THE USE OF QUOTATIONS
These are of two kinds: from Scripture, and elsewhere. The latter may be from newspapers or journals, from works of reference (including dictionaries), or from the writings of authorities in their own spheres. All of these should be used sparingly. Most men are as well informed on public affairs. as we are, and the most we should permit ourselves is to remind them of them in pithy phrases from men whose opinions are valued. Occasionally there is a vivid commentary on a scripture prophecy by an unwitting vindicator, and then the comparison of the two can be highly profitable, as witness the time honoured example of bro. Thomas's anticipation of Britain's interest in Palestine, and the subsequent Balfour Declaration.37 But there is an evil which I have seen, and that is the brother who will devote quite half of his lecture to a string of newspaper cuttings on present events, and turn at last to his duty with the naive words, " Let us now see what the Bible has to say..."

Much the same goes for quoting authorities. It is too easy to pick our authority to suit our case, knowing full well that most men (of science, say) whose opinions count, think the other way. The audience may be no more scientific than we are, and so be unaware that it is being deceived, which is a moral wrong; or it may happen to know more than we do, which is a practical disaster. True, we may say that " Lord Kelvin believed this, and so does Sir Ambrose Fleming, though most scientists think differently", as a means of showing in its true perspective that some eminent men of science find no incompatibility between their profession and their faith in the Bible. And we may sometimes find the case we hold vindicated from our opponents, when their support may be used without reserve, as when Dr. Julian Huxley recognizes that man is one species the world over.38 Even then, the welcome saying must not be pressed further than it is intended to go. Dr. Julian Huxley does not believe in creation.

Dictionaries are tedious things. If we do not know the meaning of a word let us go there for it, but it is hardly ever worth while to quote it. If we chose the word ourselves, let us choose another one which does not need explaining; if it is a scripture word the dictionary may not tell us its scriptural meaning.39 Our addresses will be much more natural if we do not interpose dry and bulky volumes between ourselves and the audience.

The Scripture is a different matter. The question is not whether we shall quote, but how often and in what manner. Some lectures (and they used to be acceptable) may give us a dozen disconnected quotations one after another, turning up them all, to prove an isolated point. It is not now the best way. People are too ignorant of their Bibles nowadays to do anything but gasp when we rush them helter skelter through its pages, throwing strange names like " Zechariah," " Ecclesiastes" and " The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians " at them as we go. Our Bible references must be more carefully planned for their needs than this. Sometimes we can help by restricting our major references deliberately to a small portion of the Bible, a Gospel, for example, letting the stranger keep his finger there, and showing him as we proceed that there are connections with other Scriptures at the salient points; but we can nearly always pick out half a dozen or so (rarely many more) critical quotations upon which our argument hinges, ask the listeners to turn to them, and let them accept our word that the other allusions we make are also to be found in the Bible.40

And always remember how slight their knowledge is. Give simple (but not patronizing) instructions, if need be, whereabouts the book is to be found: " The next to the last book in the Old Testament," " Two books further on from our last reference," and so on. Let not the audience be told, " We remember it was after Abraham had left Lot that God promised him . . ." for the audience of strangers does not remember. If it is a new audience, it has never heard of it before.

When we quote, we will always quote (or describe) sufficient of the setting to show that the words were meant to mean what we say they do. " Ye shall not surely die "41 is a black lie though it occur in the Scripture. We are pleased to point that one out, but we need to show the same care even with sentiments we wish to establish. We should be sure that the context of every passage we use bears out our application of it.