Which treats of the second kind of distinct good, wherein the
will may rejoice vainly.
THE second kind of distinct and delectable good wherein the
will may rejoice vainly is that which provokes or persuades us to
serve God and which we have called provocative. This class
comprises preachers, and we might speak of it in two ways, namely,
as affecting the preachers themselves and as affecting their
hearers. For, as regards both, we must not fail to observe that
both must direct the rejoicing of their will to God, with respect
to this exercise.
2. In the first place, it must be pointed out to the
preacher, if he is to cause his people profit and not to embarrass
himself with vain joy and presumption, that preaching is a
spiritual exercise rather than a vocal one. For, although it is
practised by means of outward words, its power and efficacy reside
not in these but in the inward spirit. Wherefore, however lofty be
the doctrine that is preached, and however choice the rhetoric and
sublime the style wherein it is clothed, it brings as a rule no
more benefit than is present in the spirit of the preacher. For,
although it is true that the word of God is of itself efficacious,
according to those words of David, 'He will give to His voice a
voice of virtue,'[692] yet fire, which has also a virtue -- that of
burning -- will not burn when the material is not prepared.
3. To the end that the preacher's instruction may exercise
its full force, there must be two kinds of preparation: that of
the preacher and that of the hearer; for as a rule the benefit
derived from a sermon depends upon the preparation of the teacher.
For this reason it is said that, as is the master, so is wont to
be the disciple. For, when in the Acts of the Apostles those seven
sons of that chief priest of the Jews were wont to cast out devils
in the same form as Saint Paul, the devil rose up against them,
saying: 'Jesus I confess and Paul I know, but you, who are ye?'[693]
And then, attacking them, he stripped and wounded them. This was
only because they had not the fitting preparation, and not because
Christ willed not that they should do this in His name. For the
Apostles once found a man, who was not a disciple, casting out a
devil in the name of Christ, and they forbade him, and the Lord
reproved them for it, saying: 'Forbid him not, for no man that has
done any mighty works in My name shall be able to speak evil of Me
after a brief space of time.'[694] But He is angry with those who,
though teaching the law of God, keep it not, and, which preaching
spirituality, possess it not. For this reason God says, through
Saint Paul: 'Thou teachest others and teachest not thyself. Thou
who preachest that men should not steal, stealest.'[695] And through
David the Holy Spirit says: 'To the sinner, God said: "Why dost
thou declare My justice and take My law in thy mouth, when thou
hast hated discipline and cast My words behind thee?"'[696] Here it
is made plain that He will give them no spirituality whereby they
may bear fruit.
4. It is a common matter of observation that, so far as we
can judge here below, the better is the life of the preacher, the
greater is the fruit that he bears, however undistinguished his
style may be, however small his rhetoric and however ordinary his
instruction. For it is the warmth that comes from the living
spirit that clings; whereas the other kind of preacher will
produce very little profit, however sublime be his style and his
instruction. For, although it is true that a good style and
gestures and sublime instruction and well-chosen language
influence men and produce much effect when accompanied by true
spirituality, yet without this, although a sermon gives pleasure
and delight to the sense and the understanding, very little or
nothing of its sweetness remains in the will. As a rule, in this
case, the will remains as weak and remiss with regard to good
works as it was before. Although marvelous things may have been
marvellously said by the preacher, they serve only to delight the
ear, like a concert of music or a peal of bells; the spirit, as I
say, goes no farther from its habits than before, since the voice
has no virtue to raise one that is dead from his grave.
5. Little does it matter that one kind of music should sound
better than another if the better kind move me not more than the
other to do good works. For, although marvellous things may have
been said, they are at once forgotten if they have not fired the
will. For, not only do they of themselves bear little fruit, but
the fastening of the sense upon the pleasure that it finds in that
sort of instruction hinders the instruction from passing to the
spirit, so that only the method and the accidents of what has been
said are appreciated, and the preacher is praised for this
characteristic or for that, and followed from such motives as
these rather than because of the purpose of amendment of life
which he has inspired. This doctrine is well explained to the
Corinthians by Saint Paul, where he says: 'I, brethren, when I
came to you, came not preaching Christ with loftiness of
instruction and of wisdom, and my words and my preaching consisted
not in the rhetoric of human wisdom, but in the showing forth of
the spirit and of the truth.'[697]
6. Although the intention of the Apostle here, like my own
intention, is not to condemn good style and rhetoric and
phraseology, for, on the contrary, these are of great importance
to the preacher, as in everything else, since good phraseology and
style raise up and restore things that are fallen and ruined, even
as bad phraseology ruins and destroys good things . . .[698]
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