It should be remembered that it requires far higher intellectual power, and more strenuous intellectual effort, to present Sunday after Sunday the very truth of God clearly and impressively, with out wearisome iteration of the same forms of thought, the same illustrations and the same language, than to interest a congregation with our own thoughts and reflections on spiritual topics. But, I repeat, it is the truth itself, and not our striking thoughts about it, in which spiritual power lies.
- R W Dale, reflecting on the preaching of John Angell James of Birmingham.