“And so the first business of the preacher is to conquer the tyranny of his moods, and to be always ready for his work”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 63
Always a Marvel
“A man’s first wonder when he begins to preach is that people do not come to hear him. After a while, if he is good for anything, he begins to wonder that they do”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 60
Courage Most Needful
“Courage is good everywhere, but it is necessary here. If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 59
No Real Understanding Without Humor
“Humor involves the perception of the true proportions of life. It is one of the most helpful qualities that the preacher can possess . . . But humor is something very different from frivolity”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 58
Look Out, Look Away
“No man ever yet thought whether he was preaching well without weakening his sermon”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 55
The Kind of Man to be Ordained
“We may set him apart from other men with what solemn ceremonies we may please, but he will be just like other men still, unless the power of the work to which he looks forward has entered into him during his careful preparation and made him different”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 50
And a Wet Sponge Won’t
“Nothing but fire kindles fire”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 47
The Desire is Not the Call
“There is far too little discrimination in the selection of men who are to preach, and many men find their way into the preacher’s office who discover only too late that it is not their place”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, pp. 45-46
In Other Words, What is the Point?
“The first thing for you to do is to see clearly what you are going to preach for, what you mean to try to save men from”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 42
To Be Applied With Care
“If a preacher is not a man of his age, in sympathy with its spirit, his preaching fails”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 40