Instances also occur in the writings of the fathers, of sermons for the forenoon and for afternoon.3 But it does not appear to have been a uniform arrangement. No better evidence of the consideration in which this part of religious worship was held can be given, than the fact that Julian the Apostate, in his endeavours to restore idolatry, recommended the pagan priests to imitate the Christian preachers by delivering similar discourses.

§ 4. OF THE LENGTH OF TIME ALLOTTED FOR THE DELIVERY OF

THE SERMON.

THIS does not appear to have been determined by any canon or rule of custom. It appears rather to have been regulated by times and circumstances. Sermons were, however, much shorter in the Latin than in the Greek church. Some conjecture as to their length may be formed from the circumstance that more than one was delivered in succession; and yet it is remarkable that some of the longest sermons which remain to us were delivered in churches where this custom prevailed. Some of Chrysostom's must have occupied two hours in the delivery, although this was the usual time for the whole service, as Chrysostom himself asserts.1 Bingham is of opinion that the sermons of the fathers could not have been an hour in length; most of the sermons of the Latin fathers, according to him, could not have occupied one half hour, and many not ten minutes.2

Like the ancient orators, the preacher is supposed to have spoken by an hour-glass, a water-clock, or a sand-glass.

$5. OF THE POSITION OF THE SPEAKER.

IN In many countries the speaker habitually occupied an elevated desk in the body of the house, which was also used for the reading, and for various exercises. In other places this was used by the speaker occasionally, but not habitually. Chrysostom and Augustin were accustomed to speak from this place, that they might more easily be heard by the immense multitudes that thronged to listen to them.

The custom originally was for the preacher to speak either from the bishop's seat or from before the altar, and behind the lattice that separated the sanctuary or shrine from the body of the house;" but most frequently from the former place, which, as Augustin

says, was an elevated throne, that from it the bishop might watch his flock, as the vintager does his vineyard from his watch-tower.

At a later period, when the care of the church became more cumbersome, and the bishops began to neglect or omit the duty of preaching, the deacons became the moderators of the assembly, and the preacher occupied the desk of the reader. This position was, of necessity, allotted to the preacher in the vast Gothic cathedrals which were erected in the Middle Ages.

Sermons were frequently delivered in other places besides the church; but this was an exception to the general rule. The eulogies of the martyrs were usually delivered in the exedræ, baptisteries, cemeteries, etc. The monks frequently preached from the trees, and the top of a post or pillar.

§ 6. OF THE ATTITUDE OF THE SPEAKER, MODE OF DELIVERY, DEPORTMENT OF THE AUDIENCE, ETC.

IN regard to the attitude both of the speaker and of the audience during the delivery of the sermon, the ancient custom was precisely the reverse of the modern. In the primitive church it was customary for the speaker to sit, and for the audience to stand. As in attending to the reading of the Scriptures they stood, in token of reverence for the word of God, so in listening to the sermon, in which it was explained and enforced, for the same reason they preserved a similar attitude. To this, however, there were exceptions, and the usage was different in different places. In Africa the custom above mentioned was observed with great care. Augustin insists often upon it, and rebukes every departure from it except in cases of infirmity, which rendered it inconvenient for the hearer to preserve this attitude. At one time he apologizes for the inconvenient length of his sermon, especially inasmuch as he is permitted to sit, while they are required to stand.

The hearers of Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostom preserved the same posture. It is related even of Constantine the Great, that he did not resume his seat during a long sermon by Eusebius, and that all the assembly followed his example.1 From all which it is fairly inferred that this was the prevailing custom. Compare Luke ii. 46; iv. 20; v. 3; John viii. 2; Matt. v. 1; etc.

The hearers, it would seem, were accustomed to take great liberties in regard to their attendance upon public worship, and often demeaned themselves very unworthily. At one time, they would

absent themselves from the service except during the sermon-an irregularity against which Chrysostom inveighs with great spirit.2 At other times, they treated even the preaching with great indifference and neglect,3 complaining bitterly of long sermons, and even left the house while the preacher was yet speaking. To prevent this, the doors were ordered to be fastened after the reading and before the sermon, as is still the custom in Sweden. The fourth Council of Carthage forbade this contempt of the preacher under pain of excommunication.

4

Another impropriety, of which Chrysostom complains with his accustomed spirit, is that of disturbing the preacher by needless noise and frivolous conversation: the loquacity of the women and the wantonness of the young people are among his subjects of complaint. Similar complaints are made by others, particularly by preachers in the large cities, Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexdria, Carthage, etc.

The indecent custom was also introduced into the ancient church of applauding the speaker by acclamations, by clapping, waving of handkerchiefs, and other similar customs, which disgraced the ancient theatres, as they still do the modern. A multitude of examples may be found in the references; but the custom was severely censured."

