BOSSUET, who, himself, may be reckoned among the Fathers, and whom, in the present day, we quote in our sermons, as we do them, sufficiently testifies, by his example, how advantageous it is for a Christian Orator to study the Fathers. He draws from their writings the most profound maxims, the most convincing arguments, sometimes even sublime comparisons, which enrich the Eloquence of his discourses.

Who would not be ambitious to have borrowed, as he did, this admirable description from St. AUGUSTINE, which represents the troubles of human life? Worldlings do not think that they 'use exercise, unless they disquiet themselves; C nor that they move, unless they make a noise. 'That man, who is complaining of too much laΕ bour, were he delivered from that trouble, could 'not endure his repose. At one time the day's ' work appears to him too short; at another time 'his leisure would appear to him a burthen: he

loves his servitude, and is pleased with his 'weight; and this constant impulse, which in'volves him in a thousand embarrassments, pre' vents him from gratifying himself with the image of unrestrained liberty. As a tree, says St. Austin, which the wind seems to caress, when 'sporting with its leaves and branches, although 'this wind only bends it with the agitation, and 'tosses it, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, with vast caprice; you would say,

'however, that the tree diverted itself with the freedom of its motions, in like manner,' saith this great Bishop, while the men of the world ' have no true liberty, being almost always obliged ' to submit to various occupations, which impel ' them like a wind, they, nevertheless, imagine 'that they are playing with a certain air of ' liberty and peace, while giving indulgence to 'their vague and fluctuating desires.'*

SECTION LII.

OF QUOTATIONS FROM PROFANE AUTHORS.

Τ

IT is sometimes allowable to quote, in the pulpit, the profane writers of antiquity, provided that such citations be not long, nor frequent, nor accompanied with historical relations foreign to religion.

Our old Preachers flattered themselves that they were very eloquent, when they had collected into one barbarous compilation, which they

* Second sermon for the Thursday of the second week of Lent, upon 'final Impenitence.' Tanquam oliva pendentes in arbore, ducentibus ventis, quasi quadam libertate auræ perfruuntur, vago quodam desiderio suo. AUGUST. in Psal. 136, vol. iv. p. 1528.

call a Christian discourse, some shreds of poetry, eloquence, or history.

The author of 'Pulpit maxims,' ingeniously compares those sermons blended with the principles of religion, and the maxims of Paganism, 'to the Temple at Jerusalem built with the marble and cedars of king Hiram.'

But it is no less certain, that Christian Eloquence doth not exclude heathen testimonies, when the orator is pointing out the duties of morality or the particulars of good conduct.

S. BASIL has composed a treatise, in order to prove the utility of reading heathen authors. Bossuet, whose learning equalled his eloquence, drew, from time to time, out of those authors, sublime thoughts, which he quoted in the pulpit; and Bourdaloue, in his sermon on the love of riches,' hath paraphrased this maxim of Horace,

Rem

Si possis recte, si non, quocumque modo, rem.

Let us not, however, make an improper use of these examples. We shall never be blamed for not having founded our proofs upon a profane authority; and we shall do an equal injury to piety and taste, if we relate ideas taken from heathens, when we can find them equally well, and perhaps better, expressed in scripture, or in tradition.

SECTION LIII.

I

OF THE STUDY OF A PREACHER.

WILL not, then, read the Moralists, the Poets, and the Orators, of antiquity, with a view of multiplying such heathen quotations, but rather, in order to know the human heart, and to form my taste upon the models of eloquence. This study is more useful than the reading of

sermons.

Is it your aim to excel in Christian Eloquence? | At first consult collections of sermons. But, when once you become conversant with them, shut those books, they would blunt your imagination, and thereby contract your ideas, although they may be filled with sublime passages.

Aim at original composition.* Search for food to nourish your mind, without degrading yourself to a level with plagiarists.

** Original writers are and ought to be, great favourites, for they are great benefactors; they extend the republic of letters, and add a new province to its dominion. The pen of an original writer, like Armida's wand, out of a barren ⚫ waste, calls a blooming spring. An Original, though but 'indifferent, yet has something to boast; it is something to say with him in Horace,

No spare time will remain for reading the sermons of others, when we ourselves apply in earnest to composition.

Prefer, then, to all those discourses, which have been consecrated by public admiration, works no less valuable to Eloquence, and much more profitable to the preacher. Such are FENELON's Letters, in which this profound moralist points out every singular character, by the knowledge which he hath of the human heart; the Works of the Abbé de FLEURY, who interests by his candour, astonishes by the universality of his knowledge, always engages when speaking of religion, because it is evident that he loves it, and displays, without ostentation, a boldness of rea

Meo sum pauper in ære;

' and to share ambition with no less than Cæsar, who decla'red he had rather be first in a village, than the second at • Rome.'

But why are originals so few? Not because the writer's harvest is over, the great reapers of antiquity having left nothing to be gleaned after them; nor because the human 'mind's teeming time is past, nor because it is incapable of putting forth unprecedented births; but because illustrious examples engross prejudice and intimidate. They engross ' our attention, and so prevent a due inspection of ourselves; they prejudice our judgment in favour of their abilities, and so lessen the sense of our own; and they intimidate us ' with the splendour of their renown, and thus under diffidence bury our strength. Nature's impossibilities, and those of diffidence, lie wide asunder.' YOUNG's Conjectures on original Composition; v. his Works, vol. vi. p. 70, 71, 73.