Illustration is one of the most potent forms of argument; we understand new things by comparing them with what we know.  Christ was a master of illustrations—­the master.  No one of whom history tells us has ever used the illustration as effectively as He.  He took the objects of every-day life and made them mirrors which reflected truth.  His parables give us a wide range of illustration—­the Sower going forth to sow, the Wheat and the Tares, the Prodigal Son, the Wise and Foolish Virgins—­in fact, all the illustrations that He used might be cited to prove the power of this form of argument.

The question has been used throughout history; at every great crisis the orators of the day have used the question form of argument.  Its strength depends upon the completeness with which the speaker includes all of the essentials involved in summing up the situation.  The greatest question ever presented as an argument was that in which Christ concentrated attention upon the value of the soul.  No one will ever place a higher estimate upon the soul than Christ did when He asked, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” No greater question was ever asked, or can be asked. (See Lecture, “The Value of the Soul.”)

Courage is the last attribute to which I shall invite your attention.  The speaker must possess moral courage, and to possess it he must have faith.

Faith exerts a controlling influence over our lives.  If it is argued that works are more important than faith, I reply that faith comes first, works afterward.  Until one believes, he does not act, and in accordance with his faith, so will be his deeds.

Abraham, called of God, went forth in faith to establish a race and a religion.  It was faith that led Columbus to discover America, and faith again that conducted the early settlers to Jamestown, the Dutch to New York and the Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock.  Faith has led the pioneer across deserts and through trackless forests, and faith has brought others in his footsteps to lay in our land the foundations of a civilization the highest that the world has known.

I might draw an illustration from the life of each one of you.  You have faith in education, and that faith is behind your study; you have faith in this institution, and that faith brought you here; your parents and friends have had faith in you and have helped you to your present position.  And back of all these manifestations of faith is your faith in God, in His Word and in His Son.  We are told that without faith it is impossible to please God, and I may add that without faith it is impossible to meet the expectations of those who are most interested in you.  Let me present this subject under four heads: