Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/152

 134 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

peals. If he relates in vivid imagery the most pathetic inci dent, the style and delivery are too vigorous and strident and the effect is either lost or is positively disagreeable. Or he may wish to arouse in his hearers a martial ardour and send them forth to storm the strong-holds of evil, and there is no fight in his style and his delivery suggests a retreat rather than a charge. Doubtless this is one of the main reasons why the people soon tire of a preacher, and for him a change of pastorates becomes the chief desideratum. The emotional life of the congregation starves. If it is one of the principal functions of preaching to cultivate the sentiments, the emo tional dispositions, of the people and organize their emo tional life around great ethical and spiritual principles, surely the preacher should strive to acquire the largest pos sible command of the means by which feelings of the most various types may be aroused.

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