Francis Wayland on Sermon Preparation


Here is a quote from a key Baptist preacher form the past, Francis Wayland. It speaks directly to the previous discussions on doing your own work in sermon preparation. Thanks to my brother, Scott, for passing on the quote.

“A strong temptation frequently assails a man, when preparing a sermon, to look around for helps. He can easily find a book of skeletons made to his hand, and it seems to him very convenient to make use of it. Let me urge every brother, as he values his self-respect, his honesty, his ministerial usefulness, as he values his own soul and the souls of others, to resist this temptation at the outset. If he have any of these crutches, let him commit them at once to the flames, or he will never learn to walk. The habit is absolutely fatal.”

Francis Wayland, Notes on the Principles and Practices of Baptist Churches, as cited in Bush and Nettles, Baptists and the Bible.

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