¶2.1 This section is Section XI of the 1804 Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church:

Question One: What is the best general method of preaching?

Answer One: To convince, to offer Christ, to invite, to build up, and to do this in some measure in every sermon.

Question Two: What is the most effectual way of preaching Christ?

Answer Two: The most effectual way of preaching Christ is to preach Him in all His offices, and to declare His law, as well as His Gospel, both to believers and unbelievers. Let us strongly and closely insist upon inward and outward holiness in all its branches (See John 15).

Question Three: Are there any smaller advices which might be of use to us?

Answer Three: Perhaps these:

1. Be sure never to disappoint a congregation.

2. Begin at the time appointed.

3. Let your whole deportment be serious, weighty, and solemn.

4. Always suit your subject to your audience.

5. Choose the plainest text you can.

6. Take care not to ramble, but keep to your text, and make out what you take in hand.

7. Take care of anything awkward or affected, either in your gesture, phrase, or pronunciation.

8. It is recommended to the yearly Conferences to caution and restrict our preachers from improper publications.

9. Do not usually pray extempore above eight or ten minutes (at most) without intermission.

10. Frequently read and enlarge upon a portion of Scripture, and let young preachers often exhort without taking a text.

11. Always avail yourself of the great festivals by preaching on the occasion.