The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-14
HISTORY BUILDERS.
Great Preachers Who Were Always
Prepared.
Written Expressly for The Washington Herald.
By DIR. E. }. EDWARDS.

Written Expressly for The Washington Herald
By DR.. E. }. EDWARDS.
| Phillips Brooks. who was for many
years rector of Trinity church, in Bos-
ton, and later of the Eastern Massa-
| chusetts diocese, gained reputation
wherever the English language is spoken
as one Of the great masters of pulpit
| DR.. Brooks preached every weekend at
noon in Trinity church. New York, con-
| tinuing this series OF sermons for about
| two weeks. The great church was
swarmed with business men. and as 1t
was for business men that this MONDAY
service was held and as so many went
to the service that it was impossible to
admit them all, it was found necessary
to refuse admittance to women.
! / met DIR. Brooks one morning about
| two hours before the MONDAY service.
He was a guest at the home Of his
brother. the Rev. Arthur Brooks. Some
what reluctantly he told me of the man.
ner in which he prepared his sermon. He
| said he usually had breakfast. selected
his text and, having done that. he out
lined the treatment of the subject, jot-
| ting down a few notes sometimes on the
back of an envelope with which to aid
him in the delivery Of the sermon. The
rest of the preparation was entirely
mental.
| II never know" said DR.. Brooks
when 1 enter the church whether I am
going to preach in accordance with the
plan I have outlined or whether some
which would be more appropriate. am
influenced by what overhear, and
something said to me shortly before the
service begins. But every minister
should be prepared by deep thought and
constant study so that he may easily
preach upon any text"
Some years later 1 mentioned this an
| ecdote to one who was very near Henry
| Ward Beecher, and who had an intimate
knowledge of Beechers pulpit methods
as any one possessed. l asked II 1t
were true that Beecher sometimes
preached an entirely different sermon
from the one which he had written or
mapped out before he left his home for
the church.
started for Plymouth church Sunday
morning whether he was going to preach
his prepared sermon or not" was the re-
ply. MANY times he had the manu-
script notes Of the sermon in his pocket
when he started for church, but instead
OF using them he delivered something en-
| tirely different He used to explain this
by saying that he was always peculiarly
affected by his congregation. He felt that
effect during the preliminary exercise
1t had sometimes happened that his eyes
fell upon some one member of the con-
gregation and that led to train Of
thought which he regarded as especially
suitable for exposition in his morning
sermon. He was peculiarly susceptible
to influence OF that kind. From one
point of view. Beecher was always think
ing of his sermon, not of any particular
sermon, but something that he saw,
some conversation which he had, some
thoughts which at an earlier time had
come to him as he reflected upon the
Scriptures. In that sense he was al
ways prepared. and though he often de-
livered extemporary sermon. vet he
never spoke without preparation. 1t
was extemporary in the sense that he
had not prepared notes or written 1t
out
| Copyright 1915. by +. J. Edwards AT rights re-
| GrvodD
Tomorrow DR. Edwards will tell How
an Editor Was Left Ont in the Cold