SESSION ONE
 
HOMILETICS OR RULES AND PRINCIPLES IN THE PREPARATION AND PREACHING OF SERMONS 
CHAPTER I. 
DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE OF HOMILETICS. 
CHOICE OF SUBJECTS. 
HOMILETICS is that branch of theology which teaches the principles and rules according to which sermons are prepared and delivered. It covers the whole subject, science, and art of preaching or public address before the congregation. Students come to theological schools to become theologians, but chiefly to become preachers. Homiletics is therefore the chief aim and end of all theological study; the completion and crown of the whole course. 
Preaching is the chief business of the Christian ministry, and the most frequent form of public speech.  More sermons are delivered in any year than all other public addresses combined. In this fact there is an element of strength and of weakness; of strength, because of the frequent opportunity to influence public opinion, 
The thought and action; of weakness, because this frequency brings the temptation to become careless in preparation. 
There is a wide difference between a sermon scantily-prepared and a sermon erroneously constructed. The latter may be found in sermons of elaborate preparation, and is a fault chargeable not to lack of time, but lack of observance of the principles and rules of true homiletics. 
The objection that preaching is too sacred to be made a matter of art, and too varied in its topics and ends to be governed by rules and forms, is of no more weight than when applied to any other business or duty. Every sermon has two elements, divine and human. It is divine in its substance, which is the truth as revealed in God's Word; but it is human in so far as it is the product of human learning and skill in its preparation and delivery. As a human product every sermon is a matter of art, and as such demands the highest skill and best method of which the preacher is capable. In both elements it will show the marks of its maker. 
Rules in homiletics are meant to aid and not to hinder the best and most effective kind of preaching. "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well," and the greater and grander the work the more important is it to observe this rule. Truth may be presented in such overwrought or stiffened form as to lose its force and end, but true homiletics will put the preacher on his guard against this as well as other faults by which sermons are spoiled. Every preacher will have some method or rule in his preparation and preaching. The question is—which is the best method and rule? To aid students in finding this out and becoming familiar with it, is the important purpose of this branch of study.