Eloquent Sermons

The minister may make a high range into the heavens, by poetical descriptions, and fanciful presentations which please the senses and feed the imagination, but which do not touch the common life experience, the daily necessities; bringing home to the heart the very truths which are of vital interest. The immediate requirements, the present trials, need present help and strength,—the faith that works by love and purifies the soul, not words which have no real influence upon the living daily walk in practical Christianity.2NL 155.3

The minister may think that with his fanciful eloquence, he has done great things in feeding the flock of God; the hearers may suppose that they never before heard such beautiful themes, they have never seen the truth dressed up in such beautiful language, and as God was represented before them in His greatness, they felt a glow of emotion. But trace from cause to effect all this ecstasy of feeling caused by these fanciful representations. There may be truths, but too often they are not the food that will fortify them for the daily battles of life.—Manuscript 59, 1900.2NL 155.4