Chapter X. Physical Eloquence

Of physical eloquence.

§ 1

Physical eloquence is the part that the tone of the voice and the movements of the body, as a whole as well as in its individual parts, take in the oral presentation in order to make the ideas contained in the address understood by the listeners in a suitable manner. It is divided into declamation and action.

Annotation

Physical eloquence in its entirety, thus including declamation, was called actio by the Romans; but Quintilian already noted that, although actio and pronunciatio were often used as synonymous terms, the latter referred to the proper use of the voice, while the former referred first to the gestures. We follow this distinction, although Rambach takes action in a broader sense, writing: "Three things belong to the action of the pastor, namely the memory, the voice, and the gestures of the body." "Among the duties of the orator," writes Schott, "is bodily eloquence. By this we mean the perfect presentation of a coherent series of ideas, corresponding to the purpose of the orator, which takes place through the use of tonal language, as well as through the postures, movements, and facial expressions of the speaker, or, in other words, the designation of the inner, thought, and felt, through the outer, audible, and visible aspects of the orator, who has the intention of acting first on the outer aspects of the listeners and thereby on their inner aspects in such a way that unity arises between the inner aspects of the orator and those of the listeners. We call it declamation, in so far as it is based on the use of the voice, action, or enunciation, in so far as it is based on postures, movements, facial expressions."

(Theory of External Speech, 1st trans., p. 182.) That physical eloquence is also of great importance for the pastor will not be denied by anyone with insight. However, the sermon of the divine word is not strengthened by it. Without it, the Word of God is "spirit and life"; it has in itself the faith-awakening, renewing power that overcomes everything. But God has not only given us His written Word, but has also instituted the Ministry, so that His Word may always be proclaimed with a living voice. Without this living sermon, the Church would not exist. Why is it that the simple sermon of a truly faithful pastor, which in some respects may be quite inadequate, always exerts a certain, often miraculous, power on the listeners, while the brilliant eloquence of an unbelieving pastor, on the whole, not only does not remain without fruit, but also causes harm? Is the reason not that the pastor must not only be a mere preacher of the Word, but also a living witness of Jesus Christ, in other words, that he himself must believe what he preaches, have lived it, experienced it, and thus stand before his listeners as a living, speaking proof of the truth of the Word he preaches? Yes, this faith in the Word of God, this conviction that it is a power of God for salvation, is expressed in a living way, not only through the articulated sounds, but through the whole personality of the pastor. The tone, the look, the expression, the gesture, in short, the whole posture of the body are organs that come into action, through which the innermost thoughts and feelings of the pastor, everything that moves him, his faith, his conviction are expressed. Not the mouth alone, but the whole personality preaches.

And how much depends fir st on the tone of the voice, we can see from the words Gal. 4:20: "But I would that I were now with you, and that my voice might walk, because I am astray from you." The "walking of the voice" (άλλάξαι την φονην) here means something more than: to speak to each one in particular, more severely or more mildly, as it is usually apprehended. The usage of άλλάσσειν, as well as the following words ότι άπορόνμαι b δμίν = because I am mistaken about you, or: because I am doubtful, embarrassed concerning you, rather indicates the meaning that Paul is in doubt about what tone to give his address as appropriate to the circumstances. This is also indicated by Luther when he comments on these words:

"These words show how much t he apostle cared for the Galatians. It is commonly said that a written letter is a dead message, because it cannot give more than it has in itself; nor is any letter ever written so diligently that something is not forgotten. For there are too many and various circumstances of time, place, persons, manner, and actions, which cannot be that one c ould bring them all together in writings ". The articulated sound is not sufficient in itself to express thoughts and feelings completely, but also the tone, the facial expression and gestures, etc. are required for this; pain, pleasure, joy, contempt, for example, are not expressed by the words, but rather by the tone in which they are spoken. Just try to imagine vividly in which tone the Risen Lord addressed the weeping Mary Magdalene at the tomb with the single "Mary", how the tone went through her marrow and bone! Joh. 20, 16. - What a part th e look, the facial expressions and gestures have in the physical eloquence, this teaches us the single look with which, according to Luke (22, 61), the Lord looked at Peter when he denied Him for the third time. How this one look penetrated the disciple's heart, what pain over the disciple's fall, what compassion for the fallen disciple this look of the Master must have manifested! For "Peter went out and wept bitterly." Pastor Anton notes, "He looked into Peter's whole condition. That was an insight!" Thes e few biblical examples show sufficiently, we think, of what importance bodily eloquence is also for the sermon. We still let Hüffell speak about this, who writes: "It" (bodily eloquence) "is nothing that art has invented, as little as speech with the tongue; it is rather a peculiar completion or amplification of speech. To suppress it, to declare it unsuitable for the sermon, would be to paralyze the expression of the spirit, would be to set unnatural barriers to the full flow of Christian enthusiasm. The language of sound, for example, plays such an important role in our lives that one is astonished when one takes a closer look at the matter. Even when we do not speak, when we read something silently, we unconsciously give every word, every thought, every feeling its own peculiar tone, and understand the meaning of what we read only to the extent that we correctly emphasize it. If you want to test a third person in a foreign language, just let him read, and it will soon become clear whether he understands the language or not. The usual signs of writing: the comma, the dot, etc., especially the question mark, the exclamation mark and the dash, are nothing other than tone marks, notes for the music of the voice, letters of that peculiar language which we call tonal language. The tone rests weakest on the comma, longer on the semicolon, and longest and strongest on the period. The question mark indicates the rising, the exclamation mark the falling, the dash the resting of the tone.... For example, if we want the sentence: I have not seen your friend but your brethren, only the tone and the comma denoting it decide whether it should say: I have seen your friend, but not your brethren, or: I have not seen your friend, but your brethren.

In many cases, therefore, the incorrect use of the written signs causes a complete misunderstanding, because we are then unable to express the tone properly and to give it to the word to which it belong s. Language itself receives everything through its sound; all expression, all life. If one wanted to read the most successful address, the most magnificent poem, in a completely uniform tone, it would not only be robbed of all beauty, but it would not even be understood. An apostrophe, a climax, a polysyndeton, and other rhetorical figures cease to mean anything as soon as they lack tone. The strongest proof that an address without tone language is a real thing that nobody understands. Who expresses his dis pleasure in a dull, heartless tone, misses his purpose completely, and who describes his suffering without expression, nowhere finds a sympathetic heart.

It is the same with the action, with the positions, expressions and gestures. The expression of our inner life takes place not only by means of sound, but also by means of gestures and facial expressions; for not only the tongue, but the whole body, the mo vement of the hands, the head, the posture of the body, and especially the facial expressions serve the mind and indicate the emotions and the state of the mind. Joy that does not radiate from all facial expressions and movements is not regarded as such, no matter how much verbal expression tries to assure its existence; a complaint made with a cheerful face is believed just as little as the warmest assurances of friendship, if the eye and all facial expressions lack the expression of cordiality. The false person bears falsehood in his face, just as the malicious person bears malice in his eye, especially in the features around his mouth; the honest heart is manifested by the loyal, open look, the warm, respectable handshake, the unfeigned mien. The whole ma n is often characterized in his gestures. How anxiously slowly the miser counts the gold he must spend, as if he still wanted to give up some of it; how carelessly quickly the prodigal spends it! How pride is painted in the whole position!... Even in deat h the ruling character of the deceased often remains recognizable." (Being and calling., p. 424 ff.)

§ 2

In declamation, the memory and the voice of the speaker are of great importance. Both must therefore be trained with diligence and care if the declamation is to be appropriate.

Note 1

By declamation we mean the oral presentation by which the speaker endeavors to communicate his thoughts and feelings to his listeners with the greatest possible clarity and appropriate impression. Grotefend says: "Declamation is, in my opinion, the appropriate oral presentation of a speech, through which the thoughts of the addresser are communicated to the listener with sufficient clarity, which does not allow anything to be overheard, and with the appropriate impression, which also compels the listener to applaud through the tone of the voice. Clarity, or, if one prefers, intelligibility, is the first purpose of declamation, and the creation of the proper impression the second, and it now depends on what mea ns stand at the disposal of the human voice to achieve these purposes." The sermons may not be read, but must be delivered freely, if possible without any use of the concept. There was a good deal of truth in the words with which a lady, when asked if she had remembered the sermon she had just heard, replied, "Oh, the pastor couldn't remember it himself -he had written it out!" — "Whether then that which is literally concipirated should also be literally memorized?" asks Cl. Harms in his Pastoral Theology, p. 50, and answers: "It stands to reason. So preaching without concept?

Yes! But if one cannot do that? Go ahead! By trying it, by practicing it, you will gain the skill.... No man, and least of all the peasant, likes reading, and since some younger pastors, even some candidates, do not use the concept, the free recitation is demanded in certain cases, always preferring the non -reader to the reader in elections." The most important reasons for an exact memoriren and a completely free pulpit lecture are conta ined in the following, which we have added to Homil. Mag., vol. 6, p. 249: "The use, even partial, of the concept in the pulpit is not compatible with the nature and character of the sermon, nor with its purpose. Not with the nature and essence of the sermon. For, according to its nature, every address is an action that takes place between the speaker and the listeners in living interaction. There must be no, even if only The speaker's heart and the listener's heart are separated by a paper partition, that of the concept. In every product of true and genuine eloquence, it is presupposed that the speaker speaks with lively participation, that everything he says flows directly from his heart, that it is in no respect something alien to him. During the address, he must take into account the state of mind of his listeners, the impression his words make on them. In short, his address should emerge entirely as the product of the moment in which the spiritual action between him and the listeners takes place. But will such immediacy, such a mutual contact of the minds, be possible if the speaker constantly feels himself forged to the concept before him as to a rock, if he lacks any free movement, if he thinks more of what he has written down than of a refined listener, and if, during the entire lecture, he hardly finds time to let a meaningless, soulless glance wander over the assembly now and then? Certainly no one would want to claim that. But reading off the concept also contradicts the purpose of the sermon. The gospel is by its nature a heavenly message, the highest message of joy there is for sinners. The pastors, however, are sent as heralds of God to deliver this joyful message of salvation with their own inner conviction, with freedom and parrhesia before the congregation and before the world. Their living word of faith should ignite faith in the hearts of the listeners, similar to what happened in Jerusalem at the first New Testament Pentecost. What an obstacle to the living impression of this message if the pastor reads it visibly from a concept, as something foreign to him, if it does not flow freshly and directly from his heart!"

