine (q.v.), a much loved pastor chiefly in London; John Newton (q.v.), rector of Olney and later of St. Mary Woolnoth in London, friend of Cowper, writer of hymns and useful pastor and preacher. Above all were the two famous revivalists. George Whitefield (q.v.) came of humble origin but took a degree at Oxford and was ordained. He had a wondrous faculty of popular eloquence, and led thousands to Christ. John Wesley (q.v. and see Methodists) was of good birth and breeding, very thoroughly educated at Oxford. Calm and logical, but determined and masterful as preacher and organizer, he did work unsurpassed in the history of preaching. (3) Presbyterian. In England no distinguished preachers are found among the Presbyterians, but it is otherwise in Scotland where Presbyterianism was the established church. The " moderates " included John Logan (d. 1788) and Hugh Blair (q.v.), author of the Rhetoric. The Evangelical group contained John MacLaurin (d. 1754) and John Erskine (q.v.), both highly regarded as pastors and preachers. The " secessionists " were led out of the lax establishment by the pious Thomas Boston (q.v.) and the brothers Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine (d. 1756, 1754), three devoted and influential preachers. (4) Non-conformist. The famous scientist Joseph Priestley (q.v.) was also famed as a theologian of Unitarian opinions, and was a preacher of ability. Among the orthodox Independents the two best-known names are those of Isaac Watts (q.v.), better remembered as a hymnist than preacher, and Philip Doddridge (q.v.), teacher, hymnist, writer, pastor — a man of noble
character and abundant usefulness. Among Baptists were the brilliant and scholarly Robert Robinson (q.v.), the judicious and solid Andrew Fuller (q.v.), theologian and missionary leader; and the fervent William Carey (q.v.), whose historic sermon before the Northampton Association in 1792 gave mighty impulse to the modern missionary movement.
5. The Eighteenth Century in North America: The Puritan preaching of New England, with its Biblical authority, its Calvinistic theology, its intellectual and ethical elevation, its ponderous scholasticism, and its solemn earnestness, forms the basis of American preaching in general. But the conditions of life — social, political, and religious — in the New World soon began to work important modifications in the developments from this original impulse, though without destroying its force. Among the more obvious distinctive qualities of American preaching may be noted : (1) Its remarkable variety — which makes any accurate general characterization impossible. The great medley of Christian denominations is reflected in the pulpit. Social life also — pioneer, rural, urban — produced different types of ministry. Nor has the intense political life of Americans been without influence upon their preaching. This suggests (2) the freedom which has characterized the American pulpit in all its history. " Liberty of prophesying " has found its goal in America. (3) An element of the first importance in American preaching has been its emphasis on evangelism. American preachers have not conceived their mission as a teaching function only, but also as proclamation of the Gospel. The labors and influence of George Whitefield (q.v.) in America entitle him to mention here also. Jonathan Edwards (q.v.) is the most eminent American preacher of this age. Philosopher and college president, he was also a preacher of admirable gifts of mind and heart. After him came his son, Jonathan Edwards, Jr. (q.v.), and his grandson, Timothy Dwight (q.v.), both of them distinguished theologians and preachers. Other Congregationalists are: Joseph Bellamy (q.v.); and Ezra Stiles (q.v.), brilliant scholar and president of Yale. The Presbyterians have the honored names of David Brainerd (q.v.), missionary to the Indians; Samuel Davies (q.v.), pastor of a rural charge in Virginm, then president of Princeton, who died at the age of thirty-six, a noble and admirable preacher, whose published sermons were long recognized as models; the remarkable Tennent family, of whom Gilbert (q.v.) was the most important, a " terrible preacher," austere but strong. Of the Baptists were such men as James Manning (q.v.), Daniel Marshall, Oliver Hart, John Gano, John Leland (q.v.), Samuel Stillman, who did their work about the middle and end of the century. The Methodists had the high-minded, self-sacrificing Francis Asbury (q.v.), who was chief among the founders of American Methodism and a preacher of considerable power.
6. The Nineteenth Century in the British Islands : All elements of the national life responded to the vigorous movements of this great epoch. The pulpit felt the touch of the time, and there is