der of the discourse being
divided into "introduction," "exegesis," "argument," "illustration,"
"application." We remember some of these perorative paragraphs, and
sometimes we have been tempted to ask whether the same note is struck
in the preaching of to-day as was sounded forth in their stirring
words. In spite of the homilists the sermon was generally better than
their advice concerning its making and its form. The paragraph in
question, though, perhaps, neither the preacher nor his adviser
suspected the truth, was only powerful because it formed the climax of
all that had gone before. It was the final assault following upon
processes of sapping and mining, bombardment and fusillade. The appeal
must commence _with the first word of the sermon_. The very
introduction must be persuasive. The _motif_ of the whole composition
must be the wooing note. Obviously this note will need to be struck in
many keys. The appeal will have many expressions; and in their variety
and form the skill of the preacher will have such room for exercise and
such need for it as no other duty of his life displays.

To mention some of the elements of this appeal, of which, again, the
whole sermon is the expression:--There is first, that gift, or
endowment, or talent--call it what you will--which we speak of as Tact.
In some men this power amounts almost to genius. Of such an one we
say, "he has a way with him." He is the man to bring about
"settlements." His very voice, his very manner, bring disputations to
an end. In political conflicts, in social misunderstandings, in labour
troubles he is invaluable. In the church he is a treasure. In the
Sunday school his price is above rubies. In the pulpit he enjoys an
immeasurable advantage. Happy the congregation whose preacher "has a
way with him." We have known such men and envied them. Their gift
defies analysis. It is an element!

Of men such as these there are, alas, comparatively few! They are born
into the world with a genius for always doing the right thing in the
right way. Most of us enter into life with a genius for doing
everything in the wrong way, and we can only look enviously upon our
more richly endowed brethren and learn from them to practise as an art
what they do as the result of an inheritance. We _can_ do this and,
indeed, we _must_ do it if it be any part of our life's work to
influence men to courses against their minds. The sermon must be
tactful or el