"Aristotle said that the secular orator must establish with his hearers a character for discretion (knowledge or judgement); second, for probity; and third, for benevolence, or good-will toward them. If this is true in the secular realm how much more in the sacred! R.L. Dabney challenges: 'Without a sacred weight of character, the most splendid rhetoric will win only a short-lived applause; with it, the plainest scriptural instructions are eloquent to win souls. Eloquence may dazzle and please; holiness of life convinces... The pastor's character speaks more loudly than his tongue'" (David Murray, How Sermons Work, 18).
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