174 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING
to that object becomes impossible until after a period of rest.
Now, the unpleasantness which accompanies this process of straining has a tendency to make the object which occa sions it repulsive. The facts or ideas which have to be learned or acquired in this disagreeable way are not likely to be appreciated certainly not at the time ; and the danger is that they may become permanently associated with the disagreeable feeling incidental to the strained effort to attend to them. So truths of great value may be forever discounted in the mind of one who has become acquainted with them in this unfortunate way. One can hardly doubt that the truths of religion have thus often greatly suffered.
But one may well ask, how, if all truth is to be com municated in such a way as to avoid this effort, is the will to be educated? If truth must regularly be presented so as to make the minimum draft upon the voluntary attention, how will one acquire the power of voluntary direction of his mind, which is so necessary to fit him to cope success fully with the actual conditions of life ? Surely in the actual conduct of one s life, in the adjustment of oneself to an ever-changing environment which takes very little account of personal inclinations, it is extremely important that he should acquire the self-mastery which can come alone from the oft-repeated and prolonged exercise of the voluntary at tention.
It is evident that much depends upon what the purpose is in presenting truth. If the purpose is exclusively or mainly disciplinary, i.e., if the aim is to develop a useful mental habit, one method will be appropriate. If, on the other hand, the aim is to get certain truths accepted most readily, believed most heartily, appreciated most highly and acted on most promptly, another method will be suitable. In preaching and in all forms of persuasive oratory the latter purpose is controlling. We do not preach for the purpose of giving the hearers a needed exercise in the control of the attention; preaching is not adapted to that purpose.
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