_The preparation of sermons should doubtless fill the chief place in
these hours of private study._ This subject, however, belongs to the
department of homiletics, and will be found amply treated in works
specially devoted to it, such as Broadus on the _Preparation and
Delivery of Sermons,_ Shedd's _Homiletic and Pastoral Theology,_ and
the several courses of _Yale Lectures on Preaching._ I will, therefore,
on this topic only emphasize the importance of high ideals of
sermonizing and pulpit preparation.
The sermon is the embodied result of the pastor's culture and reading,
the public expression of his whole spiritual and intellectual manhood,
and he is bound to show himself "a workman who needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. ii. 15). He
dishonors Christ and His Gospel if he habitually preaches without
thorough study.
The sermon is the message God sends by him to the people. It unfolds
high and holy themes, into which "angels desire to look," and on which
the profoundest minds of the ages have dwelt with wonder and awe. It
deals with the souls of men and the great interests of eternity.
Surely, the man who ventures to stand up and speak carelessly and
thoughtlessly on such themes and amidst such interests has failed to
grasp the primary idea of his great office as a Christian pastor.
+SECTION XVIII.+