When General Superintendent Dr. Büchse! was still a very young vicar in Schönfeldt, things were still unsteady, and he brought his written sermon to the pulpit. The servants sat very close to it. "He leest all wedder," sa id one Sunday a farmhand to his neighbor so loudly that Büchsel could hear him in the pulpit. He was startled, turned around and said, "Yes, he reads, but he will not [?] read again." From that day on he preached freely. "I have much to thank the little servant for," he often said later. If, however, the memory is to perform this work, namely, to take in what has been conceived, at least initially, verbatim, and then to reproduce it in the same way during the lecture, it must be practiced, trained. This ability can be found in every man, but to a very different degree in the individual. While some are able to memorize a longer passage very quickly and with little effort, others f ind it unspeakably difficult; for them, memorizing is a torment, as it is probably the most unpleasant work for the pastor in general.

in the whole sermon. But in this, too, practice can accomplish a great deal. Which pastor in this country has not of ten noticed that those of his confirmands who had only attended a public school had on average great difficulty in memorizing the Catechism, Bible passages and hymn verses literally, indeed that some did not want to succeed at all, while others who had gon e through a Lutheran parochial school succeeded relatively very quickly! The explanation is obvious enough, namely, that literal memorization is practiced from the beginning in our schools and thus memory is exercised, while in the public schools it is mos tly neglected, even considered reprehensible. "Just as all the faculties of our soul," writes Rambach, "can be greatly improved by practice, so it is also with memory. If one learns something by heart every day from youth on, e.g. some Bible passages, either from the basic text or from the translation, then the memory is strengthened so that it remains afterwards in manly age.

The question arises, where does it come from that especially melancholics and miserly people have such a splendid memory and know th eir fortune to a clear penny? Answer: Because they practice it daily and always have something to give it. If one does not do this, the memory rusts and loses its strength. For example, one can read over a biblical passage several times every evening shortly before going to bed, demand it from memory again early in the morning, and then use it to nourish one's soul all day long. If you do this every day, you will experience how wonderfully and powerfully your memory is strengthened. Thus, much can be ach ieved by continuous and wisely arranged practice; what may be very arduous and difficult at the beginning will gradually become easier and easier and after several years of continued practice will cause only little effort. But how should one memorize? Not like a student, so that one slavishly memorizes sentence after sentence until the end, but use a simple mnemonic (art of memory), by which this work is significantly facilitated from the beginning. The prerequisite is that one has worked out the sermon on one's own. A foreign sermon or one that is "stitched together from half a shock of postils" (Ramb.), literally to memorize, is a Gedächtnißmarter. If, then, the sermon is not a confusing and disorderly mass, but well-ordered and, finally, the concept is written legibly, neatly and cleanly, so that the memory has a guide in the order and certain points of reference in the paragraphs of the concept (local memory), then, according to Rambach, one should proceed in the following manner:

a) It is inexpensive to prepare oneself for this with heartfelt prayer, so that one can be assured of divine assistance; since the strength of memory is also a good gift of God, which must be requested and obtained from the giver of all good gifts. b) In such work, one must beware of all disturbance of the mind. When the mind is suddenly drawn to another object by a violent emotion, it is not capable of grasping and faithfully retaining what is presented to it. In memorizing, the mind must be serene and calm, and if one can have a quiet place for it, so much the better. c) One must read over each part of the sermon once and again in its complete context.

d) You must read over the sermon with understanding and attention, and summarize all the thoughts in it. e) The arrangement must be well marked in its main and subsections. One can also underline the beginning of each section, as well as the subsections, with red and green ink, so that it immediately catches the eye. Or one can write the disposition of the sermon on the margin of the sermon, so that one can see immediately when a new part begins. In this way, one also has a memory of the place, so that one kno ws in which area of the concept the part stands. It can also be regarded as a marvelous means to write one's sermon closely together, so that one does not take too much bow to it and thereby make oneself confusing. But it must be clearly written, and about three or four sheets long, after one speaks.

f) With regard to the time, particular attention should be paid to the morning and evening. In the evening before, one can carefully read through the sermon several times, and especially become familiar with the things and the order of the things; in the morning, one can make up for the rest and also try to retain as much of the words as possible. In particular, one must make oneself well acquainted with the application, if one has concipitated it, because it is least suitable that one stutters, and one cannot help oneself in this as well as in the explication. g) Each one must be guided by the strength and weakness of his memory. Because the memory is not of the same power in all. If, for example, some overlook the concept only a few times, it sticks; others, on the other hand, have to take small sections and may not go on until they have memorized the preceding part.

Some people's memory gets tired right away when they have spent a few hours memorizing; they have to progress to the point by more frequent interruptions. Each one must arrange his memorizing according to how he notices what the powers of his memory bring with them. *) So much for Rambach's instructions for memorizing. We believe that especially young pastors should make it a rule to have their Sunday sermon worked out by Friday evening at the latest, so that on Saturday only the business of memorizing remains. There are many reasons for this. The author has kept it this way for fifteen years, memorizing two to three hours at the most on Saturday morni ng and then having the sermon imprinted verbatim on his memory. A single over -reading on Sunday morning was sufficient to reproduce it verbatim (if he wanted to). In this way, one is never prevented from carefully preparing the sermon by official duties that are still absolutely necessary on Saturday, and mounts the pulpit mentally fresh, because not exhausted by immediately preceding memorization. This way of memorizing is essentially also recommended by Hüffell when he writes:

"Even more than the preparation of the pulpit lectures, people shy away from the tiresome memorization. But even for this there are decisive means of relief. Provided, namely, that one has drafted one's concept oneself, one is necessarily already very inti mately familiar with its main content. Now one does not begin to learn this concept by heart in a student-like manner, sentence by sentence, but one grasps: 1. the main *) Not to be overlooked are the words of Rambach concerning the things by which the mem ory can be injured or preserved. Regarding harmful things one has to "reflect especially: a) On overload in eating and drinking, from which many flatulences arise, which afterwards make the brain incapable of performing its function. b) On the coldness of the head and the feet, thereby also the memory suffers damage. c) All kinds of foul-smelling things are harmful to the memory. d) The heavy use of smoking tobacco and snuff, which excessively dries out the brain, so that the imprinting of image s does not proceed so well. e) Violent emotions, such as anger, sadness, impure love, together with the effects of these, which violently disrupt the brain's constitution. And finally, f) excessive effort of the head and memory." The following are recommended as means of preserving memory: a) moderate use of healthy food and drink; b) moderate exercise of the body, "so that the blood circulates frequently through the brain and leaves many spirits in it"; c) temperate air; d) calmness of mind, and finally e) constant and moderate exercise of memory.

In this way, one can clearly and distinctly list the first part, the second part, the subparts, and the third part, the individual thoughts, so that one can survey the entire schematism, and only then can one memorize the individual phrases, expressions, and words. After some practice in this way, one w ill acquire such a wealth of language, or such a power over language, that the expression, even if it is not strictly literally memorized, will easily find itself, and, what deserves special mention, the more strictly and the more logically correct one has disposed, the easier it will be to grasp the schematism of the sermon and hold it in memory. All pastors who followed this simple mnemonic right from the beginning applauded it and always kept it. For beginners, it has the special advantage that it most securely prevents the so -called getting stuck; for since this usually only arises from missing the memorized word, such a thought mnemonic must necessarily have a beneficial effect, since one can easily and quickly move on to the following thought if the expression for the first begins to be missing. (A. a. O. p. 391.)

Note 2

Regarding the training of the voice, we take the following from Grotefend's work: "First of a ll, intelligibility demands that the addressee speak with sufficient strength of voice to be understood in every place of the meeting house. This sufficient strength of voice, however, is not achieved by the greatest possible effort of it, because the so -called over-shouting is even harmful to intelligibility and becomes highly unpleasant. The voice may therefore be strained only to the extent that its sound remains pleasant, the organs are capable of producing every sound in a perfectly articulated manner, and there is still some strength left over in order not only to increase the tone of the more important words or sentences, but also to amplify them. The speaker must never go beyond this measure, and if the natural strength of his voice is not great, he must confess that he is not made for large churches. This strength of the voice, however, lies not only in the strength of the sound it produces, but to a great extent in the purity by which the so-called metal and the sound of it are created. The strongest voice will not sound far away if it is rough and hoarse; the weaker pure voice penetrates with its melodious sound into the most distant corners. For this reason, young theologians, who usually want to shine as speakers, I do not want to say shine, but r ather be useful, should avoid everything that imparts a certain roughness to the voice.

is. Strong drinks, even strong beers, too many fatty foods, too much tobacco smoking and too vigorous physical movements in rough air, such as hunting and nightly often repeated dances (!) cause; also studying at night. If wisely divided, the day is long enough for all business, especially from the earliest morning. A healthy and moderate diet, order in all business, proper distribution of sedentary life and exercise will preserve not only health but also beauty, euphony and strength of voice. If suitable exercise is added, a weak voice can be raised to a certain degree of purity; and the most appropriate exercise of the voice for the young pastor is the more strenuous singing in company or in singing academies, which should not be lacking in any large school or university and should be used diligently. Such singing, but not that at evening parties and the consumption of strong drinks, which spoils all voices, strengthens the chest, lengthens the breath, cleanses the windpipe and accustoms the organs to appro priate and constant effort. It is also what gives the voice the proper range in pitch and depth and accustoms it to sing or rise only in pure intervals.

