due allowance should be made, as it must be admitted that there are few authors who would venture to put to the press, writings which had been kept as memoranda for their own eye, only. When it is remembered, too, that during his short sojourn on earth, the author laboured under almost continual ill health, and was often brought, by his intense application to study, and his unremitting public labours, to the very verge of the grave, it will appear rather a matter of astonishment that his manuscripts are so numerous, and so nearly perfect, than that much is left unfinished. It will, we are persuaded, be a matter of rejoicing, that in what is now presented of the remains of Mr. Summerfield, “he, though dead, yet speaketh." One who had the privilege of examining the manuscript sermons remarks: "Having enjoyed the rare intellectual luxury of poring over his manuscripts, we are prepared to state, that his preparations for the pulpit evince the full concentration of all the powers of his mind, and the best use of all the resources of knowledge within his reach on the subjects on which he expatiated. But, though rich in thought and logical in their arrangement, the composition is left (purposely, it would appear) unfinished. Definitions and exegetical remarks are generally written out with studious accuracy and precision; but the occurrence, on almost every page, of broken hints, followed by a significant dash of the pen, indicates the orator's impatience of the trammels and tedium of previous composition, and the stirring of deep emotion within the breast that could find full vent only amid the hallowed excitements of the sanctuary. He did not offer to God of that which cost him nothing; but it was the altar that sanctified his gift, and the fire that consumed his sacrifice issued immediately from the propitious heavens." The celebrated poet, James Montgomery, Esq., than whom no man living is more competent to form a just estimate of literary merit, on examining a part of the MS. sermons (chiefly the sketches), thus writes: "I went with critical scrutiny through nearly one hundred sketches of sermons, in his own handwriting; and I give it as my deliberate conviction, that though they were very unlike what I had anticipated from a fervent, fearless, self-sacrificing preacher, the delight of wondering, weeping, and admiring audiences wherever he went, they were, in one main respect, far superior, being calculated less for instant effect than for abiding usefulness. Though but studies, they are, nevertheless, exceedingly methodical in plan; and in execution they are distinguished * Rev. Matthew Richey, in a note in the Life of the Rev. William Black. chiefly by sound doctrine, exact judgment, and severe abstinence from ornament. Such ornament, however, as does occur, is often exquisite; and from being occasionally interpolated (as after thoughts), I cannot doubt that, in uttering these condensed compositions at spontaneous length, illustrations the most lively and beautiful sprang in like manner out of the subject, when the preacher himself was full to overflowing, yet filling the faster the more he overflowed. "And this was the right kind of preparation for one who always had words at command, but whose feelings commanded him. He came to the pulpit with the whole scheme of his discourse clearly and succinctly marked out in his mind. Then, when indeed he was 'in the spirit,' warmed, exalted, and inspired with the divinity of his theme, the chain of premeditated ideas, link by link, in seemingly extemporaneous succession, would be developed, while every thought, emotion, and appeal would body itself forth in the most vivid and appropriate language. Then truly would his bow abide in strength, and every shaft which he sent from the string, like the arrow of Acestes of old, would take fire in its flight, shine through the clouds, and vanish in the immensity of heaven. "But as the Sabbath and the sanctuary were the day and the place of resurrection when his closet skeletons, thus clothed upon, became living, breathing, speaking oracles, the retrogression into their original forms would be proportionately to the preacher's disadvantage. Hearers, who had been rapt towards the third heaven in the fiery chariot of his delivery, and almost seemed to hear 'things which it was not lawful for man to utter,' when they afterward became readers at home of the few faint outlines, however symmetrical and harmonious, would scarcely recognise their shadowy resemblance to the glorious apparitions which had gone by, never to be renewed except with the presence, the eye, and the voice of the preacher himself. In fact, every attempt to present on paper the splendid effects of impassioned eloquence, is like gathering up dew-drops, which appear jewels and pearls on the grass, but run to water in the hand; the essence and the elements remain, but the grace, the sparkle, and the form are gone." The reader, we hope, will find, upon perusing these precious remains of the beloved Summerfield's pulpit labours, that although "the grace, the sparkle, and the form" of the dew-drops are gone, the water which remains is living water, clear, pure, satisfying; as it ever issues from that fountain that springeth up into everlasting life. |