# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1855_S186
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

186 On Writing Sermons.

It is true that, for example, the vicar of Christ reminds one of Christ, the Jesuits of Jesus, the Inquisition of God’s judgment, and all the other institutions of elements of Christianity; but all the more dangerous are the institutions in which the papacy embodies itself. The learned author of the above-mentioned work will therefore not take it amiss if we express the wish that the truly catholic Lutheran Church may never allow itself, for the sake of the element of Christianity used in giving Roman institutions their outward form, to address to them any word other than the spiritual weapon. May people become aware in good time of the impression that “truly catholic” must make upon every reader of the Missionsblatt and of the work named above, before the confusion of language reaches such a degree that neither the pope nor the Union knows what the Lutherans actually think and intend when they speak of catholicity.

(Translated and submitted for “Lehre und Wehre” by P. G.)

On Writing Sermons.

On this subject, the great Lutheran theologian Dr. Joh. Andr. Quensted gives, among other things, the following valuable counsels in his Ethica pastoralis.

If someone wishes to impress his sermon easily and deeply upon his memory, he should write it out himself, as neatly and methodically as possible. Beautiful handwriting removes the reluctance to read it over, while order is the foremost aid to memory—indeed, according to Plato, its very soul. Whatever you wish to impress upon your memory, first put it in order. If you neglect order, you increase the labor beyond measure; what you take in with great effort will be forgotten again just as quickly. For, according to Aristoteles, what is arranged beautifully and methodically can be retained easily and securely. By contrast, when things are hurriedly thrown together in disorder, this is only harmful and ruinous to the memory.

A preacher should, however, write his sermon in his own hand, for what one writes with one’s own hand is thereby impressed upon one’s memory at the same time. He should not write letters that are too small, on account of old age, when the eyes grow dim. He should also write carefully and neatly, so that he may then read it with pleasure; for what one scribbles down drowsily and carelessly, one does not even like to look at afterward. And those who have not practiced writing neatly fill pages with a racing pen but afterward cannot read it themselves.

Now, not everyone follows one and the same method when writing down sermons. Some make a table and place the theme at the beginning; beneath the theme they place the parts that prove or develop it—not merely some of them, but all: the general, the particular, and the most particular—and alongside