With this training, however, loud declamation must also be bound, for which lessons in larger school cl asses, and if this opportunity is lacking, declamation on lonely walks (only not in rough air), or in larger halls can be used. Another means of making the voice resound without over -screaming is to hit the appropriate pitch of the tone. It is generally sa id that the tenor voice is more easily understood with less effort than the bass voice; therefore, the appropriate pitch of the tone must contribute to intelligibility. The middle tone at which most voices can sustain themselves is a in the second octave; a tertia higher or middle c is already high and requires too much effort for most voices, and still a tertia higher or e is unpleasant; on the other hand, it becomes unintelligible if the speaker's middle tone falls much below the indicated a. He who speaks in the lower o, which is an octave lower than the one indicated above, will never be able to make himself understood in large churches, however great the strength of his voice may be. If the hoarseness or roughness of the voice even makes it uncertain in which tone of the scale the speaker is speaking, then not much can be expected for intelligibility; for hoarseness causes the voice to produce not one pure tone, but several close ones at the same time, sometimes four, five, which all lie in the interval of half a musical second. This hoarseness can be imitated by tuning several strings to the interval of a half second, say from a to b, but always tuning one 1/8 of a second higher than the other, and striking them all at the same time.

Therefore, the speaker has to take care of the purity and an appropriate pitch of his voice by practice and every possible means. The latter, however, is not the same for every voice. (op. cit. p. 224 ff.).

§ 3

The necessary qualities of a good declamation are: Clarity, correctness and beauty.

Note 1

With all the importance that should never be denied to a good presentation, it should not be overestimated. Spurgeon, in his lecture on the voice, rightly says: "Our first rule concerning the voice is: Do not think too much of it, and remember that the most beautiful voice is nothing if you have nothing special to say, and that, no matter how well you train it, if you do not convey important and tasty truths to the congregation by means of it, it is only like a properly steered chariot in which nothing is contained. Demosthenes was certainly right when he gave first, second and third place to a good lecture; but of what value will it be if one has nothing to lecture? A man with an incomparably good voice, but without a well-instructed head and without a heart, will be "a voice in the wilderness," or, to use Plutarch's expression, "vox et praeterea nihil. Such a man may shine in a singing society, but he is useless in the pulpit.......

You are not singers, but pastors; your voice is only something subordinate; do not be coy about it, and do not be piebald weaklings with regard to it, as is the case. with so many. A trumpet need not be of silver, a ram's horn is enough; but it must bear rough treatment, for trumpets are made for warlike clashes, not for the manners of the parlor. On the other hand, do not think too little of your voice, for its excellence can contribute much to the impression you strive to make....... Exceptionally precious truths can lose a great deal by proclaiming them in a monotonous manner. I once heard a very esteemed pastor muttering in a very deplorable manner, comparing it to a bee caught in a jar, which, however, was not a very sublime comparison, but nevertheless so accurate and true that it brings the buzzing sound quite clearly to my mind at that moment and reminds me of the parody of Gray's elegy:

The object now fades and flees, And drowsy silence fills the air around; The pastor only hums his evening song, But in the herd no eye wakes!"

Note 2

The first necessary quality of the lecture is clarity. What is the use of all diligence in meditating, concentrating and memorizing, if the pastor cannot be understood while declamirizing? The next purpose of his address is to be heard, and if he cannot achieve this, his effort is quite in vain. Whoever has such a weak or defective voice that he cannot make himself understood, has in this the surest proof that he can take up some other calling, but cannot become a pastor; but if the weakness or other defect of his voice is due to sluggishness or bad habit, he should consider that he thereby sins against his hearers, for they come to hear him, but not merely to see the movements of his lips; as often as he is not understood through his own fault, he commits robbery against his hearers. But the clarity now requi res above all things:

1. "Healthy and strong, little st ens flexible organs; a healthy chest and lungs,

possession of teeth, proportion of tongue length, a regular formation of the palate and nose." (Hüffell.) The voice should have the proper range, so that it can cover an octave without effort; the necessary strength, so that it can be understood even at quite a distance, i.e. in larger rooms; the necessary flexibility or modulation, so that it can easily pass from one tone to another; and finally, desirable purity, because it sounds unpleasant and loses intelligibility through hoarseness. Strength and flexibility can be acquired through regular practice; just think of Demosthenes, whose voice was naturally weak and shrieking, his breath gulping and his pro nunciation barbaric, and yet who not only freed himself from these faults through incessant practice, but trained himself to be the greatest orator of all time. And many errors can be eliminated all the more easily because they are not nature, but bad habi ts. Most pastors do not take their mistakes in declamation with them from the seminaries into the ministry, but gradually acquire them in the ministry. The longer they stand in office, the more unnatural becomes their lecture and their action. This is part ly because they have no one to point out their bad habits, even if they are noticed by the audience, and partly because of inadequate preparation and the like. With biting derision, but unfortunately only too true, Spurgeon characterized many pastors when he wrote:

"Hardly one among twelve men still speaks like a man while standing in the pulpit. This affectation is not limited to Protestants, for the Abbé Mallois remarks: In every other place one hears the men speak: they are speak in the courtroom and in parliament; but they stop speaking in the pulpit, for we encounter here only an artifi cially adopted language and a false tone. This manner of address is suffered only in the church, because it is unfortunately so common here; in any other place it would not be tolerated. What would one think of a man who would address the social hall in a preacher's tone? He would certainly evoke a smile. Some time ago there was an attendant at the Pantheon who, in explaining the beauties of the monuments, adopted exactly the tone of many of our pastors, and thus always provoked the merriment of the visitor s, who were no less amused by his manner of speaking than by the interesting objects he declared. A man who has no natural and true discourse should not be allowed to ascend the pulpit; from it, at least, everything that is false should be thoroughly banis hed.......

The moment one leaves the natural and true, one has lost the right to demand to be believed, as well as the right to demand to be heard still further.' You may go into all the churches and chapels around, and you will find that our pastors, by far the greater number, have a holy Sunday tone. They have a certain voice for the parlor and the bedroom, but quite a different tone for the pulpit, so that if they are not double-tongued in a sinful way, they are at any rate literally so. Just as some' m en close the pulpit door, they leave their manly independence and individuality behind and assume an official air, like the sexton. They could almost boast here with the Pharisee that they are not like other people, although it would be sacrilegious if they wanted to thank God for it. No longer are they in the flesh and speak like men, but a whining pulpit tone, a bumping with hum and ha, an ore rotundo, or some other adverse manner of making noise, is adopted to scare away any suspicion that one is natural and speaks from the overflowing feeling of the heart." (op. cit., p. 158 f.)

Theological students and pastors should also take great care to keep their teeth clean, which is unfortunately neglected. Rambach remarks: "It is also good to keep the teeth clea n, and to rinse them especially after the table, because if they become corrupt and fall out, the voice is necessarily spoiled. A physician explains this in the following way: "When some or all of the teeth are lost, there is a contraction of the facial an d throat muscles; the other organs of the voice, which have been accustomed to the teeth, suffer and lose their usual movement, and there is an interruption, slackness or absenteeism, as in a musical instrument, which lacks a tone. With such deficiency of the organs of the voice, it is in vain to expect a full sounding of the same, as well as an even and sustained prominence of the coloration of the tone and the strength of the same, and the pronunciation naturally becomes defective."

Finally, it should be noted that the chest, lungs and other organs of speech do not suffer at all from continuous, even strenuous vocal exercises, but rather are strengthened if the exercises are carried out sensibly. These organs are strengthened by such exercises just as the muscles are strengthened by continuous exertion. The hoarseness of the throat so often found among pastors results rather from the fact that so many speak with an assumed, unnatural voice. The clarity requires 2. intelligibility of pronunciation. The pronunciation becomes incomprehensible if the syllables are not properly stressed and especially if the final syllables or even the last words of a sentence are swallowed. The pronunciation should be such that every s yllable in the sermon can be heard from beginning to end, both at the beginning and at the end of the period; and with proper attention this will be possible for every pastor. One of the main conditions of clarity is proper articulation, that is, giving each sound its full tone. Whoever notices a lack of this in himself should practice by pronouncing longer words slowly and sharply, e.g. wech-sel-sei-tig, be-dau-erns-wür-dig, fruchtbrin-gend, lern-be-gie-rig, er-o-be- rungs-süch-tig, etc. "Secondly, an exact articulation of every word and every syllable belongs to the intelligibility of the lecture," writes Grotefend. This is only possible if the speaker first takes the necessary time to articulate each word, because hasty speaking, especially by young speakers, is very detrimental to the clear articulation of each syllable in the correct relationship. Even the size of the church, which is always very different from a mere room, and by its very size and shape sometimes causes an unnoticed echo, in which syllab les pronounced too quickly get lost, advises a slower lecture. But it must not be too slow that it loses its liveliness. But even slow and deliberate speakers can be less intelligible if they do not articulate some letters properly and pronounce them purel y. This is most often the case with the r, less so with the confusion of the d and t, which the Lower Saxons both pronounce softly, and the Upper Saxons both harshly, and also with the s, whose unnecessary scrubbing is so prominent in many a mouth that other letters disappear in comparison. Especially, however, are the vowels, which are sometimes not clearly distinguished, either because of slackness of the organs or because of a provincial error.

