It can neither be repeated nor transferred to other persons, times, or places. It can thenceforward only be remembered as a thing of the past. Nevertheless, this fullest realization of eloquence has its limitations, for when once heard and felt it is in that sense ended. Hence, whether eloquence be considered subjectively as that subtle power which enables an orator to influence men by uttered language, or objectively in the effects produced upon those to whom he speaks, it needs to be heard and felt in order to be appreciated in its completeness. Nor can it be denied that the sympathy of numbers in an audience reacts upon a speaker and augments within him the power of moving those whom he addresses. There must be voice for the ear, action for the eye, and a certain projection of the sentiments, the sympathies, and the emotions of an animated soul upon the minds and hearts of others. No just treatment of eloquence in any of its phases can ignore the fact that its highest character and results can only be secured from the expression of the living speaker. The term pulpit eloquence has, in fact, come into general use as designating (1) the quality and character of the eloquence produced from the pulpit, and (2) the body of eloquent productions now in preservation as representing the utterances of preachers of the present and past generations. 'I say the pulpit (in the sober use Of its legitimate, peculiar powers) Must stand acknowledged while the world shall stand, The most important and effectual guard, Support, and ornament of virtue's cause.'įrom such uses as a substantive, the same word derives its significance as an adjective it being often used in the expressions 'pulpit orator,' 'pulpit eloquence,' and the like. By a slight variation of the same principle, the term is also made to signify the collective agency of preaching, as seen in the phrases 'influence of the pulpit' and 'power of the pulpit.' In a signification which, to some extent, blends both the above meanings, the term pulpit is often used in the figure of personification, as in the expressions 'Let the pulpit speak,' 'The voice of the pulpit must be heard.' The word is thus used in the well- known passage of Cowper: Pulpit Eloquence As pulpits in churches are constructed for the convenience of preachers and preaching, so the term pulpit, by a common form of metonymy, is often used to signify the collective body of the clergy or those who use the pulpit.

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