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The Church attempted to perfect the art of preaching and therefore sought after the most influential/successful methods of getting their message across. In "Three Medieval Rhetorical Arts," preaching is defined as "the persuasion of many, within a moderate length of time, to meritorious conduct" (1Murphy 120). The art of preaching therefore seems not to be what it appears. Instead of being a vehicle for the discovery of theological truths, it merely becomes a vehicle for instituting social control; a form of persuading an audience to follow societal guidelines by using religion as the foundation. Herrick outlines several methods of preaching as "including promises, threats, examples and reason" (Herrick 132). It was the preacher's duty to find out which method would be most appropriate for the audience that he would be preaching to. For instance, a preacher probably would not have to use threats to convince a pious audience, rather, a sermon with a threatening message would correlate better with an inflexible/obstinate audience. Although, a threatening sermon is still very effective, as the thought of divine judgment always seems to scare its audience into straightening up.
Letter writing was another form of rhetoric that gained a new importance in the medieval period. In "Rhetoric in the Middle Ages," Murphy states that "the ars dictamuinis [the art of letter writing] is truly a medieval invention. It marks a sharp break with ancient rhetorical practice" (2Murphy 194). It appears that the practice of sending a message orally (by messenger) would no longer suit the demands of this society. Of course some messages before this time were written down, but the messenger would read the letter aloud to its recipient upon his arrival. It seems that the letters that came into existence during this period dealt with the differences in social class better than the previous practice.