First, it is advantageous for a minister’s preparation for preaching that he tie his reflections to its few but universal precepts and by their aid discover an abundance of things to say, from which he may later select those that are most useful for the church. For with respect to a sermon, one ought not to think that there is anything that cannot be referred back to its topics, nor in fact that there can be anything found while reading the writings of others, no matter how scattered, that you could
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