Sophists Live Among Is Today

. . . the generation of the Sophists did not die out in the time of the orators. They live among us into the present day. There remain numerous people, who, according to Fénélon, speak not because they have something to say, but to look for something to say, because they must speak. Schopenhauer divides writers in three classes: first, those who write without thinking—this class, he says, is the most numerous. Then there are those who think while writing. These are also great in number. Finally, there are those who already have thoughts, and then set about writing: these are extremely rare. This division can be applied to public speakers in exactly the same form. Those whose public speech takes place in the pulpit are no exception to this. There is perhaps nowhere else that the phrase occupies a mightier and more significant place than here. Pompous voice, blaring speech, drawn out tone, empty sentences, and flattering terms must compensate for what is lacking in sound content and real study. This is all the more remarkable here because the servant has God's Word to declare, and this conviction must forbid him in the strongest terms from putting anything in the mouth of Holy Scripture than what it actually says. The text, however, is often just a hook, upon which the tattered rags of one's own or the people's favorite meanings are hung. Allegory, spiritualizing, mystical meaning, deeper meaning, a truth behind the truth, is thus the process by which one's own thoughts are reconciled with Scripture. Study is not necessary for this. One needs only creative dexterity, an unfettered sense of fantasy, a considerable dose of insolence, and a conscience not given to pressing on these things.

—Herman Bavinck, "Eloquence", 'Herman Bavinck on Preaching & Preachers, translated and edited by James P. Eglinton, 33–34.