was contented to succeed by gentle persuasion and slow deliberate conviction. The following sketch, from a biographical notice, will give a full and accurate
idea of the nature of his preaching:—"His main strength lies in his extensive
acquaintance with Scripture, his argumentative distinctness and dexterity, his
refined taste, his unimpeachable good sense, and the felicity with which he
connects his subject with the personal interests and responsibilities of his
audience. He seldom indulges in any ornament, or in any play of fancy,
beyond the occasional introduction of some select figure or comparison, for the
sake of illustration. He is never dull or common-place ; but his vivacity is
that of the understanding rather than of the imagination. At times, and
when handling suitable themes, a burst of feeling escapes him which is felt to
be perfectly genuine, and which seldom fails to communicate its contagion to
the hearers; but he spends no time on mere sentimentalities, and shows no
ambition whatever to provoke a tear, except as that may be the sign of his
arrow having touched the heart. His chief aim seems always to be, to convey
fully and clearly to the mind of his hearers the truth presented by the part of
Scripture from which he is discoursing. Hence he is eminently textual as a
preacher, eminently faithful as an expositor. Hence, also, the practical character of all his discourses. With all his closeness of reasoning and nicety of
discrimination, he never indulges in mere abstract speculation—never verges
into the regions of transcendentalism—never amuses his audience by adroit
defences of fanciful hypotheses, or by gymnastic displays of dialectical subtlety.
All is serious, solid, earnest, practical; and though an effort of continuous
attention is required on the part of the hearer, in order fully to apprehend the
train of his reasoning and illustrations, such an effort will seldom be put forth
without being rewarded by a large accession of valuable and sound scriptural
knowledge." This intellectual, classical, and subdued style of preaching was
delivered in a sufficiently correspondent manner. The author from whom we
have just quoted thus describes it:—"In the pulpit Dr. Wardlaw employs little action. An expressive elevation of the eyebrows, an easy and simple
action of either hand, and an occasional motion of the body, effected by a graceful step backwards, are the only gestures he is in the habit of employing. His
voice, though somewhat feeble, is of considerable compass, and is finely modulated, so that he can make himself distinctly heard by a large assemblage; and,
notwithstanding the disadvantage of reading his discourses, can, by the variety
of his intonations, avoid the monotony into which this practice so frequently
leads. There is, indeed, a peculiar charm in the sound of his voice, which is
not without its effect in sustaining the attention and engaging the interest of
his hearers. This, combined with the fulness of his matter, and the piety of
his whole discourse, reminds one, in listening to him, of the Jewish high-priest
of old, on whose garment the sweet-toned bell and the pomegranate, symbolical
of richness, betokened the combined clearness and copiousness of that revelation
of which he was the herald, whilst on his forehead was inscribed 'Holiness to the Lord,' as the crown and consummation of the whole."
From the foregoing account of the nature of his sermons, the diligence of Dr. Wardlaw in his pulpit preparations may be easily surmised. It was laborious investigation, and careful well-weighed thought, expressed in apposite words and polished sentences; and when these extended, as they often did, to three discourses each Sabbath, instead of two, they constituted an amount of weekly study sufficient to establish the character of a truly painstaking divine.