For these reasons, intelligibility requires a pure, clearly differentiated pronunciation of each letter." In the pro nunciation of the s and r, especially those born here and those who are familiar with the English language must take care not to pronounce these consonants too dully and carelessly, which would result in an unintelligible lisp. Swallowing whole syllables m akes the address unattractive and incomprehensible. The more often it occurs, the more beginners have to beware of this bad habit. For example, the words of the Lord Luc. 18, 31 may serve: "Behold (not see) we go (not go) up (not 'nauf) to Jerusalem, and a ll things shall be fulfilled (not be fulfilled) which were written (not written) by the prophets (not prophets) of the Son of man (not man)." - "This exact articulating also has the advantage that the voice gains strength, because it can recover in the small pauses that result." (Hüffell.)

Third, the clarity of the speech requires proper pausing, paying due attention to punctuation marks (including question marks and exclamation marks). If the speaker pauses for breath in the middle of a short sentence, it is troublesome for the speaker, unpleasant for the listener, and, like hurrying over the punctuation marks, makes the address confusing. These signs are actually tone signs, and now think of a piece of music performed without attention to the bar lines! However, not every period has to be declamated in one breath, as it was demanded by some anci ent rhetors. According to Grotefend, it is sufficient: "if the breath is so long and the chest so strong that sentences of up to 15 words can be pronounced in one breath without interruption. But new breath must never be taken at a place other than that where a distinguishing punctuation mark is found, i.e. never between two commas. Also, the breathing must be quite imperceptible, quieter where only a comma divides the sentence, somewhat longer at a semicolon, and quite full only at the beginning of a new period. These are skills that are not difficult to learn through practice, that singing teachers know how to teach their students, and why shouldn't the declamator also be able to learn them? Read the following sentence and you will see how much depends on exact pausing: "The reckless person lives without a fixed goal, without plan, without intention. Depending on the circumstances, he is sometimes industrious, sometimes sluggish; he builds today, only to tear it down again tomorrow, and tears it down precisely because he does not like to build any further. As he dallies with occupations, so also with more serious, with sacred things. He promises everything and keeps nothing; he assures every man of his friendship and hardly knows what he assures. Joking and seriousness are so interwoven in him that No one, and he himself least of all, is able to but them from each other."

The clarity requires 4. economy of voice, both in the whole recital and in the individual periods. Where the matter and the feeling do not demand it, do not strain the chest so much, but speak in an ordinary tone, in order to retain strength for the passages that must be emphasized. It would be completely perverse to begin with the introduction with all one's strength; this rather requires a moderate tone in the lower degrees of the voice, so that the speaker can rise. Then the topic with the parts is to be pronounced somewhat more slowly and clearly in order to emphasize them, and in the sermon itself the voice is to be lowered or raised according to the content of the words. Whoever begins immediately with a full voice will have exhausted his strength before he has finished and will become hoarse and unintelligible.

Finally, clarity requires an appropriate local and diet. With regard to diet, Rambach warns against the use of all things "that can spoil the voice; among these is especially the heavy use of sn uff, especially of spaniol, which attacks and clogs the nose and thus also spoils the voice, making it hoarse and unpleasant. This also includes drinking, from which one gets a coarse bass voice, but which is not suitable for the pulpit. The use of heated beverages (wine, beer, etc.) immediately before the sermon must be strongly cautioned against; on the other hand, the following are recommended: a raw, beaten egg, a cup of good boullion, the latter especially for those with stomach ailments. Concerning th e locale, let Spurgeon speak, who addresses, "The best thing for a pastor, apart from the grace of God, is oxygen. Pray that the windows of heaven may open, but begin by opening the windows of your own meeting house. Look into many of our country locales, and I fear into many a city chapel, and you will find that the windows are set up so that they cannot be opened. The modern, barbarous style of building leaves us no more ceiling than a barn has, and no more ventilation openings than would be found in an O riental dungeon, where a tyrant would have his prisoners die a lqngsful, agonizing death.

What would we think of a house whose windows could not be opened? Would any of you rent such an apartment? And yet gothic style and stupid pride make many people give up the healthy sliding window and instead have small holes made in the ceiling or bird traps in the windows, as a result of which meeting places become far more uncomfortable than Nebuchadnezzar's furnace for Sadrach, Meshach and Abednego. If such chapels are not properly insured, I could not pray for their preservation from fire danger. Even where windows can be opened, they often remain closed for months, and the impure air remains unchanged from one Sunday to the next. This is quite an unbearable condition. I know some people take no notice of such things, and I have heard the remark that the fox does not die from the stench in its den; but I am not a fox, bad air makes me sleepy, and my hearers feel the same way. A stream of fresh air passing through the building would be a blessing for the congregation, which in its value would immediately follow the Gospel itself, at least it would put them in a mood favorable to the reception of the truth. Take the trouble to remove the hindrance arising from foul air during the weekdays. In my former chapel in Park Street, I expressed myself several times to my deacons that the upper panes of the iron-framed windows, since they could not be opened, should rather be taken out. I mentioned this several times, but nothing happened. Then it happened one Monday that someone removed most of these panes in a masterly manner, almost as well as if the glazier had taken them out. Now there was great consternation and much conjecture as to who had committed the crime, and I proposed that a reward of five pounds sterling be offered for the discovery of the culprit, with the provision that when he was found out, he should receive that amount as a gift. The congregation did not offer the reward, and therefore I did not consider it my duty to report the individual. I hope none of you will suspect me; because if that happens, I will have to confess that I walked by the stick that let the oxygen into that suffocating building."

Note 3

To the correctness of declamation we count the' appropriate emphasis of the words on which the emphasis rests, the proper modulation of the voice and the faster or slower speaking. Not the etymological and logical, but only the emphatic accent is considered in the correctness of the declamation. In order to take it where it belongs, the only rule is: Learn to understand and feel correctly what you present to others in your address. Without correct understanding, there is no correct emphasis. Let us take a passage from Dr. Walther's sermons and try the same with the emphatic But on Golgotha we see sin not only at its highest level, but also in its most terrible consequences. For what we see Christ suffering here, He suffers not for His own sake, but voluntarily, for the sake of our sin. He bore*, as Isaiah says, "our sickness and took upon himself our pain. He is wounded for our iniquity, and bruised for our sins.' So what we see Christ suffer today is what we should suffer eternally for the sake of our sin. He endures the choicest tortures; from this we see that our s ins deserve eternal tortures. He hangs naked and bare, full of shame, mockery and disgrace; from this we see that our sins have earned eternal shame, mockery and disgrace. He thirsts and is not refreshed; from this we see that our sins have earned eternal thirst without refreshment and eternal languishing," and so on. (Epist. Post.,

p. 190.)

"By amplification of the voice", Grotefend says, "the emphasis is created, which one takes on individual words. This emphasis has its different degrees, depending on wh ether a word in a sentence must be made more or less noticeable to the attention of the listener. The right feeling, where the emphasis belongs or not, the stronger or weaker one, arises only from a right thinking of the thought and a right feeling of its peculiar value. This emphasis, if it is properly observed, must represent each word of a thought in its proper importance to the whole and even know how to distinguish the relations of one to the other. But all this is possible only under two conditions. N amely, if the speaker speaks sufficiently slowly to have time to characterize each word in its own way, which the speaker who speaks too quickly cannot do; and then, if the usual strength of his voice is a certain average strength, which permits several amplifications and elevations, but also a slackening. Speakers who immediately overcry or begin in a tone that is too high will not be able to achieve anything in this respect. It is difficult to understand why some speakers cannot do this correctly, but alm ost always make mistakes against these rules, and take the emphasis where it does not belong. It seems impossible to me that such men think and feel in every sentence what must be thought and felt in it.... East they take the tone on an insignificant article and let the nouns slide carelessly and unaccented. For example, when speaking the blessing, I heard that the tone was taken only on the article of the Lord, but everything else flowed tonelessly, although it is clear that the words Lord, bless, keep, and indeed the former have a the other two must have a stronger tone." It is peculiar that the emphasis in the forms of the Agende, which are so often used, is usually the most erroneous, e.g., in the baptismal formula the emphasis of the and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The main thing, but also the most difficult thing of a good declamation lies in a correct modulation of the voice, i.e. in the appropriate alternation of higher and lower tones, longer and shorter syllables, shorter and longer pauses between the sentences. This modulation, if it is to be correct, must be based on the content and meaning of each word and the overall content of the entire address. The tone must actually express the feeling, often much more vividly and strongly than can be done by words. "The tone," says Hüffell, "should sound joyful with the joyful feeling, sad with the sad feeling; in it should be painted the calm, the power, the boldness, the majestic, the solemn, the touching, as well as the humorous and comic. In this way, every representation in words has its own peculiar tone. The tone of instruction has calmness, slowness, moderate effort; the tone of prayer has deep, heartfelt feeling;

the punishing tone has force and rapidity; the encouraging tone has rapidity, force, and heartiness; the mour ning tone has slowness and depth; the joyful tone has rapidity and elevation." (Op. cit., p. 446.) But how can the aspiring pastor achieve beautiful modulation? The necessary prerequisite is a musical ear. If this is lacking, he is unable to distinguish th e peculiarity of the modulation, and how can he reproduce the tones if he cannot distinguish their nuances! "But," asks Grotefend, "is modulation in declamation music?" and answers: "No, but nevertheless something similar to music, at least that part which is called melody. For melody consists in the succession of different tones, some of which may occur several times in succession, but must not remain without alternation with higher and lower tones, even if only at the beginning and at the end, as in sever al altar melodies. But it is precisely this matching succession of appropriate tones, sometimes in a lesser, sometimes in a greater effort of the voice, that gives rise to what is called declamation; because one will never say that sentences that are recited in one tone syllable by syllable and word by word have been declamated.

