Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/279

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PREAMBLE—PREANGER
265

are Jean Claude (d. 1687), author of the Essay on the Sermon, and Jacques Saurin (d. 1730). In England the rivalry was not between Catholic and Reformer, but between Anglican and Nonconformist, or, if we may use the wide but less correct term, Puritan. On the one hand are Andrewes, Hall, Chillingworth, Jeremy Taylor, Barrow and South; on the other Baxter, Calamy, the Goodwins, Howe, Owen, Bunyan, in each case but a few names out of many. The sermons of these men were largely scriptural, the cardinal evangelical truths being emphasized with reality and vigour, but with a tendency to abstract theology rather than concrete religion. The danger was felt by the university of Cambridge, which in 1674 passed a statute forbidding its preachers to read their sermons.

Germany, harassed by the Thirty Years' War and deadened by a rigid Lutheranism, can show little besides Andrea and Johann Arndt until the coming of the Pietists (see Pietism), A. H. Francke and Philipp Spencer, with Paul Gerhardt and his cousin Johann. The early years of the 18th century were a time of deadness as regards preaching. The Illumination in Germany and Deism in England were largely responsible for this, though the names of J. A. Bengel (better known as a commentator), Zinzendorf, Butler and the Erskines helped to redeem the time from the reproach of being the dark age of Protestantism. In the Roman Catholic Church the greatest force was Bridaine in France, a popular preacher of high worth. But, generally speaking, there was no heart in preaching, sermons were unimpassioned, stilted and formal presentations of ethics and apologetics, seldom delivered extempore.

5. The Modern Period may be said to begin in 1738, the year in which John Wesley began his memorable work. Preaching once more was based on the Bible, which was expounded with force and earnestness, and though throughout the century there remained a good many pulpiteers who produced nothing but solemn fudge, the example and stimulus given by Wesley and Whitefield were almost immeasurably productive. Whitefield was the greater orator, Wesley the better thinker; but, diverse in temperament as they were, they alike laid emphasis on open-air preaching. In their train came the great field preachers of Wales, like John Elias and Christmas Evans, and later the Primitive Methodists, who by their camp meetings and itinerancies kept religious enthusiasm alive when Wesleyan Methodism was in peril of hardening. Meanwhile, in America the Puritan tradition, adapted to the new conditions, is represented by Cotton Mather, and later by Jonathan Edwards, the greatest preacher of his time and country. Whitefield's visits raised a band of pioneer preachers, cultured and uncultured, men who knew their Bibles but often interpreted them awry.

In the early 19th century the pulpit had a great power, especially in Wales, where it was the vehicle of almost every kind of knowledge. And it may be doubted whether, all in all, preaching has ever reached so uniformly high a level or been so powerful a force as during the 19th century, and this in spite of other forces similarly making for enlightenment and morality. It shared to the full in all the quickening that transformed so many departments of civilization during that epoch, and has been specially influenced by the missionary enterprise, the discoveries of science, the fuller knowledge of the Bible, the awakened zeal for social service. Modern preaching, like ancient preaching, has been so varied, depending, as it so largely does, on the personality of the preacher, that it is not possible to speak of its characteristics. Nor can one do more than enumerate a few outstanding modern names, exclusive of living preachers. In the Roman Catholic Church are the Italians Ventura and Curci, the Germans Diepenbrock and Foerster, the French Lacordaire, Dupanloup, Loyson (Père Hyacinthe) and Henri Didon. Of Protestants, Germany produced Schleiermacher, Claus Harms, Tholuck and F. W. Krummacher; France, Vinet and the Monods. In England representative Anglican preachers were Newman (whose best preaching preceded his obedience to Rome), T. Arnold, F. W. Robertson, Liddon, Farrar, Magee; of Free Churchmen, T. Binney, Thomas Jones, R. W. Dale and Joseph Parker (Congregationa1ist); Robert Hall, C. H. Spurgeon and Alexander Maclaren (Baptists), W. M. Punshon, Hugh Price Hughes and Peter Mackenzie (Wesleyan); James Martineau (Unitarian). The Scottish Churches gave Edward Irving, Thos. Chalmers, R. S. Candlish, R. M. McCheyne and John Caird. In America, honoured names are those of W. E. Channing, Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Bushnell, Phillips Brooks, to mention only a few.

