HERALDS OF GOD
mechanized memorizing, to get a sure grip and clear conspectus of his own sermon, provided that certain conditions have been observed in the writing of it. These conditions are clarity of logical structure; well-defined divisions and subdivisions; exclusion of irrelevances; short paragraphs, with a single clear-cut thought in each, not long unbroken stretches, where a dozen ideas jostle; balance and progress and development; with one or two strong and vivid illustrations marking out the track. The point is that freedom of delivery will tend to vary in direct proportion to accuracy of construction. If you can fashion a sermon which stands out clearly in all its parts before your own mind, the tyranny of the manuscript is broken.
Third, remember that the opening years invariably tend to fix the methods of a man's whole ministry. Any preacher, even the most tongue-tied and diffident, can achieve freedom of utterance—on two conditions: he must be willing to face the necessary self-discipline, and he must begin early enough. Those first years are big with enviable opportunity and critical decision: for it is then that ways and habits are developing which, once formed, are apt to bind irrevocably. In this matter of delivery, every preacher is at the beginning master of his fate. You may be led to adjudge that you can serve God best in your pulpit by reading your sermons. But if you feel another method beckoning you, have no misgivings. Do not precipitately decide against it. If you want to be free, you can.
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