However, despite this great similarity, declamation is not music proper. The difference seems to lie in the following. In chant, even when it recites recitatives, the notes are sustained, but in declamation, they are only triggered; in the former, each note has a precisely determined measure of time, in the latter, a less determined measure; the chant rises and falls in quite definite intervals. In declamation, these intervals are not so pure and do not always fit into the 12 tones of the scale. Nevertheless, it is unpleasant if nothing musical is heard in the declamation, if all intervals become so highly impure that they resemble more a merely different roar than a regularly changing tone. As a rule, therefore, he who sings beautifully will also declaim better, even if the two are not at all the same; and it is strange that the singing tone of some speakers is found more in those who know nothing at all of music than in those whose voice and ear are musically trained."

If, however, musical hearing is present, there is no better means of learning the correct modulation than by listening to pastors or orators in general, who are regarded as models in this respect, and indeed by listening to several, if possible, not only one orator, because all the qualities wort hy of imitation are almost never found united in one person. For while in the one speaker one finds more the soft and calm of the delivery, in the other one one notices the passionate, moving or heroic; while in the one the simplicity in the narration attr acts, in the other one the skill in depicting and painting captivates, in which latter, as is known, Luther was a master.

We would like to add a few rules for the modulation of the voice, which in general should always be valid:

1. throughout the performan ce there is a main tone, above and below which

the voice alternately rises and falls, but which always returns. The sphere within which the lecture in the sermon has to move is that of an octave; rarely is it to go beyond this.

3. the question must rise th rough the entire interrogative sentence, starting

from the word on which the tone rests, but never rising above the interval of a fourth. The exclamation begins with the highest note and falls to the end as the question rises.

5. the final case of a period is generally a full fifth, but not without omission of

the intermediate notes. The best teacher, however, remains a musical ear and a finer feeling. We have heard an otherwise excellent pastor who had the bad habit of beginning the following movement often about a full octave higher or lower than he had concluded the previous one, a manner that was most unpleasantly touching and disturbing. Certainly, he lacked hearing and feeling. The latter teaches the speaker not only the weight of the individual thoughts in comparison to each other, but also the appropriate tone, with which to express them. The same must be expressed. For, if the speaker feels and senses what he has to say, he will also easily strike the necessary tone as if by himself, in order to produce the same sensations in his listeners. Cold speakers, however, will not succeed in this, for they cannot stir at all. Take, for example, the word of Peter, "Lord, go out from me, for I am a sinful man," Luc. 5, 8, or the excla mation of Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:28; anyone who does not know and feel what these words contain will not be able to declaim them properly.

The opposite of correct modulation is monotony, according to which not only everything is recited in one tone, but, what is even more obnoxious, the sentences are repeated according to one melody. "In this way," says Rambach, "one exposes oneself to the suspicion that one has learned one's sermon by heart in a childish way. To always keep the same tone at the end of the period and to sing the periods of the sermon, as it were, is also disgusting to the congregation." - "Let modulation enter into the sound of the voice," Spurgeon therefore calls out to his students, "always strike a new key and constantly change the melody. Let the bass, the alto, and the tenor also come in. I implore you: Do this both out of compassion for yourselves and for those who listen to you. God has mercy on us and arranges everything in such a way that our need for variety finds sa tisfaction; so let us also have mercy on our fellow human beings and not plague them with the fatigue of monotony. It is a true barbarity to expose the eardrum of a neighbor's ear to the torment of being pierced for half an hour by one and the same sound. What quicker method of making a man stupid or insane can be thought of than to put a constantly buzzing bee or fly in his ear? What claim have you that the helpless victims of slaughter, who sit under your singsong sermon, must put up with such cruelty? The kind nature often remits to the unfortunate battle victims of the drone the full measure of the sufferings caused by the same, by gradually lulling the thus tormented into gentle slumber. But this is just not an effect you desire; now, speak in alternate voices. How few pastors think that monotony produces sleep. I fear the charge made in one of our publications is literally true by a good many of my brethren. It is said in the same, "We all know that the sound of a murmuring brook, the roar of the sea, the whisper of the south wind under the spruces, or the lamentation of wood pigeons, brings a refreshing dreamy weariness to the listener. We are far from wanting to say that the voice of one of our The fact is that it is precisely those who are most concerned with such matters who speak only exceptionally of a "revival sermon," and that it is only the majority who speak of a "revival sermon" in this way. Yes, the fact that precisely those who have most to do with such matters speak only exceptionally of a 'revival sermon' rests on the premise that the great majority of pulpit lectures have a decidedly narcotic effect.'" (op. cit.)

Speaking slower and faster is part of the correctness of declamation, i nsofar as it brings variety into the performance and then calls the attention of the listeners to the more important things to a greater extent than can happen by merely raising the voice. This slower or swifter speaking, however, is quite different from that which is demanded by the mere emphasis of the main words, i.e. the emphatic accent, for it is not merely a matter of emphasizing, but also of stretching the words and sentences. This slowing down has to be done in the case of church ceremonies, e.g. the words of institution of the Holy Communion. What an impression it would make if the recitation of them were done with great speed! Furthermore, in the case of formulas of introduction, when the theme, a biblical passage, a word of the Lord, etc.

is announced; in the case of such words which the pastor would like to impress upon the memory of the listeners for the sake of their importance; and finally in the case of all such words which in themselves express a slower movement, e.g.: "Thus was the Lord led forth to Golgotha; Weary with the maltreatment since his capture in Gethsemane, deathly weary with the dreadful scourging pronounced upon him and the loss of his holy blood, he staggered along the torture road under the weight of the cross, which doubly weighed down his sore back." Words flow more quickly when the pastor is moved and stirred, when he urgently exhorts and encourages. But both, the slower and faster speaking, must not be exaggerated; the latter must not resemble the spelling out of the book, and the latter must not go so far that the words pour down on the listeners like a downpour.

Finally, it may be pointed out that the declamation, or the delivery of each sermon, or of each part of it, has to be based on the content. Let us take the following passage from a sermon by Dr. Walther: "There he hangs, the Lord of glory and Duke of our salvation, but he is dead. The holy body, in which the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells, is a corpse, cold and rigid. The high head, before which otherwise hell trembled, is lowered to the earth. The fair face, which otherwise looked to all the unfortunates like the The sun that used to shine has faded. The voice that used to call out to all the weary and burdened: Come unto me, and I will give you rest', has faded away. The eye that used to look so mildly and lovingly into the misery of men is broken. The hand that took the sick, and they were healed; which lifted up the finger, and storm and wave were silent, and death restored his dead, it is frozen. The faithful heart, ah the only faithful heart, that beat so warmly and lovingly for the need of all sinners, it stan ds still." (Gnadenjahr, p. 217.) One thinks of this passage as being very loud, shouting and rushing, or even completely monotonously recited, while only the solemn and touching is appropriate to the content. That all acting imitation must be banned from the pulpit goes without saying. Cf. p. 448.

Note 4

Like style, declamation is perfected by its euphony. This includes: a beautiful, manly, melodious voice, pure pronunciation, flowing, lively delivery and, finally, naturalness. The best voice is usually that which lies in the middle between tenor and bass: the so-called baryton. The tenor voice lacks range, the bass voice lacks clarity and euphony. The necessary information about the formation and improvement of the voice has already been given above, p. 426 f. The so-called nasal voice, whose tones are not unlike the bellowing of a sheep, is extremely unpleasant. If this voice is natural, not much can be done to improve it, but if it is at least partly due to habit, in that everything is spoken through the nose, then the owner should mean that the nose is made for smelling, but not for speaking, and should endeavor to put an end to this abuse as soon as possible, if not for his own sake, then at least for the sake of his listeners.

The impure pronunciation o ffends the euphony and therefore disturbs the attention of the listeners. Sometimes the vowels, sometimes the consonants are pronounced incorrectly. One says "Obend" for "evening," "ondere" for "other," "Laben" for "life," "Sauhn" for "son," "Ehl" for "oil," "schen" for "beautiful," "mid" for "tired," "trib" for "dull," "unne" for "below," "gegebe" for "given. Put the impure pronunciation together with the pure pronunciation and you will immediately hear where the euphony is, e.g.: "Diese schene duftende Bl umme" - "These beautiful fragrant flowers"; "Habe Sie die Git" - "Have the goodness". It is "God", not "Jott", not "Gärtneer", but "Gärtner", not "Deibel", but "Teufel". So we heard in a sermon the strange sentence: "You'd think the Deibel was sitting in the governance." Nor does it sound pleasant when it is said: "If we have globes, then the teubel can't thoun us; through prayer we can get everything we want. One pastor was often ridiculed by his listeners because the first words of the prayer with which he always began in the pulpit were always, "Cha, Lord Chesus, as we have sung."

