On the other hand, Dale recognized that there was considerable risk in choosing a text in which a truth is stated so sublimely that the text creates expectations which the sermon cannot fulfill. As a rule he felt it was wise to avoid texts that are very sublime, very striking, or very remarkable for their imaginative beauty.
In Dale's opinion, the accumulation of materials should precede the making of the plan of the sermon. The answer to the question, "what is the sermon to do?" determines the method of preparation. He did not think it always necessary or advisable to announce the divisions of a sermon. The wise preacher will seek not only to suit his message to the needs of the people, but at the same time declare the whole counsel of God, using the Christian festivals to bring before the people the great facts underlying the faith.
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Dale urged the value of expository preaching, because "exposition will do something to protect you from the desultoriness and want of method which is one of the gravest faults of modern preaching, and which is one of the chief causes that it conveys so little definite and systematic instruction. Our practice of preaching from texts has accustomed people to try what they can discover in single sentences, and even single phrases, of the Bible, and to disregard the general current and structure of the argument or history."18
Dale is a writer we cannot afford to ignore. He is still a preacher from whose principles we can learn. In his day there was no abler interpreter of evangelical truth. His chief merit was a depth that was never narrow and a breadth that was never shallow. He was manysided, rich in his interests, clear and compact in thought.
1. A. W. W. Dale, Life of R. W. Dale, p. 324.
2. op. cit., p. 590.
3. op. cit., pp. 642-3.
4. op. cit., p. 143.
5. Horton Davies, Worship and Theology in England from Newman to Martineau, p. 324.
6. Life of R. W. Dale, p. 399.
7. W. R. Nicoll, Princes of the Church, p. 79.
8. Horton Davies, op. cit., p. 331.
9. R. W. Dale, Nine Lectures on Preaching, p. 158.
10. op. cit., p. 171.
11. Life of R. W. Dale. p. 696.
12. op. cit., p. 641.
13. op. cit., p. 644.
14. Life of R. W. Dale, pp. 590-3.
15. Nine Lectures on Preaching, p. 93.
16. op. cit., p. 127.
17. Life of R. W. Dale, p. 642.
18. Nine Lectures on Preaching, p. 232.