This is still more true as regards the Christian orator. He appeals to all: to the little, to the poor and the ignorant as well as to the great, the wealthy, and the learned, and his speech should be understood and enjoyed by all. He is not free to deprive any one of the truth. All men are people before the Gospel, and that Gospel speaks in unison with the souls of all. It stoops to raise, to comfort, and to enlighten all. Hence the truly popular preacher proclaims himself at the outset as no ordinary orator, but one about to be powerful, and to rise into a giant, before whom even the most learned will be obliged to bow, because his soul is linked with the Divine word, and with the hearts of the people.
This popularity of Christian discourses has become rare, more especially in our towns. Instead of being satisfied with the life, the sap of that Gospel which has moved the world, preachers have deemed themselves obliged to call in the aid of philosophy, metaphysics, and distorted phraseology and rhetoric. The exception has been taken for the rule. The Divine word has been bound, imprisoned in a terminology, which many do not understand. The preacher speaks, but the man remains impassible and cold. Painful reflection! The word of God passes by and says nothing to the mind, the soul, or even to the ears of the audience.
But I hasten to observe that the popularity of a sermon does not consist in using common, trivial, or vulgar language. The people do not like such a style, and regard it as derogatory to their intelligence and dignity. They have much more tact than is generally supposed. They know perfectly well what befits each, and have an exquisite sense of propriety. The people wish their preacher to speak better than they do, and appreciate dignified language. Hence, whenever they have to name any thing mean before you, they are careful to preface it with the proverbial apology: "saving your presence." In fine, the object of preaching being to elevate the people, the language adopted should be superior to theirs. The style of speaking has an important bearing on the morals of life.
We may, however, occasionally borrow some of their most striking and picturesque, and even some of their quaint expressions, put them into a good framing, and make them the starting-point for a felicitous sally or thought. They have then a powerful effect. The people perceive thereby that you are acquainted with them, that you must have visited among them, that you know their life, their toil, their sorrows, and even their foibles, and they will open their hearts to you at once. They feel themselves to be on familiar ground, where they find, as it were, an old friend. There is a strange instinct among the people which leads them to reason thus:—"That man knows us, therefore he loves us;" whereupon they readily give you their confidence.
Then, again, it is not very difficult to maintain a style of speaking at once dignified and popular. Look at the lady of fashion dealing with the petty tradesman, or even with a fish-woman—a character by no means celebrated for choice or polite expressions. The price of the article treated for is discussed, the bargain is struck, both parties come to a satisfactory understanding, and the language of the woman of the world has been sober throughout, and perfectly becoming. …
But popular speech consists not so much in the expressions used as in the thoughts and sentiments conveyed thereby. We have already remarked that the people have good sense, ready wit, and above all a heart. … We must lay hold of those points in them to effect an entry into their minds as well as their hearts, thereby preparing the way for religion to follow.
The people have a certain aggregate of ideas and thoughts, and their own way of apprehending and appreciating things. All this should be studied, for it constitutes the best holdfast of humanity. We should make ourselves of the people, as it were, in their mode of thought, joining thereto superior knowledge; study those ideas which they do not adequately estimate, put them into expressive and proverbial language such as they relish, and then engraft religious thought into their thoughts in order to elucidate and elevate them.