The Pulpit Cyclopaedia

Reprint of the original, first published in 1845.

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Excerpt from The Pulpit Cyclopaedia, and Christian Minister's Companion: Containing Three Hundred and Sixty Skeletons and Sketches of Sermons; And Eighty-Two Essays on Biblical Learning, Theological Studies, and the Composition and Delivery of Sermons Among the auspicious "Signs of the Times," the increase of the demand for accurate scriptural knowledge, and the multiplying facilities for extending its hallowed influence, are not the least grateful. One of the circumstances which portends unspeakable public benefit to the churches of Christ is the growing attachment to pulpit eloquence, instead of the drowsy reading which so long has thrust out the legitimate preaching of the gospel. Without controversy, no one defect in the services of the sanctuary, more incongruous and incompatible with all the ostensible purposes of social devotion and ministerial instruction, can be designated, than the modern practice of reading discourses in the "house of prayer." Theological tutors, and writers on sacred literature, who proscribe and endeavor to extirpate that wretched perversion of every principle of natural sensibility, common sense, and genius, merit the support and thanks of all those "who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," and who long for the splendid day, when "all shall know him from the least to the greatest." This view is peculiarly impressed upon us by the fact, that with the exception of Simeon's Horae Homileticae, and his volumes of Skeletons which preceded it - scarcely an attempt, for a century, was made to disseminate those textual expositions generally known as an Analysis or Sketches of Sermons. The few specimens of that class of the seventeenth century are so ramified and minute, that their protracted discussion rendered them almost useless for the brevity of our modern discourses. Exclusive of Hannain's "Pulpit Assistant," which has passed through five editions in Britain, that department of biblical literature remained almost an entire void. Hannam's selected "Outlines or Skeletons of Sermons" are unexceptionable in their truthful sentiments and pious tendency, but they are both redundant and defective; and want that terse, vivid, and comprehensive condensation, in which modern Pulpit Orators, especially Bradley, Hall, Jay, and Melville excel. The volume of Hannam, in the last improved edition, combines a rich fund of didactic exposition and instruction; but owing to its derivation from the protracted discussions of the never-tired and inexhaustible commentators two hundred years ago, their multifarious details are frequently complex and tedious. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."