A very successful preacher has found through experience the power of effective climax in Biblical exegesis and public exhortation. This principle in the art of persuasion needs careful study. To make a striking sermonic beginning and then follow it up with recessive instead of cumulative argument is subversive of every desired effect.
This principle, as followed in the sermon as a whole, must likewise be observed in the grouping of adjectives, verbs, and nouns in phrasal units, and in a succession of phrases and clauses relating to the same idea. Frequently we hear from the pulpit expressions of which the following is typical: "I was inspired, encouraged, and helped by the recital of this man's experience."
Here the word order of the past participles manifestly is anticlimactic. The strongest word in the grouping is "inspired," the weakest is "helped." Transposition of the word order would produce an effective ascending progression instead of a descending progression.
Paul, in his speeches, often exemplifies the logic of the oratorical device of climax. Notice as a brief instance the order of Acts 18:26. The Gentiles were to be (1) recruited for service, (2) intellectually enlightened, (3) delivered from Satanic power, (4) absolved from sin, (5) prepared for their inheritance, (6) sealed with the sanctified. Here is the progression of Christian experience presented in effective miniature. "Order is heaven's first law."
Let us not lose our effectiveness, then, by a weak climactic arrangement such as this: "Angels of God are deeply grieved, ever concerned over the impenitence of men," but rather: "At the general impenitence of men, angels of God are ever concerned, amazed, and deeply grieved."