To the euphony of the lecture further belongs that it is fluent, lively, without stuttering and stammering, in a dexterous language. "Very adverse sounding," writes Schott (Theorie des äußeren orn. Vortrags, p. 207), "and disturbing the attention of the listener to a high degree is the stuttering or halting speech, which is contrary to the flowing speech, which makes unnecessary pauses or repeats what has just been said without sufficient reason, be it out of faulty spoiling or out of anxiety and embarrassment. On the other hand, the speech is firm and secure when the tone does not express the speaker's embarrassment by wavering, trembling, or shak ing of the voice. These disturbing imperfections are all the more reliably avoided the more carefully the elaborated lecture is entrusted to memory (already the inner consciousness of having fulfilled this duty or at least, where a literal memorization was not possible, of having done everything honestly), (The inner consciousness of having fulfilled this duty, or at least, where a literal memoir was not possible, of having done everything honestly that could be done under these circumstances, gives the speaker a certain confidence, which also expresses itself in the outer lecture), and - the more one works at it early on, the more one gradually overcomes a certain shyness based on the difference of temperament."

It is a real torment for the listeners when they hear (especially a young pastor or student), in whose lecture frequent pauses of embarrassment occur, who visibly searches for words and phrases and finally comes to the end stuttering with difficulty, if he does not get completely stuck. Therefore, es pecially the beginner, in order not to cause his listeners this torment and make any edification impossible, must memorize very carefully, and should he nevertheless lose the thread, not become confused and remain silent, but continue, even if he has nothi ng new to say at the first moment. Rambach gives the good advice: "If, however, one gets out of the concept and cannot think about what is to follow, one must not immediately let the consternation get the upper hand, and must not immediately remain silent, or begin to cough, or recite the end of the previous period, or even take the concept out of one's pocket; but one must continue as well as one wants to. That pastor was in the habit of reciting this passage when he could not think of what followed: "Give here, give there, wait here, wait there, a little here, a little there.

The listeners immediately noticed that he had come out of his concept. Rather, in such cases, when one is still at the exposition of the text, one can look into the Bible, which one must have before one at the end, to see if one can help oneself from it; or one can repeat briefly and summarily what one has said so far, or intersperse a short examination and in the meantime use one's memory of the place and reflect in which area of the concept one has stood, then one will finally come back into order. If, however, it does not occur to one, one proceeds to the next part of the sermon, even though it remains imperfect." Finally, euphony requires naturalness. Hüffell comments on this briefly and accurately: "As a basic princip le of this so important and yet so often violated rule, we rightly assume: there is no such thing as a pulpit tone, but every pastor must remain true to his natural voice. Every manly and healthy voice is either bass, tenor or baryton, and what nature has willed, no art should or can want to change. If one nevertheless attempts the opposite, unnature, constraint and with it a series of disturbing consequences arise. The author knows quite a few pastors who have quite pleasant voices in ordinary life, but wh en they enter the pulpit, they are hardly recognizable, so changed is their speech and voice. They start from the false view that preaching must be done in the pulpit, that the pulpit requires a special tone, and that one must not retain one's usual voice. But the exact opposite is the case. The natural voice should be retained, it should not be preached, but spoken, just as in ordinary life, only, where it must be, stronger, more lively. Like speech in general, the tone must appear natural and unforced in all its vibrations. The so frequently occurring half-singing tone, that unnaturalness of emphasizing the beginning of a sentence weakly and the end of it strongly, that false patheticness, finally, whereby one declamates the text, for example, just as one declamates the warmest passage, all this is unnatural and must be banished par excellence." (op. cit., p. 450.)

To the naturalness belongs the fire of the speech in such passages which demand it in content, when this fire burns in the heart of the pastor and pours out of itself in the speech, bringing the voice into quicker swing and letting the address spring like a stream deep from the chest. But moderation must also be kept in this fire. If the face becomes unnaturally red, if the eyes roll and sparkle a s if they were about to shoot lightning bolts, if the nostrils flare and even the facial features become more pronounced, then this is a sign that the speaker must be restrained. If the sermon is distorted, this is permitted to an actor, but it must not be done in the pulpit, because it does not correspond to the seriousness and truth of the sermon of the divine word. Even the imitation of the natural tone is allowed to the pastor only up to a certain degree, if he is not to fall into an acting performance.

§ 4

Action is called the appropriate movements of the body by which the speaker indicates that he feels correctly and vividly what he expresses in words and strives to arouse the same feelings in his listeners.

Annotation

The action, gesticulation, or language of giving can least of all be taught by certain rules or regulations; it is not subject to the dictates of rules, but depends entirely on the nature and affects of the speaker. The rules concerning action are therefore much more negative than positive. Whoever would undertake to shape his action according to certain prescribed rules would end up in an affectation, an acting, which would be least pleasing to anyone in the church. Better none at all than affected gestures. "A pastor," says Rambach, quite truly, "loses thereby at once his credit and favor with sensible people, when they perceive that his gestures taste of art and that they do not derive from affect." Certain rules are all the less to be exhibited because natures are so entirely different; what is natural to one, therefore, becomes unnatural to another, of quite a different natural disposition, if it is imitated by the latter. Furthermore, what is appropriate for old age will be detrimental to the youthful pastor, and so on.

And yet the cessation of all gestures in the sermon is unnatural and has a very disturbing effect on the listeners. The pastor is not a dead instrument that emits only certain sounds, but he is a living being whose life is manifested more or less through all his limbs. Just observe the ordinary man on the street in conversation with another and you will always see him accompany his words with appropriate gestures. Why should it be any different when a man stands in the pulpit and speaks to a smaller or larger crowd of listeners? After all, the sermon is nothing other than an action that takes place between the pastor and the congregation. Why, furthermore, do we build our churches and place the pulpits in them in such a way that the pastor can be seen by every listener from every seat? Why do we call it a great mistake, if this is not possible? The most important reason is that the sermon does not make the same impression on the listeners if they cannot see the pastors. And in truth, he who cannot see the pastor does not receive the whole sermon. Word and sound alone cannot fully express the thoughts of the speaker; if this is to happen, a third must be added: action. Through this, the clarity of the sermon is essentially promoted. How much is not often said by the look of the eye, the meaningful expression, the lively ges tures? Are these not often much more eloquent than words? If we add that there is a perfect language of gestures, which does not need words for communication, as the language of the deaf and dumb proves, it is obvious what an important and important means the right action is for the speaker to make himself completely understood by his listeners, to communicate not only his thoughts but also his feelings. A pastor who would deliver his sermon without making any gestures must therefore be considered an unnatural phenomenon. This remains true, even if one can point to individual very capable pastors who made no movements at all with their hands and arms, such as Herder. Even Dean Stanley in England, who died about fifteen years ago, made almost no gestures duri ng the sermon, but behaved so calmly that a glove, which once lay on his head during the sermon, did not fall off. Where there is no action at all, even the posture of the head and the expression of the facial expressions are always the same, no deep and strong feeling is conceivable, no inner movement, and such cannot be communicated to the listeners.

As sure as a certain action is natural to every speaker (more calm or more lively according to his temperament), the manner of it stands in question. Childre n and generally timid persons, who lack confidence in appearing before smaller or larger assemblies, will always fail in action; their gestures will be stilted or awkward, but often completely perverse. The only source of true action is the feeling, the inner movement of the speaker, and, to use Hüffell's words: "The real school of action is the assumption of a noble independence and freedom, and the release of the mind from all timidity, stupidity and fear, and the help of the teacher and the art can only consist in this, that the freely developing mind gains the noblest expression in facial expressions and gestures. The declamatory exercises of youth in schools, which have become prevalent in more recent times, might therefore require great modifications if they are not to be do more harm than good. A certain unnature that takes root here will be difficult to discard later on." (op. cit., p. 452 f.)

How precarious it is to set out specific rules for gesticulation is illustrated by a few examples from Schott: "Very natural," it says in "Aeußerer Vortrag," 3rd section,

p. 253, "to the lively participation of speech in the ideas to be represented is also a

certain conformity of the gestural language with the nature of the objects to b e represented. It possesses this quality, in that it designates objects partly in the proper sense, partly imitates (paints.*) Significant, for example, is The action, for example, when it turns with a certain turn of the body toward this or that class of listeners to whom certain passages or sections of the address are to be primarily referred, when, at the mention of heaven, the invisible world, one arm or both is raised (more or less, depending on whether the idea must be emphasized more or less in the context of the whole), when, where something is asserted by the human mind, the hand is moved toward oneself, or taken on the chest, and so on. Painting in the language of gestures succeeds most easily, where the address is of such sensual objects, which themselves consist in positions and movements, or announce themselves mainly through them," And now the examples. If, for example, the speaker utters the words: "The honest man with a good conscience walks along the path of life with a firm, sure step," Schott wants the speaker to assume a firm position of the body and to move both hands and arms downward in order to indicate sensually the firm, sure tread on the ground! When the speaker exclaims: "With the triumphant power of God, Jesus, the Redeemer, on the third day, escaped from the bonds of the grave," the words "escaped" and so on should be accompanied by a prominent raising of both arms and hands, or of one of them. If the speaker declares:

"Quickly and fleetingly and inexorably the years of earthly life rush by," then the movement of one arm should be quickly followed by the movement of the other and finally by an elevation and spreading of both! In th e words: "Are they not the most shattering events and changes, which in the cycle of a few years followed one another in restless and unstoppable alternation?" the words: most shattering events, etc., should be followed by a somewhat rapid, downward moveme nt of both arms and hands, the words: which in the cycle, etc., should be followed by a more circular movement!! and: in restless, etc., movement of both arms and hands. *The doctrine of the signifying and painting of action is called the objective semiotics of it.

be accompanied by a quick change with both! If the speaker speaks: "All earthly bindings are finally separated by death", then he should speak the word: separated with such a movement of the hand, according to Schott's rule, as if a thread or a ribbon is t orn!!! Just one more example: the speaker speaks: "The presumptuous proud man despises the noble deeds of others, and hardly pays attention to them." At the first words he raises one arm a little, at the following: despises, etc., he moves it quickly downward, and the last: hardly appreciates them, etc., he speaks with such a movement of the hands as is customary when a thing is thrown away! - Now think of a pastor, in the pulpit, who would gesticulate according to these instructions, and one has a real actor and comedian before one's eyes. However: much rather none at all than such gestures, which can only make the pastor ridiculous and contemptible. How calculated and affected these gestures would have to be in a beginner; they would be quite unbearable to all intelligent listeners!

