Listening to the sermon was like meditating upon Scripture, and as with meditation, it was not effortless. Attentive and engaged listening helped ensure the sermon message took root in the listener. Pastors worked carefully to foster the hearing of sermons and to make them as memorable as possible. Richard Rogers references two other means that maximize hearing—meditation and conference: “For hearing of the word read and preached, doth little profit, where it is not joined with preparation to hear