A course of lectures on preaching by RL Dabney (Available from Amazon or free here)
Today's subject is the preacher's commission.
Firstly Dabney explains what the true end of a sermon is: '...the immediate end of eloquence is to produce in the hearer some practical volition.'
Secondly Dabney defines what eloquence as a branch of sacred rhetoric is: 'I would, then, define eloquence as the emission of the soul's energy through speech'.
Thirdly Dabney teaches by what means the orator reaches that end: it is as a herald proclaiming the king's message.
Fourthly Dabney proposes what is the prime qualification of the preacher: 'sincere, eminent piety'.
I loved the implications Dabney drew out of the fact that a preacher is a herald: 'Now the herald does not invent his message; he merely transmits and explains it. It is not his to criticise its wisdom or fitness ; this belongs to his sovereign alone. On the one hand, he does not carry it as a mere implement of sound, a trumpet or a drum ; he is an intelligent medium of communication with the king's enemies; he has brains as well as a tongue ; and he is expected so to deliver and explain his master's mind, that the other party shall receive not only the mechanical sounds, but the true meaning of the message. On the other hand, it wholly transcends his office to presume to correct the tenour of the propositions he conveys, by either additions or change.'
We as heralds must be very careful not to tamper with the King's message.
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
No comments:
Post a Comment