Often, however, Dale moved in a region beyond the common reach. One of the old members of Carr's Lane, a poor woman of sixty-five, used to say, "Ah, me, I cannot understand his sermons but his prayers do me so much good that I always come."13

In a review of one of Dale's volumes of sermons, the writer complained that his illustrations were "provincial." Dale remarked that the complaint was just. "Human life, as I know it, is the life of Birmingham manufacturers, merchants, and tradesmen and of Birmingham working people, who work in iron and brass and tin, who make pens and guns and jewelry, hardware, and beautiful things in silver and gold. When I think of human life I think of it in all the forms it assumes among the people with whom I have lived for more than thirty years. I think of the troubles and temptations which come to them in their trade and of their own keen interest in public affairs."

An examination of Dale's sermons show the truth of this statement. He usually illustrates his teaching from facts gathered from his own observation and experience. Sometimes he turns to account the common occurrences and facts of nature and daily life; sometimes his knowledge of human nature and sometimes reminiscences of his holiday travels.

Towards the end of his life Dale reviewed the spirit and method of his preaching. "My preaching has a fatal defect," he wrote. "It is wanting in an element which is indispensable to real success. I have striven to press home upon men and to illustrate the central contents of the Christian Gospel, but I have not recognized practically the obligation to use in preaching all those secondary powers which contribute to create and sustain intellectual and emotional interest in preaching. The word which has been used most often to denote what my critics regard as the excellence of my preaching really suggested the qualities in which it has been defective: 'stateliness.' That is not the characteristic of effective preaching and it suggests a whole set of intellectual, ethical, and spiritual elements which account for failure. I think that in the sermons of the last two Sundays the stateliness has disappeared and there has been more of brotherly access to the people. In preparation I aimed at more freedom and in preaching God gave it to me."14

In 1877-78, Dale delivered the Yale lectures on preaching -- nine in number -- skillfully and solidly written. Careful preparation, long familiarity with his theme and years of research distinguish these lectures. When they were published they were favorably received. They are self-revealing, for they tell us more about Dale than we can learn from any other of his writings. In his sermons the personal note is rarely heard, but in the lectures -- speaking to young men on a subject that gave him a right to speak for himself and of himself -- he tried to hit hardest at the evils which had lessened the power of his own ministry. He makes his own shortcomings serve him for warning and for rebuke. And, on the other hand, it is the methods that had served him best in the study and the pulpit that he describes and commends for imitation.