“Now in respect of skill, preaching is an art; and while art cannot create the requisite powers of mind or body, nor supply their place if really absent, it can develop and improve them, and aid in using them to the best advantage” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery, p. 25).
Basic Capabilities
“The preacher needs the capacity for clear thinking, with strong feelings, and a vigorous imagination; also capacity for expression, and the power of forcible utterance” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 23).
Clothed in New Power
“A preacher . . . shall hold on to the old truths, and labor to clothe them with new interest and power” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 22).
Not for Triflers
“Eloquence is a serious thing . . . The speaker who is to deserve this high name, must have moral earnestness” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 21).
Because Something Must Be Done
“Eloquence is so speaking as not merely to convince the judgment, kindle the imagination, and move the feelings, but to give a powerful impulse to the will” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermon, p. 20).
A Rare Thing
“A venerable and eminently useful minister once remarked, as he rose from the couch on which he had been resting, ‘Well, I must get ready to preach tonight. But I can’t preach — I never did preach — O, I never heard anybody preach'” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 19).
Both as Cause and Effect
“There has been no great religious movement, no restoration of Scripture truth, and reanimation of genuine piety, without new power in preaching, both as cause and as effect” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 19).
Power in Person
“When a man is apt in teaching . . . there is a power to move men, to influence character, life, destiny, such as no printed page can ever possess” (Broadus, Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, p. 18)
An Essential Balance
“True preaching, then, always involves a balance between the indicative and the imperative” (Carrick, The Imperative of Preaching, p. 145).
Well, Of Course
“A minor point of the text may on occasion legitimately be a major emphasis of the sermon” (Gaffin, as quoted in Carrick, The Imperative of Preaching, p. 127).