homiletics

homiletics
    n 1: the branch of theology that deals with sermons and homilies
    2: the art of preaching
    

Homiletics \Hom`i*let"ics\, n. [Cf. F. homil['e]tique.]
   The art of preaching; that branch of theology which treats of
   homilies or sermons, and the best method of preparing and
   delivering them.
   [1913 Webster]
    

HOMILETICS, n.  The science of adapting sermons to the spiritual
needs, capacities and conditions of the congregation.

    So skilled the parson was in homiletics
    That all his normal purges and emetics
    To medicine the spirit were compounded
    With a most just discrimination founded
    Upon a rigorous examination
    Of tongue and pulse and heart and respiration.
    Then, having diagnosed each one's condition,
    His scriptural specifics this physician
    Administered -- his pills so efficacious
    And pukes of disposition so vivacious
    That souls afflicted with ten kinds of Adam
    Were convalescent ere they knew they had 'em.
    But Slander's tongue -- itself all coated -- uttered
    Her bilious mind and scandalously muttered
    That in the case of patients having money
    The pills were sugar and the pukes were honey.
                                          _Biography of Bishop Potter_