On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons

John Albert Broadus (1827–1895) was a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Charles Spurgeon called him the “greatest of living preachers.”

"The great appointed means of spreading the good tidings of salvation through Christ is preaching — words spoken whether to the individual, or to the assembly," writes Broadus. "And this, nothing can supersede. Printing has become a mighty agency for good and for evil; and Christians should employ it, with the utmost diligence and in every possible way, for the spread of truth. But printing can never take the place of the living word. When a man who is apt in teaching, whose soul is on fire with the truth which he trusts has saved him and hopes will save others, speaks to his fellow-men, face to face, eye to eye, and electric sympathies flash to and fro between him and his hearers, till they lift each other up, higher and higher, into the intensest thought, and the most impassioned emotion — higher and yet higher, till they are borne as on chariots of fire above the world, — there is a power to move men, to influence character, life, destiny, such as no printed page can ever possess. "

This classic on expository preaching is organized as follows:

Introduction

Part I. Materials of Preaching
I. The Text — Selection
II. The Text—Interpretation
III. Subjects — Classified
IV. Sermons for Particular Occasions and Classes
V. General Materials of Preaching
VI. Special Materials — Explanation
VII. Special Materials — Argument
VIII. Special Materials — Illustration
IX. Special Materials — Application

Part II. Arrangement of a Sermon
I. Importance of Arrangement
II. The Several Parts of a Sermon
III. Different Species of Sermons

Part III. Style
I. General Observations on Style
II. Qualities of Style — Perspicuity
III. Energy of Style
IV. Elegance of Style
V. Imagination in Preaching

Part IV. Delivery of Sermons
I. The Three Methods of Preparation and Delivery
II. On Delivery, as Regards Voice
III. On Delivery, as Regards Action

Part V. Conduct of Public Worship