Whether one preaches from a manuscript or not belongs to the ethos of the sermon (Tinetti, 27). As such it is secondary to having good content. [[202202231352]] It should also be recognized that one can have a good (or poor!) ethos whether the sermon is read or preached from memory, whether one ever looks down or not. Loehe is correct to say that the sermon is not ordinary conversational speech but “eternal wisdom and truth” (The Pastor, 243).
Cf. Petersen’s thoughts in [[Homiletics]]