Market Language

George Whitefield used to say that preachers ought to preach the "market language" so that people would understand. J.C. Ryle commenting on Whitefield and others who preached in the 18th century said the following:

"They preached simply. They rightly concluded that the very first qualification to be aimed at in a Sermon is to be understood. They saw clearly that thousands of able and well-composed sermons are utterly useless because they are above the heads of the hearers. They strove to come to the level of the hearers and to speak what the poor could understand. To attain this they were not ashamed to crucify their style and to sacrifice their reputation for learning. . . In short, they saw the truth of what the great German reformer (Luther) said, 'No one can be a great preacher to the people who is not willing to preach in a manner which seems childish and vulgar to some.'"