arks lead to another suggestion which deserves the student's
consideration. He should select for this exercise those subjects in
which he feels an interest at the time, and in regard to which he
desires to engage the interest of others. In order to the best success,
extemporaneous efforts should be made in an excited state, when the mind
is burning and glowing, and longs to find vent. There are some topics
which do not admit of this excitement. Such should be treated by the
pen. When he would speak, he should choose topics on which his own mind
is kindling with a feeling which he is earnest to communicate; and the
higher the degree to which he has elevated his feelings, the more
readily, happily, and powerfully will he pour forth whatever the
occasion may demand. There is no style suited to the pulpit, which he
will not more effectually command in this state of mind. He will reason
more directly, pointedly, and convincingly; he will describe more
vividly from the living conceptions of the moment; he will be more
earnest in persuasion, more animated in declamation, more urgent in
appeals, more terrible in denunciation. Every thing will vanish from
before him, but the subject of his attention, and upon this his powers
will be concentrated in keen and vigorous action.

If a man would do his best, it must be upon topics which are at the
moment interesting to him. We see it in conversation, where every one is
eloquent upon his favorite subjects. We see it in deliberative
assemblies; where it is those grand questions, which excite an intense
interest, and absorb and agitate the mind, that call forth those bursts
of eloquence by which men are remembered as powerful orators, and that
give a voice to men who can speak on no other occasions. Cicero tells us
of himself, that the instances in which he was most successful, were
those in which he most entirely abandoned himself to the impulses of
feeling. Every speaker's experience will bear testimony to the same
thing; and thus the saying of Goldsmith proves true, that, "to feel
one's subject thoroughly, and to speak without fear, are the only rules
of eloquence." Let him who would preach successfully, remember this. In
the choice of subjects for extemporaneous efforts, let him have regard
to it, and never encumber himself nor distress his hearers, with the
attempt to interest them in a subject, which excites at the moment only
a feeble interest in his own mind.

This rule excludes