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Untitled Article
the study of the subject ; and because no means being left hirfi to supply his defects ^ should be ascend the pulpit unprepared , he must kncrw that the ease with which he will deliver his discourse depends much on the clearness and Correctness of his knowledge of his subject . As to correctness of arrangement s
the superiority will generally be found to belong to the preacher from notes : for very few writers are sufficiently attentive to the formation of an accurate plan before they begin to compose . Attending chiefly to style and particular thoughts ^ and satisfied with a vague notion of the method in which they are to treat their subject , they sit down to write upon it , and thus their
compositions are deficient in arrangement . This is too much the case with writers of every description ; but it is more especially so with the writers of sermons for the ordinary course of their duty : for such sermons are not like works which the author has all the time to prepare which he might wish , and
Upon which ,, as they occur but seldom , he is disposed to Bestow all imaginable pains . To compose two sermons every week , or even but one , is a very laborious task . The experience , of inost preachers shews that a great part of the week has usually elapsed before they can fix on a subject or a text ; that , Tmow ^ ing that this task must be finished by the next Sunday , they Seldom are disposed to bestow much study upon the p&rticular
parts of their subject , or to take much pains in arranging the plan of their discourse ^ but , on the contrary , generally begin to write with a very imperfect view of it , or of the proper me * thod of treating it , Thus , though their sermons are written , they are really extemporary compositions . On the other hand , the preacher from notes has his attention constantly employed in the arrangement of subjects and the formation of plans . In
this , together with the study of the subject , consists all his literary preparation for the pulpit * : and constant attention to Arrangement may naturally be expected to produce considerable skill in it . The effect of this I remember to have seen in a
friend of mine , who , having been accustomed to write sermons for many years , at lejigth began to preach from a plan . His Written sermons , though beautiful in style and sentiment , w ^ re deficient in method ; but his sermons from plans were , after a
time , accurate m arrangement , ( 3 ) The hearts of the hearers seem more likely to be affected , their conduct , to be influenced , by the preacher from notes , than by the reader of written sermons . All the reasons alleged | o shew that he 13 more likely than the other to excite the
* I say all hi ? litera cy preparation for the pulpit , because both && writer ana 4 he speaker should have recourse to prayer , a $ the grand W&&& 9 f QbtajafrS H ^ fi&ttfts Sot themifti $ try t •¦ ¦* v
Untitled Article
£ 24 Essay on the Delivery of a Sermon .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1806, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1729/page/20/
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