42a) Preacher's Emotional Constitution/Activity #2

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

Fear causes adrenal glands to pump adrenaline, increasing heart rate, illustrating the physiological effects of emotions.

It's an indisputable fact that the emotions cause great physiological effects in general. You know from your own experience that fear can make the adrenal glands pump out adrenaline, increase the heart rate, and you are absolutely powerless to change that unless you divert. Divert your mind from the thing that's causing your fear and then your pulse rate will come down again. Physiological effects of fear.

0:38 - 1:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

Anxiety can influence digestive juices, causing heartburn, further illustrating physiological effects of emotions.

Anxiety can influence the flow of the digestive juices causing heartburn. And in my old lecture I used to say ulcers, but now we know that ulcers are bacterial in origin and have nothing to do with emotions. At least the latest medical consensus is in that direction. Grief, what does it do?

1:05 - 1:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

Grief can open tear ducts and make the body convulse, demonstrating another physiological effect of emotion.

It can open up the tear ducts and make the whole frame convulse. So it's an indisputable fact that the emotions cause great physiological effects in general. And furthermore, it's an equally indisputable fact that the emotions exert a powerful influence on all the factors and faculties involved in oral communication in particular. So there's not only a generic physiological effect cause and effect, the relationship between the emotions and the physiology, but more particularly, the factors and faculties involved in oral communication, we see this influence of the emotions. Go back to the voice...

1:25 - 2:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

Fear can constrict the voice, making it impossible to scream, showing how emotions affect oral communication.

It can open up the tear ducts and make the whole frame convulse. So it's an indisputable fact that the emotions cause great physiological effects in general. And furthermore, it's an equally indisputable fact that the emotions exert a powerful influence on all the factors and faculties involved in oral communication in particular. So there's not only a generic physiological effect cause and effect, the relationship between the emotions and the physiology, but more particularly, the factors and faculties involved in oral communication, we see this influence of the emotions. Go back to the voice...

1:25 - 2:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

A spurned lover's intense emotion will draw out a unique vocabulary not used in ordinary interaction, illustrating how emotions affect language.

There's a physiological effect on the voice box. The vocabulary is affected by the emotions. Think of the spurned lover entreating the woman that sent him a Dear John letter, trying to get her to reverse what on the surface seemed to be an irrevocable decision. Will it not draw out of that spurned lover a whole corpus of vocabulary that he might not have used in months or years in his ordinary interaction with the ordinary audience?

2:27 - 2:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

A loving father warning his son about dangers will have his vocabulary influenced by paternal affection, showing how emotions affect language.

There are no ordinary objects of his affection. Think of a loving father warning a son about the dangers he faces on the threshold of manhood entering into a sinful world. The vocabulary will be influenced by the emotion of paternal affection to that son. Not only the voice, the vocabulary, but the physical action.

2:57 - 3:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the third main point: the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication. He demonstrates how emotions cause physiological effects (fear…

A normally sedate mother, believing her child is trapped in a burning building, becomes a mass of intense physical energy, demonstrating how emotions affect physical action.

Here is a mother, normally a very sedate, quiet, reserved person, She's standing outside the building in which she believes her infant child is trapped. What happens to that woman in terms of physical action? From a very sedate, quiet, reserved woman, she becomes one mass of intense physical energy as she pleads with anyone and anything around her, Help! My child is in that building! My child is in that building!

3:21 - 3:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that grace does not negate natural emotional expression, but rather sublimates and incorporates it into the preaching of God's Word.

Sturtivant's anecdote of a dumb youth speaking for the first time to save his father illustrates how intense emotion can unlock speech and expression, showing the power of feelings in communication.

That these things would be sublimated and incorporated into that most noble of all forms of oral communication, namely, the preaching of the Word of God. And I think the answer is self-evident. And here again I quote from one of the old masters showing this relationship between the emotions and the faculty of oral communication, an old writer called Sturtivant, S-T-U-R-T-E-V-A-N-T, in a book entitled The Preacher's Manual. He writes, An ancient story has reached our times of a dumb youth, not stupid, but lacking the faculty of speech, who on a certain occasion, when an assassin lifted up his a...

4:58 - 6:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not merely imitate emotional expressions, but seek to absorb and experience the internal disposition of the soul that naturally clothes itself with appropriate external symbols in communication.

Mr. Garrick, the famous actor, advises a student to speak in the pulpit as he would to a dear friend in imminent danger, emphasizing natural, heartfelt expression over studied oratory.

Then we can refine and direct them. So he's seeking to steer away his students from any thought that we are going to analyze what a man does when he feels deeply, the emotion of grief, and then imitate the expressions. He says, no, we must seek to absorb and experience the internal disposition of the soul that clothes itself with those external symbols in the act of communication. The following has been ascribed to the celebrated Mr. Garrick as conveying his sentiments on the subject. A student, it appears, had requested to know Mr. Garrick's sentiments on public speaking, and his reply, was n...

7:50 - 8:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that orthodox, reformed, Calvinistic preaching is not akin to a computerized voice, but reflects the dimension of a living soul with emotional overtones.

