The secret of his impactive delivery lay first in the careful crafting of the original sermon, and second in the freedom which the mastery of this enabled him to focus on clear enunciation, and the many varieties of pitch, pace, projection, and emphasis that made every word vital and alive. Even where he used occasional word-for-word memorization of key phrases, his delivery was such that his manner seemed completely extemporaneous.

Talmage's artistry with words appears in almost every sermon. When he spoke on The King's Ferry-Boat which came from "the other shore" as recorded in 2 Sam. 19:18, he likened this to our crossing of the "river of death" and spoke of how folks try to travel from earth to heaven through the power of values gathered in life.

... They gather up their good works, and some sentimental theories, and they make a raft, shoving it from this shore and poor, deluded souls get on board that raft and they go down. The fact is that skepticism and infidelity never yet helped one man to die. I invite all the ship-carpenters of worldly philosophy to come and build one boat that can safely cross this river .... All together, in ten thousand years, they will never be able to make a boat that will cross this Jordan. Of all the unbelievers of all ages not one died well. Some of them sneaked out of life, some wept themselves away in darkness; some blasphemed and raved and tore their bed-covers to tatters. (Talmage. 1978: Vol. 7, 207-208).

He then told how a man tried to get over Niagara Falls but drowned in its rapids, and continued

... When a man puts out from the shore of this world on the river of death in a boat of his own construction, he has worse disaster than that -- shipwreck, eternal shipwreck. Blessed be God, there is a boat coming from the other side! Transportation at last for our souls to the other shore; everything about this Gospel from the other shore; pardon from the other shore; pity from the other shore; ministry of angels from the other shore; power to work miracles from the other shore; Jesus Christ from the other shore. I see the ferryboat coming and it rolls with the surges of a Savior's suffering; but as it strikes the earth the mountains rock, and the dead adjust their apparel so that they may be fit to come out .... Good Sarah Wesley got into that boat, and as she shoved off from the shore she cried, "Open the gates! Open the gates!" I bless God that as this boat came from the other shore to take David and his men across, so, when we are about to die, the boat will come from the same direction. God forbid that I should ever trust to anything that starts from this side. (Talmage, 1978: Vol. 7, 209).

Talmage's seminary professors warned him to change his style or no church would ever call him. But his skills in vocabulary, in the coining of new words and phrases, and his many pungent eccentricities of language formed a picturesque style which made him virtually unique as a preacher. A natural artist with words, and a master of metaphor, he possessed the ability to conjure up a scene before the human imagination of his hearers. He could employ language which was at once sophisticated enough for the cultured and simple enough for the plain.