From Essays After Montaigne
...in those two different advantages of eloquence whereof Preachers and pleading-lawiers of our age seeme to make profession; the slow speaker in mine opinion should be the better preacher, and the other the better lawier. Forsomuch as charge of the first allowes him as much leisure as he pleaseth to prepare himselfe; moreover his cariere continueth still in one kinde without interruption: whereas the lawyers occasions urging him still upon any accident to be ready to enter the lists: and the unexpected replies and answers of his adverse parlie, do often divest him from his purpose, wher he is enforced to take a new course.
We commonly say of some compositions, that they smell of the oile, and of the lampe, by reason of a certaine harshnesse, and rudenesse, which long plodding labour imprints in them that be much elaborated.
The Preacher once described the process by which he develops his (or her) sermons:
By Friday afternoon she must have her outline. The intro is huge. How will we begin this journey on Sunday, she wonders? The transitions must be smooth. She wants to tell one true thing and tell it well. She NEVER uses canned illustrations and cheap stories. God forbid.
On Sunday morning she arrives before the sun, stands in the pulpit and preaches to the darkness. When she is as ready as she will be, the work is done and the relief makes her giddy. She relaxes and peeps out the window to see if her friends have arrived. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.
This seems to confirm that preachers have the leisure to prepare themselves to speak without interruption. Yet I imagine that even with that leisure, it's still a struggle to keep the sermon free of the scent of the oil and the lamp. Thus the importance of smooth transitions. Nothing makes composition feel more plodding or overly elaborated than vague or labored transitions. Speaking that's both closely reasoned and emotionally moving is an art form, and it's one that is seldom practiced beyond the pulpit and the campaign trail.
And on the campaign trail, most politicians of note are lawyers, and not surprisingly, the more successful politicians are generally of readier speech. (The current President Bush, the first president with an M.B.A., is the exception that proves this rule.) President Clinton was such an astonishingly successful politician at least in part because of his ability to speak both intelligently and movingly with little or no preparation. In fact, many of his best speeches only followed his prepared script in the broadest sense. And one of the reasons that Vice President Gore was unable to capitalize on President Clinton's political success with his own campaign was his inability to rid his speeches of the scent of the oil and the lamp. Even when speaking extemporaneously, he sounded stiff and formal--his speeches were certainly closely reasoned, but they failed to be moving.
7:55:55 AM 
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