-------------- I ------------------------- !------------------------------------------- -------------- ----------------------- IH I FOR T H E S E R MO N , B I B L E R E A D I N G , GO SPEL ADDRESS
H om ile tica l Hel B y W I L L I A M E V A N S — -
ps
§
M -------
:[□]
Practical Counsel for Ministers
O n Y o u r D elivery HP HE best matter in the world will be ineffective if the method of delivery is poor and halting, and it seems wise, there fore, to give a few hints as to the best way of giving utterance to your message, so that yoUr manner may not hinder the thought ful and reverent reception of your matter. Stand naturally before the people. Do not stand on one foot, but on both.. Do not loll or lean on the pulpit or desk, but stand quietly in front of it. Do not run, walk, or move from side to side; and if you step back for a moment, return as soon as possible to your former position. Some preachers remind one of caged ani mals, who are always pacing to and fro, contending with the ,bars of their cage, and producing in the spectators the weary sense of restlessness. This is not well, and should be altered. Who that ever heard John Bright, Mr. Gladstone, or Mr. Sprague, can remember any such excessive activity ? This habit distracts the atten tion of the hudience, and has nothing to commend it. Look at your hearers. The eye possesses a wonderful power of fascination. It speaks; it fixes the attention of your con gregation ; it interprets to the speaker instructively and immediately the emotions which his words are exciting. Open eye metes open eye; and by the glance the thought is kindled, and kindles the soul. Don’t look up, as though to look where angels are must necessarily give you an angelic expression. Don’t look down, as though you were ashamed. Don’t look into
faraway space, or your features will become expressionless. Look at your people, hon estly, manfully, straightforwardly, and glance from one to another naturally. I am not at all sure that I admire that far away look in the eyes, in Which I am told that some ministers excel. Speak naturally. You can fill the largest building with a very thin voice, if you observe these three conditions: Speak deliberately; articulate distinctly, especially the final consonants; and let your voice come, as far as possible, from the chest. A little practice will enable you to bring your voice down from the throat to the chest, and the notes which the chest gives are much deeper, more reverberant, and more touching than any others. Whatever you do, don’t cultivate a pul pit voice, which is wholly detestable; don’t imitate another preacher, however famous; and don’t play always on one poor note. How well I remember Mr. Spurgeon speak ing to us students years agq on this bad practice, and parodying the hymn: “Strange that a harp of a thousand strings Should play one note so long.” Who ever heard of a lawyer suffering from a lawyer’s throat, or a barrister from a barrister’s throat. Men, ;n other pro fessions, are perpetually using their voices as continuously as ministers and preachers do, but no ill effects follow. And they would not follow in the case of these, if we spoke naturally, using the entire range of the voice, and allowing our hearers the
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs