THE EXTRA STEP OF EARNESTNESS
Earnestness goes one step beyond sincerity. To be sincere is to mean what we say and to do what we say; to be earnest is, in addition, to feel what we say. Earnestness is deep feeling, and is indispensable to preachers. ‘No man can be a great preacher without great feeling’ wrote James W. Alexander of Princeton. For it is a matter of universal observation that a speaker who would excite deep feeling must feel deeply himself. John A. Broadus, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, pg. 218
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