Thoughts on preaching by J. W. Alexander (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence 'Sketches of the pulpit in ancient and in modern times' by reading up to the paragraph that begins 'It is refreshing to turn from such a malignant to the sweet and gentle Tillotson' (pg 271 in the Banner edition).
Firstly he looks at the Church Fathers and how their preaching essentially arose from the public reading of Scripture. Alexander understands that all early preaching would have been extemporaneous and the extant sermons would have been taken down by reporters and then revised by the preacher.
The middle ages are pretty devoid of any quality preaching: '...in this period, about which there is so much dispute and so little knowledge, preaching could not but suffer a great decadence, when sound letters and taste fell as low as religion.'
How different the Reformation, which gave us the modern pulpit. Alexander then begins to look at examples from the Scottish and English pulpits.
Interesting little ramble through history.
I like the sound of South's preaching: 'South is clear, strong, saturnine and truculent. He is a cogent reasoner, always observing an exact method, and establishing his point by the most effective reasoning. He seldom quotes, never displays his reading, and always advances with directness, brevity, and a sort of bull-dog fierceness to his purposed end. Where his terrible prejudices do not come into play, he commands our highest respect, as in some of his masterly arguments for divine predestination; but in other places he bends his tremendous powers against the other doctrines of grace.'
I've heard of people being a lion in the pulpit, but never a 'bull-dog'!
Conclude
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