Eternal Fulness, overflow to me
Till I, Thy vessel, overflow for Thee;
For sure the streams that make Thy garden grow
Are never fed but by an overflow:
Not till Thy prophets with Thyself run o'er
Are Israel's watercourses full once more.
Again I treat of the sermon. We have looked, my younger Brother and I, at some main secrets and prescriptions for attractive preaching. What shall I more say on the subject of the pulpit? In the first place I will offer a few miscellaneous suggestions, and then come in closing to the deepest theme of the whole matter—Spiritual Power in Preaching.
NOTES FOR A SERMON-LECTURE.
I address myself to write, soon after delivering to my students, in the library adjoining my study, a lecture on Preaching. Let me call it rather, a talk on Sermons, which is a term less grandiose and much more true; for in fact the discourse has been a most informal series of remarks and suggestions on topics suggested by a collection of sermons written for me, and which I now came to give back, annotated, to their writers. It occurs to me to offer my kind reader a written version of some of these remarks just made vivâ voce to my friends. They happen to touch on a variety of points which are not unimportant in themselves and also typical of very many more.
For the purposes of the lecture, they have been divided between matters of form and matters of substance; and I report them, or rather some of them, in that order.
I. Remarks on Diction, Style, etc.
(a) Take care to "pull the sentences together," to avoid loose and redundant phrases and words. Why write "grief and sorrow," "fatigued and tired out," "attacks and assaults"? A subtle intellect may see distinctions here, but it is too much for me, and, I am sure, for most plain people in church.
(b) Respect the Queen's English. "The one who lives a Christian life" is scarcely English; say "the man," not "the one." "Like Adam and Eve walked in Paradise"! This is a serious, though common, piece of bad grammar. Say, "Like Adam, when he walked," but "As Adam walked."
(c) Remember that the genius of English eschews a large use of connecting words, particularly in spoken discourse. Not often is a sentence the better for an "and" at the beginning. Many a "therefore" and "because" are well away, if you would speak with freedom and vigour.