Ne Plus Ultra of Pulpit Excellence

Whole discourses constructed on the principle of entire or uniform application, and ably supported, I consider the ne plus ultra of pulpit excellence. It is not the study of school eloquence, nor a parade of words, or clustered ornaments of speech, much less a theatrical assumption of character, that can furnish the requisite qualifications for maintaining such a mode of address. It is rather the boon of heaven, a blessed unction from above, a large measure of which was imparted to the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as his writings abundantly manifest; and, if I may be allowed to select a single instance of modern date in which this gift was eminently possessed, I would point you to George Whitfield. He held a command over the minds of his hearers like that which superior spirits are supposed to possess over the inferior.