Missiles, with a side of splinters

“In others the Sabbaths of the people are wholly occupied with those polemics by which the outworks of Christianity should be defended against the foreign assaults of infidel philosophy; as though one would feed the flock within the fold with the bristling missiles which should have been hurled against the wolves without. Others deal in scholastic discussions of the propositions of church-symbols, cleaving the “bare bones of their orthodoxy" into splinters as angular and dry as the gravel of the desert. Others again offer metaphysical discussions of the psychology of religion, as though they would feed the babes of Christ with a sort of chemical resolution of the sincere milk of the Word into its ultimate elements, instead of the living, concrete nourishment provided for them by their Saviour. Now what is this but the very spirit of unbelief and self- seeking? The selection of such forms of truth is evidently not guided by the lowly, self-devoted spirit of the “servant" of the Church, but by a single eye to self-display. God puts the "sword of the Spirit" into this man's hand, and tells him that with this he shall conquer. He distrusts it, he will add something more trenchant. God tells him that the “Word is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." “No," says the unbelieving servant, " I can devise truths more piercing." These, my brethren, are not the men to do the work of that God who “hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." Theirs is the spirit of infidelity, and their preaching breeds infidelity.”

R.L. Dabney Sacred Rhetoric

I love the metaphors.

You can't feed the flock with the missiles you ought to be firing at the wolves.

Don’t parse the bare bones of church truth until there is nothing left but splinters.

Feed the babes of Christ milk, don't feed them the chemical formula.

Preach the Word. Tell the people what God has said. Of course, the Bible fires missiles at the wolves, and church truth is advanced and there is milk as well as meat - but I believe what is being discussed is the need for exegetical balance in preaching.