Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/19

 commonly speaking, the substantial parts of the exordium are three: 1 the general proposition; 2 the connection or the link by which it is connected with the particular proposition; 3 the particular proposition, or the principal one of the discourse, which includes the division of the points. For example: 1”We must work out our salvation, because there is no alternative: whosoever is not saved is damned: ”that is the general proposition. 2”But, to be saved, we must die a happy death: that is the connection or application. 3”But it is exceedingly difficult to die a happy death after a wicked life:" and that is the particular proposition, or principal one of the discourse, which ought to be clear, concise, and, simple, and, at the same time, one; otherwise, if unity be not observed in the proposition, it would not be one sermon, but several; and, therefore, the points into which the discourse is divided ought all tend to prove one single proposition. For example: "The person who is addicted to a bad habit is with difficulty saved, because the bad habit (1) darkens the understanding, (2) hardens the heart :" and these will be the two points of the discourse. Let the points be short and few, not exceeding two, or, at most, three; and sometimes a single point will be sufficient. For example: “Mortal sin is a great evil, because it is an injury done to God ;" or, ”He who abuses too much the mercy of God will be abandoned by Him” 9. With regard to the body of the discourse, and, in the first place, the proof, it ought to be a perfect syllogism, but without appearing to be so. The major proposition should be proved before we pass to the minor; and the minor before we