§ 5

The action must above all be natural and must not betray any trace of art; it must also be moderate and appropriate, dignified and decent.

Note 1

As certainly as the justification of an individual style must be conceded, if only the general laws of it are complied with, so certainly must an individual action be conceded to every speaker. What is more, this alone is the only correct one, provided that it does not violate any of the conditions stated in the paragraph. For if the only source of the action is the feeling or the inner movement of the speaker, if, as Cicero has already clearly stated, every gesture is based on an inner movement of the mind, then the action, if it is pure, i.e. nothing more than the outer expression of the inner feeling, will correspond exactly to the individuality of the speaker and thus possess the quality of naturalness in the fullest measure. Of course, we do not mean here the crude, uneducated naturalness, but that which, through the necessary education, which is indispensable to every pastor, moves just as much in finer and nobler forms as it keeps away from all forms formed by art. But this may also be said: if the election were only between a natural and an artificial action, then for the sermon the former would have to be chosen without fail, because it is always The latter lacks these qualities and is nothing but a disgusting ornamentation that contradicts the simplicity of the sermon. We must have men in the pulpit, not actors or ornamental puppets. The action must above all things be natural, that is, it must correspond to the nature, the person of the speaker. As reprehensible as it is if the pastor adopts a completely different tone in the pulpit than in ordinary life, it is equally reprehensible if he adopts a different face, a different posture of the body in the pulpit. He who is of a lively temperament can stand a lively discourse, just as a calm temperament can stand a calm action, and unnaturalness immediately arises when he who is lively by nature tries to imitate the calm tone and measured attitude of another, and still more when he who is calm by nature tries to art a liveliness, a fire of address, which is altogethe r foreign to his nature. In this way, the opposite of naturalness arises: affectation, for this usually arises from the desire to imitate and the vain endeavor to please, and appears where the action does not stand in harmony with the usual outward appeara nce of the person of the pastor, or is not appropriate to the temperament, the age, the physical condition of the speaker. Each one must give himself as he is, not want to artificially do something that is foreign to his nature. Rambach writes: "For example, it suits one to make many gestures, to be in constant motion and to strain and move the whole body in preaching. If another, who is calm by nature, sees this and wants to imitate it, his natural charm, which is connected with his calm nature, would be s poiled by it and he would get into a badly decent affectation. On the other hand, if one who is by nature of a bright, fiery, and lively nature should be required to hold his arms still in the pulpit, he would regard such a thing as the hardest law, and he would think that his spirit would be bound thereby if one wished to forbid him the gestures; nay, if he wished to force himself to do so, it would not be well for him, but his lively and free nature would give him greater comfort."

Note 2

As in all things, in the use of figures and tropes, the emphasis, the modulation of the voice, etc., the pastor must keep moderation, so also in action. The pulpit is not a stage, and the pastor is not an actor. His action must therefore be kept within certain narrower l imits, beyond which he may not go without violating the dignity befitting him. "He is not a declamator," introduces Hüffell continues, "much less an actor. Already the outer position establishes a great difference between the actor and the pastor. The actor brings his whole body into the play, he therefore has to watch over every movement of it; he stands freely, sits, walks, embraces, hands over, takes what is offered to him, etc.; the pastor hardly brings out half of his body, and where he walks or stands it is always the same dignified posture of seriousness and devotion" (namely in the service). "The actor has the most varied roles and in them the most varied tasks; he laughs, cries, jokes, laments, falls into anger, despair, etc.; the pastor knows nothing of all this; a moderate, always the same attitude marks the keynote of his behavior, and when he cries, it is more in restraint of the tears than in furtherance of them, and all mimic expression of passions is dispensed with in a ny case, because no passion is to emerge in the pulpit. The actor, finally, has no other purpose than the art of representation; the more faithfully he plays his role, whatever it may be, the more skillful he is...; the pastor knows nothing of art as an end..., the art of representation serves him only as a means, is only an expression of his inner life, and his highest and only task is - to edify." (op. cit., p. 437) - Thus the action of the pastor must always move within a certain sphere: he may gesticulate with arms and hands, but this must not be done passionately and affectively; his whole body may take part in the action, but not in violent and rapid movements; these should be permitted only in the rarest cases. One must not get into a fervor that one trembles and shakes, not pale that one resembles a corpse and frightens the listeners, but also not let the redness of anger rise and show. The hands must not be clasped together above the head, nor taken over each other in the form of a cross, nor let dow n low over the pulpit parapet, nor may the hands be struck out of the Bible or the pulpit. Pastors who have a lively temperament and are therefore inclined to do too much of a good thing in this respect must take all the more care to moderate themselves. Therefore, never gesticulate too much; too little is much more bearable. If some pastors think that they can replace by action what the sermon lacks in inner content, they are very much mistaken; instead of gesticulating more, they should prepare themselves better. And beginners, indeed, should beware of the error, as if they must accompany every word with a corresponding movement of the head, eyes, arms, and hands!" If they often do not know where and how to take their hands, they may take them unceremoniou sly (not supporting themselves) on the pulpit parapet or pulpit desk.

Note 3

Third, the gestures should be appropriate, that is, they should be such that there is harmony between the thing and the gesture that accompanies it. Just as with a faithful pastor there is always harmony between heart and mouth, because everything he says comes from the innermost conviction, so also between the heart and the movements of the body. When the heart prays, the hands fold all by themselves, the gaze is directed upward as a whole, and humility, devotion, and trust are expressed in the facial expressions. And all this is done in a natural way, as in the case of a child who trustingly raises his eyes in supplication to his physical father.

To assume a position during prayer in which the arms are stretched upward convulsively, the gaze is fixed heavenward, the head is turned sharply backward, the facial expressions are distorted, and the voice trembles, is unworthy, affectirt. We once heard such a prayer leader whose prayer made such an impression on a child sitting close to the prayer leader that he began to cry, believing that the pastor praying in this way was ill! When urgent exhortations are addressed to the hearers, the arms open of their own accord, as if to embrace and hold the hearts, but even this movement must be very limited if it is not to appear unnatural. It would be ridiculous to relate, according to John 8:6, how Christ stooped down and wrote with his finger on the earth, while lifting up his head and looking at the ceiling of the church, or, at the words of the Lord, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy l aden," etc., to make defensive or even threatening movements with the hands. " Omnis motus animi suum quendam a natura habet vultum " was already aptly said by Cicero;

indeed, every affect has its signs by which it makes itself known, and he who leaves himself to the guidance of the affect will make all by himself the gestures which are in harmony with the thing to be represented. "But here, too," adds Rambach, "sit modus in rebus, and one does not have to articulate all things, and, for example, beat a fast on the pulpit. For if one wanted to accompany every action with appropriate gestures, one could also become ridiculous. If, for example, a pastor were to tell how David hurled a stone at Goliath's head, and wanted to make gestures as if he had a slingshot, and how Goliath then fell back, and wanted to fall back in the pulpit, this would be very bad.

Note 4

Finally, fourthly, dignity and decency are indispensable conditions of a good action, in which the beautiful is still particularly expressed. Grotefend lets himself be said about this as follows: "Me thinks that the decency or beauty of the action dissolves primarily in the following qualities: Naturalness or informality, dignity and symmetry. The first quality demands light and appropriate movement, not only for the thoughts presented, but for the structure of the human body, and therefore excludes everything stiff and ponderous; the second demands that the feeling of sanctity and importance of the whole business be reflected in the posture, in the mien and in every movement, and therefore forbids any kind of exaggeration and ridiculousness; The third, finally, pays attention to the proper alternation of movements, through which all parts of the body involved come into the same activity and thus into a symmetrical position; it therefore avoids everything one-sided, crooked and angular. Perhaps these qualities can be applied to the individual, in which decency must be observed and the beauty of the action sought.

First of all, decorum must be observed in the approach to the holy place and in the appearance, then in the position and posture of the body during the address, and finally in every single movement. In the exit and departure, a slow, dignified, but at the same time unconstrained gait is recommended, which is equally far from a certain stiff pride and from a certain indifference to the sacred action. Too rapid an appearance would betray indifference or alacrity or anxiety, and would certainly offend the dignity which even the congregation is accustomed to demand; too measured and stiff a gait might be interpreted as spiritual pride; and a stumbling, careless manner in the walk would border on the ridiculous. One does not even like to see, when the pastor appears in common life, that his gait has anything conspicuous about it, because propriety is fel t by every man and is, as it were, demanded of the pastor; how much less would one leave it without censure or remark during the service.

Even more important is the position and posture of the body during the address, in which the speaker must be especially careful. The position must first be straight, but unconstrained, in which it becomes apparent that every part of the body is in an easy and appropriate position, no limb is unnaturally tense or held, and seems to impose some constraint on the speaker. Th erefore, the completely bolt upright position, in which everything goes down in straight vertical lines, in which the arms press against the body, both feet make the same angle, the head is not inclined at all, and no free looking around is allowed, as for instance the soldier once stood in the limb, is not the right position, because it is stiff, forced and burdensome.

