(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

(A Discourse)

ENOCH AND THE ANTEDILUVIAN DISPENSATIONS OF THE GOSPEL.

NOTES.

1. Suggestions to the Speaker: Naturally the subject of this lesson will be something of a review of the period covered by the preceding lessons on the Antediluvian dispensations with Enoch as the central figure, but the matter of these lessons should not be too closely followed. Let those to whom the assignment of this lesson is given draw their own lines of treatment. As the subject is stated in the lesson it would be treated as historical narrative, or as a biography of Enoch. It could, however, be treated in an argumentative form. Thus: The Justice of God Requires that the Gospel should be Revealed to the Antediluvians; or, Was the Gospel Revealed to the Antediluvians? If the historical or biographical form of treatment is decided upon the speaker should bear in mind that his work in the main would be narrative, and the first essentials of narrative, after the truth of it, is movement and method. "A narrative," says A. S. Hill in his Principles of Rhetoric, "should move from the beginning to the end, and it should move with method. If the action haults the listener's attention haults with it. If the action is confused or self-repeating the hearers mind is soon fatigued. Movement and method, the life and the logic of discourse, are then the essentials of a good narrative." In another place our author says, "It is not enough that a narrative should move, it should move forward, it should have method. * * * * * The philosopher may contribute attached sayings (aphorisms) to the general stock of wisdom. An essayist may be charming as he rambles in pleasant fields of thought and gossip with his readers, but a narrator fails as a narrator in so far as he does not go straight on from the beginning to the end."

"A narrator," says another author, "must not spend undue time or space upon any episode in his tale to the disadvantage of other parts. Whatever his scale is, he should follow it. Otherwise he will give emphasis to unimportant events, or slight important ones. The law of climax applies especially to narration, because the interest of the reader in the opening of a story is necessarily slight. When he becomes involved in the plot of the tale, his interest will either grow or disappear. As narrative becomes complex, as one event leads to a number of results, the reader's attention should be engaged more firmly. A weak ending is never so disappointing as in narration. Finally, every narrative should have as a center some one definite topic. (It is for this reason that we give Enoch as the center around which events in the Antediluvian dispensations gathered.) "For example, a history of the discovery of America, containing many hundreds of pages, and relating numerous events, will have but one principal subject—the early explorations upon this hemisphere,—to which all the characters, actions, and events will be made subordinate. * * * * * A good narrative then will move rapidly; action will follow action in close succession. Only significant events will be dwelt upon; much will be passed over with brief mention. Yet the connection of events will be made plain; the reader will never lose the thread." No matter how complex the narration becomes, it will have a simple subject as the center, and will march on with increasing interest to the end." (Composition and Rhetoric for Schools, Herrick and Damon, p. 428-9).

If the subject is treated in an argumentative form, then the speaker should consider what has been already said on the subject of argumentative discourse in Lesson XIII.

3. Another Word on Clearness: In a former lesson (XIII) it was pointed out that Clearness consists of such a use and arrangement of words and clauses as at once distinctly indicate the meaning of the speaker; and pointed out how the obscure or equivocal use of pronouns was destructive of Clearness.

In this lesson attention is called to the omission of words in a sentence necessary to its exact meaning—what the text books call "improper ellipsis."

"Whenever the omission of a word renders the meaning of a sentence unintelligible, the ellipsis becomes improper. A writer in "The Guardian" uses this expression: "He is inspired with a true sense of that function." The meaning is not intelligible till we put in the words improperly left out: "He is inspired with a true sense of the importance of that function." "Arbitrary power," says another, "I look upon as a greater evil than anarchy itself, as much as a savage is a happier state of life than a galley-slave." We can not properly call a savage or a galley-slave a state of life, though we may with propriety compare their conditions. The obscurity is removed by doing away with the ellipsis: "as much as the state of a savage is happier than that of a galley-slave." (Course of Composition and Rhetoric, Quackenbos, p. 285.)

Clearness Depends upon Unity in Sentences: "To be clear, a sentence must have unity; that is, it must not contain incongruous material, and must be so expressed that it gives the reader the impression of being one thought. When a sentence contains incongruous statements, it is said to lack unity of thought. When a sentence fails to present its meaning as one obvious whole, it is said to lack unity of form. Each of the examples cited * * * below, violates unity of thought, or unity of form, or both. Note how much clearer are the corrected sentences.

1. Chaucer began to write at an early age, and as he was a page for some court lady, he went to France when she did.

Corrected: Chaucer began to write at an early age. Being at this time the page of a court lady, he went in her train to France.

2. Once I saw a college President as he walked upon the stage, and he held in his hand a whole basket of diplomas.

Corrected: I once saw a college President walk upon the stage holding a whole basket of diplomas in his hand.

3. A good paragraph must have unity of thought, and the different sentences of which it is composed must be logically connected, and what is most important in the paragraph must be made prominent, and what is of small consequence merely hinted at.

Corrected: A good paragraph must have unity of thought. A paragraph is unified if the different sentences in it are logically connected, and if what is most important is made prominent, what is of small consequence, merely hinted at.