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 _viv‚ 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.