Nevertheless, the head must not tilt to one side or lean too far forward. The arms must be symmetrical, but at the same time unconstrained and free, and the feet must be in such a position that they seem to carry the body with eas e and to favor every movement of it. In this respect, more faults are noticed than one would think, which, although they may be due to the habitual faulty position in general, can certainly be eliminated and overcome by attention and practice. Very often one finds a crooked position, in which the body leans to one side, rests negligently on one elbow, and seems to need special support, as if it could not hold itself. Or the head leans to one side and assumes a saintly position. The whole body also leans forward at times, and would fall from the pulpit if the parapet did not stop it. Such positions are even more conspicuous in front of the altar when the whole body stands free. If, for example, the feet are drawn tightly together, and there is danger that the speaker might fall to one side or the other, the knees bend forward, the head retreats, and the whole body forms half a moon, the hollow of which falls into the back, while keeping the eyes closed, the listeners always look at this strange position, and the speaker's words are not heard. The most adverse position is the one in which the body assumes the figure of a Greek inverted ~, where the knees and the abdomen lean forward, the chest retracts, and the head hangs forward as if it were too heavy. It is true that everyone has something peculiar in his position and posture; but with all these, naturalness, dignity and symmetry can a lways take place in a special way in everyone". (op. cit., p. 251 ff.)

§ 6

The specific conditions of action are that the posture of the head, the expression of the face, the look of the eyes, the position of the whole body, the movement of the arms, hands and feet be such as the laws of decency require.

Note 1

Much depends on the posture of the head, because it is as characteristic of the speaker as many other things, and contributes a great deal to the expression of the address. The lowered, forward hanging head indicates weakness, just as one indicates despondency or despondency by saying: he hangs his head; the thrown back head is an expression of pride, the inclination to the side an expression of languor, the rigidity of the same a sign of ferocity. By the movement of the head the most different things can be expressed, like applause, admiration, displeasure, modesty, doubt. But any movement of the head must be very moderate. It is not allowed to throw the head from side to side, to nod or shake the head. "The movement of the head," Schott remarks, "toward this or that side, which expresses sometimes the general relation of the content of the address to the whole audience, sometimes the special application to certain classes of listeners, must not pass over into a constant mobility of the head, which would betray a distracted min d, or into a vain looking about for the applause which might be expressed in the expressions of the listeners." (op. cit., p. 240.)

Note 2

The expression of the face must be one of dignity and reverence," says Rambach, "so that no insolent, frivolous nature shines forth from the face; rather, the affects which things bring with them, as the affects of admiration, of displeasure, of sadness, of joy, etc., must be readable in the face without some art and affectation." Hüffell: "In the whole face of the pastor, a high and intimate devotion must be taken, bound with certain calm; between them, a noble cheerfulness and love must shimmer; like a fa ther among his children, like a quite faithful friend among dearly beloved friends, so affectionate, so gentle, so calm, so cheerful, so completely sure of his cause, let the preacher appear in his congregation. Such a kind messenger of love cannot be gloomy; even sorrow and suffering must have been transfigured into gentle surrender; a steward of God's mysteries who lives and works in such an exclusive way for the highest and holiest cannot bear any traces of passions and vices in his countenance; the peace of God, which he brings and should bring, must radiate from his face;

even if he has not yet opened his mouth for an edifying address, edification must already be found in his look and in his countenance. Of course, this is very difficult, but on the other hand, it is very easy. It all depends on the heart that beats behind these expressions. He who does not believe what he teaches and does not do what he sets forth as his duty will soon be betrayed in his countenance. For this reason, the clergyman should first make himself before he wants to make others into something." (op. cit., p. 458.)

Note 3

The eye is of no small importance with the action. How the most different sensations are already expressed by nature through the eye! The pensive, inquiring, loving expression of the eye is very significant. 2 Pet. 2:14 says, "They have eyes full of adultery." Yes, the character of many a man stands written in his eye. The eye shines with joy and is gloomy in sadness, it expresses seriousness and jest, amazement and admiration, suffering and many other things. But the pastor must also be able to command his gaze; his eyes must not look how and wander where they will when he preaches. "They need not go about in the head," writes Rambach, "and wander about in all corners of the church, but modesty is the proper decorum of the eyes. Some have got into the habit that they cannot preach with their eyes open, but immediately go astray when they lift up their eyes; this, of course, does not stand well; but one must regard this as a weakness in them and bear it with patience." The following errors concerning the eyes are to be carefully avoided:

a) Fixing the eyes on an object during the sermon, which makes the pastor resemble a statue, and also runs the risk of getting stuck if he is forced by some event to fix his gaze on something else. b) Completely squeezing the eyes shut during the sermon or prayer. c) Staring, staring, or wildly wandering. It is also particularly disturbing, as we have already noted, when the eyes of the pastor, while praying the Lord's Prayer aloud, wander from one place to another in the church; it gives the impression that the person praying is reciting the prayer without any devotion. d) e) Finally, not to be forgotten: furtive glances at the Concept, which are always the si gn of an evil conscience. It is better to use the Concept freely and publicly.

Note 4

With regard to the position or posture of the body, we read in Schott, op. cit., p. 239: "The body maintains itself during the address in a straight and free position, not counting the cases in which the speaker, prompted by the natural expression of particular emotional states, bends a little forward or backward, or turns to this side and that, in order to indicate the special relation of a passage of his speech to a certain class of his listeners. The oblique position in which the body almost always leans to one side, like the constant bending forward (over the parapet of the pulpit) or a perpetual swaying to and fro, is already repugnant to the decorum observed and expected in fine social circles; and a restless treading about on the floor of the pulpit, from one side to the other, sometimes forward, sometimes backward into the background, reminds one in a sacred place of the show stage." It is also against decency if the pastor leans on the pulpit with his elbows or with his arms entwined, which puts him in a partially reclining position.

The walk to the pulpit as well as to the altar must be serious and measured, neither too fast nor too slow. Walking too quickly in a kind of stormy step betrays levity and causes offense among the listeners; walking too slowly gives the impression of being forced. For the rest, compare the further elaboration by Grotefend, § 5, Annot. 4, p. 450 f.

Note 5

Of course, the arms and hands are the most important in the action. The gestures with the arms and hands are the first to indicate the skillful, confident, or unsafe and clumsy speaker. The standard for the beauty of these movements is the so-called wavy line, i.e. the movements with the arms and hands may neither form a complete circle, nor may they be made angular and stiff, i.e. in a form similar to a tr iangle, but they must form wavy lines by being done in gentle transitions. If, however, the movements are to be made in this form, the upper arms must not lie tightly against the body and only the forearms must move, because this would result in sharp angles; instead, the whole arms must be used in these movements. Another rule is that the movements of the arms and hands should extend downward only to the center of the body and upward no farther than the eye. Each hand has three regions for its movements, the upper, which reaches to the eye, the middle, which reaches to the chest, and the lower, which descends to the hip. Raising the hands too high or letting them sink too low is unattractive. - Third, alternation in these movements is required. "If only one hand is always used for gesticulation," Schott writes, "while the other rests continually in some position; if both hands are continually active, without any interrupting pauses; if the action itself is always the same, moving in time, then that uniformity arises, which is, however, as tiresome for the sight as it is unsuitable for the designation of the changing objects and states of mind." (p. 245.) Fourth, it is a rule that the action must be begun with the right hand, that the left follows fir st, and that both hands may be set in motion only in the case of more violent affects. He who gesticulates too much with both hands or first with the left hand violates the simplest rules just as much as he who lets the action precede the address. Hüffell: "In many cases only one hand acts; but always the right, never the left. In a calm dissection of a truth, the right hand in particular is active, and quite in the position as if it were taking something forward. Where the speaker describes something desirable, both arms are raised, the inner surface of the hands but is turned toward the speaker; where, on the other hand, the speaker is describing something reprehensible, the hands are raised in the same trend, but the inner surface of the hands is turned away from the speaker. In solemn prayers, only the right hand rises and lingers at a moderate height." (S. 460.)

As indecencies are still to be mentioned: Closing the hand or clenching the fist, spreading the fingers apart, threatening with the finger, pressing in the thumb, and so on. Such gestures are unattractive and indecent and must therefore be avoided by the pastor. These gestures also partly violate the modesty with which a pastor should always appear, so that the congregation feels and notices from his whole appearance that the preacher is aware of what a high task he has to accomplish and cannot accomplish this task by his own efforts, but only by trusting in Him who makes him capable of carrying out the office of the New Testament. Finally, it is fully correct when Rambach points out, with regard to the deelamation as action, that the fa ults of the voice and in the gestures "are best shown and improved if one preaches diligently under the censure of an understanding man, who can tell one more in an hour what faults one has in the voice (and whether one has anything indecent in the movements) than one can recite in many rules." To this J. Ph. Fresenius makes the following comment: "This is to be noted in general of all parts of homiletic science and wisdom; namely, that one can improve far better in it if one preaches for a time under the censorship of an understanding and experienced man than if one leaves this important work to oneself. There are many who take theology alone at the universities and never preach a sermon before a professor, so that they could learn from his censorship where they actually lack and what advantages they have to consider if they want to do something right in the homily. When such people come home, they first make a start in preaching, in which they then commonly commit many errors, which they do not know and in which they are not corrected by others, either because their listeners do not understand the right way to preach, or because they do not want to hold their errors against them for other reasons. As a result, such a pastor becomes hardened in his homiletica l errors and retains them throughout his life, which not only makes his presentation very unpleasant, but also often prevents much of the edification. However, he could have prevented all these harmful effects with the easiest effort if he had held a pract ical college in preaching at universities and had practiced diligently under the censure of a learned man."