The computerized voice at Atlanta airport, capable of conveying information but lacking emotional overtones, is contrasted with a living human being, highlighting the essential dimension of emotion in communication, especially preaching.

Have you all been in the situation? If you've gone through the Atlanta airport, they have these shuttles between the various terminals. No human being in there operating them. They're all operated from a central computer.

10:39 - 10:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not give men directions to avoid everlasting judgment with the same tones used for mundane directions, but rightly represent God and His truth with appropriate emotional gravity.

God opening the mouth of a dumb ass to prophesy to Balaam is used to illustrate God's sovereign ability to overrule, but Martin emphasizes what humans ought to do in conveying truth.

If God can open the mouth of a dumbass and make that dumbass an effectual prophet to the mad prophet Balaam,

12:17 - 12:26 Read in full sermon

Driving home: by the truth or by means of error, he who moves men's affections moves men.

Ebenezer Porter quotes Wright's account of Demosthenes disbelieving a citizen's complaint of cruelty due to his cold, indifferent manner, illustrating how lack of earnestness undermines credibility.

There is an occurrence that not only goes out from the speaker to the people and from the people back to the speaker, but between the people who sit before that speaker. And again, the old writers understood this and were very careful to articulate this in his essay on the necessity of earnestness by Ebenezer Porter, in his book on homiletics. He quotes from one of the old writers, Wright, W-R-I-G-H-T, in his philosophy of elocution, in urging upon the Christian student of eloquence, earnestness of manner, and energy of expression, relates the following, quote, A citizen of Athens came to Demo...

14:17 - 15:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not give lie to the truth of God's honor, glory, and the salvation of souls by a manner of speaking that lacks real, genuine emotional energy.

Cicero's argument against Claudius, who prosecuted Galleus for poisoning with calmness and indifference, illustrates how the manner of speaking can give lie to the content, even with strong evidence.

We shall find the object of this illustration, continues the author, shown more at length by the Roman orator. I perfectly remember, says Cicero, that when Claudius prosecuted Galleus for an attempt to poison him and pretended he had the plainest proofs of it, could produce many letters, witnesses, information and other evidences to put the orator in prison. I remember the truth of his charge beyond a doubt, interspersing many sensible and ingenious remarks on the nature of the crime. I remember that when it came my turn to reply to him, after urging every argument with the case which the case...

16:22 - 17:49 Read in full sermon

The point: As servants of God, recognize the vital principle of the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication, just as secular men do.

Dabney's explanation of sympathy in the human soul, where witnessing emotion colors the spectator's soul, illustrates the principle of emotional contagion.

And here again, remember our Lord's words, the sons of this generation are wiser than the sons of light. And if men recognize this vital principle of the strategic place and function of the emotions in oral communication, then surely, as the servants of God, we ought to recognize it. Again, Dabney, on this aspect of the emotional contagion, thinking of it now, not so much from the speaker to the people, but in terms of its horizontal, dimensional dimensions, writes in that masterful article on the exposition of 1 Corinthians 3 on page 559, let us avert to the principle of sympathy in the human...

19:16 - 20:41 Read in full sermon

The point: As servants of God, recognize the vital principle of the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication, just as secular men do.

Being saddened by seeing someone weep, even without knowing the cause, illustrates unintelligent sympathetic emotion.

The sympathetic emotion is wholly unintelligent, is superinduced by the mere sight of the feeling in another, and usually vanishes. When that is removed. In proof, we point to the facts that we are saddened when we see a person weep, although we don't know the cause of his grief. And if we see persons angry or fighting, we partake of their excitement, though we know and care nothing of them or their quarrels.

21:09 - 21:36 Read in full sermon

The point: As servants of God, recognize the vital principle of the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication, just as secular men do.

Partaking in the excitement of angry or fighting persons, even without knowing their quarrel, illustrates unintelligent sympathetic emotion.

The sympathetic emotion is wholly unintelligent, is superinduced by the mere sight of the feeling in another, and usually vanishes. When that is removed. In proof, we point to the facts that we are saddened when we see a person weep, although we don't know the cause of his grief. And if we see persons angry or fighting, we partake of their excitement, though we know and care nothing of them or their quarrels.

21:09 - 21:36 Read in full sermon

The point: As servants of God, recognize the vital principle of the strategic place and function of emotions in oral communication, just as secular men do.

The mob scene in the Book of Acts, where people were stirred up without knowing why, illustrates the power of unintelligent sympathetic feeling.

Someone was mentioning to me in their recent reading that incident of the mob scene in the Book of Acts. They're all stirred up, and it says they didn't know what in the world they were even stirred up about. But everybody was upset and angry and in a frenzy, and they were carried, along with it. What are you guys upset?

21:36 - 21:51 Read in full sermon

The point: When using sympathetic emotion in preaching, always present Bible truths to the understanding, gaining warmth and quickened attention for those truths, rather than merely exciting senseless agitation.

Ian Murray's account of people in Kentucky revivals coming under distress without hearing preaching illustrates involuntary emotional contagion and its potential for abuse.

