The preacher's character

With Ted Haggard back in the media spotlight, we should all pause to take heed of ourselves lest we too stumble (1 Cor. 10:12).

Mark well these words from 19th century pastor and professor Robert L. Dabney about the preacher and his character...

Without a sacred weight of character, the most splendid rhetoric will win only a short-lived applause; with it, the plainest scriptural instructions are eloquent to win souls. Eloquence may dazzle and please; holiness of life convinces...No counterfeit will avail [in the pulpit], but the living faith and spirituality which are cultivated at the throne of grace, in the chambers of the afflicted and dying, and by the study of God's word. (Evangelical Eloquence, pp. 263-68)