6

"Of what avail to me is this applause and tumult? One thing only I require of you—that ye prove to me your approbation and obedience by your works. That will be praise for me-gain for yourselves; that will be to me a greater honour than the imperial crown. I desire not your applause and clamour. I have but one wish that you hear me with calmness and attention, and that ye practise my precepts. For this is not a theatre: ye sit not here to behold actors and to confer upon such men your applause. Here is the place to learn the things of God."8

The ancient Christians had also the custom of taking notes and writing out at length the sermons which they heard. To this laudable custom we owe many of the sermons of the fathers which have come down to us. It was not, however, a universal practice." Sermons in which the hearer took little interest, he was not careful to retain in this manner. Some preachers refused to have their sermons preserved in this imperfect manner. Origen allowed no notes to be taken of his sermons until he was sixty years of

age.10

$7. OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SERMON.

IN the Middle Ages it became customary for the preacher to draw his topics of discourse from Aristotle; but this strange custom has not the least authority from the practice of the early fathers. Not only did the Bible furnish them their text and subject of discourse, but, as has been already observed, they confined themselves strictly to the duty of expounding the sacred Scriptures. "To the word and the testimony," says Augustin, "for I perform the office not merely of a preacher, but of a reader also; so that this my discourse may be supported by the authority of the sacred word. If my recollection fails me, far be it from me to build upon the sand by human reasoning. Hear, therefore, the gospel according to John: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you,'." etc.1

Nothing like the modern division of a sermon into separate heads was formally practised by the ancients. This mode of division was borrowed from the schoolmen. But the ancient fathers confined themselves strictly to their text, and contented themselves with the explication of it, or quickly returned to it again if at any time they allowed themselves in a digression.

It was a fundamental principle with them that the truths of Christianity possessed their own intrinsic force, and needed not the aid of eloquence or of art. It was also their usual custom to speak extempore. And, for this twofold reason, their sermons were generally devoid of ornament. The ability to speak extemporaneously as occasion might require, and without previous study, was indispensable to an acceptable discharge of the duties of a preacher. His popularity was proportionate to his success in this art of speaking. For this reason the fathers were influenced to cultivate this art with so much success that, even as late as the fourth and fifth centuries, they fancied themselves to be assisted by the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. "I could not have spoken thus by myself," says Chrysostom, “but God, foreseeing the result, tα μéλλovтα лрoεidóτos, dictated those words." Augustin and Gregory the Great also express similar sentiments. At the same time it is sufficiently evident that they did not so rely upon the aid of the Spirit as to excuse themselves from careful study, and from preparation according to the best of their ability. They expected his aid rather as a blessing upon their labours and studies, and in answer to their prayers.

Whether the fathers spoke wholly without notes and committed to memory their discourses, is not so easy to determine. No general rule prevailed on this point. Many examples may be found in which the sermons of celebrated preachers were read-in some cases indeed by the deacon, (on whom it devolved to conduct the meeting in the absence of the regular preacher,) but in others, they were either read or dictated by the author himself. Augustin, in one of his sermons, complains that he is embarrassed by his notes, and entreats the audience to aid him by their prayers.* Gregory the Great also complains of the difficulty of speaking from his notes, and of inattention and want of interest on the part of his hearers, and for these reasons resolves to speak without notes, contrary to his usual custom.† The prevailing mode of speaking, however, was evidently without notes.

3

The speaker usually began with a short invocation to God for his aid, and closed his discourse with a benediction-Peace be with you or something to that effect. Every address, says Optatus, is made to begin and end with God. But long and formal prayers, such as in modern times precede and follow the sermon, were not offered in that connection. To every sermon, whether in the Greek, Syriac, or Latin church, there was affixed the customary doxology: "To God through Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord who lives and reigns with him, world without end. Amen." We subjoin, as quoted by Bingham from Ferrarius, the prayer which St. Ambrose was wont to offer for himself before rising to address the assembly:

"I beseech thee, O Lord, and earnestly entreat thee, give me an humble knowledge which may edify. Give me a meek and prudent eloquence, which knows not how to be puffed up, or vaunt itself upon its own worth and endowments above that of its brethren. Put into my mouth, I beseech thee, the word of consolation, and edification, and exhortation, that I may be able to exhort those that are good to go on to greater perfection, and reduce those that walk perversely to the rule of thy righteousness, both by my word and by my example. Let the words which thou givest to thy

* Quoniam video disputationes graphio, ceraque ligari, et nequaquam sumus idonei lectitare, adjuvate me ipsum, quæso, intercessu vestro.-Serm. 6, De Sanctis. + Multis vobis lectionibus, fratres carissimi, per dictatum loqui consuevi; sed quia, lasiente stomacho, ea quæ dictaverim, legere non possum, et quosdam vestrum minus libenter audientes intueor; unde nunc a meipso exigere volo contra morem meum, ut inter sacra missarum solemnia lectionem S. Evangelii, non dictando, sed colloquendo edisseram.-GREGOR. M. Hom. Serm. 21.