See J. M. Neale, Medieval Preachers and Preaching (1857); R. Rothe, Geschichte der Predigt vom Anfang bis auk Schleiermacher (1881); J. P. Mahaffy, Decay of Modern Preaching (1882); E. C. Durgan, A History of Preaching (1906), and preface to The Pulpit Encyclopaedia, vol. i. (1909); and the various volumes of the Yale Lectures on Preaching. Also Sermon.  (A. J. G.) 

PREAMBLE (Med. Lat. praeambulum, from praeambulare, to walk before), an introductory statement, a preliminary explanation. The term is particularly applied to the opening paragraph of a statute which summarizes the intention of the legislature in passing the measure; thus the preamble of the statute, of which the title is the Children Act 1908, is as follows: “An Act to consolidate and amend the Law relating to the Protection of Children and Young Persons, Reformatory and Industrial Schools and Juvenile Offenders, and otherwise to amend the Law with respect to Children and Young Persons.” The procedure in the British parliament differs in regard to the preambles of public and private bills. The second reading of a public bill affirms the principle, and therefore in committee the preamble stands postponed till after the consideration of the clauses, when it is considered in reference to those clauses as amended and altered if need be (Standing Order 35). On the other hand, the preamble of a private bill, if opposed, is considered first in committee, and counsel for the bill deals with the expediency of the bill, calls witnesses for the allegation in the preamble, and petitions against the bill are then heard; if the preamble is negatived the bill is dropped, if affirmed it is gone through clause by clause. On unopposed private bills the preamble has also to be proved, more especially with regard to whether the clauses required by the standing orders are inserted (see May, Parliamentary Practice, 1906, pp. 483, 808 seq.).

PREANGER, a residency of the island of Java, Dutch East Indies, bounded S. by the Indian Ocean, W. by Bantam, N. by Batavia and Krawang, and N.E. and E. by Cheribon and Banyumas. It is officially termed the Preanger Regencies, of which there are five, covering the several administrative divisions. It also includes the small island of Nusa Were. The natives are Sundanese. The whole residency is mountainous, but there are two main parallel ranges of peaks along the northern boundary and through the middle. Among these are to be found a singularly large number of both active and inactive volcanoes, including the well-known Salak and Gede in the north, and bunched together at the eastern end the Chikorai, Papandayan, Wayang, Malabar, Guntur, &c., ranging from 6000 to 10,000 ft; in height. The rivers of the province belong to the basins of the Indian Ocean and the Java Sea respectively, the water-parting being formed by the western and eastern ends respectively of the northern and southern lines of mountain peaks. The two which drain the largest basin are the Chi Manuk and the Chi Tarum, both rising in the eastern end of the province and flowing north-east and north-west respectively to the Java Sea. The Chi Tandui, also rising here, flows south-east to the Indian Ocean, and alone of all the rivers in this province is navigable. Large stretches of marsh occur on each side of this river, as well as here and there among the hills where inland lakes formerly existed, as, for instance, near Bandung. Crater lakes are Telaga (lake) Budas, in the crater of the volcano of the same name in the south-east, and Telaga Warna, on the slopes of the Gede, famous for its beautiful tinting. On the same side of the Gede is the health resort of Sindanglaya (founded 1850-1860), with a mineral spring containing salt, and close by is the country residence of Chipanas, belonging to the governor-general.

Numerous warm springs are scattered about this volcanic region. Petroleum and coal have been worked, and there is a rich yield of chalk, while a good quality of bricks is made from the