explanatory statements addressed to the understanding, would produce little or no gesture, the argumentative and descriptive passages would elicit a growing freedom and force of action, as the speaker's own feelings and those of his hearers became more deeply interested in the train of thought and the attendant emotions, developed in the progress of the discourse; and, in the concluding address, the full eloquence of carnest and impressive gesture, would naturally be brought out by the heightened interest of the speaker's mind, in his subject and his audience. The whole man would now be alive with the spirit of expressive utterance: the hand would render its full tribute of aid to tongue and eye, in stamping the impress of the speaker's soul on the sympathies of his hearers.

All sermons, it is true, do not admit of a regular and systematic progression of effect like what has just been described. But the consequence of speaking, for an hour, on one subject, ought naturally to be that of drawing out more and more of the natural resources of eloquence, which continuous thought should always have the power to develope. There ought, perhaps, to be more regard paid, in rhetorical training, to such modes of treating subjects as would ensure the eloquence of progressive effect. The lawyer who arranges his pleading so as to bring out his arguments in successive stages of accumulating force, and the player who never willingly leaves the stage without a strong effect of voice or action, might afford an instructive lesson to the preacher; for it is now too often the fact that his last point would weigh no more than his first, and that, at the very close of his discourse, he seems to have made no progress, reached no conclusion, gained no position, by what he has read or spoken. The lawyer who should so wind up his pleading, or the player who should thus tamely go off the stage, would be justly deemed to have made an utter failure in his part. The professional phrase which one barrister sometimes uses, when speaking of the professional efforts of another, that

"his learned brother took nothing by his motion," would very often apply most justly to the vague and immethodical, and consequently ineffective speaker in the pulpit.

The principle of climax, or growing force and effect, should be distinctly perceptible not only in the successive stages of a discourse, but in every paragraph and in every sentence which it contains. The preacher's voice and whole manner should perpetually indicate, in progressive intensity, that he is consciously drawing nearer and nearer to the consummation of his train of associated thought and feeling. The aim of the preacher's mind, as indicated in the increasing earnestness of his manner, should, during every successive paragraph of his discourse, be growing clearer and more impressive to his audience, till his object is fully effected, at the close.

MANNER IN DEVOTION.

The prevalent inattention, in our community, to the effects of manner and address, are in nothing more perceptible than in the customary tones and attitudes of the devotional exercises in public worship. Some preachers cannot, even in such circumstances, abstain from an irregular and revolting violence of voice: their earnestness seems to know no controlling power of reverence and decency: their empassioned vehemence of manner seems to recognize no difference between the tones which might justly be used in importuning a fellow-being, and those which are appropriate in entreaty addressed to God. It is no unusual thing to hear a whole prayer thundered out, in the accents of imperious command.

What a lesson might such speakers learn of the docile and respectful child, that proffers its request in subdued though earnest tones! The child, wiser instinctively than

the man, is aware that, in such cases, violence shuts, but does not open, the heart. It adopts, therefore, the irresistible eloquence taught it by nature, and urges its request in pleading tones, piercing by their very suppression: and its suit is, in such circumstances, seldom refused.

Some preachers adopt a style which forms the extreme opposite to the fault of voice mentioned above, and uniformly employ a high, feeble whine, in their devotional utterance; as if an audience with God were a scene of servile humiliation and abject timidity; as if the act of communing with the Father of spirits were a powerless prostration of the soul, and an occasion of mere wailing and lamentation. The appropriate fervor and sublimity of devotion, which, not less than humility and self-abasement, are its just characteristics, are thus entirely lost sight of; and the effect of the whole exercise, is to impress upon the mind the meanness of man, rather than the grandeur and majesty of God.

A voice moulded by appropriate emotion, would impart to the tones of prayer a degree of the manifold power which characterizes the grandest of all the instruments of music, that which we term emphatically the organ, and which from its majestic compass and effect, we consecrate to the office of worship. The deep, full, and solemn strains of adoration, would then pour themselves forth on the ear, with a strength but softness of effect allied to the deep tones of the wind, when breathing low through the forest, or with something of their ample swell, when raising the sublime hymn of nature to the power and glory of the Creator. The pleading and pathetic voice of penitence would be recognized by its plaintive notes. The low murmur and broken whisperings of contrition, the earnest and thrilling intensity of the soul's aspiration after pardon, purity and peace, the fervent breathings of heartfelt gratitude, the rapture of devout joy, would all, in turn, be felt, as they rose or fell upon the ear, in the successive outpourings of the heart.

The inexpressive, level, mechanical, "recitative" strain, which is so often heard in the utterance of the language of devotion, is the most efficacious of all means of quenching the spirit of the exercise, and reducing worship to a hollow ceremony.

Vividness and fervor of feeling are, in no respect, incompatible with the softened tones of subdued and reverential emotion. The chastened expression of earnestness is the most eloquent of all the moods of the human voice suppressed intensity of tone penetrates the heart more deeply than the strongest utterance. The study of the natural language of expression, with a view to the discrimination of vocal effects, and the acquisition of true and natural modulation, cannot be too carnestly urged on the student of theology. The voice is the instrument of his usefulness; and surely the ability to use it justly, to use it skillfully and impressively, well deserves the most assiduous application of his powers. The measure of devotional feeling, in an assembly, must ever be in accordance with the depth and fullness of heart imparted by the tones of the minister. The cold and dry manner in which the exercise of devotion is often conducted, sufficiently accounts for the slight sympathy which it excites. Yet it would demand no great amount of time, from the minister, to acquire the power of giving true and effectual utterance to his inward feelings, and of bringing his congregation into accordant sympathy. The existing evil consists obviously in the habit of unmeaning and inexpressive tone on his part, a habit which neglect or perversion has allowed to become a portion of his selfeducation, but which a moderate degree of study and ap plication would enable him to correct.

The attitudes into which the pastor suffers himself to fall, in the act of devotion, are not unfrequently a cause of inharmonious and discordant impression on the feelings of his people. His lounging posture, his sleepily folded hands, his hanging head, added to his drowsy voice, may

all interfere with the spiritual tendency of the exercise, by causing the natural law of sympathy with given signs and effects, to transcend the speaker's power of raising and exalting the soul; so that a pervading dullness and apathy, instead of a vivid emotion, shall be the predominating mood of the audience.

The error, however, lies, in some cases, at the opposite extreme: the mere ardor of the speaker is suffered to carry him into vehement contortions of body, and, sometimes, even into violent gestures, in the act of prayer. A most impressive rebuke to this animal turbulence, might be derived from the touching Scripture representation of the seraphim, in the act of adoration, veiling their faces with their wings. The stillness of awe is one of the most obvious traits of tendency in expression. The submissive mien of reverence; the erect attitude of praise, the uplifted hands of gratitude, blessing, adoration, joy, and ardent aspiration; the humble posture of penitence and contrition; the clasped hands of supplication and entreaty; the folded hands of resignation and submission; the imploring outstretched arms;-all speak a natural language, and have their meaning in the heart of man. Devotion, destitute of these, may be pronounced decorous and chaste, and well-bred; but it is false to the great law of the Creator, that man's soul should find a language in his frame.