In volume one, or not enough, no, having read those two almost simultaneously, I sometimes switch in my mind which is which, but in Ian Murray's Revival and Revivalism, he has some very helpful source material data relative to this phenomenon in the, or these phenomenon, this phenomenon, singular, in the Kentucky revivals where you had people who were not within the sound of the preaching. They were out of the earshot of the preaching, yet they'd come upon a group of people who had been under preaching and under conviction in great distress, and lo and behold, they'd come under great distress ...

22:32 - 23:44 Read in full sermon

The point: When using sympathetic emotion in preaching, always present Bible truths to the understanding, gaining warmth and quickened attention for those truths, rather than merely exciting senseless agitation.

Dabney's summary on the proper use of sympathetic emotion in preaching, where it must be coupled with Bible truths, illustrates how to channel emotional contagion for good.

But is there a proper use of it? Well, Dabney goes on and he asserts, yes, there is a proper use of it. And this is what Dabney has to say about the proper use of this on page 561 and on to 562. He goes on, let me summarize in the interest of time that God does not bypass this in the communication of his truth and the preacher does not, while he aims to produce the sympathetic emotion which, if it remained mere sympathy, would be unintelligent and worthless for ulterior good, he also presents Bible truths to the understanding, gaining for them the warmth and quickened attention of the temporar...

23:45 - 25:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that it is unthinkable for emotional energy not to pulsate through preaching when a mind is impregnated with truth and a heart warmed by the Spirit.

Professor John Murray's direct quote, 'preaching without passion is not preaching at all,' serves as a powerful statement on the necessity of emotion in preaching.

I commend to you along this line Dabney's two chapters on persuasion in his work now entitled Dabney on Preaching Originally Sacred Rhetoric and he has some very, very helpful insights in those two chapters because Dabney is approaching them with his own sphere of reference that we've alluded to in the course of the lectures this morning constantly conditioning his counsel and advice and his teaching on the subject of persuasion and I heartily recommend that. It was his understanding of these very things that caused the doer Highland son of Scotland Professor Murray to say and you'll find this...

26:43 - 28:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that it is unthinkable for emotional energy not to pulsate through preaching when a mind is impregnated with truth and a heart warmed by the Spirit.

Martin recalls John Murray's sermon on Genesis 3:15, with its memorable structure and passionate delivery, as an example of effective, emotional preaching.

I commend to you along this line Dabney's two chapters on persuasion in his work now entitled Dabney on Preaching Originally Sacred Rhetoric and he has some very, very helpful insights in those two chapters because Dabney is approaching them with his own sphere of reference that we've alluded to in the course of the lectures this morning constantly conditioning his counsel and advice and his teaching on the subject of persuasion and I heartily recommend that. It was his understanding of these very things that caused the doer Highland son of Scotland Professor Murray to say and you'll find this...

26:43 - 28:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Be convinced by the emotional energy of a discourse that the speaker is conveying vital things that touch the highest self-interest of the hearers.

Martin shares his personal experience of being saved and given a passion to preach, comparing his preaching style to how he played football, emphasizing that he preached with his whole redeemed humanity.

we should know unless we are so totally out of touch with reality or so totally grieving the spirit we should not be five minutes into a man's discourse but that we are convinced by the emotional energy attending that discourse that he is not merely saying true things in our hearing good things in our hearing but he is saying vital things that touch our highest self interest and therefore engage us in the realization that what he is saying it is vital for me to grasp and for me to receive and is it not the height of an unsound theology of the constitution of man as created and redeemed by the ...

31:11 - 32:40 Read in full sermon

The point: If accused of being too enthusiastic, ask the accuser if sound judgment has been abandoned; do not fault oneself for being too emotional if logic and truth are maintained.

A former student's account of James Henley Thornwell teaching theology, describing his flushed face, dilated eyes, and eloquent feeling, illustrates the emotional energy in teaching truth.

two quotes found in the life of James Henley Thornwell by D.M. Palmer one of them is Thornwell the theologian and in this particular section Palmer is describing Thornwell in the classroom teaching theology and his favorite theologian was John Calvin and after Palmer tells why there was such a resonance of spirit and mind between Thornwell and Calvin one of the students is then the account of one of the students of what it was like to sit in the class when Thornwell was teaching theology seeking to give these students an appreciation for Calvin listen to a former student as he recalls what it ...

34:09 - 35:38 Read in full sermon

The point: If accused of being too enthusiastic, ask the accuser if sound judgment has been abandoned; do not fault oneself for being too emotional if logic and truth are maintained.

A description of James Henley Thornwell's preaching, highlighting the rare union of rigorous logic with strong emotion, his mind glowing with thought, and his body trembling under divine afflatus, serves as the ultimate example of sanctified emotional preaching.

and this is our closing quote this morning the feature most remarkable in this prince of pulpit orators was the rare union of rigorous logic with strong emotion he reasoned always but never coldly he did not present truth in what Bacon calls the quote dry light of the understanding end quote clear indeed but without heat which warms and fructifies Dr. Thornwell wove his argument in fire his mind warmed with the friction of its own thoughts and glowed with the rapidity of its own motion and the speaker was born along in what seemed to others a chariot of fire one must have listened to him to fo...

37:08 - 38:37 Read in full sermon