Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1915 — How Doctor Abbott Prepares Sermon. [ARTICLE]

How Doctor Abbott Prepares Sermon.

My method of preparation for any sermon or address is to consider, first, not my subject, but my object that is, what I want to accomplish. Next I consider what thoughts and what organization of those thoughts will be best fitted to accomplish that object. And, third, in arranging those thoughts I endeavor to make of them not a chain but a river, to make my argument cumulative, not merely logical, so that the last thoughts will be not merely the conclusion but the climax of the thoughts that have gone before. This I generally do without the use of pen or pencil. Usually, however, I jot down in a notebook or on a sheet of paper the major points in the address after I have arranged them in my mind,-though I never have this paper before me in speaking. It is much more important to keep my mind in touch with my auditors than in touch with my theme. — Lyman Abbott in the Outlook.